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Published: September 2nd 2007
From the top.
14 hair pin bends to reach the hill station.Nestled among the Javad hills - a part of the Eastern ghats - near Vaniyambadi town on National Highway from Chennai to Bangalore - is the scenic tourist resort of Yelagiri. A hill station of its own class. At about 250 kms away from Chennai, jsut 4 hours drive and it is the nearest hill station from my home ! and at nearly 1400 mtrs above sea level, Yelagiri is the perfect weekend getaway for the family and friends.
This is a tiny hill station near Chennai just 4.50 hours drive, many are not aware of a hill station so close to Chennai!! The sleepy town is quite and calm only 4-5 hotels and they are good. A lovely small town amidst mountains and valleys with lots of tiny villages around the hills.
The road leading to the hills has around 14 hairpin bends and this can be viewed partyly from the highway. The weather was pleasant during July .We landed there on a Friday noon had lunch ( Hotel Hills, the place we stayed is reasonable, neat and clean ) the sprawling lawn here gives a great relief after having used to congested city hotels. Mr. Peter the
Manager here is very courteous and helpful.
It was my daughter who found that the dogs here were of unique feature resembling a fox! We first ignored this but yes it was true, they had a more than required sharp nose and were not like the usual one's we see back in Chennai. May be a zoologist would be delighted to start a research on this !
The places to look around are a temple nearby set in the midst of misty mountains and green meadows. This was a wonderful sight and we took some snaps, a lovely garden and a lake, well don't expect posh buildings and fashionable crowd here, it is moderate, less crowded, unpolluted place. The lake is called the Thampiran Thamarai Kulam or the Lotus pond. It was filled with floating pink lilies and I did take a snap of this.
Having seen Ooty, kodai, Yercaud etc this place is far different and worth for staying 2 days. One good thing is mobile phones don't work here as there is no net work available; it’s surprising when so many players are there no one has started service here still !! It’s good in
Top of the hill
Niki in the fresh morning one way as you cannot be disturbed!! Of course there are lots of public booths to call Chennai or elsewhere.
The local village fair was on Sunday and we went around. We took a long walk along the winding hilly track.
There is a Temple on top of the hill which needs to be trekked, we went half way as it was really hot but my daughter Mayuri made it when she had been for the camp with Avishkar India. For those who are not heard of this >>this company organises trips every year and the kids enjoy a lot! Kids can make new friends and gain more confidence travelling with a new group of people as they mostly go on holidays with parents.
The web site is http://aavishkarindia.com
The next day we left Yelagiri and headed to the Jalagamparai falls which is a diversion from Thiruppathur, set in a valley of lovely hills, I had a chilling bath here in the falls, the water was freezing cold and it was refreshing. The water splashing right on the head was a great experience. We spent some time here, the kids just stayed away as is was
The Lilly pond
Pink lillies on the way to the temple. damn slippery and we did not want to take risk, also visited the shiva temple near by the falls. We could see some people who had trekekd to the falls from Yelagiri through the jungles instead of the regular road route. It is also a trekking route to reach the falls. The whole atmosphere was quite and peaceful. It was worth spending some time around the falls.
By 3 pm we left the place and were back in Chennai by 9 pm with some break in between. Don't you agree that this is a superb get away for just 2 days away form the routine? When we caught up with the long traffic lines and zipping vehicles .I thought oh ! why have we came back to this place again as yelagiri was heaven.
So guys pack up and plan soon for this location and enjoy the experience.
Ramz
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HeatherLauren
Heather Lauren
Wow!!
Wow - This looks awesome! Look at those turns on that road. Nice picture! :) Heather