TRAVEL BLOG - Pondicherry Tour - December 2019
4th Dec 2019
We were only five members. Arun and Renu Tripathi came from Mumbai. they reached the sttaion early morning by 4 AM. They were not allotted any room, so they paid Rs 2400 and booked a room. Srinath and Bankim reached at 8:30 AM and I reached at 9 AM. Charlie, the tempo driver was waiting for us. We reached the Raj Palace hotel in Chennai at 10:30 AM. The receptionist was very rude. She refused to give a room before 12 noon, so we had our breakfast and then shifted to our rooms. I was alone in my room. We went down to have lunch in sometime, it was very good. We took rest for a while because the temples open at 4 PM. We started from our hotel at 3PM, visited Parthasathy temple. It was a hige temple with idols of Ram, Laxman, Seetha and Narasimha. Next, we visited the Marina beach. We had to walk on the sand for a long distance to reach the beach. Sat there for sometime.Next we visited Kapeelesh war temple, the Shiva linga was huge. It got quite dark. We had dinner at the same hotel.
5th Dec 2019
After breakfast, we checked out from the hotel and proceeded to Mahabalipuram. It was beautiful. Since long I wanted to visit this place. First, we visited the shore temple. We hired a guide for the temple. There was a light house from where you could view the whole city. I did not climb, it was 400 steps.
We also saw Krishna's butterball. It is a huge gigantic granite boulder resting on a slope which no one has been able to move so far.
Next, we saw pacharaths. They were beautifully carved. After seeing it, we proceeded to pondicherry. We checked into the hotel Pearl Residency. It was very neat and clean, but food was not upto the mark. Service was also very slow.
After check-in, we went to the main city. Had lunch at Anandam. Then we visited the Aurobindo Ashram. We were asked to switch off our phones and walk silently. People sit ane meditate there.
Next, we went to the beach which was very clean. We had to walk 500m. We saw Gandhi statue and War stones. The light house was closed. We went back to hotel. I had ordered food before so at 8:30 PM we had dinner at the hotel. The service was very slow.
6th Dec 2019
Next, we went to auroville. It took us nearly 2 hours We could not go inside the Matri Mandir. We saw from outside. The landscape around it was beautiful. We then proceeded to Kanchipuram.
Next, we saw Kailashnatha temple. It was beautiful. By the time we finished visiting the temples, it was 6 PM. Left for Chennai. Lot of traffic on the road. We reached the hotel at 9:30 PM. We had dinner, roti was not nice. This time we had booked hotel Raj Palace Sunder. It was a huge property, nice hotel but the food was just average.
7th Dec 2019
Had breakfast in the morning, the spread was quite elaborate. We then visited Eliots beach and Asthalaxmi temple. The temple was very close to the beach. We went back to the hotel and packed our luggage. On the way we stopped at a vegetarian restaurant, had very good food. Srinath and I had mini meals, while others had North Indian Thali, was which also good. We dropped Arun near the ralway station. Bankim took and auto and went to his hotel. Srinath and I proceeded to the airport.This tour was a big loss for me monetarily, but I am glad I got to visit the beautiful temples.
P.S - These are excerpts from my beloved mother's diaries and journals. Hope you find them useful. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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