Xinging The Shevroy Hills

Mr.Ash · Sep 6, 2012

We (Wifey & I) had been keen on doing a road trip for quite sometime. According to my family elders, it was not advisable to do a road trip with an infant on board. Hence we have been postponing the trip for a long time. Finally after waiting for long time, we planned to do a trip with my kid who is now 2.7yrs.

As the long weekend (18 Aug – 21Aug) was fast approaching for Ramzan, wife was insisting for a road trip. I do not want to take a chance by travelling to a longer distance and make the entire trip tiresome. So my wife and I decided to do a shorter road trip. Now for the place, I suggested Bangalore even my wife said YES. Why Bangalore?? That is because my friend Rajesh who recently settled down in Bangalore was insisting me to come over for a quite sometime so I gave a thought and quickly called him from office on Friday (17 Aug) evening to find out if he is free for the long weekend? He said he is working on Monday and that there is no leave in his office for Ramzan [frustration]

. But he still called me to come over. Since, I did not want to disturb him, Bangalore plan was dropped. Now in search of other location that night, chatting with one of a friend (he is a frequent traveler) he suggested Kolli hills at Nammakal district. Immediately Googled about the place, it was looking awesome. Searched for hotels and resorts gave me a big shock of life that there are no good hotels [surprise]

. Since I’m little fussy about the hotels stuff coz I’m travelling with Kid, I had dropped the plan of Kolli hills. That night while talking to my wife somewhere in mind came up Yercaud. Yercaud is one place I wanted to visit for a long time. Every time a plan is made to Yercaud due to some or the other reasons, the plan is either changed or dropped [confused]

. Since both of us have not seen this place we zeroed in at the Shevroy hills (this is how Yercaud is called!!).

Teaser :

stay connected for pics & more…

Mr.Ash · Sep 6, 2012

Saturday (18 Aug) morning jumped out from bed and quickly called my friend Vicky to find out if he is joining me for the trip with his family. He said he is got an important meeting to attend on Monday hence its not possible. Immediately opened up the Laptop and started to search for hotels. Called up about 5 to 6 hotels and everybody said the same thing “Sorry sir we are running full” couple of them said they will give on Sunday but cannot take the booking now. Wife and I decided to leave on Sunday morning without any bookings. Got my car checked up, brimmed up the tank and checked for tyre pressure. Back home and packed the bags and all set to leave on Sunday (19 Aug) 5.30am.

Finally the D-day!! Got up by 4am woke my wife and went and cleaned my car. Dumped all the things in the car took a hot shower and all set to leave the house clocked the trip meter to zero and started sharp by 6.00am.

Ride: Hyundai Santro GLS (2007 Dec) done 62000kms
Members: Me, Wife and Kid
Camera: Nikon S9300 (Digital)
Route: Chennai - Vellore -Vaniyambadi - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem-Yercaud

Chennai was really awesome that Sunday morning with very little traffic in Western extension of Anna Nagar. No school or office goers and especially no share autos. Came out thru park road and touched the ORR and slowly revved the car to 80kmph. Exited at the Bangalore highway and cruised at 100kmph. There are enough people in this board would have told us about Chennai Bangalore Highway. The road was awesome quickly my daughter opened her eyes slowly to tell me to switch on the AC. I smiled and switched it ON. It was 8.15am somewhere after Kancheepuram we stopped for a breakfast at Hotel Woodland. This is definitely not the famous Woodlands hotel in Chennai and Bangalore. The breakfast break was about 40mins. Entire onward journey revved the car only between 90kmph to 100kmph with full time AC on. We reached Salem about 12ish. The weather was about 34 degrees and Salem was hot though not as hottest as Chennai. My kiddo wanted a tender coconut and quickly stopped once after entering the Salem town. As my daughter was gulping the tender coconut I enquired about the route details to Yercaud the road condition and weather details with the vendor. Thanking him for all the useful details, started from there and followed the sign board to Yercaud. Quickly after a drive of 10mins we started climbing the hills. The roads are well maintained and drive thru the hills was a pleasant. All the 20 hairpin bend was extremely broader and gave way for bigger vehicles. In a drive of about 45mins we reached Yercaud. The weather was very pleasant in the afternoon we switched off the AC in the car and windows was rolled down for my daughter to enjoy the weather. We stopped at the couple of resorts to check for the availability. Everybody was running full. Since it was already about 1.30pm both of us and my little one was hungry. Wife said we will lunch and then start searching for the resort. Agree to it now our search changed to a nice restaurant for food. Near the lake there was a vegetarian restaurant (Sri Saravana bavan again not the famous Saravana Bhavan) quickly I saw my wife and both of us nodded our head to NO (what the hell we are in a holiday [:D]

) and searched for a non-veg hotel. Meanwhile wife saw a board adjacent to the veg hotel. The board reads Hotel KC (don’t know the expansion) we immediately went to the adjacent right which led to the hotels car park. Parked the car and got into the lobby. The hotel was new and the person at the reception welcomed us with the smile. Not everybody does it, but that small smile gave lot of hopes to us and somewhere in the chillness our tiredness as flown away kind.

We asked for a room. He quickly turned the book and said yes there is availability. Immediately (human tendency) we said we wanted to see the room. The room was amazing and neatly maintained with all facilities like LCD TV, telephone, furnished with dressing table, wardrobes and Wi-Fi connection. What more is required? The room was spacious enough for 2 adults and 1 kid. With all these facilities they charged me 1200/- inclusive of tax [clap]

. I can’t even think of a hotel in Chennai with all these facilities even double the rate!! We immediately said yes and checked in the hotel completing all the formalities. Now refreshed and went to the adjacent road and found Hotel Shevroy which is one of the biggest Hotels in Yercaud. Had a sumptuous lunch and back to hotel for a quick nap. Ordered for a coffee and woke up at 5.30 pm the weather was colder by now. Though it was not as cold as Ooty or kodaikanal, but we didn’t actually require a fan for us. I went to reception to find out the places to visit in Yercaud. They said boating should have already been closed and only place we can visit is the Gents seat, ladies seat & children seat (don’t know why that name [frustration]

). This place is about 4.5kms from the lake and road condition was ok. This is actually a view point where the entire Salem is visible. Since it was a open valley there was huge breeze and the climate was pleasing and it was simply superb. My daughter was quickly wrapped up with the sweater and thick clothes. It was already dark by the time we reached this place. At times I think the local corporation should take some initiative to keep the place neat and tidy at least for the tourist sake. Enjoyed the view point in the dark the view of Salem in lights is amazing. Since there is no light completely, my camera lenses couldn’t capture it. Back to hotel and had a light dinner and dozed off due to the day long travel.

Pics to follow...

Mr.Ash · Sep 6, 2012

The next day Monday (20 Aug) up early showered and was behind the wheels. Today’s program was to cover the Kiliyur waterfalls, Pagoda point, Rose garden and Boating. Wife insisted to start up with the trip by visiting a temple and yes we were there in a matter of 10mins. Back from temple went straight to Hotel Tamilnadu for breakfast. They had only one item in the menu called breakfast which is inclusive of 1 idly, 1 dosa, 1 scoop of Pongal and unlimited chutney and sambar followed by a coffee or tea costing 70/- per plate. One of the worst breakfasts I had ever had in my life. Upon everything very bad service. The waiter would not even respond to you even if he sees you calling [anger]

. Somehow I don’t want to pick up a quarrel and spoil my holiday. So quietly ate whatever I liked and came out. Food lovers whenever you visit Yercaud please be careful.

Next on our agenda was Kiliyur waterfalls. The road was actually not that bad but still there are lots of potholes. A travel of 5kms from the lake brought us to the place. Not much of tourist around but the place is amazing. The cars are allowed only up to certain distance and from there you need to walk for couples of kms down the road followed by 275 steps. The best thing about the place is that we will continuously hear the sound of the water falls but the falls in not visible until you reach the last step. Spent about 2hrs there and the actual challenge is to climb all the 275 steps each step is equal to 3 of our regular steps at house!! Somehow came back to car and searched for the nice restaurant nearby and found the resort called Grange resort. Had a sumptuous meal of Fried rice, Noodle, Chilly egg, Chicken schezwan. Food was served hot and was delicious. We were the only family in the resort others have already started since the next day was a working day. From there we continued our next place of visit pagoda point. Nothing much to say about the place it is like just another view point. Back to hotel room now and a quick nap (after all what are holidays for?) up by 5.00 quickly went to the boat house and booked a boat. The cost of boating is damn cheap. For adults they charge Rs.5/- per person for Kids Rs3/- (kids up to 5 yrs free) [clap]

this is for the pedal boat. For row boat if you need a rower you will be charged Rs75/- we were already tired after the waterfall trekking hence opted for a boat man to row. The weather was extremely pleasant and the boating was really good. All the members enjoyed the boating part very well. Since the sun had already set, we skipped the rose garden and went to the kid’s play area park nearby where my daughter had enjoyed well and back to hotel. Since it was our last day of the tour we wanted to end up with a lovely dinner. So both us planned to go to GRT nature trails or to The Grand Palace. I remember my Brother in law saying the food at Grand Palace is delicious when he visited and stayed in the place last time. Hence we decided to go to Grand Palace. This is just like any other 3 or 4 star hotel. Food was good so do the ambiance and the gesture. Back to the rooms asked the front office person to get the car washed crashed to the bed.

Tuesday (21 Aug) – Up by 7.30 showered and had a quick bite settled the bill. The car was ready clean and neat. Dumped the things and started the return journey. We started around 10am and slowly drove down the hill (without AC) and reached Salem around 11am. Salem was little hot and so the AC was switched on. We chose the same route back to Chennai. Stopped at the A2B for filling up for a quick bit for my daughter otherwise wife and I were very keen in having our Biryani at Ambur Star (very famous Biryani joint in Chennai – Bangalore highway). Reached Ambur around 2.15pm and to our surprise all the Star outlets (there are nearly around 15 outlets every thing is named star) were closed due to the previous day Ramzan. But still we were able to locate one of the open restaurants which read Star Biryani since 1913 (opp to Ambur railway station) the Biryani was delicious and a sumptuous lunch and reached safely back to Chennai around 5.30pm with all green memories. The return journey was still pleasant but much of traffic from Sriperambatur and Kancheepuram.

Hope you enjoyed the travelogue. Looking forward to hear from you guys!! [:)]

mukeshus · Sep 6, 2012

Welcome to TAI Mr.Ash [:)]

Let us know more about yourself in the introduction section.

During our trip to Kanyakumari, we took a deviation to left near Salem.
And reached Yercaud, the roads are absolute breeze to drive, i loved those twisty roads, and the beautiful scenery.

Waiting for more...

Here is a link of my visit to Yercaud, the air is so fresh there.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...durai-rameshwaram-kanyakumari.html#post124049

Even when the sun was out from the cloud, the weather was cool there.

Mr.Ash · Sep 7, 2012

Now the pics to do the talking...

Mr.Ash · Sep 7, 2012

mukeshus said:

Thanks mukeshus. I've already told about myself in the introduction post. Thanks for the link will definitely check out!! [:)]

singh890 · Sep 7, 2012

That's a very nice and detail travelogue buddy. Enjoyed reading it.

And the pics are wonderful as well. Nice work buddy.

Mr.Ash · Sep 7, 2012

singh890 said:

Thanks Singh. It is indeed a very happy moment to receive appreciation from a proffesional like you [:)]

singh890 · Sep 7, 2012

Mr.Ash said:

Haha..Thanks buddy and yes i love doing road trips. Below are the links of my travelogues that i have done in India and US.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...p-fairfax-virginia-durham-north-carolina.html

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...travelogue-driving-maruti-800-delhi-pune.html

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...gton-dc-getting-ready-next-trip-1786-kms.html

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...as-va-minneapolis-mn-1100-miles-1770-kms.html

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...tsburg-kansas-manassas-virginia-1932-kms.html

visran · Sep 8, 2012

Wonderful review and nice pic's and lastly welcome to TAI

Mr.Ash · Sep 10, 2012

visran said:

Thanks Visran [:)]

AppU · Sep 10, 2012

I was never been to Yercaud before.

Your Pics are tempting me to visit those places. Will plan very soon to visit those places.

Gurrala74 · Sep 10, 2012

singh890 said:

Singh

All your travelogues are really wondeful !! I notice few things !!

In US all the roads look to me same !! where in India every road look to you too different !!

Except roads, US is just like India !! [clap]

Your RED civic is awesome man !!

Mr.Ash · Sep 11, 2012

AppU said:

Thanks Appu. Yercaud is sucha lovely place (though this is my first visit). Please ping me when you leave to yercaud, i shall give you details like the hotel bookings and places to visit. I read your detailed report on your new Vista. Congrats!! Your car looks awesome!! [:)]

AppU · Sep 11, 2012

Mr.Ash said:

sure Buddy, I'll definitely have a word with you before planning the trip.

Thanks for your comments on Whitey [:)]

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