Travelogue : My trip to Poor Man's Ooty(Yercaud)

[rjstyles69]

Hello folks

Well was jobless last weekend and thought I did do a trip.
Trip !! what destination was on my mind?

Hadnt decided on a destination till friday night and then I read Abhi's(akroy) travelogue about his trip to Yercaud. Thought let me give it a try.

Has been ages since I visited Yercaud and the last time I visited this place was during my college days. Froze on Yercaud and started to pack. Lady was all excited since she has never been there and as usual the mundane thoughts of oversleeping blah blah kept me awake for the night.

I had 3 days on hand and was a little skeptical about visiting this place since it was just about 240 kms from bangy and there was nothing much to do here, convinced myself to do the drive.

Day 1: Saturday

Woke up 6am and finished up with our regular mundane chores and headed to Shell to tank up.

The day started off with a bang. I lost my cool @ shell gave the dingo's there a mouthful of crap .

Problem was simple, no-one turned up to fuel my car even after 15 mins.

Had breakfast at Koramangala and headed straight to Hosur Road.
Highway to hell was as usual packed with nitwits and retards, trying to figure out which part of the road shall I drive today in what direction .

Managed to squeeze thru traffic and by 8am I crossed e-city phase 2.

Once on the GQ , the drive was bliss. Soon I was doing speeds of about 140kmph.Very few instances where I dropped to 100 or less. The mild drizzle had discouraged bikers on the GQ and hence driving was a real pleasure.

Pretty un-eventful journey all through and was monotonous.

Once we finished the GQ and headed to Kaveripattanam , the roads were nothing short of the surface of the moon. Craters everywhere and was a real bumpy drive.



The drive is ok types and had to always keep a steady distance from vehicles in the front. I dint want a broken windshield.

The baleno took the pin curves like breeze and I could easily do the climb in 3rd and 4th gear.



This is nothing compared to the Wayanad ghats and a lot of aggressive monkeys. So watch out if you stop by.






You can find a zillion such streams all along the ghat section.

Covered a distance of 240kms in about 4 hrs time with 2 stops.

Checked into Hotel Grand Palace and had a heavy lunch. Was a little tired since I was stuck at office the previous night.

Slept and got up by 4pm.

Had a bath and headed for a drive downtown.Nothing caught my eye in the town so decided that we head back to the hotel and spend time in the balcony of the hotel.



The hotel has a balcony built from where one can have a view of the valley.


Day 2 : Sunday

Had breakfast at the hotel and left the place by about 10 am to check out places in Yercaud.
1st place on the list was " Shevaroys Temple". The peak of the mountain was a place to be visited.
In no time we were engulfed in a cloud and yeah at that height it made me run for my jacket. In the melee I forgot to even click pics of the temple .








Next stop was lady's seat. I dunno why its called so.

Headed straight too to Killiyur falls. Once again my spirits were dampened by the awful view and the thing they call a waterfall .





I decided to headback to the hotel and do a trek at the valley behind the hotel.Finish lunch and then the rain Gods decide to play spoilsport.

Aarrgghhh !! there goes my plans. Stood in the balcony of the hotel, got some hot tea and enjoyed the view.

Day 3 : Monday

Packed and left to bangalore. I enjoyed my drive back to bangalore the most. Had a scorpio for company and the whole of the GQ drive was fun.

Spotted a x-bhp'ian



My take on Yercaud

The place is worth visiting for a day. There is nothing much to do, no place to shop and no form of entertainment as such.

If I had to compare this place with Pondy or Ooty , I would only give a rating of 5/10 .

So next time someone wants to drive to this place, make sure its only a weekend drive.







Hotel Grand Palace

Claims to be a 3-star hotel but far from sucha thing. The employees find it difficult to even smile at customers.

Chicken biriyani,mutton biriyani, egg biriyani etc all look and taste the same. Except for the names, honestly I couldnt spot a difference in the ingredients/spices used.

The tariff is about 1800/- bucks a night with taxes and a lot needs to be improved.



The view from my room




Route taken :
Bangalore--Hosur--Krishnagiri--Kaveripattanam--Salem--Yercaud.

Thanks for your time reading my banter people.
I don't think I will ever do Yercaud again, don't bother its just me. Peace.

[Hellcat]

Good pictures and write-up buddy.

Hellcat

[speedzak]

Nice pictures and beautifully written. You're creating wonders with your camera. I'm jealous.

Keep it up!

[-GT-]

Nice pics there & good write-up too. The Hotel looks new and nice from the pic you have. (& I guess that is where it stops)

[Surprise]

From the first photo, i thought u switched over from baleno to Skodo

Simple and elegant travelogue

[rjstyles69]

Thanks Sanjay and Zakko.

GT 101% true. It only looks nice from outside and I lost my cool when I found cockroaches in the room.

LOL Surprise , I dont have that kinda money man .

Sorry about the pic sizing, I dint want it to be too large and resized images.

[greatDrive]

Riju,

Went thru your post, Looks like you were fine spending the weekend out of bangalore but overall experience was not that great.
Did you go all Alone?
Anyways keep traveling.

Off topic:Your boom box have started working in my car now. got it fitted last week with Sony 554Zr. There is still a lot of space after that Cylinder size Sub.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Hadnt decided on a destination till friday night and then I read Abhi's(akroy) travelogue about his trip to Yercaud.

Thanks Riju !! Nice to see that the travelogue(s) are helpful !!

Also, I got a first hand review of the Hotel Grand Palace from you!! Although it looked quite grand but not really, in that case Sterling Resorts is much ahead of it in terms of hospitality...

Well, in that case, I can say that our Silver Holiday Resort was much better and it served some amazing homely made food and rooms were really clean...

Last time when I viewed the Valley from Grand Palace, there was just a small track in the next hill, now it looks that there are more road construction happening...

Nice pics as well, Why didnt you try some oils / perfumes from Bhavani Singh's factory...

Abhi

[rjstyles69]

Went thru your post, Looks like you were fine spending the weekend out of bangalore

Bhishma I wanted to do the Karnataka coast initially, but dint work out since the roads are awfully bad. So had to get outta town and the only place I could think of was Yercaud.

but overall experience was not that great.

You said it.

There is still a lot of space after that Cylinder size Sub.

Get another one .Honestly I was impressed with the boot space.

Also, I got a first hand review of the Hotel Grand Palace from you!! Although it looked quite grand but not really, in that case Sterling Resorts is much ahead of it in terms of hospitality...

I stayed in Sterling ages back and would say in terms of service and quality they indeed are the best.Over time am sure it has improved even more.

Why didnt you try some oils / perfumes from Bhavani Singh's factory...

We went there Abhi and nothing really impressed my senses.

The only advantage I see about this place is that, it isn't commercialized much. Hope it stays so and that I change my mind to travel again.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

We went there Abhi and nothing really impressed my senses.
The only advantage I see about this place is that, it isn't commercialized much. Hope it stays so and that I change my mind to travel again.

Riju, Looks like you are really off with the hospitality and food at that high price which you didnot expect...
I can understand that at the same time i can say it is not a bad place either to go alone or in a group, have some drinks, nice chit-chat and come back, and you are right, you stayed a day more, it is absolute ideal weekend getaway from bangalore...

Abhi

[magiceye]

rjstyles... the pictures are lovely but you sound bored!

[rjstyles69]

hehehe.. Yeah magiceye , was really taken aback by the hotel and the place. Probably was my mistake that I expected much out of the place.

[theMAG]

Rijuve,

Thats one heck of eye candy - as always. That Baleno's looking more smashing everytime I see her.

You lead a great life, my friend.

[kpzen]

Riju.
Nice write up and fantastic pics as usual.
Your Baleno pics simply makes me jealous.

[rjstyles69]

Mahesh I think your insatiable thirst to drive her has been quenched, when we met last .

Prajesh thanks dude.