Rajasthan round up: Vacation in 10 days (Part 1 of 4)

A post after a real long time. Had a great vacation in Rajasthan. For anyone wanting to travel, December is a great time to travel in Rajasthan (a little cold brrrrr.....) but its better than going in summer

A typical route could be Chennai-Jaipur (Stay 2 nights) - Jodhpur (1 day) - Jaisalmer (2 nights) - Ranakpur (1 night) - Udaipur(2 nights) - return from Ahmedabad to Chennai

I shall cover it in 4 posts - Jaipur (Part 1) - Jodhpur (Part 2) - Jaisalmer (Part 3) - Udaipur (Part 4)

Jaipur

We went to Albert Hall, Birla temple, on the way to City palace. In city palace, take the regular ticket (the 2.5K ticket may not be required unless you are an enthusiast). A guide can help and can charge anyway upwards of Rs. 400

Birla Temple - Our start for the vacation

 
Albert Hall - The pigeons are fun - they are trained to fly in unison and return - we saw this from outside only

City palace

Amber fort

Please feel free to contact me if you need any tips or clarifications and are planning your trip

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Haridwar and Rishikesh : A surprise trip // Photosynth a great tool

Made a surprise trip to Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand. Bathed in the Ganges in the famous Har-ki-pauri ghat too. It was a day trip as I had a day off and we actually managed without any need for a hotel booking from Pantnagar.

BTW, I used the Photosynth app to shoot the Lakshman Jhula temple and must say that both the location and the app rock! (Click pick below)You feel as if you are standing on the bridge and seeing the ganga flowing past you.


Tips: Leave the car in the parking and walk across in the shortcut with just your towel. Its less cold than you think even in Nov . Hold the rails and it is quite safe if you do. Its refreshing and gives good sleep - so dont plan to drive after a bath in the river.

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Restaurant: Kadamba: Iyengar cuisine on iyer(higher) p(a)lates

On Bangalore Mysore road there are several joints and one of my friends (Siva Kumar) suggested this joint as a "safe" veggie joint.

Maddur Vada

Truly interesting concept near Maddur/Chennapatna and this place is definitely worth a visit

They serve puliyodhare - a traditional iyengar rice based dish and several others too. (Apart from Iyengar Yoga cuisine is famous too)

Just so you can spot it easily, (its on the left of the road when you go from Bangalore to Mysore)

Statutory warning: No offenses meant to Iyers or Iyengars

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Interesting performance - Must see in Cochin - Kathakali Dance Centre

The Cochin Cultural Centre - Kathakali Centre is centrally located in Cochin(Kochi) and in Ernakulam and is a popular destination. You need to generally pre-book to get assured seats for the 5 PM Lecture Demonstration









I am not the dance-seeing type (ahem...), and resisted going to this show. However, since we had an evening to spare I went with my family. The show was amazing and for a person like me who did not know (or care) anything about dance, the color music beat and speed was captivating.

The make up (a very important part of the show) starts early and please dont miss it. Also the proceeds from the centre support Kathakali - a dying art form

We saw it in the one located off MG Road.

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Cochin - ferry ride and Photographs: A trip to Kerala

For Rs 50 / person this ferry ride for about 2 hrs is one of the best ways to see the city scape of Cochin

The best time to go is around 5-6 PM and watch the sunset and the lights appear (a tip from our tourist taxi operator which was very useful)

They play nice music too on the ferry!

They show you the Cochin shipyard too. The ferry begins off MG Road.

Here are some photos (and some tips on taking night city scapes)

To photograph night city scapes - under expose your photos by 2~3 notches (I learnt it at Cochin!)

A Barge that we overtook

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Moments of awareness: Taking photographs of water - especially water falls

Photography tip:
I found that several times its important to give the feeling of flow. This can be achieved by increasing exposure a notch more than whats required giving the "flow" effect to water.Here is running water at three different exposures

One a more pensive note - its the same with life , giving things more time lets you see more things in flow :-)-

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What to see in Madurai: Thirumalai Rayar Palace, Famous Jigarthanda and Madurai Meenakshi temple and Mariamman tank (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of 2 of the trip to Madurai - Link to Earlier post (Part 1)

The evening visit to Mariamman tank was pleasant - actually that is the Chennai beach equivalent in Madurai. People generally land up at the tank to relax.

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

There is a avicha kazhangu there - tasted quite nice.

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

Finally the next morning e visited "THE" Madurai Meenakshi Temple. A quick tip - take the Rs 100 ticket - thats a no brainer but more important is that most people dont know that the ticket is valid for both Sivan and Meenakshi sannathis. That makes it really worthwhile and fast.Also there is a parking lot near the main entrance to walk down to the gopuram via a side street (The now famous HC case!)

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

1000 pillar hall

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

Some sculptures...

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

From Madurai_Palace_JigarThanda_Temple

This is Part 2 of the trip to Madurai - Link to Earlier post (Part 1)

As I started this post Madurai got famous for all the wrong reasons for its Mutt/Adheenam ;-)

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Tall trees is a great place - review and photos

Where to stay in Munnar ?  I stayed at Tall trees and found it to be a great place



This is a very nice place. Nestled inside a near 70 acre forest greenery and a little away from the Munnar town (approx 4 km) 


They offer beautiful cottages that overlook a green forested hill side. The campus is tastefully done and the staff is helpful. Its very peaceful..... note that I did not say silent - the cicadas and birds and frogs go all day long but I am sure you dont mind it ;-). The cottages are well done and furnished / maintained well.

Reception

 They have a small shop that sells knick-knacks too - chips, ceigarettes et al.

 The  way to the restaurant

 Brooks inside the campus....

 Glass roof dining at the restraunt .... very nice ambience and very friendly staff

They have a restaurant "Hill spice" that served Buffet Dinner and Breakfast. Very unique setting with glass ceilings. The only downside is that you need to walk up a hill (by city people standards) about 300-600 m to reach the restaurant .... well it builds up an apetite

There are lots of things for the children to do too - TT/Carrom/Rock Climbing/Play area/Shuttle and for some grown up types too - Ayurveda , Fitness walk

They help you hire an auto or a car to to to town or sight seeing in Munnar respectively.

(PS: I even heard Edavapathi movie is being shot in Munnar when we were there. Wonder what the movie name means!)

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What to see in Madurai: Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal Palace, Famous Jigarthanda and Madurai Meenakshi temple and Mariamman tank (Part 1)

Madurai - Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal or Palace, Famous Jigarthanda : What to see in Madurai:   (Part 1)
(Also referred as Thirumalai Naicker or Nayakar Mahal)

Many of us have solved the travelling salesman problem  but the same is faced by nearly every tourist (especially when faced with triple constraints of time wife and kids ;-) [See my earlier post on how to get to Madurai by bus]

So for those who want to spend a day in Madurai and dont want to strain yourself (i.e. want to nap in the afternoon and only do visits in the morning and evening)

Thirumalai Nayakkar Palace - Nice large hall worth visiting and will take about 2 hrs. I was pleasantly surprised with the the tamil language has evolved - it was quite a simple script with much reuse (modular language ;-))

As you finish the Palace and are feeling quite hot - head out to the "Famous Jigarthanda" - yes... thats the name of the shop. The Jigarthanda drink out here is amazing.

Its as good as the stuff thats available at Chennai Murugan Idly albeit the ice cream is filled with ice flakes

<<End of Part 1>> see Part 2



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