Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out! Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
Thiruvaiyaru – literally (in Tamil) the holy land of five rivers is about 15 Kms from Thanjavur. The five rivers are the tributaries of the Kaveri and form a sort of network around this town, giving it its name. The main temple here is to the lord who shares the name with the town – Panchanadeeswarar in Sanskrit, or Ayyaarappan in Tamil. From Diwali 08 - Thanjvur Trip Thiruvaiyaru Temple Gopuram From Diwali 08 - Thanjvur Trip Detail of Ravana Lifting Kailas on his ten heads, on the Thiruvaiyaru Gopuram The story of how the temple came into being is an interesting one. A king’s chariot once got embedded in the ground. While digging around the wheels of the chariot to get it out, they chanced upon a lingam. A wise minister advised them to dig further, but carefully, and they were rewarded for their efforts with the idols of the goddess Dharmasamvardhini, Vinayaka, Muruga, and also a Nandi. To top it all, they also found a Siddhar (saint) deep in meditation underground. The...