Around and in Rajahmundry

Trip members: Karthik, Sanjeev, Prem and Sathish Raja
Trip date:  16 and 17 Dec 2017
Trip Plan : Chennai - Rajahmundry - Maredumilli - Rajahmundry - Chennai

A weekend trip planned to venture into not-so common region.

Day-1

We reached Rajahmundry by 7 AM. We refreshed and had local breakfast at a shop outside the railway station and started the trip to Maredumilli. Maredumilli is a forest region located en-route to Bhadrachalam from Rajahmundry. There are few waterfalls in this region and forests all around.

We reached the first place around 9:30 - Rampa falls at Rampachodavaram. Rampa falls is 4 kms from Rampachodavaram. The Rampa falls is quite small and looks like there are few more when we climb up the hills. We lacked local guidance and ended up in a small water falls - provided none there, we were left all by ourselves in this small falls. The water was very cold and we enjoyed every bit of it. We spent around 30 minutes here. There is a small temple like place near this small water falls. Rs.10 per person is collected as entrance ticket here.

We then returned back to highway and around 30 kms from there, we reached Jalatarangini Waterfalls. Jalatarangini Waterfalls is the one actually in the Maredumilli forest range. On the way, at the Maredumilli village, the place is very popular for Bamboo chicken and bamboo biryani. My tripmates enjoyed every bit of the bamboo chicken and ordered (paid) bamboo chicken biryani for lunch. We then went towards Jalatarangini Water Falls.

Jalatarangini Waterfalls is a cascade of running water amidst forest and rocks. Rs.25 is collected as entrance ticket per person for this falls. During monsoon this place would be heaven. There was some water and beautiful surroundings for us to enjoy. We walked quite a bit in the rocks and water to get to a convenient place to take bath. We spent close to 45 minutes here and enjoyed every bit if the freezing water and the locality.

Next, we stopped by Manyam view point. This is view point, from where one gets to see the valley of Maredumilli. The lush green view is nice to see and take photographs. We can also see the curvy roads beneath.

Further, 9 kms down the NH, is Amruthdhara Waterfalls. Rs.20 is collected as entrance ticket per person for this falls. This is again a cascade of waters in steep rocks. One needs to climb down a steep pathway to reach the waterfalls. This place is not so comfortable to take bath but can slide. We just saw the falls and climbed back.

Return, we stopped by Maredumilli village for lunch. Veg lunch was packed and made available; which bamboo chicken biryani and pot biryani were ready to be served.

We reached back Rajahmundry by 4 PM. We stopped by Godavari ghat - T.T.D ghat and saw the sprawling bridge over the massively long Godavari river. This river bridge is rail-cum-road bridge - It is Asia's third longest road-cum-rail bridge crossing a water body after the longest one in Patna and second one in Osaka. The bridge is 4.1 kilometers long - 2.8 kms rail bridge and 4.1 kms for the road bridge. Boating is available here by the ghat from government operators. We decided to go for boating in the morning. At night, the bridge is lighted with colorful lights, a nice view to see.

We then checked in at Hotel Akshay Residency. Akshay Residency rooms were spacious and ok in cleanliness. The service was also ok. The locality is perfect with respect to 10 minutes walk to Godavari ghat and a min walk into the market. We spent all the evening crawling by the market enjoying the street foods - tomato bhajjis, bondas and much more!

We did not miss the famous Rose milk parlour in the market. For Rs.40, the rose milk was class apart - great flavour and enough quantity. The shop is always crowded and the visit is worth! If you are in Rajahmundry - Rose milk is a definite to have! We also had dinner in road side restaurants - idlies and dosas with sambhar and varieties of chutneys - very comfy basic local dinner - satisfaction guaranteed.

Day-2

Lazy start to the day and the plan was to visit temples in walkable distance and do boating in Godavari river. We started with no 1 rated restaurant for breakfast - Hotel Udipi Akshaya. We had dosas, idlies, vadai, poori, pongal and coffee. They were not disappointing, though not the best in the class. After all, they are the best in Rajahmundry.

First stop - ISKCON @ Rajahmundry. The temple is on the other side of railway track. The temple, varnished in blue, typical ISKCON, hosts all avatars of Vishnu all around. We spent around 20 minutes in the temple.

We then took an auto from the temple to Sri Markandeya Swamy temple. The temple is on the river banks of Godavari. The temple is one of its kind across India. The temple hosts Lord Shiva in form of Sri Markandeya Swamy, Lord Vishnu as Sri Ventaramana, Lord Ganesh, Hanuman and Navagrahas. We spent around 20-30 minutes in the temples.

Godavari river boating - there are 2 types. One is speed boat - Rs.354/- and other Rs.40 per person for a bigger boat. The speed boat ride is for 8-10 minutes and the bigger one for 15 minutes. We opted for speed boat - 4 people can go for Rs.354. We got beautiful view of the Truss and Arch bridges across Godavari. Definitely, boating is a must-to-do in Rajahmundry.

We then checked out, had an excellent lunch in Hotel JK Classic. We had biryani, jeera rice and dhall. The ambiance is excellent and so was the service and food. It took some time to get the food, but, was freshly prepared and exciting to eat. We then boarded back to Chennai by 4 PM in Circar express.

Overall, a weekend getaway in a not so popular or common town.

Kanchi Temples

Trip members: Karthik and family
Trip date:  12 Nov 2017
Trip Plan : Chennai - Kanchipuram (Kancheepuram) - Chennai

Kanchipuram is around 55 kms from Tambaram. We started around 5:45 am. There are endless number of temples to go; few are selected and special to visit, few relates to one religious interests and few relates to local people.

We decided to visit few popular and special temples around the main area of Kanchipuram.

• Ekambareswarar Temple
• Kailasanatha Temple
• Kamakshi Amman Temple
• Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
• Sri Ulagalanda Perumal Temple
• Chitragupta Swamy Temple
• Kachapeshwarar Temple (very close to Kumarakottam Muruga temple)
• Sri Subramaniya Swami Temple (Kumarakottam Muruga temple)

By 7 AM, we entered Shri Ekambareswarar temple. This temple is open from 06:00 to 12:30 and then 16:00 to 20:30. This temple is one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalas, associated with the five elements and specifically the element of Earth. The temple complex houses four gopurams; The south tower is one of the tallest temple towers in India - 55m. The temple hosts many deities - the temple is dedicated to Lord Ekambareswarar - Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is embraced by Kamakshi under a Mango tree in this temple. The temple also houses Nilathingal Thundam Perumal temple, a Divyadesam, of the 108 temples. There was no crowd and we spent close to 30 minutes in the temple. He also had prasadams at the temple prasadam stall. Curd rice was very good; so as the thattai.

We then visited, Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, just 300m from the temple. This is an Hindu institution - mutt. The mutt was founded by Adi Shankaracharya. Currently, Sri Jayendra Sankara Swamigal hosts the mutt. We were able to see him and had his blessings. The mutt hosts the Brindavan of Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal. We did prayers there and seek blessings. We spent close to 20 minutes here.

We had breakfast at Upashana Hotel. This hotel is closer to Chitragupta Swamy temple. The south Indian breakfast served were all quite good and so as the service. Hotel Sangeetha used to be here earlier.

We next went to Kachapeshwarar Temple. This temple is very easy to locate - next to bus stand - as you turn right towards Kumara Kotam; present on the left side. It is at the Kachapeshwarar Temple that the Lord Shiva can be seen being worshiped by Lord Vishnu in the form of a tortoise. The sculptures were detailed and nice. The main deity of this temple is called as Kachabeswarar. The goddess is called as Soundarambikai. It took us around 20-30 minutes with no crowd to visit this temple.

Next, we visited, the host of the town - Kamakshi Amman Temple. The Goddess Kamakshi prevails in the form of Shakti as one of the 51 Shakti Peetas across the country. Though there are many Shiva temples in the city, the only temple to have the sanctorum of the goddess is Sri Kamakshi Amman temple. No other temples in the town has sanctorum for goddess. There was considerable crowd in the temple and it took around 15-20 mins in the queue to have our dharshan. Overall, the big temple, for us to get around and see the main deity on a weekend would take close to 45 minutes. The temple premises also hosts deity “Adivaraha Perumal” one of the 108 Vaishnaivaite deity worship temples. The temple pond is quite big and deep in this temple.

The next stop was for Ulagalandha Perumal Temple. This temple is dedicated for Lord Vishnu and one of the 108 Vaishnavaites temple. This is very close the Kamakshi temple - around 300m. The temple is quite low from the ground level and hosts the Vamana Avatar of Lord Vishnu. The main deity is very tall - around 40 feet with one foot in air and one foot on head of King MahaBali. The deity is quite fascinating to see for the mammoth structure. The Viman of the temple is very different when compared to most of the temples in Tamilnadu - broad and short. There are 3 Divyadesams within this temple - Neeragam, Karagam and Kaaravannam.

Chitragupta Swamy Temple - located on the main road near to the bus stand was our next place. This temple is known to wash away sins and known as Ketu Parihara sthalam. This is one of the rarest temples to be present. We spent around 10 minutes here. Lighting lamps in this temple is a well known way of worshiping in this temple.

We then visited, the most historic - Kailasanathar temple. This temple is under ASI and hosts lots of damaged amazing sculptures. This is said to be the oldest temple in Kanchipuram. The temple is being renovated now. The sand stone carvings are very beautiful, the temple being surrounded by lots of Nandhis. The Lingam is a massive one and not all can do pradakshana in the inner prakaram. One has to be go through a small window like passage by crawling and then walk around the inner prakaram. Again, crawl very inconveniently towards the exit to come out. Children and elders would not be able to do this. This is said to be related to birth and death in one's life. The main prakaram is surrounded by various avatars of Lord Vishnu and Goddesses.

We planned to visit Kumara Kottam before leaving back to Chennai. Kumara Kottam is dedicated to Lord Murugan. This is one of the prominent temples in Kanchipuram. This is on the main road from Kamakshi temple to Ekambareshwarar temple. There was no much crowd and we had the dharshan in 10 minutes and back. It was noon by then.

We had quick lunch at Hotel Saravana Bhavan - parking was available; one of the reasons to stop here. The quick lunch was served quick and was ok. Drive back to home by 14:00!