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We could feel the freshness. We could feel the calmness. We could feel the peacefulness. Yes, We felt serene. We enjoyed each and every bit of our travel.
How it all started:-
When I saw a thread ‘Another Independence Day meet’, was overjoyed because of two reasons. Last time, I couldn’t attend the meet. Second, I can take my wife along. I immediately shared the news with her. Later, we saw less or no activities because of various reasons.
Initially we planned for 15th August as per the forum. Later, when we did not see any ‘good’ happening in that thread, I planned for weekend. Not Saturday-Sunday. But, Sunday (18th Aug)-Monday (19th Aug). 18th August '13 is our DZiRE’s 2nd Anniversary & 19th August is my wife’s Birthday. So thought of taking a day off from busy schedule and celebrate. I wanted some calmness and that was another reason to choose Monday than Saturday. (It worked out well).
Initially we planned for 15th August as per the forum. Later, when we did not see any ‘good’ happening in that thread, I planned for weekend. Not Saturday-Sunday. But, Sunday (18th Aug)-Monday (19th Aug). 18th August '13 is our DZiRE’s 2nd Anniversary & 19th August is my wife’s Birthday. So thought of taking a day off from busy schedule and celebrate. I wanted some calmness and that was another reason to choose Monday than Saturday. (It worked out well).
Why Yercaud:-
As we are expecting a new member in our family, I did not want to drive on bad road. Doctor also advised her not to travel long distance So, the destination from the ‘Independence Meet’ thread came to my mind. Did not select Horsely Hill/Yelagiri as we were looking for a two day trip After talking with AR Ram sir, I came to know the roads to Yercaud are of excellent condition. I always wanted to spend some time in calm atmosphere breathing unpolluted air.
Planning phase:-
Checked few travelogues for travel tips, accommodation etc. Anshuman’s thread was one among them which helped me a lot . Later I hijacked the thread and started posting queries. I got valuable suggestions from Anshuman, Highway_Ranger, AR Ram Sir, quitefar & finally a new TAIan Vinod from Chennai. I finalised on Hotel Shevaroys (Ranked 6th in tripadviser). Zeroed down to Orchid Room @ Shevaroys (around 2800 with discounts)
Initially my friend told that he will join with his wife and kid. Later he pulled out as I kept on pressuring to book hotels. Travelguru was giving flat 1000Rs which I missed because of my friend’s delay . Later, when I was about to book @ Hotel Shevaroys thru Groupon, found NO availability on chosen dates. I was really feeling bad that I did not get the pricing of 2800 or 2899 to the actual pricing of 3800(including tax). Called them directly and they also said that there are no ‘Orchid’ rooms available for Sunday check-in. Finally, cleartrip.com came to my rescue. I booked thru them even when we travelled to Ooty. They had some 300Rs off. At last, booked the Orchid room at @3415/-. I wondered how they could allot me the room if it is already full.
After booking the hotel, I thought of renting a lens and trying out the differences by clicking various shot. Highway_Ranger gave some valuable options. I could not rent lens because I was tied up in office.
On 17th Saturday, I tried to finish all my pending work and wife packed two bag full of dresses /water bottles, eatables. She loves DZiRE as she could dump without worrying much about space. Slippers, shoes etc etc.
Initially my friend told that he will join with his wife and kid. Later he pulled out as I kept on pressuring to book hotels. Travelguru was giving flat 1000Rs which I missed because of my friend’s delay . Later, when I was about to book @ Hotel Shevaroys thru Groupon, found NO availability on chosen dates. I was really feeling bad that I did not get the pricing of 2800 or 2899 to the actual pricing of 3800(including tax). Called them directly and they also said that there are no ‘Orchid’ rooms available for Sunday check-in. Finally, cleartrip.com came to my rescue. I booked thru them even when we travelled to Ooty. They had some 300Rs off. At last, booked the Orchid room at @3415/-. I wondered how they could allot me the room if it is already full.
After booking the hotel, I thought of renting a lens and trying out the differences by clicking various shot. Highway_Ranger gave some valuable options. I could not rent lens because I was tied up in office.
On 17th Saturday, I tried to finish all my pending work and wife packed two bag full of dresses /water bottles, eatables. She loves DZiRE as she could dump without worrying much about space. Slippers, shoes etc etc.
18th August :-
We had planned to start by 5.30 to 6AM. Since my friend was not coming, I was lazy to get up. Slept till 5.45AM. Got up, took bath and was ready in 45 minutes. Initially we thought of going thru Hosakerehalli-Devegowda PetrolBunk-BTM-Silkboard-Elevated Express way-Electronic City-Hosur. As we got delayed, we quickly changed our plan to get into NICE Road (from Link Road).
Set the Trip Meter & GPS (My phone with Sygic Map)
Dell Streak with Sygic map
Initial distance showed 230 and it became 245 as we took NICE Road.
Toll -115 Rs for just 28KM
Newly Concreted nice road.
Some 'NICE Road snaps' (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise)
Near the first exit (Mysore road / Kanakapura road)
In 25 minutes, we reached the electronic city exit. It would have taken at least one hour or more on normal roads for crossing that 30KM (as I did not want to get into any potholes).
After Electronic city exit
We paid another toll before Hosur (Attibele) 25Rs (Passed 7:20AM)
Roads were as good as nice road at times.
First stop came much before Krishnagiri for breakfast. We wanted to go to A2B (Adyar anand bhavan) and went to Kamat. When we entered inside the road, we found that we reached at a different restaurant. We thought of trying out as I was kind of hungry. Food was not great compared to a2b. Less. More over, over priced. Comparing to their other branches, found this below par.
Masala dosa without salt :( (Wish if the chutney/sambar had salt at least). I kept myself cool than my normal behavior of fighting.
Did not even thought of clicking more photos.
Learned once more - Experience makes man perfect
It was 8.10 when we left there.
1/2 DZiRE
To be continued
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