[Damu]

Trip to Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) and Pondicherry (Puduchery) from Bangalore 10th, 11th and 12th July 2010.

PART ONE - PROLOGUE...

This year up to June, we have been on 4 long weekend driving holidays:

1) February 2010 - Kolavara Home stay in Thirthahalli, Shimoga. Vehicle - Tavera
2) April 2010 - Tranquil Home stay in Wayanad. Vehicle - Scorpio
3) May 2010 - Dawscroft Cottage Home stay in Coonoor. Vehicles - Tavera and Scorpio
4) June 2010 - RGBC in Benaulim, Goa. Vehicle - Scorpio

The account of the trip to Goa driving our friend's Scorpio is here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...li-ankola.html


For those trips, we had gone with friends and they had wanted the extra space offered by their larger vehicles. This had become quite frustrating for me as I hadn't driven my Ikon anywhere this year. Moreover, I am considering an upgrade and wanted to enjoy the Ikon while I have it. Quite suddenly, an opportunity came up...

Last weekend, 10th and 11th July, was an unusual one. This would be the first weekend that my wife and I would be home without both our boys. My wife was missing them very much and we thought we'd drive to Hyderabad to visit our younger son who is there for training. However, he was studying for a test, and asked us to postpone our visit.

My wife was determined to go somewhere; she was missing her boys.

We dropped all places which are in the present monsoon belt. So the East was left. I suggested Pondicherry, even though we've been there quite often, it's quite a nice place for a weekend. She wasn't too keen on that. One of her colleagues suggested Tranquebar, the Danish Port. We checked it on the internet and found it suited us from the distance and the historical interest angle.

On Friday we finalised the plan:

Saturday 10th July drive Bangalore to Tarangambadi and stay at The Bungalow on the Beach for two days.
Monday 12th drive back to Bangalore, to reach by 3pm.

Route: Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Tiruvanamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondicherry - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Sirkali - Tranquebar.

A nice round trip, from the west coast (Goa) on 18th June to the east coast (Tranquebar) on 10th July!

PART TWO - THE TRIP, ONWARD JOURNEY, BANGALORE TO TRANQUEBAR

Saturday morning we planned to leave at 6.30 am but actually left home at 7.10 am. We would have been much better off leaving at 6.30 or even earlier, because traffic lights were operational in Indiranagar and Koramangala and we got 'reds' at all the traffic signals.

Reached Hosur road. This is the first time I'm using the BETL, and it is very good. The toll is very reasonable I feel. I fell in line behind a few other cars, all in a line and obeying the speed limit. Speed limit posted was 80 kph. But there were some guys belting on the toll way. One, a Qualis taxi, was fully loaded and travelling very fast.

Up to Hosur it was very quick, but at Hosur there was a long line of traffic extending all the way till after Hosur. Schools were working and the roads were choked with school buses and office going people.

Yes, we should have left home by 6.30 am latest.

We stopped at Krishna Inn for breakfast. This is after Kamat's and before A2B.


Pic 0 Krishna Inn breakfast.




Pic 1 My dear iKON...the wife is already in the driver's seat!



My wife now took over.


Pic 2 The road is very good till Krishnagiri.




Pic 3 Toll Plaza and turn off to Chennai




(Note, this is for people who haven't been on this road, so Bangaloreans and others frequenting this road, please excuse me for putting these pics!).


Pic 4 Right after turning to the Chennai road is the turn off to Tiruvanamalai. This is one section of that which has some soothing greenery.




The road is really awful from here to Tiruvanamalai. The surface is smooth, but there are potholes every 50' to 100'. And these are sometimes very deep; perhaps even 6" or more in depth. Moreover they are often in the shade of the trees, so they're like traps. We went into several like this. I was happy my car has a strong suspension.

Speed has to be kept at or below 70 kph.


Pic 5 This particular stretch I remember from 2008 and earlier. This was a total off-roader track for a long time. Luckily this has been done up.




My wife got fed up with the potholes and gave up the wheel.

Just before Tiruvanamalai the road became good. Before Tiruvanamalai is a hotel "Arunai Anantha" which serves good veg food.

Arunai Anantha Hotel, Thiruvanamalai

We have stopped here on our earlier trips.

In Tiruvanamalai, the main road has been dug up for laying sewage/water lines and it is a slow crawl through Tiruvanamalai town.

Leaving Tiruvanamalai, there is a broad road running across that says "Vellore" so I thought maybe I can skip the bad road by taking this route on the return. More on this in the second half.

After Tiruvanamalai, the road improved. Very few potholes after that.


Pic 6 Short pit stop just after Tiruvanamalai.




Gingee was reached about an hour later and stopped to take a few pics of the fort which is on both sides of the road. It has a long and varied history. At one time, this was one of Shivaji's forts. Even today, there are Marathi speaking people in the region.


Pic 7 Part of the Fort on the right side of the road





Pic 8 Another part of the fort




Pic 9 The main fort on the left of the road. The road cuts through the fort ramparts.




(I hope to make a special trip to Gingee once - stay at Tiruvanamalai hotel "Arunai Anantha", which is the best place around and visit Gingee and Tiruvanamalai in detail).


Just past Gingee, there is a road that leads to Cuddalore and I thought I should take that and skip Pondy. I stopped and asked a passing person. He was a well-educated man and answered me in detail and great politeness. He strongly recommended I stick to the Pondy route as this road to Cuddalore he said was in bad shape.

So, on to Tindivanam. A lot of improvement here since my last trip, the road work in town is completed and we can directly reach the flyover.

Saw a Kawasaki Ninja (250cc I guess) here. Bangalore registered bike. Young guy, and riding sensibly in the thick traffic.

Just after Tindivanam, we pass under a highway. This is the Chennai - Dindigul highway, NH45. I would take this road on my return.

After this there is four laning in progress till Pondy.

Stopped for lunch just before Pondy. Place called Greenlands. It is coloured a revolting shade of green, but food was okay. However, it would have been better to have lunch at Pondy itself as we saw two good restaurants on our way.

Around 2 pm, we entered Pondy. It had taken us 7 hours, mainly due to the bad road before Tiruvanamalai.

The Cuddalore road (NH45A) is a right turn at the signals just after JIPMER.

Cuddalore is just about 23 kms or so, and the road surface is good. However it is too narrow and it is difficult to pass the dozens of bikes using the road. Took quite some time to reach Cuddalore.

After Cuddalore and the road became broader. The next town was Chidambaram. Before Chidambaram is a turn off to the bye pass. As the last section (barely 100 meters) is not ready it hasn't been officially opened yet. So I missed it now.

However, I am glad I missed the bye pass because I got my first view of Chidambaram. There is an important Shiva temple here. (We have planned to make a trip here in December, stay at Pondy and take a taxi to Chidambaram for a day trip).

Next major town is Sirkali (or Sirkazhi). Here there are many cane furniture shops. My wife saw these and told me that she would stop on the return to buy some cane things.

From here to Tranquebar is just 28 kms. Of these, the first 15 kms from Sirkali is awful. Narrow road, and very sharp drops on the shoulder. Big potholes as well. I was behind another vehicle and did not see a pothole. Went straight into it. Unknown to me, my left front tyre's sidewall had got cut. Fortunately, the air lasted well until we reached Tranquebar. Otherwise I would have been in deep trouble trying to change a wheel on that stretch.

Later, I was informed that the reason for this awful road is that people in that area have taken a stay order on road work, hence that section of 15 kms is like that.

After 15 kms, the road dramatically improved, both wide and smooth all the way to Tranquebar. At Tranquebar, there is a small sign that reads "Danish Port". Follow this and it leads to the beach and the fort.

And leads also our hotel, the Bungalow on the Beach, which is right next to the fort.

Around 5pm, we reached the hotel. 10 hours to drive 431 kms (from home to hotel).

Road conditions - slow parts (1) Krishnagiri-Tiruvanamalai (bad road), (2) Pondy - Cuddalore (good surface but narrow road) and (3) Sirkazi - Tranquebar (bad and very narrow road for 15 kms).

Except above noted, rest all sections are okay.

Checked in and had a wash. Immediately my wife got ready for her walk. She loves walking and dragged me along. Ever seen a reluctant dog being dragged on its leash? Well, you get the idea...!

Few pics from our first day at Tranquebar:


Pic 10 My car parked at the hotel. Notice the left front tyre still has air, even though the sidewall has been cut. I was very lucky indeed.




Pic 11 These brick walls are probably the remnants of the original fort walls.




Pic 12 View of the fort silhouetted against the setting sun. Big boulders are placed as protection against waves. Number of tourist vehicles.




Pic 13. This beach is the local attraction and draws crowd from outside as well.




Pic 14 This is a famous temple that has lost 75% of its structure to the sea. The biggest bit was washed away in the tsunami. There are boulders placed protectively all around this area, fort and temple.




Pic 15 Our hotel, The Bungalow on the Beach, which lies between the fort and the temple.




Pic 16 View of the fort from the beach. My ma'am has started walking briskly, me in tow...




Pic 16a Fibreglass fishing boats with motors. I think these boats replaced the traditional wooden boats after the tsunami.




Pic 17 The sun sets over Tranquebar.




Pic 18 Another view of the west after sunset. This part of the beach is flat, wide and looks good. However, it was quite isolated and deserted as well, so we returned as soon as it got dark. If you are in a group, then it might be nice place to sit around and relax.




Back to the hotel, and time to look over the menu. Simple menu but good choices, veg and non-veg. My wife has veg and I have non-veg. We order the food for 8.30pm and sit out in the verandah of our room with our drinks. We brought our own stock, there's no problem with that. In the verandah, we enjoyed the strong, cooling breeze.

At 8.30pm, the food is served at the restaurant (which is just 10 steps from our room) and is quite good.

I will give some feedback on the hotel in the next part.

This is the link:

Neemrana Hotels::The Bungalow on the Beach

After dinner, we saw millions of stars in the dark night sky and that was a sight we don't get to see in any city.


By this time we have realised that there is nothing much to do in Tranquebar, unless one is deeply inclined towards history, and that we would be at a loose end after seeing the Dansborg fort if we stayed as planned for a second night. We started to think of an alternative plan.

Another problem were the roads from Sirkali, and Tiruvanamalai, which were so bad that we had taken extra 2 hours. This would upset our plan to return by Monday late afternoon if we made it in one stretch. I suggested we return to Pondy, enjoy Pondy for an evening and return to Bangalore from Pondy. My wife agreed to this.

Part three and four - the fort "Dansborg", Pondy, and our return trip, will follow.

[ampere]

Nice log! Krishnagir-TVMail road condition remains the same. Add to it the railway crossing at Samalpatti which sometimes gets pretty crowded.
Arunai Anantha is a good place to stay in TVMalai, mainly because of its acess. A better place is Sparsha Resort, but its very costly for a temple city (~4K per day). I had taken this route six months back for TV Malai. But in the evening we went all the way till Tindivanam and then to Mailam to visit Murugan temple.
Overall all a good experience.

Pardon my ignorance. This is the first time I am hearing about Tharangambadi.
Will catch up on my Geography!

[StarVegabond]

Hi Damu,

that seems to be great location for some cool time with the family
will you be covering the pondichery as well ?

[MX6]

the sunset photos are great Damu.

[kannan666]

Nice writeup and pics Damu ! Waiting to see and read more..

[ampere]

The other thing that I noticed, while looking at the location of Tranquebar is, why do you need to go to Pondicherry?
You could have as well deviated from Tiruvannamalai to Villipuram, taken the NH45C till Panruti and then turned to
Chidambaram on the way to Tranquebar. Thats at least 70km shorter.

TV Malai to Villipuram stretch is decent which can easily done during day time.
Any reasons, why you want to touch Pondicherry? I did not see in your TL that you stayed in Pondicherry.

[Damu]

Originally Posted by ampere

Nice log! ... But in the evening we went all the way till Tindivanam and then to Mailam to visit Murugan temple.
Overall all a good experience.
Pardon my ignorance. This is the first time I am hearing about Tharangambadi.
Will catch up on my Geography!

Thanks ampere!

There are internet references to Tharangambadi, here's one maintained by the Danes in Denmark who are trying to keep the history alive.

TRANKEBAR-TRANQUEBAR-THARANGAMBADI. FORT DANSBORG. DANISH INDIA

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Damu, that seems to be great location for some cool time with the family
will you be covering the pondichery as well ?

Star,

Tharangambadi is quite nice. I recommend it for a night's stay at Bungalow on the Beach. Combine it with a Pondy visit and you'll have a pleasant long weekend as we did. Better as a group, you will enjoy more.

Yes, we did change our plan and spent the next day at Pondy (which was anyway forced on us because of the busted tyre!).

Coming in part 2...

Originally Posted by MX6

the sunset photos are great Damu.

Thanks MX6! That scene was lovely and I walked around quite a bit to get the composition right. The timing was perfect, and that was just my good luck.

Originally Posted by kannan666

Nice writeup and pics Damu ! Waiting to see and read more..

Thanks Kannan! Part 2 coming up in a day (have guests today).

Originally Posted by ampere

...why do you need to go to Pondicherry?
You could have as well deviated from Tiruvannamalai to Villipuram, taken the NH45C till Panruti and then turned to
Chidambaram on the way to Tranquebar. Thats at least 70km shorter.
TV Malai to Villipuram stretch is decent which can easily done during day time.
Any reasons, why you want to touch Pondicherry? I did not see in your TL that you stayed in Pondicherry.

ampere,

If I had known this earlier, I would certainly have taken this route! I knew there was an alternate route but did not know where. When in doubt my policy is always "a known devil is better than an unknown angel" hence Pondy

Thanks for this info, I will make a note of this. Your information will certainly be useful for anyone planning a Bangalore-Tranquebar trip. Saving 70 kms is worth it and more so as you say the road is good.

And yes, we did stay at Pondy for a night, and enjoyed it too. Pondy is one of my favourite destinations as it is the right distance for a weekend break.

[ampere]

Attached is the route I was talking about:

Bengaluru, Karnataka to Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

[laluks]

Thanks for the info on Krishnagiri Tiruannamalai route. And ofcourse that curve is a major improvement. Normally we used to drive on the opposite side to avoid the potholes.

All these years I had avoided that route and took Krishnagiri-kanchipuram-pondi route . Though longer the time is still the same , also excuses to go to mahabs and taking ECR etc, happens

[TaureanBull]

Lovely pics and detailed narration. Like the hotel location. Waiting for the coming up review on hotel.

Have you posted about your other week end trips of this year?

[aargee]

Saw a Kawasaki Ninja (250cc I guess) here. Bangalore registered bike. Young guy, and riding sensibly in the thick traffic

He has to, otherwise the motorcycle will teach him how to spend money sensibly . Or may be he's in his run-in period.

My compliments goes more towards the sunset pics. Simply awesome, was it hand held? Its too good not to comment.

[Damu]

Originally Posted by ampere

Attached is the route I was talking about:...

Thanks ampere, that seems the right route if one wants to go direct to Tarangambadi.

Originally Posted by laluks

Thanks for the info on Krishnagiri Tiruannamalai route. And ofcourse that curve is a major improvement...

All these years I had avoided that route and took Krishnagiri-kanchipuram-pondi route...

also excuses to go to mahabs and taking ECR etc, happens

Glad the info is useful, laluks. It seems that curve must be known to one and all!

We took Kanchipuram route on our return, coming up in last part.

We are thinking of doing a weekend trip Bangalore to Mahabalipuram, can you give some advice (links to your T/Ls)?

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Lovely pics and detailed narration. Like the hotel location. Waiting for the coming up review on hotel.

Have you posted about your other week end trips of this year?

Thank you TaureanBull! Yes the hotel is well located and I recommend it. Review coming up with few pics.

T/L for our Goa trip was done, link in my post, regret did not write the others. Henceforth will write for all our trips.

Originally Posted by aargee

He has to, otherwise the motorcycle will teach him how to spend money sensibly .

Ha, ha, that's a good one, aargee,

On a serious note though, I was struck by this youngster. It's good to see people riding with respect to others. Especially when on a powerful machine, it's very easy to be tempted to show off and "smoke" others. Hence I mentioned it.

(P.S. I owned a Jawa 250cc in my college days and still love bikes. I ride my son's Yamaha FZ16 sometimes).

Originally Posted by aargee

My compliments goes more towards the sunset pics. Simply awesome, was it hand held? Its too good not to comment.

Thanks a ton for the compliments! I am pleased you liked them.

Yes, both hand held shots. (I left my tripod in the hotel). First 1/125 sec at f11 ISO 200 EV -1.0, second 1/90 at f11 ISO 200 EV -1.0. I had the composition and colours right but needed more contrast so both were underexposed.

[MX6]

Underexposing helped in getting the hues of the sky naturally. Else they'd have appeared burnt out!
Good thinking there Damu.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by Damu

We are thinking of doing a weekend trip Bangalore to Mahabalipuram, can you give some advice (links to your T/Ls)?

See here a log of an old trip
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ndicherry.html

[rjstyles69]

damu I think this would be the 1st travelogue here covering Tranquebar. I always wanted to visit Danish Fort and never have had the chance. Driven through the same route quite a few times and none of the locals seem to know about the Danish fort at all.

This is one section of that which has some soothing greenery.

Here's one I shot during my previous trip to Velankanni in May.

Cuddalore is just about 23 kms or so, and the road surface is good. However it is too narrow and it is difficult to pass the dozens of bikes using the road. Took quite some time to reach Cuddalore.

Didn't you encounter the market mayhem at Cuddalore ? I had a harrowing time during every single trip maneuvering the car between the roadside vendors and the push carts.

From here to Tranquebar is just 28 kms. Of these, the first 15 kms from Sirkali is awful. Narrow road, and very sharp drops on the shoulder. Big potholes as well. I was behind another vehicle and did not see a pothole. Went straight into it. Unknown to me, my left front tyre's sidewall had got cut.

For a photographer like me who does it purely as a hobby this is one of the most scenic stretch during the whole drive.

Later, I was informed that the reason for this awful road is that people in that area have taken a stay order on road work, hence that section of 15 kms is like that.

I pray it remains the same and that the authorities don't kill the vegetation around the road. Its simply beautiful and very picturesque.

Did you miss this in Tranquebar ?