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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Yercaud - Day 3 & 4

As mentioned already there was not much to do on day 3 so we decided to go for a long walk and after a good breakfast we started walking towards the bus stand from Grand Palace. Our aim was to find some shop to buy coffee powder and some other yercaud special items.

The distance should be around 2 to 3 km but the walk towards bus stand is a uphill walk. On the way we saw Lake forest hotel, Shevaroys and other hotels and finally reached the us stand. The time I was there at bus stand one thing I noticed was the buses were coming and going on time. After having coffee at a roadside shop we further started walking into the town.

Here I have to mention that google maps helped me in this expedition and I saw a shop called Padma Stores, courtesy google map. We bought some chocolates and went to a coffee powder shop called Vishnu. We bought some coffee powder and started walking back.

Near Shevaroys there is a super market we explored that as well and then went to a restaurant named Malar near by the super market. The menu had lot of items but we were told they serve only Thali and Chappathi Kuruma take it or leave it. We settled for the available items and started walking back towards our hotel.

After reaching hotel it was just TV, TV and more TV.

Today is the last day here and our association with Yercaud comes to an end here. Not sure if we will be seeing the places we have seen in these 3 days again. With heavy heart we will be starting our descent towards salem to take the bus to Singara Chennai.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Yercaud - Day 2

The weather was still chilly on the second day morning. Already you could hear people walking here and there around 7 AM. This is the problem with hotels and trains. When you are longing to sleep for that additional 30 minutes these early birds will be walking here and there.

After having a great buffet breakfast, this is one good benefit when you stay in some good hotels, it was planned to visit the other places.

The hotel we stayed, Grand Palace, is situated few meters from the lake but up the hill. Getting down the hill itself is a painful task for the legs but still the weather helps you to get through with it. After reaching the lake we took an auto to go to some of the places.

The first place we visited was Ladies seat. The entry fee is Rs 20 per head and I was not given any tickets too. It is another view point to the valley. This day it was fully covered in mist. The place itself was filled with monkeys and it was scary to go near them.From there we went to Gents seat another view point. Gents seat view point compared to ladies seat had better view.

From there we were dropped at a place called Childrens park and were asked to vist it and come out through Rose Garden. The place was totally deserted with some Gaja's hanging around. It was little scary but still we walked through and found some more view points. Finally after getting lost managed to reach Rose Garden. There was no Roses inside. We were picked up from there and proceeded towards Kiliyur Falls our next destination.

On the way we stopped at a Perfume place and bought some oils and perfumes.

Kiliyur falls is 3 KM from the lake and the road is narrow but still people manage it as a two way road. We were dropped at a place and from there we had to go downhill and taken some gian staircases to reach the waterfalls. It is a painful journey for the legs. But the waterfalls itself looks great. We were told that there is not much water but still there was some good amount of water flowing. People were climbing all over the rocks and playing in the water. The trip back from the falls which is climbing the giant staircase and uphill walk was very tiring. My body is not just used to this.

Finally we were dropped at the lake and another uphill tiring walk to the hotel. Though it was tiring I wanted to do it. Once inside the room the weather changed and it started raining.

It is still raining outside as I am typing this.

For Day 3 I dont have any plans as of now, lets see how it goes.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Yercaud - Day 1

After lot of delibration Yercaud was chosen over Ooty for a vacation. Once the location was chosen the next task was to choose a hotel. I was delibrating between Grand Palace, GRT and Sterling but finally settled with Grand Palace.

Started on 23rd Oct by taking the Yercaud express. This one starts at 10:40 PM from chennai and reaches Salem at 4:55 AM. It was raining heavily when we started to Chennai Central. Finally we managed to board Yercaud Express and it started exactly at 10:40 PM as mentioned. And not only that it reached Salem at 4:55 AM.

The checkin time at Grand Palace is only 12 PM so I had 7 hours to kill. It was raining heavily in Salem at 4:55 AM. I waited in the station, which is very small, for almost 3 hrs before I took a bus to Salem new bus stand.

After reaching the new bus stand went to a hotel and paid Rs 78 for 4 idlis, 2 medhu vadais and 1 cofffee.

I caught the bus to Yercaud at 8:45 AM. The Yercaud route has 20 hair pin bends and the route has some very good views and the weather was chilly with no rain. Reached Yercaud around 10 AM and took an auto to the hotel.

The Grand Palace hotel in Yercaud is excellent. It has great lawn and it offers excellent view of the valley. The staffs are very friendly and offer good service.

After a boat ride in the evening was back in room. There was a bonfire around 9 PM and now back inside the room. The valley is now dark with some shining lights in couple of places.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Sucker Punch


 
Well Well Well where should I start? This is one movie which I have been wanting to see for a very long time. When the movie was released I didnt give it much thought but after watching Dawn of the Dead remake I became a fan of director Zack Snyder and desperately wanted to see this movie. When the blu ray era arrived I reserved this movie for blu ray. After watching the trailer in Amazon my expectations only grew. Finally I ordered it through Amazon and ordered the extended cut as I wanted drink in all the action.

Finally when on friday night I sat to watch this I was disappointed with the sound effect of the bluray. That too after watching some good sound effect from Resident Evil series I was really disappointed. After the first fight I dozed off, yes really. Even Emily Browning couldnt keep me awake.

Continued to watch it on Saturday afternoon and again dozed off inbetween. Finally when the movie was over I was sad I had spent some good money on this movie. The soundtrack was one on which I had great expectations but due to not so good sound quality I couldnt enjoy it.

After going through imdb there are still people who say there is lot more to Sucker Punch. I will definitely give this another chance. There are movies which I had liked only in the second sitting. I wish this is one such movie otherwise its 10 USD down the drain.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Resident Evil

Though being a big fan of Zombie movies for some reason I have always been avoiding Resident Evil series. But when Amazon announced release of all 4 movies bluray boxset, I decided why not. I have finished watching first 3 parts and my views are mixed.

On the movie its not exactly a typical zombie movie. It has lot of elements in it with the hero being a super human being who can dodge bullets from series of machine guns and can do some things which only superman can do. The movie has non stop action so we should just hang out all logical reasoning and sit back and enjoy the action. Many things wont make sense but still good action. Some characters do irritate when they behave as if they are in Ridely Scotts Alien.

On the bluray though I am extremely satisfied especially with the sound effect. The discs has some extrodinary sounds not only for the movie but for the trailers included as well. This is definitely one movie which can test the capacity of our speakers.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Ichi the killer


I always assumed the person appearing on the cover for this movie was Ichi. But when I saw the movie I realised there is lot more to the photograph. Now this movie has again been commented as one of the most difficult movie to sit through as it is very violent. I agree and dont agree with that comment.

Is the movie violent? Yes. Are the violences difficult to watch? yes but the entire movie has a dark humour feel that makes us sit through the violence. I was expecting a very serious violent movie but was pleasently surprised to see a dark comedy.

The movie is almost a super hero movie with lot of twists. This comes from the director of Audition. This movie is about the battle between Kakihara and Ichi both of them are almost invincible with both of them having some strange characters.

The ending as usual will leave us a but confused but not as much as Audition did.

This is definitely worth a watch but there are some extreme gore be warned.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy