Our memorable trip to South

We had a memorable trip down to South during April/May, 2006. 

Well, traveling always brings zinc thing in our life.  Every one in the family was excited about the trip

The much awaited day came 26^th April, 2006.  We started from Indore (via Bhopal & Chennai) to Kanya Kumari.

Travelling by 3 tier A/c. during summer is a wonderful experience indeed. The one convenience, besides cool atmosphere inside the train, I felt in traveling 3 tier A/C coaches is that hawkers and rag pickers are never allowed to come in.   Moreover, one can take rest without much disturbance whether it is day time or night.  You can sleep peacefully during nights since 3 tier a/c coaches  have attendants.  In fact, we had great fun in the train.

A travel without children, chocolates and (of course) currency may not be cheerful and exciting.  

We bought plenty of chocolates, during train journey, for eating after every meals and whenever our children got bored, we gave them.  We also carried some games for keeping them engaged.  Indeed the train journey was cheerful.

We reached Tirunelveli (about 80 km from Kanya Kumari) on 29^th April, 2006 to attend my cousins marriage.  We were made to stay in the spacious Mandap.  Attending marriages is indeed a satisfying and enjoyable experience.  Marriage is a function where one gets to meet all the relatives, near and dear ones, sometimes - after a long gap.  All share their experiences and enjoy heartily. 

The  next day  cousins marriage was there.  We were so busy from the morning, the day passed so fast.  They say `marriages are made in heaven.  Indeed, it seemed like  the heaven came down to the earth and every one enjoyed it to the maximum.   We enjoyed the whole day in the marriage and also the delicious and traditional Tamil foods offered in the marriage function.

The next day, we visited the famous Kanya Kumari.  Kanya Kumari, southern most tip of the country, is truly outstanding for its sceneric beauties and other important places which include Gandhi Mandap, Kumari Amman Temple, Vivekananda Rock (where Vivekananda used to meditate), 133 ft. Gigantic Saint Thiruvalluvar Statue.  We stayed for a day at spacious and beautiful Vivekananda Ashram (run by Vivekananda Society) situated in the heart of the town.  In the wee hours of morning, we got up and rushed to see the sun rise but unfortunately clouds in the sky did not allow us to have a glimpse of rising sun.     The five minutes boat ride from the main land to first Vivekanand Rock and then to the rock on which Thiruvalluvar statue is situated was fun and really enjoyable.  For shopping lovers, Kanya Kumari has lot to offer from sea products like sea-shells and conches to delicious dry fruits, every thing at affordable rates.

The legendary end of India's land Kanyakumari is surrounded by three seas, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Sea. Therefore the meeting point is called 'Thriveni Sangamam". This place is famous for outstanding views of the sunshine and sunset. The beach of Kanyakumari is an unique beach having multi colored sand which tourists collect and take it away for showing it to others.

It is a wonderful sight to see when the huge waves of the sea hit itself against the rocks and then weaken, before it gathers itself up for another hit. There is a variety of shells found on this beach.

There are other places too like  Suchindram  situated around 13 kms from Kanyakumari which we could not visit due to shortage of time. The Thanumalayan temple here is a depository of art that treasures belonging of those kingdoms, who once ruled this place. The Courtallam Fall situated almost 137 kms and located at a height of 167 m, is believed to contain therapeutic water and thousands of people-visit-every-day-during-season.

Gigantic 133 ft. Thiruvalluvar statue at Kanyakumari