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-   -   A trip out of Real estate to TEA ESTATE - Our Valparai vacation (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/83811-trip-out-real-estate-tea-estate-our-valparai-vacation.html)

Almost 4 months back we met a friend who lives in Valaparai and that's the day we decided that our next vacation will be in Valaparai.
But it could not be a long vacation since the leave balances were very thin.
So we planned for a three-day trip.
Booked a home-stay for three days from Friday 28th May to 30th May.

Started researching for routes, places to see,etc.
And found Team-BHP more informative than Google or anything else.

Route planned: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Salem-Palladam-Pollachi-Valparai.

Also planned to visit Top-slip while returning.

My Palio SDX was at 28000 kms and due for the next service. But I was inclined to give it for service after the trip. So took it to Concorde for check-ups. All fluid levels checked, topped-up. One service engineer was kind enough to take a test-drive and he said everything was fine.

Took it to Good-year, Indiranagar and got Wheel balancing and Wheel alignment done.

Filled Diesel tank and Air @30PSI.

Went to sleep hoping to leave Bangalore by 04:30 in the morning.

Raring to go at 5 am in the morning:




Beautiful routes:






Windmills near Pollachi:

Nice start, Nathan! Please keep it coming. Eagerly awaiting the details. How are the road conditions now that the monsoon has started?

Dear Nathan,
Great to see you back on the roads with your machine!!!
Waiting eagerly for the details

I did this trip two weeks back and the weather was perfectly alright, althrough from Bangalore to Valaparai.

BTW, talking about road conditions some road-works were going on in Palladam and we were diverted. Spent almost 20 minutes circling around the town as we missed the bye-pass road.

And there is a fly-over in construction near Salem town on the NH. That takes another 15 minutes extra.


Just when we reached Valparai hills, got a great view of Aliyar dam:









Then reached "Monkey Falls". Now there are two versions for why it's called "Monkey Falls" :
1. There are a lot of monkeys around that spot.
2. The shape of one mountain looks like a Monkey face.

TAKE YOUR PICK:

Nice.. keep it coming. How long did itke to get there?

Hi pal

Nice post so far, what is the total distance bangalore to valparai??

Samarishi - I took exactly 8.5 hours from Bangalore to Valparai. Subtract 30min for breaks and another 30min for wrong routes taken.
Add another 30min. if you wanna go to Valaparai town. I stopped at hairpin bend no.29(out of 40) as the estate in which we stayed was there.

Beautiful hairpin bends:









A viewpoint in between:







My darling Fiat - hungry for more miles:

Private roads inside the estate:





Huff.. trip complete:





You have come a long way buddy - take some rest:







PICs of the home-stay:

I see that you did 458 kms in half tank. Did you refuel in between or does your car give such high mileage?

I liked the pic with you taking your kid to take rest :)

harishnayak,
Palio's fuel tank cap is 47l. Half tank is app 23l. 458/23 works out to be app 20kmpl. Considering 400kms in highway and 50kms on the hills, I would say this is a pretty normal value.

BTW, the kid was as energetic as ever. The rest was for the car (and myself :)). When we reached the destination the temp gauge was at the half-way mark which is very rare.

More PICs from our evening outing after some rest:

nice locations, ideal places for good photography of the car.

We set-out for a mini trekking adventure into the woods:





Our guide taking a look at the path:






Our guide took the role of baby-carrier also:






Spotted a black monkey:




Crystal clear and tasty water:




Colony of tribes:






Houses made of mud and stones:






The reach of technology - DVD player running on Battery:






Sharing a cake from Bangalore with those children:




Innocence is BEAUTIFUL - what say?

Another Vaalparai travelogue from a happy family. Nice pictures Nathan. Appreciate the way you build humanity in your kid's character clap:.