NEELAKURINJI TREK

Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) is a shrub found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in South India. This incredible blooming event will occur once in 12 years. It’s a long weekend & started planning for the trip as usual. Everyone came up with their own suggestions & finally landed with the common idea of witnessing Neelakurinji flower bloom.

           We planned in such a way that a day full trek to visualize the flower bloom & return back. But in the end everyone dropped the plan, still I was fixed to the plan. I started my journey from Chennai on 28^th Sep 2018 night & reached Theni by next day noon. 

                 From there I got a bus & went to Suryanelli, a resort settlement in the Chinnakanal village in Idukki district, Kerala. I reached HML tea factory & next comes the real adventure i.e. off roading in jeep until campsite. After half an hour of adventurous journey, I reached the campsite place.

               By evening, all the camp members started coming & checked in our respective tents which had been laid in the midst of tea estate. Then we got mingled easily by sharing our travel stories. 

Camping amidst Tea estate

               Then comes the fun part, bonfire with songs sung by organizer & we joined with him. The wonderful bonfire followed by scrumptious dinner under million stars with no electricity & no cellular network.

Bonfire

Sun rise view point, Suryanelli

              On the next day, we started our early morning trek to witness the Sun rise & were pumped up to see such an awe inspiring view.

After spending our time for the mesmerized sun rise, we came back to camp site for having breakfast.

Then we started our enthusiastic trek towards the hill where Neelakurinji bloomed. On the way, we had crossed the Kolukkumalai tea estate (World’s highest organic tea estate at a height of 7900ft above sea level).

Kolukkumalai Tea factory

After an exhilarating trek into misty & muddy way, we finally reached a place which felt like a heaven. Yeah finally we had witnessed the phenomenal flower which blooms once in 12 years & felt like splendiferous.

The flower which made me craze enough to travel all the way to Kolukkumalai to witness it & made many new friends who pampered me in an unknown place. Also I would like to thank my friends who induced a spark for this trip.

             “   We have nothing to lose; a world to explore.”

Prakash Ramasamy.

EXPLORE THE UNEXPLORED

          Generally what will people do on weekends? Some will spend their time leisurely by reading books, watching movies, spending time with their family etc. But as a crazy freaks, we did an exciting exploration to the nearby hill at Venkatapuram, Chengalpattu.

          We started our journey by around 6.00 am on 29^th Sep 2018 towards our destination with a group of around five to six people.

          Basically we started this hike to do our regular fitness activities like jogging which finally become an interesting & some thrilling exploration of the unknown place, which fulfilled our weekend morning.

          We jogged almost 3 km & had a break below the wonderful tree which gave us a lot of energy & a refreshing serene songs of the birds.

          After a small break, we started our exploration by walking towards the hill & finally reached the foot hills.

From there our journey started towards the peak with more enthusiasm & eagerness.

We have crossed some beautiful flowers & passed through grass which looked like a green carpet was laid to welcome us.

Though our journey went well, there comes a twist in the tale. Yes, we lost our path & we headed towards a dead end. From there, we could able to see only the magnificent view of the huge lake & it’s really worth spending time there by throwing stones into it.

After spending our time by throwing stones into the lake, hanging out with many stories, we started our next path the most interesting part i.e., climbing the hill through slippery stones.

At one point of time, we thought of returning back. But without losing our self-confidence, we climbed slowly & reached the peak by helping each other to visualize the majestic view from the top.

We were mesmerized to visualize the view from top & finally we achieved with the help of team work & self-confidence.

After spending enormous time at the peak, we started returning back due to scorching sunlight. Then we had our breakfast & waved a good bye to each other with lot of memories by an amazing exploration.

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.”

Prakash Ramasamy.

Foodie Trip, Pondicherry

Title may sound like crazy, but that’s precisely what we did – my buddy & I. A trip merely for exploring the variety of food at different places; Pondicherry to begin with. We started our trip from Chennai early morning on 14th July & reached Pondy by 8.30 am.

We rented a bike & began exploring the Auroville city – one of the best places I have ever visited.

Banyan tree inside Auroville garden

Auroville is an experimental township founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa & designed by architect Roger Anger. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

Matrimandir, Auroville

Auroville have a place called “Matrimandir” in the middle of the township. On the way to Matrimandir, one can visualize different garden with beautiful sight & thoughtful sayings. 

   

   

   

    

After exploring Auroville, we had a delicious Italian coffee-based dessert named “Affogato” & milkshake. Its a delicious dessert where scoop of two different gelato mixed with a shot of hot espresso.

Affogato & Milkshake

This was followed with a mouth-watering “Choco walnut Freak shake”.

Choco Walnut Freak shake

By late afternoon, we reached our room where we took a small nap. In the evening, we went to Rock beach after refreshment.

Consulat général de france à pondichéry

We were fascinated to see how people spent their leisure evening with their family by walking & hanging out in the beach road.

Night view of Promenade beach

Bharatratna Dr.B.R. Ambedkar Manimandabam

Then we visited many memorials by the Promenade.

French soldiers war memorial

This wonderful evening, was followed by exploration of some hearty Mexican food. We went to a Mexican restaurant named Margarita’s for dinner where we had finger licking “Sizzling Prawn Fajitas”.

Sizzling Prawn Fajitas

The interiors & the ambience of the restaurant were tempting to spend more time.

Interior of the Margarita's restaurant

The next day morning, we woke up & explored French food at “CAFÉ DES ARTS”.

CAFÉ DES ARTS

We had an amazing food named “Provencale Tartines” & Yummy Baguette with Nutella.

Provencale Tartines

After tasted French food, we explored the Serenity beach, botanical garden & then Providence mall. Finally we reached South Indian restaurant where we had scrumptious “Vanjaram fish meal”. 

Vanjaram Fish meal

After the authentic south Indian meal, we bid goodbye to Pondicherry & started our journey back with lot of emotions towards food & places which we explored. It’s really an amazing & enticing trip which will be memorable forever.

“I am not a glutton; I am an explorer of food.”

Prakash Ramasamy.

Weekend Trip to Anakulam, Munnar, Kerala.

It’s been more than months where I had done my backpacking trip & I was eagerly waiting for my next trip. There comes the long weekend, we thought of many places & finally landed in an amazing place called Anakulam, Idukki district of Kerala (God’s own country).

Mesmerizing view of Munnar

We started our trip on Saturday morning from Coimbatore & reached Munnar in the late afternoon. From there we traveled another 35 km inside the forest to reach the most amazing place. We checked in our resort by evening. 

By evening, we started exploring the local places in our car where we find out a perfect place to chill out, A check dam where we spent our time by taking bath in the running crystal clear water.

Greenery view which makes our mind calm & refreshing

After enjoyed the bath, we started our way back to our cottage. On the way back, we had seen a mesmerizing view where a herd of elephants came out from the jungle to have a water in the stream. We are delighted to see such a scenery where the herd of elephants enjoying the water without disturbing anyone.

Fortunate enough to have an wonderful scenery

Then comes the next wonderful moment, in the late evening we started our campfire & shared our best experiences & fully surrounded with happiness only. Then we had our delicious food BBQ, Chapatti with Chicken gravy for dinner. After completing the dinner, we started our story session & it continued till midnight.

Awesome view of a flower

Mind blowing place

The next morning after completed our breakfast we started our journey in Mahindra Jeep to explore the deep forest & we did off roading too. We had been delighted to experience the off roading & enjoyed it with the stunning Mahindra Jeep.

We had seen the hanging bridge during our trip & it was pleasant to see such an amazing creation by the mankind.

Hanging bridge

Then the real part comes; We went to the falls & enjoyed the shower over there for a very long time. 

Amazing falls to escape from the scorching weather

View of a valley where the falls origins

With a lot of fun & enjoyment, we spent our weekend in the amazing falls to escape from the scorching summer. With these various sweet memories, we ended our trip & back to normal workaholic life.

 

With love,

Prakash Ramasamy,

May 2018.