Chennai - Theni - Munnar - Dharmapuri - Chennai Round Trip

[Marlon]

Friends,

Last week my friends & I did a Round Trip from Chennai - Theni - Munnar- Dharmapuri - Chennai. We had couple of marriages to attend, One at Theni & another at Dharmapuri & in between we had couple of days. So we decided to add Munnar to our Itenary & enjoy a break from hectic office schedule.

This is my First travellogue & am not so keen on writing Essays( Even in College) so jotting the Travel in Bullets. Please advice for further refinement & any queries will be answered. Pics will be uploaded Soon

Day 1 (10/09/08)

• Started from Velachery, Chennai – 0 KM – 12.15 PM
• Urapakkam, Chennai (Near Vandalur) -46KM – 1.15 PM ( Delay due to Pick Up a Friend from OMR)
• Tindivanam – 138 KM - 2.45 PM
• Villupuram – 177KM – 3.30 PM ( Stop for Lunch)
• Start from Villupuram – 4.30PM
• Ulundurpet – 241KM – 5.10 PM
• Perambalur – 283KM - 6.15 PM
• Trichy – 332KM – 7.20 PM
• Dindigul – 440KM – 9.30 PM ( Stop for Cocktail Dinner)
• Start from Dindigul – 11.45 PM
• Reach Theni – 523KM- 1.15AM

Day2 (11/09/08)

• Attend Wedding
• Start from Theni – 540KM – 12.30 PM
• Reach Munnar – 627KM – 3.30 PM
• Relax in Hotel with Scotch (Thanks to contacts in Chennai)

Day3 (12/09/08)

• Full Day Sight Seeing in Munnar
  • Mattupety Dam
  • Speed Boating
  • Top Station
  • Shola Forest

Day4 (13/09/08)

• Start from Munnar – 704KM -10.30 AM
• Marrayoor – 745KM – 12.10 PM
• Udumalai – 790KM – 1.20 PM ( Stop for Cocktail Lunch)
• Start from Udumalai – 4.15 PM
• Dharapuram – 832 KM
• Kangeyam – 864KM – 5.30PM
• Perundurai – 899KM – 6.10 PM
• Bhavani- 922KM – 6.45PM
• Mettur – 969KM- 7.50PM
• Mecheri- 984KM – 8.10PM
• Thoppur – 1003KM- 8.25KM
• Reach Dharmapuri – 1028KM- 9.00 PM
• Relax in Hotel with Old Monks ( Thanks to TN TASMAC)

Day 5 (14/09/08)

• Attend Wedding
• Start from Dharmapuri – 1034 KM – 11.15 AM
• Krishnagiri – 1079KM – 12.15PM
• Ambur – 1150KM – 1.10 PM (Stop for Ambur Spl. Briyani)
• Start from Ambur -1.50PM
• Vellore – 1201KM – 2.25PM (Stop for Cocktail Snaks)
• Start from Vellore – 4.15PM
• Sriperembudur – 1302KM – 5.20PM
• Poonamalle – 1322KM – 5.35PM
• Reached Velachery,Chennai – 1342KM – 6.20PM (End of Trip)

Note :

• Total Distance Travelled :1342 KM
• Vehicle : TATA Safari
• Mileage: 11.00 KM with 90% AC
• Drive Time ( Excluding Breaks)
  • Chennai – Theni : 8 Hrs
  • Theni – Munnar : 3 Hours
  • Munnar – Dharmapuri : 7.30 Hrs
  • Dharmapuri – Chennai : 4.45 Hrs

Regards

Marlon

[akroy]

Hah, you drove everyday and drank every night (with different brands every night). Nice drive. Post some pics too.

BTW, What is cocktail snacks, cocktail lunch and cocktail dinner?

Abhi

[mjothi]

I was about to ask the same thing. Hopefully, he was not driving I guess

Nice one and good to see such updates on time & KMs. If you have added the road conditions, would be very handy for others.

Also, kindly put the details of the hotels you stayed.

Ofcourse, waiting for the pictures.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by mjothi

I was about to ask the same thing. Hopefully, he was not driving I guess

If I assume cocktail snacks, lunch includes drinks as well then he was indeed driving after drinks. hope I am wrong.

Infact that was the reason for asking the question to him? I am eager to see his clarification.

Abhi

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by akroy

If I assume cocktail snacks, lunch includes drinks as well then he was indeed driving after drinks. hope I am wrong.

What I meant was, may be they had driver to drive the car and these friends where just having fun

Anyway, I am sure he will respond when he posts pictures.

[Marlon]

To clarify your doubts, We were 4 of us . My friend who owns the Safari drove most part of the trip. We made rule that the person who drives will not have more than 1 Beer, while other 3 drank to our hearts content.

Road Conditions:

• Chennai - Trichy - Overall Very Good Roads except for the Dindivanam - Ulundurpet Strench with lots of Diversion.
• Trichy - Theni - Good Roads but took a hell lot of time to cross over Trichy by Pass due to Very high Traffic
• Theni - Munnar - Ghat Roads Very narrow & quite Risky. At Some Streches, it was a 1 Lane road where the on-coming vehicle had to back off. Surely not advisable for Evening/Night Travel. No Checkpost along the Way.
• Munnar- Udumalaipet- Good & Safe Ghat Roads. 4 Checkpost on the way where baggage checking is done. Tipping(Rs20) is compulsary in TN checkposts
• Udumalaipet - Perundurai - Good Roads with very Less traffic
• Perundurai - Bhavani - Bad Roads with Heavy traffic
• Bhavani - Thoppur - Good Roads. Lot of villages in between & slow moving traffic throughout. Not suitable for Day Driving
• Thoppur- Dharmapuri - Very Good Roads
• Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Above Avergae Roads with traffic.
• Krishnagiri - Chennai - GQ Roads. No problems till Chennai Suburbs.

Hotel Details

• Theni - Western Gatz - Very Good Equal to 3 Star Hotel
• Munnar - Hotel Munnar Inn - Good for family stay but not satisfied with Service. Had to fight for lot of things like restaurant opens at 8 am. So no tea/coffee is served till 8am.No Dinner after 9 PM. Restaurant closed on Onam, etc . Food is Good but rates are comparetively high
• Dharmapuri- DNC Hotel - Very Average.

Regards
Marlon

P.S: Will upload the Pics positively tomorrow.

[mjothi]

Thanks man for the details on road conditions. Munnar Inn seems to be poplar option for guys visiting Munnar. Good.

[snaronikar]

This kinda travelogue I have never seen in t-bhp. Nicely written with bullet points explaning what all you did especially drinks. BTW, did you ever drive the car? From your posts, I feel you were only the co-passenger drinking your heart out.

[Surprise]

Nice crisp report Marlon.

Rightly said, the trichy outer is getting very painful these days with heavy traffic with bad roads


I really like driving between Trichy (outer) and Dinigul section. Empty roads with lot of straight stretchs and interesting turns. Dinigul to Bathalagundu is even more interesting with well laid roads.

Have the road construction (one stretch) before Periyakulam been completed?

[Blue Thunder]

Good crisp travelogue, Marlon : the way you have presented, it packs quite a "punch" even without the pics !

[Marlon]

Best of Munnar Pix:

Pics were shot in Panasonic FZ-18. Pics are compressed due to limitation in file size.

Regards
Marlon

[mjothi]

Nice pics. Would have been still more better if you have captioned or given a line on where it was taken.

What are those while thing in the last pics? Is that cattle?

[sj_koova]

Nice pics Marlon. Bigger size would have given a better feel.

[Marlon]

• The First 3 Pics were taken Enroute Munnar from Theni
• Pic4 - Enroute Top Station from Munnar
• Pic5 - Mattupetty Dam
• Pic6 - Enroute Top Station
• Pic7 - Speed Boating at Mattupetty Lake
• Pic8 - Enroute Top Station
• Pic9 - View from Top Station
• Pic10 - Inside Shola Dense Forest
• Pic11 - Nilgiri Squirrel. Expected to see some Wild animals but we saw only squirrels.
• Pic12 - Road to Kodai - Not Open to Public. May go in few Kms.
• Pic13 - Inside Shola Dense Forest
• Pic14 - Forest Guest House. Not yet opened to public. Govt will decide & open the same to public in 4-6 months time. Accomocation ,food & security cost Rs1500/night. Bisons & other Wild Animals are bound to come near that place.
• Pic15 - View from the Forest Guest House. The little white thing is a pool of water there were no cattles during our visit