Coonoor - Nemmara - Guruvayoor - Chennai

 

I guess its high time I write about my recent road trip to Coonoor, Nemmara, Guruvayoor and back. Though it was not a well planned trip, but the break was badly needed and  the moment we decided to hit the roads we were so excited about the whole drive, and started our planning in that little time we had. Had to check the road route, pack our bags, and get the vehicle checked for a long drive.

Till the moment we left home, there was something or other to do and I must mention here itself that the note that I posted on HV Kumar page on facebook did help a lot in planning the route, though I missed seeing the most important update on a highway which he had mentioned and apparently we ended up in the same highway and went through a nightmarish experience.

Day 1: We started on a Monday morning and though we had checked map, my uncle apparently gave us a different route all together just before the day we were supposed to leave and I must admit we do not regret taking it. It was absolutely awesome and would definitely recommend the same to anyone who wants to drive to Coonoor.

As the others in our neighbourhood were asleep,we left home at 4:50 AM on the Monday morning and after a nonstop drive, reached Vellore by 6:50 AM. Stopped at Hotel Akshaya which comes on the right hand side of the circle and had our breakfast and left exactly in half hour by 7:20 AM.

By 9:10 AM we had touched Dharmapuri and post that we had to branch off towards Mettur on SH 20. After traveling appx 7 Kms after Topur toll road had to take the SH 82 towards Sathy. Roads were absolutely beautiful and the cool breeze made the drive a lot more pleasantar. Barring a few diversions on the Vellore highway. we were still able to clock 160 Kms on that highway. Speechless I was as glanced at the speedometer! Posting some pictures of the road below:

The broad stretch

 

Clean and nice driveway

The green grass of home

Stopped by at Mettur station to admire the beauty of the station and clicked some pictures. We were off again and stopped at Sathy for a tea break and the stopped at Mettupalayam for lunch. Had lunch at Arya Bhavan hotel and from there on took the Kothagiri - Coonoor road. Surprising enough the road was well maintained.

 

Hoot! Hoot! Here comes the train

Towards Sathy

 Towards Sathy

Baa Baa White Sheep!

 On the hills

 From Mettupalayam towards Kothagiri Coonoor road

We reached our destination around 4 PM after almost 10 hours drive considering the 2 hours break we had taken. A very pleasant and not a tiring trip though conversations between me and my partner were negligible. - I spoke, he listened (Don’t know whether to me or to the music of Yesudas and Ilayaraja) and drove :) The reason we actually went to Coonoor was to spend some time with my Aunt and uncle and stay at their place. So we stayed in a house on a hill. Some pics of the house:

Day 2: It was a relaxing day at home, walking around the place and enjoying nature. Our passion for trains and stations took us straight to the Coonoor station first. Then we did a drive down towards Ooty and just went around with rains lashing heavily for a short while. Had some yummy lunch at a place called "Mahalakshmi Bhojanalaya" where they served piping hot phulkas with 4 different varieties of Subzis.

The hot meal--truly a treat

The toy train looks like approaching but it was leaving the station.

Post a filling lunch we decided to get back home for a super nap. In the evening, we all went for a long walk and before we realized we had actually covered about 6 Kms :)

Day 3: All of us decided that we wanted to do some sightseeing. Visited Dhoddabetta peak, Pykara falls, Pykara river and all other shooting spots around. We underestimated the chillness of the place and never took our jackets along though we had them with us and were freezing in the cold weather up the peak. Pre breakfast munch included fresh carrots, radish and some peanuts and went towards Coonoor for breakfast. Post a late breakfast visited the Pykara falls or rather I should say a dried up river bed, Just enjoyed walking around the place and visited the Pykara river too and finally headed back home around evening after visiting the Pine forest and 8th Mile :)

After a very eventful day headed back home, where some nice steaming Vadas, Puri/Bhaji, and Kesari awaited us and yes, of course the Chai too!  Oh there was a cook at home and she prepared all these items.

 

Drying up Pykara river

Drying up Pykaral lake- another view

Pine woods

Day 4: Relaxing day at home before we headed for our Kerala trip. Had to pick up my hubby's parents from Coimbatore station before we left to Nemmara to visit our family deity Bhagavathy Amman. Picked them up around 2:20 PM at Coimbatore station and we decided to take the Pollachi route to Nemmara. We avoided the Walayar as the truck traffic is more. No regrets as Pollachi is equally green if not more. We stopped at Hotel Anandaas for lunch and drove straight to Nemmara. Driving through some of the most beautiful villages of Kerala we finally reached our destination at 5 PM. It took almost 90 minutes at the temple and it delayed from our original plan which was to leave the place by 5 PM. Any ways blessings from above is so much more important though our idea was to reach Guruvayoor before dark so it is easier on the roads but we least expected what was awaiting us on NH 47.

We left Nemmara at 6:20 PM and we were least expecting what was awaiting us. After asking for directions from the locals there we decided to take the known route from Thrissur. (This is what I mentioned at the start of my blog, that because of rushing for the trip I missed HV Kumars comment on the road condition on my FB page and if only I had seen it we would have definitely avoided what we actually underwent and its definitely not recommended). We took the road towards Thrissur from Nemmara that joined on NH 47 and I should say it was the first time we experienced nightmares. The reason being road condition was pathetic, with potholes every 50 - 100 meters and I am talking about big ones here. Pitch dark roads with flashing lights from trucks, buses and all other vehicles. Except for vehicles all over, we literally could not see the road ahead of us. Everyone wanted to be ahead of others and most rash driving by the private buses of Kerala. For the first time we had the experience of stand still immovable traffic for atleast 15 minutes on a NH. Later I realized that this immovable traffic was because of either huge container trucks going in numbers or because of many huge potholes that made it difficult for vehicles to overtake. In spite of such traffic wherever there were gaps we were trying as much as possible to stick around with a vehicle in front of us as even the slightest gap given, would mean the buses on the other side would charge towards the wrong side as if they plan to get us off the road. This horrific 2 hours cannot be expressed in words more.

That was most nightmarish drive and after driving like that for about couple of hours we realized that we had only covered about 20 odd Kms. Finally we reached Thrissur and had to take the road towards Guruvayoor which was relatively fine with good roads and since mostly we passed through villages it was pretty much well lit everywhere.

We finally reached our destination Guruvayoor at 9:30 PM. Checked in to the hotel Gokulam Sabari (Tried this place for the first time) and headed straight to the restaurant for dinner. Post dinner crashed for the day. This hotel definitely was very nice and clean, well maintained. The only drawback, we noticed is  for people who want to repeatedly visit the temple in a day, had to walk atleast ten minutes each time each way. But then clean beds, clean bathrooms (Very important for us wherever we go) and excellent service awaits you.

Day 5: The entire day went visiting the Guruvayoor Shri Krishna temple and many other temples around the place that we visited first time. Did see the Parthasarathy temple, Chowaloor Shiva temple and one Bagavathy temple. An all round religious experience.

Day 6: Once again back to the roads to head back home. One bitten twice shy, we decided not to touch the same highway again and checked the map for a different route. Started exactly at 5: AM from Guruvayoor and did Guruvayoor - Kunnamkulam - Pattambi - Ottapalam - Lakkidi - Palakkad and awesome is not the word to describe the highways. It was a breezy, smooth and an exhilirating drive. We stopped at some place near Ottapalam for tea and headed straight towards the Pollachi route. We took a small diversion here and instead of taking the main highway we went through the town of Chitoor to reach Pollachi. Stopped at Hotel Gowri Krishna for a good breakfast. Post breakfast took the NH 209 towards Udulmalpet, Palani, Dindugal. Hit the NH 45 at 11:20 Am and from then on we were averaging 80-90 KM per hour. As we had a heavy breakfast we did not want to stop at Trichy for lunch and headed straight, however were forced to stop at a road side shack near Udumalpet for lunch and it was awful. That was the only bad part about the trip. We did not have much choice as we just could not find any other hotels on that highway.

We were back home at 7 pm via Chenglepet.

It was a short but memorable trip and I am sure I would carry memories of this trip for a long time. I am happy I could share it with you all.

Kerala – Temple tour with family August 2010

All these days I was writing only about the trips to different destinations excluding the temple trips. However, now on I want to mention these as well as though the destination is only many temples the trips that I have had were always so much fun or we try and make it so much fun. So here is one such trip that I went with my mom, aunt and grandparents. Till date I remember every bit of the trip with the fun we had. Since the plan was with family all the more reason this was a well planned one. To start with we boarded our train journey by Trivandrum mail and since we were 5 of us we planned and took food along with us for the night. It was good fun travelling together and the entire journey we spent laughing and remembering some good old times. So after the nice long journey we landed at Trivandrum on the next day noon and checked in to our hotel. That afternoon was just relaxing and we were getting ready for the evening to visit some local temples and a beach. So first we visited the local temples which were Attukal Bhagavathy temple, Sreekandeshwaram Shiva temple and then what they call as the Military Ganapathy temple (Pazhavangadi Maha Ganapathy temple) which was located on the main road and is supposed to be one of the most famous Ganesha temples in Trivandrum. Once we were done with this we visited the Shangumuga beach which was again located off the main road unlike how the beaches here were. We spent some time sitting there and chatting and of course clicking some pictures and left back to the hotel to retire for the night as we had a long day ahead of us. 

Shangumuga Beach at sunset

The next day started as early as 2:30 AM as we had to leave to the Padmanabaswamy temple and was supposed to be there to see the nirmalya darshan at 3:30. We were not very aware of the dress allowed to the temple. I and my aunt landed up very nicely in a salwar to be only sent back to come in a saree or Mundu as the Keralites call. So in a hurry we both rushed to the hotel to make sure we were back in a span of 15 minutes. We were back right in time when the temple doors opened and even that bit of thrill was good. After a good darshan at the temple we headed straight to the Janardhanaswamy temple at Varkala. The temple was very old and very beautiful. Absolutely calm and serene the entire place felt. After that we visited the famous Varkala beach and had some fun time enjoying in the water and walking through the entire place. We took a lot of pictures and I should mention my grandparents also had loads of fun here. Had some tea and snacks at a nearby shop and we were off to our hotel. In the evening we decided to let my grandparents stay back and rest while me, my mum and aunt went to visit the Kovalam beach. It was very beautiful while we watched the sun set and also enjoyed good breeze and the beautiful roaring sea. Back at the hotel we were ready to leave that night to go to Guruvayoor  and took the train from Trivandrum and reached the next morning to Guruvayoor. 

Checked in to our hotel and we were again ready to go out. I have to make a mention here that Guruvayoor though is a pilglim centre is very calm, beautiful and it gives a lot of peace by just staying there for few days and doing nothing. You see people so simple and leading a simple lifestyle there and all you can do is walk around the place, have some simple food in one of the hotels and you would not know the days passing. I always make it a point to visit that temple atleast once in a year. So we spent good 2 days and did some shopping, enjoyed different darshans, enjoyed the Seeveli (The elephant that holds the God Krishna on him and takes around the temple) and also visited some of the other nearby temples. Some of those temples include the Triprayar Shri Ramar temple, Kodungallur Bagavathy temple, and one more Hanuman temple that was enroute to Guruvayoor while returning. All these temples can be covered in maximum of 3 - 4 hours from Guruvayoor. Most of these temples open around 4 PM and you can time it accordingly and visit them. The place where we usually stay in Guruvayoor is at Vanamala Gokulam which is in the east nada and very closer to temple as well. Off late I have also started preferring Kanoos residency which is a bit expensive however, very nice place closer to the Guruvayoor railway station. After 2 good days there, we had to leave back and visited the Thrisur Vadakanathar temple and started our journey back home. Though the trip had to end we carried with us back a lot of photographs from the trip which to date I keep seeing, and also loads of memories.