[Gypsian]

With numerous enthralling experiences, road trips are something everyone should embark on at least twice or thrice in a year. They are exciting, and full of fun. Your post is thoroughly enjoyable. Threads such as these put the reader to imaginative mode of experiencing such road trips.
As you rightly pointed, in our Karnataka, the Western Ghats tourist places are overly crowded and appears overflowing sometimes. It’s best to visit these places on weekdays if possible.

[ajayc123]

The fabulous pictures were a feast for the eyes. Thanks a lot for sharing.

[mankuthimma]

Originally Posted by Capri89

A well written travelogue. Amazing pictures. Feel like dropping everything and follow this trail. Another must-do thing at the top. (This is piling up indeed).

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for the kind words! Yup! the list is endless.. We are blessed with so many beautiful places around, one life is just not enough

Originally Posted by kvsneela

Well written travelogue. One funny thing I noticed in the write-up that "paneer" is mentioned in place of "panneer". Why I mention this because, in many times/ places I have noticed Paneer( Indian Cottage Cheese) is wrongly mentioned as Panneer ( Rose water)in TN( as Panneer is already known here and nowadays Paneer is also sold in many places, this confusion .) But for the first to time I observed the reverse ( Paneer in place of Panneer).

Thanks for the appreication. One more thanks for this trivia behind paneer and "panneer" I was scratching my head how to convey this. Finally settled on using the term "paneer water" to differentiate it from "cottage cheese" paneer. But you have given the correct context. I didnt realize that "Rose water" is the equivalent word for it. Thank you!
Yeah, this Rose water flavor kicks in just when we are about swallow the pulp. Its an amazing feeling !

Originally Posted by sukhbirST

Beautiful closeups and landscapes had me glued to the large monitor and here is where desktops have their own charm. Well, full credit to you for taking such nicely angled photos. The combination of dark clouds, greenery, water and mist have been brought out in the best possible way. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for the appreciative words ! Our photography gear is nothing to boast about, its a laughable single digit megapixel DSLR and phone camera!! But the location themselves were so scenic, they render beautifully on big screens. I too prefer a large screen instead of the tiny screens of the mobile phones. Also as I mentioned in my writeup, a lot of these photos were clicked by my daughter. Children's mind, I am amazed, I think their spontaneity leads to a natural sense of beauty.

Originally Posted by Aanchal Kaushik

Your travelogue is quite detailed and illustrated with beautiful pictures.This will definitely be on my travel list.Hopefully it rains when I visit

Thank you for the kind words of appreciation ! Yes. Kerala is truly Gods own country. It is travellers paradise. But these hinterlands of TN, they are so unassuming, generally dont figure on a casual tourist's radar. There are so many such places on either side of NH-183. Just take any of the roads and explore! Yeah, rains would be like cherry on the cake ! Note that this part of TN gets rains during retreat of the monsoon season in the months of Oct-Nov.

Originally Posted by Gypsian

With numerous enthralling experiences, road trips are something everyone should embark on at least twice or thrice in a year. They are exciting, and full of fun. Your post is thoroughly enjoyable. Threads such as these put the reader to imaginative mode of experiencing such road trips.
As you rightly pointed, in our Karnataka, the Western Ghats tourist places are overly crowded and appears overflowing sometimes. It’s best to visit these places on weekdays if possible.

Thank you so much! Rightly said! Road trips are exciting. It just opens up our mind and heart that is so clogged with day to day mundane things. And we are so blessed with close proximity to Western Ghats, especially during and after monsoons, but as you said, weekdays are the best to visit these places to avoid the crowds.

Originally Posted by ajayc123

The fabulous pictures were a feast for the eyes. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Thank you for the encouraging words ! Inspires me to complete the other travelogue which is still lying in the assembly line

[Capri89]

Hi,
Would appreciate if you can specify the DSLR camera details, however basic that might be. Am looking to buy one and this might help.
Regards

[mankuthimma]

Originally Posted by Capri89

Hi,
Would appreciate if you can specify the DSLR camera details, however basic that might be. Am looking to buy one and this might help.
Regards

*ahem*!! Once upon a time I was a teenager and wanted pursue photography as my hobby, then I had bought Nikon D50, way back in 2005. 6 megapixel !! Still using it with the original 18-55mm stock lens, looks and works the same as it was on day 1. Legendary stuff !!
Not sure what's the latest in market nowadays. Stopped tracking long time ago. Photography and audio equipment, the teenage fancies, are expensive hobbies.

[WD-42]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Country side drive and a visit to grape farm

It was grape harvest season around Theni and Cumbum. I wanted to drive on the interior rural roads and visit some farm on the way. The interior roads are also well kept and offer best rural vistas, I never miss an opportunity to drive on such roads whenever I visit this region. I am so fascinated by the towns and villages like Devadanapatti, Gengavarpatti, Periyakulam, Theni etc and driving around them is always my most cherished pleasure.


The black grapes in this region have a unique 'paneer water' flavor . It was so awesome we visited this farm twice during our stay to bring back loads of this grapes to Bangalore. It turned out the farm owners were originally from Karnataka, had a nice conversation with them. The thick farm fresh grape juice they offered was fantastic !

How originally? Were they recent immigrants to the area, or from ages ago?

Just some trivia, the villages along the route from Dindigal to Kumily are all immigrants from Karnataka from a couple of centuries ago, and they all still speak Kannada (albeit a dialect that is now Tamil influenced, you could say it's like 80-85% kannada and 10-15% tamil) especially the towns past Theni like Bodi, Cumbum etc.
The villages on the route from Dindigal to Palani are all of Odiya settlers and still speak Odiya to some extent especially around the Oddanchatram region.

[BoJack]

Awesome pics! I took a trip through Angamoozhy- Gavi- Vandiperiyar last year, such a magical route


If you zoom in, you can see an elephant on top of the hill. Didn't get a chance to take a better pic of the big guy.

[mankuthimma]

Originally Posted by WD-42

How originally? Were they recent immigrants to the area, or from ages ago?

Just some trivia, the villages along the route from Dindigal to Kumily are all immigrants from Karnataka from a couple of centuries ago, and they all still speak Kannada (albeit a dialect that is now Tamil influenced, you could say it's like 80-85% kannada and 10-15% tamil) especially the towns past Theni like Bodi, Cumbum etc.
The villages on the route from Dindigal to Palani are all of Odiya settlers and still speak Odiya to some extent especially around the Oddanchatram region.

Very interesting to know! Struggle for existence, search for greener pastures can take population to distant places. Thanks for sharing this info.

Originally Posted by BoJack

Awesome pics! I took a trip through Angamoozhy- Gavi- Vandiperiyar last year, such a magical route

If you zoom in, you can see an elephant on top of the hill. Didn't get a chance to take a better pic of the big guy.

Thank you! Totally agree! the entire route is just magical! Had never seen such a scenic route like this before.
Even though the jeep driver claimed guaranteed wildlife sighting at close proximity, all we got was just a distant view of few elephants and what seemed like nilgiri thar grazing the grasslands at the upper reaches of the mountains.