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
![Big Smile [:D] [:D]](http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Big%20Smile.gif)
) 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 [clap] [clap]](http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif)
. 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 [frustration] [frustration]](http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Frustration.gif)
). 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...