It was October ( Dushera time ) . Finally I decided to take a long leave from the office and go for a good and chilling trip. Various speculation, tight schedule and different strategies made me bit mad. so decided to plan it well in advance. But you wont believe how the planning was intentionally scraped because the mood climbed up and up. I will tell u how it was…..
Ok..Ok..let me start now!!! Finally an early morning came, when we started our journey from Bhubneswar. It was a real pleasure to travel with the family after so many years.I was very much excited. I was accompanied by my parents and sweet kiddo brother ‘Biswa’. After crossing lot of rivers, jungles, villages and interesting places, we reached Cochin station at around 5 PM next day. (I would suggest please check with coimbatore in train route, distance is almost same 140 km to Munnar). I had booked a taxi through inspiremunnar.com, which was waiting for us. The tour manager Murugesan of inspiremunnar.com is very friendly and helping.
We loaded our luggage and started for Munnar. It was 5.30 in evening. We were bit tensed about the unpredicted cold, but the driver relaxed us. Then comes the most exciting part!!! Our vehicle (cost for Munnar from cochin station is 1500 rs) started climbing its favorite hilly route. I suggest one should start journey in day time to enjoy the beauty which we missed a bit ..hmm.
Finally we reached Munnar at 10 PM. I had called up my homestay in advance. I tell you, if you want to really enjoy the extra feelings of that place stay in a home stay arrangement. We stayed in JJ Cottage in Old Munnar which is 3 km frm main city and out of kiosk. “A perfect place”. The care taker Mr Jain is very helpful and sweet. We felt as if we are at our own place. The room rent was also reasonable and value for money. I will give all the numbers of the honest and helpful guys once I finish this experience. We took rest that night and the very next day a homely driver reached us. Thomas(driver) was a real honest and careful driver. Best part was he was fluent in English and a man of knowledge. We started our local sightseeing at 9 am. It was all d fun to see that small town full of tea gardens, waterfalls n landscape. Don’t miss the tea museum. We enjoyed a lot that evening……and came back to cottage for complete rest.
Next morning we wanted not to avail any vehicle. So we tried with the local transport and wanted to walk down the streets. It was really fun. A new and good experience. U will miss a lot if roam all d time in a vehicle. That’s true. Kabhi kabhi desi style me bhi ghumna chahiye….hehe
After spending whole day in Munnar, our plan for coming back to Cochin was dropped. Thanks to Thomas who planned a very nice trip for us with him. He suggested us to take the Madurai route and on d way the spice gardens. So we started for Madurai on day 3 morning. Enjoyed a lot on the route. Bhar bhar ke photography kiya..wow…what a place!!!
We reached Madurai (Famous for Meenakshi Temple) at 3 pm. Thomas arranged a good hotel for us. We took rest for an hour and started for the Deity Darshan. We were lucky to witness it in time. At night I discussed with hotel staff about the nearest place. He suggested me for Rameshwaram (one of the 4 Dhaams). We were delighted and finalized it. It was a one day tour. Next morning we started for Rameswaram in a tourist bus and again were lucky enough to witness the Darshan. Came back to Madurai that night as we had our connecting bus to Kanyakuamri. We took the tourist bus (check the govt registrations of the operators not to get cheated) and started at sharp 11 PM. Reached Kanyakumari at 5 am and rushed to the beach to see the sunrise. It was so nice …..wow we could not resist ourselves from clicking all d ways. I had booked Govt of Tamilnadu hotel in advance (1 month). It was sea facing and a perfect place with nice views. Whole day we visited all the surrounding of Kanyakumari ( wax museum, suchitram temple etc) and sunset . lucky enough to see both in one day…next morning to Vivekananda memorial. Traveling in jetty with 200 people was a new experience. Finally after a good vacation we came back to Chennai by train. Don’t miss to take a glance of the station. It’s the last station of India…I wont tell anything, U just see it..hehe
Ok Imp parts now: all the numbers of those who are really the heros of the trip:
Taxi driver- Thomas- 9446800353 call him directly but 2 days in advance as he is very busy.
Mr Jain, JJ Cottage – 9446130593 call him any time. He is simply nice.
Murigesan-tour manager inspiremunnar.com- 9447877023 . a gentleman.
Try variety of foods in Guru restaurant. U wont believe how it tastes.
Madurai- U will get good options for hotels so not giving anything.
Rameshwaram- one day trip
Kanyakumari – Hotel tamilnadu. Book through ttdconline.com govt site.
That’s it from my side friends. Please wait for my next review for other route experience. Take care.