Personal Kirukkalgal: Courtallam and Golden Peak

Another trip with my Visteon gang, coincidentally it was in the same date as last year where we went to Vagamon as a bachelor. And, after getting the necessary permission from you-know-who I decided to join this year's trip. This time we planned for a two-day trip to Coutrallam alone then extended one more day and added Ponmudi. Why Ponmudi? Because that was the first result Google yielded for "hill station near Courtrallam". And, then we booked the stay in Coutrallam, a local transport, stay in Ponmudi and the return ticket as well, but the twist was our actual onward journey tickets were not confirmed until the last moment. Finally, we got the RAC at least and yes we began our one of the busiest trips.

The majestic, gigantic Meenmutty Falls, Ponmudi

The first day of the trip is where we covered a lot of places and it was one of the days with non-stop action. After reaching Tenkasi station, we are welcomed with some rain and it continued till we left. We checked into our room and got ready to Papanasam. We reached the top to see a dam and then we got into a river which was fairly empty and we practiced diving and I pretty much suck in that. It was almost noon, then we came down and went into the Papanasam river and let go off all our "sins', ("Papa-nasam", you see :D ) in that river. It was a fantastic dip, the river was flowing at a steady pace and it was raining on and off throughout. And, around 8 pm, our next stop was at old Coutrallam, once again after a heavy rain, we went into the falls and oh boy it was amazing and the falls were gigantic and I was a little afraid to look at it in that nighttime. And, the crowd was much less compared to my last visit and it was an unforgettable experience to get "hit" by that water.

Our next stop was at the famous Border Parotta to finish the dinner and then we decided to hit the PSS Multiplex in Tenkasi for "Agila Ulaga SuperStar Siva's" Tamil Padam 2 nightshow. And, then we were still not in a mood to call it a day. We went to "5 Falls" by 2 am thinking no one will be there, even the roads leading to that was empty, but we were so wrong. Everyone who has come to Courtrallam was there at that hour and Police were needed to control the crowd. So, we decided to check the "Main Aruvi". It was fairly empty, but it was because of the water flow. It was too much and nobody was allowed to enter the falls. So, we took some photos in front of that majestic falls and decided to call it a day around 3 am.

The Gang

That was a great day and we did way too much than our actual plan in just one day including a movie and bathing in a river, falls, rain, etc.

The very next day we started to Ponmudi as early as possible where we were surprised by ourselves after sleeping at 3 am. The first stop was again a dam at a place ThenMala, it was scenic unfortunately we were not allowed to take pics. Next stop was finding the liquor shop, it was somewhere in a middle of a forest. And, on the way searching for a cigarette, it was mini Va Quarter Cutting movie :D. Then, we reached our resort by evening after traveling through 22 hairpin bends and some fantastic view towards the top. And, whenever we tried to step out of that resort it rained. So, we spent indoor watching football, cricket and doing the "usuals", party. And, the resort maintained by the Kerala government was outstanding.

The next day we went to a spot in Ponmudi all we could see was mist and rain once again. And, it was time to get down from Ponmudi and visit Meenmutty falls which on the way. We almost missed it and had to travel back to that place. What we expected was a 10-minutes walk, but it was a proper trekking of nearly an hour in rain to reach that place. And, the view of that falls was absolutely worth it. It was so gigantic and that was the highlight of our Ponmudi visit. But, the water was too much we were allowed to take a bath, so we took as many pics in front of that gigantic falls getting drenched in rain and we left only when the securities decided it's time to shut the shop. We were so glad we took the u-turn to get back to this Meenmutty falls and then we started to Chennai with FIFA finals for the company.

Then we came back to Chennai by next evening thanks to rains which delayed our train and gave us a much-needed rest day from the office. And, that was the end of another awesome trip, it was water all the way rain, river and falls. We only missed the beach, if only we had a little time we would have covered that as well in Trivandrum's Kovalam beach. It was fairly busy without any dull moment or a boring spot, the last trip to Vagamon was so peaceful and calm, this one was just the opposite and both were fantastic.

And, then we are all back to the reality now.