St. Thomas Mount Chapel

Use the map for accurate location information.

On the Uzhavoor – Pala road, after Kudakkachira, take the left deviation at Valavoor towards Chakkampuzha. Within about 100 metres, there’s a road that goes up to the left and that’s what we want. This is a great road with steep climbs and glorious curves. After about 1.5kms,  to your left, there will be a broken, relatively narrow road passing through rubber plantation. Take that (never with a big/wide vehicle). You’ll soon be mildly ‘off-roading’ and it gets narrower as you go further.

A small, secluded chapel – the St. Thomas Mount Chapel – and a stunning view to go with it.

You MUST note that this isn’t really a Tourist/Picnic Spot. It’s just a good view from a church premise. Take pride in acting accordingly. It would be a good idea to avoid going there in groups/gangs.

The place and the views

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Getting there

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It was a sweet surprise to find a good video of the place already on YouTube. It’s slightly long – 7 minutes.
Use these timecodes to jump:
00:07 – main view, 00:40 – start of the road trip off Valavoor, 03:13 – the best curve,
03:56 – the final deviation, 05:10 – the Chapel, 05:26 – more views.

[Holy Mass timing: Sundays, 4.30 pm]

 

Green Roads (+ 4th Anniversary)

An interesting characteristic of the District is that it has parts of highland, midland and lowland within its boundary. A trip from Kumarakom to Vagamon – from ~10m above sea-level to 1100m – sets a good example of this, passing through either Kuravilangadu-Pala-Erattupetta or via Ponkunnam/Kanjirappally-Pala/Erattupetta. The transitions are smooth and subtle and happens in just 70-90kms.

Put up below are photos of some very green stretches of road  from the midlands. The surface quality is the best around and there are glorious curves.
The locations are on the Kanakkary-Vempally, Kozha-Marangattupilly, Uzhavoor/Kurichithanam-Pala stretches.

One could argue the photos/places look too similar, to which I can only say: it sure doesn’t feel that way in real.
And oh, by the way it’s the 4th Anniversary of KottayamPattanam; the first post was on 31st Oct 2009.

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For the Love of Our Trees

Kottayam Pattanam is happy to tell about a little project – for the love of our trees.
It is a full-screen slideshow of some of our trees.
It’s fully automatic; you just have to load the page and watch. No controls, no clicks.
Give it about 10-20 seconds when loading for the first time.

See it here: www.kottayampattanam.com/trees/
Consider sharing the link with people who might like it.

Thank you 🙂

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Parakkalkadavile Puthumakal

Naalukalkku munpu thanne oru naadan tourist spot aarunna Parakkalkadavil chila puthumakal vannittundu. Paalathinte randu vashangalilum landscape cheythu, pavement tiles okke ittu bhangiyakki. Marangalkku chuttum irikkan thittakalum kettiyittundu. Pinne, aaru kettiyathaanennariyilla, oru oonjaalum undu. Chumma aadaan!

Location map: http://goo.gl/maps/2i7Au

(Bonus info: All these photos are straight-from-camera.)

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J-YES Farms, Neendoor

This place should have been profiled here way earlier. The ‘J-YES Farms’ at Neendoor is freely open to all, throughout the year. Along with the rearing of a variety of animals, fishes and birds, the place has a landscaped garden, swings for kids, a plant nursery, an agricultural museum that archives old and traditional farming implements and household objects. There is an open air cafeteria too.

The locals take pride in this project. During the weekends, the place gets filled  especially with kids!

Location map: http://goo.gl/maps/H98NZ
Timings: 7 days a week / 5 am – 7 pm
Entry: Free
Contact: 0481 – 2712828

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