The route was quickly decided : Mysore -> Bangalore -> Hosur -> Vellore -> Kanipakam -> Bangalore -> Mysore
Since the focus was on good roads and long drive, we decided to enter Tamil Nadu via Hosur and exit via Andra Pradesh to reach Bangalore back.
While the drive through Electronic City, Bangalore was inevitable, we were soon blessed with wide-no-traffic roads. It was pure bliss driving this stretch in the fading evening light. An awesome stretch without cross roads, a Petrol Pump or even a Tea Shop.
It was 7:45PM while we reach the Golden Temple at Sripuram. Sripuram is a small village and only now has started drawing attention.
For reasons unknown, the Auto-cop failed to work in the parking lot (I was just equipped with one). The last batch is allowed to enter the temple at 8PM, and we were still at the parking lot trying to fix the Auto-cop. Cellphone, Wallets, Camera nothing at all is allowed in, except yourself. And the only place to store all valuables was the Car, and there we had a Auto-cop failure. 5 mins to 8, we found that the central locking was functional, quickly relied upon that and rushed towards the Temple.
It was 8.02PM, and they denied entry. It took a while explaining them that, we had come a long way.... blah blah blah, in English, Kannada, Hindi and Tamil. The last thing they heard was that we were from Mysore. They said, "Oooooh Mysore, we thought Bangalore. Get in get in". Now what is that supposed to mean ...??...
Photography is prohibited. So, this is inet ppt for those interested souls.
Facts:
Expands over one hundred acres.
About 1.5 tons of gold has been used!!
The temple is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi.
You'll have to walk the star shaped path which would take at least an hour, to reach the temple. The temple sits in the middle of a pond. The glittering richness makes for a splendid view at night.
The Prasadam served at the exit was heavenly. There is a Kanchipuram Saree showroom and a Gold Souk too for the interested souls.
The next morning we stopped by quickly at the Vellore fort and then drove towards Vallimalai. A beautiful temple on a small hillock. Its said that this is where Lord Karthikeya - son of Shiva and Parvathi, fell in love with Valli. (he has 2 wives, Valli and Devayani).
Ooooh, those love stories are very interesting...
A mantap at the center of the pond at the foot of Vellimalai
Temple at the top of the hillock.
A Pond full of Lotus at the top of the hill
Its a bliss walking around
The young lad in the pic below was our guide. His name was something which we never got to understand or pronounce even after a dozen attempts.
The walk down the hill....
Kaanipakam located in the Chittoor district of Andra Pradesh has a temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha. This had to visited after visiting Lord Subramanya.
And a looooong drive back.
Something I found really unusual was the Toll fee. We had easily spent around INR 135, from entering TN and before exiting into AP. Isn't that exorbitant?!?!
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