We Travel World

To be frank, we did not catch that fish
-Its been a year and half, since we (my school time friends) been to ooty.
Life changed much since then. I came to Chennai on transfer from Bangalore..
Routine mechanical life.. No PREMANENT girl friend yet ……. Things started looking dull.. until our trip organiser (so called ) made a conference call.

It was about 9.30 in night, when I was still banging my head on PC in office, wondering “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY CODE @$%#%#@#@”. I desperately needed a break and it was so nice to have a chat with my good old friends that time. People from Bangalore also joined the call as we planned for a weekend outing.

Ooty.. hmm already seen it.. Munnar.. hmm we need atleast 3 days.. but we had only 2 days to plan for… Tirutani.. u kidding ^$^%@#$ …… suddenly a THIN fellow with THICK moustache (stopped his laughter, which is the only thing he was doing from the time the call started) said VALPARAI.. Great idea buddy said a TALL structure from other end of the phone. We were joined by a small SCIENTIST there and then in the call. Suddenly he would run away
Anybodies dream house
-and some1 had to find and bring him to the call.
So, we are totally 5 and one of my office friends GOW set to go for the trip:
1.Myself 2.trip organiser 3.TALL structure 4. SCIENTIST
5.THIN fellow with THICK moustache 6.GOW

After a small research, we decided to cover 2 places: Valparai and Topslip.
They are located in the Annamalai mountain range.
We choose to go via :

Chennai – Coimbatore – Ukkadam – Pollachi.

We booked a Jeep (advisable, as some places are rough terrain) in Sethumadai (45 min by bus from Pollachi). It is better to book Jeep from Pollachi itself.. as it saves time..

The most expected Friday evening arrived, and I convinced my BOSS for a 2 days OFF from office.. (never mind.. it is Saturday and Sunday only.. still I have to take “OFF” ).
By next morning, guys from Bangalore joined us at Coimbatore Junction. By 7 AM, we started our couple of hour bus journey from railway station. Ukkadam was just 5 min by bus. But, Pollachi and Sethumadai took 1 hour each.

As arranged, Jeep driver was waiting at Sethumadai, and we wanted him to
I lost a needle somewhere down there, can some1 find it
take us to a river for our morning refreshment. After a hour halt at a nearby river, we went on to our much awaited destiny.

Topslip has a Wildlife sanctuary maintained by Tamil Nadu forest dept.. Our jeep driver took us past Topslip to Parambikulam.. which is another Wildlife sanctuary under Kerala limits. It treasures some of the most stunning scenic beauty. Private vehicles can go only to a km or so after the check post. Unless booked in advance, people will be pooled in 13 and will be sent in a maxi cab maintained by the forest dept.. Rs 150/head is charged.

The sanctuary is one of the most protected and naturally well maintained ecological reserve. It houses the most varieties of flora and fauna. Apart from typical wildlife like tigers, wild bison, varieties of deer family, it has 2 dams built between the mountains. Really really awesome place.. We felt we had just seen the real heaven on earth. After all, it is worth to travel 1 night by train and 2 hour by bus and another 1 hour by Jeep, to enjoy the virgin natural ecological reserve.

They have so many packages to choose
Oldest, yet majestic teak wood
from.. for more info visit:
http://parambikulam.org/

Yes, Parambikulam trip was over. And we started another 40 Km ride, within which 40 hair pin bends churned all our tummies. We reached Valparai. Little we knew what awaits for us the next day.

It was July end, and the climate was not too cold here. Lucky for us, that we decided to take a guide with us in the jeep. Solaman (9486037682), native of valparai, showed us what Valparai is.

Would anyone believe if I say that we saw 11 waterfalls and a dam standing in one view point. But, you have to.. otherwise go to this place and you still wont believe your own eyes. The place is called Number Paarai (rock). One can find themselves the pleasure of being in the Lap of mother nature. It was not promoted as a tourist spot at all, as tourism would tamper wildlife. On the way to such a scenic beauty, we travelled between ever green Tea plantations and Orange trees. Feel lucky if you can prick your own oranges, and in that case we are lucky

Back in the jeep, we were talking excitedly
Those scar marks over mountain are called roads
about the jaw dipping beauty we just saw, only to find that we reached the next mindblowing location. The place is called Gajamudi. This time it is a man made genius. A tunnel more than 10 feet in width and twice of the width in height, and 8 km in length, tears across the mountains. The tunnel served as a channel to transport water from one end of the mountain to another. To server its purpose, it was dug dead straight. Lucky enough for us, the tunnel was not serving water that day. We could walk and go inside the tunnel for the first 100 meters only as it was pitch dark inside and believed to house bats.

If you happen to go into the tunnel, remember to check your foot and feel lucky if you dont find any leech

We managed to cover 2 more awesome locations on the same day – Nallamudi Poonjoolai and Solaiaaru dam.

By then, it was time for us to say bye to the divine land and track back through 40 hair pin bends to Pollachi.

Probable expence per person for 2 days, including travel : Rs 2000/- max.
My team
(from left) me,gow,tall structure,thin guy with thick moustache,trip organiser,scientist,guide

Now, its time… have to break my head with my system…. work calls.. see u in next blog.

No, we are not playing tennis, they are fresh oranges

Does any1 know swimming, water may come anytime

Take care all, bye for now