Ranjith’s Castle

Last week end, we went to Talakona, a water fall near Tirumala [Thirupathi]. It was a nice place to spend a week end. It is a 200 Km drive from Chennai. We were a 20 member team from Chennai. We started around 11:30 AM on Saturday. We had Lunch @ Amulu a motel at the TN-AP Border. The food was not that good but OK to live with. The best part of the drive was the Ghats section [NH 205] from Bakrapeta. It was a 20 km stretch on the hills covered with green trees. The roads were wide enough to have a leisurely drive and enjoy the view of hills. Evening timing and the mild drizzles made them look great. We reached Talakona at 6 PM in the evening. The drive was a little slower as we had families and small children.

We reached the AP Tourism Guest House. The rooms looked very good . The Guest house had 6 ordinary rooms and 6 Deluxe ones. We took 6 ordinary room and 1 deluxe room. We got settled and ordered food for dinner. We ordered 5 Kgs of Country Chicken, chappathi, Dosa and Rice. The preparation was very good. The size of chapathi is too big that one can take only three for dinner. We ordered a little excess without knowing the actual sizes. We played Dumb Charades for some time. It took around 9 PM to deliver the food. Do make sure you order the food in advance.The other session started in parallel and it went till 2 AM before we hit the bed.

We got up around 7 AM. Thank God it was not raining till 11 AM in the morning. We went to the falls. It was a 2 km drive and a 1 km trek to reach the water falls. The falls had two steps, obviously one @ the bottom and another in the middle. We went up to the middle one and the fierceness of water was little powerful as water travels 200 fts before hitting the middle step. We returned back to the Guest house around 11 AM and went to the near by small hotel for break fast.

Visited the Siddeshwara temple of Lord Shiva near the guest house. The temple was very good and silent.

We then moved on to the Eco Tourism of Forest Department where we went for a small boating and a Canopy walk. The boating and Canopy walk was just a time killer than any fun or adventure. The Forest Guest house seems to be better than the AP Tourism Guest House. We were not able to go for the Jungle Safari which I feel may be a good one.

We returned back to the Guest house and a nice Lunch killing some more chicken and rice. Few took a  short nap to get themselves ready for the downward drive. We started around 3:45 PM and reached chennai @ 8 PM.

Beware of Monkeys :

The only (wild) animal we saw were the monkeys. But we were not able to win over it. We lost a bunch of Bananas and some more fruits to it a couple of times. Keep the Balcony doors closed and Carry snacks in bags when you move to Falls and be informed that Monkeys do know to open your bags.

Good things are :

• No Mobile Network, So, No worries.
• Food is Very good and at the same time Cheap. It costs us Rs 3000/= for a Lunch and Dinner with 8 Kgs of Chicken included.
• Rooms are good and Cheap. The ordinary room costs Rs 350/- and the deluxe costs - Rs 450/-
• Easy reach from Chennai.

You need to come down 7 Km if you want any snack or any drink. So make sure you buy whatever you want from Bakrapeta. Once again, it is advised to buy it from Thirupathi or Chennai or somewhere before Bakrapeta, as everything is little costly there.

A Few Snaps taken at Talakona

Cheers - Ranjith

Last Weekend, We went in for a Workshop in the IT Department of Rover Engineering college @ Perambalur. We stayed @ a motel Ram Inn, in Siruvachur. Siruvachur is 2 KM next to Perambalur, if you drive down the sub continent from Chennai and the motel is on the left of the road before we enter Siruvachur.

When our host said, it was a motel, I was little annoyed as we all know motels down the GST were all commercial and no good food and poorly maintained. But when we entered the motel, I understood that  no bus alight here. Ram Inn is meant for only people who move down on Cars with Family. There were  around 6 rooms and they provide a 24 hours check out term. The rooms were properly maintained. The main attraction to this motel is the Siruvachur temple. The food and the hospitality were very good.

If you are driving down and need a halt in between for a night stay or a good food, you can alight here.

Cheers - Ranjith

We went for a day visit to Trichy. We usually go by Car. We will not have much worry on where we stay and how to go around. This time we moved in by Train and we had a tight schedule too. We were little worried about where to stay and our local travel to accomplish our work. As we are stepping out of the Trichy Junction, we noticed a board “Rooms and Dorms” at the Station entrance. We thought of checking it up and went up stairs. I was little worried on how IRCTC is maintaining this rooms and how they are going to look like. To my surprise the rooms were kept in a nice way. The corridors too looked clean and mopped with nice cleaning agents.

The deal too was very good. For Rs 750, we got a Non-A/C room for three. The room was around a 20′ X 15′ feet and an additional dressing and bath room measuring around a 12 X 15 feet. The beds and pillows were kept clean. The room had all facilities like table, chairs, dressing table, additional mirror, wooden Almirah, and all required amenities except a TV Set. Lighting were good and roof was decorated with POP.  It was like a suite. You know the room of same size in the city will cost around 1,200 to 1,500 bucks for three.

As per the information available at the reception, If you are traveling by a Train [you need to produce the ticket for booking], then you can stay there for a couple of days. The second day charge will be 25% extra of the first day charge. They have Dorms and A/c and A/c Deluxe Suites in Trichy junction. The facilities and the quality of maintenance available seems to vary from junction to junction.

I would advice you to consider the Trichy junction rooms before you check other options in the city.

Cheers - Ranjith

Trichy is one of the cities I love to live in. It has a splendid water taste supplied by the river Cauvery. Last week, we went to Trichy to attend a marriage function of my close friend.

We happened to visit Malakottai, the Vinayagar temple and one of the prime spot of Trichy. We visited the temple in the evening and we got a very splendid view of the whole city of Trichy fully covered over with lights. It was a 200 step walk up the steep hill to reach the Vinayagar temple. It was a good exercise too.

On the next morning, I went to Iyappan temple near the central bustand. It was a nice place too. The temple is completely silent with a lot of positive notes all arround the wall. Lot of boards which carried positive notes about mother and life. A place like that is good to visit daily. The temple is neatly maintained and the notice boards states that the temple carries out a lot of social activities in the city. It is just a couple of kilometers away from the bus stand.

Cheers - Ranjith

We reaced a sand hill on the other side of the river and we took some oil massage and we took a great bath in the running water. The climate was so beautiful and it rained in between.

Photos taken in our trip :

Technorati Tags: hogenakkal, dharmapuri, tamil nadu, karnataka, kaveri, cauvery, dsmrk, ranjith