A trip to Mahabalipuram

I am not going to go to the history of Mahabalipuram aka Mamallapuram... Google or Wikipedia can share the same with you. So, what am I doing here instructing you? Ah, cut the crap. This trip dates back to May 2011...

I had thought about taking my wife to Mahabalipuram. I shared the same thought with Savin; who seemed to be interested in joining us with his partner. So, that was a 'family' trip. My wife volunteered to cook Idly and chutney for the breakfast. We set off at morning 5.30 in Savin's car and reached Mahabalipuram after a 50km drive. 

First place of visit was the Shore temple. Shore temple is a real sight to see. Built in granite, the temple stays alongside Bay of Bengal and enchants the visitors with its history dated back to 8th century AD. 

From there, we moved on to the site of Pancha Rathas, named after the pandavas and draupadi. 
The interesting fact is that, each of the temple dedicated to the icons is a monolith built out of granite.

On the way back we stepped out to see the 'Arjuna's Penance'. Associated with the site is the Krishna Mandapam monument. The giant rock which defies gravity; called Krishna's butter ball is also visible from there.

We started our way back from Mahabalipuram. Next destination was the Crocodile park, officially called Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology, located in Vadanemmeli near to the Muthukad lake. The CrocBank serves as home for numerous endangered species of crocodiles, snakes and turtles. It is a must visit place indeed; Of-course, for those who doesn't fear reptiles.

Very much pre-occupied to give me a shot...

Three Musketeers :)

We started our way back from the park at around 1pm. Signing off, the trip was a successful one except for the hard sun Chennai always sprays on its visitors. 

One tip I could offer for Mahabalipuram visitors is to plan Shore Temple visit after evening 5.30 PM. The monuments there will offer perfect visual treat in association with sunset, for you.

Trip to Luxembourg

Belgium, 21/03/2008

That weekend was a 'long weekend'. The term which we use in the industry we work when one gets freaking streak of holidays(ofcourse; any number >2). But, still; i'll say; an 'anomaly' which is so rare to experience in a year... We decided to plan that weekend for Luxembourg. I was pulling their legs indeed. Guys rather like to get under their coats the entire day with that kind of chill outside. Ahh, so ironical it was that my friends finally agreed and we set out for it on Sunday, the 23rd.


~~Luxembourg, 23/03/2008~~
--Briefing of my visit to Luxembourg--

Intro:
Luxembourg is a small country in Western Europe which is bordered by Belgium, Germany and France. The third of the triad 'BENELUX'; the Lux is small but heavily rich for a country its size. So rich is its economy that it has the highest GDP per capita in the world. Needless to say, being a landlocked country, Luxembourg doesnt have navy and airforce.. It's army? .. a group of around 800(source: Wiki). But.. we cannot ignore the facts also... 17 NATO AWACS are registered as aircraft of Luxembourg.(source: Wiki).

Say Awww... (Man... 17 AWACS to monitor that small a country... I wonder why we delayed so much to get that sole one...!)

Enroute Luxembourg - Shots

Snowfields enroute to Luxembourg

Country side shots enroute to Luxembourg

Luxembourg Station

An insight...

The Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

The twigs and sprigs of this tree is making one hell of a labyrinth. Isn't it?

Memorial for the Grand Ducale of Luxembourg

Snap of the gang

Three towers


A Redoubt, part of the Luxembourg fort

Luxembourg Valley; the Adolphe Bridge in the background

A part of the Moselle valley


The Casemates




The Passarelle viaduct




A bird's eye view


And.. an ant's eye view ;)


An empty alley




Remains of the great towers at Plateau Du Rham




Clausen viaduct (electric poles for train are visible)

As i mentioned at first, the country is small; but rich in its culture and society. A nice place to visit for a 'long weekend' indeed. :)

New Year Eve - Dec 31st of 2008

As i promised(lol, sounds as though i was so much looking towards this :-p), i had to deliver my scribblings about the start of year 2009. and... here i am..

Dec 31, 2008
It was on Dec 30, the idea of a new year bash sprouted upon my mind for the new year. I thought, why not another Pondy? Yeah, i know.. 'the ol' gang' was missing now.(the gang involved Ajay, Sandeep, Shine, Fazal, Hari, Tony). Still, that eve of 2006 has to be recreated. The task sounded simple. But, pulling out the like-minded was pretty hard ;-).

Negotiations and discussions popped out that day at the office... It wasn't so easy. Guys started pulling out coz they were 'not ready' or rather, they had homely ways of celebrating it.
When it was finalized, it was a gang of 4. Me, Vinu, Sam and Vinoy.

The trip was termed 'Exclusive' by Vinu :), I knew that he enjoyed it to the most. The bike rides will be always fun when you have loads of roads to cover in the scenic ECR. The best part of the trip i liked was the ride. It wasn't that daring as of 2006 dec 31st. We just paced at 80-90km/hr speed to hit the town and celebrate the new year at Pondy beach on time.
The 1st of Jan was just a site seeing day. We went to the boat house in Pondy that morning. The lagoon and the island nearby was a nice experience for us. Then followed some shopping in the Pondy streets. I knew the streets... I was there before... We had a plan to see the Alambarai fort on our way back. But, it was already getting dark.. there wasn't much sight seeing to do at that place at dark. So, we dropped it. There was a stop at the marakkanam salt field. The expanse of the field generating tonnes of salt was amazing when the dawn was falling upon us. A visitor to this field once captioned his album photo - 'even horizon can be a little salty'. (Yeah, true.)
The trip ended in chennai with the dinner at 'Tamburan' hotel in chennai.

It was, i'll say, a trip that we had made possible out of the impossible. I know that, it will be always remembered by the new gang.