Karthik’s company decided on Kodai for their Annual employee + spouse trip for 3 days and we happily hopped on. I have been to Kodai a couple of times earlier with my parents… all I could remember was few view points & boating on the lake. We were excited about getting some time off to enjoy the lovely weather.
Day 1
I slept through the train and bus journey, until we reached the Sterling Resorts. The resort at Kodai was pretty good and in comparison to the Yercaud one, the rooms were awesome. Day 1 was regular affair – we visited Coaker’s Walk, Pine Tree forest, 4 Pillar rock, Guna caves and some shopping spots. None of these were exciting; however, Pine Tree forest is a good place to spend time walking & talking… too bad our guide dint allow us more than 20 mins here. Also, we walked all the way from 4 Pillar rock to Guna caves in a rocky terrain which made for a good trek. By the time we got back for lunch, it was about 4 pm. Evening was pleasant with some music & dance for company.
Day 2
An early morning walk at hill-stations is a must-do and we thoroughly enjoyed walking through random streets with a cup of chai!
We learnt that, on the previous day 2-3 people stayed away from the larger group and opted for a trek up a hill instead. The guide had chalked out visit to the lake & shopping for the day which totally dint excite us. So we dropped off from the larger group and preferred joining the trekkers instead. With loads of energy and a bottle of water, the 4 of us started out on Saturday morning. Our target was the hill we could see behind our resort. With the help of few locals we found the way and started the uphill journey. The climb up took about 2.5 hours with 60% journey on defined paths and the remaining on self-discovered routes. One of us was a seasoned trekker and he helped out in choosing the best possible route while we were at crossroads. On our way, we relished on fresh plums straight from the orchids around and also managed to fill our pockets without being caught. We also came across a hut where eucalyptus oil was being extracted – the hut was steaming hot and the strong aroma filled all our senses. I was also stumped by few beautiful houses and guest houses on our way – the stone like walls and the tiled roofs were a pretty sight. After conquering the peak (!!!), we rested relishing the scenery around and feasting on our plums resource.
With the help of a local shepherd, we figured an easier path downhill. This journey was much more scenic & relaxed – we crossed a water-less valley, pine forests, a small stream and some locals on our way. As we reached the resort, immense satisfaction, hunger & sleep were all that was left. Me & Karthik also caught up on some good movies on TV as we relaxed that evening.
Day 3
It was pack up day and post our morning walk, we just lazed around. A pack of cards and enthused players kept us until the buses towed us away. We also visited the Madurai Meenakshi temple before calling it a day!
Happy to have explored a different dimension of Kodai this time – also gave us ideas for our next trip! Yaayy – am going to Ooty in March!!
Our rating:
Priya’s rating: 7/10
Karthik’s rating: 7/10
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Christmas @ Pondicherry!!
24-26 Dec
This is probably the longest I ve stayed away from this page since I started blogging – too bad that I don’t update it often enough. Trying to get this page up-to-date but my memory seems to be failing me. Lemme test my memory and give my best attempt at re-production!!
Did a half a day Pichavaram trip once again mid Dec – this time with parents & hubby dear. But this post is dedicated to the French colony - Pondicherry...
Christmas beckoned tourists all over and so few of my friends from Hyderabad came over along with their friends to Pondicherry! I never understood the hype around this place – my aunt used to live at Pondicherry and I used to frequent as a kid for shopping & time-pass. Never really explored the French settlement areas n heard rave reviews from few friends earlier. Due to last minute confirmations couldn’t find a good place to stay and had to settle for a hotel that was just enough for sleeping over.
So finally took off from work early - Karthik, Shiv, Seetha, Navya & I drove down to join the rest of the gang on 24th evening. We dined at Rendevous which sounded like a French restaurant but had better Indian food than continental. Our best moments were spent chilling out on the beach post dinner. Pondy doesn’t really have a beach but has lots of rocks to sit over and enjoy the sight / sound of the ruffian sea waves. The lovely breeze and the buzzing place was heavenly post sunset. We would hang out on the beach until the cops would drive us away at midnight. I dozed off – but a bunch of guys revisited the cops-free beach at 3 am and vouched that it was even better!
25th Dec
The gang was 24 member strong and one can imagine the efforts that would go into getting all of them up & ready for any outing. So it wasn’t surprising that by the time we shook off our beauty sleep, got ready and left for breakfast it was 11.30 am. We finally settled for lunch at a café and set out to Chunnabar beach which was about 7 kms from Pondicherry. Chunnabar was a popular boating spot and was flooded with people on 25th! When we had to choose between waiting for 2 hours to ride on the boat and ditching the place, we chose the latter.
I never knew Pondicherry actually had beaches. Thanks to someone who had visited earlier, we headed to the beach on ECR near Auroville. Apparently the Auroville beach is much better but since it’s a private beach, only guests of Auroville guest house could enjoy the beauty J The beach on ECR behind Surya Resorts was not bad at all – decent crowd, good weather & enthusiastic company had us dancing to the tunes of the ocean. For the night, we headed to Asian House to party & dine. The men were very excited knowing that there was a female DJ from Netherlands playing that night. The DJ + songs were quite a let down but it was good to shake some legs and catch up with friends. We repeated the post-dinner beach walk ritual and it was splendid again.
26th Dec
We left Pondicherry early in the afternoon after a good south Indian breakfast at Hotel Surguru. Yet to explore Auroville – Matri Mandir – good French restaurants/places – shopping at Pondicherry.. need to wait for the next time! Though not crazy about Pondicherry yet, overjoyed to have seen a new face of the place and looking forward to more trips.
I am skipping the rating part since it was too short a trip to comment on. Overall, it’s a good weekend getaway for visitors from Chennai / Bangalore.
This is probably the longest I ve stayed away from this page since I started blogging – too bad that I don’t update it often enough. Trying to get this page up-to-date but my memory seems to be failing me. Lemme test my memory and give my best attempt at re-production!!
Did a half a day Pichavaram trip once again mid Dec – this time with parents & hubby dear. But this post is dedicated to the French colony - Pondicherry...
Christmas beckoned tourists all over and so few of my friends from Hyderabad came over along with their friends to Pondicherry! I never understood the hype around this place – my aunt used to live at Pondicherry and I used to frequent as a kid for shopping & time-pass. Never really explored the French settlement areas n heard rave reviews from few friends earlier. Due to last minute confirmations couldn’t find a good place to stay and had to settle for a hotel that was just enough for sleeping over.
So finally took off from work early - Karthik, Shiv, Seetha, Navya & I drove down to join the rest of the gang on 24th evening. We dined at Rendevous which sounded like a French restaurant but had better Indian food than continental. Our best moments were spent chilling out on the beach post dinner. Pondy doesn’t really have a beach but has lots of rocks to sit over and enjoy the sight / sound of the ruffian sea waves. The lovely breeze and the buzzing place was heavenly post sunset. We would hang out on the beach until the cops would drive us away at midnight. I dozed off – but a bunch of guys revisited the cops-free beach at 3 am and vouched that it was even better!
25th Dec
The gang was 24 member strong and one can imagine the efforts that would go into getting all of them up & ready for any outing. So it wasn’t surprising that by the time we shook off our beauty sleep, got ready and left for breakfast it was 11.30 am. We finally settled for lunch at a café and set out to Chunnabar beach which was about 7 kms from Pondicherry. Chunnabar was a popular boating spot and was flooded with people on 25th! When we had to choose between waiting for 2 hours to ride on the boat and ditching the place, we chose the latter.
I never knew Pondicherry actually had beaches. Thanks to someone who had visited earlier, we headed to the beach on ECR near Auroville. Apparently the Auroville beach is much better but since it’s a private beach, only guests of Auroville guest house could enjoy the beauty J The beach on ECR behind Surya Resorts was not bad at all – decent crowd, good weather & enthusiastic company had us dancing to the tunes of the ocean. For the night, we headed to Asian House to party & dine. The men were very excited knowing that there was a female DJ from Netherlands playing that night. The DJ + songs were quite a let down but it was good to shake some legs and catch up with friends. We repeated the post-dinner beach walk ritual and it was splendid again.
26th Dec
We left Pondicherry early in the afternoon after a good south Indian breakfast at Hotel Surguru. Yet to explore Auroville – Matri Mandir – good French restaurants/places – shopping at Pondicherry.. need to wait for the next time! Though not crazy about Pondicherry yet, overjoyed to have seen a new face of the place and looking forward to more trips.
I am skipping the rating part since it was too short a trip to comment on. Overall, it’s a good weekend getaway for visitors from Chennai / Bangalore.
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