Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Kolli Malai Trip

People : Mega, Muthu,Babu,Shivanand,Sarpalan,Vijay,Prateek and Arun
Place : Namakkal and Kollimalai
Date : 8 and 9 , Sep 2007

When the time for a Quarterly Team outing grew near, Sarpalan was quick to invite all of us over to his hometown Namakkal and hence thereby visiting Kollimalai also.
So the Team outing was arranged to be Kollimalai.

Places we had visited :

1. Namakkal Anjaneyar Kovil
2. Arapaleeswarar Kovil
3. Kollimalai Waterfalls
4. Kolli Paavai Kovil or Ettu Kai Amman Kovil

Namakkal Anjaneyar Kovil

Though I had previously crossed this temple during my college days, I hwas not able to visit it that time.

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A Candid Photo of myself inside the temple taken by my friend Shivanand.

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After finishing with the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple our next stop was Kollimalai.

Places to be seen at Kollimalai :

These are the places to be seen at Kollimalai. I would say this is an exhaustive list. Make sure that you visit atleast a couple of these place when you are in kollimalai.

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Trip Upward :

The trip to the bottom of the Kolli malai was scenic and straight out of a bharathiraja movie.

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The climb up the hill was a trip into nature full of awesome sceneries.

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Video of a Hairpin bend

Kollimalai boasts of having 70 hairpin bends and in one of them many of Large vehicles have no option but to take Reverse gear to turn. See yourself in the below video.



http://youtube.com/watch?v=7UrpUCIxKx4

Seeku Paarai or Suicide Point :

This is one of the Viewpoints that we had time to visit and a good place to enjoy nature.

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Semmedu :

This, I believe is the biggest village in Kollimalai and this is where we stayed for the night.

Morning walk :

Couple of us decided to an impromptu morning walk and the result was these awesome clicks.

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Pepper plant.

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Boating :

Kollimalai now boasts of an artificial Boating place and the boating was pleasant with nobody to disturb us.

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Arapaleeswarar Kovil:

The Arapaleeswarar Kovil is a old temple situated near the waterfalls.
It is a "Paadal Petra Sthalam" also.

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The temple has a good number of Tamil inscriptions. I am not sure whether someone has taken the effort to decipher these inscriptions.

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Kolli malai Waterfalls :

The Waterfalls is the highlight of Kollimalai and you wont regret it after the steep climbdown of some 1000 odd steps.

At The Beginning of the Path to Waterfalls

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The main Waterfalls

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Video of the waterfalls



http://youtube.com/watch?v=dC2PbRiNWq8

The climb up to the starting point after the bath in the waterfalls is on the extreme side of trekking and can be quite daunting for anyone who is not a frequent trekker.

Resting halfway during the climb up of the waterfalls.

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Kolli Paavai Kovil :

The Kolli Paavai Kovil is the most famous temple, haviing a Pazhamozhi to its fame.
The saying goes that "Kolli Paavai sirithe Kolvaal",roughly translating to (kolliPaavai will kill by tempting with her laughter)

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The Temple:

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Thanks to Sarpalan for his efforts in organising this trip and his family for their great hospitality.

Cheers
Megarajan

38 comments:

Annamalayaar said...

Hello Friend!

It is really a praiseworthy travelogue. I have been to Namakkal Anjaneyar temple but I have never been to Kollimalai thus far. Henceforth, if I happen to tour Kollimalai, I would certainly use your blog as my tourist guide. You furnish lot of information in your travelogues. I read your travelogue on Thalaserry also.

I have also posted a travelogue on Andaman in my blogspot. If you are interested, then log in @:

http://annamalayaan.blogspot.com/

Best wishes to you. Hoping to see more and more travelogues like this.

Megarajan said...

Hi Friend,

Thanks for your encouraging comments.

I visited your blog and I am glad that I saw it. Apart from travelling, one of my other big passion is Tamizh which I see that you also share. I will try to track yout blogposts from now and my sincere request is please continue sharing your knowledge you have gained about Tamil.

Please do visit Kollimalai without fail sometime. It is a great place but be warned that it has an eerie atmosphere even now.I had been there previously also and it has changed for the better now.

And ofcourse since you love tamil, you must have heard that kollimalai is the place of the great tamil king valvil ori.

And then are you the anonymous who commented in the Thalassery blogpost ?

Raju said...

Hi,
This is a nice coverage of the place. Good work that helps others. Though I knew it's a nice place and though my in-laws are nearby at Kulitalai, I had never been there and I never expected it to be so nice. Your photos made my kids push me harder. This will definetely be there in our next trip to Kulitalai.
Your other travelogues are also very nice and they are very good guide to me since I like travelling.
I have a similar Blog of my travelogues on Temples (alone). If interested, pls visit.
Regards,
G.Rajendran
http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/

manima said...

Dear Mr.Megarajan,

Hello to you. I have read ur travellogue abt kolli hills. I have also visited this place and really liked it very much.
I have planned to open a resort here since i have not found a good accommodation and food.
I need ur advice.

I am also frm IT consulting field.

Megarajan said...

Hi Raju,

Thanks for the appreciation.

Hi Manima,

If I understand correctly,you are planning to start a resort in kollimalai as a business.

Though I am not into business, when you mean a resort, I hope you have a target customer class in mind. Kollimalai is virtually unknown to people even from TN and even those who are coming are the college kids and the middle class family who cannot afford a ooty or a kodaikanal.

Kollimalai,as of now, is not a popular hill station for people to open a highend resort which will be profitable straightaway from day one. :-)

My humble suggestions would be,

1. You can explore about opening a Youth Hostel franchisee , see yhaiindia.org for more info.

2. Go ahead and build a resort, and you would have to advertise and bring in the people also :-)

Mind you, there is one resort already there, which I hear might be politically connected. :-)

so best of luck, you can mail me if you want more info.

manima said...

Hi,


I agree to your words 100% that nobody knows kolli hills. Is this a worthy place to visit, stay and enjoy? If so, I am willing to take risk. I was very upset with the lodge, food and transportation and i wanted to improve this. I need further opinion on this

Unknown said...

Thiru. Megarajanukku Vanakkam!
It is such a good travelogue.It definitely gives insight into the landscapes of Kollimalai. Thanks for bringing in such a good collection.I am planning to visit Kollimalai during the weekend and i really appreciate the effort you have put in bringing this travelogue.

- Sudhakar Meikkappan

golmes said...

great trip!!
we too are planning a trip to this awesome place. can u pls give us the places where u stayed, the best time to go and hw to reach there?

Megarajan said...

Hi Sudhakar,

Thanks.

Golmes,

We stayed in a place called Chemmedu, in Arrow lodge, If I remember correctly. There is also one resort called Nallathambi resort.

Anytime is a good time to travel.

You have to go to Namakkal to go to Kollimalai.

Anonymous said...

A very good detailed coverage of the place. Very useful experience going through it

Anonymous said...

Hai..
This is very informatic. i have visited kolli malai for two times. Did you have any information about "Masi Periyanna sami" Temple?. if you knew please tell about the history of that temple. thanks in advance....

Unknown said...

Hello!
This is very informatic. i have visited kolli malai for two times. Did you have any information about "Masi Periyanna sami" Temple?. if you knew please tell about the history of that temple. thanks in advance....

Megarajan said...

Hi Karthiga,

Thanks for visiting the blog.

I am sorry to say that I donot have any info on the temple you enquire about.

Thanks

manima said...

Hi,

Masi Periyasamy koil is a very famous temple in koli hills on a hill top where you have to climb an d there is a very beautiful waterfalls. If u want to go there I can arrange for it. Contact me manima2001@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Hai Megarajan..
No problem. Thanks for the reply. i went to that temple for two times. "Masi Periyanna sami" is my family worship God. but we dont know the proper history of our god. that is why i am asking About it.

Your blog is very nice.

Thanks Megarajan....

Anonymous said...

very good blog which will be useful for many new comers to kolli. keep itup .

Rajarajan said...

Hi Mega,

Wonderful, I had visited many places, not even had a thought to visit here. How ignorant I am :-( I had visited Pachimalai twice in my childhood. It would be really great if you share the details on best season to visit this place. My mail ID is rajarajangsATgmailDOTcom. I would like to join with you guys for my trip here in Kollimalai.

Thanks in tons, Rajan.
http://rajarajangs.blogspot.com/

Megarajan said...

Karthiga, Anonymous and Rajarajan,

Thanks for appreciation.

Rajarajan said...

Had visited Kolli hills by last week, it is really worthy !!

Rajan

Sekar said...

Hi,

How safe is tjis place to visit with family?

Megarajan said...

rajarajan,

Thanks

sekar,

Its safe as anyother place in tamilnadu because it has many villages in it and there are many families in those villages.

Unknown said...

Hi Meg, Your Travalogue is so Informative, We are planning a Trip to Kolli malai by Mid Aug. It would have been great if u can add any numbers of good Accomodation there. I learnt "Nallathambi Resort" and PV lodge are good. Can u help me with any contact info? feel free to mail me at jawsjak@gmail.com

manima said...

Hi Mgarajan,

Please visit kollihillresorts.weebly.com to find the details about our resorts

Manimaran
09739700059

Megarajan said...

Hi Jawahar,

You can see my recent posts on Kollimalai to get contact info.

Manimaran,

Sure. Its good to know that you really started what you believed in. All the best..

manima said...

Hi, This is manimaran from Bangalore. I had started the resorts in kolli hills. If u can visit the site kollihillresorts.weebly.com and give me a suggestion, I"ll be happy. I really struggled to bring this out and i need a moral support.
Also you can stay in my place at 50% discount as u people are one of the inspi. to start the resorts

Megarajan said...

Hi Manimaran,

Is that discount offer for me ?

If so, Thanks very much for the offer.

I will make use of it next time when I come to Kollimalai.

Thanks
Megarajan

manima said...

hi,
Do u need to ask this kind of questions?
It is urs' inspiration we have given shape. Call me any time get 50% off
Manimaran
09739700059

sathya said...

hi,
how long will it take to trek to the top of kollimalai hill

Anonymous said...

Hi Manimaran,

Excellent job on starting the resort. And, congratulations on making your idea happen. We are planning to visit Kolli malai in December 2009. My hearty wishes to you on this pursuit.

-Mrs Akila Suresh

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Jami said...

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Unknown said...

kolli malai , kolli hills


Nallathambi Resort

semmedu, kolli hills

www.nallathambiresort.com
9943204426
9443256381

Unknown said...

Nallathambi Restaurant
semmedu, kolli hills
9443209842

Anonymous said...

The Nallathambi Resort is a bad resort. Very bad food. Accomodation is very horrible. The windows of the room does not have latches and the doors do not shut properly.Water does not come properly. Inspite of this their behaviour towards the guests are pretty bad.It is not a good place for good families to go to because they always treat people with suspicion. I will never recommend this resort to anyone

visvanathan said...

Hi, this is Visvanathan, planning to go there this 26th January 2011,
plse recommend me a good place to stay with a/c and hot water. tq brother, my add is visvanathan.sithambaram@gmail.com.

Casino Money said...

Yes, the answer almost same, as well as at me.

Unknown said...

2005 & 2006 ஆம் ஆண்டுகளில் என் நண்பர்கள் திரு.குணசேகரன் (தொழில் முனைவர், பவானி), திரு.அன்பரசு (தமிழகக் காவல்துறை, பவானி), திரு.பரமேஸ்வரன் (அஞ்சல் துறை, ஈரோடு) மற்றும் சில நண்பர்களுடன் இரு முறைகள் சென்றிருக்கிறேன். மனதுக்கு இனிய பயணங்களாக அவை இன்னும் மனதில் பசுமையாக இருக்கின்றன. செம்மேட்டில் கிடைக்கும் பலாப்பழம் மிகுந்த சுவை கொண்டது.

Siva
nirmalshiva1968@gmail.com

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