22nd March 2010, 02:19
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| BHPian  | Boyz Day Out - Thekkady! Kudos to all automobile enthusiasts and travelers out there! This is my first ever thread in TBHP!...and I choose to write a travelogue! This one is a little back dated as it happened on September 4-6, 2009. It all started like this - My college buddy had visited India on vacation from NewZealand and we(me and my other buddy from college) decided to have our good ole days back without our family(I hope wifey doesnt read this!). Ofcourse why do people come to India for vacation if not to entertain their friends?  !!...Rite??So it was planned that we will start this trip from Erode, Tamilnadu. I have my Swift parked there with my parents' residence for my convenience whenever I visit them. My NewZ friend was also based in Erode. So our other friend decided to take a night bus to Erode from Blr where he lives. I had used my Club Mahindra to book for a couple of nights at their Tusker Trails. The venue is fixed, the ride is set, now what? THE PLAN?? Oh we are a bunch of boyz and do we ever need a plan?!!  ....so we decided to get there and find out. So my Blr friend arrives @5am, my NewZ frd picks him up and they are at my house @5.20 sharp. I never get sleep the night before any trip, I guess its just anxiety  ....so I'm up and ready already! And we are out of the house by 5.30!!Last edited by benbsb29 : 7th July 2011 at 09:12. Reason: Excess smileys removed. Please limit smileys to 2 per post. |
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22nd March 2010, 04:53
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| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Bangalore
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22nd March 2010, 12:10
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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22nd March 2010, 13:17
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| Team-BHP Support   | Quote:
Boyz on a trip of married men? Check if you get food tonight and get to sleep inside the house. | |
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22nd March 2010, 16:28
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| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Kottayam
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23rd March 2010, 04:35
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| BHPian | |
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23rd March 2010, 07:23
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: DELHI
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24th March 2010, 00:56
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| BHPian | Guyz all the pictures I have are atleast 3mb and I would have to downsize them to post here.  Any suggestions please? I truly apologize for the delay! |
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24th March 2010, 02:11
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| Team-BHP Support  | Resize Quote:
(Be sure you make a copy first so you still have your original hi-res versions). Check this thread for more ideas / software -> https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/annou...-team-bhp.html (Uploading photographs directly to Team-BHP). Post #4 deals with resizing pictures -> How to resize images: | |
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25th March 2010, 02:36
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| BHPian | @aah78 - Thanks MOD for your perfect directions and your patience to explain me as I should have looked it up myself from support forums. Got Irfanview installed, managed to resize the pics and voila here we go- The road was pretty decent on NH49 all the way to Theni. Just before Usilampatti, there was a traffic jam and vehicles piled all the way. We just waited for about 10mins but there was no sign of clearance. So me and my NewZ buddy(Okay let us call him CHOTU and my Blr one as LAMBU, ofcourse I will be MOTU!!! ) thought to check out what was wrong. We walked past a long queue and were expecting a big accident or capsize of some sort, but guess what - there were a group of people who had gathered in the middle of the road and nobody dared to pass!! But fortunately by the time we got there they just moved away and gave way for traffic! Huh, no need to show our heroism!! We went past Theni and then saw this sight to behold - a wave of water gushing out from a small dam, greenery, coconut trees, mountains at the backdrop - we had to stop! and take pictures ofcourse! There were quite a few locals who were having fun with the water and we decided to do our bit too!       Left that place but couldnt take our nature calls there so decided to stop a few kms later. But the scenery all around kept us glued to the road! WOW thats greenery everywhere! and when we couldnt control any further, had to stop! so more pictures!!   managed to capture a distant church at the backdrop of mountains!  Some fun!!   After passing Bodinayakanur and a few kms later the ghat section greeted us! Never did I know that I will be doing a lonnnnnng stretch of driving in the next couple of days! But thats for later. The slight drizzle had dipped the roads in water and the sun had hid behind the clouds! we downed our windows and the pleasant chillness and freshness in the air engulfed us! WE WERE IN KERALA! Here are some more pictures of what I just described -      KUMULI greeted us with a smile!  Soon we were at the checkpost. They did sound strict and searched through the boot. Since there wasnt anything of interest(or so they thought! ) we were let through.   Busy street of Kumuli -  Soon we were at this junction, a familiar landmark around here, where we had to head straight to get to the resort.  Just a km down, we were at CLUB MAHINDRA TUSKER TRAILS! It was 3.00pm.  After a comfortable check in at the reception(Oh the welcome drink - a very refreshing tamarind mocktail- is worth the mention!), we were guided to our cottage. About the resort - This property has been taken over from TAJ by Club Mahindra a couple of years ago. Almost all cottages in this resort are on stilts and natural materials have been used to keep it native to the ambience. There is extensive landscaping all through the property. There is a small pool too.(didnt make sense as it was raining, maybe meant for summers only?!) Some pictures from the resort -       Ours was a big single room with a King size bed on one side and a huge couch on the other which can be extended to an extra bed. There was a verandah with a couple of seats to relax. Overall, NEAT! After freshening up, headed straight to the restaurant. Since the buffet closes at 3, they had to make on order. We had some rice, dal, fish curry. After satiating the gastronomes in us, we decided to check out the activities center. The pool table was our first choice but since it was being used, we played some Table tennis and killed time. I knew game viewing in the lake was the major attraction of Thekkady and hence inquired at the reception. The receptionist suggested us to be there at the park gate by 6am to catch the first ride into the lake to maximize the chances of viewing wildlife. We then took a walk around the resort and I decided to check out the ayurvedic center. Inquired about the packages and decided I should get a decent massage sometime. Soon it started to pour heavily. So decided to stay indoors and headed back to the activities center. This time the pool table was all ours as the dinner was being served which attracted the resident crowd. Had some fun time at the pool table and then headed to the restaurant for dinner. It was a decent spread but since we had late lunch, just grabbed something and went back to the cottage. Spent sometime at the verandah enjoying the cool breeze and sharing some nostalgia. Then finally hit the bed at 12 setting the alarm to 5am. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - DAY 1. Will start Day2 tomorrow, until then .. |
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25th March 2010, 06:01
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25th March 2010, 11:13
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25th March 2010, 16:21
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25th March 2010, 16:50
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26th March 2010, 02:11
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