Namkkal-Yercaud-Hogenakkal trip

We wanted to take a break out of rut and boredom. Vinodha suggested  Yercaud. Since we have to reach Salem, we also included Namakkal, Hogenakkal and Mettur dam, which are the key places around Salem. We reached Salem early Morning and took a decent lodge. We refreshed and had a quality breakfast nearby. Finding the lodge and landing up at a quality hotel was easy, thanks to my travel experience during Nestle stint. 


Day 1 :

We reached Namakkal via Bus and got down at a hi-fi bakery outlet which had atleast 50 different kind of biscuits. Vinodha being a biscuit freak ( சரியான பிஸ்கோத்து) had a nice time packing a few of varieties. 


We visited Namakkal Anchaneyar temple and knowing that the Narasimhar temple opposite is closing down for the noon, we rushed there.
Way thru, I had to try consoling kids for staying away from buying toys. Then we came back to Anchaneyar temple to have a full fledged darshan. Samanvitha was shouting  like " ennappa eppo paathalum kovil kootindu pora.. adhvum ore koil, rendavadhu  thadavaya ! eppo dhan toys ?''


The entire place broke to laughter upon my stun. 

We planned to visit Mettur Dam in the evening, and Salem being, enroute to Mettur, thought we will break at Salem for a mild refreshment. On reaching Salem, we realized that we would end up at Mettur dam during dark hours of evening. So we altered our plans to spend time in Salem Local and I caught hold of hotel servers and few auto-ric guys to find the most happening place in Salem. An Exhibition.

 

Here we start with the Salutation to Tamilnadu Police. Welcome Young Recruits. There was great stall of TN electricity Board with windmills and all source of power generation stuff ! Moment we entered into the stall lights went off. A PowerCut. Oxymoron.

There was a மர்ம மாளிகை kind of stuff where Tejas and Sam braved to enter. Moment stepping in, the weird figures pounced on them and boo hoo... பின்னங்கால் பிடரியில் பட பிடிச்சாங்க பார் ஓட்டம்..! aha.. scores settled for nosecut got at Namakkal temple.

 
Remember the good Old days atIsland grounds exhibition where we had Delhi Appalams. We tried our hand and mouth and enjoyed. Sammy was the first one to fight for the appalam.

Tejas was enjoying like anything and was on cloud nine. He heroically gave a helping hand to a Girl struggling and crying to complete her game. Perfect host for a Damsel-in-Distress !

It had also nicely rained. We have to wind up because we are scheduled to leave Hogenakkal next day. Seems it is a 3 hour drive via bus. We chose to go by Bus rather car, for both kids are big enough to manage and we wanted to enjoy how it was to avoid car. So we reached the hotel. Tejas was all mad about Noodles and ate, ate and ate and it was nearly 10pm when we hit our beds. The  nammakal biscuits had turned into powder thru all the travel ! Poor Vinodha was in great disappointment !!!

Day 2 :
We reached Hogenakkal at around noon. But weather was quite cool and we need to walk to another place to catch up with Coracle (பரிசல்). We started to enjoy the breeze and coolness of Cauvery and I was telling the folks how myself and Barath tried to cheat Subha by giving her Fried fish, posing as vada, but could not succeed.

My hands were busy with Handycam and Camera. Enjoy few of the snaps below !

So at last we have to bid farewell to the wonderful water-spot. With another 3 hour hop-in hop-off bus travel to go and need to catch up with Yercaud, we returned to Salem. Tejas went to his favorite hotel and ate, ate, ate noodles. He has become a நூடில்ஸ் வெறியன் ! Poor Samanvitha, she could not bear the spicy noodles, rather she is contended with her pieces of idli, anywhere and everywhere..Later Sam and Tejas were playing within the hotel itself. Everybody was enjoying.

Goodbye Salem lodge!

Day 3:

Next day, catching up a bus to yercaud itself an achievement. we were all set up fresh and reached Yercaud say by 1130 am.

The mountain path was serpentine and atlast Vinodha managed without puking. It was really cold and misty, but I fell asleep.

At the Yercaud bus stand, we were approached by Autoric fellows and guides. We noted a few contact nos.

We had booked a normal cottage at Grange resort Yercaud. It was a nice place with lot of walk around path and greenery. A pleasant surprise was we were automatically upgraded to a Deluxe cottage. 

This place is quite away from Main town and hotel folks gave a few numbers for local guided tour. The first one was the one we had already got a Bus stand ! what a coincidence..

The Place had a nice shop which housed gift items, stationery, trinkets and some souvenirs. There was nobody to man the shop. Seems that we pick and bill at the reception. Watch our first shoplifter.!

We ventured to the lake and had a nice time there. There we can rent cycles to roam around Yercaud. It comes on a hourly basis rent. Vinodha tried one, she went like a snake crawling terrifying walkers.. she was trying to stop but could not. To Tejas and Sam it was all joke and broke into a stomach peeling laughter.

A sudden descend of mist took us by surprise.  We had planned for a couple of viewpoints like Ladys seat, Gents Seat, Pagoda point etc. But the guides advised against going there because we cannot have view of Salem foothills from those places.

But we ventured to go out to those points because by commonsense it is the travel that brings joy than destination.

Both Sam and Tejas felt ice cold shivering but neither wanted to give up. We had armed with sweaters and ear muffs. These guys started enjoying the cold mist. Samanvitha started to scare us by blindfold herself and Tejas was jumping here and there

Suddenly the mist cleared and we could have a very clear vision of the route. See the couple of photos shot during a clear climate.

By 6 pm it was tough to navigate and we came back to the Resort. We had to order for food to have it by 8. Kids were are ga-ga about the resort room lighting and atmos. I wanted to feel the cold mist on a raw flesh.

Pulled a chair and started to enjoy the biting cold. Vinodha was also watching from inside. She was enjoying a lot with her books and pranks of kids.

We were all waiting for the dinner call. Tejas was again wailing about the Noooodles.. but soon he agreed to terms.

Night view of our cottage

It was absolutely cold inside, Hence Vinodha and Tejas were demanding more blankets. I offered Samanvitha to settle down in one of them, when she took us by surprise. Guess what..

She was disappointed about not finding a "fan" in the room..She asked, what a hotel is this, without a fan..and demanded a fan immediately !

Day 4:

We were ready the next day to have a walk around the cottage.
We planned an early walk and kept taking snaps in morning. It was a blessing not much of mist was traced.

We found different types of trees and plants and we were eagerly showing kids, for they are not found in concrete jungle, Chennai.

Tejas was fond of lumbered trees and had a nice time playing. On the right you are seeing unripe coffee berries likely to end up in cups after curing.

It was very good walk with no other living soul nearby. We enjoyed seeing Orange trees, nameless colorful flowers, creepers, broken branches and plants. It was a very lively trot for Tejas and Sam. We could see blue colored birds, weird insects and crawlers too.

We could find fresh peppers waiting for us.  plucked a few for making green pepper pickle at home.


We also laid our hands on Oranges, which were about the size of a lemon.


It was time for our breakfast, Tejas and Samanvitha were all set for "bread and jam stuff". Then we pushed off to a far off place at about 18 miles (or Kms) in the interior of the forest. We travelled by auto and was all pleasant to stop midway to take snaps.

Watch the snaps below.

Dont leave me and go into Forest..!

Finally it was a pleasant visit and we enjoyed a lot. None of us wanted to move away from resort and cottage !


We had to coax and cajole to bring kids out !
We had a pleasant memories of the stay and enjoyment !


Damn it ! who wants to go back ?