Kurnool Dt Trip( Mahanandi,Ahobilam,Yaganti,Belum caves,Banaganapalli,Kurnool,Alampur)

The trip  planned before 6months back, happened in Jan-2016.

Trip plan : 2days
No. of persons : 3
Car type  :Swift
Total kms : 500km (app)

On these pongal days my family planned to visit most of the famous places in Kurnool District,Andhrapradesh.

I alone started from Hyderabad by train at 5:30 by Intercity to reach Kurnool town.Its been 4:30hr journey.I had my dinner at near-by restaurant. Boarded bus to depart Nandyal(1:30hr journey),most of the Tirupathi,kadapa buses cross by Nandyal. I reached Nandyal at around 00:30hr . Taken an room in the lodge to take rest untill my parents reach Nanadyal.

My  parents started from Eluru/Vijayawada at 8:40pm train,it reaches Nandyal by 4:30 in the morning. I am lucky enough the train arrived on time.

I already booked an vehile for this trip i the way to start by at 6:00 early morning on 15/01/16
Freshup....  Vehicle arrived on time.

Our planned trip Nandyal->Mahanandhi->Ahobilam->Yaganti->Belum caves->Alampur
Started form Nandyal to Mahanandi been 18km-20km.

1. From Nandyal we had taken our car to Mahanandi 18km, 30 min of travel. Early morning rush of the pilgrims is less, time to had darshan peacefully. You can plan urself to have bath in the lake of the temple entrance,water was so fresh and clean.

2. Mahanandi to Ahobilam -58km,  

http://ahobilam.net/ahobilamhistory.html  

   Ahobilam temple of Lord Narasimha located in the forest. Here again the Narashimha of 9 avathars temples are located in the interior places of forest.If you can trek you can visit all the places inside the forest. You can find doles that costs Rs 1200 per person. Carry camera, no mobile signal,road ????

I and my family walked about 4km inside the forest to visit the Ugra Nara simha swamy. Nearly we had spent 3.5 to 4 hrs time in Ahobilam. It's been 12:30,lunch time,we had taken our lunch near by hotel.

3. From Ahobilam to Yaganti 80 kms,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaganti_temple

 It's been 80km to yaganti ,on the way to yaganti you can see the Arundhathi movie building.

Yaganti was an small village.We reached yaganti at 4pm,had peaceful dharshan.

4. From Yaganti we had a drive to visit Belum caves distance of 45 km.On the journey we pass thru Oak dam.It's been nearly 6pm to reach caves,it got closed. From there we moved to Tadiparthi(30km) for my sister house for the night halt.

Day 2

1. Next day we had completed our breakfast and started our journey at 9am. First we went to visit Belum caves(nearly 30km).

 Me at the entrance of the caves.

Inside the belum caves.one of the narrow passage

Spent nearly 1.5hr inside the caves

2. From Belum caves we left to Alampur near Kurnool,nearly 180km. We had our lunch in kurnool and left to Alampur to visit famous sakthi peeth.

Had darshan to Devi and came back to Kurnool bus stand at 4pm. Since my parents had  reservation bus ticket direct to Eluru at 9:45.They left to movie, i left to Hydeabad by bus.

Since the Driver was local he drives to the short roads. since most of the temples close by 1pm in the afternoon,plan yourself before temple close,complete your darshan, then only you move to lunch. 

Pondi tour

First time ,chance to move around Chennai city.

Trip (2days)was planned by group of best friends to visit Pondicherry as my B'day Spl .

I started from Hyderabad to Chennai by train at 5:30pm.

Next day went to my friend room ,had fantastic bachelor's dosa and left to Mahabalipuram that's near by around 40kms from my place.

Started our journey by car covering all the Software companies that passes thru the H'way.

Mahabalipuram ->good garden.....but the beach was deep.can Enjoy the horse ride Rs100.

Just opp to the Shore temple u can admire the rock-cut monuments. Half-day trip was enjoyable.

It's been late at the night.I went to my friend's house,the dinner on that night in his house was fantastic,the dish i tasted on that night was made with Banana flower kerala spl[same dish i too tried out here in hyd in my room after the visit of chennai...it tastes good.Time taking process]. Good sleep on that night

Next day we left to Pondicheey by train from near by major station Chengalpattu .Journey was around 3hrs by train.

Free birds hired an scooter for Rs400[ you can also hire bi-cycles also.have to submit ur id card and pay some advance.Petrol is extra].In one word  Full justice " Jindagi na Milege Dubara" Same feel when i first visited Matheran,Mahabhaleswar. Back to Chennai by bus.As it was Saturday there are more services to Chennai. 

Last day...as it was Sunday .Had the Chennai Metro ride.  Shoping in T.nagar,Pandi bazaar. Back to Central station by 4pm.

Small Trip...More N'joy....Sweet Memories....More Happiness. 

Tamilnadu Tour 2 Dec-2012

After i visited Kasi viswanadh,Varanasi I am back to visit Rameswaram to offer puja to Lord Shiva.

In this tour i planned to cover remaining places that not been visited earlier.

Rameswaram,Kanyakumari,Tiruchendur,Trivandrum,Madurai,Thripurakundrum,Alagarkovil,Tiruvannamalai

Kanchipuram,Thiruthani,Tirupathi

Day 1 : Started from Hyderabad/Vijayawada to Chennai ,change of train in Egmore to Rameswaram Exp.

Day 2 : Check in the room.Refreshment,had a dip in ocean ,went for Abhisekham with holy water which I brought from River Ganga in Varanasi. Had the breakfast... took rest....thereafter completed my lunch. Reached to Railway station by 5pm to reach Madurai.

 Reached Madurai by 9:30pm.Had my dinner walked thru the market streets since my train to is at 11pm kollam passenger.

Day 3: Reached Nagercoil station, freshen up in the station.From nagercoil to kanyakumari it's an 30km distance.By the time i got refreshed i heard an announcement that train leaving to kanyakumari is arriving on to the platform.Pleasant journey thru the greenery coconut farms.[Accomadation is also available in kanyakumari at Vivekananda gateway 1km from railway station].

Kept my baggage in the clock room and moved towards vivekananda rock memorial .One who r interested can stay upto evening to watch the wonderful event that every day happens i.e sunset .

Had my lunch and reached Nagercoil by bus.Suchidram a place where the temple for Lord brahma ,vishu and shiva resides and an 16ft Veera Hanuman statue can be seen.Offer butter to hanuman.

After that from Nagercoil i moved my next step towards Tiruchendhur one of the 6 famous temple in TN. Reached Tiruchendur by 6pm,took the room for the Night stay.

Night i visited the pallaki seva and also had my dharshan of lord muragan(Remove the shirt and enter into the temple).

Day 4: Early morning again I visited the temple for the dharshan and also for the pleasant atmosphere at the ocean.Had my breakfast and started journey towards Madurai an 3-4hr .Had the room near the temple(last time in the tour 1 the same hotel).

Visited Meenashki మీనాక్షి  amma temple in the evening. Night stay

Day 5: Morning plan to visit the alagarkovil and Thripurakundram.These two are in the list of 6 famous temples of Lorad Muragan in Tamilnadu.These two are located at 10-15km in either direction of the city.There are city buses that fly to these temples.Thripurakundram is on the highway and the other is the last stop of the bus.To reach ( Muragan temples ) Pazhamudircholai the last stop is Alagarkovil(place of Lord Narshima murty).Board the bus to reach muragan temple that is on the hill.This is the smalles temple of all the 6 temples of muragan.

At that night from Madurai i have to reach to Tiruvannamalai/Arunachalam.Reached madurai station ,got into the tirupathi exp passes thru Tiravannamalai.

Day 6: Reached Arunachalam/అరుణాచలం by 4am.since the previous day was pournami there was large crowds waiting in the station and also there is demand for the auto.autowala demanded Rs200,finally setteled for Rs 100 (3-4 km from station to the room).I got the room in the siva sannidhi running by the telugu people.

Compulsory we should walk around the hill called as Giripradakshana a stretch of 15km.We can visit all the temples that are installed by various kings and stars.

I started my Giripradakshana at 6 am,it took me 3hr to complete.since the pournami crowd was still standing and waiting for their turn for the dharshan i moved back to the room for the lunch.Had the 2 hr rest and in the evening i went for the dharshan and also visited the Ramana maharshi asram that is near to my room. Had my dinner took an 2 hr rest. 

Now i have to move reach Kanchipuram by night.since it is only 70km i thought of to start at 8pm.

Vacated the room reached bus stand ....since it's been sunday more services has been diverted to chennai.Got an last bus at 10pm that to some extent only...reached to that village in the mid-night waiting for the kanchipuram(25km) bus.As an surprise an APSRTC bus can to my rescue,reached kanchi at 1/2pm in the midnight.

Day 7: Since i had already book the room in Kanchi kamakoti mutt guest house there is no worry to wait until morning.Had a pleasant sleep for 3hr. At   6am i got ready and visited the Kamakshi  కామాక్షి  amma temple.In Kanchipuram there are two places to visit 1.Vishnu kanchi 2.Siva kanchi

the golden lizard was located in vishu kanchi.In siva kanchi kamskshi amma temple and the lord shiva resides.In the Shiva temple we can watch the mango tree planted by amma.

If you are free enough and the pocket is full have the shopping in the local societies.You can find number of varieties of sarees [Bargain as low ].   Had lunch in Sarvana Bhavan.

Afternoon i started my next journey towards Thiruthani one of the temple place of Lord Subramanyam.The temple buses can be found near the bus stand.Near the bus stand there are cottages of devastham from there the buses start to reach the top of the hill.

Several direct buses are available to reach Tirupathi.

Since our train in Renigunta is at 9pm,i opted to catch train from tiruthani to reach Renigunta(1.5hr)journey. You can have dharshan of Lord Venkatewara/Balaji in Tirupathi if you can postpone your journey for the next day.

MY TOUR IS SIMPLE GUIDED MY SELF IN EVERY PLACE. 

First visit to Tamilnadu-----Tour 1 (20-08-2012)

This is my first visit to Tamilnadu.
In this tour i planned to cover from starting Rameswaram,Madurai,Palani,Tiruchy,Srirangam, Tanjavur,Swamimalai,Kumbakonam,Chitambaram.

Note : As our ancients tells take sea water from rameswaram ....have the abhisekam in kasi....come back to remeswaram and end the journey. This is the reason this is Tour 1.


In these Places Palani and Swamimalai are the most important palces of Lord Subramanya/Muragan. There are 6 temples of Muragan temples in TN to visit.
1.Palani (80km from madurai)
2. Swamimalai.(15 km from kumbakonam)
3.Tiruchendur (90km from nagerkoil,tiruchy)
4.Alagarkovil(10km from madurai)
5.Thripurakundram(10km from madurai)
6.Tirauthani(80km from tirupathi)

Day 1 : Dep from Hyderabad/Vijayawada to Chennai.Reached to Chennai central by afternoon 3pm. Trains towards south starts from Egmore station,so that we reached Chennai Egmore station by local train from Park station. [ Central station - park station is walkable,next station to park is egmore station]. Since the train is at 6pm there is nothing to hurry ourself. Boarded Rameswwaram Exp. 

Day 2 : Reached Rameswaram for the first time at 5 am.Crossing the Pambam bridge hearing the sound of Indian Ocean is pleasant.As this is my first visit i told to the auto person to take to the Lodge/Satram belongs to Telugu.Auto guy person took me to the brahmin's satram.[devsthanam/arya vysya /private lodges are also available],had the room finished my brush,bath and gone to Spatika dharsan(limited periond upto 5:30am only)thereafter went to have a dip in the ocean,with the wet clothes gone to have a bath in 22wells located in temple compound.Ur wish pay Rs25 ticket for all wells or a persons stand by out side the counter with an bucket in their hand.They move to every well quickly but pay more to him.

Back to room had bath again went for Abhisekam Rs50 ticket.Had the breakfast gone for local tour( Rama thirth,lakshman thirth,floating stone,vibhishan temple,kalam house).2hr trip

Afternoon had our lunch.reached railway station in the evening to reach madurai.Train departs from rameswaram at 5:30pm and reached by 9:30pm.

At the out side of the Madurai railway station u can find Bangar guest house(good place to stay).

Took the room near to temple.[station to temple is 1.5km only]

Day 3: Early in the morning i went to the temple at 5:30,had an pleasant and peaceful dharshan of Meenakshi amma.Architecture of the temple and gopurams are superb.  Had my breakfast and also the lunch.

In the afternoon i moved towards Palani to visit palani subramanyam temple.Frequent Buses fly from Madurai to palani [ask the hotel mgmt and auto since there are two bus stands in madurai city].It's been 3hrs journey to reach palani. Here swamy is on the top of the hill.we can reach the top either by steps/by road/cable car.Had the peaceful dharsan.

My next stop for the night is Tiruchy/Tiruchinapalli an 3.5hr journey from Palani.The time i reached tiruchy was 10pm.before reaching tiruchy i started to know whether i can get an room in the list of hotels that i am carrying.No rooms. Finally i moved to Srirangam by bus(15km last bus at 11pm),reached srirangam,myself enquired   reagarding the rooms,luckily i found the room in Chinna Jiyar swamy guest house in that night.

Day 4: Srirangam place to visit.wonderful architecture of the temple.Had my dharsan at 7am.Don't forget to buy prasadam in the temple.Eat  and feel it.Had my lunch in the guest house ...nice meal.

Around 2pm i started my journey towards Tanjayur(2hr) from Tiruchy.Tanjavur a place that not to miss in this entire trip.Wonderfull architecture of the temple ,nandi,Lord shiva.Must....must to visit

At that night stay i reached Swamimalai(2hr) famous Lord Subramanya temple. Stayed in the Private guest room.

Day 5: Early in the morning i reached temple for the Abhisekam (Rs 1500)...must watch this(others can also watch this). Priest gave the two tins of prasadham.Had the lunch i.e prasadham in the afternoon.Started towards Kumbakonam(30min).

Here is the surprise where ever i.e from day 1 i stared to talk in hindi or in english/buttler english till now.While i am looking out for the room i asked an police SI who is having his chat.I asked whether he can understand english or hindi...he replied 'No'. There after he took me to the hotel which is good near to the bus stand.Visited local temples around the puskarini then enquired regarding the cab for the next morning to visit all the places of Navagrah temples that are located around the Kumbakonam.Tata Indica AC for Rs 3200.

Day 6: Next day  at 6:30 cab came to the hotel to pick me up.Stared the journey by visiting all the 9 navagrah temples and also visited the birth place of Thagaraju and Padit Ravi shankar house.

Back to Kumabakonam at 7pm,visited the main deity of kumbakonam.Kumbakonam is also called as City of temples. Rest for the night

Day 7 : We have not planned for the day.First i decided to take myself for taking rest.Again planned myself why not to visit Chithabaram an 3hr journey time.Visited Chitambaram temple at 9am.donot miss the abhishekam done there.If the local are standing besides you they can show the Chitambaram rahasyam or else give money to priest they take you inside. Refer to the internet pages for more briefly.

back to kumbakonam hotel room had the lunch ,rest and reached the railway station since my train is at 7pm Kumbakonam- Chennai exp.

Day 8 : Reached Chennai egmore,got into to local train to reach Central station.Time to leave to Vijayawada was at 6am.Got the train reached Vijayawada at 2:30pm.

Note: South Indian food is available in every hotel.If u ask for for extra chuttney they give an stange face towards you. Meals not available in the night only tiffins . 

 Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......Sambar......

This is how i planned my self and visited onside of the tamilnadu in low cost.

                               

                                PLAN YOUR SELF GUIDE YOUR SELF. 

Hubli-Gokarna-Kollur-Udupi-Sringeri-Dharmasthal-Guruvayur

This is my first visit covering all the major places in the west coast of Karnataka.
I had covered Gokarna,Kollur,Udupi,Sringeri,Dharmasthala,Guruvayur(6 places)

Note : I covering all the temples in these places make sure to carry a set of Dothi,why b'caz while entering to all these palces u have to enter without the Shirt and Baniyan(for gents),Saree/chudidhar(for female).
Sambar and Rasam is common free meals by the temple .carry ur bottle of water with u every where in the temple and also at free meals.
Check the devasthanam web-sites while visiting

As i said this is my first trip to west coast we mainly concentrated on the visiting of holy places only may the beaches r near by to enjoy.

I am from Andhra started my journey from Vijayawada on Monday by Amaravathi Express.

The below gives the summarized map.

Day 1:  Depature from Vijayawada at 6:55 pm and reached Hubli by 9:45

since we r carrying our own breakfast we completed in the train itself.Reached to the Old bus stand 2 km from station . There after as inquired there is no direct bus from hubli to gokarna,then i got in to the Karwar/kumta bus that passes thru Ankola to get down there.As my bus started at 10:30 i reached Ankola by 1:30pm,there after to travel 20 km to reach Gokarana.I got the connected bus immediately and reached Gokarana by 2:30pm.

Got into the Sasthri Guest house near by to the bus stand. Very few and countable rest houses r in this village. 

There by had my food that i m carrying. Took bath in the Arabian sea had gone to sparsha dharshan(remove shirt). Only the top of the linga can be touch and feel by u.For every 30 years the entire linga is shown to the people. Free meals for the night by temple[Halwa,sambar,butter milk,curry].

Day 2 : Temple open at 5:00am gone for Abhisekam early in the morning.There at the counter u can look out the Abhisekam seva list and the price.Pay the money and carry the receipt and the articles give by the priest. Had ur Abhisekam peacfully since no crowd.

   I started my journey at 6:45am towards Kollur First came to Gokarna to Bydoor a small village.From bydoor immediately i got aa private mini bus took me to Kollur temple in an hour.Kept my luggage in the clock room in the bus stand gone to dharshan 12:00pm[temple closes at 1:30pm and agin opens at 6pm]. Had a peaceful dharshan had the meals in temple.
Back to busstand by 2pm. Took bus to Udupi had number of private services to udupi and mangalore also. Started by 2pm and reached Udupi by 5pm.Udupi temple is near by the bus stand walkable,took room in the Githamadir for the night halt.Had the dharshan in the evening watch out the radh yatra in the every evening very color full and eye feast to every devotee. Had my dinner in the temple.

Day3 : Depature to Sringeri in the early morning by completing my breakfast from Private bus stand.As the route is tricky and ghat u can fing only the mini buses..By 10am i am at the temple.I kept my luggage in the clock room at busstand.Went for the dharshan of Sarawathi devi.Great experience in the temple ample of time stay in the temple.
Here you can also have the dharshan of Guruji at 10:30,5:30pm,8:30pm if available in the mutt.
If u want to stay in the sringeri for a night there are 7-8 guest houses of the devasthanam.
I had my lunch in the temple[timings 12:15-2:30,7:15-8:30].
There after i started my journery towards Dharmasthala ,getting direct buses is difficult so that peferd for the break journeys.Sringeri to Bajagoli to Bethangudi to Dharmasthala.From Bethangudi we can have the KSRTC buses for every 1min.
Stayed for the night,had the dharshan in the night had the dinner in the temple.No need to worrk for the accommodation,there are guest houses near to the temple follow the sign boards.

Day 4 : Timings :3am-2pm,7pm-8:30pm.Early in the morning temple opens in in the Dharmasthala at 3am but the abhisekam starts at 8:30 and up 11.Buy the seva ticket[Rs100,250,400,800] and also have the prasadam at the stall inside the temple itself.

** Here is the tricky plan if u want to have,since u already had the dharshan in the night then skip in the morning and starts travel to Subramanya temple that is 55km from Dharmasthala.
Since we had to reach Mangalore to catch train in the evening i need some rest that's the reason i had not travelled to Subramanyan[Timings :5:30 to1:30,3:30pm to 8pm].

Since the train for to leave to Guruvayur is at 6:30pm,malbar exp i left Dharmasthala at 2pm,an 2hr journey made to reach the station by 4:15pm.For reaching mangalore central station board State bank bus.Took the curd rice for the night slept very early by 7:30pm since the train reaches to Thrisur by 2:00am in the early morning.

Day 5: By 2:30 am i reached Thrisur from there Guruyaur is still 30km by road. Ur choice bus stand is near by out side the gate of Railway station[200mts]. But i choose for the taxi Rs600.Droped me at the devasthanam kousthubam guest house.Since the day i reached was the muhurthanm day for the marriage,all the rooms have been full and in the private guest houses the rooms had been booked for the next 2 days.Finally i got a room near the temple for Rs800 that to check out time is at 4:00pm.
Had an 30min break then had my brush,bath gone to dharshan of Lord Krishna.Wear Dothi,remove shirt.Had my dharshan twice in the day. Visited Purithumkota[an devasthanam elelphant place]nearly 68 elephants can be seen .
Interestingly while taking the snaps of the elephants some of them stop eating,some of them turn to other side untill u stand before them.
U can have the lunch in the temple.Donot forget to buy the jaggery Payasam and milk payasam in the temple available in 500ml,1lt bottles and ur which.
Had my bath in the evening and reached to the railway station that is near by from my room as well as from temple.Got into the Guruyaur - thrisur passenger at 5pm.
My train Nizamuddin s/f is at 8:20pm from Thrisur to leave to Vijaywada.

This is my entire West coast journey in the 2014 year 
The cost for my entire trip including the train tickets is Rs4500.If u r travelling with ur family of 3/4 it may be Rs2000 per person.
First in my trip i have not included in visiting the Sringeri there after i though and included ,that too according to the dharsan i can have at kollur .Since i got the dharsan at kollur mookambika by afternoon before temple closes it made to cover Sringeri in the next day.Since i got the connecting buses without any delay i covered all the palces without any hesitating.

PLAN UR SELF HAVE AN NICE AN PEACE FULL  DHARSHAN.