My wife and I decided to go somewhere for our first marriage anniversary. preferably for a short trip. all sorts of holiday destinations came up. wayanad, pataya, goa, pondicherry and this went on and on. but finally for no apparent reason we decided on Munnar, and after the trip I felt this was the best decision we took.
Our journey started with a real scare.as we nearly missed the train to Eranakulum.
I had a release to handle in office on the same day we had to leave, so with around 1 hour left for the train departure time, I left office. My wife was there at home already and the cab we had booked was waiting. After a mazy drive through the Bangalore traffic we reached majestic railway station 10 minutes before departure.
We rushed with our luggage towards our platform and just managed to get into the train on time. We had the most lovely co passengers sharing our compartment - An elderly couple, who just loved to travel. they had been all around the world and were going to Munnar for a 14 day break from the busy din of city life. they advised on the do’s and dont’s on the journey and stressed on one important thing, one of which I will always remember - "Never go expecting a lot of things".
We reached Ernakulum in the wee hours of the morning. Our taxi was waiting for us to take us to Munnar and we were lucky this time too as we got a wonderful driver. The view along the way to Munnar was beautiful and something I really enjoyed, even though I myself am from the beautiful hills of Sikkim.
It took us about 3 hours to reach Munnar. We had booked a hotel called Dew Drop through "makemytrip". It took us a while to locate the hotel as it was off the main road. Initially I was a little disappointed by the hotel as it was 13 kms from the Munnar town and to top that there was no phone signal.
But my disappointment just withered away and turned to glee as staying at dew drop the closest to nature we could get.with the birds chirping around. and away from everything. there was a small stream nearby the hotel. and a nice lawn in front of the hotel rooms.it was an extremely beautiful place. and I would highly recommend this resort to any one going Munnar. The hotel staff were extremely friendly and "unprofessional" in the manner that it was so homely, that it made you feel welcome.
Just one caveat though. the food here could be a problem if you dont have your own vehicle(we had booked the taxi for our whole trip). For our food we used to go to a nearby resort called Forest Haven and I tell you the food here is better than most hotels in Munnar town(the food in town is horrible apart from one small hotel called Patels [i stuffed myself with food in this place]).
Going back to us reaching the hotel now. We reached the hotel around 8:30 in the morning, and after we refreshed ourselves, we were served a nice heavy breakfast. Now instead of going through everything I will just give a short info on the places we visited
Lakes, Dams and echo point in Munnar - a must go for every vistor. Do visit each lake and dam as each of them are different. Go for the speed boat and the kashmiri boats.
Eravikulam national park - This is the cleanest national park in India and is home to the Nilgiri Tahr a goat like creature. Though this is the only animal you will find here, the view from the park is lovely and you can fill your lungs with a huge dose of fresh air, since you have to walk uphill inside the national park.
Munnar town - The town is dirty and am happy that we stayed away from the town. The restaurants in town are not great. I only found the food at Patels to be good.
Rose garden - Visit if you like flowersTop station - You can get the view of the town from here. Go if you are not from a hill station
Tea processing - not very expensive but still not worth the money unless you are keen to know the amazing history of the tea estates there(the video presentation was good)
Dew drop resort - the place we stayed was amazing and reasonable. Breakfast was free
Forest Haven - The resort where we went for our dinner. The fish items there are amazing. Good for breakfast too for those we prefer continental style food.
After Munnar, we went to Thekkady. we hadn’t booked our hotel in Thekkady before hand and we would regret this decision later.
Thekkady is 6 hours drive from Munnar. Roads are mostly "very very" good except in one stretch where the road is "very very" bumpy.
After we reached Thekkady, on advice of the driver the first thing we did was book tickets for Kathakali dance and the Kalari fight show. Post that we began looking for a hotel. We found all hotels to be overtly expensive. In one hotel called Elephant Mansion, the hotel staff put garlands on us mistaking us to be someone else.it was hilarious.
Finally after much searching we booked a room at the silver crescent resort. One BIG advice too all travellers. Check the hotel rates in make my trip before going cause we were in for a heartburn when we found out later that we had payed 1000 more than what was listed in make my trip.
After checking in we went for the steam boat ride in the periyar tiger reserve. though the place was amazing the people in the boat were utter rubbish. in a "Quiet Wildlife Sanctuary" we had some smart college kids singing and shouting.some kids throwing garbage into the lake. this really pissed me off. cant we INDIANs learn to respect other beings space. we tend to throw rubbish everywhere. make noise. turn up late. that’s a simple sign of not showing respect.(sorry for this though, it still burns to think about that). Well about the reserve. we didn’t see much as it was raining heavily and the govt boats were leaking water from all sides.:) . but the boat ride in the reserve itself was a wonderful experience.
After getting thoroughly drenched in the rain, we quickly got back to our hotel and got ready for our next destination the Kalari fight - I would insist that each and everyone visiting Thekkady to mark this and Kathakalli as a MUST SEE.
Both were absolutely stunning.The next day was the day where we had to wrap up and return back to Ernakulum to catch our train back to bangalore.and this return journey was another drive which I will never forget. We were again late.and our driver drove like hell. literally. driving at 90kmph downslope. we nearly met with "many many" accidents.but luck was on our side.
Just to sum up our whole trip. I must say it was beautiful.just one more thing. the hotel staff at Dew Drops organize for bon fires and day treks in the jungle. for free. just ask.and be nice to them.