[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

We visited St. Roch’s Convent, where my aunt works and stays, the next day. Later that day we visited the Madre-De-Deus Church at Vettucaud.

I had been to this Convent last January in connection with an exam for my daughter. Close to the Shankumughom Beach and the Trivandrum Airport.

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

TWe again got stuck in a huge traffic jam at Kaniapuram. There were lots of vehicles going off road in an attempt to beat the jam. We were shocked to see the driving etiquette of KSRTC and private buses.

Compared to the private buses at Kochi, I feel the Trivandrum blue buses are better.
The traffic jam beyond Kazhakkutom appears to be an everyday, everytime affair. This is because there is a link to the MC Road from this part of NH 47.

[Chevy_lover]

@Rajeev, that's a surprising news. That convent is run by sisters and my aunt is the headmistress of primary wing.

I agree with you about the bus drivers in Kochi. They are complete morons!

[Chevy_lover]

Day 18

After spending a couple of weeks at home, it was time for us to embark on the second leg of our trip. We had to drive to Velankanni and Munnar.

We decided to leave Trivandrum on the 27th of July. As always, we decided to do a night drive. That was the best way to avoid the unruly and chaotic traffic in Trivandrum and in the Kerala – Tamil Nadu border towns. As I mentioned earlier, TVM – Nagercoil is the worst highway one can ever drive in .

I did a customary checkup of our dear Chevy and was completely satisfied with his health condition. All oil levels were correct and the coolant was also topped up. Chevy had about 35 litres of diesel in his belly and we decided to put in more diesel later on from the highway.

We left my house in Trivandrum at 3.15 am. Our odo read 108, 172 kms. We quickly left the city behind us and reached the highway. By 3.49 am we reached the Amaravila Bridge and paid a toll of Rs. 3. This was the lowest amount we paid as toll during our entire journey :-) !

We exited Kerala state at 4 am sharp. We had covered 37 kilometres by then. The Tamil Nadu border town was Marthandam. We halted there briefly to buy and stock up snacks. There was no Police checking at the border and we were on our merry way soon. I put in Rs. 500 worth of Diesel @ Rs. 44.62/litre soon from an HP pump.

The condition of the NH 47 up to Nagercoil was not at all good. We decided to take it easy and I drove quite slowly and carefully. We used both our Hellas most of the time. We passed through Nagercoil town by 4.50 am. Our odo was at 108, 246 kms. We had travelled 74 kilometres from our home in TVM. We drove through a narrow two laned highway and finally reached the brilliant NH7.

Our speed immediately touched triple digits and I gunned Chevy baby forward. He was only too willing to stretch his legs, after enduring such a boring drive on the NH47. The four laned highway was really a blessing for long distance travellers like us and we enjoyed the drive tremendously.

We reached the Nangneri tollbooth at 5. 47 am and paid Rs. 65 as user fee. The road condition was simply outstanding.

Shortly after passing the tollbooth, we witnessed an amazing sight. The sun was just waking up from his deep slumber and had just started peeping from the horizon. The sky was lit up magically and we saw a truly unbelievable sight!!!

My wife quickly pounced on our camera and captured these scenes for eternity, through our lens!











Let me also mention that we were driving at a constant speed of 120 kmph. Taking these kinds of low light shots is extremely difficult even in normal, stable conditions. My wife managed to do it in action mode, from a moving vehicle and the results are truly incredible!!!

Our drive on the NH7 was fantastic. We decided to take a break by 6. 20 am and had tea from a roadside dhaba. We restarted our drive at. 6.40 am and reached the Spudhur toll plaza shortly. The user fee was Rs. 40.

I filled in diesel for Rs. 1000 from and HP pump later. Diesel was cheaper than Pune @ Rs. 44.44 per litre.

We exited the four laned highway at 8. 05 am. Our odo read 108, 474 kms. The road became 2 laned and passed through some villages. We were charged Rs. 45 as toll for that terrible road by the corporation. By 8.35 am, we again rejoined the 4 laned highway. We had travelled 27 kilometres on that 2 laned highway.

Our drive was super smooth, once we rejoined the 4 laned highway to Tanjavur. We bypassed Trichy at 10.07 am, after passing through two more tollbooths. We touched the Tanjavur highway at 10.15 am, by taking a left turn from the Madurai – Chennai highway, on which we were travelling.

Soon the highway became two laned and passed through many villages and there were many railway crossings too. It was a real pain driving on that highway. Two pics taken during my trip in 2010 will show how narrow the road is!





We reached Velankanni junction at 12.10 pm. Our odo read 108,781 kms. We had covered 609 kms in about 8 hours of driving. We had driven non-stop from Trivandrum and were amazed that we could cover so much distance so fast.

[rameshnanda]

CL, I have always been a fan of your Travelogues and very happy to read it again . Not to mention, great narration coupled with amazing set of photographs. Keep it coming.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

CL, I have always been a fan of your Travelogues and very happy to read it again . Not to mention, great narration coupled with amazing set of photographs. Keep it coming.

Thanks Ramesh Ji. I am glad that you enjoyed the pics. There are lots and lots of pics from Munnar coming up!

[ampere]

Great drive again @CL.
Hope you easily found the Trichy and Tanjore by-passes for the onward journey.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by ampere

Great drive again @CL.
Hope you easily found the Trichy and Tanjore by-passes for the onward journey.

Oh yes, Ampere! The drive was super-fast!!!

The bypasses were very easy to find and they were superb. There is a terrible stretch of two-laned road, just before reaching Trichy and it is still maintained by the corporation and we were charged Rs. 45 as toll!!!

[VLOCT]

Great to see an other one of your travel diaries. Always enjoy reading them. To top it, your wife is definitely an excellent photographer of your sojourns. She manages to capture the mood of the drive every time, which as we all know varies greatly.
Reading your diaries always takes me back to my young days in India when, like you, I roamed around the country a lot. Keep it going.

[Chevy_lover]

Thank you for your words of appreciation, VLOCT. I am glad that you liked the pics! My wife is happy to hear such great feedback from members like you! It inspires us!

[sunil.nv]

Friday afternoon with some good number of emails to reply, just gazing through t-bhp, I saw this post and wasn’t I just stuck to the screen!! man this is like watching U-571.. I will be following you :-)

Btw September 16 is my date with NH 7! will be doing BLR - TVM :-)

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by sunil.nv

Friday afternoon with some good number of emails to reply, just gazing through t-bhp, I saw this post and wasn’t I just stuck to the screen!! man this is like watching U-571.. I will be following you :-)

Btw September 16 is my date with NH 7! will be doing BLR - TVM :-)

Thanks for the words of appreciation, Sunil. I hope to keep you glued to my travelogue with many more interesting pics! NH7 is fantastic. Enjoy the drive!

[Chevy_lover]

As soon as we reached Velankanni, we drove to our favourite hotel, Seagate and checked in. They had only deluxe rooms available. We were very happy with the room offered to us. The view from our hotel was fantastic.







A Panoramic view from our hotel! It is my first attempt at creating a pano! Creative criticisms welcome!



We quickly freshened up and walked over to the Church. The shrine was as beautiful as ever!!!

[ampere]

@CL,
Sorry for the naive question.
Apart from religious visits do regular tourists also come down to Velankanni?
Just to visit the beauty of the church itself?


How does one time this visit ? (In other words are there visitor timings so that
one can enjoy the architecture, without disturbing the services?)

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by ampere

@CL,
Sorry for the naive question.
Apart from religious visits do regular tourists also come down to Velankanni?
Just to visit the beauty of the church itself?

How does one time this visit ? (In other words are there visitor timings so that
one can enjoy the architecture, without disturbing the services?)

Yes, Ampere. We saw many tourists (foreign and domestic) visiting the church. They weren't there for offering prayers.

If you ask me, you should try to time your visit in the evening after 4 pm. The afternoon sun is scorching .

The holy mass is at 6 pm daily, if I remember correctly. So from 4 pm to 6 pm, you will have enough to time to visit the Shrine, the Basilica and Our Lady's Tank.

[Chevy_lover]

We returned back to our hotel after visiting the church. We were really tired after the non-stop, super fast drive, which lasted a little more than eight hours. We had biriyanis for lunch from our hotel and decided to take a much needed siesta.

We woke up only by late night, had dinner from the hotel itself and went back to our beauty sleep! All the non-stop driving and the scorching heat of Velankanni had drained us physically and emotionally. All we wanted to do was sleep.

Day 19

The next day we woke up early, got ready, had a wonderful buffet breakfast from South Gate and rushed to the church for the 10 am English mass. After the mass, we returned back to our hotel to escape from the heatwave in Velankanni.

We decided to visit Our Lady's Tank in the evening. We left our hotel at 4 pm and drove to the shrine.

A little bit of history about the shrine!

Sometime during the sixteenth century, Our Lady, with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a customer’s home. While he rested under a Banyan tree near a tank (pond), Our Lady appeared to him and asked for milk for her son and the boy gave her some. On reaching the customer’s home, the boy apologized for the delay and the reduced amount of milk by relating the incident that occurred on his way.

On inspection, the man found the milk pot to be full and realized that something miraculous had happened. That man, also a Hindu, wanting to see the place where the apparition occurred, accompanied the boy. When they reached the tank, Our Lady appeared once again.

On learning that it was Our Lady who appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became ecstatic. The tank where the apparition took place is called "Matha Kulam" or "Our Lady’s Tank".

The water from the tank is given to devotees. The water is pure and doesn't have any salty taste!











After visiting Our Lady's Tank, we drove back to the church. We witnessed an amazing sunset from the basilica. The skyscape kept on changing every minute!
















It was a truly wonderful spectacle!