Murdeshwar is around 160 kms from Mangalore. The roads near the Suratkal stretch was really in a pathetic condition as 4 lane work was going on. It took me some time to get over this stretch. We passed Udupi and Kundapura and reached a marvelous place called Marvanthe. The beauty of Marvanthe lies in the fact that road (NH 17) is only 100 meters from the sea shore and this stretch of road has Arabian sea on one side and a river named Souparnika on the other side. Its really a unique view having sea and river on either side of a road.

We resumed our journey again after a 15 minutes break at Marvanthe. It was raining heavily on the way to Murdeshwar as monsoon season is in its best during this period. By around 2.00 pm we reached Murdeshwar. Once we got down from the car, we could see the huge statue of Lord Shiva.

Murdeshwar is situated on the coast of Arabian sea, around 12 kms from Bhatkal on NH17. The major attractions of this place are;

Murudeshwara Temple: This temple is built on the Kanduka Hill which is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Arabian Sea. 20-storied Gopura (Tower structure) is being constructed in front of this Shiva temple. Two life-size elephants in concrete stand guard at the steps leading to the temple.

Statue of Lord Shiva: A huge towering statue of Lord Shiva is present near the temple complex. It is said to be the tallest statue of Shiva in the world. The statue is 123 feet (37 m) in height, and took about 2 years to build. The statue was built at a cost of approximately 10 million Rs. The idol is designed such that it gets the sun light directly and thus appears sparkling.

The Shiva statue has 4 hands and the hand which is having the small drum, behind the left hand was hit by lightning and had crashed down. The construction work on this hand is currently progressing and because of this, we were not able to go near the statue.

The statue and the complete area around is not a govt owned property, but owned by a private party who recently renovated the years old temple. The place is well maintained with greenery all around and lot of other small sculptures.

View of the Arabian Sea.

We had our lunch from a beach restaurant and started out journey back to Mangalore by 4.30pm. We reached back Mangalore around 9.00pm, bad roads and heavy rains prevented us from reaching early. It was really an enjoyable trip.

How to reach Murdeshwar:

By Road: Murdeshwar is one km deviated from the NH17, around 160 kms from Mangalore and 220 kms from Goa.

By Train: Murdeshwar lies in the Konkan stretch and many trains stop at this station, including express trains.

By Air: Nearest airport is Mangalore or Goa.

Alleppey is also famous for boat races, enchanting beaches and coir industry. Alleppey is an integral part of Kerala’s Tourism Scenario, for the journey through Kerala backwaters in houseboats (Kettuvallam/Boat House).

Kettuvalloms or Houseboats (Riceboats) are country boats that were used in the early days for the transport of goods from the isolated interior villages to the towns. With the advent of roads, bridges and ferry services, gradually the Kettuvalloms went off the scene. Now these Kettuvalloms are back again as a major tourist attraction. A ride on a Kettuvallom is a nice way to explore the fascinating beauty of the backwaters of Kerala.

Houseboats are typically made up of wood and have average lengths of 60-70 feet, although bigger versions are also available today. The house boats are fully furnished single and double rooms with sundeck, balcony with comfortable chairs, kitchen and toilet with WC. Bigger houseboats are 2 storied one with balcony for the bedrooms. In addition there is also separate rest room for the crew. The crew includes a chef and two oarsmen. The cuisine is traditional Kerala flavour with the local specialities; delicious fish and prawns.

A typical houseboat has

• Bedrooms (AC/Non AC) with attached bath
• Kitchen with a Traditional Kerala Cook
• A Navigator/Guide
• A Living Area of a deck for viewing.

While enjoying the houseboat ride you can also halt in between to stretch your legs on the shore, take in a quick bottle of fresh sweet toddy from a local pub (Liquor), or just climb up a coconut tree and make life long memories.

How to reach Alleppey:

If you are interested in having a ride in the enchanting houseboat, you can mail us at admin@nirmaltv.com or call us at +91 99860 68558. We have several packages from 1 to 10 days full along through the entire Kerala backwater. You can enjoy your Holidays in the safest way!

This has been the state of Air Deccan, I would say the worst airline of India. I had 2-3 experience of poor service from this airline. I had booked 4 tickets to Port Blair from Chennai more than 2 months before the date of travel. Just 2 weeks before the date, when we went to collect the tickets, the tickets were not available, it was sold at a higher rate because of the heavy rush.

Another instance when my cousin was traveling to Chennai, after getting the boarding pass, when he about to get into the airline, the authorities told that the seats were full! How come the seats were full when he had already a seat for that flight. Instead they offered him ticket to Kolkata and told that he would be given a complimentary pass to Chennai as he had a connecting flight to Kochi from Chennai at 5 pm same day. When he reached Kolkata, they told him that the next flight to Chennai was only at 5pm. Since he couldnt wait he bought an Indian Airlines ticket for 3000/-.

Some more reports on fraud by Deccan;

• CNN-IBN story on Deccan fraud
• Air Deccan Sucks
• Air Deccan Complaint
• Air Deccan Complaint

There are more similar experiences from my friends in Bangalore. so next time when you book a ticket by this travel, be careful.

Tip: If your ticket is confirmed on this airline, better board the airline first, otherwise you may not get seat.

Technorati tags: Worst Airline of India, Air Deccan

W-Island houses the Cochin Port Trust, which is one of the major artificial ports in India and a landmark of Kochi, Kerala. Southern Naval Command headquarters is located in this charming island. Cochin shipyard is also located near this island. It is also a major tourist center. Willingdon Island today plays an important role in the city of Kochi and houses some of the district’s best hotels, commercial and industrial offices.

An artificial lake that was made by the dumping of the materials that were dug out while Cochin Port was being deepened. An notable feature of this Island is that it has an Airport (The Naval Airport, the main airport till it was moved to present location in Nedumbassery near Kochi), a railway station (Currently not used by Railways) and well connected Roads (NH 47A).

The first ship, “MT Padma” berthed here on 28 May 1926, under Capt. Bullen’s command. When Lord Wellingdon left Cochin in 1941, Sir Robert Bristow had transformed Cochin into one fo the safest harbours in the peninsula. Willingdon Island has the airport, the railway station and the seaport within a radius of three kilometres, the only one of its kind in the whole world.

Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industries has been strategically placed here, as is the Government of India Tourist Information Office in the vicinity of the airport. This island is a hub of activity with a number of offices, branches of national and international banks, travel agencies and souvenir shop warehouses and one cannot possibly miss visiting the place while being in the city of Kochi.

I have been lucky to be staying in this Island for past 25 years. Next time you visit Kochi, make sure you have a visit to W-Island as well.

Technorati tags: WillingtonIsland, Kochi

I reached Pondy by 8.30 am and checked into a hotel. I quickly freshed up and had my breakfast. I always wanted  to visit the famous Manakular Vinayakar Temple. This is one of the Ancient temples in Pondicherry. Since the city busses are less in Pondicherry, I decided to take a share auto. Share auto is typically a bigger sized auto with more capacity and seen in some cities of India. In Pondicherry, a share auto carries around 15 people. Although the seating capacity is around 10, the rest of the people have to stand inside with their head bend down as the roof is very low. I was one of passengers who travelled standing and it was not the first time I was travelling standing. After 10 min, I reached the temple and I should say it was a back paining experience.

After visiting the temple, I took the city bus to Kalapet, the place where Pondicherry University is located. I reached University by 10.30 am. Although I had visited University many times during my 2 years stay in Pondicherry, I felt like a stranger in the vast campus. I had to even ask for the location of administrative building

Finally I reached the main building where I had to collect the certificate. I collected both the certificate and the medal and proceeded back to main road. I passed through the main gate of Pondicherry Engineering College, known as PEC where I completed my M.Tech. Lot of old memories rushed through my mind.

I reached back to my room by around 12.30 pm . I had a tamil style lunch and packed up. My return train to Mangalore was at 9.45 pm from Salem.  I started my return journey by around 1.30 pm and reached Salem by 8.00pm. After dinner I boarded the train back to Mangalore where I reached by 9.00 am Tuesday morning.

It was a wonderfull trip to refresh good old memories although it was a very short one.

Technorati tags: Pondicherry, ManakularTemple

I took few snaps of the greenery and rivers along this coastal area. By 9.15 am, the train reached Kannur and I had a mini breakfast. And by 11.30 am, the train finally reached Kozhikode (formerly known as Calicut). I got down at Calicut and took an auto to the bus station. The next bus to Malappuram was at 12.00 pm. I got into the bus and it reached Malappuram by 1.20 pm and finally I reached home by 1.45 pm. Everyone was waiting for me and soon we had our lunch. I had a quick nap after lunch since I had started early from Mangalore.

Next day I met my uncles who came there and we all had a great lunch together. Afternoon by around 1.00 pm, I started from there as I had to take the 3.45 pm train back to Mangalore. I reached Calicut station by 3.30 pm and boarded into the crowded train. I reached back Mangalore by 8.30 pm.

Technorati tags: Malabar, Calicut

Day 6-(29/12/2006)
Day 6 was the final day of our tour. Morning, after breakfast we moved to the ChandaNagar railway station to catch the local (MMTS) to Secunderabad. We reached there by 11.00am and we got into the Sabari Exp for our return journey to Ernakulam (Kochi).

We reached Ernakulam North by 1.30pm the next day (30/12/2006) which ended our 6 day Hyderabad tour.

After lunch we moved to the bus station where a vintage bus would take us round the film city. There was pretty long queue and after a wait of 15 min we finally boarded the bus. Each bus had a guide who would explain about the film city. The bus took us through the film city and there were replicas of Mughal Garden, Taj Mahal, Hawa Mahal, Bhrindavan Garden, Sieara Garden, Airport, Railway Station, Police station, Central Jail, High court, Rural Hosuing, Urban Housing, Shopping malls, temples, churches, mosques, highways, dhaba and all those we see in movies. The guide also explained to us how the movie were shot and also listed few major Hindi films which were shot here.

The film city also houses the head quarters of Ramoji Films and also the private television channels owned by Ramoji network. The Guiness book of World Records has listed this film city as the biggest Film city complex in the world. Indeed it was very huge, located in 2000 acres. The bus dropped us near the Hawa Mahal and after that we roamed around a few places inside the park. Then we moved to the place called Eureka, where there were lots of entertainment for kids like any other theme park. Next we went for the Wild Wild West show and it was a wonderfull show. There were other shows like Punjabi and North East Dance. Around 5.45 pm we boarded the bus back to the main entrance. The Ramoji Film city is a great effort by Ramoji films and is worth a visit.

We reached back home around 10.00pm after little shopping in the city. It was a wonderful outing although it was a bit tiring too…

We got ready by 7.30 am for the city tour and reached the pick up point of the bus by 7.45am. But the bus arrived only at 9.15am and we were almost frustrated by the long wait. Finally we started our city tour. The bus moved at a snail’s pace through the busy roads of Hyderabad. Finally around 10.45 am we reached our first destination-The Salarjung Museum. There was heavy rush at the entrance of the museum and there were no proper signages as to where the tickets to be purchased. Finally we got the ticket and entered the museum admist heavy security. The museum had items and things used during the Nizam’s period, including the photos and paintings of old kings. Cameras are not allowed in this museum.

Next, the bus took us through the narrow streets of Old Hyderabad to the famous Charminar. Charminar was only a drive along spot as parking was not allowed near to this place and also there was no place of a bus to park as the streets were very much narrow. The old Hyderabad had a large number of Muslim population which was evident by the number of Mosques present and many of them had the beauty of building of the Nizam’s time. The “Old” Hyderabad had one more thing which was noticable, many of the buildings were very very old and many of them in a dilapilated condition.

Next we stopped at the Chowmohalla Palace which was also in Old Hyderabad. This was again a palace during the Nizam’s period. The entry ticket was 25 per head and camera 50/-.

It was already 1.45pm and the guide told us that next stop would be for lunch. We took lunch at a decent hotel and also purchased few jewellery made of pearls.

After lunch we started our tour agaian and the next destination was Nehru zoological park. We had just 45 min of time to cover the entire zoo which was impossible. So we only covered a part of the zoo. There was also a safari available at the zoo. We were back in the bus by 4.30pm and the guide told urs that the next destination would be the famous Golconda fort.

Golconda Fort was situated on the outskirts of the city. It has eight entry points to the 7km long wall and only 4 of them were opened now. Ourr bus entered through one of the narrow doors and finally reached the fort. Here we had one hour time to visit the fort. We climbed upto the top of the fort and Hyderabad city was completly visible from here. The fort had 3 main sections- the Rama Das Bhandi Khana, Amber Khana-Build around 1642 AD and Qutub Shahi Mosque build by Sultan Ibrahim Qutub shah who rukled during the period 1550-1580 AD. We started from Golconda fort by around 6.30pm.

Next the bus took us to NTR gardens adjacent to Hussain Sagar lake. This lake is supposed to seperate Hyderabad from Secunderabad. The lake was pretty huge one and a Buddha statue stood at the center of the lake. The statue is 3tonnes in weight and had sunk into the lake while installation long back. The NTR gardens was a well maintained park inside the city with lot of entertainments for kids. The Imax theatre was adjacent to the gardens.

The importance of IT in Hyderabad was pretty much evident by the usage of digital swipe in tickets for almost all the places. The major roads were pretty good ones and maintained well although there are a few bottlenecks in some roads. Another thing which I noticed in Hyderabad was the public toilets installed at most of the places with proper signages. The city looked very much neat and tidy unlike other metros.

Next we moved to the final spot of our tour-The Birla Temple. Birla temple was a beautifull structure in the heart of the city and one had to climb the hill to reach the temple. Cameras are not allowed in the temple. We returned to bus by around 8.30pm and completed our tour of Hyderabad city. We returned home by around 10.00pm.

Day 2- (25/12/2006)
Morning around 7.30am I woke up and the train had reached Guntur Jn. We were now into Andhra. We had our breakfasts. Unlike Kerala, the major stations came only once in an hour or so. We reached Secunderabad Jn aroud 1.00 pm and we were told to get down here. My cousin’s husband came to pick us from the station. It was an hours journey from station to their house which was near to Hi-Tech city. We had lunch aound 3.30 pm.

In the evening we went for outing and cousin told me that we would be visiting Hi-Tech city. We roamed through the Hi-Tech city in car and saw the marvelous buildings of major IT companies. We returned back home by around 9.30pm. Next day we would be going for a city tour of Hyderabad.

Contd…