in God's own Country...(contd.)

The next day we got up at Six-o-clock!! [Has it been called morning somewhere, well... I have no idea, isn’t that midnight??]. We had around 150 kms to catch up ‘Munnar’, another small town, serene, pristine, not-much-heard-about hill station. Reached there in two hours, had a stop-over at the foothills. The foot hills was rather dull and evidently it prepared us to catch up the sleep which we fought off couple of hours ago. Most of us dozed off or just were plainly listening to the tracks played by our driver. The weather was pleasant but we could have got this even by switching on our AC stayed in the home, whats the big deal in coming so far.


Just then the car came to sudden halt and we are gazing upon a wall of mist covering the whole road.As if by magic, the whole mood gets filled with excitement. Not everyday you happen to see clear white mist covering your car windshield or a clean, damp road strewn with flowers or best of all, having some fried cashews with clouds literally floating beneath your feet. Well, welcome to Munnar [God's country ought to have a couple of surprises..ain't it??]. We got down, had a pleasant stroll among the lush tea plantations, just felt heavenly!!

We never wanted to leave this place and ambiance, but were only half way to Munnar and had to continue the journey. Started and drove through the mist-clad roads finally to reach the town. They pointed us to the "Rajamalai WildLife Reserve", this is some Indo-Swiss livestock project which maintains some endangered species in a Secure natural environment. The place is serene without any traces of pollution, even cars had to be left behind and people are transported in Electric vans. By the time when we finally managed to get a seat in the transporter, the mist had cleared and there was a slight drizzle . Well, this is gonna be perfect!!



The van dropped us half-way through the hillock and then its just trekking and strolling through the wilderness, catching glimpses of strange animals, wonder at mystical waterfalls, all looked like a scenery out of the "Lord of the Rings". The trek was awesome and the van dropped us back to the entry. We started from there and went to Echo point, by the time we reached there everyone was hungry. Couldn't find any hotels, finally barged into a tea shop, had some hot tea and snacks.

The next stop was Mattupatty dam, we hired a speed boat, went on for a ride, watched some elephant herds on the way. The weather being great made everything seemed wonderful. With all the places on the list exhausted, we headed to the hotel. Nights come too early in hills, by the time it was six, it was pitch black outside. Well, being too early for us to sleep, we did roamed in serach of an eatery, found some road shack, had some food, came back, played cards, heard strange sounds from nearer rooms and finally managed to sleep pretending not being afraid of the sounds.

The cottage owner woke us up with some hot tea, we had a hot shower and started back to Munnar town, stopped for pics all the while and managed to reach it by 10:00. Had some wonderful south Indian breakfast. The next stop is to visit the KDHP [Kannan Devan Hills Plantation], these guys have some wonderful tea and spice collection definitely worth checking out. Being a company outlet, the products are pure too.

We started down-hills by 12:00, surprisingly the day was hot and too sunny, exactly opposite of today and the same places which we saw the day before among the mist now looked drab and lifeless. The weather plays much of a role in the beauty rather than the place itself, Rains make it lovely and summers the other way around. Munnar has two faces to it, and luckily we had seen both. This is not the typical hill-station one would go on summers, but to be visited on winters.
Make sure to go in mid-winters if you get lucky to catch a visit to Munnar.

Comments

Gauri Gharpure said…
nice, informative write-up abt the trip.. well, munnar is not all tht unknown now coz of ram gopal verma's nishabd.. :D tht guy made most of the movie of the 1) jia khan 2) munnar.. he he... also, i ve been wanting to go to kerala since so long, but the place has got too commercial.. as in, if u plan a trip on ur own ( in which case u need to know the right contacts and the language) it's okay, but an arranged tour is as costly as going to some place like malaysia or pataya!!!
Gauri Gharpure said…
* made most of the movie coz of 1).........2).......... :D
Siddharth Bose said…
da pics r really kewl man!! and u hav written also very well
kewl !!

yet another nice post !! Cant even imagine a tour to these places on winter !!
Unknown said…
the pics are fantastic man...havent been to Munnar yet!

Now maybe i can think of it..eh!!
Me said…
Nice pics. enjoyed the write up!
neospace fantastic. the way described Munnar. really took my days to kashmir. if given me a chance i will definitely go to Munnar. really fantastic.

read at present

http://pxylem.blogspot.com/search/label/DOORDARSHAN

dont worry i will describe the journey to Gurgaon, the modern day city.
S Ramanathan said…
try karnataka.....less known, but no less than the gods own country.. :)
Carlos Vin said…
My english is poor...
I´m from Brasil... speak Portuguese
I was understanded some things, but the photos- is very cool

ok! nice to meet you.. Tchau!
Arwindh said…
@ gauri

thanks for the comment..
haven't seen nishabd..gotta see it..

@ sid,mohan,shawn..

thanks for the comments..

@rishikesh
waiting for ur gurgaon post..
Anonymous said…
Imagine the tour to munnar.i really enjoyed the write up.
Deepak said…
kerala is a nice place dude...
I love munnar....
sourav said…
yr blog is very simple yet unique....the way u have written about the trip is very nice...simple and sweet.and yes i liked yr blog and images and the tagline of the blog in god's country thts good too.

keep it up :)
hey nice one....good job...ull make a good reporter... n these places are so awe-astounding man,,,,i recently went 2 tanjore n da drives were so awesome...full of greenery..soo loved it..but eventually my true self revealed itself n i fell asleep....lol...so nice 2 no u had a good time...nice writing...rock on..cio
Rajarshi said…
I havnt gone to any place in the south xcept hyderabad....nxt tym i go ill make it a point to cover up Munnar too.nice desc.
excellent travel description man... neatly done :)
Gauri Gharpure said…
jus signed back in to see wht others ve said of the grt travel review of urs.. :) everyone loved wht u wrote, isnt it? lovely pics..and the blog now needs a new post... cya around
xsystem said…
I must say mate ... that's a better way of preserving your memories ...

The way you conveyed with the images was beautiful.

Keep up the good werk.

byee
xsystem
www.ajblogstar.blogspot.com
Unknown said…
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Me said…
Nice pics. enjoyed the write up!
Vinodh said…
great description...i have been to all the places you mentioned and i simply loved it..it is one of the best hill stations in the world...it is getting a bit commercialised...which should be avoided..
loved ur pics:)
beautiful pics
Rajarshi said…
hey update ur blog mannnn.....i have read this many time!!!
i am planning a munnar trip next month ;)
Surendran said…
truly it's gods own country
Amit Vibhuti said…
Now I wanna see Munnar
Vivek Menon said…
Always welcome to Kerala my friend.I remember our college days when on a whim at the local tea adda we would take our bikes into Munnar. Miss those days.
CRD said…
sounds quite thrilling. also the pics appealed a lot.keep writing
Proneat said…
dat ws a pleasant decription...bro
S Ramanathan said…
i think u shud update ur blog often, specially if u participate in forums so frequently. :)
smartidea said…
hi buddy...I have read ur posts ..all are nice...I have added u as friend.Hope u reciprocate.
http://hariblog-coolpics.blogspot.com
Setu said…
nice pictures along with the description..
Pranay said…
ohh!!! kerela is just too awsome! i have been to Tpuram, Kovalam and Cochin... and they are a delight..
havent been to munnar.. but can wait to get there.. those photographs tease me!! awsome photos dude...
Rohan Nigam said…
Dude... i had been to munnar couple of yrs back with all my buddies. It was really awesome. This blog reminded me of that.

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