[thoma]

Wow, Krishnagiri-Dindigul + Cruze, Kodai + December. Envious, to say the least

Excellent snaps. The cloud shots remind me of my trip to Kodai in 2010 Dec. The cloud was not as thick then and there were a couple of hill tops peeping in between. The below seems like the foam from a Bosch pressure washer while the cloud in your snap resembles the foam from a dedicated snow foam lance, so thick it is.

[jacs]

Cloud shots are marvelous. Kodai looks empty in your pics! ?

Crowd is the only thing I hated in my Kodai trip and I didn't venture out much.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by F150

Fantastic pics of the clouds. Post some more pics of the weapon taken at scenic locations

Have plenty of pictures of the weapon and will post as a tribute to giving us such a fantastic trip. Quite a few pictures yet to be posted so stay glued to the thread.

Originally Posted by F150

I am wondering how long it would take to reach this place from Pune.

Pune-Bangalore ( Fantastic NH4) : 600kms can be done in 8 hours

Bangalore-Kodai (Fantastic NH7) : 500kms can be done in 7 hours

Basically, its almost the same distance as Hyderabad to Kodai which for me door to door was 1065kms and completed in a single shot

Originally Posted by arjithin

Very good pictures . I envy your ride; I had driven the petrol Cruze a lot while I was in US (Very common as the standard rental car), and I love it.Thats a very fast drive. Cruze is capable to do average 110 kmph+, but how safe was that to average such fast speeds in NH7?

Thanks. Agree Cruze is extremely fast and highly capable machine on the highways and NH7 from Hyderabad to Bangalore is mostly empty and its easily possible to maintain those averages

Originally Posted by thoma

Wow, Krishnagiri-Dindigul + Cruze, Kodai + December. Envious, to say the least. Excellent snaps. The cloud shots remind me of my trip to Kodai in 2010 Dec. The cloud was not as thick then and there were a couple of hill tops peeping in between. The below seems like the foam from a Bosch pressure washer while the cloud in your snap resembles the foam from a dedicated snow foam lance, so thick it is.

Originally Posted by jacs

Cloud shots are marvelous. Kodai looks empty in your pics! ? Crowd is the only thing I hated in my Kodai trip and I didn't venture out much.

Yes, the clouds was the highlight of our trip and we spent nearly 2 hours at that location capturing every moment into our brains as it was the most phenomenal sight seen from ground and most importantly it was extremely close to where we were standing.

So our tourist guide was correct, that this sight is indeed rare as the thickness of clouds that we witnessed seems to be rare phenomena

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Nice pictures of clouds near Pillar Rocks. When I went there in 1987 for my honeymoon, we were allowed to go real close to the valley below, but later they stopped access owing to many suicides. I think it is also called Suicide Point.I remember then that if someone threw a hat into the valley, it would float back instead of falling down! Such was the updraft then!

That's an interesting thing to know about the updraft, would have tried it myself had I known it earlier. No, we didnt spot that board, atleast i dont recall seeing it.

Lot more pictures coming up, will post as and when I get some free time

[Sheel]

That is so smart of you to combine an epic drive at a great location. And more pictures of the Cruz please

I know you went to Kodai for that drive

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Sheel

That is so smart of you to combine an epic drive at a great location. And more pictures of the Cruz please

Yeah, it was indeed an epic drive for me. Probably the second epic drive after my 5500kms drive to north when i bought the Cruze ( it has an e to it otherwise we will be referring to one gorgeous hollywood lady)

Originally Posted by Sheel

I know you went to Kodai for that drive

Why this part in Italics? Were you there at same time?

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Pune-Bangalore ( Fantastic NH4) : 600kms can be done in 8 hours

Pune to Bangalore is almost 900kms not 600kms. Just did it last week so I'm sure And roads are not that great. We took 14 hours + to cover than 900kms.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Pune to Bangalore is almost 900kms not 600kms. Just did it last week so I'm sure And roads are not that great. We took 14 hours + to cover than 900kms.

When did 600kms become 900kms or was it I was confusing the 600kms from Goa to Bangalore. Whew! I realize now, I can never become an expert on highway routes and kms

Btw, google shows its 841kms. I have driven most of this route in the past and except for higher traffic, i thought it is a good highway

F150, I think you will have to make a night halt at Bangalore before proceeding to Kodai. But, do it. Worth the drive !!!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mobike008

When did 600kms become 900kms or was it I was confusing the 600kms from Goa to Bangalore. Whew! I realize now, I can never become an expert on highway routes and kms

Pune-Bangalore is 900. Easily 12-13 hours.
Bangalore-Goa is 600-700 depending on north or south Goa. Its about 9+ hours because the whole is not a 4-lane.

[mobike008]

Next stop in our trip was a view-point from where you can have a fantastic view of the entire valley and lake of Kodai.

This particular view point reminded me so much of the Naini View point in Nainital. I reckon most hillstations have almost similar sight seeing points due to the almost similar topography

[mobike008]

We visited a few other popular sightseeing stop, one of which was this area with thickly populated with Pine (?) trees and apparently famous for movie shootings. I recall seeing something similar in Ooty as well

This place had lot of crowd and people where shouting/screaming for no real reason ( maybe that's their idea of jest and excitement). It was a nice place to spend a brief time

From there we went to a popular church in Kodai called " La Sallete" and this was an adventure I wont forget in a hurry as we weaved through the most narrow lanes I have ever driven a cruze. Guide very casually telling me " Please go ahead Sir, car will easily go" And, some of these lanes were so steep that I felt like going over a mountain with practically a few inches on both sides of the car. Whew !! it was some experience and Cruze took all this with aplomb

The church was situated in an extremely scenic spot on top of a hill. Great place to catch up on some fresh air !!

Soft toys and they charge you ten bucks to pose with them











Plenty of monkeys at this place







La Sallete Church

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Cruze ( it has an e to it otherwise we will be referring to one gorgeous hollywood lady)

They both are gorgeous anyway

Why this part in Italics? Were you there at same time?

As a gut feeling and I am glad you admitted, because it is right

[mobike008]

It was that perfect unwinding holiday of 4 days that we spent here, as we had plenty of time to kill and nothing really much to do.

I was busy shooting whatever caught my fancy

I shot a few of these pictures of a small boy selling that equipment when you blow it throws out bubbles











Here are some pictures of flowers from "Holiday Home" in-house garden

[Wanderer78]

Amazing photos buddy. I am going to Kodai tomorrow and your thread comes at a very apt time

[vnabhi]

Aah, what sweet memories!

Avi, your first 3 photos of your post of the lake from a vantage point brings back very fond memories. That is exactly the place we'd spent 3 days on our honeymoon. The 3rd photo has the exact building , though it seems to be a wee bit bigger now. I think it was called Pondicherry House. We spent a lot of time boating on the lake. Didn't you?

[MDe]

Super pictures. Love the blues and the greens of the hills. Fantastic.
1000+kms is indeed an epic drive. Always a first but never the last. Did you visit the Dolphin's nose? The picture of the clouds appear to be close. You need to hire a jeep to go down that route as I remember. The road to the Dolphin's nose was extremely bad. It needs quite a trek to reach the point but its worth it.