After leaving from Pichavaram i moved towards Nagapattinam.I remeber Ananth telling me about the Dutch fort nearby Nagapattinam.100 km of run and i reached Nagapattinam

This fort is master piece of Danish architectural design and style.Constructed in 17th century at Tranquebar, located nearby Nagapattinam. It was constructed in 1620 and still stands as a marvelous specimen of Danish architecture.
But my bad luck it was National Holiday on 01 Sep .Fort was closed.





I was planning to reach Point Calimere by the evening and stay there for the night,The only thing i was not sure about from where i have to leave the main road.Ananth kept me telling the name of a place from where i have to take a diversion.I tried repeating and remembering the name many time but i just kept forgetting it and the fact is i still dont know from where i should have taken diversion.

Ganpati Sthaapan in Progress..bang on the ECR



So in search of the correct route i actually ended by taking the incorrect route which landed me inside Velankanni town.The place,Streets,Roads were very very crowdy.Like some festival was going on.And i was right,I just bumped into a place which is a Pilgrim Place for Christians.When i spoke to the locals i came to know that every year a festival is held at Velankanni from 29 August to 08 th September to celebrate the birthday of Mother Mary - Mother of Jesus christ.



Met few peoples from Pune and Mumbai and they were quite surprised that i came this far from Pune and that too solo .We exchanged few group pics and said good bye with a promise to add each other in facebook. :P.He did find me in the facebook though

I quickly have a look at the beautiful place and started for Point Calimere.But somehow i missed the diversion and went ahead.Soon it became dark and i stopped for a refreshment break.I called Ananth for the best suitable place for the night stay.He adviced to stay at THONDI.

Yummy Dinner


And tea for pack up


I reached Thondi around 10:00 PM.Was feeling quite tired,so quickly went to bed.Good Night fellas

Cheers
Biru

awesome pics Biru bhai... keep them rolling... waiting for more...

Ah Biru ! So you, although not planned (like our trip) you happened to pass through Velankanni ! I guess you were destined to pass through and get some blessings too ! It's only during the feast days that there's so much crowd, otherwise it's only on weekends.

Take Care Biru & God Bless !

Thanks Buddy


Thanks a lot sir ji

Cheers
Biru

Day 3 - Thondi-Rameshwaram-Dhanuskodi-Thoothukudi-Tiruneveli-Kanyakumari

Route Map


So far it has been a wonderful journey on ECR,my next destination was Rameshwaram which was another 100 Kms.Road conditions were pretty good



It didnt took me much time to reach Rameshwaram.In between stopped at Pamban bridge for some photography.It is termed as india 02nd longest sea bridge.First largest is Bandra-worli sea link :P.






The railway bridge standing on the other side is a engineering marvel and most important thing 100 years old.Civil Engineers of current generation should learn something..These days newspaper and news channel headlines are flooded with the falling metro bridges :P.God save India






I reached Rameshwaram and had some breakfast,unlike any other pilgrimage the crowd was very less and no sign of security !!.
Rameshwaram is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to Hindus, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages
I parked my bike where i had my breakfast,left all my stuff with the owner and went inside the temple for Darshan.Camera was allowed inside the temple premise,but we weren't allowed to click any photograph inside the main temple.Fair Enough




I reached the main temple and paid 100 bucks to be in the quick darshan queue.It hardly took 1 hour for darshan,after darshan i headed towards Sea shore,which is at 02 min walk.I wanted to see the Floating stone bridg/ Setu which was build by Shri Ram,during the war with Ravana :P.But i guess that is only visible from satellite not by naked eyes :P







I moved towards Dhanuskodi which was another 15 Kms from Rameshwaram,I heard from few friends that a permit is required to reach dhanuskodi,but some friends told me that it isn't required at all.So i went alone on my luck,we will see

I rode till the end of the road and reached a small town from where Dhanuskodi was 08 Kms far.From that point there was no road ahead,the road was there but it was wiped out in Tsunami.It will be a tough 08 Km ride on Sand all alone..with no sign board and idea,in which direction to continue..




To Be CONTD !!!

Ride ahead wasn't pleasant,Considering the weight of the bike chances of getting stuck in the Sand were very high.Till the end of my vision i wasn't able to spot even a single soul around.But in regular intervals some buses and taxis can be spotted,which were helping me to move forward on the correct direction.

The weather was quite hot



This place made reminded me of Little Rann of Kutch,many similarities between both the places.Specially the feeling of getting lost.



I followed the Sandy trails and finally reached at a dead end.The water was crystal clear and i couldn't control myself and took a dip.It was quite relaxing





But where is the Land of the Lost - Dhanuskodi,Is it completely submerged in the water.There is nothing left.I prayed for those unfortunate souls who lost their lives in the deadly cyclone in 1964





While returning back i followed a tourist gypsy to avoid the getting lost situation.While returning they diverted from the main road,i blindly followed them and guess what they took me to the one of the Ruined City.








TO BE CONTD !!

Awesome pictures there Biru bhai!! Only recently did I started following your threads..But count me one of your fans from now on..
You must be the xBhpian with most no. of threads in the to-be-updated stage! Awesome ride there bro, .. keep riding and ride safe..

Biru, please check out last line of my signature :-)

You, Biru, are the Vasco Da Gama of the biking world. I'm sure if there was a chance to ride on the moon, you'd be the first in line !!

Cheers & Take Care

he would be first to start the line provided somras is available on the moon

Thanks Man

Cough Cough !!..What is it.I cant see whats there in your signature :P


Lol,Thanks man

Oh ! I would love be a owner of such business.Specially on the place like Moon

Enough,Can we come back to earth please

Cheers
Biru

Day 4 - Kanyakumari-Trivandrum-Kollam-Kottarakara-Kottayam

While going for bed last night,I requested the Hotel owner to wake me up in the morning.Sunrise in Kanyakumari happens between 05-30 to 06:00.I put 04 alarms at 10-10 mins interval and kept the mobile bit far from the bed,changed the alarm tone to the most annoying one.Just to make sure that i wake up on time to see the Sunrise.

In the morning after three alarms,i woke up at 05:30.And quickly rushed to the Sunrise point which was nearby.The sun had not come yet,I placed my self at a cozy location to enjoy the exuberant scenes of the sunrises.





The first rays of the sun.People started shouting,cheering and there was a huge uproar as soon at it started rising.



It was playing hide and seek


Lot of crowd gathered to View th sunrise



The golden reflection





In and around the Sunset/Sunrise point.



Tsunami Park


My purpose was completed,to witness the Sunrise at the southern most tip of India,to witness the three Oceans meet at one place.I returned to the hotel,packed my stuff and started for Trivandrum.

TO BE CONTD

Cheers
Biru

You Inspire!!!

Nothing left to say...

Thanks Sid

Cheers
Biru

And then the sun came out in full glory,saying 'show is over,get back to work'.So i came back to the hotel,packed my stuff and started towards Trivandrum.While entering Kanyakumari,i spotted a Church in the left hand side.So went there for a quick click.I moved further down and bumped into few fisherman's who were weaving fishing nets





Looking at me they started talking in Tamil and the only thing i was able to understand from their conversation was NATGEO :P .I immediately replied,I am not from Natgeo i am from Discovery :P



This is the fun of the solo rides where you get more time to communicate with the people around you.After reaching Kanyakumari,i did not had any concrete plan,which route to take for the return journey.Either visit the temple city Madurai or take the coastal route by taking the Trivandrum-Kochi route.I preferred to explore the Coastal beauty.But this decision of mine became on of my worst nightmare .

Paddy Fields along the Highway


I encountered heavy traffic from Nagercoil to Kollam.My entire day was spent on travelling between Kanyakumari - Nagercoil - Trivandrum.I was very much pissed off,every 10-15 kms there were cities on the highway,where they had huge traffic jam.I would suggest everyone to avoid this route

Enroute to Trivandrum i spotted some sign boards from Kerala tourism.Padmanabhapuram Palace and Thirparappu waterfalls,went off from the highway to visit the places.

Padmanabhapuram Palace - The diversion for Padmanabhapuram Palace is approx 70 km from Trivandrum on the road from Kanyakumari to trivandrum





This magnificent 16th century wooden palace was rules by the legendary kings of Venad.
The Padmanabhapuram Palace lies in the border of Tamilnadu but the fort actually belongs to the the royal family of Travancore, hence it is maintained by the Kerala government. Amazing




The palace is one of the best examples of the traditional wooden architecture of Kerala.
Such stately homes were adorned with carved wooden ceilings, curved and slatted shuttered windows, intricate interlocking beams for the roof, sculpted door panels and pagoda like tiled roofs.Every single design was freaking awesome and in well preserved condition.



A temple in the middle of the Palace campus




Intricate carvings and murals and exquisite wall paintings reflect the unique talent of the sculptors and painters of the olden times.

First wooden palace i have seen in my entire life

Looks like Diwan - E - Aam to me




Any guesses on the brand name :P


From Padmanabhapuram palace i moved to Thirparappu waterfalls.Road was in pathetic condition.It was my fault that i took the internal route.Instead of that i should have moved back to the Highway and had taken the road towards towards Trivandrum and then from there,there is a diversion for these falls.
Enroute Thirparappu falls



Thirparappu waterfalls - I was very much disappointed when i visited this place,as there was no water in the waterfall and an 100 rs entry fees was charged along with the still camera .There were some old temple of Lord Shiva there,but they were closed for renovation.





I did not wasted much time there and moved back to the highway.Meanwhile the chain started to give me some trouble.it has loosen up badly.While i reached trivandrum i spotted a Honda showroom on the main highway.I immediately pulled out and gave my bike for chain clean.lube and tightening.But my bad luck,it was their lunch time,so i had to wait for two hours .

At 03:30 i got my bike back and started ahead.Again the same story started.Long traffic jams in every 15-20 kms.I reached Kollam and decided to leave the main highway and follow the internal highways to avoid the pathetic traffic jams.I moved towards Kottarakkara-Vettiyar-Kottayam.

I reached Kottayam by 8:00 PM.It was a very tiring day,so stopped at Kottayam for the night halt.

Cheers
Biru