Our school, Sir Sivaswamy Kalalaya, organised an excursion to Pollachi and Valparai for the students of class 7 and 8 from September 24 to 27.
We boarded the Cheran Express in Chennai Central and reached Coimbatore, singing songs and enjoying the train journey. Even some of the teachers joined us!
From Coimbatore we went to a hotel in Pollachi by bus. After breakfast we went to Monkey Falls. Though we were not allowed to bathe in the falls, we were allowed to keep our legs in the running water. Some people lost their balance while walking on the rocks, but we enjoyed a lot.
Next we went to an ashram of Vedanta Maharishi and visited a museum where his photos were kept. From there we went to Aliyar Dam. We had to climb some 50 steps before we could reach the top. The view of the dam was very nice from top. The mountains were on the other side and the dam looked like a great lake.
We had lunch in the gardens surrounding the dam. The garden was full of plastic and rubbish, so some of my friends picked them up and put them in the dustbin. We did our bit for a clean environment.
After lunch we went to an aquarium where different kinds of fishes were kept. Our next stop was Valparai, which is a located on a mountain 50 km from Pollachi. We had to pass 60 hair pin bends to reach Valparai! So as soon as we got out many started vomiting. We got out of the bus and wherever we saw, we could see only tea gardens! There we visited a Murugan temple where we sang some songs on lord Muruga. Then we returned to the hotel had dinner and rested.
Next day after breakfast we went to Thirumurthy Falls. The monkeys there grabbed the things we had in our hand! One of them opened the zip of a bag, took out a chips packet and went to the top of a tree and started eating!
We dipped our legs in the water for some time then climbed down the small hill and went to the Pollachi hotel to eat lunch.
Next we took our luggage and went to another Murugan temple which is on top of a mountain, Maruthamalai. We chose to walk up the mountain instead of going by bus. But we didn’t know that we had to climb a number of steps!
All of us kept on climbing breathing heavily and at last reached the top. The view from the top was worth the climb. It was dark as we started climbing down and there were no proper lights. So we climbed down in small groups and reached the bus.
We ate dinner at a hotel in Coimbatore and went to the Coimbatore Railway Station and returned to Chennai. All good things should come to an end and so did our journey. But we are already started counting down for the next excursion!