Day 2

Sunday, 29th June

Sunday dawned bright and early… we had showered, changed and ready to go by 7… Went downstairs, had breakfast (came complimentary with the room) and headed to the bus stand

From there, took the bus to Karaikal, and thereon after quite a wait, were on the road to Nagore (dargah, which is quite popular)… Made a quick visit to the dargah, and took some pics, 1st time saw an elephant in a Dargah…
On the road and on our way to Vailankanni (we had decided to start at the last point and make our way to Tranquebar)…Reached Vailankanni around 1ish… retained an auto, went into the church, took a glimpse of the beautiful architecture, palatial towers, the beautiful chapel and took some amazing shots…

Since we were on a tight agenda… we decided to get to Nagapattinam and then take a bus that will take us to Tranquebar… After an hour’s wait, and frustration about to set in, we hopped into a bus and decided that was it… we were not gonna budge… we shall leave when the bus does… which it did at 2pm… phew… finally!!! It then drudged along to Karaikal; the conductor was sweet, told us to stay put. Then dropped us off at Tranquebar bus stand… Even though the fort and beach are walking distance, it was blazing hot, so we took an auto… [There are not too many transport options here, so plan ahead to avoid getting stranded]…

Since we had heard of the Bungalow on the beach, we went there, decided to freshen up, and grab a bite to eat… What used to be the Governor’s mansion is today the Resort… With about 8 rooms, they are charging 4k per nite… we met a guy who is the cook and waiter, interesting guy he was… S and i had a mini coversation with him, after which he made us a deadly bowl of tomato pasta; rice, potato based curry, and 2rotis. All in less than 20mins… J [beware, it’s again on the expensive side]…

The walk along the beach… the rocks to laze on… ruins of a temple that is being reconstructed and ofcourse the Danish fort are the highlights of this place. Behind the temple, one can walk around and see the rest of the village, people going about their daily chores. The beaches are filled with fishing boats and so is the ocean, the waves dancing against the rocks, it’s a place where one can sit feeling at peace…
The fort is also nice, clean and even thought there is nothing much to see, you can walk up to the front entrance and get a view of the ocean running into miles. There is a museum with artifacts, documents dating back to when the Dutch ruled. Entry into fort costs Rs10, and if you are carrying your camera, be ready to shell out another Rs20… we walked up to the main front, sat on the wall and stared into the ocean. S was like, “why do we have to go back to chennai? why do have to work? lets just settle down here…” oh,yes, that is the feeling i had too~~

Porto Novo aka Parangipettai is another place we wanted to visit, but alas, no time… dint want to risk going there, lest it gets too late to catch a bus to Chennai, so next trip shall be Porto Novo and Pichavaram(just for the boat ride)

We had taken down the number of the auto guy, and so called him back to take us to the bus stand… from there we took a bus back to Karaikal, since there were none coming that way going to Chidambaram… and we waited for an hour or so at Karaikal for a Chennai bound bus… finally the wait was for Chidambaram bound bus.. Tried our luck with all buses standing there… people made suggestions – some told us to go to Pondy, take a bus to Chennai.. Some said go to Nagapattinam and then take a bus to Chidambaram… We dint go further away and get stuck somewhere… around 6, with no choice, we hired an auto to take us to Chidambaram… sweet guy that he was, promised to get us there in 2hrs. and that he would put us onto another bus/auto at Sirgazhi, bcos these guys have permit only in Pondy… so, we hopped in and finally after auto change and all, reached Chidambaram bus stand at 8…

Phew… yayy, we are going to Chennai finally[ i mean, S and i werent excited excited, but knew we had to get back and had found a way, thats all]… Alas, that was not to be so easy… the one bus that stood there was going to leave at 8 and reach Chennai around 3… ruled out… then we went to the counter to ask if we could book seats in the 1st bus that left Monday morn, only to be faced by a rude unpleasant person at the counter who said we cant book for morning and that we have to come and wait from 2am to get a seat… L

With no choice, we took the bus that left Chidambaram at 10pm, the bus promising to land us in Chennai at 4.30am… hopped in, and dozed a bit… Around 1.30, I woke up to realise we were already on ECR road… whoa… so, what it meant was we reached Chennai at 2.30am… J and came home couple of mins later~~~[a bit blurred, taken on phone]

I must say, this was one trip I shall not forget… And having been bitten by the travel bug, S and I have decided to explore new places every weekend [S has travelled a lot, and i’ve told her that i wanna go check out atleast half the places she has been to] ~~ yipee~~~Waiting for her to send across her set of pics….: