Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Road trip: chennai to yelagiri

If someone tells you that yelagiri is just 190 km away from chennai,slap him ,
am still trying to catch the fella who told me that.

....
578 kms in two days ,was the distance we covered over the weekend ,You can expect the distance to be atleast 250 kms from tambaram to reach the hills ,assuming you are taking the bypass roads wherever possible and not getting into the towns of vellore ,arcot,etc. One thing i learnt form this trip was never never prejudge a hill station by it's height above sea level or freezing temperatures, the beauty lies elsewhere.

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Here are some reasons why you should consider yelagiri for a weekend getaway

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The u-bends and s-bends to the top of yelagiri , god send for bikers,
+
the long trek to the siva temple on top of the hill from mangalam village (atleast 1 hour up)
+
the cheap and yummy hot food in the cold and still not too cold weather of yelagiri
+
lack of irritating ring tones ( no mobile service)
+
nice secluded and pleasant guest houses
+
the absence of tourist armies
+
the closest hill station from chennai
+
quite close from bangalore as well (seen quite many KA reg vehicles)
+
and very importantly, some really nice and friendly village folks
......
You will fall in love with yelagiri,i will post the pics soon
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The route we took:
tambaram bypass--->poonnamale---> sriperamabadur---->vellore ----->vaniyambad---->ponneri------->yelagiri hills
...
Places to stay at yelagiri:
VS lodge : suggested by the hotel owner at hotel yelagiri !
Taj resort : large area , beautiful garden,pricey but worth it
Hotel Hills : typical small town ,but good hotel,good security,couple of games - table tennis,volley ball,
prices: 700 std room and goes on upto 1500 for deluxe room,perfect for families
quite pricey for the rest of us
Hotel yelagiri: 500 ++ cost , good for breakfast ( we had our breakfast here)
Hotel negress: quite popular with families again, rooms start off @ 750
Sterling resorts: another realtively upmarket resort
Lake view : nice golden retriever of the owner ,excellent food, moderatel y priced,nice location ,perfect for dinner, owner's name is kumar
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Must Do:
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Take a bike:
Take a bike and practise yor ridign skills ,the roads have very less traffic,so come down the ghat section and go back up and try all crazy bends and
push the speeds if you can .
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The trek:
Take the trek to the top of the hill - takes 1 hours if you are fast walker ,startt off from a village called mangalam,1200 puls steps roughly,
gets lonely and bit eeire as you reach at the top , it's just you , the monkeys,colourful lizards and the odd python, we did spot lots of beehives ,but no bears
...
honey:
Cheap and best quality honey 750 ml for 80 rs, and i did'nt bargain, i felt it was a fair price for the pure honey, yelagiri is one of the main sources
of good honey in tamil nadu.

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some pics here:









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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello Blogger !
Thanks for your post. In return i hope to share this funny quote:

"Girls are like phones. We like to be held and talked too, but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!"


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Anonymous said...

hello Blogger !
Thanks for your post. In return i hope to share this quote:

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children, to earn the approbation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to give of one's self, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--that is to have succeeded."

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Trails of a Traveler said...

A very good one. Can you tell me if it is possible for a one day trek or "walk" to the Sivan temple and back to Chennai?
Assuming we start early in the morning from and chennai and drive in a car..