Our lovely getaway to Kodai!

As a kid I would visit Kodaikanal at least once every 2 years I think. My memories of that place are so vivid. This time I visited with the better half to celebrate one year of putting up with each other! ;-) 

We stayed at the Villa Retreat which was a perfect choice(pat myself on the back). Do check out my review of the place in Trip Advisor. This was the first time we traveled together by train and that was quite fun. We went by 1st AC and had an entire coupe to ourselves, we were good kids I promise! ;-) 

We reached on Saturday morning and boy the weather was fantastic!! We freshened up, relaxed, gorged on hot rotis and dal, read and slept. When we woke up, our room offered a lovely valley view and we took in the beauty of the place....

We then headed for a stroll to "Coakers Walk" which was right next door and then took a nice long walk to the famous "lake". Boy. It felt as if the entire South India converged there. Kodaikanal is of course one of the most popular "honeymoon" destinations in India. With its great weather, summer time always pulls in crowds from all parts of the country!! Hence it was so crowded and needless to say, K freaked out. We were lucky to find a nice quiet spot and he started clicking away.. And finally got some pics as pretty as this.... 

Next morning the dude at our resort suggested a trip to "Manavanoor Lake". Like I said, I've seen it all in Kodai. At least that is what I thought. Until I discovered this beauty!  Manavanoor is about 45 km away from Kodaikanal and wow.. we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. It takes about an hour, but we took almost 2.5 hours to reach.. that is because we kept stopping on our way to take in the beauty of the place... 

Enroute.. a scenic view overlooking the Palani Hill... 

Pine Forests with a small stream on our way to Manavanoor... 

Don't miss the "Poomparai" village on your way. It is completely green, surrounded by mist sometimes and has lovely terraced grass fields. Apparently vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower and even garlic are grown here... 

We then reached closer to the lake and were told we could "horse ride" close to the actual lake. And of course I didn't miss this opportunity! And once we reached this is what we saw... 

Needless to say, this is said to be a popular spot for directors to shoot movies... our guide said movies like Adhavan, Tenali, Manmadhan Ambu etc have been shot here. But what was lovely is that there was not a single person in sight. It was just the two of us, surrounded by a lovely still water lake, lush greenery around us and birds chirping.... So pristine it was! We finally decided to head back and thanked our driver who was extremely courteous and informative - he even pointed out a flying squirrel on our way back, which unfortunately we couldn't click. 

Day 2 we decided to head to another unknown spot called the Berijam Lake.This is actually a forested area and hence we had to get prior permission to visit. And we got lucky again :) 

En route to the lake, we stopped at various "points"... and wow. Breathtakingly beautiful views!!! 

Unfortunately, it started pouring and we couldn't get as many pics as we would have loved to-- sample this.. 

Err.. yes that is me.. posing like an idiot thinking my husband is shooting my picture... Oh well! 

We then enter the actual forest area, the cute little houses are actually places where travelers can stay.. Would love to stay there someday! 

Then we keep walking and keep on walking until we reach Berijam Lake... Unlike Manavanoor, this seemed to be quite a popular spot and there were tourists thronging the place... and with that comes litter, rubbish, garbage, plastic and lots of noise!! However, I was mesmerized by this lovely lake.... 

Another view from a different angle... 

After spending about half an hour taking in the beauty of the place, we decide to take a short walk and went through what looked like a nature trail.... thankfully there wasn't a soul around and it was back to being quiet again..just how we like it... 

We then head back coz by now the clouds are looming and we know it is going to pour!! On our way back out of Berijam, we see this... Apparently called "Caps Valley" because the story is that if you throw a cap, it will come back to you!! Wished I could have tried it...

The next day we did the usual "touristy" spots which were nothing compared to these two places... I am for once glad that the Tamil Nadu Government isn't actually promoting any of these places aggressively... because I realize the more exposed they are to humans, the sooner they lose their charm. However, the next time you head to Kodai, please visit these without fail! And Do Not Litter for heavens sake! ;-) 

You can certainly give the likes of Guna Caves a miss! 

A lovely surprise was eating at "Tava".. I've eaten here with my parents and the rest of my family years ago.. It is still the same small eatery that serves delicious parathas, dal makhani and the likes... K and I treated ourselves to a yummy meal after completing a full round of 7kms in our bicycles around the lake! Missed my family so much.... reminded me of our Sterling Resort days... I really want to do a trip with them soon!! 

Leaving you guys with a few more pics that tell us how wonderfully blessed Mother Earth is...... Nature at its absolute best! 

PS I almost forgot.... thanks a ton, Karthik for these lovely lovely pictures!! Keep on clickin' :-)