Munnar ...

DAY 4...B

Continuation of previous post...In case you haven't read that, here is the link
http://enigmatic-kush.blogspot.in/2013/02/munnar.html

Kundala Lake

Breaking Hearts,With pleasure...lol 

Dam...(More of a Bridge) at the Lake

After roaming around a bit and refreshing our lungs with the breeze we went on with our trip. Next spot was ‘Kundala Lake’ where we got a chance to test our shooting skills (even though it was just balloons we were aiming at…and yes! Balloons were harmed during shooting…bingo!). After this, there was only one spot left on the pamphlet namely ‘Top Station’ which amazingly, was located in Tamil Nadu. We got to know about this as soon as we crossed the state border…Guess how! There was definitely not a sign-board in sight, then how? It was the dramatic change in the road that gave us a realization something had changed, the smooth and comfortable road had given way to an erratic road with multiple holes and cracks. Then a board saying ‘Welcome to Tamil-Nadu’ also became visible and we realized what had changed… state jurisdiction. It was really sad to see the drastic change in condition of road but no point lamenting. With another five-six kilometer drive we reached the final destination.

Amidst Tea

The Mysterious Fruit

It had been a while since we had anything to eat and as soon as we saw a shop selling ‘Meri Maggi’ we went straight towards the shop and ordered. What was really interesting about this shop was that it was selling an exotic species of fruit as well which none of us had ever seen or heard before. Although we were scared to try it, nevertheless we went ahead and began eating the thing. It was a pretty confusing taste, at times tasting familiar to something, the very next instant being totally unfamiliar…but it was fun.


Moving on, we went on to reach the top station which turned out to be a downward trek to a plain area for the view sake. We went more than half the way to the spot, admired the view as we were at a higher altitude and saw no point in going further thus returned. 

Top Station View

An amazing idea materialised

We were seated in our auto and thus commenced our retreat. Stopping the auto at a picturesque location overviewing the tea- plantations we took some photographs and relaxed for a while. It was almost after we were half way through that it started raining and the weather changed dramatically. It became very cold and our driver immediately put a detachable clothing on both sides of the auto to protect us from shivering (yeah…it became that cold suddenly). Reaching back Munnar we went in for a delayed lunch at a North Indian restaurant (not the one in front of our hotel, as we wanted a change) and ordered soup to warm things up a little, followed by a main course.

What a view...

Cardamom

Don't shake this tree...

 
























With this, one direction of Munnar was over and we went on to explore another one. On this journey we reached a point wherefrom we saw the valley and thankfully rain had stopped and only a few clouds remained which were majestically flowing through the mountains… (It was a beautiful sight). Next, we saw coffee and cardamom plantations which were also nice as it was our first time and the last spot was another park called ‘Blossom Park’. This one was not worthy of even a penny, as it wasn’t maintained properly and was in a poor state of health. Once through with this we proceeded to the town centre for some shopping and to take a stroll. Homemade chocolates, spices and tea were among the major products being sold apart from a few handicrafts. We bought everything but tea (L.O.L) and went to our hotel to relax for a while. Once it became dark we went out for dinner to the same place we had visited twice, enjoyed a good meal there and came back. 

Clouds mingling with the peaks

For everything else there is "MasterCard"

End of another splendid day…

Munnar

DAY 4...a

The scenic TEA estate "MUNNAR"

It was understood without saying that we must leave our hotel in the morning as early as possible without compromising on our precious sleep (we were quite exhausted after so much of travelling… and once you are through with your graduation even a little bit of exercise tires you immensely…such is the effect after four years of college).

In deep contemplation-"Why don't I live here"

Coming back to our trip, we had kept aside two days for Munnar since we had heard that there are many tourist spots in and around this tea estate. After having our breakfast in the same place we had our dinner the day before (a south Indian one…this time, not because it was the best option available but it had become a tradition to have this kind of food in the mornings, and we were enjoying the dosas and utthapams relentlessly). While at our breakfast we enquired with our waiter (who spoke in Hindi…a priceless moment) about how to go about touring Munnar and he gave us some reliable information.

The Perfect Day

After some more enquiring we became sure that there weren’t any local tours and travels buses which operated on a daily basis for visiting Munnar, and the only available options were hiring a cab or an auto-rickshaw (available in plenty). Not only were there many cabs and rickshaws waiting in a huge parking lot (a place hard to miss) ready to commence their daily ritual, it was all being done in a pretty organized manner. Near the parking lot which is quite close to the town centre there was a booth (may be set up by the govt. as it looked official…but who knows) with a person sitting inside to inform the tourists about various options available for touring Munnar. He had a printed brochure, bulleting tourist spots in and near Munnar on the basis of direction. Didn’t get it in the first go, don’t worry even we had a tough time figuring out what he meant for the first five minutes after which the haze started to fade.

Photo-Point... as in literally

 So here it is...One can imagine Munnar to be at the hub of various visiting locations which are spread radially around it with the maximum displacement in any one direction being at most 25 -30 kms. The person gave us four package options (all in separate directions roughly-N.E.W.S., explaining us the time involved in each pack) and thus we were left to make a choice now. After doing many mathematical operations like permutation and optimization in our heads, we convinced the person to give us a custom package (there is always a scope for that…everything is flexible) with spots from mainly two directions, and he agreed to do so at an increased price but saving us some valuable time (as we wanted to see as much as we possibly could in as less time as possible…giving rise to an amazing optimization problem…if you think closely). He also gave us the option of choosing a vehicle and we went for an auto as never before had we travelled on hills in a rickshaw…and the experience was definitely worth a try.

Squeezing in the auto we began exploration of the tea-estate Munnar in the direction of Mattupetty Dam (it was the most popular package), and boy! It was amazing. The Mid-summer Sun shone brightly giving us warmth and an impeccable view of the rich green landscaped hills amidst the cool pollution-free breeze which you can only experience on the mountains. All in all it was a weather which many long for to have an experience of.  

Ishan- Amidst the flowers

Strolling in the Flower Garden

"Budding Entrepreneur"

  

                                                                         

While enjoying all this I had simply lost track of everything else, but I got back to the real world as we reached our first destination- a ‘flower garden’ (most of us may think this is only for the feminine gender, but frankly speaking it was an incredible place for anyone to visit). It was a very well maintained garden with a variety ranging from roses and tulips to orchids in the flower category and ferns to cactus in plants amidst a variety of bonsais. Carrying forward with the journey we reached a place known as ‘Photo-point’ which the name explains lucidly of. Having clicked some pictures and consuming a bhutta(readily available) we moved on. After a while we reached the ‘Mattupetty Dam’ and the ‘lake’ (an inevitable part of any dam…nonetheless the tour organizers segregate the two in order to add one more destination and think of the tourists as fools…but who cares, as long as it is a place worth visiting).

The Mattupetty Dam

All padded up...

Speed-boating is the primary activity which goes on in this place apart from elephant and horse riding. We went for the first option as some speed could definitely help the adrenaline flow, even though one journey was only for 15 minutes. There was a long queue which we had to wait in, but an unusual part was, there were foreign nationals as well and in plenty at this place…all waiting for their turn (unusual, since we hadn’t seen any en-route). Finally we got our turn and we were asked to wear the fluorescent orange colored safety jackets (stereotypical colour for life-buoys). Maybe we were expecting too much and hence when the boat started it didn’t feel like the adrenaline could ever rush and so we asked our boat driver to add some thrill to the ride by accelerating, rolling and yawing (basically spinning) the boat. He took his time in adding these features to the ride but when he did the adrenaline did rush and it was rocking as hell. It was nothing less than a mind-blowing and exhilarating experience, in short… paisa wasool.

Having a jolly good time...

Note: Day 4 was a pretty long day both in experience (with more than 400 clicks...thanks to digital storage) and in ink (technically bits...bhavnayon ko samjho) hence I have split it in two posts. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Athirappilly Falls

DAY 3

A decent Entrance

Up and out by 8 AM, (a good compromise between too late and too early) we had our breakfast (as usual south Indian…coz it’s the best option) and headed for Athirappilly falls. KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, in case you are curious as to what it stands for) buses ply at regular intervals to Ernakulam (Cochin) from Trissur and one has to get down at a place called Chalakudy and so we did in order to get to the falls, which is about half an hour journey (as it’s a national highway and that too a nice one). Once at chalakudy we had two options available namely private and KSRTC buses, as both run to the falls, but we went with the private one as it has a far better frequency of operation. In another one hour we reached the falls and I was frankly amazed to see a well-developed and maintained tourist destination. 

Pathway to "A Grandeur"

With a kilometer trek on a nicely built road we reached the brink of Athirappilly falls, and were able to see water dropping to a mighty depth at a great speed. Definitely we spent some time adoring the silent and calm water that in no time was about to become furious (what an enthralling view it was). Now we commenced our trek to see the front view of the falls from up-close and although the track was not smooth and it started raining as well we still continued. After reaching a hut nearby the falls we stopped intermittently for the rain to subside. But one of my friends was too inquisitive and didn’t really care about the rain so he headed further. Only after he ran back to us carrying a totally thrilled face we had no option but to go ahead. And I must say it was a magical moment (second one, in two consecutive days…what a trip). Don’t believe me, have a look for yourself:

The silent river

What a view! Kerala is blessed

Again with some reluctance we had to leave the place and proceed with the plan (even three hours proved to be less to admire such a beautiful place). Next spot on our map was Munnar and we wanted to reach there before dusk (around four hours from chalakudy) but our plan was to go berserk which I shall tell shortly.

Shaaanti...amidst a view, Can't ask for more

Reaching chalakudy on the way back we had our lunch; an all Chinese version once again (it’s the safest bet). As per the information we had, we were required to change bus only once en route to Munnar from Angamaly. Hence we boarded a bus for this destination, only to find once we reached this place that no bus runs from there to our destined spot. But, according to some people we could get a bus to Munnar from Perumbavar another small town on the way. So we took another bus for which we had to wait a long time, but eventually we reached this place. Once again we were to find that no bus plies to Munnar and in order to get a bus we needed to reach a place named Kothamangalam (if I remember it correctly). With whatever left spirit and enthu, we caught another bus to this place. 

Ravi- "Shah-Rukh Khan's stereotypical Pose"

Gushing Downstream

This isn't "photoshopped"...

We must have been extremely fortunate since as soon as we reached this place there was a bus readying to leave for Munnar. By now we had changed three buses boarded a fourth one on our quest to reach Munnar. It was an extremely exhausting and irritating venture as we were carrying our luggage and changing buses just because of incorrect and incomplete intel. But we endured.

Henceforth things got better as we got seats in the final bus and could sit back and relax on a two hour journey which concluded at 8 P.M. and we were now standing in the tea estate of Kerala, Munnar. While journeying in the bus, we had an excellent view enriched with landscaped greenery. We got to see many waterfalls even though not as enormous as Athirappilly, refreshing nonetheless. After reaching the tea estate we checked ourselves in a decent hotel (only disadvantage of 12 noon checkout which is a policy of almost every hotel there) and went for dinner. 

There was a sweetly decorated Dhaba style restaurant at the opposite end of our hotel and we had a proper north Indian dinner over there. To our surprise this place was literally flooded with people speaking Hindi, a language one seldom gets to hear in this part of the country. After being through with the dinner we went straight to bed.

Leaving with a heavy heart

Alas! A hectic day came to an end.