Chilled out!!!

Decided on Saturday and started on Sunday.... Surprisingly fast decision considering my mother too was involved. Imagine our desperation to get outta this frustrating chennai heat. Three days trip:

Day 1:

Travelled 300 km in NH46. Best highway I've seen in India. Exotic scenery, surrounded by mountains. Cool drizzle. All signs of assertion that we had made a good choice of getting out of chennai. Had lunch at Vellore. The rain become harder and by the time we reached Dharmapuri, we had witnessed half a dozen broken trees. Good night's sleep.

Day 2:

Got up early in the morning and started out to Hogenakkal Falls. Beautiful, must-see spot. I have been to quite a few falls before but this one defeats them all. Best season is may-july. Unlike other falls where you either just watch them or provision is made for you to take bath under them, this is probably the only place where you can actually take your sailboat under the falls and get drenched within your boat, as you are enjoying the pleasure of having a boat-ride. This place lies on the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and as you go on the boat you can see Karnataka on the other side. There is not one or two but more than 25 falls. The boatman took us under each of those falls directly. There was also a shore where you can have a nice swim in still water. Word of advice: Get on the boat in your bathing dress. Don't take your cellphone or purse or watch. Go on a weekday. Weekend crowd will be nearly ten thousand.The only negative is that the boatmen charge you a lot you wish you had never come there. But once you get on the boat forget about the amount and nearly 2 hours of healthy enjoyment is assured. Definitely a place to visit especially in the summer vacation.

We went to Salem from there and stayed there.

Day 3:

Got up early again and went to Skandagiri first. My mother can't help turning any trip to a pilgrimage. It was a miracle she stopped with just this one temple. It was more an ashram than a temple and was in the refurbishment stage. I can never for get the Kurukkal who spoke like TR. He gave a long speech about how to worship god and sounded as thought he thought we had no idea of what Hinduism was all about, as if we were high-class, night-club-going, half-western-idiots and he was bringing us back to our religion. He was saying things like, ' "Om Namah Sivayah, Om Namo Narayana" , chant this mantra every night before going to sleep.' Ok! If you say so....

Then we were off to Yercaud. 1500 m above MSL. Not so many things to see as in Ooty or Kodaikkanal but a cool place. Places to see there : Anna Park, Boating, Ladies Seat, Gents seat, Children's seat (view points), Shevaroyan Hill(highest point), Horticultural Park(Rose garden). There was an Amman temple in Shevaroyan hills which was inside a tunnel and we had to crawl to get in. And the tunnel seemed to continue behind the idol. Legend has it that the naturally formed tunnel travelled 450 km to Karnataka border. The man who was there said he had travelled up to 7 km into it and it seemed to continue beyond. Even if you don;t buy the 450 km part, a tunnel of 7 km is good enough. Wonder how you can verify if it goes 450 km.... Any ideas????

Nothing more to see in Yercaud. Back to Chennai the next day.

Our Luck:
*The day after we started from Dharmapuri, there were heavy rains which was in the news.
* The day before we went to Hogenakkal recorded the maximum no.of tourists.
*The day after we returned from there, the boatmen went on a strike against the local Police.
*The day after we had planned to go to Yercaud was the Flower show which was bound to increase the no.of tourists. (We got to see the flowers being arranged without much crowd)
*The day after we went to Yercaud the vehicles returning from there were made to come down a different route 30 kms longer.