Mar 24 – Pamban Bridge and Dhanushkodi

Our hotel last night was very beautiful.  It was a gift to a beloved daughter for her marriage.  There is a central veranda...

and the reception area was originally a large living area.   

The front entrance. 

Dinner last night was on the rooftop terrace, which we forgot to photograph. 

The walls inside are covered with a very special material made of ground seashells, brown sugar, limestone and egg whites.  This mixture has a cooling effect in the area.  And it has a soft, smooth feel.  And a subtle sheen to it.  It is so expensive to make because of the egg whites that it can no longer be used in construction.  The sheen is vaguely visible to the left of the door...the lighter shades of cream. 

After breakfast we headed out for our next destination.  Random photos from the drive.

We had a long drive and eventually it was time for a bathroom break.  Clean bathrooms (to American standards) are few and far between.  So, we stopped at this Kentucky Fried Chicken place.  The bathrooms were very clean.  And it was close enough to lunchtime that Mary bought a chicken sandwich meal for lunch.  A nice change from the South Indian food.

We crossed the Pamban Bridge, the longest in India.  It crosses a bay to Rameswaram and then on to Dhanushkodi, our next destination.  There were a lot of fishing boats, but the bridge railing was high, making it hard to get good photos.

Near the end of the bridge there were a lot of fishing boats.  They were pretty hard to photograph.

There were a lot of Brahminy Kites swirling around end of the bridge.

We kept going out on to the Dhanushkodi Beach Road.  This road is on a 14-mile-long spit. 

Our first was at the Dhanushkodi ghost town.  The area includes ruins from a church, old post office, a medical college, and temple.  

Checking out the well

The only ruins easy to get to was the church.

There were also a lot of vendors.  Tara bought a bunch of large seashells. 

This young man had a couple of crabs to show us.

The spit is one very long beach.

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Video of Beach
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We eventually made our way to the end of the spit where there is a large column...

and a huge number of vehicles and people.

One must pose for a picture to prove you were there.

This is the point where where the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean meet.  Wouldn’t want to try to swim there.  The water is very turbulent. 

This is the closest point between India and Sri Lanka, only 34 miles.  You could barely see the light house in Sri Lanka through telescopes or with our telescopic lenses...but it didn't show up on any of our pictures...much too small.  

Throughout our travels in India, we have frequently been told the story of Lord Rama and his wife, Goddess Sita.  Sita was stolen away to Sri Lanka by Ravana, the king of all devils.  Lord Rama crossed from India to Sri Lanka on stepping stones (the many islands and sandbars that we see at this point of land that lie between the two countries) and rescued Sita.  Rameswaram is the jumping off point for Lord Rama’s rescue mission to win his wife back.

Lord Rama's Stepping Stones to Sri Lanka

We made a short stop at the Kothandaramar Temple.  No photos allowed inside.  Mary went in.  It was very simple inside, not much to see but an altar. 

On the way back into town we saw a very tall, slim structure, a lighthouse.