Friday, March 13, 2009

South India Travel Tour Information Tips

Goa, the earlier hippie cooperative on India’s west coast, is often cited as the sizzling spot for travelers seeking religious explanation and all-night beach parties. Kerala, about 400 miles south of Goa along India’s southwestern tip, is promising as a quieter option with its long shorelines, extensive plantations and comforting spas that concentrate in the healing practice of ayurveda, the conventional Hindu medicine of India. “As the health resort business globally has exploded, Kerala as the hub of this treatment method has been able to take advantage of that,” .There is dozens of ayurvedic spas and health centers to desire from. One of the newest is at the Kovalam Beach hotel, which opened an 8,000-square-foot spa ayurvedic wellness center last year called Divya with 18 therapists, 4 physicians trained in ayurvedic medicine and an open-air meditation hall.So far, foreigners compose up a small tiny proportion of the visitors to Kerala. For example, 515,808 foreign tourists visited Kerala last year, compared with domestic tourists. Certainly, Western tour companies have in progress adding Kerala to their standard India itineraries. “Kerala is an up-and-coming destination but still comparatively unknown.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is the greatest place to admire South Indian temple structural design. The most well-known South Indian temples include the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, the Hindu pilgrim destination of Rameswharam, and the wonderful temples in the holy city of Kanchipuram.
The Meenakshi temple in Madurai is enthusiastic to the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati, known here as Meenakshi. According to celebrity, Shiva and Meenakshi were in truth married in Madurai. The large temple complex contains 12 famous gopuras or towers that are decorated with vibrantly colored sculptures of Hindu deities. The temple is always busy with pilgrims, tourists, beggars, salesmen and palm readers, but becomes even busier during temple festivals.Madurai has flight connections to Chennai and Mumbai, and train and bus connections around South India.

Rameshwaram is a significant pilgrimage destination for Hindus, being the place where the Hindu gods Rama build a connection across the sea to liberate his beloved Sita from her malevolence abductor, Ravana. The Ramnathswamy temple dates back to the 17th century and are an example of Dravidian temple planning as well as one of the holiest of India’s Hindu temples.
It is filled with magnificent temples, most of them dedicated to the gods Shiva or Vishnu, although the goddess Shakti is also worshipped in the Kamakshi Amman temple. One of the main and most ancient - and at the same time almost positively the most famous temple in Kanchipuram - is the superb Ekambareshwar Temple.

Many of the other temples in Kanchipuram will not let non-Hindus into the deepest area of the temple, but visitors can still walk around the holy place complex. Kanchipuram is also famous for its silks and temple visitors can anticipate lots of invitations to silk shops from rickshaw drivers and touts who hang around temples. Kanchipuram can be easily reached from Chennai.

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