Lepakshi..the beautiful ruins..

A short drive from Bangalore are located the mesmerizing ruins of Lepakshi. It's like being transported to a new world altogether, magnificent, old world charm and just quietness. It's a simple and nice drive from Bangalore on the bangalore-hyderabad highway. The road is good, even after the diversion when you enter the small village, the road is quite good.

The Ruins of Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh

The entry Gate, Lepakshi

The story of Lepakshi is, in the ramayana the bird jatayu while fighting with ravana fell here and lord rama while caring for it, he sai "Le Pakshi", "Rise Bird" in Telegu.

The hanging pillars, Lepakshi

The famous hanging pillars are good to see, but without a guide will be little difficult to understand it.
There is a beautiful ganesh idol and a shiva lingam housed inside the massive seven hoods and three coils of a naga, so a nagalingam which is said to be one of the largest nagalinga in India.

Nagalingam at Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh

Ganesha hewn in stone, Lepakshi

Also there are ancient paintings, finest specimen of mural paintings of vijaynagar kings.

Mural paintings, Lepakshi

Mural Paintings, Lepakshi

Apart from this there is a spectacular monolithic nandi and the kalyan mantapa which is also an architectural marvel!! Its just 130 kms away from Bangalore and makes for an interesting day visit!!

A short trip to pondicherry..

The magic of a sunset, is the orange hues

splashed across the bronzed sky

as the wide leaves of the coconut trees

sway in the cool mystical sea breeze!!

Sunset at Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India 

The story started from a friend's wedding in Chennai, and with the long weekend around the corner. We decided to go to Pondicherry, the land where time stops. Unlike the beach capital of Goa, a pondicherry holiday is about relaxation and cafe hopping and shopping at auroville!!

We took an AC bus from koyambedu bus stop in Chennai, and got lucky as the bus was waiting at the stop. With the ticket cost of only Rs.135, it was an awesome bargain and the bus didn't disappoint at all. We started around 9.30 pm and by 1.30 the bus had dropped us to our destination, pondicherry bus stop.

Our earlier booked hotel, a bed and breakfast Inn in the french quarters had cancelled our booking at last minute and we stayed at hotel sathya sai, which turned out to be a great bargain again at Rs.800 a day for 2 person stay. The room was clean with a big enough bathroom and a functional TV, and teh staff was helpful and cooperative.

To roam around the city, you can easily hire a bike or a bicycle. A bike would only cost around Rs.400 for a day and you can bargain for 2 days easily.

Here's my summary of the Best Cafes I liked in Pondicherry:

1. The Indian Kaffe Express
- Absolutely great for breakfast with innovative options and really tasty food. The service takes a bit of time but then pondicherry is for relaxation. It is well situated within the french quarters and you should definitely give it a try!!

2. Zuka
- For all chocolate lovers, this is nothing less than heaven and absolute must try!!

3. The Hidesign Cafe
- An absolute bargain with delicious food!! and a great location being inside the pondicherry bazaar
Much better than the expensive options

4. Le Cafe
- Awesome location right beside the beach and good snack options

We also tried LB2 lounge and cafe Shanti, but they were ok nothing great as such! and you can try so many other cafe options available!!

Coming back to attractions, we did roam around the majestic french quarters, its a must see. And we did some shopping around the bazaar, if you like leather bags, definitely try hidesign factory outlet where you can get as much as 60-70% off.

Pondicherry Market, pondicherry, Tamil Nadu

I loved this small bazaar with mud objects, they were a treat to watch.

Next day we started off in morning to auroville, on our rented bike and reached quite easily in about 35 minutes. We walked to the statue, which was nice and then shopped around for incense sticks and hand made soaps. We had a nice quite lunch and then moved to serenity beach in pondicherry.

Coming to beaches, there is obviously the promenade, the rocky beach but it is mostly crowded. Serenity beach was a great discovery. It has less crowd, you can do surfing here and it's great to just sit on the rocks and watch waves crash by. Its quite clean, littered with fishermen boats.

Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a great weekend break, for relaxation! For just roaming around!!

Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

A Monsoon love story: Me and the Andaman Islands!!

Monsoons are romantic, monsoons are colourful..the pallete of colours that appears on sky can put any colourful painting to shame. I am a hopeless lover of the monsooons..so my first travel post is a monsoon post to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

So yes, I travelled in the off season, of late july, which has both pros and cons. The tourists were still there but much lesser than the peak season, and you are free to enjoy the island beauty in its stillness in its charming loneliness!! On the flipside, a few of the beaches were closed and there is no private ferry, although I really enjoyed the charm of the government ferry, also was way cheap on the pocket.

Port Blair, Andaman Islands

So on a five day trip..this is how our iterinary went
- Landed in port Blair around 1..spent the day there
- Day 2 to havelock Island in a government ferry
- Day 3 to Niel from Havelock and spent the day there
- Day 4 Back to havelock, entire day there
- Day 5 Morning back to Port Blair and flight from there

The highlights of the trip or the things you should definitely do, in part images and part words..

Cellular Jail

1. Cellular Jail
Its a sad tragic story with a beautiful architecture and in the rains it just becomes more magnificent!!

Architecture of cellular Jail, Port Blair

The architecture with massive lines is just imposing, it narrates a tale of perseverance and strength. Its the main thing to see in port blair. It was an afternoon spent well.

View from the top- cellular Jail

We spent the evening at Rajiv Ghandhi park, which looks beautiful in evening with monsoon clouds There is nothing much to do here just stroll around and relax.

Rajiv Gandhi Park, Port Blair

Then started the journey to Havelock, the governemnt ferry leaves at 6.30 am and second at 9.30, we missed the first one

Boats at Havelock Deck, Andaman Islands

Havelock is just beautiful, to describe it as anything else would be just not true. Radhanagar beach, vijaynagar beach and kalapathar..the white sands, crystal blue water and untouched natural beauty. Radhanagar beach has truly been described as one of the best beaches in Asia, but I loved Kalapatahr becah even more, its just pristine, yet untouched.

Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands

Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands, Andaman

It's very easy to roam around in havelock using a two wheeler on rent. Personally I didnt find much in Neil island, you can easily roam around using a bicycle. We did snorkelling here, since the crowds are lesser. You can give it a miss, if you don't have much time.

I hope you like reading it and was somewhat helpful, would love to hear your comments!!

Andaman Islands