Gangaikonda Cholapuram
Yesterday, 16-1-2010, i went to gangaikonda cholapuram. I was planning this trip for almost 4 or 5 months, and finally the right time has come yesterday.
So, first about the place.
Gangaikonda Cholapuram was erected as the capital of the Cholas by Rajendra Chola I, the son and successor of Rajaraja Chola, the great Chola who conquered a large area in South India at the beginning of the 11th century C.E. It occupies an important place in the history of India. As the capital of the Cholas from about 1025 C.E. for about 250 years, the city controlled the affairs of entire south India, from the Tungabhadra in the north to Ceylon in the south. The great temple of Siva at this place is next only to the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur in its monumental nature and surpasses it in sculptural quality.
A formal description, as usual stolen from wikipedia 
The place is roughly 120 km from Trichy. I went in my bike, Honda Unicorn. Ya, i love bike bike riding though it pains
Me , my friend Sudhan and one more friend went in two bikes.
I started by 9 AM. This is the route i followed while onward journey.
Trichy –> Kallanai –> Tirukkattupalli –> Thiruvaiyaru –> keezha pazhuvur –> Jayamkondam –> Gangaikonda cholapuram
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Around 110-120 km journey. The road is nice throughout except for the small section of 20 km from Thiruvaiyaru. It may take around 2 hours to reach there from Trichy. But since this was our first time, we went very slow in bike, 50-60 kmph. We reached there by 11.45 AM. There should be no trouble in finding the temple because the gopuram is visible from 1 km.
Since we went on a holiday, there was a huge rush. We parked our bikes in front for 5 rupees and there is a separate place for leaving footwears, so no problems.
The first sight of the temple was so nice. It was like a miniature version of Periya Kovil in Thanjavur, exactly built like a miniature.
The lawn around the temple is maintained very well. Many sleep there Since there was huge rush, i didn’t go inside the main temple, just prayed from a distance and got back to work [taking pics].
After clicking lot of shots, which was taken for the purpose of stitching panos i got tired. We found a nice place to rest in the lawn. We where there till 2 PM, chatting and making fun. Sudhan tried to take pictures of me in my 50mm lens. He took out of focus shots all time since AF doesn’t work in my D60.
Again i took some photos of front elevation and came outside.We had a nice cup of tea.
While returning there was a lake just 1 or 2 km from temple. The color of water was muddy. I even dont know whether it is a lake or not. Just lot of water on both sides of road. We did some adventure in bike and took pics
We reached Jayamkondam by 3PM, and had egg puff, afternoon lunch.We were not interested to find a hotel, sit there and give orders, also we were not hungry.
While returning to trichy i came via different road. 101 kms totally to my home.
The road was very neat with green paddy fields on both sides. But i stopped at some places and took pics. Reached trichy by 5.45 PM.
It was a nice experience and nearly 4 GB of my harddisk space filled with those pictures.
Here are some more pictures of the temple i took yesterday.
Here is a very nice 360 degree view of the temple, by Tamilnadu Tourism.