A weekend getaway to Munnar - Amongst the Clouds & Enjoying the Views

After visiting Munnar early this month, I went to Munnar with my friend. The travel schedules and pot journey were exactly the same. I took the same train till Madurai and bus till Munnar. Took an activa from Munnar. Here's the link to first Munnar trip :

http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/04/34-april-munnar.html

On the Way to Top Station

DAY 1 :

We ate some delicious paranthas on a shop towards Old Munnar bus stand. The Shop boasted about

'Punjabi, Malwadi, Gujrati' khaana. We started on the way towards Top Station. Stopped at Rose Garden, Mattupetty Dam, walked a little further on the mud road towards the left and sat near the river, Echo Point, Kundala Lake, Kundala Dam, passion fruit sellers, and finally made it to the Top Station View Point. The journey was really good. Munnar was green and it rained on the way up.It was almost dark and we ended up staying in a Hotel Periyar nearby (cost : 1200 per night).

http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/04/34-april-munnar.html



DAY 2 :

Top Station View Point - 8am

We woke up early morning and it was drizzling. View was good from the rooftop, and soon, we started towards Top Station View Point, which opens at 8. It was very beautiful. The whole area of the Western Ghats was covered with fog. The guard recognised me and told that we should have come a little earlier. We stopped at the Top Station View Point for quite a while. Way back up to the top where the bike was parked took a little energy since we had smoked up a bit.

Top Station View Point - 10am

We started towards Pambadum Shola National Park (told the guards that I want to go to Kolavum and won't stop inbetween). We did not see any animals in the park this time, although I saw a glimpse of some wild beer-sized animal hiding behind the bush and running into forest. Eucalyptus and pine trees and lush green forest after the rain, I enjoyed every moment driving in those forests.

We started back towards Munnar, clicking some pics since every pit stop was a view point. We ate a lot of tasty fruits from local fruit sellers. After reaching Munnar, we started towards Suryanhelli. I asked the jeep drivers the price to/fro Kollukamalai and they said 1000. The drive towards Suryanhelli was not very exciting as it is towards Top Station View Point, but we still roamed around the place with high enthusiasm.

For the night, we booked the Double Tree Villa room (cost : 2000 per night). I slept early after having dinner at 8:30 while friend stayed up stargazing since the roof had a glass cover on top of bed.

DAY 3 :

We woke up late undecided as to what to do. We left the Villa at 8 am towards Munnar and reached Munnar, booked the bus tickets back to Bangalore from the Tourist Information Centre and left towards Eravikulam National Park, only to know that there was a 4 hour waiting list and we should have reached around 8 in the morning. We came back to Munnar Town, ate the Paranthas and left towards Mattupetty Dam. Spent the rest of the day there roaming around. We reached Munnar town back around 4pm, I returned the Activa near the Old Munnar KSRTC bus stand, from where I boarded the bus. The bus took us through the same route as last time. Eravikulam National Park -> Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary -> Annamalai Tiger Reserve -> Udumalpet. I did not see any wildlife this time and it was dark on the way itself in Chinnar.

I reached back Bangalore at 5am and am still dying to trek around Munnar in the Western Ghats.

Link to my Initial Evernote Plan :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rPGlc9_iLoSvi1Fmtv7W0HJWRadq7GUVzWFrbdwPbN0/edit#bookmark=id.gjdgxs

01/10/2014 - Solo Mysore Trip

Went to Mysore alone because I had a holiday and I had no company. It was a long holiday and whole of Bangalore was roaming. I wanted to roam too but Moku as coming over for the long weekend, so no one wanted to go out.
I packed my stuff, took a train to Mysore and bus back to Bangalore. It was a day well spent when I visited the zoo, Mysore Palace in the morning, the Brindavan Gardens and Mysore Palace again in the night was decorated beautifully beyond belief, but I should have had my headphones on as there were events going on in local language which were not very soothing for ears also.

3,4 April - Solo Munnar Trip

This is a travelogue. A personal experience.

April start brought with it a long weekend since Friday was a holiday. I had pre-booked a ticket to Nagercoil, which was in WL and came down to RAC. I boarded the Nagercoil Express at 5pm from Bangalore on Thursday. Because I had hardly slept, I slept all the way even while sharing the berth with other person. I got down at Madurai (instead of Nagercoil) at 3am. Walked to Periyar bus stand and waited for bus to Aryapallam for quite a while cluelessly. Smoked some pot in Madurai while waiting for the bus and immediately could hear the birds chirping instead of the frustration of being alone and not understanding the local language. And then took a rickshaw to Aryapallam. Took the bus from Aryapallam Bus Stand (Madurai) to Munnar Post Office at 5:55 am.

I reached Munnar around 10am and immediately took an active from http://bikerentalmunnar.com/ at 350 per day. Filled up the tank and left for left towards Top Station immediately.

I started my journey, smoked a couple of times, had almost reached the Elephant Park and I stopped at a school just to check whether they can provide cheap stay also. They didn't but just before leaving from there, I opened the dickie of my activa out and wore the jacket since it was cold, changed my lower to capri, put the capri and helmet in dickie alongwith the key and closed the dickie. Yes, I put the key in the dickie. There was no network on my mobile, and since Activa was parked safely, I took the auto back, reached Munnar, took duplicate key, took auto and reached till my activa.

I started again, now onwards, it was a journey that was definitely the best journey of my life, and endless wonderful journey that took me through the nature at its unimaginably best.

I visited the mattupetty lake and the dam. Stopped at a place and went a little off crowd and sat at a place very near to water, no people there and loved it. Smoked  some pot while enjoying the nature. No traffic, No people and peace.

I was in a hurry (may be because I am not a very good driver and had to return back to Munnar after visting Top Station, incase I do not get a place to stay up there), so I drove to Echo Point. The drive on the way was lovely. I was enjoying every part of it. Just before reaching Echo Point, I stopped at almost every turn. Every turn was a view point in itself, very less crowded, very beautiful and naturally beautiful.  Actual Echo Point was a little crowded at the time I visited and one should reach in the morning, by 7 or 8 to enjoy the point. I bantered with a family, a father and a daughter who were leisurely fishing.

I started from the Echo Point, stopped at many points after, smoked a puff at almost pit stop, enjoyed the lovely weather and loved just being there all alone.

I reached Kundala Lake, stopped there, smoked a little more ate some passion fruits, and started towards Top Station Point. Cold Bliss and Wonderful sensation while driving towards the Top Station Point was a feeling I can't explain, but was definitely orgasmic. I am still not sure how far was the Echo Point, because after driving for an eternity amidst heaven, I still had not made it to Top Station Point. I was high and one of the boards said, 7. Kilometers. Since I was high, I must have interpreted that as .7 kilometers. After driving about 15 kilometers ( I didnot check the meter, 15 was what it felt like ) it said 2 kilometers and 2 was totally scratched. I asked someone if Top station was further and he said yes. I asked two/three more people later regd the same.

 But, the entire way were tea plantations, mountains and road was very comfortable to drive on and I enjoyed it very much. One can stop at any point on the way and it was a beautiful view point in itself.

I reached Top Station View Point eventually. A little Walk. Awesome place. Surrounded by mountains. I came to know from local guard, Sharath that starting early morning, you can trek to Kollukumalai Tea Estate or Tribal Colony, none of which I could explore but my wishlist grew bigger. It was almost dark and while I was standing at Top Station View point, a big thunderstorm and lightening said hello to me in a frightening manner. I rushed back up, talked to the guard and he gave me the contact of James (8903682163), who runs a little homestay in his house.

I reached his homestay which was very basic, but very comfortable place. [Not recommended for families]  I met a couple of guys there, one was a photographer with 80k worth big lens. I smoked a little with them, and slept as I was very tired. James woke me up, I ate dinner and slept again.

Saturday morning, I woke up in the morning around 6, entirely sober and ready to rock. Took a left towards Pambadum Shola National Park. I went inside and the early morning drive amidst the forest which says, "Caution, Wild animals may be seen !" and through forest dept checkpoints towards Kollavum was a perfect start for a day. Kollavum was shit, so I turned back and saw horses grazing, and Indian langurs jumping off trees. I couldn't have resisted to smoke a puff there, so I did. I started on my way back towards Munnar and stopped at the Kundala lake which was peaceful in the morning with no people and reflection of the sky and surroundings. I sat there by its side, admired the nature and was very sad that I was going back. I gathered some courage , got up and sadly started towards Munnar. I made various pit stops, smoked pot multiple times, reluctant to go back, debating with myself which ended up that I can always come back again and that going back was also important, so I drove and reached Munnar back without even knowing it.

After reaching Munnar and returning the Activa and waiting for about 4 hours, I got into the pickup van around 4pm. Which took me towards Udumalpet through the Eravikulam National Park route and further through the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and through Annamalai Tiger Reserve. The whole way, every passenger's eyes were popped out. I read the book 'Hackers and Painters' half way, but the sightings of horses, deers and a group of elephants in a vast grazing forest ground tempted me to close it and look for that hidden tiger somewhere. I didn't see it. I understood on the way till Udumalpet that we should let animals be in their natural habitat. It was a whole different experience watching them in forests rather than zoo, watching them do what they usually do, enjoying like we enjoy ! :-)

I reached Udumalpet, had Kerala dinner. Bus came after 90 minutes wait, I slept till Bangalore, reached home on Sunday morning and went to dancing in the evening.

Next To-Do : Treks around Munnar in the Western Ghats !!

PS : I did not have the camera in my phone. My phone was in service centre, and was using a temporary phone. For my second Munnar experience, read this post (with pics)

http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/04/2504-munnar-trip.html

Link to my Initial Evernote :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rPGlc9_iLoSvi1Fmtv7W0HJWRadq7GUVzWFrbdwPbN0/edit?usp=sharing

20-22/03 Kodaikannal

Doctor was leaving flat in March end and since he is busy guy, we persuaded him to take his first holiday in over an year for the trip to Kodaikannal. I initiated the trip and Karan, Doc, Akash, Rahul and I finally started for Kodaikannal on 20th March early morning in the Zoomcar we hired.

Breakfast Pitstop

I was high on pot all the way, through out the trip and on the way back. The night journey took the guys a lot of time and effort and the day journey on 20th was a bliss with perfect highways to drive on, soothing weather and various pitstops. We had our breakfast at a roadside shop and ate South-Indian Food like they were pizzas. We ate about 20 idlis till they got over, ordered 10 dosas and even more vadas doing ek aur - ek aur. Took chais and biscuits and everything was very tasty. Everyone was high and food was delicious.

Doctor doing what he is good at. Lighting up Fire.

We reached Kodai shortly, were stopped by a lucky random guide out of dozens who approached us. He showed us three places, one of which was an undisputed champion. We parked the zoomcar and it had really nice view of the Western Ghats. We were tired, so did not roam around a lot except the Kodai Lake which was only a decent watch. Watched football practise and match for sometime at Kodai International School's ground. People were boating but we were not interested. We did bonfire, smoked pot and slept.  I wanted to sleep outside in the big lawn, so put up my tent, and went to sleep with Bose speakers playing inside the tent. It didn't bother me and I slept comfortably lost in the feel of being in Kodai. The dog came, barked in middle of night around 2 or 3am. It barked from a distance, and then the fucker barked in my fucking ear (from outside the tent, of course). I got up, shooed it away and it stayed at a distance. I went inside and slept.

Day 2 .. 21st March

View from the backyard of our homestay.

The following morning, we got up after the sunrise, nature and the Western Ghats were looking really beautiful. Doctor and I were enjoying the nature when he pointed me to some fences on the right side. He told me that was Coaker's Walk. For about a day now, we did not know that we were enjoying the view of Coaker's Walk from our homestay. We smoked pot early morning, had some tea and breakfast and started roaming around the city.
Rahul bought some mushrooms from the guide which turned out to be entirely useless in the night's bonfire. They were bitter and useless. We did not hallucinate anything. That was the only reason why we travelled to Kodai and that was the only reason in this awesome trip, but did not matter. Ganja Ganja !! :-)

Day 3 .. 22nd March

Coaker's Walk. Early morning.

The fog wasn't as much as it was yesterday. Doctor and I gate crashed Coaker's Walk which was yet to officially open around 9. We roamed around Coaker's Walk, enjoying the beautiful scenary with no one to disturb and no crowd.
I tried to score some more mushrooms that morning, which did not work either. Saw a lot of Christians marching and saying something in local language.
We started around afternoon on our journey back to Bangalore and reached around midnight. I hurt my middle finger after reaching home while trying to throw a log of wood up into the balcony. A small wood piece pierced through my finger. Thank God, doctor studied during his degrees. Helped me pull it out with Swiss Knife.

Initial EverNote Plan :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uYF01WeEeSoMM3Wo-HSQb6aY9RrH7c1kFCtWnMFyUl0/edit?usp=sharing