Travel Day 981 – Villupuram to Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
It was our Arrival Day in Tiruvannamalai and even if we still had problems pronouncing the name of this place, we basically had come for two reasons, Arunachala, the sacred Shiva Mountain and the famous Ramana Ashram…
Arunachala from the Bus Station
Our overnight train ride ended for us in Villupuram and as early as 3.30am, which left us to take a rickshaw to the bus stand and a long distance bus to Tiruvannamalai. Once we got off the bus at early sunrise, we were already greeted by Arunachala, the sacred mountain that was not only overlooking the bus station, but actually all of Tiruvannamalai…
After some really nice wake-up breakfast we were then off to find a place to stay. The famous Ramana Ashram told us that we needed to make a reservation at least one month ago and even the other ashram close by was full due to some upcoming holiday. So we had no choice but roam around in the heat until we actually found a decent place. Luckily it was off-season and so we ended up with a really good value for the little money spent…
Arunachala from the Ramana Ashram
While the guesthouse was a great place to stay, the rooftop turned out to be the best place in town to hang out and laze away those unbearable hot mid day hours while resting in one of the hammocks. Considering that we had not slept much during the night, I had quite some energy and wanted to explore Tiruvannamalai, while my friend was drained of all his life forces and decided to spent his day rather hammock bound…
So first I went to the nicest little garden restaurant for lunch and then I went for a little wander around with the final destination the Ramana Ashram, which turned out to be a remarkably well maintained cluster of buildings from the turn of the century. After familiarizing myself with the campus that was obviously overlooked by the mountain Arunachala, I joined the afternoon teaching and the evening Satsang, but I wasn’t really too impressed by it…
Arunachala at Sunset, Tamil Nadu
Then I went for a little walk along Arunachala at sunset, before I then went home to practice some Tabla and have dinner with some new friends. Since they were musicians as well, we decided to spent the rest of the evening on the rooftop terrace while jamming a little bit together until we were finally kicked out around 10pm. Even if we were still a group of people, they nevertheless insisted of closing the rooftop punctually…
So we had no choice but end our day with a drive around the holy mountain Arunachala. Since all of our new-found friends had scooters, we teamed up and drove first to a chai shop on the other side of the mountain and then completed the whole cycle before we went to bed. Wow, it had been a really busy day and it almost seemed that I had done and seen everything that there was to do and see in Tiruvannamalai within my very first day …
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