On Friday morning we started at about 4:30 in the morning hoping to reach Kodaikanal at around 1:00 PM. With the road full of traffic each toll took about 5 minutes to cross delaying our progress all the way. The fuel & food break at A2B Ulundurpet took us almost 50 minutes. This meant we reached Trichy only at around 10:00 AM. Thanks to the peak hour traffic crossing the town was slow and tiresome.
When we crossed Dindigul it was about 11:45 AM, we were late by about 45 minutes from my original plan.
The constant diversions on the Dindigul - Theni road added more delay to our already delayed schedule. When I reached Perumal Malai I called Navin who gave me directions to his Brooklyn Bungalow on Convent Road.
At around 2:30 PM we reached Brooklyn Bungalow. They offer one cottage in Brooklyn as well.
Fairway Inn - Home. The cottage looked fabulous with an old world feel to it. May be for my next trip to Kodai I will use this place. The best thing about this place is even though it is less than a km away from the lake, the place is quite and peaceful. It would be apt for those who prefer to spend time sitting on the lawn reading a book or may be just spend time with oneself in peace.
After a long journey from Chennai, the kids found the nice garden a great place to unwind, they went around checking out all the flowers while Navin and myself were discussing about how to go about to Kilavarai.
All of the below pics were taken by my kids.
After having lunch at a nearby restaurant we left for Kilavarai at about 4 in the evening. I was not sure if we would be able to reach the place before darkness falls.
You would have to pass through Poomparai, Mannavanur, Kavunji, Poondi & Nattampatti villages before reaching Kilavarai. The roads were decent all the way except for a few patches.
As we made our way through the road went on and on, after almost an hour we reached Poomparai, by this time my wife started complaining about how far the place is away from the town. As we went up and down the hills, crossing over one mountain after another, each time a valley appeared the views were spell bounding as terraced farms were visible everywhere with houses here and there.
There were no high rises to block your views, you could see the valleys as far as your eye sight could take you.
After almost two hours we reached Kilavarai to find the road ending amidst a couple of shops.
Time for us to call our caretaker, I pick up the phone only to find Airtel not working, fortunately my BSNL 3G datacard SIM came handy to call Durai, who was to be our Man Friday for the next couple of days. He guided us to the property.
So a good 14 hours after we left Chennai we reached "Eco Escape". It was just about getting dark when we reached there, giving us no time to check out what the place was all about.
The first statement the kids made was "Appa No TV?". First time I thought it would be difficult to spend two days in a place without TV for the kids, now that we have come here there is no other go, lets hope the kids are not at their worst over the next two days.
The view as we step out of the cottage.
The cottage looked rustic, but cosy and well laid.
With nothing much to do we had a simple dinner of Veg Pulav and subji and retired for the day with the plan to wake up early in the morning to explore the place. The night was cold but all of us had long snuggled under the blankets and we were sound asleep quickly.