1,384 km Road trip in a Mahindra ScorpioN | Bangalore - Thanjavur - Madurai - Kodaikanal - Bangalore

1384 KMs Road trip on ScorpioN

Kid had Dussehra holidays and better half wanted to see few places in Tamil Nadu. We were planning 5 days road trip. Initially we wanted to cover Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari along with southern Kerala ( Thiruvananthapuram). After doing all the distance calculation and the time in hand, we dropped those places. Final shortlisted plan was Bangalore – Thanjavur -Madurai – Kodaikanal – Bangalore. We made hotel reservations as per above plan.

Prep work

Bought bag full of snacks and few tetra packs of juice for the journey, my kid was beaming with joy looking at her favorite snacks and what’s going to come next day.Filled the fuel to brim. Since I was about be out of office for next 5 days, had to close lot of office related stuff. Could go to bed only around 12.

Day 1 . Bangalore to Thanjavur (Distance traveled = 417 KMs)



I could get up only around 6.30 and finished shower and morning meditation. Since I was working late on previous day, loading was yet to be done. Snice we had decided to follow travel lite policy, we dint have too much luggage, but my kid was ready with 2 big bags full of her toys. It took some time for me and my better half to convince her.

We started from home at around 8 AM , (an hour delay from our actual plan) we joined NICE road via Kanakapura road and journey till Electronic City was breez. We got into heavy traffic situation once we reached Electronic City and it continued almost till the Tamil Nadu border. Even after crossing into TN , traffic was more than usual due to holiday season. We stopped at Chinnar at around 10.45 AM for breakfast.( few Kms before Krishnagiri). Restaurant was heavily crowded, somehow we managed to find a table in the corner and finished the breakfast. We did not enjoy this stretch of journey due to heavy traffic.

See the number of vehicle parked . This photo was taken after our breakfast and there was significant reduction in crowd compared to when we had arrived there.





From Chinnar, traffic situation was getting better but we were unable sustain speed beyond 80 to 90. We have observed that google map has turned very unreliable in certain situation , this is been happening for last 5 to 6 months. To be safe we run maps on 2 different devices. In one of the junction, map on my device showed straight and my wife’s device it was showing right . So I took right turn to absolve myself from any sort of blame that may arise at later stage .

Somewhere between Salem and Namakkal.

.

group of hill tops forming silhouette of human face.



We crossed Dharmapuri, Salem and reached Namakkal at around 2.30 PM. On the way, better half had finalized on restaurant, so we had our lunch at Rukmini Ammal pure veg restaurant . I took south thali (which is sort of unlimited). These days I have developed the taste for simple south Indian meals (Rice , sambar , curd) during travel and I enjoyed the food. We wanted to visit few temples in Namakkal, but they were closed till 4.30 PM . We finished our lunch around 3.15 and didn’t want to wait till 4.30 as we still had long way to go.

Rukmini Ammal restaurant



Me batting



From Namakkal to Trichy its 2 lane highway and could not sustain speed beryond 60. We realized that Srirangam is very close to Tirchy, but it was already dark and we were bit tired due to heavy traffic and all day driving, decided against it. Kid had already become restless and was frequently asking “are we there yet”. We reached hotel Hyders Park in Thanjavur around 7 PM I guess. We didn’t like the property , overly done interior with lot of colours and jing bling lights everywhere . Though people and facilities were good.We ordered food from A2B through Zomato , Hotel folks were more than happy to accommodate outside food and they even served it to our room. We were little tired, so settled to bed early.

Total KM at the end of the day was 417 KMS and board FE of 17.5kmpl.

Day 2 : Thanjavur – Karaikudi- Madurai . (Distance traveled=224KMs)



We got up early and finished our morning rituals, went straight to nearest A2B for breakfast. We had Puri Bhaaji, Dosa, idli and concluded with nice filter coffee. From there Brihadeeshwara temple was just 5Kms. Temple had dedicated paid parking lot , but no one to manage vehicle movement.

At A2B



We were spellbound by the magnanimity and grandeur of the temple which was built thousand years ago. We didn’t have enough time to explore in detail, we neither hired a guide. When we entered the temple, Naivedya rituals were going on ( God is having food) so they cover the Sanctum sanctorium’s door with the curtains. We were struck in queue under hot and humid condition. Naivedya Rituals were finished when kid was about to start showing her displeasure . we had darshan of the great Brihadeeshwara. We came out after visiting few more small temples and did shopping in the temple complex.







Minor incident happened at parking lot of the temple. Since there was no one managing vehicle movement and parking, vehicles were parked in haphazard manner and blocking the exit. Luckily there was one person who was sitting inside the vehicle made way for us, but I had to take out my vehicle through very narrow passage. There was a small plastic bucket on the way, which I failed to notice and my vehicle brushed passed that bucket , no harm to my car or the bucket . But there was one guy (looked high on “spirits”) stood up and started banging my car door demanding compensation !! (don’t know for what ?) . I ignored and started slowly taking out my car, he tried calling his mates, but luckily no one turned up , we just came out paying parking fee. From temple we went to our hotel, rested for while and checked out.

I was ashamed to enter temple in shorts, though I had brought veshti , forgot to wear it. Promised myself not to do this again. These are spiritual places and shorts are not appropriate for the place. Though there were no restriction on dress code.

Having Goli Soda AKA sugar syrup



Next stop was Karaikudi, as we wanted to visit couple of antiques shops there. Reached Karaikudi around 1 PM. Finding a veg restaurant in TN is very easy and you can never go wrong with South Indian thali. Had our lunch in Karaikudi and started looking for antique shops. We realized that it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed. We found one open shop and spent some time there. Those antique looking furniture were really nice and elegant, but expensive for quality of wood they were made up of. Shop owner claimed they were made of finest teakwood. Since I had some idea on timber, could make out that they were made from acacia (way cheaper than teak).




We wanted to see Chettinad house and cement tiles making, so headed to Athangudi which was around 10KM from Karaikudi. House which is open to public is built by someone named Nachiyappa Chettiyar and his descendants are current owners . House is very big and beautiful with open to sky courtyard in the middle. Almost all the floors and walls were adorned with colorful tiles with intricate designs. Interesting point is ,none of these tiles were Chettinad tiles, all were imported from Spain. Local artisans cleverly copied the technique and created their own product at later stage. Though locally manufactured tiles are not as good as imported ones, they are elegant nevertheless.






These tiles are 100 % handmade using cement and oxide colour.






Next destination was Madurai. Athangudi to Madurai journey was breeze as we did not encounter much traffic and reached our hotel in Madurai at around 5 PM. Kid wanted to go for swimming, so we both went to pool while better half took rest in the room. Ordered dinner to our room and called it a day.

Day 3 – Madurai – Kodaikanal – (Total distance travelled =122 KMs).




Breakfast buffet was part of our package, food was tasty and spread was good. We hired a rick for temple visit to avoid parking related difficulties. Due to Navarathri festival, temple was crowded, it would have taken minimum 3 hours in the queue for Darshan. Luckily we opted for special Darshan and we were done within 30 minutes. We explored temple premises for an hour more and come out feeling blessed. Better half did saree shopping at nearby shop where we had deposited all our wallets and phones . Came back to hotel and checked out around 11 AM.

Breakfast at Hotel Regency (Locally they call it GRT hotel)



After having Darshan of Goddess Meenakshi




Next destination was Kodaikanal . As we were told that there are many restaurants along the route, we decided to have lunch on the way. We reached a small town called Batalgundu at around 1 PM and were searching for place to have food, but none of the eateries looked decent enough to go with family and suddenly it started raining. We reached what seemed like an outskirts of the town and stopped to take decision on food while there was heavy downpour outside. We were not really hungry, but wife suggested not to approach curvy road in empty stomach. We decided to keep moving in search of restaurants. Luckily within 3 KMs there were multiple pure veg restaurants. Had leisurely lunch and resumed our journey.





In less than 15 KM from where we had lunch, we started approaching beautiful Palani Hills range. Drive in ghat section was bit scary due to reckless motorcycle riders allover. Good thing was truck drivers , they were very accommodating and gentle to fellow drivers. One of the finest lot of truck driver I have ever seen.












We reached our prebooked resort at around 4PM. The moment we started check in formalities, we realized how cold the place was . We were finding it difficult to walk barefoot within the room. My wife and kid were carrying winter wear and I had none. Immediately went out to buy warm pullover and slippers for indoor. This place was very nice with cottages spread across at various heights and lush green garden in between. Since there was no fully functioning kitchen , we were encouraged to order outside food , which was promptly delivered till our room. (As good as room service ) .

(To be continued )

Day 4 – Kodaikanal






Since I had seen congested narrow roads previous day , we decided to hire a cab for full day site seeing. They cover around 8 to 9 different places within 20 KM distance. We insisted on visiting Solar observatory which was not part of the package. This observatory was built by British during late 19th century, now under Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Guided tour was part of 50rs ticket, and folks at observatory are extremely good at making science palatable to common public. Drizzling rain shortened our site seeing expedition and we headed to Hotel Wood Lands for lunch. I don’t recommend this place to anyone. We went back to our resort after lunch and rested for a while.

Solar Observatory



We had to walk almost a KM to reach observatory from the main gate. But its very scenic .








Evening we did a walk around the lake and visited Bryants park, which is adjacent to lake.

We went to The Herbivore for dinner. This place had dedicated parking (you need to pay 250 initially, this will be refunded once you show your restaurant bill ). We ate couple of Pizzas and pastas for dinner. food was yummy, ambience was warm and welcoming. Highly recommend this place. Came back to room and retired to bed for the day.



very bold statements on the walls of this restaurant.





Day 5 – Kodaikanal to Bangalore (Total distance traveled = 496 KMs)



Got up around 6.30 next day, packed our stuff, checked out and we were rolling at 7.30 AM. Descent was less scarier to due to the absence of motorcycles , but kid had developed nausea in ghat section. She was worried that she may spoil the car seats , it took some time for me to convince her that it was totally fine and we can wash it. It was not a good idea to travel empty stomach in a curvy road. We reached Batalagundu at around 8.30 AM and this time tried different restaurant. I had idiyappam with sweet coconut milk (kannadigas have exact same dish , we call it Othu Shavige) Food was yummiest , in fact I alone had 3 plates of idiyappam (was hungry too). Highly recommend this place. We also did little shopping in adjacent shop owned by restaurant.





Next 400 + Kms till Bangalore was breeze, We completed 10000 KMs on the way and did small photo shoot. We had lunch near Krishnagiri and reached our home at around 4 PM.



In our previous cars we used travel an average 5K Kms per year, but with ScorpioN we have traveled 10K Kms in just 7 months.



Somewhere between Dindigal and Salem




Total distance at the end of the trip was 1384 Kms
Average Fuel efficiency stood at 15.5 KMPL



Cheers !!

Thanks for the lovely travelogue, Tanjai Periya Kovil is a sight to behold, Imagine how baffled the colonists would have been when they saw it for the first time.

Dig into the history of Kodi-Kanal - Kodaikanal :Vanishing Heritage of an Island in the sky, this book is very nice to read, you`d learn more about many other things along with it.

And then you will want to visit that place once again, should be easy in a vehicle like that which will encourage you to travel.

Vow, nice travelogue and great photos. Can you please let us know the name of the mansion that you visited in Karaikudi. In fact we were also planning a similar trip during the summer vacation. Thank you.

Good write up. Thanks for sharing.

Never been to temples in Tanjore though I have been there for multiple times!

Thank for sharing. It was a good read.
Could you please share how to avail/opt for special Darshana.