Vattakanal - a hill station near Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu
Thokchom Santosh *
A sunrise at Silent Valley, Vattakanal :: Pix by Thokchom Santosh
Vattakanal is a hill station sort of village located 3km away from Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. One may find it an ideal place to retreat as the temperature is below 17 degree C during summer and is cold throughout the year.
The environment consists of Gigantic trees, fruits and green trees. Places of interests include Dolphin's Nose/ Dolphin's Falls, Suicide Point, Silent Valley View, etc., which one can feel nostalgic. The population of this village is less than 100 people and I find them very co-operative and friendly.
An evening at Dolphin's Nose :: Pix by Thokchom Santosh
The plan to visit Vattakanal happened all of a sudden. It was during my last semester of MBA when the visit was planned by a friend studying at Alliance Business School in an weekend evening. He made calls to us to accompany him. The train tickets were booked instantly at the railway station. We(6 of us) spent hardly Rs 100 each to buy a General Compartment ticket.
The journey to Vattakanal was, however, tiresome. We traveled by train from Bangalore to Kodaikanal Station and changed bus from Kodaikanal Station to Kodaikanal City then opted a taxi towards Vattakanal. It was fun though as we came across many sections of people and variety of places.
On reaching Vattakanal, we booked a cottage fitted with Hearth for Rs 1000 per day and stayed for 2 days on the retreat site called as Sarah's resort.
The owner, Sarah had provided a cooking LPG with a stove to prepare food. On the last night of the stay, we prepared a Meitei-style chicken curry and the dinner was shared with a guy from Norway. The stay at Vattakanal will always be remembered.
Behind Dolphin's Nose :: Pix by Thokchom Santosh
See a full photo gallery on this visit to Vattakanal here
* Thokchom Santosh contributes to e-pao.net regularly. The writer can be contacted at thokchomsantosh(at)in(dot)com
This article was webcasted on September 03, 2011.
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