Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

hogenekkal falls


If you do no want to spend money but still want to enjoy, then you are at the wrong place.

But if u r willing to pay 600 rs then this place is worth going. Back from yercaud on the way near Dharmapuri, we took diversion to Hogenekkal, as we neared 1st checkpost paid 30 bucks for the forest dept then as entering the town pay 50 rs parking charge.

Business is well planned, just arriving at Hogenekkal is nothing as the falls is not accessible by vehicle. You need to hire a "teppa" which will cost you 600 rs where the captain will take you to the highest falls and then the smaller one.

The very ferociousness of the falls can be made out by hearing its roar. The cauvery river here divides into 20 streams and flows down in the narrow gap. Then after seeing both falls,which takes approximately 1.5 hrs minimum, will be back to shore.
But the sad part of trip is the filthy state in which people live and administration is completely blind and just seems to collect the tolls and parking fees.

I am not able to find words to express the view of the falls, i will post one of the several photos clicked, i believe it is self - descriptive.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

ಅ ಡೇ ಅಟ್ Yercaud


The plan was all of sudden!!!!!. It was Gandhi Jayanti and there were 2 days and 5 of us were blank as to what to do something that will refresh us.

As usual we planned for a outing in nature. The Place decided was Yercaud, 31 kms from Salem . Till 9 evening we were not sure of accommodation, and then we got an estate via net.
We did not know how it was, but we could book it by paying 50% at B’lore office. Then early morning 4’o’ clock we left blore, Till Karnataka border i.e. Hosur it was a ride which isn’t worth mentioning. But, as we cross the border, traveling in the highway is a pleasure. By 8 in the morning, we were in Salem, at Hotel Annapoorneshwari.The waiter there was very intelligent guy and the breakfast was superb. Then we left to Yercaud with loads of expectation and imagination. The very entry was panoramic indicating that the route was totally of 20 hair pin bends, and all of them are excellent points for having view of the eastern ghats.By 10:30 morning we were in Yercaud and our estate was located near Pagoda point(even though people there have modified it to Pakoda point or pagota point)and I am not sure anybody knows why it is called so.

Then was the Shevaroy temple, the main attraction here is the cave, which is said to extend upto Talkaveri(450 kms)…….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,but it is accessible upto 3 kms after that the oxygen level drops and the number of poisonous reptiles increases with snakes being the prominent ones.
Next was the, Hari Singh’s Perfume extraction industry, which is actually one of the main attractions of the city, the aroma was resonating throughout the shop and we purchased a few types.

The estate which we stayed itself a world of its own and spread over 150 acres of coffee estate and surrounding it was the reserve forest. There was private water falls, lots of orange plantations and they had a trekking guide for us. The stay had 3 options either

a) Dormitory
b) Tent house
c) Tree house

All 3 types are excellent especially tree house . But the main memorable event was “The Making of the Chicken and Veg Barbacue” . It happened that at last minute we decided to have a barbecue and the workers had arranged the coal lit firebut as we started the fire started getting extinguished and we were in profound danger of losing our veg and non veg dishes but we were not to give up , for 3 hrs from 10 at night, we kept the fire alive and successfully prepared the barbecue and its taste was one of the best I ever ate a debut dish.

That night was supposedly the best sleep I had and Sunday morning after breakfast we left to hogenekkal.
Shall get back to on Hogenekkal soon