My Travels - 2011

Hi,

I am giving the links to my older posts here as I felt it was difficult to navigate around this blog.

1. The After Effects of Tsunami : A Weekend Gone Sour

2. Tirupati Trip

3. Coonoor - Kothagiri Trip

4. Wayanad Trip

5. Guntur Trip

6. Halebid Belur Trip

7. Thekkady - Idukki Trip

8. Munnar Trip

9. Hyderabad - Waarangal Trip

10. Mazhai In madras

11. Pondicherry Trip

12. Caves In/around Chennai - 1 - Goodiyam Caves

13. Kaatupalli Island Trip

14. Waalajah - Arcot - Vellore Trip

15. Chitoor Trip

16. Hills in Chennai - 1 - Chinna Malai

17. Hills in Chennai - 2 - Parangi Malai

18. Temples in Chennai - 1 - Thiruvalluvar Temple

19. Caves In/around Chennai - 2 - Chinna Malai Cave

20. Caves In/Around Chennai - 3 - Vallam Caves

21. Temples In Chennai - 2 - Singa Perumal Kovil

22. Temples in Chennai - 3 - Sekkizhar Kovil

23. Temples in Chennai - 4 - Kundrathoor Murugan Kovil

24. Temples in Chennai - 5 - Thiruneermalai Kovil

25. Tada falls

26. Kollimalai Trip

27. Kannur and Thalassery Trip

28. Nilgris Trek Day 1

29. Nilgris Trek Day 2

30. Nilgris Trek Day 3

31. Nilgris Trek - Murugamalai

32. Nilgris Trek Day 4

33. Nilgris Trek Day 5

34. Nilgris Trek Day 6

35. Kottai Malai

36. Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai

37. S V Nagaram Aranmanai

38. Goa Trek Day 1

39. Goa Trek Day 2

40. Goa Trek Day 3

41. Goa Trek Day 4

42. Goa Trek Day 5

43. Goa Trek Day 6

44. Goa Trek Day 7

45. Goa Trek Day 8

46. Goa Trek Day 9

47. Kollimalai Trek Day 1

48. Kollimalai Trek Day 2

49. Heritage walk to Fort St. george

50. Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day 1

51. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 2

52. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 3

53. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - day 3

54. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - day4

55. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 5

56. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 6

57. Thirusoolam Quarry

58. Heritage walk to St thomas mount

59. Vijayawada Trip

Vijayawada Trip

Vijayawada trip

Date : 5-3-2011
Place : Vijayawada
People : Megarajan and Raghavendra

Another day, Another Marriage, this time in Vijayawada.

There is something interesting about caves and I heard there were many caves around vijayawada. Hence the plan was to see as many of them as possible.
These were the ones I had in mind.

[1] Undavalli caves
[2] Mogalrajapuram caves
[3] Akkanna and Madana caves

But I was able to see only Undavalli caves in this trip and I had to miss the others.

Undavalli caves

The undavalli caves were just outside of vijayawada and were well maintained by the ASI.



Description of the undavalli caves



Old Telugu Inscriptions in the cave



Brahma and other associated gods.



anantasayana perumal



Greenery around the caves :



Garuda ;



Not sure who these people are , but they keep a constant watch.




Amaravathi stupa :

In my last trip , I missed this one and I expected a lot out of this. But it turned out be a damp squib with nothing more than a mound.

This is a buddha statue currently being built to make amaravathi more prominent in the buddhist tourist map.








this is model of the stupa which must have been present in amaravathi .




Kondapalli fort


In my many previous treks, though I have not been the fittest of all, I have seen many people struggling hard to climb, and needed help. But today was the day when it caught up with me and I was left gasping for breath and I had to see others waiting for me to catch up. :-( . Somehow with the help of Raghavendra who accompanied me in this trip, I was finally able to climb to the top.




The fort was a big one and it had the nicest of views.






Kondapalli Toys

After we climbed down the kondapalli fort, we spent a lot of time going through the shops in the kondapalli village and finally I didnt buy anything worthwhile.
The toys were many and were very good. I wish they were more popular and they sold more of them.



This was the biggest of them all and was eye catching.

Heritage Walk - St. Thomas Mount

Date :22-8-2010
Place : St. Thomas Mount, Chennai

The Madras Day events are scheduled in august, and I attended the Heritage walk in St.George Fort last year and this year.

This year, a new Heritage walk was scheduled at St. Thomas mount closer to my home.
I have already been to St. Thomas Mount and this will be a good time to explore the surrounding areas.

Garrison Church

We started the walk from this church, one of the oldest churches in chennai. This church had been only for army officers and now is open to the public.





Doubting Thomas :

This was a picture of "Doubting Thomas". the story goes that after jesus resurrection, one of his disciples thomas, didnt believe and hence jesus asked him to touch him and see whether he was real. This painting shows that act.



Old Homes :



Path to Hill :

St. Thomas Mount has 2 ways to climb, one for the vehicles and one via the steps.





Lone Statue :



Church :



Pope :

Pope had been here.



Kathipara :

View of the Guindy Kathipara Flyover from here.



Plane :

This is a nice place to catch sight of the planes to airport.



Lambton :

Its tough to believe that the discovery of Mt. Everest as the tallest mountain in the world started from chennai. Lambton was a british officer who was interested in doing surveys and took up the effort to survey the whole of india. After his death, it was continued by others, which finally led to the exact measurement of everest as the tallest mountain in the world.






Steps Entrance :

This is the entrance for those who want to climb this mountain via steps.





Dilapidated building :

We are not sure what purpose this building had, in the olden times, but now it is being used by the Punjab regiment of army and they are not doing a good job in maintaining it.





Cheers

Thirusoolam Quarry

If you are a watcher of tamil cinema you must have seen this place in many tamil movie climaxes and songs.

I am posting a collection of photos that I took at the Thirusoolam Quarry.
The Photos belie the sheer depth and magnitude of this place.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day6

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Todays plan was to trek from Kadavarai/Kilavarai to kovilur in kerala and then to munnar by bus.














We started on the other side of the mountain which belonged to tamilnadu and came down to this side of the mountain which belongs to kerala.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day5

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Day 3

Day 4

Todays plan was to trek from Manavannur to Kadavarai.

Immediately after waking up in the morning, we went for bison sighting in this place because everyone told that in the nights bison would be staying here. But were unlucky and not able to see any bisons.











Kadavarai

We reached kadavarai by evening and were told that we were right on the border of tamilnadu and kerala. like one leg in tamilnadu and one leg in kerala :-)