Kumbakarai - Kurangani - Kumily - Vagamon

Trip duration - 2 days, 1 night
Trip dates - 2nd and 3rd March 2013 (Weekend trip)
Trip members - Karthik, Premkumar, Senthil, Poonam, Sanjeev, Harish.P, Ramkumar, Ilangathir, Jagadeesh K, Ramesh Kumar, Jegan (Ramesh's friend), Padmanabhan, Muthamizh Selvan and Anbumani.

Trip Route -> Chennai - Periyakulam - Kumbakarai - Theni - Bodi - Kurangani - Paalayam - Cumbum - Kumily - Anavilasam - Marykulam - Vagamon - Vandiperiyar - Kumily - Cumbum - Chennai

We started from Chennai on Friday evening and reached Periyakulam by 6 AM. We had arranged vehicle for our 14 members. First destination was Kumbakarai falls - around 8 kms from Periyakulam. We were the first to the falls in the morning and the water was chilling ! Few of us took bath in the falls -> though the water was not much. Rest of them were busy with cameras and looking around the nature. Then, we drive down to Theni for breakfast and next  destination was Kurangani (Film - Mynah fame).

Kurangani

Munnar has the top station, Kurangani has the bottom station. The whole trek is believed to be around 14 kms. There is a point called Central Station at around 3 kms from Kurangani and we decided to trek towards it. The path is clear and none shall get lost unless someone wants to wander out of the track. After around 1 km, we saw a waterfall and there was no access to reach it. Understanding the waters are nearby, we trekking further 150-200m and accessed some running water. There were couple of water falls around, but no access to it. We spent easily around 1:30 hours there and everyone took a dip in the running water - which was almost freezing. We decided to trek back because few were already tired !

We reached Paalayam for lunch. Our organizer Prem had made arrangements for us to stay in their relative's Elachi estate in Anavilasam - 11kms from Kumily. We drove towards Kumily and visited the Colonel John Pennycuick Memorial at Lower Camp, Kumily. This person is the one who had built the Mullaperiyar Dam by selling his properties in Britain.

After doing some purchases of spices at Kumily, we reached Anavilasam around 8 PM. Just the sound of insects and nothing else ... no horns, no dust, no pollution.. excellent experience. We stayed overnight there and were ready next morning around 9 AM to see Vagamon (Wagamon).

Vagamon is around 33 kms from Anavilasam via Marykulam. We had breakfast at Kattappana. The whole way had steep valleys and gorges. Excellent route indeed ! We reached Vagamon Green Meadows around 11:30 PM. We spent around an hour there. There is a lake once you cross 3 meadows. If this is visited in August-September time frames, I think that would be best time to see real green meadows. This is something like 7th mile at Ootacamund; but, too many meadows.

From Meadows, we reached pine forest - 3 kms. Very thick pine forest and excellent place for photographers. After spending around an hour there, it was almost 3 PM. We decided to drive back to Cumbum, to get our bus back to Chennai on time.

Kumily is 50 kms from Vagamon through Vandiperiyar. We reached Kumily around 4 PM did some more spices purchase, the stopped again at Gudalur to buy some grapes. We also were allowed to enter Grapevines for some photographs and then had hot idlis, sambhar and 3 chutneys and Prem's home and back to Chennai with lots of fond memories.

Place to stay to visit Vagamon : Kumily/Cumbum.

Nagercoil-Kanyakumari

A weekend trip with family.

Trip Dates : 23,24 Feb 2013

Boarded Kanyakumari express on Friday evening and got down at Nagercoil. The plan was to do some site seeing on Day-1 first half and check-in at TTDC in Kanyakumari by lunch. Do site seeing at Kanyakumari, stay overnight, see sunrise and leave by morning back to Nagercoil and see rest of the places and leave back to Chennai by Sunday evening.

Day -1

The train was late and we got down in Nagercoil railway station around 7 in the morning. We had booked a car for 2 days and it was ready to pick up us at the station. We decided to buy breakfast before we go to the falls. We packed our breakfast from Hotel Gowrikrishna - very good Pongal, Idlis and Pooris.

Nagercoil Railway Station - Thirparrappu Water falls – 43 kms

Thirparrappu Waterfalls is  one perennial waterfalls in Tamilnadu. Water flows all 365 days. When we reached there around 8:30, there were only 50 people. We had excellent time there and a rich bath. The location has enough place for women to change clothes also.

After having the packed breakfast, next we went to Mathoor Aquaduct Bridge.

Thirparrappu Waterfalls - Mathoor Aquaduct Bridge – 11 kms

The location is really good with a good walk over the bridge and one can walk beneath the bridge and the views are excellent.

Mathoor Aquaduct Bridge - Padmanabhapuram Palace – 14 kms

Rs.25 as entry fees here and he walked through the palace for little more than an hour. A good place for art and history lovers. Anyone can enjoy atleast half of the time there.

Padmanabhapuram Palace – Hotel check-in – TTDC, Kanyakumari  – 35 kms. Then, we had our lunch at Hotel Gowrikrishna again and drive to Kanyakumari. I had booked TTDC cottages(AC) for Rs.1200 each + Tax. The rooms were spacious and so clean. WOW, what a view from the cottage. The cottage is 5 mins walk from the view tower and 7-8 mins walk from the Gandhi memorial, Kumari Amman temple. The location is one of the best.

View from TTDC Cottage

View Tower

SUNSET

Having had decent experience with TTDC hotels earlier in Ooty, Kanyakumari TTDC was amazing. Clean bedsheets, bath towels and bathrooms. I would definitely recommend TTDC for stay. I booked the rooms one month in advance through online. After resting for an hour, we went for stroll on the shore side, viewed the Thiruvalluvar status and Vivekananda rock from the Sunrise points. Then, visited the temple - Kanyakumari Bhagavathi amman temple.

We climbed the view tower to see the sunset.

This is simply amazing to see ! What a location to see the sunset. The sunset was amazing to see with orange background and rumbling seas hitting the rocks on shoreline. 

There was an moderate crowd there. Once the sunset, almost all left and we decided to spend few minutes in the strong wind top of the view tower. Then, came the amazing moment. The whole sky turned orange in colour and sea and oceans around reflected them ! This is one amazing moment.

Typical South Indian Vegetarian Food was not available in TTDC and we went outside to have dinner - Idlis and Dosas. Returned to the cottage and had a nice sleep to get ready to see the sunrise in the morning.

Day-2

We got up around 4:30 AM, bathed and went to see the sunrise at sunrise point. Sunrise point is just behind the Amman temple on the Kanyakumari Beach. There were already around 3000 people there! One can sight beautiful sunrises anywhere in Kanyakumari, but, this place is quite special. The sun rises between the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue !

The sun rose around 6:20 and then, took few snaps. We had breakfast in hotel Saravana and went to get tickets for boats to reach Vivekananda Rock Memorial. The boat services start from 8 AM till 4 PM. The whole 3000 odd people were standing on the queue for the boats :(. It took 2 hours for us to get the tickets and spent around 40 mins in Vivekananda Memorial. One can keep taking hundreds of photographs here with water all around amazing views of Kanyakumari from this little rock !

We returned back around 11:30 and checked out from TTDC. Next desination was Suchindrum Temple – 11 kms from TTDC Hotel. After the darshan, we went to one other amazing beaches - Muttom - I would definitely name is Tamilnadu's Greece ! Excellent, clean, clear waters ! White sandy beach inbetween rocks !

We had spent more than an hour there in the sun - it was 1 PM ! That was because of its rich ambiance.

Then, did some petty purchases - Matti Palam (small sweet bananas), Nendram palam and Kai Suthu Muruku in Nagercoil and back to Chennai.

Other places one may want to visit:
Udayagiri Fort - 3-4 kms from Padmanabhapuram Palace

Chotthavillai beach – 10 kms from Kanyakumari – 7 kms from Suchindrum Temple

Vattakotai circular fort – 6 km from Kanyakumari

 

Uttar Karnataka - a 6-day trip !

A 6-day trip of Uttar Karnataka. A trip with family.

Dates : 23rd December 2012 to 28th December 2012.

Day-1

• Mangalore - Subrahmanya - Dharmasathala – Udupi (270 kms)
• Mangalore - Subramanya - 110 kms - 2.5 hours
• Subramanya - Dharmasathala - 55 kms - 1.5 hour
• Dharmasathala - Udupi - 102 kms – 2.5 hours

Day-2

• Udupi - Maravanthe beach - Kollur - Murudeshwara (165 kms)
• Udupi - Maravanthe beach - 55 kms - 1.25 hours
• Maravanthe beach - Kollur - 38 kms - 1 hour
• Kollur - Murudeshwara - 68 kms - 2 hours

Day-3

• Murudeshwara - Honavar - Jog falls - Sirsi - Yana Caves - Gokarna (260 kms)
• Murudeshwara - Honavar - 27 kms - 45 mins
• Honavar - Jog falls - 65 kms - 2 hours
• Jog falls - Sirsi - 60 kms - 1.5 hours
• Sirsi - Yana Caves Gokarna - 57 kms - 2 hours
• Yana Caves - Gokarna - 54 kms - 2 hours

Day-4

• Gokarna - Udupi - 180 kms - 5 hours
• Gokarna - Local Site seeing (Temple, Beaches) - Udupi

Day-5

• Udupi - Mangalore – 60 kms - 1.5 hours

Day-1

We reached Mangalore by 9 AM through JetKonnect from Chennai. I had already booked Ginger in Mangalore. I had planned the above itinerary and if one day is missed, then the whole schedule shall change. Hence, I booked rooms for only first day and had done some research on Internet to understand what are all available in other destinations to stay.

Instead of check-in from Airport, we went to three popular temples in Mangalore -> Mangaladevi temple, Kadri Manjunath Temple and Kudroli Gokarnath Temple. We had breakfast at Mangalore Woodlands and proceeded for the Dharshan. Then, we had lunch at Hotel Janatha near Kudroli temple and checked-in at Ginger, Mangalore. As like other Ginger hotels, it was very comfortable and took a 2-hour break. At 4 PM, we started to Panambur Beach, 6 kms from Ginger hotel. The beach was quite crowded but enjoyable. We killed time watching lot of people and of course enjoying the beach. There are lot of entertainments at this beach - water sports like boating, water-scooter, camel ride and some fun for kids. Wow, what a sunset. 


Then, had a good yummy dinner at Hotel TajMahal in Mangalore and good night !

Day-2

Started around 7 AM and reached Subrahmanya around 9 AM. Had Dharshan standing in a queue and breakfast at Hotel Kumara Kripa; Neocafe was most recommended in Internet; but, it was too crowded. One has to get tokens and self serve in either of the hotels. Kumara Kripa also served very delicious Karnataka breakfast - Upittu, Idli, Vada and Masala Dosa. Then, we started towards Dharmasthala. Reached by noon, we were startled to see a very huge crowd. We bought Rs.200 ticket and were able to have a Dharshan of Lord Manjunatheswar in 2 hours :(. We wish we could have lunch at the temple annadhanam, but, it was already 2:30 PM by the time we came out. We were too hungry and did not have patience to stand in queue again ! One of the worst lunches was available in a nearby so-called hotel. I think except temple, you don't get good food outside in Dharmasthala. Plan accordingly !

We then drove to Udupi and reached around 4 PM. Checked several hotels; Kediyoor, Udupi Residency, Sriram but all of them were full. We had to be satisfied with a very mediocre stay at Hotel Siddharth - not so clean rooms/bathrooms/beds; No running hot water; No proper lighting; broken plug points. But, they were cheap. Better book rooms in Udupi before you go.

After a quick refresh, reached Malpe beach - 7 kms from Udupi town for the sunset. Excellent view of sun setting behind a small rock formation and amazing views post sunset. Then, visited Lord Krishna temple around 7:30 PM. We were tired and located Udupi Woodlands for Dinner ! So much travel for the day, our appetite to eat was very high. Wow; excellent spread so delicious. It was a so satisfactory food, that we decided to have breakfast there again.

Day-3

Woodlands opens only by 08:30 AM :( and we were not aware. We then had a decent breakfast at Hotel Mansarovar - near the Udupi - Mangalore NH junction. Day plan was Kollur and Murudeshwara. On the way on the coastal road, one had to take a left 5 kms before Maravanthe beach to Kollur. We decided to goto Maravanthe beach and then to Kollur as we had time. A virgin beach - so clean, none on this road should miss to stop. Returned back by 5 kms and took the road to Kollur.

Excellent roads and we had a good Dharshan around noon and we drove to Murudeshwara by 1:30 PM. We have only couple of options in Murudeshwara to stay - RNS Residency/guest houses and Kamat hotels. RNS Residency is costly but class. We reached and found that no rooms available, luckily someone cancelled the rooms by phone and we got it. Excellent breath taking views from the hotel. The hotel is partially located over the sea. They also have the Naveen beach restaurant (Veg) built over pillars on the beach. Amazing sea views and Murudeshwar hosts may water sports. Its almost a safe flat beach and anyone can take bath.

This just is not Murudeshwara. The temple Gopuram is an amazing spectacle so as the Lord Shiva Status over a short hill. We were happy to spent late afternoon, evening, night and early mornings on the beach, around temple, views from Shiva statue. WOW ! SPECTACULAR !

We had dinner at RNS Residency restaurant - Sea Lounge - it was delicious and not so costly. One gets north-Indian food at this restaurant and south-Indian at the Naveen beach restaurant.

The tall gopuram of Murudeswar has a life that takes anyone to the top for Rs.10. We missed it. Hope that would give an awesome view.

Day-4

After having a good night sleep, started a long day towards Jog Falls. We had breakfast at Naveen, Murudeshwara and started. All along the way so much backwaters until Honavar and then we take a right turn - around 60 kms to Jog falls. Very good roads all along the way and breathtaking views all around. One should not miss stopping at a watch tower 2/3rd of the distance on the hills. It gives amazing views. Then on reach Jog falls, one can site it from the parking area itself. It is December, I could not imaging that there shall be so less water. I knew it is not going to be as good in July/August, but, it was something so less as if it was peak summer ! Quite disappointed. Anyway, did not want to miss any fun and trekked all the way and had different angles and views at the falls. There is a small dam all the way down which gives good views. We had some snacks and started towards Yana caves !

To reach Yana, one has to pass through Siddhapur and Sirsi. The roads are excellent and we covered the 60km stretch in an hour - ghat roads. Very good lunch at Sirsi - Hotel Madhuvana - recommended for anyone.

60 kms from there we reached Yana caves in 2 hours. Some places, roads were good and some places, no roads - only mud. The forest was so dense and almost rarely could see vehicles - could imagine how dreadful it would be in rains ! We need to walk around 1 km from the parking area to the Yana caves. It appears suddenly amidst the thick forests. Looks like a single rock cave - amazing ! There is a small Vishnu temple beneath and one can go around, climb up and down the Yana cave; though bare-footed. It is treated as a spiritual plan. Elders may find it difficult to walk around.

2 hour drive - roads and no roads, reached Gokarna and took rooms in Hotel Gokarna  International. 3rd class rooms and one has to be satisfied as there are very less options. Few beach resorts are available but not budgetary. Internet guided me to Prema restaurant for food ! It is the first shop on the Main Beach - Gokarna. One has to place order and wait 30 mins to get it served; no urgent orders - board hangs ! One is being informed about the waiting time while placing orders - you can get good quality food and nominal price. I was not daring to try other places because it was a family trip - elders and child !

Day-5

Visited the Lord Mahabaleshwar temple and the Gokarna Main beach. We then had breakfast at Prema Restaurant and drove to Om Beach. The approach roads are decent and could see many people trek all the way to Om Beach.One has to reach Om Beach from the parking area by climbing down steep steps and the view from above is breathtaking. Om beach is a rocky beach and easily one can kill time there. It also has the 'Namaste Cafe' and many people stay there overnight. Many foreigners are around which says how good the place is.

From the Om Beach parking area, a 20 min trek over a hill  takes you to the Kudle beach. Kudle beach is approachable by road also. From the Om beach, one can either walk by the beach down south and reach Half moon beach and then the Paradise Beach; also, can opt for boat rides from Om beach. We did not have time to go to Half moon and Paradise beach. But, they should not be missed.

After checkout from hotel by noon, we started our journey back to Udupi. On the way had a good lunch at Bhatkal and reached Udupi. On the way, we also stopped again at Maravanthe Beach - spent around 45 mins there. Reached Udupi around 6:30 PM and checked-in again @ Hotel Siddharth. Most good hotels were fully booked.

Day-6

After one more Dharshan at Krishna temple and breakfast at Woodlands, we went to Lord Balarama temple, which is on the way to Malpe beach. Drove back to Mangalore, lunch and pack up to catch our return train to Chennai.

Places that could be added along are:

• Dharmasthala - Gomateswara temple
• Sringeri - Temple
• Karkala - Jain temple
• Horanadu - Shri Annapoorneswari Temple
• Gokarna - Beaches - Kudle, Half moon and Paradise
• Vibhuti Falls - Near Yana Caves