Ever since I got a new car I always wanted to do the Theni – Cumbum – Kumily route with Madurai as base because my dad had praised that route so much. I covered Theni and Bodi route till Munnar the previous time for a short WFH getaway from Madurai. Madurai being my hometown, it’s good to have it as a base to cover these places because to go there on a single day from Chennai wouldn’t be feasible or maybe too tired. This time did a lot better by covering Vagamon and Megamalai. Wanted to cover Thekkady too but due to time constraint and budget I couldn’t. May be I’d do it as a standalone trip next time.
Day 1 – Madurai to Vagamon
12/05/22
Even though I had initially planned to go to Megamalai first, I somehow changed it to Vagamon because in Vagamon I had only booked a basic stay, whereas in Megamalai it was a premier one. So don’t want to be underwhelmed on the second league of the trip. Most of the people said that Vagamon doesn’t have anything to see, doesn’t have any place for proper food and only cash would be accepted everywhere. But everything was proved wrong. More so in the below paragraphs…
We started at 6 AM sharp. I was a bit tired due to busy weekend. Plus I drove from Chennai to Madurai on Saturday so couldn’t really recoup post it. But once I hit the road, I felt good right away. I had already decided that I’d have breakfast once I reach Theni but couldn’t find any appealing restaurants near bus stand so went away from it. When I thought that I’m gonna end up having breakfast at a bad place, I spotted Hotel Gowmariamman just before the right turn towards Bodi, which was heavenly. Thanks to the heavy function food the previous day, we were not very keen to eat heavy. So just had a Dosa and Poori and came out without even having coffee.
The second leg of the journey was far more adventurous, thanks to Google Maps. The main road would have been easier, except for being winding roads but Google Maps as usual was cheeky enough to give us quite a few scares. En route we had to pay an entrance fee for Rs. 20 to enter Vagamon. But I didn’t find them upon return.
Our hotel Vagamon Residency was a nice little place, very near to the center of the town. The rooms were neat and bathroom was clean. It was a steal for Rs. 700. Especially after spending quite a lot for a shabby room in Dehradun in my previous trip. We reached around noon and after freshening up we were in a dilemma whether to go out or eat and sleep. Because we had to dress up accordingly. As always mind won over heart and we got dressed up and headed straight for lunch. As suggested by the room boy we went to Hotel Chinnu’s. We were damn hungry and ordered a Beef Biryani, Chicken Biryani and Prawn Gravy. Beef Biryani was to die for. Chicken Biryani was bland. Prawn Gravy was too spicy and looked like they had used pickle in it. So it kind of gave a raw taste of lemon in addition to the high spice content. I got contact of a Jeep Driver there who told for Rs. 2500 he’d do a good off road tour and cover extra route which no one would do.
After a heavy lunch, as per the suggestion of room boy we first went to Echo Point, where there was no Echo Point but we saw a nearby mountain where people were climbing. Not knowing where the entrance was, we returned back in the same route and went in search of Rose Garden, not before having a bad Lime Soda en route. There was literally no one in the Flower Garden and the place didn’t really fell huge so we skipped it. Adventure Park was on the same route. Even though paragliding is famous there, I wasn’t really keen on it but I thought what if it was destiny to go paragliding that day, as there was no other plan. I went thinking like that but there was no change in destiny. Paragliding was not functioning that day. I wasn’t really disappointed.
While returning by the same route I went through the echo point route to Thangalpara. The security there told that we had to get downy by 5 PM and it was already 4.30 PM so we didn’t climb up. We went to Pine Forest next, which was waste of time and money. Entrance was just Rs. 10 per person but Rs. 100 for camera. Wonder when Indian tourist spots would learn that mobile can be used for photography. That spoilt my mood. As we had spent Rs. 100 for camera, we compulsorily took some pictures before we left to the much famed after Vagamon Meadows, not before buying a couple of packets of tea. 250g tea for Rs. 50 was a steal. Vagamon Meadows was lovely and there were also a couple of adventure activities like zip lining and sky cycling. I wasn’t keen on zip lining as the distance was short but Sky Cycling I wanted to try but that too I changed mind at last minute.
Eventually it was a day where we did nothing. We found a great place to have tea. That by far was the best experience of the day. I had spotted a toddy shop en route to hotel earlier that day so I went there and got one liter toddy. As I had it in their bottle, I didn’t feel good. For dinner I bought from a nearby Mallu shop where food was pathetic. I bargained and booked the jeep for Rs. 2000 while walking to the restaurant. Tipsy and tired, I hit the bed.
Day 2 – Off Road Adventure in Vagamon
12/06/22
Our jeep driver came by the time we came back to room after having excellent tea and vada. But there was no hurry to get ready. We went in his jeep to the same Hotel Chinnu’s and had extraordinary breakfast made up of Appam, Puttu, Kadala Curry and Egg Curry. Only the pickle flavor in the side dishes were annoying but otherwise it was superb stuff.
From there we started off to Kottamala View Point where we got the first taste of off-roading and some really good pictures with jeep. As per the jeep driver, that route was an extra one which other jeep drivers won’t take. Indeed there weren’t any jeep apart from us. Our next stop, Ulupunni Tunnel Falls was actually the spot of the day. As we went early, we were the only ones there and had the whole falls for ourselves. The water was cold alright but not unbearable. The bath made us quite refreshing and I thought we already got the value for money.
The off-roading till that point was nothing compared to the Nagarampara – Ayyapankovil route we took to reach a view point were various films were shot. The most recent one was Peranmai. The jeep being an open one, gave us unparalleled views. It was so much fun to shoot videos, standing atop the jeep. Our final spot of the day was Kaidapadai view point, which had a great view with excellent waterfalls. I was told that there was no path to the waterfalls but the falls was so beautiful, especially the water collected at the bottom of the falls. Not only would have been a great place to enjoy, but also a brilliant photo-shoot place.
In spite of completing all these activities, we were able to finish and come back to room by noon. Ideally we’d have preferred to finish lunch and come back and take a nap but may be the driver wanted to go home early and not wait for us to finish lunch so he dropped us at the hotel. Anyways no worries. He was nice to us and for Rs. 2000, the drive was totally worth it. If it had been more people, it’d have been nicer. His name is Santhosh and he can be reached at 9744254802. May be if you quote my name, he might give some discount from original Rs. 2500 per trip.
For lunch we again went to Chinnu’s, this time by walk and realized that the restaurant indeed was not close to the hotel. For the first time I liked meals in Kerala, that too Kerala rice. The gravies were excellent. Fish Fry too was decent. We also ordered Chicken Noodles and Omelet with it. On return, we went on a shopping spree, got tea powder, chocolates, halwa and spices. That got us tiring and we took a good nap.
In the evening we went for tea at the same spot in the morning, packed our bags and came for dinner at the same place we had the previous night. This time it was better because we had softer dishes like Chapatti and Dosa.
Day 3 – Vagamon to Megamalai
12/07/22
We didn’t do a 6 AM start as we knew that there wasn’t much to see in Megamalai. Yet we started reasonably on time and en route had breakfast at Happy restaurant. We were sad that our tryst with beef would end there. Food was good but as we had excellent food the previous days, it didn’t appeal to us much.
As per the map, it showed us the route via Kumily but the manager of the resort suggested to take Chinnamanur – Then Palani route. That route indeed was excellent with superb roads, almost till our resort, Briar Sand River Cottage, which was not really in Megamalai but in Manallar (6 km from Megamalai), just beside Manallar Dam. They do have two more properties in the same location called Cloud Mountain and Manallar Cottage but ours was the most economical option out of the three and it didn’t make sense to choose the other ones because the views are mostly only from the outside. So we were thoroughly satisfied with the location.
It’s actually a guest house with couple of bedrooms. Thankfully as we went on a weekday there weren’t anyone apart from us, so we had the whole house to ourselves. It would have not been this comfortable if we had shared the room with others. We skipped the lunch that day as it was not part of our package, just settled for tea and biscuits. The hot water bath was refreshing but couldn’t induce sleep so we were just lazing around, not wanting to take car and again go out. The weather was super chill and watching TV on a holiday is always a pleasure.
Dinner, as the reviews suggested was excellent. We got Chapatti, Ghee Rice, Mutter Paneer, Methi Chicken, Curd Rice and Fruit Custard. There wasn’t a single dish that we could say was less tasty than another. It was a terrific experience to relish those food, that too after being so hungry. We hogged so much that we were not even able to move. It was a great effort to even push the body to bed for sleep.
Day 3 – Off riding
12/08/22
Breakfast was a feast with Idly, Dosa, Sambar, Chutney, Fruits, Juice and Coffee. Post breakfast around 11 AM, we got someone to guide us through the route for a private waterfalls inside the estate. The route was terrific, deep inside the tea estate, it was fun to ride and also spot some wildlife. We spotted a white mouthed monkey on the way. There were also elephant dungs all along but couldn’t find any elephant.
We had to walk few meters to reach the falls. But as the water was super cold we were not able to take bath. We returned via the same route and had meals at the estate canteen. It was horrible to the core. Even the fish fry (caught from the Manallar Dam) was terrible.
Our next stop was Maharaja Mettu, a view point atop Megamalai and as per the guide, the end of road. The road was super bad but again it was fun, even though I was worried my car would get a hit. But being a beast, it ran exceedingly well. We could see Iravangallar Dam on the way to Maharaja Mettu where we clicked some quick photos. There is an entrance fee of Rs. 30 per person and Rs. 50 for camera. As the day was hazy we couldn’t get great views but we spotted a bison at a distance, which looked menacing.
It took the whole day for the experience, which I thought would take only half a day. Anyways I was totally satisfied with it. The experience got us tiring and put us into deep slumber. Dinner again was an event by itself. The menu was similar but we got Caramel Custard as dessert, which was next to nothing I’ve ever tasted before. I hogged almost half of the whole plate.
By evening it started raining and at night it got heavy. There was a storm brewing near Chennai at that time. May be it was the side effect of that, but I wasn’t really worried.
Day 5 – Back to Madurai
12/09/22
I had slight throat pain when I got up, so missed the juice, but otherwise hogged on the breakfast. Made the remaining payment and started off from there. The rains had ceased but the entire area was windy and scary while we were getting down. The temperature was a good 15 degrees cold. It felt super chill. We came down in no time, only the sentry irritated by asking Rs. 50 as bribe. Otherwise it was a decent day. Just I had to bear my headache till I reached Madurai so that I could go and sleep.
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