My Maiden Trek - Udayagiri Hills 757mts

From Chennai, TN to Udayagiri fort, Udayagiri, AP (96 kms from Nellore)

A bite of History about the Udayagiri fort.

The fort was supposed to be built in 14th century in the Gajpaths kingdom, who hailed from Orissa. The fort was deemed impenetrable but for 1) A jungle path thorough the east of the fort and 2) A pathway on the Westside. Udayagiri, was attacked by Krishna Deva Raya for a period of 18 months after which he was successful. Thus, Udayagiri slipped from the Gajpaths rule and fell under the rule of Krishna Devaraya of Vijayanagar around the 14th century (wiki says : 1512). This was the Vijayanagara empire. This was further preceded by the Golconda, who had the credits of the mosques erected – Chinna Masjit and Pedha Masjit, the small and the big mosques respectively. After which it came under the Nawabs of Arcot and it was in their control until 1839.

The Hanumans Forté.

Tracing our epics, the Udayagiri range covers the Sanjeevni hill, which is purported to be similar to the Sanjeevani hill of Donagiri range that Hanuman carried to Lanka, in order to treat Lashmana. The hill was assumed to hold the Sanjeevani herb, the life giver. Epic further traverses to say that when Hanuman came back after treating Lashmana, he dropped the hill that it fell upside down : which is why the hill has some downward trending vegetation (some trees / bushes are said to grow upside down here).

Pre-Trek

I was super excited on seeing a one day trek mail from Chennai Trekking Club, not wanting to lose my Sunday rest, I signed up for the Saturday trek. I was excited like nobodys business, had the faithful man drop me on Saturday morning at Koyambedu at 4.30 AM. From Koyambedu a group of 18 ardent trekkers started our journey! Five to holy six hours later, we stopped near Udayagiri for a sumptuous breakfast of idly vada sambhar.

I was asked by fellow men to eat the pongal too to which I chimed – “Chancey illa.. ooh aah”, Sharon promptly cut me there and told me please do not wait for the afternoon lunch. You never know if the LUNCH per se is going to be by 4.30 or later. There! I silently ate the Pongal too *gulp*.

Forward march! (4 hours) 

At the foot of the hill, the height might have appeared to be childs play to the experienced trekkers who have present there! But to a person who slogs at the desk 40 hours a week without an ounce of sweat – INTIMIDATION was the word! 

Starting my walk, I found myself sweating profusely and panting for the first few minutes, I just thought I would not be able to make it. But the mind-body win happened in a matter of 20 minutes, when my pace became better / much normal and I actually started to catch up. We walked well a few paces up the hill when we met the cold water bath! A tub of water which gets filled by a crevasse in the rock (HOW? Reasons unknown) helped us quench our thirst and refill our water supplies.

From there on, we stumbled into a lovely banyan tree sorts with lots of prop roots. It was one kind of a scene and looked almost out of the world. (Check Picture) Radha Krishnan also managed to bring out the child in him (or) the animal in him *ahem* by making a dash to the farthest end of the reddish rock boulder and posed as much as he could for us – the ardent photographers! A few more fathoms away from the prop roots, we found the lovely Dil Chahta Hain rock that Arun told us about. It was SIMPLY beautiful, surrounded by the yellow flowers and brilliant bluish bees. There the photographers (Kaja, Gandhi et al) came out of their skins and we clicked some utterly lovely snaps here! I never wanted to come back from that place *sighs* But we had a journey to make.

A long walk later, we were *this* close to the top when the unpredictable happened. Gandhi, Ganesh and a few others were leading the path for the rest of the pack – Radha Krishnan, Padma, me and Immanuel. It so happened, that we missed the trail to the top and we ventured into a different path. After a few whistles, shouts and making communications with Arun, we started the march to the top of the hill again. The last lap.

Atop the hill was the much awaited Pedha masoodhi (Big Mosque) which held shape considering the fact that the enemies tried to bring it down by a siege that lasted for 18 months! We had our lunch at the top of the hill. With a beautiful breeze against our face and almost sodden dosas! That’s when the MAN of quips chimed.

He : Hey, Sambhar enga ya? Where is my sambhar??

Chella sir : iru iru.. ippo thaaney sollirukkom… varum! :D

All : *LOLs*

Lunch time = 4.30 PM!

The home march : 2 hours.

Post lunch we started our downhill walk. Not being equipped with torches, we were to hit the foot of the hill before dusk. We rushed therefore, moving out in groups, swiftly adeptly crossing the points scored before Elephant grass, DCH rock, Water point. Where we stopped for a few minutes not having too much time to spare, we furthered down quickly and hit the foot of the hill around 6 PM.

Thereon, watching the dusk break was such a pleasure!

Thanks to all of them who initiated, joined and completed the trek! What an experience!

Bye from...

me

Courtesy : Sharon

Credit rolls:

P/s @Ganesh, Gandhi, Arun, Radha Krishnan sir, Prakash : HEAPS of thanks to you all for helping me throughout, consistently and making it possible for me to complete this trek! Its pretty motivating to have good positive spirited AND sportive people like you folks around! @Subha – mwhaha, you know for what! So glad to have met you! @Sharon,Kaaja – may your interest in photography flourish!! ;) @Cabmates – Radha Krishnan sir again, Chella sir – whow, you men were fountains of information! Immanuel – chancey illa ponga, how to bring humor in death situations’nu you can host a seminar! Thanks for the safe drive! :D :D @padma – thanks for the company and err… dry fruits!!

P/p/s Being a maiden trekker : I was under the pretension that Sunday I was gonna die of leg pain et al. But not at all! I managed to make a full fledged non veggie lunch and eat it too! :D PLUS I attacked Monday with a super fresh mind :P

[Travelogue] Malaysia, Truly Asia

I have always freaked at travelogues and they have been the most painstaking blogs of all topics. Not that I travel a lot and have heaps to be told. Just that there are more pressing matters like gifting sovenirs, washing the clothes that were on vacation (heehaw!), catching up with jetlagged sleep and uploading hoards of photos online for friends.So, after contemplations, discussions and more words ending with –ions, we – me and my husband decided to embark on that lovely travel – to Truly Asia – Malaysia.

Where to?
We had an Itenary that ranged as this
Genting Highlands – Batu Caves – KL towers in KualaLumpur
Pulau Langkawi – Pulau Payar – Pulau Dayang Bunting – Pulau Bersah in Langkawi (Pulau meaning Island in Bhasha Malaysia)

Day 01
Genting Highlands was the first place that we decided to hop off to. Taking a bus from One Utama station to Genting, we reached there in about 1 hour. We dropped our bags at the cloak room/awana sky luggage carrier and without checking into our rooms we went to the Theme park in order to have maximum utilization of time! After all checking into Hotel First world takes close to 2 hours. ;) TOO many people, efficient system, still..

Umm.. Genting where the Rain water splash pool, Indoor and Outdoor pool are certainment’e amusing, was nothing compared to the pride of the place which goes to the string of casinos. They get more and more crowder closer to night. Trivia : The gondola that connects the foot of the hill to the top of the hill is said to be South East Asia’s longest! (Awana Skyway as the Gondola ride is called, is a definite no miss please!)

Stay : Hotel First World is simply value for money, clean rooms, good food and you get an impeccable view of the Genting Highland. The Hotel offers an unbelievable buffet starting from 7 AM onwards.

*Tip : As said, drop your bags in the hotels Cloak Room and finish your amusement park trip as the park closes by 6PM. Shop before hitting the casino, just in case you set your wallet on fire!

At Genting, indoor theme park

Hotel that we stayed, view from Awana Skyway, Cable car

Day - 02
My uncle was free to take us to Batu caves along with my cousins, so we went wheee and travelled about 13 kms away from KL city to it. Batu caves which is visited by both Hindus and non-Hindus is a temple off natural caves and holds the a mammoth structure of Lord Muruga. Accessorized with 272 steps and gazillion souvenirs, it should definitely be on the travelers watch list. Trivia : The cave is said to be 400 million years old *GASPS*, there are 272 steps and the Murugan statue is 140 ft high!

*Tip - The souvenirs at the top of the hill are costlier than those at the bottom!

Murugan and my Raman :P

KL Petronas tower and KL Convection centre that is shown apparently in ALL the cinemas shot in Malayisa would definitely not go unnoticed. It is definitely pride of the nation - to host its Govt Petrol and Gas office as a Landmark. There is nothing much to DO here, apart from awing at the ginormous structures that are built (and aquarium). Trivia : The Petronas Twin tower is said to resemble a Lotus when looked from ariel view.

*Tip : You can have your wallet charged in case you want to buy any ROSY brand. You will find ALL upmarket shops (incl Vic secret) here. If you're not willing to splurge Masjit India is a nice shopping area at bargain prices. Prepaid taxis are convenient but costly. You can try Ho Ho bus tour.

KLCC Twin tower

Manoj with my cousin brothers, KLCC Aquaria

Shopping at Masjit India and Hogging at A&W, and that Root beer! Wow Beeeerilliant!

Day - 03
KL Bird park and Orchid Park.
We were contemplating where to go given our pressed itenary after all it is only WE in the whole wide world who decide to do an 9 day abroad travel, mind you day 1 and 9 are reserved for travel from and 2. Making a wholesome seven. Arrgh.

So finally we pinned the bird park, after all we dont have walk-in aviaries here. From this place the KL National Zoo is 1 hour away by car/bus. Orchid park was nothing exquisite, but a lovely walk around some exotic orchids and a unfaltering long distanced view of KLCC. The bird park is a free flight walk in aviary, where you walk in and the birds just fly around you like that ;) except for owls and other omnivorous birds which are kept in separate sections. The best part that we thoroughly enjoyed was THIS*.

THIS* : You can feed the birds. They sit all over you!

THIS* - Bottom left,  birds sitting all o'er!

Thereto Langkawi! From KL we moved to Langkawi finally! Langkawi an archipelago of 104 islands is a travelers delight!The rainforest country is SO well seen in the Island. The ariel view from the plane simply stunned us!! The main attractions in Langkawi was Island Hopping, Scuba Diving and Snorkeling, and we did 2 of 3 leaving Scuba Diving out and we are TERRIBLY feeling bad at that! SO wanna go there? Please don’t miss Scuba diving! Hey, life is super fragile man! Come on!

Langkawi Archipelago as seen from our Plane

Stay : We stayed at Holiday Villa, the hotel is exquisite with multiple amenities like tennis court, a well maintained swimming pool. Federal Villa, which is a potion of Holiday Villa is value for money, situated close to Cenang beach.  

Tip* Water in Langkawi is charged, hotel charges it even more exorbitant. Therefore rush to the supermarket opposite to HV and buy your amenities/water. You can also rent a two-wheeler from there at a VERY nominal rate 10RM/hr smth. 

Holiday Villa, Langkawi about 2 kms from Underwater world

Day 04
Sunset Dinner cruise, it was rightly named. We landed in Langkawi just to be taken to Kuah Jetty to embark on that beautiful cruise liner. It takes you and keeps you at sea until you see that lovely crimson-orangepink sunset. You are fed then hydrated (or dehydrated) with a minibar! We also had an option to experience Salt Water Jacuzzi, or the liner pulls you along in a net, there you obviously have jets of ocean water spraying at you invariably! It was incredible to be suspended on the sea and rely on JUST a nylon mesh (and of course the lovely crew)!  

*Tip : Take changing clothes along, there are restrooms in the liner where you can change. Then we headed back to our Hotel room.

Top right - Salt water Jacuzzi; Top Left - Buoy pulled by liner

Day 05
Island Hopping : The word denotes hopping from one island to another by the help of speed-boats. We had a tour on speed boats from Island A to B to C. A was Langkawi from thereon to B – Dayang Bunting was a geopark and it had a lovely moss green lake (where you could boat) called “Lake of the Pregnant maiden” and there was fish-pedicure (which of course I dint try due to faintness of heart :P). Then, C was Buah Bersah which had amazing water sports! We had a short hopping ABC, you could lengthen yours.

Day 06
Langkawi City : You can SHOP hoards. MAN save all your money for this. Electronic items DEAD cheap, crockery items DEAD cheap and wow! Chocolates – OH MY, is this Willy Wonkas Chocolate factory?? TOO good. Other sights and sounds are the Langkawi Eagle square and Underwater world – you should see them

*Tip: Travel light on to flight, you can fill your max weight on return. Don’t carry beach wear, you can get GREAT ones at LESS price.

I bought this beauty in Kuah, 12.5 kgs of sweet burden!

 
Day 07
Snorkelling was at the Pulau Payars marine park. We were taken on a ferry ride from Langkawi to Payar and then were given the snorkeling apparatus. But, Snorkeling is a sad reminder that the coral reefs have started getting destroyed due to acid–leaching mainly cos of human intolerance. However, IT was wow, it was lovely to wear those tight jackets which credited life, to don those goggles and to SIMPLY let go! The fishes that we saw were as imagined, LARGE and super-COLORFUL! After a wrecking day of swimming, floating, snorkeling we succumbed to tiredness! Tip: It is good to “borrow” an underwater camera, don’t buy if you feel not worth it!

Pulau Payar

 

Journey to Pulau Payar and snorkeling there.

 

Kapz Distribution services Ltd :P

Later in India, it was time for sothu-piritchufying (loosely translated to souvenir distribution!)its true what travel does to you, it makes you realize time and again, that you are TOO puny in this wide world :) After all life is about GOING PLACES isn’t it?? ;-)

COST : Please refer to THIS LINK for snorkelling, city tour, island hopping charges.

[Travelogue] Sea dive, Kovalam

Networking always brings the best. Seriously, it does (I have whined hard for missing the Chennai Bloggers meet) So, last Photowalk when I went to Syndenhams road, I met this cool set of boys who were super enthused about everything in life, they were regular trekkers and passionate photographers. They were telling me about Chennai Trekking Club which was is not an organization per se, but a club run purely by volunteers.

I was super interested in it and started following Chennai Trekking Club updates much seriously. Much to my dismay, the treks that were listed in the month of May-June were largely of moderate-difficult treks types and were not open for beginners. There were dos and donts that were listed meticulously and what needs to be brought mentioned in detail. CTC is a non profit club which thrives by volunteers, therefore the more you volunteer, the more readily you are accepted in future treks. I was amazed.

By the end of May I was super excited to see sea dive trip in the Kovalam beach. There! I mailed to Sridhar who was the volunteer, asking for a Sunday slot. I called him up and told him - I was a menial swimmer, will it be okays? He reassured me. Back at home, hubby (the Piscean) was okay with me (the Cancarian) for the SEA dive, our forte!

Things needed : Snacks for post dive, dry clothes and a super open-mind!
Caution : You had to sign a disclaimer form. You were advised not to eat anything before the dive, lest set in a wave of seasickness.
Watch outs : You might find people who canoe or surf in the sea. You will definitely find lots of people that cycle on the ECR.

Canoeing duo - Student and the Trainer

5.30 AM
We started from home, hitting the roads with absolutely no traffic. We were heading to Thiruvanmyur, which was the meeting point. We had volunteered to bring our car, so that we can offer a lift to those members in CTC who needed it.

6.00 AM
At the Thiruvanmyur Railway station (meeting point) volunteers were put in charge of collecting the money, getting the disclaimer forms signed and to call up the people that hadn't turned up.Since, we had LOTS of people who had volunteered for cars. There were cars one too many. Therefore, some of the people left their cars in a shed. Sridhar, Elangovan sir and another guy came along with us. Later, in a jiffy we were at Kovalam.



7 AM +/- odd hours
At Kovalam, we met the crew mostly fishermen with some sort of a supervisor, who had the responsibility of taking us to the sea. Sridhar / the organizers, collected all the car/bike keys and placed it in one car, just so we dont lose all the keys and so we took only one car key to the sea. It was thinking with common sense and I laud the organizers for that! :) then we posed for the Pre-dive picture!

Pre-dive Photo

There were 41 people in our team. We were strapped into life jackets - Small, Med, Large, before we were taken to the boats, four in number. There were close to 10 people in each boat, with 2 to 3 boatsmen accompanying in each boat. We were in the fourth boat, we had our camera with us, of course with the plastic bag/cover that Sridhar had suggested.

Being drawn into the Sea

In the Sea
First of all, its lovely to write in the sea, instead of at the sea ;) The boat ride was bloody awesome, we could almost sea monstrous waves of water, that kept the boat rocking. About 1 to 2 kms away from the shore line, we were had to jump into the sea (of course, supervised by the boatmen) which we did. It was AWESOME to just go inside that sea water, and have that slight hint of fear in your heart until you surface! (like... shabba innum uyiroda thaan yaa irukooom!!)

Then on you float, you try to swim with the current, against the current (it doesn't matter either way you stay in the same place :P) The East Coast has a steep ocean floor and 1 km inside the sea is no joke. It was marvelous to see the horizon much clearly, whopping waves and a thin puny line of buildings which outline the thing called shore.

Hubby, and that DISTANT streak of shoreline

Back on the shore :
After forty minutes of solid fun, we were taken back ashore. We were taken back in the first boat, when our camera was in a different boat, however when all the boats arrived at shore, the guys (boatmen) returned our cams. I gave a heave and got the camera back from them, we are SO used to people stealing electronic goods (mobiles etc) that its a refreshing change to know people who might actually save it in their dashboards to protect it and later hand it out. (nallavangaaaa!)

People are more ENTHUSED in the Post-dive pic?

Then we posed for a Post-Dive group pic in the rocky Kovalam shore and with light hearts left, dropping our respective car-taggers back in shed (where the cars were parked) and moved home.

Back at home, it was time for a HARD hitting nap and a dream that probably said, whens the next sea dive...  ;)

Clouds, the only birds that never sleep, says Victor Hugo

I'm a dreamer. I have to dream and reach for the stars,
and if I miss a star then I grab a handful of clouds.
Mike Tyson

One of those days when I see the world around me and it's just B-E-A-utiful! 

Photo taken at, Home.

There are no rules of Architecture for a Castle in the Clouds
GK Chesterton.

One of those days, when we manage to get to the beach earlier to see the beautiful sunset. Photo taken at Marina, Chennai. 

I never get tired of the blue sky.
Vincent van Gogh. 

One of those times, when abroad trips give you no jetlags.

The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.
And why shouldn't it be?
- it is the same the angels breathe.
Mark Twain, "Roughing It"

So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore,
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.
John Milton

One of those sunsets thats' etched in your mind. 

Photo taken at : Langkawi

One of those times, when things taken for granted matters....