tolls on florida turnpike Nand International HOTEL $ (%24657511; www.nandhotels.com; Kacheguda Station Rd; s/d/tr from 535/635

Nand International HOTEL $ (%24657511; www.nandhotels.com; Kacheguda Station Rd; s/d/tr from 535/635/735; a) The Nand is a pleasant surprise near Kacheguda Station. It has a roof garden with potted geraniums (and chai on order), sitting areas, water coolers, and well-looked-after peach-coloured rooms hung with weird mixed-media art.

Indian Airlines (%2283992; Tirumala Bypass Rd; h9.30am-5.30pm), 2km from town, has daily flights to Delhi via Hyderabad. Kingfisher Red (%9849677008) plies the same route, including Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam. Book with Mitta Travels tolls on florida turnpike (%2225981; Prakasam tolls on florida turnpike Rd; h9am-7.30pm Mon-Sat, 9am-12.30pm Sun), next to Manasa tolls on florida turnpike Fast Foods, 2km from the train station.

910 STATE OF GOOD KARMA In its typically understated way, Andhra Pradesh doesn t make much of its vast archaeological and karmic wealth. But the state is packed with impressive ruins of its rich Buddhist history. Only a few of Andhra s 150 stupas, monasteries, caves and other sites have been excavated, tolls on florida turnpike turning tolls on florida turnpike up rare relics of the Buddha (usually pearl-like pieces of bone) with offerings such as golden flowers. Nagarjunakonda and Amaravathi were flourishing Buddhist complexes, and near Visakhapatnam were the incredibly peaceful sites of Thotlakonda, and Bavikonda and Sankaram, looking across seascapes and lush countryside. They speak of a time when Andhra Pradesh or Andhradesa was a hotbed of Buddhist activity, when monks came from around the world to learn from some of the tradition s most renowned teachers. Andhradesa tolls on florida turnpike s Buddhist culture, in which sangha (community of monks and nuns), laity and statespeople all took part, lasted around 1500 years from the 6th century BC. There s no historical evidence for it, but some even say that the Buddha himself visited the area. Andhradesa s first practitioners were likely disciples of Bavari, an ascetic who lived on the banks of the Godavari River and sent his followers north to bring back the Buddha s teachings. But the dharma really took off in the 3rd century BC under Ashoka, who dispatched monks across his empire to teach and construct stupas enshrined with relics of the Buddha. (Being near these was thought to help progress on the path to enlightenment.) Succeeding Ashoka, the Satavahanas and then Ikshvakus were also supportive. At their capital at Amaravathi, the Satavahanas adorned Ashoka s modest stupa with elegant decoration. They built monasteries across the Krishna Valley and exported the dharma through their sophisticated maritime network. tolls on florida turnpike It was also during the Satavahana reign that Nagarjuna tolls on florida turnpike lived. Considered by many to be the progenitor of Mahayana Buddhism, the monk was equal parts logician, philosopher and meditator, and he wrote several ground-breaking works that shaped contemporary Buddhist tolls on florida turnpike thought. Other important monk-philosophers would emerge from the area in the following centuries, making Andhradesa a sort of Buddhist motherland of the South.

Devotees flock to Tirumala to see Venkateshwara, an avatar of Vishnu. Among the many powers attributed to him is the granting of any wish made before the idol at Tirumala. Many pilgrims also donate their hair to the deity in gratitude for a wish fulfilled, or to renounce ego so hundreds of barbers attend to devotees. Tirumala and Tirupathi tolls on florida turnpike are filled with tonsured men, women and children, generating tolls on florida turnpike big money from exports to Western wig companies.