15th October 2009, 19:43
| #61 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| Amazing travelog Hotstuff. Really enjoyed it. We generally don't hear about Andaman & Nicobar either on TV or News papers. It was like some foreign country to me. I had absolutely no idea whats it like in these islands. Thank you for bringing this up on the forum. Would like to visit these places sometime. Wonder how you guys manage to get so many holidays. Never mind, myself just envious  Carry on with great stuff ! |
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15th October 2009, 23:05
| #62 | ||||
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thank you! @raju2512; @sushrutha; @rajeevn; @MX6; @B.R.S.Rao; @sammyboy; @BomBatt; - Thanks a lot for your comments! and wishing everyone a very Happy & Prosperous Diwali. Quote:
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15th October 2009, 23:42
| #63 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| 25th Sep 2009 - Chidambaram, GangaikondaCholapuram, Darasuram, Kumbakonam, Tanjore. We were up and out by 7.00am on the 25th and proceeded towards the Chidambaram temple. If you are wondering whatever happened to the Trekkers what were manufactured by Hindustan Motors, looks like most of them wound up in Tamilnadu; and were mostly bought by driving schools. We came across a number of these vehicles in good running condition around TN, mostly with 'L' boards stuck to them.  The temple entrance gopuram in daylight...  More pics from outside the temple complex. Each temple in TN has its own rule book when it comes to photography. In some places they'll allow you unfettered access to take pics anywhere (Except the main deity.) In other places the totally prohibit carrying cameras into the temples. In a few other places you need to buy a camera ticket...   After spending some time in Chidambaram, we headed off towards Gangaikonda cholapuram. A lot of info about this place is available here: Gangaikonda Cholapuram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  Pics from the temple; which does bear a strong resemblance to the Tanjore Brihadeshwara temple. This temple was once surrounded by a massive fortification wall, which was dismantled by the British, who used the stones for constructing a Anaicut (Dam) across a river nearby.      Next we headed towards Kumbakonam. A small town that literally has a temple in every other street. We had listed down a few temples which are architecturally and artistically significant and planned our visit around them.  Drove through Kumbakonam to visit Darasuram first and then spend the rest of the day in Kumbakonam. Darasuram is famous for the 'Airavteshwara temple' which features in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. More info here: Darasuram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A very beautiful temple, with intricate carvings...  And remnants of ancient paintings; created using natural colors and pigments...  Some more pics from in and around the temple...           There are also quite a few handloom silk units in and around Darasuram. We walked around a little into the streets around the temple and found one. The folks were sweet enough to take a few minutes off to explain 'how things work!' I had always assumed that a handloom is a relatively simple machine. But in reality, it is extremely complex. The loom is actually a programmable device, with the design inputs being fed in via punched cards. There are cards which specify the design of the top and bottom borders of the saree, cards which generate the main section design and another set of complex cards for the pallu.  Depending on the complexity of the design, a single silk saree takes anywhere between 5 to 20 days to weave...   We were back in Kumbakonam by lunch time. Had plate meals in a small hotel and worked out a plan of action. We realized that the places we wanted to see were located with a few square Kms of the town. Since finding our way around + finding a parking place after we reached the places was going to be a pain, we just parked the car near the first place we wanted to see and hired an auto. Caught hold of an auto guy, told him about the list of places we wanted to see, asked him how much time it would take to cover all of these and the best order to follow... and then asked him how much would he charge if he were to take us around to all of these places.Started with 200/- and negotiated it down to 175/- and we were all set. He would take us to a temple and wait for us. For extensive details about Kumbakonam + a listing of the important temples etc. Please check this link: Kumbakonam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Many of the temples in Kumbakonam are spread over a large area. So the corridors in some of the temple complexes are used as markets. And the temple compound is used as a thoroughfare... if you want to go to the other street, just hold your slippers in your hand and walk through the temple compound instead of the longer route around it.  Dolls; which are quite popular in Karnataka & Tamilnadu, displayed as part of Dussehra festivities...  Just a random pic...  In most places in the interiors of Tamilnadu, everything and everybody shuts down at around 12.30pm; and it is siesta time till around 4.00pm. So plan your trip taking this into consideration...  Contd... |
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15th October 2009, 23:52
| #64 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore
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16th October 2009, 00:01
| #65 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| 25th Sep 09-Chidambaram, GangaikondaCholapuram, Darasuram, Kumbakonam, Tanjore Contd. More pics from Kumbakonam...   The 'Mahamaham tank'. Which literally comes alive with people during the Mahamaham festival, known as the Kumbamela of South India. It occurs once every 12 years...  The B&W pic below from the year 1900 (?) illustrates what I mean.  Taking the auto was a very prudent decision indeed. He whizzed us through the narrow alleys and took us from place to place...  More pics...       The Ramappa temple, which features some exquisite stone work...  And a pictorial depiction of the Ramayana...  Kumbakonam also has quite a few brass workshops. Walk a little into some of the alleys around the temples and you can watch the artisans going about their work...   The temple compound turns into a place for an evening outing with the family. With small shops, merry-go-round and rides for kids, snack shops and the picture is completed by a 'blessing' elephant.  After Kumbakonam our next destination was Tanjore or Thanjavur. Which is famous for the Brihadeshwara temple and also the ubiquitous Tanjore paintings. We started from Kumbakonam at around 6.30pm, the distance between Kumbakonam is around 40kms and the roads are quite good. We could cover the distance in around an hour.  Entering Tanjore, we headed straight towards the Brihadeshwara temple. Saw that the monument was still lit up at around 8.00pm. On enquiring at the entrance we found that the temple was open till around 10pm that night due to the festivities. Drove around a little and found a place called 'Pandiyar Residency'. The hotel + rooms were clean and we checked in; and headed back to the temple. A quick note about the hotel: This is the only hotel from our entire trip that I would rate as 'Please Avoid'. Non-responsive staff, towels and soaps that never arrived till we chased them several times, chai that never arrived in spite of repeated reminders, parking problems thanks to the movie theatre adjacent to the hotel. Coming back to the temple, Wikipedia says: "The Brihadeshwara Temple at Thanjavur, is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas in temple architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples"... "... The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high..." The temple is capped by a monolithic 'shikhara' made of a single granite block weighing around 80 tons; which was probably pulled up using an inclined ramp that was around 4 to 6 kms long! There was not much of a crowd at that time and we spent more than an hour walking around the temple...   The smaller temple adjacent to the main temple...  More pics...  The monolithic Nandi, which is the second biggest in the country.  By 10.30pm the temple was shut and we were among the last few to walk out of the complex...  Headed back to the hotel and logged off for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day! |
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16th October 2009, 00:50
| #66 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thanks! and you are right... Quote:
Yes, you are right on both counts... though they are three temples in three different towns, they have been grouped together by UNESCO as the "Great Living Chola Temples" | |
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16th October 2009, 01:07
| #67 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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Thanked: 120 Times
| 26th Sep 09 - Tanjore, Trichy, Srirangam. Our best friend on the road, Google! I used Airtel GPRS quite extensively during the trip. Be it for reading up about the places to see or looking up the route options on Gmaps...  Next morning we headed towards the temple by around 7.30am. Found a good restaurant nearby for breakfast and walked back into the complex...     Carved; and painted...  The smaller temple in the complex...          The walls of the passages along the outer perimeter are covered with paintings. Looks like there have been some restoration attempts in the past...  Next we drove off towards the Tanjore palace, which is a couple of kilometers from the temple. The Palace, on the east main street is a complex of structures, built partly by the Nayaks around 1550 AD, and additions were made by the Marathas.  The Nataraja hall in the temple museum...   The palace has a huge whale skeleton, from a carcass that washed ashore and was donated to the museum by the fisheries department...  More pics..  You can climb up the narrow staircase up to the 3rd floor of the tower...   The palace compound seems to have been encroached upon and there are quite a few houses and even a basketball court in the area behind the palace...  The palace complex...  The halls in the palace feature some very elaborate examples of stucco-work...  The Brihadeshwara temple dominates the skyline of Tanjore...   Contd... |
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16th October 2009, 01:30
| #68 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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Thanked: 120 Times
| 26th Sep 09 - Tanjore, Trichy, Srirangam. Contd.. "Theese is bell tower of paalace. You know bell? ding-ding , ding-ding?" - A guide was explaining to a foreign tourist...    The 'durbar hall' of the palace. As you can make out, the lack of maintenance is evident in the fading paint all around...  This would have been a really bright and colorful place in its hey-day...    Another section of the palace which houses a museum...   There is also a Government handicrafts showroom in the palace complex, which has a very good collection of curios and artifacts...   They also have a good collection of Tanjore paintings, which are made with semi-precious gemstones and gold foil...  After spending a few hours in Tanjore, we drove on to our next destination; Trichy or Tiruchirapalli. Our first stop was at the 'Rock fort' temple. The old-city in which the Rock-fort is located is a little messy with lots of traffic going in all directions!  We kept asking for directions till we finally reached a road from where we could see the Rock-fort and headed straight towards it.  Found parking near a museum building and walked towards the stairs leading up to the top...   It is quite amazing how such a big complex of temples has been built on top of the rock...  There is also a cave temple on top; which reminded us of the temples we had seen in Badami. ( http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ighways-2.html )   The Ganesha temple which is the top most point of the Rock-fort hill...  Trichy from the top...  We could also see Srirangam across the river, where we were heading to next...  A poster featuring views of the Rock-fort from the four directions; sponsored by Ambica Sarees, who deal in 'Excessive' fancy sarees... whatever that means.  Visited the other temples on the hill and walked down...  For 2 rupees, I too got blessed... with elephant snot. (Cheeee!... where are the tissues)  It was around 7.15pm when we started off from Trichy to Srirangam, which is just across the river...  Some images from Trichy...   Reached Srirangam, parked the car and walked into the temple. We had planned to finish darshan and find a hotel later.  We were walking through the crowd when someone called out my name "Sanjay"... I turned around to see an old colleague and team-mate of mine who was also in Srirangam with his family. This is surely a small world! Finished darshan and found a hotel right next to the temple and settled down for the night. Srirangam is apparently the largest functioning Hindu temple complex in the world and the second largest temple complex in terms of area. Second only to the Angkor-Wat temple complex.  By the time we finished darshan, it was around 10.00pm; and by the time we retuned back to the room, it was around 11.00pm... Set the alarm for 6.00am and lights out. |
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16th October 2009, 08:35
| #69 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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16th October 2009, 10:30
| #70 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chennai
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16th October 2009, 10:59
| #71 |
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16th October 2009, 12:31
| #72 |
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16th October 2009, 14:51
| #73 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chennai
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16th October 2009, 14:55
| #74 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chennai
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16th October 2009, 15:23
| #75 |
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