When
the country is swept by Modi wave (happy to get a government under Modi
enjoying full mandate), Chennai still manages to reel in the May heat forcing
us to take off from work. Typical of any summer vacation we planned a hill
station vacation. Googling various hill stations in Tamil nadu, short listed
the less commercialized ones,
Kotagiri
Kalvarayan Hills
Gopalaswamy betta
Zeroed in on Kotagiri as it was on our familiar route :- Chennai->Salem->Coimbatore. Again turned on to Google to help us decide on the right place to lodge in Kotagiri. Based on reviews and rankings on the place, price and food - 'Heavenly Stay' merged as the winner. Called them and informed them of our plan to visit. Next step was to pack and start.
Started at 7 AM from Chennai on a Wednesday morning after loading our car with its tank full of fuel. Wanted to cross the city borders before the traffic could hit its peak. Had breakfast at the much advertised 'Sapida Vanga'. Restaurant looked modified to meet its claim, price was on the higher side but provides sample parking space.
Surrendered to Google maps (GPS) after that to take us to our destination. Took the GST, NH68 and reached Mettupalayam around 2PM and had lunch there. Yummy meals and seeraga samba rice for veg briyani was one to go for.
Continued from there in Kotagiri road and checked-in to Heavenlystay by 4 PM. Given the warm welcome, room was pretty ordinary (deluxe rooms), had tea and settled down. Took a walk near by and visited Nehru Park, full of blossoming flowers. Came back and had a good homely food at Heavenlystay - chapathi, kurma, rice, rasam and appalam. Enough to induce a goodnight's sleep.
Thursdays dawned early, ate dosa, sae mbhar and chutney to get the much needed energy for a long day. Hired a driver to take us to Ooty. Thanks to summer vacation, ooty was brimming with crowd.
Started
with Pykara - less water level makes the boating experience look very small.
Next was 7-mile and chocolate factory giving a glimpse of chocolate
making. Decided to skip boat house as we weren't interested in
boating. No tea factory also as we have already seen this in Munnar. So headed
straight to Botanical garden which was getting ready for the flower show which
is starting the following day. Variety of flowers where in display,
sad we don't belong to hills. Different companies ans even
the defence people were there to set up there stall and show case
their flowers.
Rose garden was next. This too was crowded but the lowest levels were deserted giving us a silent environment. Unbelievable variety of roses. Spoke to two of the garden employees. Both ladies though in their 60s were full of energy and conversed in length about Ooty and the rose garden. Bid good bye to them and drove straight to Aryaas to have food.
May
heat was prevalent in Ooty too but never let us sweat. Drove around
the main town area for some time and then marched to Doddabetta. From a couple
of kilometers from Doddabetta the road was in poor condition, lack of
proper roads was credited to forest area. If not for driver Sekar we would not
have witnessed Doddabetta, due to heavy crowd and vehicle
traffic the ooty homeland diverted some of the cars and few had to reverse back
on the hilly/sloppy road. With this we closed the day.
On Friday too we saw a early morning in the hills. Decided to wrap the day early in Kotagiri as we wanted to go around this city called Coimbatore for a long time. Our driver took us to Kodanad view point first and then to Katherine water falls. Summer and a rainfall-less year ensured that there is no water in the falls. It was demeaning to see that protecting iron fences have been mercilessly cut and removed by anti-socials.
Left
Kotagiri after lunch, bad move! driving down the hill after a heavy lunch.
Reached Coimbatore in the evening and set out to some shopping in a local auto
to get the real taste of the city. Brookfields caught our attention, the road
on which it is located is smaller than the mall itself. After some window
shopping did actual shopping at Raja street. Out of the shop we were caught in
heavy traffic. Narrow old time roads of Coimbatore are struggling
to accommodate current population and business.
Saturday
on a hat-trick early morning we were all ready to say our final good byes to
Coimbatore and also to our trip by the end of the day. Prayed at the
Patteswarar temple at Perur, 15 mins off from the main city and set out. Had
breakfast just before joining the NH for the long drive. Rs.40 for pongal and
Rs.20 for vada was way too much but tasted good.
Took
a break just near Salem while encountering this 100 linga temple. Inside the
college campus its a must visit temple. Then reached Salem city in few minutes.
Nothing much to sight seeing in the city so headed to the NH and halted only
for lunch. Heat piercing through the ac car, sweat
and tiredness taking a toll us but NH was the only savior. It comes
with a cost though - Toll plazas. A penny for thought - infrastructure in the
country is build on exchequer's money and he should also pay tolls?
Reached
Chennai by 5 PM. Have one day left to rejuvenate and get back to office Monday
morning. A good trip giving us the much needed break but summer never let us
enjoy it to the fullest. Should we plan the next trip in winter?
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