2025 Vacation Diaries - 2
Day 2 – Coimbatore - Kodaikanal
We enjoyed a delicious South-Indian breakfast at the
hotel before checking out. The plans to leave asap flew out while we were busy
doing a photo-session which had its own share of blunders and laughter. Some
people had already gotten inside the bus and had to be summoned, pleaded to and
threatened to get down and join our photo shoot. Some were busy exploring the
neighboring shops. Some had to freshen up, ‘just in case’. Some refused to be
photographed without their glares. Needless to say that by the time we left the
hotel, it was around 10 am.
Someone lazily reminded that we were supposed to
check-out by 8.
The drive from Coimbatore to Kodaikanal was pretty uneventful. We had our first view of Pazhani temple dedicated to Lord Muruga when we halted beside a restaurant for lunch. The temple is perched atop a hill.
We were going to visit the temple after two days. To be honest, the height of the hill and the ominous tracks left on the hill by the winch, which is a commonly used means to reach the temple, did not exactly fill us with confidence.
But where human will fails, Divine will starts to
manifest. I will write more on this later.
Lunch was as messy as it could be. How else could it
be when there are 17 adults, 2 children and 1 infant?! The Jain food eaters got
a separate table for themselves. The children and their parents sat together,
for, whatever the children do not eat, the parents have to eat it. The rest of
the group sat wherever there were seats and ordered accordingly. Still most of
us kept checking with the others whether their food has arrived and what they
have ordered. ‘To each, their own’ is a foreign concept for our group!
We all enjoyed ice-cream for dessert and soon, all
were back in the bus for the rest of the ride.
The winding roads leading to Kodaikanal were simply mesmerizing. There were 14 hairpin bends overall and every bend gave panoramic vistas of hills sprawled beyond deep valleys.
The tops of the hills were covered with clouds which lazily formed a white canopy over the entire hilly region. The AC of the vehicle was switched off and we opened the windows to enjoy the fresh and cool air of the hills.
We halted at a stall to have tea. The smell of pine
and eucalyptus leaves wafted around. The weather was cool. Plus, we had some
really amazing views of hills yonder. We were so lost in admiring the views
that it occurred very late to us that we hadn’t yet reached our hotel when we
should have reached almost an hour ago. The driver breezily said ‘not yet’ when
we asked whether we are any nearer to the hotel. The hills do not allow for
mobile networks so I could not reach the hotel to inform them about our late
check-in. Few panic-laden moments later, I could finally contact the hotel. I could
just about let them know that the group is arriving when we lost network again.
Around 6 in the evening, we reached there.
The plus side – beautiful views of mountains surrounding the entire region and cozy, rainy and cold weather. The minus side – the entrance to the hotel was steep, the path leading to our rooms was steeper, and the rest, steepest. Add to it, the senior citizens in our group, and you get the picture.
All of us (including the seniors) made light of the
matter and pretended as if it was not a big deal. (Spoiler alert - It was, and
how! I haven’t had such heart palpitations ever in my life while climbing any
slope.) The paths were clearly not designed for seniors. But later on, we would
realize that most of the hotels that we saw in Kodaikanal had similar winding
paths. I guess the intention was to create a resort without disturbing the
hilly region.
Once we all settled in our rooms, we ordered for coffee.
The restaurant of the hotel wasn’t very far from our rooms but the weather was
so cold that by the time they delivered the coffee to the rooms, it wasn’t as
hot as it should have been.
The next step was to order dinner for the whole
group. Some wanted food without onion and garlic, others wanted something
fancy. We asked the restaurant to send us the menu. The very first items
visible were all egg preparations. The Jain-food eaters sure were going to be
offended. There were limited options but all looked fine enough. We ordered
some meals in Jain preparation and others in normal, hoping that none among the
Jains would see the menu. That would have been catastrophic.
The restaurant was of course on the first floor of a
building inside the premises of the hotel. We sure worked up an appetite, what
with the steep slopes of the hotel and the stairs leading up to the restaurant.
The food was delicious. The cold weather probably added up more flavor to the
hot food.
Kodaikanal gave us a real shocker in terms of the
weather. It was COLD. Most of the group didn’t bring sweaters. Who brings
woolen wear for a trip in May? Yours truly, that’s who. I had brought my
sweater to be worn in the train and it came in really handy.
The temperature in Kodaikanal at night was 16
degrees. None of the rooms had any fans. We snuggled up inside cozy blankets,
making grand plans for sightseeing for the next day.
Oh, how the gods must have laughed!
Super.
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