Trip to Poor man's Ooty, Yercaud

With the hectic lifestyle people lead today all of us need a break... We needed one too... and so we were off to a place we usually go to when all we want is to rest , relax and rejuvenate our minds.. Yercaud....

Yercaud is situated at around 240 kms from Bangalore in the Shevaroy Hills. Its often referred to as "Poor man's Ooty" or as the Queen of the Shevaroys.

We started off pretty late on a Thursday morning at around 7 am from our home in Bangalore. The route taken was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Yercaud. The roads are excellent and even with a breakfast break (~45 mins) and a small detour in Salem we reached Yercaud by 11:45 am.  You have to be extremely careful maneuvering the hair pin bends and most importantly dodging the monkeys. There are just too many Monkeys around.....

Once you reach Salem and start climbing the 20 hairpin bends, a kind of calmness comes over you. I guess its just the fact that we were leaving a stressful life behind for a few days ...  This is our third trip to Yercaud and all the 3 times we have stayed at the GRT Nature Trails resort, It located right at the end of the 20th Hairpin bend and offers extremely beautiful views of the valley. Especially in the nights, its a treat to watch the lights coming on in Salem.

Coming to the hotel we stayed in, GRT nature trails is one of the best hotels in Yercaud. There are different types of rooms to cater to different types of people.

Valley view room -1

Valley view room 2

View from the Valley view room balcony

View in the night from the Balcony

We generally prefer staying in the Valley View room. We have tried the pool view and the panorama rooms before but the views are almost the same from any room. Plus the fact that the terrace and the Skywalk near the dining area is generally where you spend most of your time, the Valley view room is a good deal.

Sky walk is a glass bridge in the resort from where you can actually see down the valley.

The resort has a swimming pool and a lot of indoor games to keep you occupied throughout the day.

Now coming to the food at the resort. The Salem heights, is the multi-cuisine restaurant in the resort. It also has a bar ( Salem Rocks) attached to it.   The food is pretty good and the service is excellent. We tried the north Indian and Chinese cuisine mostly and found the food to be pretty good. On major holiday weekends they do have a buffet for lunch and dinner. The breakfast is complimentary and is by far one of the best we have had during all out travels.

Since this was our third trip to Yercaud, we didn't do a lot of sight seeing but if one is interested then they can visit the following places.

1. Yercaud Lake: This is in the center of yercaud and is the biggest tourist attraction. However, try to avoid going in the evenings as it is super crowded.

2. Ladies , Gents and Children view point: These are about 1-2 kms of each other and at various altitudes.

3. Pagoda point : Just another view point.

4: Shevroyan temple

5. Killiyur falls : Only for people who can trek and only in the monsoons

6. Loop road: This is a 13-14 km road which just passes through a lot of estates and villages and is just a beautiful drive around.

I have heard that there is a botanical garden that has come up but haven't been there.

Overall, Yercaud is the place to go to when you just need to get out of the hustle bustle of Bangalore and want to just relax. I strongly recommend the GRT nature trails resort to stay. The other options are Club Mahindra Lake forest and the Grand Palace Resort and Spa.

Until the next trip.......... or the next book since that seems more likely to be the next post.

Shiva Trilogy - Amish Tripathi

I heard a lot of praise for the Shiva Trilogy and finally decided to buy the books and send them to my book filter ( My grandfather whom i fondly call Dada). I was sure that if Dada will like the books then so will I. as expected, he told me that the story is quite interesting and he loved reading the books. So then I decided to read the trilogy consisting of 3 books..... The Immortals of Melhua , Secret of the Nagas and the Oath of Vayuputras. I absolutely loved all the 3 books.

The story is about Shiva, Lord Shiva that is, based on the assumption that he existed on earth long long time ago. The story is about Sati, who supports shiva unconditionally. The story is also about Daksh who is in love with only his ego and will go to any lengths to keep it intact. The story is mainly about Somras, the divine drink of gods. Story starts in Mount Kailash, Tibet where the main protagonist of the series, Shiva stays with his tribe. How Shiva becomes the Neelkanth and how he finds out the Somras is bad and how he goes about to stop its productions forms the story. Also intermingled with this story, is the Shiva-Sati love story, their relationship with theirs kids etc.

Amish's writing style is very unique and makes for a very interesting read. In fact the endings of both book 1 and 2 are so interesting that they make sure that you pick up the next book immediately. The characters in the story are beautifully written which help the reader connect with them instantly. You want to really turn pages to know as to what happens next with your favorite character. Personally, I loved reading the relationship shown between Shiva and Sati and also the character of Sati.

Additionally, another thing that Amish has helped me achieve is to get over my inhibition of reading Indian authors. After reading this series I have now reading the Krishna series by Ashok Banker. More on this in my next post.

Trip to Wayanad , Kerala

We decided to visit Kerala during the monsoon. So when we could take a day off in July we decided we would go to Wayanad. Wayanad is located at a distance of 280 kms from Bangalore. So on 6th July at 7 we started off from Bangalore.

Day 1:

Bangalore- Mysore - Gundulpet -Bandipur -Sultan Bathery - Wayanad.  ~280 kms.

Though we wanted to start around 6:30 we ended up starting at around 7:00. The road taken was Bangalore- Mysore - Gundulpet -Bandipur -Sultan Bathery - Wayanad. We had booked our stay for 2 nights at Planet Green Plantation Resorts. Bangalore- Mysore road was a breeze as usual except for the speed bumps at regular intervals. The roads from Mysore to Gundulpet is ok. Once we entered Bandipur we were crusing at a slower place hoping to spot some animals. We didnt see a single animal for a long time and when we had almost given up we suddenly spotted a Elephant and a calf who had just crossed the road. :). The best part of the drive through the forest was that due to the recent rains the jungle was lush green and was a treat to eyes. Soon after we entered Kerala for the first time, and the greenery continued.

 The road shown in Google maps to reach the hotel was under construction so  we wasted around an hour trying to get to the hotel. We finally reached the resort around 2 in the afternoon. The hotel staff had called us earlier and asked us what we wanted to have for lunch. So we had some simple but tasty vegetarian food. It started raining in the evening and so we just relaxed in the resort and ended up watching Djoko - Federer match.  Dinner was also an extremely tasty fare. 

Day 2:

We decided to start off the day early since we wanted to cover atleast some tourist places before it rained again. So we left the resort after having breakfast at around 9. 

First on the list was a view point called the Lakkidi View point. The view from this point was beautiful. This place thought is infested with a lot of monkeys. Also, this place is littered with trash. I wish tourists are little more careful about where they throw the trash. :(

Next on the list was Pookode lake. This was a total waste of time. There is nothing to do here and once you have seen the Ooty lake and the kodai lake this just seems lackluster. There is a pathway along the lake but since it was monsoon it was full of leeches. We just spent about 15 mins here and headed towards the next place on the list. Tickets was priced at 15 Rs per person and 20 Rs for a still camera. 

The third on the list ( also the last place we ended up visiting during our stay) was the Banasura Sagar Dam.

The drive to the dam is a treat to the eyes. The entire road is filled with Tea estates and is without a doubt one of the best drives that we have had until now.  Banasura sagar dam is the largest earth dam in India and definitely worth a visit. Tickets were priced at 20 Rs per person and  25 Rs for a camera. There is a option of taking the Jeep for 80Rs per person or to walk about a km to reach the dam. We decided to walk and reached the top of the dam in about 20 mins. The view of the Banasurasagar lake is amazing. You can also walk upto the Earth dam .We spent about an hour and a half here. It was almost lunch time and so we decided to come back into town and have lunch at hotel woodlands. I had read good reviews of this place but the vegetarian fare was ordinary. The non veg section though was completely full with people waiting outside. After lunch we decided to just drop in the rest for a while and then go look at some waterfalls. Fortunately or unfortunately the moment we stepped foot into our room it started to rain heavily. So we decided to drop the idea of visiting the waterfalls and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the balcony with some hot pakodas and tea. :).

Day 3:

This was the day we would travel back to Bangalore. Since we wanted to reach bangalore around afternoon we decided to check out early around 9. The drive back was smooth. Unfortunately the drive through the forest was uneventful and we didnt even spot a monkey.... We reached Bangalore around 3 after stopping for lunch at KFC near Channapatna.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience to just see the beautiful lanscapes of Wayanad. Hoping to go there some time again soon.

Coorg - Jan 2012

This trip to Coorg was planned just about a week in advance. One day while looking for tickets in cleartrip i look at the offer they had about 30% instant cash back on hotels, we immediately decided to go ahead and visit Coorg.

Coorg or Kodagu is called as the Scotland of India. It is known for its coffee estates and also for its brave warriors. It is located at a distance of ~260kms from Bangalore. We tried to cover as much as possible but then left a few places for next time :).

Day 1:

Bangalore - Nagarhole - Irpu - Orange county - Coorg ~350 kms.

We started from Bangalore around 6:30. The roads until Hunsur are great. From Hunsur we took a diversion to go towards Irpu falls through the Nagarhole national forest. If any one wants directions to Nagarhole, all you have to do is follow the boards to the Kings Sanctuary. The roads from the diversion are just bad.......it completely in tatters. After entering the Car details at the Nagarhole checkpost, we entered the national forest area expecting good roads. Unfortunately luck wasnt on our side, and the roads continued to be bad. We finally reached Irpu around 12:30 in the afternoon. The odometer read 250 kms from home. The entry fee was 20 Rs / person and the Parking free was 10Rs. The trek up to the falls is quite tiring.

Roads thru the Nagarhole national park:



Spotted some deers:


Irpu falls :




The foot of the falls was too crowded since a bunch of college kids had visited around the same time. We spent about half an hour there and then started back down the stairs. One of our friends suggested we go to Orange county for lunch and so we decided to go there. Orange county is about 40 kms from Irpu falls. On most of the roads we couldnt find people to ask for directions but thankgod for the Google maps on our phones which worked perfectly. The road towards Coorg was being relayed and so to some extent (4-5 kms) it was good. After 5 kms though the roads continued to be bad.

We reached Orange county around 3 in the afternoon. We had the buffet lunch there for Rs 799/ person. Though the buffet was great we though it was a little expensive.

Left Orange county around 4 and reached Club Mahindra at around 5:00 (Odo reading ~340 kms) . The plan was to go to Rajas seat in the evening but we were so tired by the time we reached the hotel that we finally decided against it and just lazed around the resort. Dinner was at Coffee Blossoms in Club Mahindra. Club Mahindra was a great resort. The amenities were great. There is a fun zone where we could play TT , carrom etc. They also had a bon fire set up. The temperatures in Coorg during the day were quite high but the nights were cold.

Day 2:

Started the day with the complimentary breakfast provided at the hotel. We had decided to do Bhagamandala , Talacauvery Abbey falls and Rajas seat today.

We left to go to Bhagamandala around 10:15 from the hotel. You have to mainly take the mangalore road from coorg and then all the deviations are properly marked. The roads though are again bad. We reached the temple at about 11. Temple was not crowded so finished the darshan quite early.

Bhaganandeshwara Temple :

After having a cup of coffee we left for Talacauvery. Again the temple wasnt too crowded so finshed the darshan fairly early. We then went up the 373 steps to the top of the hill. The view from here of the Brahmagiri range is awesome and totally worth the climb. Spent about 20 mins on the top and then started back the stairs and rached the hotel back around 1:20. One thing to note is that there is only one petrol station enroute to talacauvery so please make sure you have enough fuel.

Talacauvery:

Views from top of the hill


Had lunch at the resort and rested for a while. We left for Abbey falls around 4:30 since i wanted to catch the sunset at Rajas seat. Abbey falls is 9 kms from the city center. The parking fee is 20Rs. the climb down to the falls is again a little tiring. Fortunately when we were reaching the falls a lot of people were leaving. Reached the base of falls...... Took some pictures and left for Rajas seat.
Abbey Falls:

Rajas seat was a wonderful experience ....... We reached Rajas seat around 5:30. The sunset indeed looks beautiful from here. There was a musical fountain, toy train ride but we did neither and left back to the resort after the sunset. Had a early night since we had to go back to Bangalroe the next day.

Rajas Seat:


Day 3:

Checked out of the hotel around 9:45. The plan was to visit the monastery on the way back. After crossing Kushalnagar we kept looking on the right for the entrance to the monastery. The monastery is 7 kms from this entrance. Parking fee 20Rs. We spent about an hour in the monastery. The route back to Bangalore through Hunsur is fantastic. There is some construction going on, on the ring road at mysore which was the only bad patch.

Monastery:



Roads back to Bangalore:



Started back to Bangalore with only one stop at Cafe Coorg for coffee. Reached outskirts of Bangalore around 2:45. Did the weekly grocery shopping on the way back and parked the car around 4:30 at home. Fortunately we had a heavy breakfast and so we had lunch after we reached home at 4:30. We want to stop at Adigas or Kamat lokaruchi but both we so crowded that we decided we would finish all the snacks we had and just have lunch after we go back home...

Trip to Coorg was fun overall except the roads in Coorg, which were in very bad shape. Hopefully you will all enjoy reading the travelogue. .

Debbie Macomber

I haven been reading a lot of Debbie Macomber books lately. What started me off was surprising the "About the author" part of on of her first books. She was dyslexic as a child and had to struggle with it. She finally saved some money to buy a second hand typewriter and started writing when her kids used to go to sleep. Some how this story was very inspiring which made me read my first Debbie Macomber books, " A good yarn".

This review would be a series review more than a book review.

Blossom street series:

This series deals with mainly one yarn store called the " Good Yarn" on Blossom street and the knitting classes organised here. All the characters you see in this series are very real and you feel connected to them instantly. There is a cancer survivor, a struggling mother , a woman who desperately wants to become a mother , a man who needs to find a new meaning to his life and many many more characters. They all meet in the knitting classes and get to know each other, They learn from each others experiences and form a wonderful friendship. This series is basically a feel good series of books . They make you feel happy and give you hope by the time you are done with them....... :)

After i loved the Blossom street series i decided to read another one of her series, Cedar cove series.

Cedar cove series:

This series is based on the place where she currently lives and almost all the characters are actually based on the people who live in that place. This series again is fun to read. The characters and emotions are portrayed beautifully which again makes these books page-turners. This series has a large number of characters ranging for a teenage girl to a pastor. Every book is based on one of the families and takes us through their lives and issues.

Style of writing:

Debbie's style of writing is very easy to understand and the stories are so well written that it makes you want to turn pages until you reach the end . The language used is also fairly easy to follow.

Debbie Macomber is a must read when you want to read a feel good book. something they makes you believe that life is beautiful however it is. You can make your life what you want it to be. Just like the tag line says ....... Make time for friends..... Make time for Debbie Macomber...... :D

Happy reading.

Kodaikanal - June 2011

Bangalore - Kodaikanal - Bangalore

I always wanted to go to Kodaikanal since a long time and when it was time to go on a vacation next i had almost decided it would be kodai. I then met some people who told me it was a wrong time to goto Kodai since it would be raining and thats when i came here and asked you all here if i should go to Kodai or Coorg. I then read Shishir's travelgue and decided it would be Kodai.

Day 1:

Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Dindigul - Batlagundu - Kodai
Total : 465 kms.

We started at around 5:50 from our house in Bangalore and hence found most roads to be the empty. The car was tanked up the night before and the air pressure checked. The drive was fantastic and NH7 is a treat to drive on and to the eyes.... . We reached Salem by about 8:30 with justone stop at the A2B in Thoppur. We finally reached Kodai around 1:30 in the afternoon and checked into Villa Retreat. Some pics enroute. So we took around 7 and a half hours to reach Kodai with about 3 breaks in between. The major road blocks were in Salem and Batlagundu. In Salem because of the two wheelers who came out of no where and in batlagundu because of that narrow road in between the town that we had to take to reach the kodai ghat road.

The electronic city fly over.




Beautiful NH7.....



Kodai Ghat road. Sorry for the blurred pics, they were taken while the car was moving.







Rat Tail falls. I was just glad to see some water in the falls. I just didnt want to be dry.



View around Rat tail falls.



Silver casade falls.



View from the hotel



After checking into the hotel, we ordered lunch, which was ok, and kind of just relaxed most of the evening. The hotel room was excelled and the view from the room we were in was awesome. In the late evening, we walked around Kodai lake and the surrounding places so that we knew where the restaraunts etc were.

After having a good dinner at "Tava" we slept off at around 11.

Day 2: Kodaikanal Sight seeing.

We woke up in the morning and decided to do Pillar rock today. When we checked at the reception they told us that there is a 15 km circut road where in we could cover about 7 view points, so we decided to do that.

This road has the following view points.

1. Green valley view.
2. Golf course
3. Pine forest view.
4. Guna caves
5. Pillar rock
6. Moir point.
7. Upper lake view.

In all these view points the best ones were the Pillar rocks , Pine forest view and the Upper lake view. The main disadvantage though was that all these view points are extremely crowded. Infact we avoided Guna caves cause when we reached that point, the crowd was so loud and that was a major put off.

Pillar rocks was interesting mainly cause the view changes every couple of minutes with the fog playing hide and seek. Following are some pictures from the circuit drive.

Golf course view:


Pillar rock:




Upper lake view.


In the afternoon we had a great pizza at Cloud street cafe. They make some amazing brownies too. Infact the brownies were so good that we got some packed. We went back to the hotel for a short afternoon nap .

Kodai lake:

In the evening we went to the lake thinking we might go boating, but when we saw the crowd there we decided to walk around the lake instead. Dinner was at Hilltop Inn which was very average. We came back to the hotel and enjoyed the night time view with some hot tea and called it a night. Tomorrow we go to Berajim lake.

Day 3: Coakers walk and Berajim lake

Next day morning, we decided to go to Coakers walk which was right next to the hotel. We were the first ones there and so it was fun to just walk around. The view was great but then it was the same as we got from the hotel. The entrance fee was 3Rs per person and 10 Rs for the camera.







At around 10:30 the taxi was ready to take us to Berajim lake. We decided to take the taxi for this tour since you need permissions to go into the forest. We started from the hotel at around 10:30. The entrance to the forest is right next to the Moir point. We were told by the hotel guys that at the entrance the forest guard would trake Rs.50 as the cleaning charges and that we need to pay that there. I am very sure that cleaning charges go into the guards pocket. So we paid the fifty bucks and went in.

The first point was the silent valley view point. We could hardly see anything from here as it was all covered it fog. The view point is also securely barricaded since apparently people have tried to commit suicide from here.

The second point was the Upper berajim lake view point. When we reached the view point it was already crowded. People were pushing each other just to get a good view. We waited until the crowd left to go up the view point.

Lake view:


The third view point was the Caps valley view point. This view point was also completely fogged out and so i didnt feel the need to walk completely inside. I just took a few pictures and left. This worked out to our advantage since we kind of left the crowd behind.

Caps valley view:


The next point was called " madi kettinsole" in tamil. Please correct me if i am wrong. The drive told us that this means that people who get lost in this area of the forest get disoriented and hence loose their minds.


The last point was the Berajim lake. The lake was very serene and calm. People apparently have picnics here which was visible thanks to the trash around, but we decided to leave early.

We reached the hotel by about 1:30 and went to have to lunch at Tibetian Brothers. Apprently every sunday there is a sunday market and so PT road was jam packed. Cards arent allowed entry and so we had to park a little further away. We went to cloud street cafe and packed some brownies to get them back to Bangalore.

In the evening, we just walked around the lake again, bought chocolates, had dinner at "Tava" again and came back to the hotel and slept off.

Day 4:

Drive back to Bangalore. Followed the same route back to Bangalore. Villa retreat was a pleasure to stay in . As a gift they gave us a picture of us in the hotel garden, which was a really nice gesture. We started at around 8:50 and reached the outskirts of Bangalore around 3:50. Unfortunately the traffic was bad and so got home around 5.

Overall, Kodai was a beautiful place to go to. The roads were a treat to drive on and the car performed fantastically well. Major put off though was that at every nook and corner there are these touts who keep coming and asking Sir room chahiye......