When I was planning my trip to Chennai and places around it, the obvious choice seemed to be Pondicherry. But it was a town I had visited twice before. While I did discover newer aspects to Pondy with every visit (like the wall art at Serenity Beach), this time I wanted to see a little bit more. Tranquebar came highly recommended. Since my idea of a holiday is usually quieter, less populated destinations, it fit in well with my plans. I soon booked my tickets and my hotel and was quite pleased with myself that I had wrapped it all up effeciently.
Only then did I start on my information gathering and was looking up places of interest in and around Tranquebar, if any. To my shock I realised I had sorely underestimated the time it took to reach the town (by road) from Chennai. I had reckoned for around 3 hours totally, mistakenly assuming Tranquebar was not more than an hour's drive beyond Pondy. But since all the bookings had been done, there was no going back. I realised I had to now cut short my sight seeing in and around Chennai and push off to Tranquebar immediately. Especially, as I didn't want to be on the road too late in the evening.
I left Chennai by 9 AM, made two brief halts - one at Dakshinachitra (a second visit is definitely required) and another for lunch enroute. Finally, I reached Tranquebar around 5.30PM. Approx. journey time: 5 and a half hours (as opposed to the 3 hours that I had assumed).
Due to my silly mistake in figuring out the distance from Chennai to Tranquebar, I missed out on visiting the Shore temples of Mahabalipuram as well as a day trip to Pondicherry. I was more disappointed about the temples. I have been waiting to see them for ages. Ever since I saw a picture of the elephant sculpture (carved from a single rock, no less) in my school history books.
Note to myself: Do not ape the ones who impulsively travel to a destination without doing any/ proper research. Not my cup of tea. Too much stress!
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| photo credit: dreamstime.com |
Only then did I start on my information gathering and was looking up places of interest in and around Tranquebar, if any. To my shock I realised I had sorely underestimated the time it took to reach the town (by road) from Chennai. I had reckoned for around 3 hours totally, mistakenly assuming Tranquebar was not more than an hour's drive beyond Pondy. But since all the bookings had been done, there was no going back. I realised I had to now cut short my sight seeing in and around Chennai and push off to Tranquebar immediately. Especially, as I didn't want to be on the road too late in the evening.
I left Chennai by 9 AM, made two brief halts - one at Dakshinachitra (a second visit is definitely required) and another for lunch enroute. Finally, I reached Tranquebar around 5.30PM. Approx. journey time: 5 and a half hours (as opposed to the 3 hours that I had assumed).
Due to my silly mistake in figuring out the distance from Chennai to Tranquebar, I missed out on visiting the Shore temples of Mahabalipuram as well as a day trip to Pondicherry. I was more disappointed about the temples. I have been waiting to see them for ages. Ever since I saw a picture of the elephant sculpture (carved from a single rock, no less) in my school history books.
Note to myself: Do not ape the ones who impulsively travel to a destination without doing any/ proper research. Not my cup of tea. Too much stress!
