Road Trippin Down South-East

DAY 1

Started on a long journey down south from Bangalore in our Swift with my dad and few of his friends (completely male driven :P). We started early in the morning (4am) to avoid the peak hour rush.

Destination: Rameswaram (10-12 hour journey) via Srirangam and Thanjavur

We reached Srirangam (Trichy) in about 6 hours after really good stretches of national highways and then a bad stretch of poorly maintained state highway. Unfortunately, to our luck the temple was closed so we had to wait another three hours at Srirangam to get a sight of the sleeping deity. After the darshan we had a sumptuous free meal at the temple and left towards Thanjavur.

We reached Thanjavur, a 90 minute journey from Trichy on a good stretch of state highway. On reaching Thanjavur we visited the Brihadeswara Temple, a magnificent structure built by the Cholan empire.

Mesmerised by the Dravidian architecture of the historic town Thanjavur, we continued our journey towards Rameswaram. Rameswaram is usually a 4 hour journey from Thanjavur but due to some repair works and a single laned road it took us a 6 hour journey to reach the place where Lord Rama worshipped Lord Shiva (hence the name Rameswaram). We celebrated the arrival of 2016 at Mannar Island.

DAY 2

We started the day (again 4am :P) by visiting the Rameswaram temple and then left towards Dhanushkodi (ghost town of Tamil Nadu). Dhanushkodi is where India ends according to the Hindu mythology. Cars don't go to the place as there isn't any roads and you'll need to hire the local jeeps to visit the place. At Dhanushkodi we witnessed what can happen if nature goes berserk (1964 cyclone) and also got to see the Rama-Sethu, from Dhanushkodi the island of Sri Lanka is just 18 KMs away. We returned to Rameswaram and also visited the local places like APJ Abdul Kalam's museum, Rama Padam, etc., before leaving to Kanyakumari.

We reached Kanyakumari after a four hour journey and also had the opportunity to witness the beautiful sunset. Before hitting the beds, we tried the local delicacies and also went around the streets of Cape Comorin.

DAY 3

After the sunset the previous day, it was time to witness the sunset. So we got up early again and rushed towards the sunset point after which we left to the island which houses the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. The Govt. Of Tamil Nadu has arranged ferry services to
the island at nominal rates. Few minutes of silence at the meditation hall of the memorial hall and then we were back on road to the capital of Kerala, Trivandrum.
Before going to Trivandrum, we visited Suchindram to pray for the mighty Lord Hanuman. Though Trivandrum is just 90 kilometers away it took us 4 hours to reach because of the traffic. We have our backbones a rest after a long day out.

DAY 4

1300 kilometers clocked on our tachometer, we started the last leg of our journey down south by visiting the richest temple in Asia for a morning darshan and then taking an early morning stroll on the Kovalam Beach. Without wasting any further time we left the beach as we had one more place to cover. Back on the roads, we headed towards Meenakshi Temple, Madurai. After a really good stretch of national highway, we reached Madurai within three hours. It was a Sunday and the temple was crowded so it took us sometime to get the blessings of Meenakshi Amman. We then had a proper Tamilian meal at Madurai and left towards Bangalore.
Since the long weekend had come to an end and many other travelers were also returning, there was a lot of traffic and we reached Bangalore by 9pm.

I looked back at my car, smiled and hugged it.
2000 and odd kilometers. No hiccups. Perfect companion.

Bangalore- Trichy- Thanjavur- Rameswaram- Dhanushkodi- Kanyakumari- Suchindram- Trivandrum- Madurai- Bangalore

Trip Expenses: Rs. 4000/- per head