Hi There... I am back. Fresh after vacation. Body feels bit tired after all the walking and climbing up and down (Not quite mountains in its entirety but still... bit of climbing compared to mundane urban life!)
Well i have got loads of snaps and stories to share with.. where shall i begin....
On 1st May 2010, we started off as cheerful family of 3, looking forward to an exciting trip. And exciting it was right from the start, we got on to a wrong train (yes same name, but different number, ours was summer special train and hence got delayed by 4 hours), jumped off the last minute, then waited to board the right train... how did we spend the time, well we played ludo and my little one solved few puzzles we got for her.
Reached Kodai Road station the next day morning and from thereon took 3 hour journey uphill to reach Kodaikanal. We stayed in a place called Kodai Resort Hotel (wasn't much to our expectations as we had paid whopping amount for pretty much OK type place),never mind as the weather made up for all the flaws.(so nice, chill, so different from baking oven chennai weather that we are used to)
Pics of the resort where we stayed
We lazed around the entire day and went for a walk to Coaker's Walk by evening(which was just a stone's throw away from the place where we stayed, it had one plus point, that was it's location, proximity to all main tourist attractions in the town), The city lit up like a jewel box at night, mesemerizing view, alas i can't share a photo to justify it as our 5mpx sony digicam didn't do justice to it....
Next day was loaded with lots of sight seeing here are snaps
Snaps of us at the Viewpoint next to Kurinji Aandavar Temple
Next stop was the Chettiar Park, nice little parked tucked right beside the temple street.
Find below picture of Plant of Kurinji Flower which blooms once in 12 years only, alas this was not the year of its bloom, but hope to see it next time around when it blooms.
Then we headed for the Bear Shola Waterfalls (Since it was summer, not much of water, but still a spectacular sight, especially the path leading to it gave you a feeling of tranquility amidst all the crowd out there, remember its season in kodai during this time of the year)
the path leading to the waterfall (btw that was our driver in the snap leading the way)
Next stop was Boating at Famous Kodai Lake
My hubby dearest, bravest of the lot, refused to wear life jacket inspite of repeated requests from loving daughter and wife,.. the lake is 90 feet deep!
Darling Daughter preparing for the boat ride
Nothing like having an icecream at around 18. c
Then an enthusiastic whatever you would call a person who rents his horse for a ride, enticed us into a ride,
mother and daughter set on our first horse ride together, i can assure you all of one thing though, this would the first of many more to come, as my daughter says, her and myself belong to a SET who share lot of likes and dislikes. We are like house on fire!
After the horse ride, we went to Byrant park which has Bodhi tree amongs other flora and fauna, Bodhi species is famous for it was under this Budha is said to attained enlightment, here are my own family of budhas, trying to see if they can do it as well.... ha ha...
Mist came, kissed and left, and came again, it was nice to play hide and seek with mist....
Then we returned back to our resort, and lazed around for the rest of the day.
Food at the restaurant was pathetic and they charge 5star hotel rates for it, ... oily oily and more oily will be the description that fits the food.
Next day morning, we started off with Berinjam lake view point
Berinjam lake is not open for boating and you need permission from forest department and go for special forest ride which takes an entire day, hence we opted out, not eager to take chances with our little one.
Next stop was Silent valley view, well it was anything but silent as it was crowded to start off, but as we started going down, it was getting more and more silent and scary with just long pine trees alone for company.
Well that was toy tiger (intelligent minds making business out of Rs.10 for a snap with it) with which we bravehearts are posing ....!!!!
Next was Guna caves, named after the Tamil Film Guna starring Kamal Hassan, i wonder to this day as to why the film flopped, i personally loved it when i saw it for first time when i was in school, may be it flopped as it released for Diwali along with Rajni starrer blockbuster hit Thalapahy. anyway lets get back to sight seeing....
Guna caves are prohibited for entry as the notice board there said 12 lives have been taken official count trying to reach it..They are covered with bars (the opening) and the barricades stop you before the valley view you get from the cave top... Must say enticing, i have video footage of the same, shall upload and update link o fit later....
Valley view from Guna Cave point (not from inside as entry not allowed)
Next point was Pillar rock this is actually the outerview of the guna caves
Next was trip to Coaker's walk, but this time was daylight and downhill and we started off from Telescope point, this telescope view was good as they had positioned 3 telescopes to view Thalaiyar falls, Lutheran Church and Valey View
While walking on coaker's walk we felt like walking on clouds as the mist crossed the pathway from the valley and again from the pathway into the valley, breadthtaking, i must admit.
the other entrance or the exit when we go downhill the coaker's walk was the entry to the lane where our resort is located, there we retreated to rest for the day..
We had plans for the next day, but alas they remained plans, as my daughter and myself fell sick with upset stomach, constant vomiting, (blame it on the oily food), called up doc (who charged exhorbitantly, make a killing out of tourists, seems to be motto of everyone living out there) took medicine hesitantly as my daughter is on Homeopathy medicine and not used Alopathy medicine.
We stayed indoors for the rest of the day, thank god we had shopped the first day itself. will post shopping pics later.
On return back home the next day, we stopped at Silver Cascade waterfall enroute to our way downhill.
Reached kodai road station, had our dinner there and then caught Pandian express and our trip ended on high note as both of us had recovered and enjoyed our travel for the first time on AC first class coach, the best part of it is the privacy we got to laze around our tired bodies and rekindled souls.
Memorable vacation .. Kodai 2010 ... but for a few blips...
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