Chennai Express: Yercaud - an Intro

26 May 2014

8 am: After a stressful last few months, it is time to relax and move on. But, would that be possible? Only time will tell. 

We caught an early morning flight to Bangalore, which seemed like the best option to reach our Mahindra resort. After an unprecedented holiday rush at the Mumbai airport that made us wait for over an hour at the check-in, we finally boarded and took off on schedule. 

The Kempegowda Bengaluru airport, it's milieu and the surroundings are simply awesome. The exit road from the airport is breathtakingly landscaped. Just greens and greens around and maintained to a nicety. 

The drive to Yercaud took us close to 6 hrs. But time flew. Admiring the roads and surrounding greens with plenty of coconut and banana trees, the journey never seemed unending. 

A special mention has to be made of the last leg of 20 km from the city of Salem to our hill station.

The Salem- Yercaud Ghat road had just begun and my Google maps showed many winding roads to the top. There were 20 hair pin bends and all were numbered at the bend. No one felt motion sickness at any point of time during the drive. 

We reached Lake Forest Hotel, a Club Mahindra associate resort. It wasn't a typical Mahindra property. It had a rustic feel to it. Rooms were non AC. The weather becomes very pleasant after 4pm. There was no play zone and the kids were already talking about Ooty, which was next in the itinery. However it was a very Eco friendly place. All the wood used in this Hotel was recycled from old buildings and not an ounce of fresh wood purchased from the market. Not a single tree was cut to accommodate this hotel, they still grow in the corridors, bedrooms and bathrooms.

We went for an evening stroll in the market place. Yercaud is a very small town that needs to improve on its upkeep, if it wants to tap it's potential of a tourist destination. It's located in the Shevaroys range of Eastern Ghats at an altitude of 1500 mt. "Yeri" means Lake and "Kaadu" means Forest. 

We tried the Chilly Bhaji (bhajiya), the raw mango, the jackfruit and a very sweet coconut water. We had skipped our lunch and the tidbits were to tide over the crisis till dinner. 

The dinner didn't let us down. It seemed like a Mahindra buffet with a South Indian flavor to it.  The Rasam was the pick of the lot. The Southies seem to have a very spicy palate. But any change from the routine was highly welcome to us. 

It was time to crash on the bed. But the Mumbai-RR IPL qualifier was a deterrent. After watching the first few overs of the Mumbai innings, we decided it was a lost cause and hit the sack, only to realise today morning that we had missed a blinder of a match.