Virgo Dan: Trichy ~ Tiruchirappalli

It was 8.30pm on 11th November 2011, a Friday, when we left Thanjavur for Trichy a.k.a. Tiruchirappalli. I will write about Thanjavur later….some juicy story there. Haha…

Trichy or Tiruchirappalli is located on the banks of Kaveri (Cauvery) River. It’s about 48 km from Thanjavur but took us slightly more than an hour. Trichy is a city known for its educational institutions, industries and temples. And, its most famous landmark is the Rock Fort Temple – and that’s the sole reason for our stop-over at Trichy – my brother was anxious to see the Rock Fort Temple. Since it was already too late to visit the temple on that day itself, we went straight to the pre-booked hotel – Grand Gardenia located at Mannarpuram Junction. We were so happy with Grand Gardenia. Apparently, it’s only a 3 star but we would give it a 7 star rating !! No joke …it was amazingly clean, neat and exclusively designed. Their in-house facilities were great…a health club called Ivy Gym & Spa, Dining – Kannappa Restaurant which served authentic chettinad food and a Rooftop Multicuisine Restaurant known as Golden Palm where brekky was served. They have Banquets & Conference Rooms which accommodates 25-300 pax and the rooms are named as Lotus, Tulip and Arcadia. We took up a Grand Suite and 2 Double Executive Rooms. It was a 24 hours checkout system (all hotels have the same system). An exclusive Wifi was available, so got to browse the net and check mails. It was just beautiful and their rooms – a state of the art rooms and suites. Haha...you'll be wondering what's so great about all these...we have great hotels in Malaysia and much more better ones ! But in India, it's not the same...not in the many hotels that we've stayed prior to Grand Gardenia - an exceptionally CLEAN hotel is not easy to come by...you'll get to hear about the state of other hotels in my forthcoming entries...it was such a dissapointment ! Sorry, India ! So, that night in Grand Gardenia, we had peaceful, restful and wonderful sleep with clean pure white bedspread and it was heavenly ! ...:-)

12th November 2011 (Saturday) – We had our brekky at the GoldenPalm on the rooftop. Great food. Then to Rock Fort Temple – it’s a spectacular monument perched on a massive rocky like hill. It has a collection of 3 temples – the Manikka Vinayakar Temple which is at the foot of the hill, the Uchhi Pillayar at the top of the hill and the Taayumaanavar – a rock cut temple on a hill which can be reached by a flight of steps on the way to the Ucchi Pillayar temple. I was just plain tired to climb those steps and remained at the foot of the hill, watching a huge elephant and its caretaker. I was told that we can only feed him some kind of leaves and no fruits as the elephant was on a diet control…haha…but that’s true ! When you feed him those leaves, the elephant will bless you by placing his trunk on your head and it will then ring the bells on its neck. Amazing !

Mum offered prayers and contributed lunch for all visitors/devotees that day – she just had to make a payment and the temple authorities would do the necessary. So after that was done, we left. We did not stay for lunch at the temple. And as I was just leaving…I bumped into a friend (a stranger turned friend) while I was in Thanjavur. He is Cedric from France. It was a coincidence. It was great to meet him again and he was so delighted to see me… and vice versa of course…haha. We got our numbers and emails exchanged. Got a kiss on both my cheeks..ahem ! and was introduced to his mum, I think ... or could be his wife...haha..but she looked much older...nah ! must be his mum....hahaha.... My family members were already in the Tempo Traveller and moving away since there was no parking area and I had to actually run after the coach. They threatened to leave me behind…hahaha…I got into the coach with a BIG grin…..:-) And, someone asked me how I could let Cedric kiss me in the temple grounds....in the temple...it's a holy place, ....woo hoo, did I taint the temple with that kiss...but I was then thinking so hard, hey ! it was just a kiss on the cheeks and not on the lips...haha...but, silently...I apologised to God ...I'm sorry Lord :-)

Anyway, later we went for a lil shopping and got back to Grand Gardenia, checked out and left Trichy after our lunch at Hotel Kannappa .....and our next destination - Ooty ! We were told that we have to reach before 7pm otherwise the gates uphill to Ooty would be closed. Unfortunately, we reached later than 7 and had to put up a night at the base of Ooty :-( .....My next entry will be about Ooty ! but for now, tell me that you love Trichy..hehe I do ! here, enjoy the pictures of Trichy…:-)