Route Taken :: Palani >> Vilpatti >> Kodaikanal road >> periyakulam >> Vaigai puthur >> Andipatti >> Usilampatti >> Kottaipatti >>Peraiyur >> ( This road follows through on SH 59 and bypasses Madurai City and will connect at a point beyond tirumangalam. >> Rajapalayam >> Paruvakkudi >> Sankaran kovil >> Devarkulam >> Tirunelveli >> Mundra Irupu >> Pannankulam >> Avaraikulam >> Karungulam >> Vattakotai >> Pambankulam >> there is a deviation at Kavalkinaru to go to Kanyakumari.
Left Palani by 10:30 and stopped just before tirunelveli. The route from Rajapalayam to Tirunelveli is probably the worst part of the entire trip. No doubt the roads were awesome but there is no shelter no tress where you can rest for a while and no shops. It is a dry expanse and swealtering heat makes you dizzy looking at mirage constantly. I was actually planning on stopping at tirunelveli for the "halwa" But as the heat and the dry expanse had taken a toll on me, I couldn't muster enough energy to drive in to the city to buy an halwa. The consolation of the travel via the dryland finally came in the form of strong gusts of wind. As we took a left devition towards Kanyakumari we were surrounded by windmills. IT was so beautiful. About 6 months earlier my mother and I had been to guruvayur and we had seen a similar sight on the way to pollachi. But the sheer numbers of windmills makes one realise what nature has to offer to switch to renewable resources.
I rolled down the windows and with the wind in my hair set the car in cruise mode ( 50 kmph) all the way to kanyakumari.
The sight of the ocean sends such a sense of relief from the heat, the bangalore traffic, and from the techonolgy. The NH7 ends right at the lands end so you can drive all the way alongside the shore and step on to the beach in no less than 5 minutes. You get to experience the confluence of a Bay, an Ocean and a Sea. Best time to visit the first thing in the morning. So my mom and I checked in to Hotel Singaar international. Amazing ocean-view, very neat premises and well maintained hotel. I would rate it 5/5. Once refreshed we left for the beach strolled by the number of shops selling shells and artifacts. Then took a few snaps and visited the Kanyakumari temple. REtired for the night and had a peaceful sleep and dreamt about "things to do" for the following day.
Day 2 :: Kanyakumari Sightseeing.
Started early by 5:45 and walked to the beach. Sipped on hot black tea and waited for the sun to pop up. Nature's true colors revealed at 6:10. Sun rising ever so beautifully over the Bay of Bengal. This lasted for about 15 minutes and we sat on the shore for about half hour enjoying the cool morning breeze. Decided to finish up with the shopping. ( BIG MISTAKE ). Ended up with a carton full of shell caricatures and artifacts. and two handbags. With all this luggage we entered hotel Saravana on the way to ticket counter for Steamer to Vivekananda Rock memorial. This starts at 8AM and we were the first batch to board the boat and this is the best time to visit the rock memorial. The weather is pleasant and the ocean is gleaming on one side due to the morning sun. The premises are maintained very neat and inside the memorial is the statue of Swami Vivekananda and opposite to that are his guru's Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Saradha Devi. We spent close to an hour on the rock. There was also a statue of Tiruvalluvar but the ferry services were stopped temporarily due to low tide. But we got to know that there are only inscriptions inside and nothing else to see. We headed back to the shore and it was time to decide the next pitstop. As per google maps my plan was to cover Tiruchendur as it was on the way to Rameshwaram. My mom liked the idea and so we started of at about 11:30AM and followed on the route ::
Karungulam >> Vijayapatti >> Uvari >> Kulashekara patnam >> Tiruchendur . The road conditions I would rate 4.5 / 5. Little did I realise that this temple too was alongside the beach. The good part was at any point if I had decided to visit the ocean i just had to take a right through a small village and out to the sea..!! (However this did not happen). Visited the Tiruchendur temple and there was a good crowd but we managed to finish darshan in an hour. We were off to Rameshwaram from the temple on the following route ::
Tiruchendur >> Kayalpattinam >> korkai >> tuticorin >> Tharuvaikulam >> kulaththur >> Right towards Maandhai >> Sayalgudi >> Kadaladi >> Mudukulattur >> Ramanathapuram/Ramnad >> Mandapam >> Pamban.
The road after Tutircorin till Rameshwaram was simply Superb. I would have spotted hardly about 10-15 vehicles the entire strech till ramnad. and it is 4 lane heaven. It looked like newly laid tarmac. Again set to cruise mode but at 80kmph and Rameshwaram -- Here we come !!!
I remember the bike trip from Ramnad to Rameshwaram a couple of years ago and it was amazing. The oceanic breeze was so powerful that one had to ride the bike tilted against the wind direction. Soon by late evening ~ 5:45 we were on the Pamban bridge. The sight of a train going throught the ocean would have been a bonus but nevertheless we entered Rameshwaram and checked in to Hotel SeaView and visited the temple the same evening. We got to know that it was end of season and hence less crowd. The surprising part was there were two passage flyovers (walkway) constructed within the temple for the devotees. Finished darshan in an hour and retired for the night after a heavy dinner. Zzzzz..!!!
Note :: If you are going for sight seeing in Rameshwaram you can fix an auto for Rs. 150-200 max for a visit to 7 places.
1. Rama Theertam
2. Seetha Theertam ( a pond but they have a small curtained box with a tub of water (teertham) )
3. Pancha-mukha Anjaneya (hanuman) Right opposite to Seetha Theertam. This is where they have the floating rocks (used by Ram to cross the ocean).
4. Ramar padam. An impression of Lord Rama's Feet.
5. Sri Krishna temple. This has an north indian touch to it.
6. House of Abdul Kalam and Kalam's so called store. DONOT be fooled they are actually expensive than the market by the beach. The reason autodriver might take you is he gets about 10% of commission.
Let some pics do justice to the second part of the journey.