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If you read the proposed itinerary at the start of the blog you would note we had plans to go to the Indian side of Adam's bridge. That's the point where back in the 15th century India and Sri Lanka were physically joined. These days there is a chain of sandy islands and treacherous sea currents. Spiritually it's a big pilgrimage site. Rama, incarnation of Vishnu led a group of monkeys and bears across a monkey built bridge to Sri Lanka and defeated the demon Ravana to rescue his wife, Sita. They returned to Rameswaram to offer thanks to Shiva. None of the above is the reason we are here but it is an important place for Indian devotees and is a small tourist mecca. For us it's the spot of our first photo, Indian looking at Sri Lanka, next week we hope to take another photo 15 miles away from the Sri Lankan side looking back at this spot.

We had planned two nights here but the hotel we had booked couldn't process a Visa transaction and we had limited cash. A bit of a dilemma ensued so we headed off around the town to find a working ATM and get a feel for the place. We spotted a small travel agency where after a discussion about how lucky we were to have two boy children, why we didn't get married until 30 and a complete run down on the 799 runs India scored against England in ChennaI we had organised a jeep to take us to the Southern most point of the sand dunes which could leave in 20 minutes. This meant we could leave town after only one day. To top off a successful day we discovered a working ATM.

The trip down the beach turned out to be a trip down the new, but as yet unopened tar seal road. Coincidently our jeep driver had special clearance to use the road, I am guessing he paid a bribe to someone. What we expected to be a four hour drive over sand dunes only took an hour. A perfect day out.

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Photos

Bridge in Ramaswaram
Cars stopping on the bridge to take photos.

Destroyed church
A town built on the end of the sand spot was destroyed in a storm in 1964.

Buffet breakfast
The hotel owner was very proud of his breakfasts. They were good.