Exploring 2009

Every year brings with it new adventures, and this year 2009 i think brought me so much more... Absolutely loved it just for the fact that i spread my wings a bit more than earlier, and took off to explore new terrain- literally and otherwise!!!!


2009 began with me getting enthusiastic about photography... and took the step to go for a Photowalk around Egmore area in February... [Was using my uncle's Canon Film camera..]

Wesley Church

A chariot awaits...

From there, the year saw me fly across the country to Bombay, March end, for nearly a month....  
Spending time with my friend, helping them as they moved from Colaba to Karanja .... 

Sunrise from the boat as we sailed towards Karanja 

The castle near the jetty in Karanja

and then ofcourse the highlight being the trip to Pune in April for "Vipassana"!!

It was time for yet another Photowalk with the Chennai Photowalkers.... This time we hit Casino theater and walked it down a bit... 

Next stop was Bangalore for the Hoysala Trail on 29th & 30th May ...[Inaugurated my Sony w220 digi camera :)]

Hulikere, temple tank....

Belavadi

June 1st i was back in Chennai, and  on 2nd we were off to Sringeri, for a family occasion- me,mom & dad... 

Vidhyashankar Temple

June was also when my Uncle and co came down from Delhi, and off we went to take a tour with Story Trails - Peacock Trails around Mylapore... 

The Santhome Church                                       Kapaleeshwar Temple

July had me back in Bangalore, this time for a reunion of sorts with the gang that travelled on the 1st Hoysala trail organised by TravelWise!!

The gang @lunch

Also managed to do a bit of birding at T G Halli prior to the lunch...

And a visit to LalBagh garden before we heading out for a fun Play followed by dinner

August was when  Lakshmi & I headed off to explore a few Heritage sights around Chennai. - Chengelpet, Uthiramerur, Kancheepuram, And Mahabs...

Colorful silk threads @ the weaver, Kancheepuram

Kailashnath temple, Kancheepuram

Singaperumal temple,Chengelpet

Was already on the road to Ambur once again before Aug came to an end... Aug 31st was Uncle's 60th bday celebrations... 

Uncle - Aunt with gramma n aunt!!

Couldnt wait for September 30th to come.... We were off to Coorg... what a fun memorable trip it was... 

Bylakuppe...

Omkareshwara temple, Madikeri

Work kept me busy through the month, and once again excitement was in the air as October 30th came around the corner.. Was packing my bags to set sail to Goa...

Bom Jesus Church

Moon glistening in the night sky, during the River Mandovi cruise

Finally, December came upon us... Mahabalipuram, the 1st weekend was the impromptu plan... ;o)

Beautiful sunrise in mahabs... 

To finish it off, a short quick trip to Pondy happened over the Christmas weekend... :)

Pillars around Gandhi Statue in the beach

The Matri mandir in Auroville.... 


This year has been a definite high in my life... Loved every minute of it, and now, 
Am looking fwd to 2010... 


Hoping to cross the ocean, and set sail further into new unexplored terrains...
To Fly away...far... far.... far into the horizon!!! 

Coromandel Coast... Mahabs!!

It was a bright cool saturday, i was all excited for i knew it was gonna be a fun weekend! my bag was packed, camera battery charged and all pepped and ready to go!!! There came the call i was waiting for -

"lets meet for lunch at 1 at New Woodlands and then can scoot from there", he said..

"Wokie dokie", i chirped... before bidding adieu to all at home and stepping out!!!

Antique car parked in New Woodlands parking lot...

As we drove along the ECR after a fun meal, the cool breeze kept us company, soothing music from the radio and our phones/ipods kept us in high spirits..!! We had no agenda, dint have any plan of any sort, but all we knew was it was going to be a good weekend...!! Woohoo... :-)

Pretty butterfly art on a rock near the toll booth on ECR

Now, have i known these looney bins long? nope... 2 of them I've known little over a year, and the 3rd, the Senor ;o) well, met him thru the other friend sometime in Aug and we just hit it off...

Where were we headed? Not far... Mahabalipuram aka Mahabs.....

 Interesting stall, dont u think?

Only smart sensible thing about this trip was Senor and moi had done a bit of research and i had called ahead to check if Golden Sun Resorts had rooms, which they claimed they did and we could just drive in, and no advance booking was required!! Oh well, we sure hoped their word was good..

 Terracotta horse standing tall outside our room

Drove on past the Golden sun, reached A2B -adyar ananda Bhavan - had a coffee and fed the kiddo some dosa... experimented some with our cameras and were on the road once more, this time back to the resort to make sure that room was available.. after a quick tour, peek a boo, we found a room.. Room 14, alas, discovered the front door wouldnt shut...up we went to Room 12, and there we found key wouldnt work in the lock.. what a bummer , right? nope, we were enjoying this!!! :D

playing around with the lights in the beach

Finally settled into Room 11, the one we saw 1st.. the french door opened out to the pool, and a few steps away was the ocean.... beautiful.... we were 3 and half happy contended souls !!

Why not check out the Shore temple? we thought and made our way out the resort towards the beach... it was nearly 7pm, dark and so couldnt shoot any pics, but the place was beautiful.. could make out the silhouette of the shore temple against the night sky...

Pathway to the ocean

The mommy and kiddo took a ride on a friendly horsey called Santhosh.. the horsey took liking to senorita, licking her hands like Floppy does to me..hehehe..following which we had a bit of adventure..Mommy discovered her phone was missing, and we set about looking for it in the beach, while a brainwave struck me and i called her number only to hear a guy's voice telling me he had the phone and had just called her home, told her mom the same thing!!

 The 3.5 stooges

Phew.. such a relief... but that kinda took the zing off the evening, and we walked back to the car park to return to the room...

Golden sun reception area

Armed with camera, and our wacko mood, we walked to the beach.. playing , cracking up, clicking pics... playing in the swing.... grooving to the romantic numbers that floated in the air... What timing- hunger bells were just about starting off in our tummies, as took us to the open air restaurant.... The buffet was what we had opted for, Rs200 per head- naan, a kebab kinda starter, couple of side dishes, rice, pappad, and curd rice with pickle were the order of the night.... lazing by the pool, just letting our thoughts flow, we were chilled out completely.....

Pic of Shore temple a friend had taken during her visit a year or so back...

We were tucked in by 9, but sleep was nowhere in sight... Senorita suggested we play cards, and that we should go buy a pack[ well, what happened there shall remain a secret, that is until any of the looneys come around reading this post....:D] ... which ended up on me, the brave one! hehe... so, out i went into the dark night to buy a pack of cards... the game began around 10, and suddenly the pros wanted one more pack, so off they went this time... we played Rummy for an hour or so... before calling it a day, or rather night and snoring away.... :-)

The next day dawned bright and early... 5.30am.. Senor and moi, took our cameras and headed off to witness the sunrise, capture the moments on our cameras... It was beautiful, breath taking and an amazing sight that never fails to leave me speechless... !!

Sunrise at Mahabs beach

Time sure flies when you are having, a phenomenon that i see happening over and over and over again!!!  it was 9 by the time we showered, and got ready to hit the road.. back to Chennai.. not before making a stop for breakfast at A2B... that place is just amazing - hot food, good quality and not very pricey... right next to the Radisson Temple Bay and walking distance from the Shore temple, it draws quite a bit of crowd...

A pic by senor...

Savoured the ride on ECR... laughing, having a good time we reached the city... That was one fun weekend... sometimes, it pays to just up and go, esp with a bunch of equally nutty adorable caring sweet nuts called friends... :) Thanks guys for yet another rocking trip!!! :)

Trying my hand at clicking diff kindsa pics with my camera!

[Next time, lets do Mahabs and actually get around to visiting the heritage sights and beaches]

The River, The Heritage and The Loot.. Goa Part 4 Finale!!

Phew.. writing this Goa travelogue took more energy than packing my bags and spending those awesome days out there!! :)

Read these earlier posts, to know how my journey was.... 

• Portuguese live on.. Goa part 3
• Churches temples and people... Goa Part 3
• Strangers and beaches... Goa Part 2
• Sun sand and the beaches.. Goa, part 1

the South goa tour then took us to  the Colva beach .. This has to be the most favorite beach of mine in all of Goa... so beautiful.. calm.... the sand was wet and flat like a well laid out cement floor, and it was just woww!!! 

This is where i decided to give Water scooter a try... what rush.. wanted to do parasailing, alas, too crowded and time was up by the time crowd fizzled out... ! Always a next time!! 

The ripples formed by a small stream as it joined the ocean

A lone star fish..

next time i shall!!

Moi... got a guy who was with his family to click, turned out he was a professional photographer and one who wasnt too crazy about SLRs... "I dont know when i last use an SLR, he said parting ways..."!!! :D

Following this came the romantic, beautiful,mystical cruise on River Mandovi, in Panjim... I had paid for this while booking South goa tour, the cruise was just Rs150/- 

We reached the dock at 5.30, hopped on the cruiseliner, explored a bit, before making our way to the top, open air, with chairs laid out, and a view to die for... The cruise was for an hour, there was a Dj belting out some famous numbers, a dance floor, and an MC who kept the crowd entertained.. Oh, we witnessed a few popular local Goan dances as well ... 

Not just these, the vessel had a Bar, snack counter, a discotheque in the basement floor as well... Good fun...!!! a new kinda experience... one that i enjoyed like crazyyyyyyyyy.... !!! :) 

The moon shining bright in the sky... Ahh, what a sight it was...

The following day was free.. infact that morning, got a call from Fernandez asking if i wanna do one more tour, but declined his offer as i wanted to explore some of the town on my own.... Set about walking along the road near the hotel.... Found this place called Calizz, kinda like our Dakshin Chitra...

Check out pictures here [we arent allowed to take pictures inside the buildings]

My entry ticket..Rs200.. but totally worth it..

They have restored couple of houses- from Pre and Post Portuguese eras...Lovely stuff... to look at how people lived before and after.. The guide Kunal made is so interesting, i was lapping up every word he uttered...

After an hour or so around here, i took the bus and headed to Anjuna market to generally chill out... A friend had reccomended this place called Curlies, quite nice.. Lounge kinda arena, sit back, wit a book in hand a breezer.. sheer bliss!!! ;)

The loot i brought home from Goa.. [Sri, here it is... :D] 

Anjuna Beach -from that local gypsy kinda woman.... Bracelets , neck pieces and a pouch...  and err, other stuff.. ;o

Till next time... Toodle doooo~!!! :-)