Daily work was becoming monotonous and boring and myself and my wife was dying for some break.Finally those much awaited vacation came in form of diwali holidays and we charted out a 10 day plan.The initial plan was start Friday afternoon go to munnar and from there to calicut (home town) and then back to bangalore.After a week long of research on the web regarding the routes and from the suggestions of friends the routes were decided.The plan was Bangalore – Krishnagiri –Dharmapuri-Thoppur – Mettur – Bhavani – Perundurai – Avinashi – Tiruppur – Palladam – Pollachi-udmalapet-chinnar-munnar.
Then came the villain in form of work and my 4 days of leave got canceled.My wife was not very happy about the idea of going that far & not visiting native,and i was not ready to cancel the trip.nothing was finalized till Thursday night & nothing was packed.My wife was hoping that i would leave the idea of the trip & i was hoping that she understands my frustration..after a lot of fight, planning & re-planning we both decided on friday morning to hit the road and the destination was pollachi masarani amman kovill.
We packed what ever we thought were relevant and started from Bangalore at around 4:00 pm on friday afternoon.we had split up the route & had decided to stay in salem for the night.We hit the hosur road around 6:00 pm..thanks to bangalore traffic.But once we left bangalore it was drive of my life time..the road till krishnagiri was awesome with jaw dropping scenery and a light drizzle made the ride all the more romantic.
But after we crossed krishna girii the fun was lost..there was 4 lane widening happening and the ride in the night to salem had actually become night mare… we managed to hit salem @ around 9:00 in the night.Then the next day traget was pollachi and we had to reach there before 12:00 for the pooja.
We grasped some sleep in one of the hotels in salem and started to pollachi the next day around 5:00 am.We took the coimbatore highway.The road was okie but then there was road widening happening with lot of lane changes and diversions but overall it was fine and were able to reach polachi by 11:45 am just in time.The drive was ok and was not that tiring.We had an excellent darshan in the temple.We were out of the temple by 1:00 pm and were clueless of were to head.we thought of traveling back to banagalore but then we still had 3 days in our hand and we didn’t want to go back to home & watch TV.
The next option was munnar which was around 150 kms from pollachi,but it was raining heavily in munnar at that time & every body i talked to were telling us not to go there.the third option was to go to ooty which was also 150 kms away.
I called up one of my friend Vadii who is a hardcore biker for his opinion .As soon as he heard me..he was doubt less he said..munnar…and i started my car and drove right out of the temple and took a right turn and we were on the road which would take us to munnar..my wife was surprised at the way i took that decision and she was saying i am sometimes just impossible.It was a kinda of cool because there was absolutely no planning.what we knew was a friends number in munnar and the fact that it was raining heavily there..nothing else.we were actually not very sure whether we would be able to see munnar fully because that’s not a place which u should be visiting during rains ..but then we had our instincts and we just went ahead.
That 150 km journey from pollachi to munnar was an awesome drive and very soon we reached the chinnar check post.from here we were supposed to go through the chinnar wild life sanctuary.
This stretch was through forest..the roads were ok..there were literally no traffic and then, some stretches on that road it really felt like a forest.only thing bothered us was some 20 or more checkposts in between.We never understood the purposes of that but then spinning out 20 bucks at each gate was a pain.We covered that stretch in almost 1 and half hour, by the time we started entering munnar it was around 5 in the eve..and from here the real fun stated ..what to tell about this place ..its heaven..there were greenery all around,there were endless tea estates a slight drizzle & we were just driving through deserted roads..
That evening was un undoubtedly one of the most romantic ones we had till now.after some time there was intense mist which made the visibility to 0 and we were actually driving on roads which were just enough for a car..
It was very scary but @ the same time we enjoyed that to the fullest.We reached munnar some time around 6:00 in the eve and it was like almost 12:00 midnight in that place..it was covered by mist.
Our friend arranged us a home stay and i suggest home stay to every one who like to visit to munnar..i think that its a cool way and can save a lot of money too..we stayed at a homestay owned by one Mr,Binoy(09447434765) and he was more than helpful to us and took care of each and every need of ours..The night there was horrible it was un bearable cold and we had almost frozen.
With my last day experience of the narrow roads and with little time to waste we hired our very helpful house owner to be our guide/driver for the next two days which he did for a very nominal prize.Next day morning our destination were 2 dam location and to go to the highest point in munar.
We started of a little late around 8:00 and then went directly to a dam location.we had some good time there and then we proceeded to the highest point in munnar and en route i felt that the decision i made to hire a driver was one of the very intelligent ones which i took in a long time..if i had not done that i would have bumped my car onto some tree for sure..the road were so pathetic that for a while i taught i was the one who was discovering those roads…we spent some good amount of time @ that place and returned back..Our guide educated us on various stuff en route and he made sure that we didn’t miss on any thing..
After returning back in munnar town we had a nice lunch from one of the restaurants in the town and then headed towards the most famous water fall in munnar..It was again a wonderful drive through the tea estates and the view @ the water fall was just awesome..after capturing some of the moments there we returned the town around 6 pm.
In the night we were sponsored a special dinner by our cousin @ abad plaza a 4 star hotel in munnar and after that we relaxed back @ our room.
The 3 rd day started with confusion as for whether to get back to bangalore by the same route which we came or to take one more day off and visit one of our uncle in thrissur and then go back to bangalore..nothing was decided but then the short term plan was to visit the famous hills in munnar were a violet flower blooms every 12 years. These hills are also home for a rare species of goat..
we reached there by around 10.The place is actually a hill were only govt buses are allowed for tourist purpose..the buses take you to a distance and then you have to walk almost 1.5 kms.It was real fun had some nice opportunities to try my newly discovered photography skills.
The walk was a little tiring..and also the day we went there, we could not spot any of those special goats ..i guess that has something to do with luck and..yeah that also gave us an excuse to put munnar back on our travel list.
After spending some fruitful time there we started to think of our next destination..Finally we decided the plan B ie go to thrissur and then to Bangalore.. then we didn’t want to leave munnar that fast..but then good things never last too long and we left munnar , promising ourselves that we would come back here very soon to re live the moments and to discover more…
Way back roads were good.Only the exception was the stretch from angamaly to thrissur.This 100 odd kms tested my driving skills to the limits..thanks to widening being carried out there. we reached thrissur by 5:00 in the eve.It was always good to be back with family members.
The next day morning we started to bangalore back @ around 5:00 in the morning and the route planned was palakkad-coimbatore-satyamangalam-nanjungaud–mysore-bangalore.This was again an un explored route by me.Thanks to Vadii again for suggesting this one..It was a great drive.The roads were bad only for about say 30 kms near nanjunguad and rest were very good roads with enough scenery to fill your eyes.we reached back bangalore @ 9:00 pm and thus we were back from the best weekend we ever had in our life till now.
As some one had truly said
“Good days are to be gathered like grapes, to be trodden and bottled into wine and kept for age to sip at ease beside the fire. If the traveler has vintaged well, he need trouble to wander no longer; the ruby moments glow in his glass at will.”
Click on the below album for more snaps
