Our day 1 started at 7:45 am, though we planned to start at 6 am. Now being honest I do not pass the buck to my co-travelers for getting me late as I woke up late.
Anyway, we got our petrol tank full and took East Coast link (ECR) road that will take us to Pondicherry, a city 100 km away and a former French colony. The ECR road will give you a smooth ride and an occasional picturesque view along the coastline but remember its a 2 lane road (one lane for traffic from each direction) with no divider in between. Hence if you are safety conscious driver like me you wont be able to pick up more than avg speed of 50km/hr.
In next 50 mins from start we crossed Mahabalipuram where famous shore temples of 700 AD are located. You may drop in to see the temples but remember it will take minimum 2 hours to see (including parking, ticket collection, photography). Since we had to reach Yercaud the same day we had to avoid visiting these temples.
On the way we found couple of spots to click photographs specially those of backwaters.
What you see here look better in reality than photos.
In next 45 minutes we all were hungry and found a restaurant on our right in next few minutes named having Midway Resorts.
It was neat restaurant with a mini zoo having birds, farm animals, swings where my kid kept herself busy.
While we enjoyed Idlis and Vadas (local meal of south India). The food was reasonable considering the ambience and a soft spoken staff.
It was neat restaurant with a mini zoo having birds, farm animals, swings where my kid kept herself busy.
While we enjoyed Idlis and Vadas (local meal of south India). The food was reasonable considering the ambience and a soft spoken staff.
We started from there to Pondicherry and it was 10:30 am when we reached entrance of Pondicherry. A very iconic monumental structure was waiting to be photographed.
As we crossed this entrance we found fuel station and on checking our fuel gauge we found our petrol tank to be about 25% empty. We thought of refueling the tank. To our surprise fuel was 4 rupees cheaper than Chennai.
So guys here's a piece of advise, when you start your journey to Pondicherry fill your fuel tank only that much that will get you here and get rest of the fuel filled here (Pondicherry). You will save a quite a few bucks on both petrol and diesel.
We next started towards White Town, that was the only place we knew in Pondicherry. We had to pass through busy, stinky roads, local markets and sometimes witnessed shopping malls with clean roads.
As we reached the center of Pondicherry called Whitetown we saw a beautiful sea view and a beautiful road called Goubert Avenue. This was the spot worth spending time and click couple of photos with sea in backdrop.
The location was clean and worth strolling and relaxing for a while with a number of icecream vendors.
The roads were clean and well maintained and you could notice tourists roaming around. There was ample of packing on opposite side of road.
The view of sea and sound of tide were very soothing. Worth spending 20-30 minutes to enjoy the nature.
Its worth to pose before the iconic Gandhi statue and get photographed. But area behind the statue is a local fish market and its not worth to visit.
Once we were done with photography we continued our journey. I heard from my friends that liquor is cheap in Pondicherry and so my search for local liquor shop started. I found one near Aurobindo Ashram and to my expectation liquor was damn cheap here. Specially the shops are professionally run with large variety to choose from unlike in Chennai.
So here comes another tip - While in Pondicherry buy liquor to maximum limit allowed by government. I was told by shopkeeper carrying 1-2 litres should not be a problem.
Another tip is do not spend much time here if you intend to reach Yercaud same day. You still have long way to go and hence ensure you leave this place before 1 pm.
Next kept driving through inner roads of Pondicherry just so that we can reach few kilometers before Cuddalore from where we were supposed to take a right turn towards Salem. Salem is an industrial town dominated by steel industry and is same very town in whose district Yercaud is located.
We were required to ask local people there on directions to the turn as in these situations GPS is not reliable. The people infact are so helpful in guiding you the way that you do not feel the need of GPS.
We took the correct turn and what followed was a countryside driving taking us through small towns where locals were busy with daily chores - selling vegetables, coming from school, shopping etc. We still were on two lane road so again we could not pick average speed of more than 60 km/hr.
This is just one example of a town called Varrakkalpattu that we crossed on the way. What was surprising in these small towns was to see penetration of English. The sign boards, shop names etc were mostly in English.
Another interesting observation was to see the religious harmony in deep pockets of India where we noticed Temples, Churches and mosques in close proximity indicating the religious conglomeration here.
Another interesting observation was to see the religious harmony in deep pockets of India where we noticed Temples, Churches and mosques in close proximity indicating the religious conglomeration here. 
A little drive further held our attention to a sign board informing marriage of a young couple (see photo on right). I wished if I could inform this couple that Indian govt. does'nt impose tax on smile ... :). We saw such photographs in every corner of this small town that we crossed leaving us to guess if they are who's who of local town.
The roads were all the way smooth and clean, no garbage no filth treating our eyes with green countryside view.
But dont be surprised if you get a bumpy road occasionally with no dividers separating incoming and outgoing traffic.
Here's the next tip, my sincere advise is not to drive at speed more than 60-70 km/hr. Since the road is single and incoming traffic , specially the trucks and buses do not have that sane drivers. So its important to control your speed and drive carefully enjoying the view around.
Just a few 10s of kms we drove and we witnessed the new era of transformation India is going through. The four lane roads welcomed us with an expressway that resembled nothing less than a drive from Sydney to Melbourne on M31 that we experienced in Feb 2011.
You can see few hills in the backdrop, indicating that we were going closer to our destination which is a hill station. We got out of car for a while to straighten up the legs and digest some fresh air.
Now that we were on road since last 7 hours and it was around 3 pm, we were feeling hungry and so started looking for a restaurant. To our delight we found an interesting restaurant with name "Indian Punjabi Dhaba" .
Now the word dhaba in Punjabi language means a roadside restaurant and we being from Punjab were not new to the term. But what was surprising was the very existence of Punjabi restaurant in remote village that raised our hopes of a turban clad restaurant owner and authentic Punjabi food.
However we found owner Venkat Unnikrishnan a soft spoken pure Tamilian who intended to serve us a butter chicken but it turned out to be a fusion that I would like to call Chettinad Butter Chicken. It was an awesome food catalyzed by underbelly fire of hunger we all had.
Now look at the awesome food here.
The owner helped us with map for our route ahead and informed that after 20 kms we will be climbing the hills. In next few minutes we were in a small town called "Nammakal" that seemingly displayed signboards for Yercaud and we were on a road named "Cherry Road".
My advise is to fuel your vehicle here itself since there are almost no fuel stations uptill Yercaud.
The second advise is that, if you are not as lucky as us in reaching to this town Nammakal by 5 pm then better you stay overnight here and carry your journey to Yercaud next morning. The reason is, way to Yercaud firstly very scenic coupled with small waterfalls and hence at night you will not be able to enjoy that. Second the way is extremely steep, one of the steepest slopes I have seen in my driving experience so far hence to be on safe side ensure that you drive to Yercaud from here while its not dark.
Ok, now that we hit the road on time we continued, just few kilometers ahead we started climbing the hills.
In the beginning it was casual incline with flora and fauna to admire.
However gradually the slope started getting steep.
What you see here is a typical hairpin bend that you will encounter. Each bend is like a hairpin, from where it derives its name and the slopes are steep. If you enlarge this photo you will find the green color board to inform this is 8th hairpin bend. There are 20 in all.
As a tip, you should horn while climbing so that incoming traffic is informed.
Mostly you will encounter bikers coming from opposite direction. The danger is that these guys mostly drive down with engine off to save fuel leading to bikes that are uncontrollable. Iam saying from a personal experience that we encountered in next few minutes when we were hit by a bike and later biker disclosed he lost control as he was riding with engine switched off. The matter settled with some compensation to us and I do not mention further on my encounter now but just mentioning to advise you to be slow and careful from incoming traffic.
Another tip is that mobile phone signals are very intermittent this strengthens my advise that you should not travel late.
Finally we reached our destination at around 7 pm and checked-in to pre-booked hotel Indeco Lake Forest. The hotel seemed to be amalgamation of old English cottage with clean rooms and good service. They organized dance in the evening followed by a buffet. However ensure that you have buffet before 9:30 pm as their refilling service is very poor.
On left you will see the room and on right is restaurant.
Down below you will see me relaxing from the 10 hour drive we had all through the day.
Before signing off from the day I cannot stop myself sharing the excellent quote written at the hotel on India. Sharing with you as someone who loves India not as some one advertising for this hotel on my blog.
Wish me good night and same I do before we meet again tomorrow morning for exploring another exiting day.
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