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)
Link to my Initial Evernote :
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