[laluks]

Me and my friends travelled last weekend to the hills. We had a marriage to attend at Bodi and the plan was to drive through the hills.

We travelled from Bangalore to kodai via palani on the first day. Next day we drove to bodi via theni. Third day we returned to bangalore via Munnar. Just fun driving as we all had been to these places often.

All in all a 1250Km drive over three days. Was fun.
Will put up some pictures soon.

Over drives was a swift diesel and a Civic. Civic filled fuel thrice, but swift diesel just once

Details to follow.

[StarVegabond]

Hi Laluks,

I am sure, you won't give any prizes for guessing whose CIVIC it is !!
it seems your CIVIC gave approx 10 KMPL, i think it is okay as you were driving through hilly region needing frequent gear changes.

waiting for the pictures...

[arin_12]

Waiting for some fantastic green picture too
Does this fuel economy of CIVIC is 1/3 of Swift ?

[gadadhar]

How is the route from Kodai to Munnar? Hope you will provide more details about the trip along with the snaps

[laluks]

@Starvegabond, You are right. It was my civic giving 10kmpl, I was belting on the super roads to Salem around 150 - 170ish and on the hills in 2nd and 3rd gear.
@Arindam, swift was a diesel, giving around 20kmpl, and with a 40litre tank it was just amazing. The owner of swift was only upset about his tyres, which seems like it has lost all threads by 25K. But man! what an economical car if you just look at the trip expense alone. Pictures will be updated soon.

@bobby,
Kodai to Munnar direct road which is just 60Km is still closed. According to locals there are two versions of the story.

Version 1.
Some biker gang partied in the thick forests in that route which led to a forest fire which made the forest department be more vigilent. Since the menace could not be controlled they decide to close the route.

Version 2.
There has been a lot of sandal wood smuggling through this route across the borders of TN and Kerala. The route was closed to check this.

In both versions the locals say the forest department has taken the road and tresspassing will be punished.

Hence the way is to come down from kodai to Theni and climb to Munnar, which is roughly 150+ kms. These roads are in superb conditions. Another option will be to come down to palani and go up via udumalpet. Via udumalpettu - chinnar - munnar is the shortest road from bangalore to munnar, the roads are doable.

[pjay_in]

Don't keep us waiting, post the pictures!

[Surprise]

Another interesting travelogue in making.. do not make us wait for longggggg & treat us with your beautiful pictures

[muralisk]

This is one destination I am very keen as its been on my list for a long time. So, please post the pics soon.

[akroy]

Lalu, here you go another one !! Post the pics soon.

Originally Posted by laluks

Over drives was a swift diesel and a Civic. Civic filled fuel thrice, but swift diesel just once

Thinking of downshifting

Abhi

[laluks]

Pictures are coming. I have not taken much pictures during this trip, but have a few from the previous trips this year.

@akroy - downshifting? Never! I just mentioned a comparison of the fuel economy. After the drive the members in Civic were happily moving around and the ones in Swift were crying ooh.aah.ouch.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by laluks

@Starvegabond, You are right. It was my civic giving 10kmpl, I was belting on the super roads to Salem around 150 - 170ish and on the hills in 2nd and 3rd gear.

I just mentioned a comparison of the fuel economy. After the drive the members in Civic were happily moving around and the ones in Swift were crying ooh.aah.ouch.

Considering all above 10 KMPL seems to be very good FE you got.

[laluks]

Day 1, June 12,2009
Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Mettur - Bhavani - Perundurai - Kangayam - Dharapuram - Palani - Kodaikanal

Somehow got agreement from the gang (6 of us) that we start at 4AM from Silkboard junction. I have put in theories that it is hills, we need many hours to drive and we must be there at Kodai before sunset etc. The guys believed the story and were ready at 4AM.

My idea was to reach Kodai for lunch and to do the full sight seeing of kodai by evening. I never told the guys the plan, since this would make them sleep longer and we start from Bangalore only by 10AM, which spoils all the fun. I preferred this since it was a Friday and Kodai would be for us completely unlike the weekends.

I started at 3.30AM and picked up the guys on my way till Silk Board. At Silk Board we were told that Swift has a different plan and they'll take the NICE road as it was shorter. Immediately the plans changed and the meeting point decided as the arch near the border of TN and Bangalore. We reached there by 4.45Am and waited for Swift. A cool 30 minutes later we got an update that they are encountering heavy truck traffic. Another 15 minutes later we had an update that the Swift has crossed one fly over. What the heck! They have passed us and gone ahead to the flyover near Hosur.

We started rolling at 5.45Am from the border to the good toll roads. Swift had already gained the distance and they were no where to be seen. We decided to meet after the Krishnagiri toll gate, information passed and did some spirited driving to reach the toll gate by 6.30AM.

Swift again ditched us and went ahead. We slowly moved from the toll gate to the first flyover after Krishnagiri toll. I am extremely cautious here as there is a small cut in the median in the left and the middle of the road, and some private buses blindly comes through cutting the NH to go to the other side. Once ABS had helped me avoid a near 100Kmph crash on to these colourful buses.

After passing the two flyovers got to the next toll road which goes to Salem. This toll road welcomes you with a huge pot hole in the middle of the road. The only one in this road - but just enough to create an issue. Since I knew it kept to the right of the road.

We were doing 170's and saw a crowd waving at us frantically. It was the swift gang flagging us down for a tea stop. Atlast we got them around 7.00AM. After exchanging "pleasantries" to the Swift gang we had some tea and chatting there.

We left from there deciding to take the road via Mettur - Bhavani to Perundurai. This time Civic gang was in no mood to forgive the swift for ditching us. We started and we could see Swift fading into oblivion and we rushed to our next pit stop, the turn near mettur from the NH. We reached there at 7.30AM and waited for the swift to arrive. They arrived in another 10 minutes. The roads from Hosur till here are in good condition and any car will reach till here in 2hours with decent driving.

Moral of the story - whatever you do, drive at 100kmph,170kmph, 200kmph you save only 10 minutes on an average on the higher speeds. Forget the risk - Drive Safe.



We had another chat break and we continued to Perundurai via mettur bhavani road. Swift gang found a shop near Mettur which sells "kothu parattas" and omlettes. We made the day for the shop owner. We were almost munching all things on offer there!!

We reached Bhavani and continued on further on the NH. Now the New four lanes are operational here and this doesnot go via Perundurai anymore. We took a deviation from this 4 lane road to the old NH which goes to the Perundurai junction. From Perundurai Junction we took the road to palani, which is a beautiful two lane road with no traffic at all.

We reached palani by 12.30PM, and took left to the road to Dindigul. From this road we took a right to get to the Palani city bypass and again took a left to climb to kodai. If you decide to go through palani you have to pay Rs30. It is best avoided since inside palani will be congested with pilgrims vehicles and crowds.




We stopped at the first hairpin for a chat break at 1.00PM. You can see the beautiful palani hill and a few water bodies from this place. From here it is climb all the way for 50KMs.




Just before reaching kodai you have the Silver cascade water falls.


This fruit was nice with chilly powder.


We finally reached Kodai lake at 2.30PM. There was some biriyani mela going on there, we simply thronged the place and ordered 10 biriyanis for the 6 of us. Phew we were hungry!!

This church was near the hotel we had biriyani.


After lunch we went to our hotel - Snooze Inn. We had booked this budget hotel near the busstand. It was Rs550 per room. The only issue is no parking places. Not recommended for family, though we saw some staying there. We parked the cars near Astoria veg hotel and checked in to the rooms. Freshened up and was ready to do the Kodai sight seeing by 4.00PM.

Kodai was 470Km from Silkboard, and took 9.5 to 10 hours of driving time.

Day1, Kodai sight seeing - Contd.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Considering all above 10 KMPL seems to be very good FE you got.

The fellow almost drank half the tank climbing kodai hills, chasing a Merc.

From palani to Kodai, a Merc was driving in front of us like crazy. Was too slow an did not allow anyone to overtake forcing us to downshift to first and second gears. The Merc driver was afraid that we will scrape him while overtaking. Kodai can be climbed mostly in the third gear.

[laluks]

Day 1 Contd.
Upper Lake View - Valley View - Pillar Rocks - Suicide Point - Coakers Walk

This time we just drove through the loop road in Kodai which has its all attractions. We stopped only at the above points. This is a 10km drive and has all attractions in kodai on this road. Be aware that during weekends this roads will be crowded and there will be no place to park. It is always wise to see places in this road on a weekday at leisure.

Upper lake view

See the place is not crowded and we have parked at luxury.


View to the valley


This road will be in a complete mess on weekends with cars, buses etc, using all inches to park.

Here we could walk down a lot earlier, but was dangerous trekking. Now a wall is made and no one can walk down.


Pillar Rocks




Suicide Point / Green Valley View


Coakers Walk

[laluks]

I will post a few pictures taken while I was at Kodai with family on February(21-24),2009. We stayed at Club Mahindra property - Hill Country. During that trip we covered almost all attractions in Kodai.

Upperlake View - Pine Forest - Valley View - Guna Caves - Pillar rocks - Suicide Point - Golf Club - Coakers Walk - Bryant Park - Lake - Bear Shola falls - Fairy Falls -Kurinji Andavar Temple.

Bear Shola falls and Fairy falls are little away from this loop road. Both falls did not have any water when we visited.

Also it was foggy through out during February.

On the way up to Kodai.



Pine Forest


View to the valley and the trekking path down. This path is now closed as they have built a wall around it.





Civic resting near the entrance to Guna Cave. You cannot make out the cave much, but you can climb all the way up of the pillar rocks.


Coakers Walk


Bryant Park



Sacred heart Church


Boat ride at the lake



Horse Ride near the lake. Rs 80 for a km, Rs 480 for the full lake circle. You can also hire cycles for as low as 10 rupees here.

1HP versus 135 Japanese Horses.



Bear Shola Falls with no water



Fairy Falls with no water


Kurinji Andavar Temple


Some pictures of the resort






Kodai as a hillstation has very few to offer than the climate. Moreover since the last few visits have felt that Kodai is being utilised without any care. The place is crowded, a lot of waste generated which is not cleared, etc. At this rate in a few years the place will die a slow death.