Trip to Valparai and Athirapally

                                                           
                                                                          

I and my college friends had planned for a perfect weekend gateway to get off from hectic worklife. Our group had been to many hill stations and thought of planning not to yet another mountain drive. .. But searching from net and from many blogs , to enjoy and to have a remembering tour , the hill station is the right choice. So we planned to have our trip to "VALPARAI"  a hill station not much explored situated on the mighty western Ghats , which is 100 Kms drive from Coimbatore city.

Since this tour is not planned much before , we could not get our Journey tickets in train. So planned to take a bus to reach coimbatore and boarded Coimbatore bound bus on April 30 (Thursday) night.

We reached Coimbatore the next day morning at 8.30 . The bus journey really left us a travel sickness !!

Note : The best option is to catch a train route to reach coimbatore as the travelling time is lesser and comfortable.

After getting down at coimbatore , next is to search for our cab , that had been pre-booked at chennai .After searching for a while we found our tempo traveller and everyone got inside. The plan initially was to have our breakfast at coimbatore and then head to valparai , but the driver recommended to have it at "Pollachi" which is enorute. After an hour travel , we reached Pollachi , had stomach filled breakfast .Commenced our Joureny again for a three hour hill climb (Apprx 65 kms from pollachi) to valparai. The steep and sharp curved mountain which we spotted from the foot hills had spooked and excited everyone . On the Foothills was the "Aaliyar Dam" and "Aaliyar park". The Dam view was spectacular but the scorching/Searing heat avoided us to enjoy to a great extent. We took few snaps in the Dam and park and quickly got on to cab. Thought of visiting monkey Falls nearby to Aaliyar dam , but the local people advised that the Falls will be dry and not to waste money there. Taken the expert advise , we skipped the Monkey Falls.

                                                                                  Snap taken at Aaliyar Dam

                                                                         

After a few kilometres drive from Monkey Falls , We come across first Hair pin bend out of the total 40 Hair pin bends. To mention about the curve and steep of this Hills , the valparai has the most number of Hairpin bends compared to other Hill stations like ooty,Kodaikanal. At 10 th Hair pin drive , you could view the striking view of the Aaliyar dam from the top. After 3 hours of scenic enroute and breathtaking visuals , We finally reached Valparai at 2 PM .

                                                                      Scenic Tea Estates Enroute -- Snap 2

We had booked our rooms in Green Hills Hotel and its only the decent one in Valparai. Anyone planning for a trip to valparai , dont plan of going there and book a hotel since hotel are at scarce at this Hill station!!.Do book prior to ur travel date in this hotel.

We were given a room in a property that belongs to Hotel which is half a kilometer drive from the Hotel .. Actually the room that were given to us is a residential type of house having more than 3 or 4 bedrooms.. We were charged 3000 Rs/Day for our whole 12 member gang. Given the comfortablity , the charge is econmoic though.

We refreshed ourselves and planned to visit two places on that day but the time constraints forced us only for a single place. We visited Nirar Dam on that day which is 15 kms from Hotel. The Climate is very pleasant and temperature started to dip consistently . To say , Valparai is not a fully developed Hill station and does not boast places like lake , Park as like other Hill stations. It has many dams , to say exactly it has seven dams altogether and one of it is the Nirar Dam which we visited.

                                                                   Outside our Hotel Room.. All our friends                                                                                                           seems energetic   

                                                                  Breathtaking view of Nirar Dam                    

We finished off our first day visit and returned to Hotel at 7 PM . We played cards , having pranks on each others and had a great night sleep. The Day 2 Plan was to visit "Athirapally Falls" which is on Kerala on Thrissur district which is 100 kms drive from Valparai.

But to a shocking surprise our driver told us to reach Athirapally Falls we need to get the Vehicle permit from Kerala check post and this needs to be bought at pollachi itself .Everyone of our gang were dumb-struck and really dont know how to proceed further. Since we had not got the permit at pollachi , we could not choose the first route option mentioned below

There are two routes to reach Athirapally Falls,

1) Valparai--> Chalakudy-> Athirapally ( 100 Kms)

2) Valparai--> Get down from Valparai Hill to  Pollachi-->Pallakad-->Thrissur--> Chalakudy-->Athirapally ( 170 Kms). 

Note: If u are planning to visit Athirapally visit from Valparai , insist your driver to get vehicle permit in pollachi itself and opt first route.

As the first route is nearly impossible for us , we choose the second option to reach Athirapally Falls

Day 2 :

The next day plan was to get up in the morning at 6 AM to head ourselves to Athirapally Falls. But the cool temperature forced us not to get up from the bed till 7.We freshened ourselves and left the hotel at 8.30 AM.

The first plan to visit Balaji Temple  , a privately owned temple by Karamadai Tea Estates. The temple holds its own charm situated in the midst of tea estates been surrounded on all four sides.  The  modern sculpture works  will be hovering around your minds for a long time. A kilometer walk from from the car parking will get you to this temple. We had a good darshan of Lord Balaji.

                                                                           View of Balaji Temple

After our Darshan at balaji temple , our next mission is to head to "Athirapally Falls" . We started to get down the Valparai Hills and reached Pollachi at 12 PM. Getting down to pollachi was a terrible experience as the cab passed each Hair pin end , one or the other started to vomit. 

Caution :  Its better to have ur stomach empty while driving down the Hills.

At pollachi , we had our Lunch at one of the good Hotel named "Sakthi Hotel" . The food was simply superb  and that too for us who did not have our breakfast in the morning , the lunch at this hotel was like being in a Heaven.

Nearly after three hour drive from pollachi , we reached Athirapally at 3.30 PM. Since the falls will be closed at 5 PM , we made a plan makeover by taking a lodge near to Falls . There are many Hotels/Lodges on the chalakudy--Athirapally road and the place/route was simply fantastic covered by coconut/palm trees on both sides.

Since we had some time , on Day 2 we visited to a lake nearby to lodge which is the tributary of Athirapally Falls. We had a great time in the water for more than an hour. Returned to Lodge for overnight stay at the Lodge

Day 3:

The most important part of the tour is on this day , as we were been waiting for Athirapally falls for more than two days. Read from many blogs and net that this is one of the best falls and everyone of the team were so curious and anxious to have a look how would the falls look alike!

To our pleasant surprise , this is the best falls we have ever seen . Labelled also as "Punnagai Mannan Falls" , the falls look majestic and spellbound . There are two options available in the Falls

1) One is to have bath at the top where the falls intensity will be very less

2) Get down half-a kilometer below to reach where the falls pour from the height of 100 metres.

We opted second option . Even then you could not bath at down , you could take snaps near to this breathtaking shower of mother nature.

                                                   our Gang members caught snapping                                                                                                         with Falls at the backdrop

                                                                            Me and My friends --Snap 2

After taking plenty of photos solo/group with the Falls we packed ourselves to the top where we had a good bath there. After some enjoying moments , we finally closed our trip by heading towards to hote. We vacated the lodge at 12 PM to reach our Chennai bound bus scheduled at 5.30 from Coimbatore.

We all boarded the bus and reached Chennai on Day 4 morning.

All in all ,a complete entertainer for couple of days to a beautiful hill station and to a glorious waterfalls.

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Trip to Yercaud

One of our college friend shankar marriage were fixed on June 06 at Vellore and to our good luck it was on Friday! We , a group of 7 (Myself,Jay,lu,leela,Anand alias booch,prabhs, and kumaran) planned a trip to enjoy  at a hill station after attending the marriage since the next two days is a weekend. First the plan was to visit Yelagiri hills which is very nearby to vellore , but with some expert advice the plan been changed to go to "Yercaud" .

After attending the marriage , we packed ourselves to vellore railway station to look for a train that directs to Salem(Yercaud is an hr drive from salem) , but to our misfortune no train been schedule at that time.Naturally the only other option is to look for a bus. we got on to the bus at 10.30 Am..Bus travelling went on and on and finally we reached salem at 4.00 PM (150 odd Kms in 5 hrs thats strange)

Caution:Never catch a bus at the day time in the summer , as the scorching heat and dry winds continuously frustrated and hindered our joy to have fun while travel.

The next plan is to look for an option to reach yercaud. But since there are very limited bus and also they are very crowded, we changed our minds to look for an taxi. We bargained several taxis at the entrance of the busstand , and finally we got a taxi for 600 bucks (ofcourse that is nominal rate !!) 

Its a pleasant drive tophill to yercaud inspite of the morning baffling bus drive. we reached yercaud at 6.00 PM . The driver also arranged a cab for local sight seeing scheduled for next day.

Since we did not reserve any rooms , we went on to enquire each hotel to avail room for a night.Invariable reply from every hotel that no rooms available (Since its a weekend everyrooms were full) . At last we got a simple but decent hotel (Oops ! forgot the hotel name) for 500 Rs /night on a 3 members share/room

We spent the night having fun playing some indoor games , watching tv and had a good sleep with temperature hovering around 20-23 degrees.

Day2:

Morning chill weather forced us  not to move away from the bed. Finally everyone got up at 7.00 refreshed ourselves for local sight seeing in and around yercaud.

We had breakfast at nearby hotel (There are many hotels/mess , so food might not be a problem in yercaud). 

The cabdriver took us firstly to a temple named "Shevarayon temple" .Its a cave temple at the top of the hill.Its very narrow inside the cave that only 3-4 members can stay in at a time . It was very breezy and u can feel the chilliness when ur at this place.

                                                            Mountain view taken from shevarayon temple

                                                                   Our gang posing for Snap 

Next place we proceed on is for view points (Gents view/Ladies view/Children view) . Dont except much in these places , u can just view the salem and adjoining towns view from these places.

There is park near to childrens view point  which would be a nice place . This place would look colourful with lots of flowers blossoming with a wide smile. Nice place though.

                                                                 Hill view from one of the View points

                                                                         Posing for a Snap (No 2)

By this time the clocked had already crossed noon and everyone face showed that we are in hunger. we had our lunch in TTDC hotel , relaxed ourselves in the hotel and proceed on to the last place of our trip

Killiyur Falls

The last place that we proceed on is "Killiyur falls" . This place deserves special mention and its only the adventurous tourist spot in Yercaud.

We need to walk down  3 kilometres by road path  and 1 km steep down hill trekking to reach the falls.. The falls is majestic which falls from a height of 200 metres . One should not miss to visit this place and these short space is not enough to describe its beauty.

                                                                Road path to Reach Falls                                                                                                 (Our gang members  leela,Prabhu,kumaran pulling their nerves )                  

The water is very chill and pure enough . We enjoyed to maximum by having fun in the water and by 5.30 PM we started climbing upwards the hill. Rain started its show while we are climbing up but we nearly reached the top. (If it started few minutes back then it would be very tough for us to climb up as the path is very slippery) Thanks for all ended up well and for the wonderful experience.

                                                                          Way to Killiyur falls

                                                                      Falls at its best

After having great enjoyment we reached salem busstand by 8 PM, took the SETC bus  and reached chennai on Day 3 Morning.

Altogether a perfect weekend trip to a beautiful Hill station.

                                        

Trip to Wayanad

With months of planning to decide the place and date , Surfing in net  collecting details about various places,comparing  with one another ,we finally made a fullstop to our search . The result was "WAYANAD" a beautiful hill station in Northern Kerala. Our 11 member mischevious college gang started our trip on 30 October 2008.

We boarded Mangalore Mail on 30 October at 8.00 PM at chennai Central.  one of our college friend jay was very late and he had not arrived to the board place till the last moment .We were very tensed whether he will catch the train and with very few minutes left for the train departure he finally arrived . A little Smile although in everyone faces..

Day1:

After 12 hours of train Journey finally we reached the destination called Kozhikkode , which is the connecting place to Wayanad. We all had breakfast in a small hotel in kozhikkode (Aapam and cocount milk,Kerala special dish)  and headed ourselves to Kozhikkode bus terminus to catch the bus to Wayanad which is a three hours travel from there.

After some scenic beauty enroute during the travel we at last reached wayanad at 1.00 PM. We then reached the hotel named,

PPS Tourist Home (Near to Wayanad Bus stand)  where we had reserved our rooms..   Recommended  for 2/3 Night stay(Its very economical and rooms are maintained good)

We refreshed ourselves and the cab which we booked for our local sight seeing was bang on target waiting for our presence. We all boarded the cab and went to our first place called "Banasura Dam" . It was very large dam set amidst scenic moutains on the backside. We took various snaps on the dams, mountains  and also clicked ourselves a group photo with the scenic beauty in the backround. Frankly speaking do have this tourist spot as the last option and if u are an adventure lover , do skip this spot as wayanad boast number of other adventourous places.

                                                                     Banasura Dam

Then we proceed to a place called Pookot lake (Wow what a lake !! Really nature at its splendid best ) But the sad part is we could not have a boat trip since we reached little later than the closed time 5 PM (So guys, if ur  visiting  pookot lake do plan urself to be b4 5 PM there). But even then we missed our boat trip , we had a great fun byhaving an evening walk around the lake. Its better to visit the lake during sunset ,where you can really view the grandeur of the lake and the beauty of the mountain.

                                                                 Pookot lake at sunset

We ended our Day 1 trip by visiting Lakkidi View Point, and headed back to our hotel for Night stay

Day 2:

A hardship and very adevturous day awaits on Store.

After a lazy getup at 5.30 in the morning , we packed ourselves to an adventourous Journey to Muthanga Wildlife Sancuary which is 50 kms away from wayanad. We reached the sanctuary by 7 AM  , took the guide and had a Jeep ride. Even then the place is treat to the eyes , We could not watch much animals (Except one Bison and Deer) . We left the sanctuary at had our breakfast (One great disadvantage in Kerala is u could not have any south indian varities in the Hotel , and since we are hardcore food hunters we could not end up digesting the Kerala food easily .So southindians Beware of !!!)

After having breakfast we reached Edakkal Caves

This is the best Spot of all in the Wayanad Tour and especially for  the adventure lovers  u should never miss this. Its basically a Trekking edition to reach the mountian top  by-passing between a small gap between two Rock stones ( Eda means "Two" , Kal means "Rock" and thus the name "Edakkal"). It will took nearly 4-5 hours to trek to the top of the mountain and to return back). This is the best of the places I visited till date in my life.(Kudos to such a place)

Visit link http://www.edakkal.com  for more more information

                                                                        Edakkal Cave

The last place we visited on day2 is Soochipara Falls. With sound as roaring lion falling from a height of 100 metres this is really a great place to have fun. We  drenched ourselves in the mother beauty. Having enjoyed in water for nearly an hour we returned back to hotel for Day 2 Night stay.

                                       

                                                                   Beautiful Soochipara Falls 

Day 3:

We turned little spirutual and planned ourselves to visit Thirunelli Temple around 70 Kms  from Wayanad. Even a small temple , we are fascinated by the kerala architecture style .   Worth a visit , but since its somewhat distant from wayanad  u should consider the time factor if ur tour is in time crunch..

The next and last place of our Trip was Kuruvadweep Island . This place is covered full of trees at all sides that u wont even the feel of heat even at Noon. Do plan  to be there for a minimum of 3-4 hrs as u have plenty of options to have fun there (Boating,Have a dip urself at knee deep water, Relax in the tree hut etc..)

                 view from Kuruva Island

After visiting the Island , we winded off to finish the trip to reach  Kozhikkode to catch our Chennai bound train timed at 5.30 PM and reached chennai on Day 4 morning.

All together a very Adventurous , Enjoyable trip to be mesmerized in the beauty of God's own country

Some Important Info:

1) Dont except a very chill weather in Wayanad as in Ooty or Kodai (But the places here are such a variety that u should not miss this place in ur life time. Though Night will be breezy at any season of the Year.

2) For Adventurous seekers  and trekkers enthusiastics there are places like Chembra Peak and Pakshipathalam 

3) Plan for minimum of 3-4 Days stay at wayanad to cover entire places.

4) Do plan yourself to visit post monsoon season (in Months of July,August)  to have a lush green everywhere in and around wayanad.

 Some of the official websites relating to wayanad 

  http://www.wayanad.com

  http://www.wayanad.nic.in

  http://www.wayanad.net

Hope u enjoyed reading. Planning for a wayanad Trip ? Make it as soon !!

Any Comments ? pass it on