Trip to Kodaikanal-Part XI

Hai

The next day we said bye-bye to Kodaikanal and rode down the mountain to the hot plains of Tamilnadu. The air was very dry and even the A/C of the car was finding it difficult to cool it.

We took a different route while returning as we were going to visit Tarakka’s grandmother, uncle and aunt at Dindigal. They were very happy to see all of us and aunt had prepared a very tasty breakfast for us. we really enjoyed it. After a brief visit of about 1 1/2 hours we continued on our return journey passing the windmill farm, sugarcane fields, corn fields. sunflowers turned towards the sun, the cotton mills, the paper pulp mills etc.

We all were really tired and just wanted to reach home fast. My father drove the car as fast as possible in the heavy traffic and the heavy rain that poured cats and dogs about 1 1/2 hours from home. The thunder boomed and the lightning streaked across the sky. The car still sped along and we reached home at about 6.30 in the evening.What a relief it was to reach Home Sweet Home!

So, that is the end of this travelogue. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Please kindly send your comments.

Bye for now. I will keep on posting.

Rupashri

Trip to Kodaikanal-Part X

 

Dear readers

After lunch we started to the Chettiars Park. It is on the way to the Kurinji temple and is a very beautiful park. As it is not near the center of Kodai city there were not many tourists about. There were many many beautiful flowers and also bushes that had been cut and shaped like different animals. We walked in this park for sometime and then lay on the sloping lawn looking up at the clear sky. The air was full of eucalyptus smell and we could hear just the sound of birds. It was very beautiful and peaceful. We enjoyed the coolness and the freshness of the air and then returned to the heart of the Kodai city. As we had the whole evening to spare and no new spot to visit, we all decided to go to the lake again.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part IX

Hai

I am back

The next day after a hot bath (or cold as some of us did not get hot water that day) we ordered our breakfast. As that day had been declared as a day of strike in Tamilnadu for some reason or other we did not go out until twelve noon. The strikers might start hurling stones at the traffic. So we lazed about for a long time. At twelve, we started on a hired Sumo to visit a few waterfalls and view points.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part VIII

Hello Readers

Here is the continuation-

From the Coakers walk we went to the Kurinji Andavar temple, situated 3kms from the lake. This temple is the home of Lord Muruga, riding on a peacock. The shrine was built in 1936, by an European lady, who had adopted Hinduism and renamed herself as Lilavati Ramanathan.

In the temple compound, we saw a Kurinji plant, which was all dried up. There was a board nearby, on which it was announced that the flower had last bloomed in 2006 and the next blooming will be in year 2018, after 12 years. I wondered whether the dried up plant will really bloom again. There were not many tourists at this temple but much more shopkeepers around. The temple affords a fine view of Palani, the famous pilgrim center and Vaigai Dam.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part VII

Hi everybody,

Here’s all about Coaker’s Walk.We found out that the Coaker’s Walk was next to the lake, and so we decided to go there after we had our lunch. Later, after a rest, we went to the lake and climbed a steep road, leading to the Coaker’s Walk. This is a tiled path along the steep slope of a mountain giving one a magnificent view of the mountains, valleys and Kodai. It is named after Lt. Coaker, an engineer, who prepared the map of Kodai and is said to have identified this pathway in 1872.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part VI

Hello once again readers

From the Kodai lake, we went to the park just next to it called Bryant Park. It was built by a British man named Bryant, and is actually a small botanical park. t was beautiful with lots and lots of fascinating flowers. There were roses, Dahlias, Tulips and many many more varieties. The Bryant park looked breathtaking with many types of tall and grand trees like the eucalyptus and pine. There were many old trees like the Indian Oak and we lay down in the shade of it. There were name boards on all of the trees. It was very cool in the brilliant shade, and we rolled about on the lawn underneath.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part V

Hi,

The next day, 30th March, early in the morning, we went to the Kodai lake. The lake is star shaped, and has deep blueish-green water. It was created in 1863 by Sir Vere Henry Levinge, collector of Madurai district, who settled in Kodai after his retirement.

The area of the lake is  24 hectres and its is rimmed by a 5 km long road. Tourists can enjoy boating in the lake. I was very much looking forward to go to the Kodai lake because, I read on the guide book that we could ride a cycle or a horse around the lake. I was a beginner at cycling and wanted to cycle on a road.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part IV

Hello readers,

After watching the mischievous customers, off we went towards the city. We could feel the coolness in the air. There were only a few hours left for bed time and so we decided to take the day off. Oh! It was tough to find the place we were to stay at. We were going up and down on the roads, when suddenly my brother spotted the lodge. The ground floor of the lodge was “underground”. And our rooms were on the 2nd floor.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part III

Dear readers,

Here is the continuation from Part II.

We had travelled for about 10 minutes from Palani before dad realized that he had forgotten to fill the petrol tank. So we turned and went back to a Reliance petrol pump in Palani which we had noticed earlier. On the way, we saw a caution board on which was written “Be careful, ELEPHANT Crossing”!!! Ha ha ha… It was a silly board, coz on both sides, there were splendid mango and coconut orchards and a few settlements. The orchards had a barbeded wire fence and along with it, there was an electrified fence for double protection. Then how can the elephants come and cross the road like chickens do? We also saw huge termite hills which were worshipped by the superstitious people of the villages.

Trip to Kodaikanal – Part II

Hello! Here is Part II from my trip to Kodaikanal.

We sat enjoying the greenery of Kerala, and the road was a very smooth four laned one. On the way, we could see may types of trees and houses on both sides of the road. After about 2 hours we crossed a check post and oh! the advertisements on the road suddenly changed from malayalam to tamil. We had entered Tamil Nadu. Now there were very less number of houses and only in settlements here and there. We could also see cool and shady trees like tamarind, cherry, neem etc on both sides of the road.