Hills in/near Chennai - 5 - Kottai Malai

Kottai Malai

Date : 1/11/2008
People : Mega, Arivoli and Thannoli
Vehicle: 2 Pulsar's

When searching for interesting places near vellore, Kottai Malai was suggested by my friend Raju from Onnupuram and hence it was decided that we will go to Kottaimalai when we came down to Vellore for his marriage.

If you havent looked at the previous posts on hills, click on

Hills

Name Board :

This was the name board that spelt the way for Kottai Malai and the 2160 feet doesnt convey much in the board.



Path:

The Path to the top of the temple consists of a mixture of Tar Road till the bottom of the hill and then alternating Sand road and cement roads till we reach 90% of the top. After that there
are the steps.

The Roads are very steep once we start to climb and hence utmost care is needed. 2 Wheelers are the best choice but even then it was tough terrain all the way.

I dont remember the last time that I was so focussed on a single task continously for more than half an hour.It was so demanding that I even forgot to take photographs on the way :-)

What you see below is a Bridge inbetween the rocks.




Temple :

The temple is on top of the hill and has a view worth dying for.







Godowns:

These seem to be old constructions most probably like some godown or something.






The Surrounding Hills :

The hill itself is surrounded by a whole range of mountain ranges and all you get on the top is view of undulating mountains.





Kids:



These people were trying to listen to the sound of silence at the edge of the mountain. Their presence there tempted me to go to the place where they were sitting and it was good to be there.



Village:

When we began our journey to the top of Kottai Malai, we came to a place where there were roads that went left and right with Temple path being the centre one.

The left was to go to Shenbaga thoppu, a dam and the right to "Elandhampattu" a village, that you can see below as a group of huts.




How To Go :

Go To Vellore and from there to Padavedu. In Padavedu ask for Kottai Malai.

If you are fit and you have the time, you can walk from the bottom of the hill. It will take you a whole day if you plan to do it by walk even for a fit (by Village standards) person.

Best option is to travel in 2 wheelers for each person. Doubles wont help.

If you travel by a 2 wheeler, make sure that you are very good at handling it and I mean it.

Cars are not of any help here.


Cheers

Temples in Chennai - 5 - Thiruneermalai

Date : 23/3/2008
People : Mega,Arivoli and Srini

This is the Fifth post in the series Temples in Chennai. Have a look at the previous posts at

Temples in chennai

Thiruneermalai is one of the 108 Divya Desams and is near Tambaram in chennai.
There are two temples in thiruneermalai , Ranganathar Temple and the Neervanna perumal temple.

View of the hill from the Road



The theppakulam



Temple Entrance



The Temple Gopuram



Gopuram amidst the clouds







View of the Temple Tank from the hill



View of the hill along with the Temple tank




How to Go:

On the way from Guindy Kathipara junction to Tambaram, take the right opposite Lakshmi Theater after Pallavaram Bus stand and go straight.

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.



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



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.



Trip Upward :

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



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



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.



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.



Pepper plant.



Boating :

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





Arapaleeswarar Kovil:

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



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



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



The main Waterfalls



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.



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)



The Temple:



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

Cheers
Megarajan

Hills in Chennai - 2 - Parangi Malai

This is the second part in the "Hills in Chennai" series.

This hill known earlier as Parangi Malai is now more commonly known as St.Thomas Mount after the saint and the church built on top of this hill.

If you would like to have a feeling of travelling(atleast for a short while) in winding roads and blind turns in chennai, you can try this hill. We can travel in vehicles till the top of this hill.

Entrance :



Church :



Story:



This hill offers a nice view of the Madras City and importantly the Airport.
You can get a nice view of planes taking off and landing from the top of this hill.

Velachery Swimming Pool Complex:



TIDEL Park:



Nandambakkam Trade Centre :



Chennai Airport:



Sunset :



The next hill in this series would be Thiruneer Malai.

Hills in Chennai - 1 - Chinna Malai

Hills in Chennai !!!! ?

If you think that I am out of my mind to talk about an hill in the City of Chennai, Sorry, I can show you many hills in Chennai.

This is the first part in the series - Hills in Chennai

Chinna Malai or Little Mount :

This hill is right in the heart of Chennai. Dont think I am joking. This hill is right on the Mount Road or Anna Salai , the arterial road of chennai. The bus stop next to saidapet on Mount Road is known as Chinna Malai or Little Mount and this is where you find this hill. You wont be able to see the hill from the road , but the entrance is there right on the road.



If you ask me where is the hill in the above photo, I would have to say that the church is constructed right on top of the hill. Oh, Do you call that a hill ? Thats why it is called as Little Mount or Chinna Malai. :-)

Before you are back from the shock that a hill is right on Mount Road, give me another chance to give you a bigger shock. Yes I can show you a Cave in chennai.
Whenever anybody says Caves and Chennai , it will be Mahabalipuram , but there is a cave right in the heart of chennai. It is there for you to see in this Chinnamalai.

The church on top of Chinna Malai



Inside view of the church



Entrance to the Cave :

This is the entrance to the Cave where St.Thomas was hiding.



Inside the cave :

This is the inside view of the cave.



Places to be seen in Chinna Malai:



Story of Chinna Malai:







The next hill in the series would be Parangi Malai or St.Thomas Mount.

Cheers
Megarajan