Civved : Vagamon

laluks · 12th March 2011, 11:07

VAGAMON

People say, if you have not been to Vagamon, then you have not seen "Gods own Country". Vagamon has a charm to make a person come back again and again. Vagamon is enchanting all through the year, but the beauty doubles especially after the rains.

Vagamon is called Scotland of Asia. Shillong is also called Scotland of the East. I have not been to Shillong, but after being to Vagamon, I feel Shillong must be equally beautiful.

Vagamon is on the Western Ghats bounded by Idukki and Kottayam districts of Kerala. It is about 1100 meters above sea level. Reaching Vagamon is a very beautful journey through the scenic routes.

We had been to Vagamon as a part of our Onam drive to Kerala.

You can read the Day 1 to Day 7 account of the trip here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-valparai.html

The Day 8 to Day 10 of the trip can be read here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...vved-gavi.html

Day 11 to Day 14 was at Vagamon, and let us have a look at what mother nature brought in front of us.

Vagamon was indeed beautiful.

laluks · 13th March 2011, 16:28

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon.

The previous night, after and eventful day drive through the forest roads of Gavi, and a quick visit to Pamba and the misty blinded drive through Kuttikkanam, we reached Vagamon and checked into Summer Sand Hill Resort.

After a good nights sleep, I woke up around 06:00AM to see Jr. PPG already awake and at the balcony of our room. Weather seemed to be pleasant, with the rains just stopping for a while.

Jr. PPG enjoying the views and weather.

Wifey and Sr. PPG were still asleep. Called Jr. PPG and went to the restaurant and had some hot tea.

Civvy was happily resting from the nights drive.

She had some bruises from the forest drive. Need an oil bath once she's back home

Me and Jr. PPG decide to go for a lazy morning drive, so as not to disturb the sleeping gang.

We get on to the drive by 07:15AM.

Civvy infront of the Resort gate

We drove for 10minutes and reached Vagamon Meadows.

We drove in the direction of Kochukarintharuvi to see the beauty.

We found a small church enroute.

After a while we returned towards the beautiful meadows.

continued...

jkrishnakj · 13th March 2011, 16:35

Ok. This appears to be even more interesting than the Gavi read. )I had never seen the Pampa like that ever before and thanks to you.). I now look forward to the rest of the travelogues from you Lalu.

laluks · 13th March 2011, 16:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Ok. This appears to be even more interesting than the Gavi read. )I had never seen the Pampa like that ever before and thanks to you.). I now look forward to the rest of the travelogues from you Lalu.

Thankyou jkrishnakj.
Vagamon is indeed a beautiful place.

laluks · 13th March 2011, 16:50

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

No one was on the streets. It was indeed a chilly morning. I always love to have a place for me like that. Its just me, my thoughts and the beautiful place. It is an amazing feeling beyond words.

Parked the Civvy at a nice location from where I could gaze at the never ending beauty of Vagamon.

Some exclusive Civvy photos

The Beautiful Vagamon hills

The panorama

A little later we left from there

continued...

mjothi · 13th March 2011, 16:56

Beautiful...

So, 2010 is all for travel and 2011 is for penning it down is it?

Get it on. Lets have a free ride with the free guide!!!

laluks · 13th March 2011, 17:01

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

I saw a beautiful sight.

A waterfall far away in between the hills

After enjoying the beauty for a while I drove to the famous Vagamon Meadows.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjothi

Beautiful...

So, 2010 is all for travel and 2011 is for penning it down is it?

Get it on. Lets have a free ride with the free guide!!!

The last quarter of 2010, I could not budge a bit due to a lot of committments. Now I got some free time during the weekends, and lo I am back with the logs

And we are waiting for those wonderful photographs and a beautiful log from you too, from your current beautiful locale

laluks · 13th March 2011, 17:25

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

I parked Civvy next to the meadows
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Size: 193.9 KB

Panorama of the beautiful meadows

You can walk endlessly on the meadows

The cattle grazing on the meadows was a wonderful sight

For a moment I could not believe this was our beautiful Kerala

Indeed Kerala is Gods Own Country.

This fellow loved to be photographed

The winding road back to the resort

We reached the resort by 08:30AM. By this time the sleeping gang had woken up and had stormed the restaurant for breakfast.

continued..

laluks · 13th March 2011, 18:03

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

We all stormed the restaurant and ordered breakfast. The service was too slow and lousy. The bread in the sandwich was stale, and I lost my cool. Food was a shocker! The guys at Parambikulam and Gavi had put up a sincere effort to satisfy you. But the services from Summer Sand, Vagamon and Michaels Inn, Thekkady were sub standard for their costs.

Somehow overcame the shock and walked out of the restaurant.

The outside architecture looks good, but inside the rooms they are typical hotelish.

Some pictures of the resort

Some pictures from the reception

The Pine forests of vagamon are just behind the resort. We walked toward that.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 18:19

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

The Pine forest of Vagamon

PPGs enjoying the open space

Colourful

We walked back to the resort, and took Civvy and rolled out. Idea was to roam around the place, not towards Kuttikkanam, but towards the other side like Kattappana, Thodupuzha, etc.. No definite plans in place, but only a handful of info on the beautiful locations enroute. We had to go to Idukki as a must since this would be the last day you are allowed to the Idukki Arch Dam.

So we drove on.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 18:32

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

We moved on and took the road to the meadows and hills, since the sleeping gang had to see it

Some pictures from the beautiful hills

Wifey trying to capture the beauty

Jr. PPG is all smiles

An all girls moment

All my angels at a beautiful locale

One for the album

Somebody is about to farm

We moved on further.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 18:48

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon

It started to rain heavily. We were blocked on the road by these cuties. They were all wet and shivering in the down pour. I parked Civvy to the side and let them pass while trying to capture some pictures of them

These cuties blocked our road

Ain't she cute?
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Views: 5395
Size: 332.9 KB

Partners forever?

Tired

All wet and Hungry

Mummy's there, let me have some milk

We were enjoying the beautiful herd, when a moron in a KA registered Black Verna with blaring horns scared the hell out of the herd and scattered them all around the road and zoomed to eternity as if there was no tomorrow.

Well the herd had ran away by then, and we moved on in our journey. Next destination unknown. But we took Thodupuzha route anyways.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 19:27

Day01, 29.08.2010
Vagamon - Thodupuzha

We continued on in Thodupuzha route, when we reached a fork. Right takes you to Moola Muttom and left to Thodupuzha. It was misty all around. An autodriver told me to take the Moola Muttom route as it would be less foggy. So we hit that route.

Some beautiful waterfalls from the route

We exited into Moola Muttom and joined Thodupuzha route. I saw a signboard saying Calvery Thumapchy Samuchayam. Since it was raining heavy there was no point going there. So we continued on to Thodupuzha. By the time we reached a place called Uravappara, the rains stopped. So I took the deviation and got into the small roads. The road to the rock was steep, very badly damaged and narrow. So decided not to drive up. Then I had a small trekk to check before PPGs could join me to the temple up the rock. But it was all slippery due to the rains and I did not want to risk it with the PPGs. So we headed back to the main road to Thodupuzha again.

continued...

laluks · 13th March 2011, 19:52

Day01, 29.08.2010
Thodupuzha

A little further I saw an entrance to Malankara Dam. Turned Civvy in that direction and drove on.

As expected the Dam is out of bounds.

But to our surprise near to the dam there was a lot of pineapple farms.

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Views: 5037
Size: 597.0 KB

Enjoyed the views for a while and headed back.

Saw a small road which goes through a dilapidated bridge.

Parked Civvy there and walked to the bridge.

From there you get a view of the Dam

The otherside of the bridge.

A patient fisher man

A fishing moment

From here we reached Thodupuzha by 12:45PM. We have to reach Idukki dam before 17:00PM to have a visit to the dam. So it was more like 4 hours at disposal and that prompted me to take the decision to visit the most interesting waterfall and trekking option in Thodupuzha, Thommankuthu falls.

continued....

12th March 2011, 11:07	#1
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Civved : Vagamon VAGAMON People say, if you have not been to Vagamon, then you have not seen "Gods own Country". Vagamon has a charm to make a person come back again and again. Vagamon is enchanting all through the year, but the beauty doubles especially after the rains. Vagamon is called Scotland of Asia. Shillong is also called Scotland of the East. I have not been to Shillong, but after being to Vagamon, I feel Shillong must be equally beautiful. Vagamon is on the Western Ghats bounded by Idukki and Kottayam districts of Kerala. It is about 1100 meters above sea level. Reaching Vagamon is a very beautful journey through the scenic routes. We had been to Vagamon as a part of our Onam drive to Kerala. You can read the Day 1 to Day 7 account of the trip here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-valparai.html The Day 8 to Day 10 of the trip can be read here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...vved-gavi.html Day 11 to Day 14 was at Vagamon, and let us have a look at what mother nature brought in front of us. Vagamon was indeed beautiful. Last edited by laluks : 12th March 2011 at 11:40.
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 16:28	#2
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon. The previous night, after and eventful day drive through the forest roads of Gavi, and a quick visit to Pamba and the misty blinded drive through Kuttikkanam, we reached Vagamon and checked into Summer Sand Hill Resort. After a good nights sleep, I woke up around 06:00AM to see Jr. PPG already awake and at the balcony of our room. Weather seemed to be pleasant, with the rains just stopping for a while. Jr. PPG enjoying the views and weather. Wifey and Sr. PPG were still asleep. Called Jr. PPG and went to the restaurant and had some hot tea. Civvy was happily resting from the nights drive. She had some bruises from the forest drive. Need an oil bath once she's back home Me and Jr. PPG decide to go for a lazy morning drive, so as not to disturb the sleeping gang. We get on to the drive by 07:15AM. Civvy infront of the Resort gate We drove for 10minutes and reached Vagamon Meadows. We drove in the direction of Kochukarintharuvi to see the beauty. We found a small church enroute. After a while we returned towards the beautiful meadows. continued...
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 16:35	#3
jkrishnakj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,667 Thanked: 4,139 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Ok. This appears to be even more interesting than the Gavi read. )I had never seen the Pampa like that ever before and thanks to you.). I now look forward to the rest of the travelogues from you Lalu.
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 16:50	#5
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon No one was on the streets. It was indeed a chilly morning. I always love to have a place for me like that. Its just me, my thoughts and the beautiful place. It is an amazing feeling beyond words. Parked the Civvy at a nice location from where I could gaze at the never ending beauty of Vagamon. Some exclusive Civvy photos The Beautiful Vagamon hills The panorama A little later we left from there continued...
	(2) Thanks

13th March 2011, 16:56	#6
mjothi Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,287 Thanked: 231 Times View My Garage	Re: Civved : Vagamon Beautiful... So, 2010 is all for travel and 2011 is for penning it down is it? Get it on. Lets have a free ride with the free guide!!!
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 17:01	#7
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon I saw a beautiful sight. A waterfall far away in between the hills After enjoying the beauty for a while I drove to the famous Vagamon Meadows. continued...
	(1) Thanks

13th March 2011, 17:25	#9
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon I parked Civvy next to the meadows Panorama of the beautiful meadows You can walk endlessly on the meadows The cattle grazing on the meadows was a wonderful sight For a moment I could not believe this was our beautiful Kerala Indeed Kerala is Gods Own Country. This fellow loved to be photographed The winding road back to the resort We reached the resort by 08:30AM. By this time the sleeping gang had woken up and had stormed the restaurant for breakfast. continued..
	(2) Thanks

13th March 2011, 18:03	#10
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon We all stormed the restaurant and ordered breakfast. The service was too slow and lousy. The bread in the sandwich was stale, and I lost my cool. Food was a shocker! The guys at Parambikulam and Gavi had put up a sincere effort to satisfy you. But the services from Summer Sand, Vagamon and Michaels Inn, Thekkady were sub standard for their costs. Somehow overcame the shock and walked out of the restaurant. The outside architecture looks good, but inside the rooms they are typical hotelish. Some pictures of the resort Some pictures from the reception The Pine forests of vagamon are just behind the resort. We walked toward that. continued...
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 18:19	#11
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon The Pine forest of Vagamon PPGs enjoying the open space Colourful We walked back to the resort, and took Civvy and rolled out. Idea was to roam around the place, not towards Kuttikkanam, but towards the other side like Kattappana, Thodupuzha, etc.. No definite plans in place, but only a handful of info on the beautiful locations enroute. We had to go to Idukki as a must since this would be the last day you are allowed to the Idukki Arch Dam. So we drove on. continued...
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 18:32	#12
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon We moved on and took the road to the meadows and hills, since the sleeping gang had to see it Some pictures from the beautiful hills Wifey trying to capture the beauty Jr. PPG is all smiles An all girls moment All my angels at a beautiful locale One for the album Somebody is about to farm We moved on further. continued...
	(2) Thanks

13th March 2011, 18:48	#13
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon It started to rain heavily. We were blocked on the road by these cuties. They were all wet and shivering in the down pour. I parked Civvy to the side and let them pass while trying to capture some pictures of them These cuties blocked our road Ain't she cute? Partners forever? Tired All wet and Hungry Mummy's there, let me have some milk We were enjoying the beautiful herd, when a moron in a KA registered Black Verna with blaring horns scared the hell out of the herd and scattered them all around the road and zoomed to eternity as if there was no tomorrow. Well the herd had ran away by then, and we moved on in our journey. Next destination unknown. But we took Thodupuzha route anyways. continued...
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 19:27	#14
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Vagamon - Thodupuzha We continued on in Thodupuzha route, when we reached a fork. Right takes you to Moola Muttom and left to Thodupuzha. It was misty all around. An autodriver told me to take the Moola Muttom route as it would be less foggy. So we hit that route. Some beautiful waterfalls from the route We exited into Moola Muttom and joined Thodupuzha route. I saw a signboard saying Calvery Thumapchy Samuchayam. Since it was raining heavy there was no point going there. So we continued on to Thodupuzha. By the time we reached a place called Uravappara, the rains stopped. So I took the deviation and got into the small roads. The road to the rock was steep, very badly damaged and narrow. So decided not to drive up. Then I had a small trekk to check before PPGs could join me to the temple up the rock. But it was all slippery due to the rains and I did not want to risk it with the PPGs. So we headed back to the main road to Thodupuzha again. continued...
	() Thanks

13th March 2011, 19:52	#15
laluks Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,552 Thanked: 16,397 Times	Re: Civved : Vagamon Day01, 29.08.2010 Thodupuzha A little further I saw an entrance to Malankara Dam. Turned Civvy in that direction and drove on. As expected the Dam is out of bounds. But to our surprise near to the dam there was a lot of pineapple farms. Enjoyed the views for a while and headed back. Saw a small road which goes through a dilapidated bridge. Parked Civvy there and walked to the bridge. From there you get a view of the Dam The otherside of the bridge. A patient fisher man A fishing moment From here we reached Thodupuzha by 12:45PM. We have to reach Idukki dam before 17:00PM to have a visit to the dam. So it was more like 4 hours at disposal and that prompted me to take the decision to visit the most interesting waterfall and trekking option in Thodupuzha, Thommankuthu falls. continued....
	() Thanks