Vagamon Heights @ Vagamon - Part 2

Continued from part 1
Next morning the first activity was horse riding.
This carriage was parked near the reception of the resort has been reminding us of the horse ride whenever we see it.

But the horse ride was not on the carriage but on top of a real race horse. Riding a horse through the dense forest and hilly terrain, we feel as if we are king.
The horse was absorbing all the uneveness of the terrain which had zero roads and we were feeling only the soothing up down moment which we can feel even when the horse is going in smooth roads.

We were in the 4 x 4 again, but this time headed to another direction and reached the lake where there was fishing deck.

The fun at fishing in this point was double because the view which we can have from this point is something which is beyond what words can explain. See it to believe it.






We spend a lot of time fishing. We were running out of time for our return journey.

hectic fishing going on here

On our way back to our cottage, saw a tree house, about 30 feet above the ground. Climbed up the tree and enjoyed the experience of being top of a tree among the woods.



Found this when standing on top of the tree


Part 4 - The return journey
After completely enjoying our time at the resort, we packed our bags, thanked the resort staff for there homely behaviour and there support, wrote all the good things in the guest book, started to climb down the woods with a handful of memories to cherish.
The customized 4x4 which took us for a roller coaster ride
The view of cattle grazing on the green meadows
The view of green meadows from the fishing deck
The 3D version of these pictures are etched in our memory.
We went through the same offroading track to reach out of the resort and stopped for one more photo session

The winding roads of vagamon was again on display

This time we decided to travel by following route.

Vagamon - Pala - Ettumanur - Kottayam - chengannur - kottarakkara - trivandrum

We didn't expect much about the roads in this route. But something different was in stock for us, when we turned towards the pala route from vagamon. It started raining heavily, but somehow visibility was not getting affected.

One side of the road there was a rocky hill with water draining out at many places. The small greenery on the black rocks make it look much more beautiful. Heavy rains means we could not stop much to take photos. But I drove slowly making it a visual treat for our eyes.


By the time we reached Pala the ghat roads were over. But heavy traffic was the order of the day right from Ettumanur to kottayam and by the time we reached Changanacherry we had decided that we will quit Main central road (MC Road) and somehow get to NH 47. So we took a diversion from thiruvalla and reached Kayamkulam.

Then we glided through the smooth roads of NH 47 and reached home safely.

So it was a kind of complete mix of roads, the drive sure was quite an experience. The scenic place and the good resort made it all more interesting and the lack of previous knowledge about the resort or the landscape made it even more exciting

Some points to remember
1. Two nights and three days will be ideal to cover this resort fully and other view points in vagamon in a relaxed mood. the resort have more than 300 acres of land including 2 - 3 hills, one lake, rosegarden, conference room amidst forest. tree house etc. Since it was only one night and day for me, I could not even complete the spots inside the resort, let alone the pine valley and other places outside. I am the like who would like to stay and enjoy one place rather than finish all the picnic spots in one go.

2. Watch out for leeches which will feed on your blood without your notice. They will be aplenty during rainy season. We fed 3 leeches fully and managed to escaped from another 3.

3. Don’t wear shoes if it is rainy season as the leeches will get inside and feed on your blood and you'll never know

4. Keep some salt. If a leech is sucking your blood, sprinkle the salt. It will release soon.

5. If you wash your feet with detol, probability of leech attack will be less. Hence keep a bottle of detol with you.

6. The climate is just about perfect during Jan - May. Not so cold and not so hot.

7. If you own a 4 x 4, there are plenty of tracks where you can explore inside the resort itself.

8. The staff does not have a formal outlook as you see in star rated hotels, but quite homely and will get along nicely. Something which I like. The food there does not have much variety, but the kitchen staff are ready to listen and if needed you can also cook.

9. The rooms are pretty decent. One resort room is sufficient for 2 adults and 2 kids. Wooden panelled floor and walls makes it look slightly upmarket. But different types of accomodation are available.

Verdict
A 10/10 for the place
A 9/10 for the resort.

Most of all, I enjoyed the drive through these roads
Want to visit this place again & again & again