Add Location in WikiMapia

Add Vedaraniam (Thirumaraikkadu) Residence
Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I have added my old residence in Vedaraniam (வேதாரண்யம்) to WikiMapia. The residence is clearly visible in the North Main Road in Vedaraniam also known as Thirumaraikkadu (திருமறைக்காடு). The town center and the main temple, Vedharaniyeswarar temple is also seen.

Trip to Jacksonville Hindu Temple

Trip to Jacksonville, Florida
Hindu Temple of North East Florida
Sunday, December 28, 2008

We visited the Jacksonville Hindu Society of North East Florida and the Ganesh temple today. We started around 8:00 AM from home and took Interstate 10 East and drove for about two hours and 45 minutes. The temple is now located in a new subdivision Greenland Road (4968, Greenland Road, Jacksonville, FL 32258 (904-268-7630) www.jaxhindutemple.org (compared to the time when we visited the temple in 2004).

The temple construction work was still in progress with volunteers painting the driveway. We went inside and participated in poojas for Ram and Ganesh. We finished our meal in the temple and volunteered to set-up chairs for the upcoming New Year Services on Thursday, January 1, 2009.


We then drove to Rajan Indian Grocery store in Baymeadow Road and purchased some grocery items before heading toward Beach Boulevard and reached the Jacksonville Beaches. The water was cold and there were signs stating that there were rip currents and hence swimming was not encouraged.

The kids waded the water in knee deep water for about 45 minutes. Then we picked some coffee and donunts at the Dunkin Donut shop and headed toward home. We were home just before 8 PM.

Highlights and tips of our Japan trip

Tips and ideas from our Japan trip

Monday, September 01, 2008

Tallahassee, FL, USA

We have visited couple of places in Japan and here I have given list of those places and highlights of our trip. Enjoy

Links:

• Hirohsima and Himeji
• Kyoto
• Osaka
• Nara
• Nagoya

Travel back to home

Travel Back to Home
Saturday, 30, 2008
Orlando to Tallahassee

After spending eight days in Japan, we were ready to head back home. Our almost 18 hour (9 1/2 hour to San Francisco and 5 1/2 hour journey to Orlando) journey and 13 hour time difference made us very tired. So we stayed at a Hotel last night.

Around 10 AM we got back in our car and headed toward Tallahassee. We stopped only briefly to pick up some lunch. We arrived around 3 PM.

Travel in Japan 06

Toward Nagoya

Travel in Japan 05 - Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan)

Osaka Aquarium
Osaka Kaiyukan
Thursday, August 28, 2008

I completed my morning session and came for lunch and we decided to see the Osaka Aquarium.

Travel in Japan 04 - Nara

Short trip to Nara
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2-4 PM
Nara, Japan

We wanted to do a short trip to Nara since it is close by Osaka and relatively a small town. So after completing my morning session at the conference we took the Osaka sub-way system to a station called Tennoji.

From Tennoji we needed take JR Yamtoji line to Nara. We wanted to do a short trip to Nara since it was close to Osaka, relatively a small town but had couple of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. So after completing my morning session at the conference we took the Osaka sub-way system. At Awaza station we caught the Chuo Line (Green) to Tanimachi 4-chome and at Tanimachi 4-chome caught the Tanimachi Line (Purple) to Tennoji station.

In Tennoji station we needed to go from the Osaka Municipal Subway system to Japan Railways' Yamatoji Line. The Yamatoji line runs from JR Namba Station to Kamo (three stops past Nara). Since the Yamatoji line is part of JR system we used our JR Pass and rode the train for about 45 minute. The scenery was very beautiful with lush green plants everywhere including rice paddy.

At Nara JR station we picked up a tourist guide and had lunch at the local McD. From Bus Stop Number One we took Bus Number two toward Kofuku-ji temple. On the way to the Temple we saw lots of spotted deer roaming the grounds. The Kohfuku-ji Temple complex has several structures and we saw the following: Kokuhokan (National Treasure House), Tokondo (Eastern Golden Hall), Nan-endo (Southern Octogonal Hall; open only one day in a year), and Goju-no-to (Five storied Pagoda).

From there we walked all the way along the Nara National Museum, Nara Prefecture Tourist Office to the Todai-ji Temple.

Todaiji Temple ticket is shown below: