Travelogue – Kanyakumari

Tour to kerala was planned on my brothers birthday. 10 days long tour starting on 23 Sept from Trivandrum and ending on 2 Oct at Kochi was planned by my bro and my sister in law.Unfortunately they were not going to join us on tour. We were going to visit Kanyakumari, Kovalam, Astamudi (Kollam), Thekaddy,Munnar, Kochi.

This Travelogue will be divide in 5 parts Kanyakumari, Kovalam, Astamudi (Kollam), Thekaddy,Munnar. At the end of every Travelogue part I’ll suggest what one can see there and what one can skip.

Day1 (Mumbai to Trivandrum , Trivandrum to Kanyakumari)

Early morning flight to Trivandrum and we were bit late to reach the airport. When were standing in ticket queue i realized that the lady standing ahead of me is Sudha Chandran. Got the ticket and we immediately headed for security check and then the airport bus dropped us near the flight. In no time was pilot announced the take off and we were all set for the take. As the flight entered the run way and was ready to fly i was very exciting as in 2 hrs i would be in landing in “God’s Own Country“. The clouds kept be busy throughout journey as i was busy click photos of them which looked like a cotton spread over the sky. Yes breakfast did interrupted me once. And just when i saw water smashing the shore, the pilot announced the landing. Blue and green colors were only i could see from the plane.

Took a video of the plane landing on Trivandrum airport. As i came out the driver welcomed us. He was short, dark, slim guy wearing a white driver uniform. He asked used to waiting as he had parked the car in the parking lot. A white Indica then stopped in front of us and the driver then immediately dumped the bags in the car. As we started our journey towards Kanyakumari i asked the driver which language he is comfortable with “Hindi” or “English” to that he replied “Little Hindi, little English Full Malayalam”. To that i replied “Full Hindi, Full English, no Malayalam”. Now i was sure my journey was going to be tough.

My driver name was deelep. I asked him which sightseeing are we going to cover while on the way to Kanyakumari. Till the end i don’t think he understood what i want to say because to my question he use reply “2 hrs to Kanyakumari”. On the way we halted to have some fresh coconut water. What i get in Mumbai for 12 rs i paid 15 rs for each. Later i was shocked to see that the driver even don’t know the route to Kanyakumari. By 1.15 i reached the hotel Sun World in Kanyakumari  (would have reached early but he took some wrong turns). As i checked-in the ambiance impressed me a lot. The room was very nice and view was just too good from the balcony. I could see the beach, Vivekananda statue and best thing was that i could see the sun rise from my room also.

Most of the things were on walkable distance so told the drive to stay in hotel. Started my sightseeing with the local market. We decided to take lunch in hotel Saravana which is also in the market. We ordered a typical south Indian thali which includes 3 bowls of vegetables, 1 bowls of sambar, 1 bowls of rasam, 1 bowls of sweet and a plate full of rice. I was packed in what they have served me first only and local people have deadly capacity of eating the rice. Its was too hot so we went back in hotel and step out of the hotel at 5. Then saw Gandhi memorial, triveni sangam (3 oceans meet). By 6 pm i reached the sunset point, took some pre-sunset snaps. The weather was not clear to see the sunset, and the end the clouds blocked the sunset view disappointing more than 200 people.

We ate some Banana Bhaji’s, did some shopping for mom and MUNDU (lungi) for me as i had decided to wear that next day and before returning to hotel room at 9 pm had south Indian thali for dinner again.

Day 2 (Kanyakumari)

Early morning went on the hotel terrace to see the sunrise, it was cloudy outside and rain did interrupted the sunrise scene but got lucky to see a beautiful rainbow. After sunrise went to enjoy in clean water of the beach (triveni sangam) till 7.30. From there we went ticket office of ferry boat to Vivekananda Rock Memorial (1st boat ferry ticket starts at 7.45 am) Just 10 min the ferry takes to reach the the rock. (Ferry fees 20 Rs and Darshan fees 10 rs ). Its a very beautiful place , the rock is surrounded by sea on all sides. The 115ft tall status of Thiruvalluvar can be seen from the rock.The Kanyakumari city looks awesome from that distance.

I could see many windmills from my hotel terrace & so was eager to go there. I asked my hotel reception staff about that and they told me that it was just 8 km from the hotel. Immediately asked my driver to take me there. Its was some express highway on both side of which had windmills that generate power for Kanyakumari city. The view was so great that i could see 3 things in quantity windmills, Coconut tress and Banana trees. On the way back to hotel i went to Vattakottai (Circular Fort). A very old fort which is surround by sea on 3 sides. Nothing much to see on the fort but the view is good. Then went to see Govt. museum but unfortunately it was closed (Close on Friday, 2nd & 4th Saturday, Sunday). In the evening went to see Guganathaswamy Temple which is 1000 yrs old. Then from there wen to Bay watch , its a Water Theme Amusement Park and also has has a Wax museum. Total 15 wax statues of well known personality (Big B, King Khan, Rajnikant, Jackie Chan, Michael Jackson, etc.)  Then i again went to see the sunset and again i returned to hotel disappointed.

For more photos of the tour click Flickr

Site seeing While coming from Trivandrum to Kanyakumari
Suchindrum
Udayagiri Fort (Can skip)
Mathoor Hanging Bridge
Padmanabhapuram Palace (Wooden palace)

Must See In Kanyakumari
Vivekananda Rock Memorial
Thiruvalluvar Statue
Wax Museum
Sunrise and Sunset
Windmills
Government Museum
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial

Can also visit
Guganathaswamy Temple
View Tower and Telescope House
Kanyakumari Bagavathiamman Temple
Vattakottai (Circular Fort)

To know more about the site seeing in Kanyakumari download kanyakumari Site seeing