These are from the Madurai trip. There was just one agenda : visit the Meenakshi temple. There was not much energy to explore nor the intention to - we had booked the Gateway at Pasumalai. We just wanted to hang out at the property for the maximum time. It's a beautiful property, the half kilometre from the bustling Madurai - Virudhunagar main road is a revelation : quiet, junglish feel to it, with numerous mongooses, a jackal and many peacocks greeting us. The sudden change makes it hard to believe you're in the midst of a city : it's pretty calm and situated atop a hillock, the night views of the city below are spectacular from atop. We'd decided that we'd not venture out much until the next morning.
The total drive time from Bangalore was around 5 hrs 45 minutes, excluding a 30 minute hold up near Samayanallur where the traffic converges into a 2 lane undivided road.
Don't miss having the JigarThanda at the local juice shops in Madurai. Breakfast at Saravana Bhavan on East Veli St was decent ( no, it's not the same HSB we all know ).
The Ayurvedic Spa at the Gateway is a worth a visit.
Another trip was the one to Thennangur : about 33 kms on the Kanchipuram - Vandavasi road, a right turn about 6 kms before Vandavasi.
The roads are very bad, but scenic alright. The Panduranga temple is beautiful and very clean. Also, do visit the Shiva temple close by. We didn't have the temple to ourselves that day : there were 5 busloads of Melmaruvathur devotees visiting this temple enroute - so it was crowded that day. En-route, try to visit the Koozhamandal Pesum Perumal temple ( "The Lord Who Talks" ) at Koozhamandal village.
Also, some more pictures from the Ganeshgudi trip described earlier as well.
Peacocks at the Gateway Hotel, Madurai
The road down the Gateway Hotel leading to the main road
Thennangur Panduranga temple
Thennangur Panduranga temple
OTHERS:
Early sunlight filtering through the canopy at Ganeshgudi
Bommanahalli pickup dam, aka BP dam backwaters, Kulagi - Bhaagavathi road
Sunbirds near home, enroute to one of the trips