29th September 2009, 11:38
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| BHPian  | Thenmala Location: around 75 kms from Trivandrum Route: Vellayambalam - Peroorkada - Nedumangadu - Aanadu - Chullimanoor - Palode - Madathara - Kulathupuzha - Thenmala Coming from Trivandrum, when you reach Nedumangadu, there is no need to get into Nedumangadu town. Just continue straight along the road to Aanadu. At Chullimanoor, the road forks into two, take the left to go to Thenmala. The road to the right takes you to Ponmudi, Bonacord, etc. After Chullimanoor it is a straight road to Kulathupuzha & Thenmala. Thenmala has been my favourite destination from Trivandrum for some years now. Many times in the past when I was down & out, I would invariably point my bike to this route. Till date, a ride in this route has always lifted my spirits. I feel this is one of those places where the route is more charming than the destination itself. Now for some photos of the place. Thenmala Dam Catchment Area.  During rainy season, the water comes upto this level.           The ride & the road  Thenmala Dam         |
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29th September 2009, 19:24
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| BHPian | Thenmala Pics contd.. Thenmala Ecotourism Leisure Zone    Nongu       Way to catchment area    Jai Hanuman!                  In Thenmala, one can go for boating, rapelling, walking through elevated walkway, mountain biking, river crossing, etc. I have listed some of the activities only here. |
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6th October 2009, 11:42
| #18 |
| BHPian | One day trip to Kalikesam & Muttom Beach Kalikesam Two weeks before Navarathri, one of my friends called me and asked me to plan a trip on 27th Sep (Sunday). He was interested in going to Achankovil in Kollam but I was not so keen on the place as it was the same route as Thenmala and we had done the route umpteen number of times. I had heard about Kalikesam long time back but was not able to go to the place till date. So I suggested the place to Bijoy. He was a bit hesitant at first, especialy as I said to him that I have no idea of how the place will be, but I promised to look up the place in the net. Google search yielded a good many results & the place looked promising in the photos. So I took note of the route and called Bijoy with the details. After hearing the details, he agreed to the place & so we fixed our destination as Kalikesam. We decided to go in the new Xylo purchased by him recently. The Place: Kalikesam in Kanyakumari district. Following is the description of the place from Wikipedia. Kalikesam, is a scenic spot in the Kanyakumari district in Tamilnadu, India which is famous for its thick forest and rubber plantations. The Kali temple situated here attracts many pilgrims. There is a rocky river with crystal clear water. It is a nice place for people who love peace and nature. For more reading, go to Kalikesam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The ride: Xylo E8 The Route: Trivandrum - Balaramapuram - Neyyattinkara - Kaiyikkavila - Thuckalay - Vadassery - Azhagiyapandiyapuram - Thadikarankonam - Keeripaarai - Kalikesam. After reaching Keeripaarai there is a small bridge. The road forks onto two here - the left after the bridge goes to Kalikesam and the right after the bridge goes to Vattapaarai fals and Balamore Estate. Total distance from Trivandrum: around 85 kms. Facilities: It is better if you have your own vehicle. Otherwise you will have to rely on erratic State Govt. bus services from Nagercoil. Take food along with you if you want to spend some time here as there are no hotels nearby. We had decided to start at 6 AM, but some unexpected delays saw us start only at 7 AM. If you are starting from Trivandrum to Kalikesam or any other place in this route, make sure that you start early in the morning befor the rush starts. This route has heavy traffic with bottle necks in between, especially in Balaramapuram. Luckily for us, the traffic was sparse as it was a holiday. We made good time and stopped for breakfast some 6 kms from Nagercoil. The hotel, Gowrisankara was a vegetarian hotel with good food and neat wash rooms. After finishing breakfast, we proceeded to Vadassery from where we turned left towards Kalikesam. This route is pretty scenic with thick vegetation and rubber plantations along the way. Some photos along the way. Inside the Xylo  Scenery enroute to Kalikesam     Railway crossing    On the way we saw a clearing with a Banyan tree with lots of small cradles tied to the branches and a small idol beneath it. Stopped there and took some pictures of the place and ourselves.     My Partners in Crime (L-R) Bijoy, Narayan, Pradeep, Ashok, my BIL Dilesh  Our ride, Xylo      After the photo session we resumed our journey and reached Kalikesam around 10.30 AM. We thought we would be the only ones around as this is a slightly off - beat destination, but to our surprise there were already some people and more people were coming to the temple. Preparations were going on for the puja in the temple. The temple itself is a small one, but the scenery and the river flowing in front of the temple adds to the charm of the place.     We started looking for a place where we could relax in the water. After walking some distance along the river side we found a good place and all of us except Pradeep took to the water. The river side and the river is full of rocks, so please be careful especially while crossing the river as it is easy to loose footing. The water was very cold and clear. But as it had rained the previous days, the locals had cautioned us to be careful while bathing in the river. Also the current was pretty strong in places, so we restrained ourselves and kept close to the banks. Still a rocking time was had by all.        Reached the limit for the pictures. Will continue in the next post. |
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26th October 2009, 15:19
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1st November 2009, 13:01
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| BHPian | Quote:
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17th November 2009, 23:47
| #21 |
| BHPian | Kalikesam photos contd.. Sorry for the delay in posting the resting of the photos guys. I hope you will excuse me. Now without any further delay the rest of the photos.          Narrow trail    There is a trail through there!    Crystal clear water. Very very cold also.       Our Xylo in the "parking lot"   Shot on the way from Kalikesam      Hope you liked the photos. Your comments are eagerly awaited. Next is Muttom Beach. |
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18th November 2009, 16:10
| #22 |
| BHPian | Muttom Beach Muttom Beach Muttom Beach is located around 16 kms from Nagercoil. Coming from Trivandrum, after Thuckalay you have to take the Kolachal road to go to Muttom Beach. The Tamilnadu Govt. has tried some landscaping here & you can find some small hut like structures from where you can view the sea. A word of caution - the sea is rough here & the rocks are very slippery, so please be very careful. Also there are thorny bushes on the way to the view point & the beach. There is also a light house near the beach. Now for some pictures from Muttom beach. The light house at Muttom Beach   Xylo at Muttom Beach  Way to View Point. Note the thorny bushes by the side.       Cotton Clouds. You can also see the structures built by the Tamilnadu Govt. for tourists.  Way to View Point   Shots from View Point         Path to the beach  Some beach shots       Railings have been erected along the rocks for safety. It would be prudent not to venture beyond this point.    Rest of the photos in the next post. |
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18th November 2009, 16:16
| #23 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
BTW, The third picture of you in this particular post (Poovar) seems to be the same location which I clicked. Here's the link to the picture in my flickr account. Isola Di Cocco on Flickr - Photo Sharing! Last edited by clevermax : 18th November 2009 at 16:18. | |
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18th November 2009, 16:56
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18th November 2009, 19:55
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19th November 2009, 08:49
| #26 |
| BHPian | Some more photos of Kalikesam & Muttom Beach from my friends' cameras.             |
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19th November 2009, 09:10
| #27 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Bangalore / Toronto, Canada
Posts: 155
Thanked: 9 Times
| Nutty, fantastic post! What a quality pictures you've shot! Great.  Did you miss Padmanabhapuram palace enroute to Kumarakovil from Thiruvananthapuram? It's about 2 kms from Thuckalay town - worth a visit and then a few more! |
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19th November 2009, 09:32
| #28 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 7,369
Thanked: 3,463 Times
| Lovely thread this one is becoming - looks like TVM will win hands down for <50 km getaways! The Aazhimala Temple & Adimalathura Beach - where exactly do you turn off the road after Poovar? Let me add some recommendations: Kappil - the Paravur backwaters, 8 kms beyond Varkala, 5 kms before Paravur:  I will also add Kolachel Beach in TN, which you can access from either NH47 (Thuckalay. I think), or come via Poovar. Sorry, no pictures. Maybe I am jumping the gun, but Nutty, what about Neyyar Dam and Peppara Dam area - I am told that the region beyond teems with elephants and bison, provided you get permission from the Forest Dept to trek inside the deep jungles - anyone done that? |
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19th November 2009, 11:47
| #29 |
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19th November 2009, 16:06
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