Chennai -> Phuket -> Phi-Phi Island (Thailand)

 As my previous post - short and crisp i am sharing our itinerary and budget trip details on below

Our trip starts on 10th July 23:20 pm from Chennai

 We have booked Thai Air Asia Flight via Bangkok through Trip.com

Our flight from Chennai to Phuket via Bangkok where we have only 2 hours to do Immigration check and Terminal Transfer this is risky, Even i wont recommend for my friends duration is not sufficient we are lucky got our Phuket flight at last minute after immigration and Terminal change from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.

Once you reached Phuket, you have multiple options like taxi and prepaid taxi for transportation but i recommend Bus which cost you 100 Baht only really economy one, you need to come out of Airport where you can notice bus will waiting for you.

We have booked our Hotel in Patong at Phuket, So our plan Two days in Phuket and One day in Phi Phi island and return to Phuket and get flight on  15th July 2024.

We have booked Club Bamboo Hotel(11th & 12th July 2024) at Patong which is close City. Since its Monsoon season we got good deals on our Hotels as well but some times it rains as well. Phuket you can find lot of Renting Bike and cars shops everywhere even our hotel had but you must have international license to drive in Phuket. Strongly recommend to have International license to avoid 2000 Baht fine.

We tried some native Thai Food on day one itself 

Thai Food

Madras Darbar hotel(We didnt try anything here just noticed our Tamil language)

My first stop at Tiger Kingdom which cost baht 900- 1000 based on availability of Tiger slots.If your visiting Thailand then dont miss playing with Big Cat

After Tiger Kingdom we went to Big Buddha, Really Beautiful view of the City.

In Phuket you can notice Massage Center every 50 meter's along with Cannabis shop.

Day 2(12th July 2024): We have booked James bond Island package trip. If you didn't plan on your initial plan no worries your hotel can help you on this, We have booked our package at midnight there is lot of tour operator in Phuket city.  We have completed our Breakfast and we got picked up by tour operator at our hotel around 9 am. It took 2 hours from our Hotel to James Bond island though it was raining but we got amazing view and climate as we are lucky .

Package which include lunch as well which is buffet, If you are planning Phuket don't miss James Bond Island package, Tour operator will drop you at your hotel.

Local Market

Day 3: Phi Phi Island(13th July 2024) : We need to transfer from Phuket to Phi Phi Island via Boat. 

Beach are very beautiful clear where you can do scuba diving and snorkeling 

We booked P.P Casita hotel in Phi Phi Island at very good deal 

We booked boat Package to explore Phi Phi Island Beaches 

Day 4 (14th july 2024) We return on 14th evening to Phuket via Boat and booked Airport Resort  which is close to Airport.

Day 5 (15th July 2024) I have booked our return flight via flyscoot airways, We had booked because of 10 long hours in Singapore and thought of exploring Singapore with one day Transit visa.

If you want to explore Singapore on 10 long hour stay, you need to obtain Singapore visa or US/Japan/Australia visa to enjoy one day free transit visa. Since we didn't know we have to stay in Singapore Airport Itself and Flight slighter delay and we have reached Chennai on 45 minutes delay.

Budget details for per Person:

Flight Ticket : 20568

Hotel (11 & 12th ) : 2441

Hotel (13) : 1416

Hotel (14) : 1328

Expense (Food & other) : 19733 roughly we have spend Rs.45K

Singapore Trip - Coming Soon --

 Below Trip will Summarize budget friendly trip from Chennai to Singapore..

SriSailam - Malikarjuna Jyotirlingam (2nd Jyotirlingam)

Our Next Jyotirlingam at Srisailam.

Srisailam, a hill town in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh is home to the Malikarjuna Jyotirlingam or Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple and also as one of the eighteen Shakti Peetham of goddess Parvati.

This is trip planned during August 11th - 13th,2023. 

Me and My friend started from Chennai, We don't have direct connectivity by road or train to Sirsailam, So we decided to go Vijayawada by Train. So we booked train(12656) Navajivan Exp from Chennai Central to Vijayawada on 3rd Class AC but i wont recommend this route. If you are planning Train try to book for Marakpur Station or Ongole which is close to SriSailam.

We had reached Vijayawada at 5 PM on 11th 2023. Since we don't have our lunch at train. We thought of having at Vijayawada because our bus around 9.30 PM, We also though of exploring Vijayawada, So I have checked my friend, So he recommended to visit Kanaka Dura(Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Temple) really must visit temple if you are exploring Vijayawada.

We don't have any AC bus from Vijayawada to SriSailam normal semisleeper available from Andhra Transport. Journey is not pleasant one and we reached SriSailam around 2:50 PM itself but due to restriction on reserve forest. we forced to stay in bus till 6 AM but there is lot of Tea shops available for your refreshment.

We have reached SriSailam around 7.30 AM on 14th Aug 2023 but Ghats road really scary one. We took bath at Krishna river. you can utilize the Rope car and boating in Krishna River which is cost of  Rs.80/- only

We booked 12 pm Sparsha Darshanam which is cost of Rs.500/- per person, I will recommend to every one, They will allow you to touch Lingam. You will feel some good vibe.

It took 2 hours to complete the darshan. We had our Lunch at Temple really good food. We had enough time after darshan, we are exploring local things and taking rest and our bus at 7:30 PM to SriKalahasti.

We reached SriKalahasti 7.30 AM 15th Aug 2023 we took bath at hotel which is close to Temple. Srikalahasti know .....

Chennai(India) to Srilanka(Colombo,Galle,Ella,Kandy)

 

Itinerary 

• 28th Jun - Flight delay 1 hour (Chennai Airport - Colombo Airport)
• 
  
  
• 28th Jun - Colombo Airport - Galle Fort(Sirene Galle fort,Taxi-Kwid car - Rs.18200/-(Colombo to Galle Fort )

• 29th Jun - Galle Fort,Jungle Beach,(Hotel - Rs.39410/-)
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 30th Jun - Galle to Ella (Taxi - Rs.22000/- ,Hotel - 7500/-)
• 
  
  
  
  
• 30th Jun - Ravana Water Falls,Ravana Cave and Nine Arches Bridges
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
• 1st July - Ella - Kandy(Train - 2400/-(4*600),Hotel Room - 14000/- )
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 2nd July - Kandy local sightseeing(Murugan Temple,Buddist Temple)
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  
• 2nd July - Kandy - Negumobo (Taxi - Rs.14000/-)
• 

Food

• 2nd July - Negumobo - Colombo Airport(Taxi)
• 3rd July - Colombo - Chennai - 12:45 AM fight 
• 
  
  

*Above mentioned Rupees is Srilankan Rupee.

Budget Per Person:

Flight Ticket + Visa(20 dollar) = Rs.16000/-

Travel Expenses = Rs.15250/-

Total = Rs.31250/-

Chennai to Shirdi with kids(religious trip)...coming soon

Chennai to MadhyaPradesh[Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga(3), Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga(4)].....coming soon

Spiritual Trip with my Friend (Palani).

Me and My Friend thought of visiting 12 Jyotirlingam, thought of exploring best way to accommodate the travel plan.

Our first decision to explore Madhya Pradesh to visit Mahakaleshwar and Omkareshwar because both in and around 200 km. So we can complete during our Weekend time.

Earlier myself and friend covered Rameswaram (Pamban,TamilNadu), Trimbakeshwar(Trimbak,Maharashtra) with our family.

There is lot of option to reach Indore like Train and Air.

We opted for Air travel to save our time. So we have booked IndiGO flight but direct flight bit costlier, so we have booked connecting flight, Chennai to Nagpur 21^st April 2023, Friday (Boarding Time: 5:05 PM and Departure 5:50 PM)  1 :10 hr layover in Nagpur and Nagpur to Indore on 21^st April 2023,Friday (Boarding Time : 8:00 PM and Departure 8:45 PM ) so total 4 hours 5 minutes. We had our dinner at Nagpur Airport itself and We have also reached Indore on time. 

We thought of taking Auto (Tuk Tuk) to Bus station to reach Mahakaleshwar, Ujjain Since we both have difficult in Hindi language. When we came out from Airport you can notice lot Auto rikshaw and Cab. We also thought of taking Cab to Ujjain if time became issue because its already 10 PM. We have approached few Auto drivers but some of asked bigger price, since we are new to city, we are clueless and finally one guy agreed for Rs.200/- to drop at bus station but he is looking for other as well. 

I am not comfortable with guy was looking for another Auto, he came started vehicle ask to sit and journey started, he started asking questions like where you from and where you going i am bit skeptical but i have told we are going to Ujjain to See Mahakaleshwar his reaction got changed he started your going to visit our Mahakaleshwar. 

He stopped us in the bus stand and he started saying from here you get bus we bit confused. He later saying "you didn't trust me, if you want, I can drop at Ujjain we bit surprised because from Indore to Ujjain almost 50 km. We also feel not safe but he stayed few minutes to convince us and he quoted Rs.1000/- for trip which we had earlier in mind in travel, I started negotiating him Rs.700/- he agreed with amount of Rs.900/- it was good deal on midnight that to 50 + kilometer with unknown city, we assumed auto driver native might be Ujjain so he is dropping on the go. it will be good deal both of us but surprise he came to drop us i asked why he said "You came to See our God" I feel bad myself because initial thought about Auto driver is not good but later he drove 50 kilometer drop, from start we are scared on drive because its national highway, we are using our google map to confirm he is driving to Ujjain only and i am pretty sure, he won’t get return journey passenger because its midnight 12:00. 

What to say "Mahakaleshwar with us " .City is active during night itself we had Gulfi ice wow ..Simply wow. This trip is not planned one. We thought of looking for Hotel since its already 12 PM we didn't get easily.

 we thought of walk round and find Hotel which close to temple but room is not good, We asked other option so he gave ground floor its big one at Rs.1700/- after negotiating since room alteration going but we are ok with the budget and we are close temple.

 

Our first activity to talk bath Holy water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chennai to Thiruchendur ,Coutrallam,Coimbatore on Car(Road Trip)

 Vanakkam\Hello Travelers 

This is another wonderful journey covering Tamil Nadu on Road(Dec 2020)..

Due to Covid times travelling out quiet challenge but myself and my spouse have followed strictly government guidelines to stay safe during travel. This trip planned during December 2020.

Day -1, 27th Dec 2020 Chennai -Thiruchendur Murugan Temple

We have started our journey by 7 AM from our home town, Since I had already driven from Chennai to Thiruchendur Murugan Temple earlier for my twin daughters tonsure, So routes are comfortable, while we are crossing the Chengalpattu Bypass, We had seen big traffic due to Accident where two people spot dead because of speedy bike driving. It disturbed bit while driving, we had stopped for our breakfast at Villupuram(Hotel Arya Nivas) where almost 200 km crossed for our day 1 trip,NH32 roads are awesome apart from multiple tolls and we have stopped near Thoothukudi -Tiruchendur road because of sunflower plantations .We have stopped to take photo's  and some of other state cars also stopped to take photos most of location look so good like scenery location and we have reached the thiruchendur by 4 pm itself which is earlier on our plan. So we booked nearby hotel which is close to temple and we had dharshan same days itself with so much crowd(which is expected) even Covid period. Temple management had lot of restriction but still some people not ready to follow ..Once we had dharshan we went sea shore and had our dinner nearby hotel ..rava dosa and idili's are so good...

So Day 1 went with maximum time on car which covered almost 700+ KM done ,from Chennai to Chengalpattu Bypass traffic is more after NH32 routes easy to drive but one thing about NH32 which had lot of tolls and toll charges also high ;) 

Chennai to Thiruchendur route map

Sunflower Plantation 

Day - 2 ,28th Dec 2020,Thiruchendur - Tirunelveli, Papanasam, Coutrallam

On our day 2,we started leaving the Thiruchendur earlier 7:30 AM to reach Tirunelveli, We thought of checking place called Mavadu(nothing special here), where we are not sure about location and where exactly located, with help of Google map try to explore but our bad Google map shown different place...we are exhausted with humidity and google map really routing hard directions. I mean instead of national highways it directing to state high ways which is narrow and small one which use to connect villages. Since exploring Mavadu took our half of the day, So we have skipped Mavadu to avoid wasting our time and routing towards Papanasam and we had reached by 4:45 pm at Papanasam Agasthiyar fall but police didn't allow us because of 15 minutes delay, So we had visited Papanasam Temple(Sivan temple) and started to Coutrallam due to Covid 19 issue no crowd at Coutrallam ..we though of staying close main falls most of Hotels are empty and bit scary to book room as well, Luckily we got room on road (Green Hills Villa) with descent price. 

Day 3, 29th Dec 2020,Coutrallam(Main Fall,Monkey Fall,Tiger Fall,Five falls,Chitraaruvi)

Coutrallam to Coimbatore

Day 4 30th Dec 2020

Coimbatore to Isha Yoga,Chennai