Kodaikanal – Mar 2011

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This post is a small rewind about my trip to kodai with office friends. It’s a long plan & fixed well before 2 months. I made all the arrangements from booking the cab, Lodge, Dance & dinner… So its a most memorable one.

Travellers: Krishnakumar, Raghu, Praveen, Santhosh, Kishore, Samuel, Suresh, Malairajan, Kumaravel.



I went to Madurai 2 days before our trip, as for my personal work in my native. Bought all the snacks (Tirunelweli Alwa, mixture, Athirasam, murukku, bovonto, cakes….) from Madurai & my mom prepared Lemon rice, Puliyotharai & the side dish needed. Dad helped me a lot for this trip. (A special thanks for him).

<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Day 1: (18- Mar 2011 – Friday)

From Vadipatti, i took the cab (TATA SUMO) & reached Bathlagundu. Others came from Chennai by SETC ultra deluxe bus. As you know the condition, speed of the UD buses here, the boys are very tired after 12 hours long journey & it came very late (as-usual).

We all met at Bathlagundu nearly @ 6 AM, had a nice tea @ Ayyangar’s bakery (best tea shop, bigger one, opened near-by the busstand). Bought some Fragrance sticks (Oothu bathi) for the cab. The journey started in next half an hour through the misty mountains. On the way we took some photos & reached Kodai around 8:45 AM. After refresh in our hotel, had Bread & jam as breakfast. I finished first (sollava venum) & In the mean time, me & our driver (Chellappa – my dad’s friend) went to book the reservation for Berijam lake visit. Actually the entrance is restricted, as it is in reserved forest, we need to get prior permission from Forest department of Tamilnadu. The Permission is restricted to max of 10 -20 vehicles per day, so the demand is more on weekends. We applied for it & got the permission in noon. So we decided to go for Space observatory. Around 10:15 AM, we went there. (It opens to public only on Friday 10 AM – 12 PM). It’s really a superb observatory, many of the tourist doesn’t know about it & they doesn’t have the chance to visit it. We were so lucky.



From there, we moved to Berijam Lake. it’s a 22 KMs journey inside the thick forest. The path to this lake & the places around this lake are so enchanting. We took more snaps all the way to this lake. There is no trace for human habitat, Not even a mobile signal. The green trees, misty path, chill breeze, made us the heavenly feel .Roamed around the lake & had a nice Lunch nearby the lake, a small jolt, few photos, saw black squirrels….; Spent nearly 1 hour there after the sumptuous meal.

Returned to Chettiar park around 4 PM to take some rest. This park is just a lonely garden. Many of the flowers were newly planted & it’s a developing one. Lot of clicks from our cameras prove that this park will become a centre of attraction. The way to this park is little narrow & all the kudos goes for our driver.



Went to Kurinchi Andavar temple around 5PM & saw the Palani valley view, had masala tea, kadalai in the nearby shops. After half an hour, went to J’s Heritage to confirm our dinner the next day. We booked for a dance, dinner & camp-fire. As all were tired from a long journey & we returned to the hotel. The climate made us to sleep early. I took a bath in the cold water without any hesitation & went for a sound sleep.

<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Day 2: (19- Mar 2011 – Saturday)

We’re there for sunrise @ 6 AM. Enjoyed the hot tea & vadai @ Munjikal (Sponsored by Raghu machan). After refresh, had Breakfast @ Ayyappa mess @ Munjikal. This small hotel was run by a mad man, who cracked all jokes, the best of all is cheapest breakfast.

Went to Coaker’s walk (To purchase rings – that’s what we did there) around 9AM. The mist came all along the way from valley & swept us like a cool breeze. Spent some time, took snaps, then moved to Fairy falls view (Photo session). We had a nice Trekking to Dolphin’s nose around 1 PM. The trek is most enjoyed by all of us & it had everything for a small picnic. We sat at the tip of Dolphin’s nose shaped rock & took photos.



With Glucose energy we returned form there. The stomach alarmed us & after 2 PM we finished our Lunch on the way. Mom’s preparation is really awesome, the remaining items are given to monkeys as per our driver’s wish.

After visiting Guna caves, Pillar rock, moir point, we came for Boating around 4 PM. We took a boat in Municipality Boat house( which is too cost. They rated for every 20 minutes. Whereas the rowing club boat house cost the same for 30 minutes.) for 20 minutes ride, then we went to Kodaikanal Rowing club boat house for one hour trip. Some of us are not in a mood to enjoy that evening, as got tired after 2 ½ hours of trekking. After boating we went to hotel, after refreshing ourselves, we went to J’s Heritage at 7 PM. We had a nice discotheque(let it be), camp fire & dinner (No one will forget the sweet “bread custard” & kara “rasam”). We went to bed after 9.30 PM.

<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Day 3: (20- Mar 2011 – Sunday)

Wake up @ 6 AM to watch the sunrise, had a nice tea, vadai @ Munjikal (Sponsored by Raghu). Then we had Breakfast @ Ayyappa mess @ Munjikal. Went to Upper lake view, Bryant park. There we saw the complete mist for the first time in our 3 days trip. After that we went for Cycling (1 hour – 2 rounds – 4kms each). Exceptional is kumar, he went for 3 rounds in the same time. After that we went for shopping. We bought costly chocolates in “Mannar chocolate factory” (1kg – 650), run by a malayali. Also we bought some chocolates in the nearby shop for 270/kg. we ate natural ice-cream, Puffs @ pastry corner. We went to Shop Oils, then we visit Poombukar (Govt shop) in Anna salai. From there we left kodai @ 3 PM. We reached Batlagundu around 4.30 PM, had a tender coconut. Reached Madurai around 6 PM. Ate Halwa from “Prema vilas” shop (also bought snacks), went to Meenakshi amman temple Gopuram on West side, had dinner @ 7.15 PM @ “Hotel Sabari’s”. We reached on time in Mattuthavani. We left there by SETC A/C bus (I need to mention it anyway) & reached Tambaram around 4:30 AM, the next day.

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