Tamil Nadu Road Trip– Chapter 1: All the Leg-work

 

Road Trip Summary

 

Dates: 15 December 2011 – 22 December 2011

 

Route: Chennai – Chidambaram – Karaikal – Rameswaram (NH 45, East Coast Road, State Highways, Rural Roads);  (see map at <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212985503433779843671.0004b7e3434283774e98a&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=11.609193,78.881836&spn=5.841001,10.821533&z=7> )

 

Chapter 2: Chidambaram; Stay - Hotel Grand Palace Stays; Places we Saw – Chidambaram Town and Temple, Pichavaram, SriMushnam, Veeranam Lake (hotel reviews and other local info at end of each chapter)

Chapter 3: Karaikal; Stay - Holidays Farms and Resorts; Places we Saw – Vedaranyam, Point Calimere (see post Wetland, Wonderland), Rural roads (Vedaranyam – Thiruthuraipoondi); Tranquebar (on the way back)

Chapter 4: Rameswaram; Stay – Hotel Sunrise View; Places we Saw – Thirupullani, Rameswaram Town and Temple, Dhanushkodi, train across Pamban Bridge

 

And for those of you who are interested, here is a list of the temples we visited: Thiruvahindrapuram, Sri Mushnam, Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Vedaranyam Ramar Padam, Thirukannapuram, Nagapattinam Mannargudi, Vaduvur, Thirupullani, Rameswaram

 

 

All three of us were excited. Finally, we were planning, for real, our trip of southern Tamil Nadu, and loving every moment of it. Ever since I had hung up that map of Tamil Nadu in my bedroom, I had been itching to drive along its highways, to see the vast expanses of ripe paddy fields, and groves of coconut and sugarcane, the marvellous temples tucked away in tiny villages, and in the midst of all these cultural beauties, the pockets of wildlife – both birds and beasts, that still thrived, protected by national laws and local law-enforcers.

 

All these places had until now only been names on maps, in the news or as stories from my parents, aunts and uncles… finally I’d get to see them for myself! It was after we bought an Eicher road atlas, that the actual fun started – my father and I started poring over the maps, listing out ‘must-do’ temples, the cities we wanted to stay at and all the places whose names caught our fancy!

 

We decided on Chidambaram as our first night-halt, the plan being to visit two Vishnu temples close by and of course the main Siva temple in Chidambaram itself. After some research on the internet, we picked the Grand Palace Stays Hotel. We called them up and booked a room (with a good view, please) for two nights. For our next halt along the coast, we had initially intended to stop at Nagapattinam, but based on feedback from people who had been there we decided that the French town of Karaikal was a better place to stay the night. Without much trouble we settled on the Holidays Farms and Resorts, called them up and reserved our rooms. In fact we liked their website so much we decided to stay there on our way back from Rameswaram – a decision we would be very happy with later on. For Rameswaram itself, things were not as simple. We were adamant on getting a hotel with rooms facing the sea, and the only place that seemed to offer that was the guest house of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. We went to their Chennai office in Egmore to book a room, but found that we should have come at least ten days in advance! Disappointed, we returned to the internet and the telephone and finally settled on Hotel Sunrise View who promised us a room with a sea-view.

 

Room bookings done, we felt like we had already left! We purchased all the essentials for our trip (mainly snacks), made sure the car was serviced, had all its wheels in place, and set about waiting for the 15^th of December to dawn.

 

We started off at around 9 am on the 15^th (an early start by our standards!) and made our way out of Chennai via the Chennai bypass to the west. We had heard that the coastal roads south of Pondicherry had been badly damaged by the rains in November, so the plan was to head south down the NH 45, staying parallel to the coastal road until just after Vizhippuram, and then turn east to join the coastal road somewhere between Pondicherry and Cuddalore (incidentally, this would also work out cheaper as the tolls on the coastal roads up till Pondicherry are almost twice as expensive). Soon after we hit the NH, near my undergraduate college, SRM, it started raining – a truly auspicious start! A cool day, lovely hill-station-like weather, a lovely road and a promising trip lay ahead of us, as we put the pedal to the floor – Tamil Nadu, here we come!

 

(to be continued…)

 

 

General Information

1. The Eicher Road Atlas of Tamil Nadu proved very useful during our trip . It’s available at book-stores in Chennai (Odyssey, Landmark, Higginbothams) and costs around Rs. 150.
2. Make sure you have enough cash with you as you might not always find an ATM.
3. Most petrol stations outside the major cities (only Chennai and Chidambaram on this trip!) only accept cash. Also, petrol stations can be few and far between, depending on where you are going – so make sure you have enough to get to the next major city.
4. If you hear news of an approaching cyclone when on a coastal road trip (assuming you are not an inveterate trouble/thrill-seeker) – make to the nearest, big inland town/city and weather out the storm! Roads can become awfully bad and in many cases completely blocked by uprooted trees, etc. and rail lines are also affected during the more severe cyclones.
5. As always, when on a road trip in India – if you think you have missed a turn-off, stop and ask! Signposting is good…but not consistent!