Trip to Delhi-Agra with Rick

Trip dates : 05-06 Dec-2010

Rick McClure and myself boarded the SpiceJet 19:30 hours flight to New Delhi. We stayed at Hotel Airport Inn at Mahipalpur - ~5kms from I.G.I.A. We spent almost an hour to get the prepaid taxi at the Airport counter (No other transport means available at midnight at the domestic terminal).

Day -1:

Next morning, we started around 6:45 to Agra (Horrible Tata Indigo cab !) We had Aloo Paratha as breakfast on a roadside Dhabha. The food was much better than most of the star hotels in Chennai ! Reached Agra around 11:45 and visited the beautiful Akbar Tomb, Sikandara. We almost spent 1 hour there admiring the architecture. The Acoustics of the tomb was amazing as the sound traveled across the 5 tiers - 44 rooms - voice traversing through pillars !!


Next, the 5 km ride to Taj Mahal took almost 2.5 hours. We went through the West gate with help of a guide; which was relatively quicker to get in - 45 mins of queue. The East gate (main gate) has a queue of people in thousands ! And, there you go ! The B E A U T Y !! One has to see it to believe it.. !!!! Massive, White, Gorgeous, Breath-stopping, (whatever adjectives known can be added) ... We took lot of photographs and admired the beauty of it. The guide explained lot of things to us, which otherwise, would have missed it. (I too can be a guide now :-) ).










After spending 3 worthy hours, we slowly came out. We did not do INTO Taj, a looooooong queue was there .. mind .. it was Saturday ! We had lunch/dinner at Agra at 5PM and then started back one of the longest, tiresome, terrible, aweful 6 hours of journey back to Delhi.

After having a nice sleep and Aloo parathas as breakfast at the hotel, we started the Delhi TOUR.

Day-2:

Qutub-Minar, Lotus Temple, India Gate, Vijay Path (Parliament house, Rastrapathi Bhavan, Office of the president) and Indira Gandhi House were the places that we visited.

Qutub-minar is one the important places of the Mughal Dynasty. The Minar was amazing to watch. The history around the place was well written and interesting to know. The remains of the places around the Minar are well maintained. Next, we drove to Lotus Temple. It was Sunday, the queue to enter Lotus temple looked really long, and we took couple of pictures from outside and moved on the have Lunch. We searched for a place to have the lunch almost for one hour. The driver was well-aware that he does not know restaurants/hotels in "Delhi" ! Atlast, we had some good food and visited India Gate. The driver drove us towards Vijay Path - the road connecting the Rastrapathi Bhavan (President house) and India gate. This is the road, where the Republic day and Independence Day celebrations are held !


We then visited Indira Gandhi's house at No.1, Safdarjung Road; the place where she was assassinated.

Had Pani puri and bought some sweets for the team and boarded back to Chennai !!!

A trip to Tada falls

The wettest day of life ... A trip to Tada falls ..

Trip team -> Karthik, Santha, Selva, Viswa, Karthikeyan and Dhanasekar.
Trip route -> Chennai - NH5 - Gummidipoondi - Tada - Tada falls.
Trip date -> 1 day -> 17th July 2010.

A one-day trip was planned to visit Tada falls on bikes. We heard that bikes are most preferred for this particular route and destination. Moreover, Dhana had visited the same place a couple of weeks back and ensuring bike rides are the best to reach this place.

We started around 05:30 AM in the morning after everyone met at Koyembedu bus stand. A straight drive towards Red hills and then taking NH-5 from there-on. The route was simply good for the roads were smooth and especially thanks to the overnight rains that made the trip a no-dust one all-through the way !

About an hour and 15 minutes, we reached Tada town on NH-5. From this place, we need to take a left turn for the Tada falls. Next comes, a small town - Varadhapalayam. We had our hunger breaked down here and proceed towards Tada falls, which is immediate left after the Varadhapalayam town.

One needs to walk for a kilometre before immersing in water. We entered the falls around 8 AM and spent almost an hour in the 5-feet fresh water. Thanks to a group of monkeys engaging our group for sometime ! Then, we trekked towards the "Tada falls", which is almost a km uphill -> a really good scenic walk, where water flows all the way from the falls. At couple of places, we were tempted to take bath, but, we preferred to walk to the top before the crowd pouches in. We reached the awesome place and only we 6 of us were there to enjoy the nature. We were there for almost more than 2 hours enjoying the waters ! The trek towards the falls was fully over the of rocks - one does not need skill for it but just go and climb !

On the way back, "Hydrophilic" Viswa took couple of baths as he felt he was "hot" ;-). We trekked down and again reached back Varadhapalayam. We were deperately hungry and ate almost all possible hot idlis upto neck and started the drive back home.

"The wettest day" started after starting from Tada town. Rain poured like water from bucket once we started from Tada. We took shelter in a bus stop and waited for the rain to stop. After almost an hour long wait, we decided that it may not stop and started the ride hoping the rain may not be there after some kms, which was wrong, as we were drenched and left swimming until we reached Ashok Pillar !!!






Surely, Tada falls is a good one-day spot for relaxing !

Trip to Wayanad

Trip No.4 after joining Aricent !
Trip team -> Karthik, Santha, Selva, Viswa, Logesh, Arun Prabhu, Vickram and Dhanasekar.
Trip route -> Chennai - Kozhikode - Wayanad - Kozhikode - Chennai.
Trip dates -> 3 days -> 02nd April 2010 04th April 2010.

Cottage booked at Kalpetta -> Diamond cottage and cab was a tempo traveller from Kozhikode (Calicut).

Preview: Reached Calicut from Chennai by Mangalore express. This reached at 04:00AM. We went for a trip for the sake of going irrelevant of climate ! The climate in Wayand during this month was really unpleasant :-(

Day 1: Calicut to Wayand - a ride of 74 kms. We preferred not to spend time on the way and directly went to cottage. After typical Kerala breakfast of Aapam, Puutu and Kadali curry, we proceeded to Kuruva Islands. This is a set of natural Island-like creation by Kabini river. At places, we had knee-height of water and we were already perfectly ready because all were in shorts ! (Some R/D by me during planning ;-)). We did have some good time and due to the unpleasant weather, it turned out to be not so good experience. Then, returned back to cottage.


Day 2 : Planned for Chembra peak trekking. It is a 3.5km trek uphill until 1st hill and there is a small pond in heart-shape at the top of the first hill. We had to pay Rs.500 for the trek accompanied by a boy. As the climate again was not so worthy, we had to sweat our way up and down. Then, had a lunch at Meppadi and proceeded to Meenmutty falls ! On the way, we stopped at Kanthanpara falls, where water was very less. If there would have been good flow of water, this also would have been a heavenly place for bathing. MEENMUTTY FALLS, is THE place to visit in Wayanad. Not suggested for older people, as it involves a 1.9km trek downhill, aided by tree trunks and roots, rocks and military ropes !! Beware.. it is not a free walk. It is worth the effort and risks taken to see this place. It looks like milk oozing on a mountain from a height of 60-70 m. One shall surely forget all the pains on seeing this falls view ! Again, the uphil walk too is little tiresome and alas ! get back to cottage after 2 awesome treks in the day !

Note :: Trek-expert Vickram simply rubbed salt on everyone saying these 2 cannot be considered as trekking ... :-(
Day 3 : Edakkal caves -> Again a small interesting climb on rocks and caves. Good time killer ! Then, we did purchase of tea, coffee, small momentos and spices ! Back to Calicut ...


Calicut sunset is a worth watch and then took the Mangalore express back to Chennai .... Wayanad - not a place to visit in summer, but could be a heaven in other seasons !!

Trip to Munnar

Trip team - Karthik, Santha, Selva, Viswa and Karthikeyan.
Trip route - Chennai - Madurai - Munnar - Madurai - Chennai.
Trip dates - 3 days - 19th Sept 2009 to 21st Sept 2009.

Day 1: From Madurai, took a Toyota Qualis to Munnar. We spent few minutes in BodiMet as the climate was near perfect ! On the way the Munnar, the views and falls are simply exquisite. As usual, the tour guide was Mr.Selvakumar ! as he had visited Munnar once ... Selva managed to get a very good cottage on the Cochin route - around 6 kms from Munnar town. The search for the cottage was worth as it was pretty decent and managed to bargain at get it good price (as per us !). However, we used a guide to locate the cottage for 100 bucks !

Sight seeing started after having the brunch at Saravana bhavan (not the actual brand !), but good. We proceeded straight to Rajamalai (Eravikulam National park) and the 1km trek to see the Nigiri Tahr was really good as the climate was superb ! Then, we planned to visit Pothamedu on the way to the cottage. Pothamedu could have been too simple provided the climate is not amusing. But, the climate the made Pothamedu look like a paradise ! It was worth it as we spent rest of the evening there in the tea estate.


Day 2:

Next day, after the brunch at same place, we proceeded to the Mattupetty dam. We had an exhilarating speed boat ride at the dam. Again, the climate was too good and we spent close to 2 hours around the dam amazed at the beauty of nature. Then, proceeded to Echo point. Again, the beauty became most beautiful. It was too tough to resist a boat ride and we proceeded with the inner wish for the ride .... Then, went to Kundalay dam. Again, the beauty was breath-taking. However, we did not opt for 3rd boat ride and preferred just the visit and returned. On the way back, visited a garden after Mattupatty dam and then to cottage.


We preferred to go back by one of the five's advice to walk for a kilometre and completely got drenched by the instant heavy rain - which continued for the next couple of hours.

Day 3 :

The last day was quite simple and preferred to visit the Blossom Park. Then, started downhill and the rain that came down like a bucket of water was amazing ! Fortunate that the earlier 2 days had no rains in day time, we were able to feel Munnar.

On the way back, visited the Vaigai dam and then to Madurai railway station to get back to Chennai.

Trip to Vaalparai, Athirapally and Nelliampathy

This trip was planned for 3 days.

28th Feb to 2nd March 2009 with 9 members including myself (Selva, Karthikeyan, Kothana, Vickram, Viswa, Dhanasekar, Logesh, Suganthan). Santha was onsite in UK.

The trip plan was: Chennai to Coimbatore by Nilagiri express.

Day 1 : Coimbatore to Vaalparai.
Day 2 : Vaalparai to Athirapally through Chalakudy forest route -> Proceed to Nelliampathy.
Day 3 : Nelliampathy to Coimbatore.

Quite tiresome trip planned ... though places were interesting.

Day 1: After a coffee at KR Bakery in Coimbatore, we proceeded to Vaalparai in a Tempo traveller. We stopped at Monkey falls, Aaliyar for a morning bath. Water was sufficient only for washing hands ! So, we picked up a spot recommended by me (visited earlier by me) at Navamalai - 5-6 kms from Monkey falls for the morning bath. The place was quite and running flow of water. We finished off some bisuits and cakes after the bath and journeyed to Vaalparai. We had already booked a cottage in Vaalparai near Sholyar dam as we were well aware that the number of cottages/lodges in Vaalparai is very less. The cottage name is Deepika cottage (94424 23192). The cottage was well furnished and very comfortable for stay.

After refreshing for some time, we proceeded for sight seeing. For trekking expert, Vickram, had a contact in Nirar dam and we visited the tunnel there. The tunnel in Nirar dam is a one that takes water from Vaalparai to Coimbatore. We walked for an hour inside the tunnel and the experience was worth it !! We then went to Balaji temple on way to Akka malai. We skipped Akkamalai as it was already dawn and returned to the cottage after buying some tea for everyone. Vaalparai is very famous for tea !


IMP :: If one wants to take the Chalakudi forest route, the Kerala permit for the vehicle should be obtained in Coimbatore/Pollachi itself. There is no permit office in Vaalparai. Our driver missed it and we asked him to get back and take permit and come. We missed couple of hours in the morning as he came little late :-(

Day 2: 

Journey on the bumpy roads of Chalakudy ghat roads were tiresome and the route is not easily advisable for all. We hardly saw 4-5 vehicles in the next 30 kms ! On the way, there was a running water stream - very excellent place to spend time. As it was not in our plan, we proceeded further to Athirapally falls - the Punnagai Mannan falls. We reached down the falls and saw the AWESOME falls. Then, climbed up and spent an hour in the water. Then, proceeded the journey towards Nelliampathy - the unforgettable trip !!!

We had booked cottage in Nelliampathy also, as it is not even a town. We booked the "Mid Land residency" at Pulayampara. Mr.Lawrence - Off : 04923-246224Mob : 9446726006. Dinner was also made ready.


Journey to Nelliampathy:
From Chalakudy, we proceeded towards Nemmara and then to Nelliampathy. We reached Nemmara around 8 PM. The cottage person called us and asked where are we and wished us a safe journey !! We did not realise what we meant then !?! We signed at the forest checkpost at 20:15 hours and the previous vehicle to enter the check post was at 16:00 hours ! Something to think about ... There were no instructions at check post about anything ....

We then start the hilly ride with all hair-pin bends. The route was too dark. The roads were covered with mist and the vehicles headlights could give visibility to only 10 metres !! We did not see a single vehicle or any light. The silence of the jungle was little scary ... and somehow reached Pulayampara at 22:15. The cottage owner welcomed us with a smile and queried about the journey. We expressed our surprise about the darkness, silence and absence of any other vehicle. He said that no single vehicle is allowed after 16:00 hours and somehow we had come ! Also, he was surprised on knowing that we did not see any wild animals on the way ... He then suggested us a jeep drive in to the forest in midnight. 6 out of us, took a jeep and went for the ride. The jeep driver was describing about the animals and other adventures with animals. The ride was a rock/stone filled path and we came across a fresh pile of elephant dung. The jeep driver advised no more drive as it is dangerous to continue the drive with elephant is around near-by. Then, we took a de-tour and only site a wild deer. Nothing else ...





Day 3 :

Next day .. was equally adventurous as earlier 2 days ... Jeep ride to Maampaara. The ride is again on rocky path with the jeep climbing at 30 degrees. Towards the end of the drive, is the Maampaara peak, and a U-Turn on the mount-head was worth the visit to Nelliampathy ... after spending couple of hours over there, we returned back to the cottage to have lunch and pack up back to Coimbatore to catch the train to .... Chennai ....

Great memories of each day ...

Day 1 : Tunnel in Vaalparai.
Day 2 : Chalakudy route and Athirapally falls.
Day 3 : Maampaara mountain ride.

Trip to Kodai

With my Aricent friends (Selva, Santh, Muhunth, Renga, Navaneeth, Logesh, Arun Prabhu, Thyagarajan) to Kodaikanal for 3 days - June 26, 2008 to June 29, 2008. We went by train to Dindugal and took a Tempo traveller from there to Kodaikanal. The drive took 3 hours as we stopped at several places and enjoyed the climate on the way. We did not book for any cottage as it was off-season. Our Kodai-expert Selvakumar was in-charge of cottage search and we settled down 2 KMs from Kodaikanal bus stand in a serene place which gave maximum privacy. We started the sight seeing after having breakfast at Meenakshi Bhavan (recommeded by cab driver - good option).


We prefer usual sight seeing places lesser than some new ways/places !!


















Day 1:

The climate was little misty and enjoyable. We went to Moire's point - a steep walk downhill for excellent valley views. Then moved on the Guna caves. Our Kodaikanal expert Selvakumar said there is way to reach Pillar Rock view point from Guna caves and took us in a new way. It was a definitely a different one to go through and nice experience. We were able to see the bottom of Guna caves on the way from a point. We had a cross a fence to enter the Pillar rock. We had a typical lunch of Bajjis, groundnut and some other eatables as it was 3 PM then. we proceeded to Chettiar Park and relaxed the rest of the day there. Over night, camp fire was also available and took through the chilled night that day.

Day 2:

Started little early and reached Vattakanal falls. Started trekking down the falls and went down as much as possible and enjoyed a perfect date with nature. The climate and the location were perfect to enjoy. Then, we trekked up to the road in unconventional way in a very steep so-called path and started walking from the falls to Echo-point. From there, we trekked down to the echo-point 1.5 kms down. Echo rock/point is a perfect place for the effort put in climbing down. Our hero Selvakumar demonstrated his so-called unusual skills in "running-down" from the echo-point to a nearby village. We sent Santha to get him back and join the group later. Thus, ended the trek and moved to Bryant park and Boat club for a cycle drive around the lake. Returned back to stay.















Day 3:

We just were lazy and roamed around Kodai city and around the lake and by afternoon came downhill to Madurai to catch the return train back to Chennai.

Introduction

Hi .. I am Karthik. I like travel and visiting new places ... This blog shall give information about the my trips, stays and sight seeing places ....