Journey to Munnar - My first stint with God's Own Country!!

[asethi]

It were almost 3 months since I was waiting for this trip to this hill station of God's own country. Yeah you guessed it exactly right... Munnar in Kerala!! And above all I was most excited bacause I was going to drive to this place myself. Munnar is a small scenic hill station in Kerala known mainly for it's huge, I mean huge, tea plantations. Wherever you see, it's just endless tea plnatations.



Finally the time arrived and we packed our stuff and all set for the trip next day. It was a 3 day trip 1-3 Aug, 2008. I took route help from my folks at team-bhp. The final route decided was Bangalore -> Hosur -> Dharmapuri-> Thoppur -> Mettur -> Bhawani -> Kangayam -> Dharapuram -> Udumalaippettai -> Mariyoor -> Munnar (total 450kms approx). Finally got all the detailed route maps from google maps. To avoid getting lost on the way, I noted all small stop points, highway numbers enroute. This really helps as you can ask for highway number when it's difficult to pronounce the place name right!!

We (myself along with my wife) planned to leave early at around 4.30AM to cover most of the distance by noon, but sleep had it's own quota fixed. When I finally woke up, I saw some light outside and then at the watch... damn... it was already 5.45AM. Both of us got up quickly, got ready and wrapped up everything and finally started at aruond 6.30AM. Paced towards Hosur, and from Hosur we took a bypass road towards Dharmapuri via some place called Rotta... something (don't remember the name). This road is void traffic and really scenic. We cruised smoothly at almost 80kmph as this road has lots of twists and turns and is a single lane road. Stopped at a quiet place and had breakfast. Once reached Dharmapuri, it joins the 4 lane NH towards Salem. Then took right turn towards Mettur from a small place called Thoppur. You need to be careful as the indication towards Mettur from this road are on a very small board that one can easily ignore. Just before Mettur, took a left turn that's actually a bypass road that takes you past the mettur power plant towards Bhawani. Stopped at a dhaba in Dharapuram bypass and had lunch. One thing I must say is that the roads in Tamil Nadu are really great and have less traffic, especially on this route as these roads are all state highways passing through small villages and towns. One can easily cruise in speeds around 100kmph effortlessly. The journey was almost uneventful till we reached Udumalaippettai. While approaching Udumalaippettai, there were huge windmills making a 'woooshhhh' sound. Incredible sight really!!



Finally reached TN-Kerala border at around 2.30pm. This point onwards we had to pass through jungle (Chinar wildlife sanctuary) and climb all the way upto Munnar. The jungle road is steep and tight, but in acceptable condition. The road on Kerala's side is much better. While passing through the forest, you can spot wild animals here and there, if you are lucky. All we could manage were some deer along the way, and didn't even see any trace of elephants for which this place is known for. As soon as the forest area ends, a wide blanket of tea gardens welcomes you, self stating 'Welcome to Munnar'. The journey from this point till Munnar is simply amazing. It's very scenic and beauty can't be described in words. We found lot of small streams on the way running down the hills and passing below the road, and even sometimes through the road. Passing through narrow winding roads between the tea gardens and greenery all around is a visual retreat in itself.











It started raining just before Munnar and the drive became much more interesting. Finally reached Munnar town around 4.30PM and then we had to go 20kms further to my resort - Club Mahindra Lake View Resort. The road to the resort is amazing too, passing besides deep gorges all engulfed with mist. Finally reached the resort at around 5.15PM and it's location is just perfect, amdst Tata Tea gardens, with a lake at a distant view.





We spent our next two days mostly at the resort which we really loved, and to top it, the Airtel network didn't work at the resort - total peace of mind with no one to disturb :-). Just a single trip outside the resort in 2 days to Munnar town and the Mettupatty Dam, where we enjoyed speed boating. Roamed around in the tea gardens, till a cow went mad and starting following us and we had to flee from the spot to save ourselves!!















Started back on Sunday, 3rd Aug aroung 11.30AM towards bangalore tracking back the same route, encountering heavy rains on the way back. As soon as we entered Bangalore, it seemed to be hell in comparison to where we had spent the last couple of days. Reached back home at around 10.30PM, with all the green memories fresh in my mind, and missing the place for days to come.
And as for my car, my swifty, it behaved great as ever, fuel cost below Rs.2500/- for the whole 1000kms trip that included slow mountain driving too and just no problem!! This too enjoys all the drives and likes exploring new places with me, have a look :-).







Note from Support Staff: External Hosting of pics is not allowed please upload pics on Team-Bhp

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Nice pics.
Is there something wrong while uploading this thread.
I have to scroll horizontally rather vertically to read and to see pics.
Is it just me or others facing same problem?

[mjothi]

Nice photos. So, this is Munnar season in forum. Umm.

@ashish, I am able to scroll through the photos vertically. Not sure why you faced it.

[Lukeskywalker]

Nice pics, but Ashish is right, the width of the post is very large.
Another Swift ride into Munnar.

[snaronikar]

Nice pics Ashish. As others has informed, me too faced the similar problem. BTW, have you taken all teh photos from inside your car. Theya re a little dull or was it the fog effect?

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

Nice pics, but Ashish is right, the width of the post is very large.

Possible. I use 19" monitor so not noticed i guess.,

[akroy]

Nice pics but didnot read your travelogue as it was very long horizontally...Will read it once the mods adjust it otherwise dragging and reading is quite taxing.

Next time, please do a preview before submit the thread.
Abhi

[akroy]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Possible. I use 19" monitor so not noticed i guess.,

common mjothi, it is far bigger than 19", me too sitting infront of 19" btw

Abhi

[asethi]

Originally Posted by akroy

Nice pics but didnot read your travelogue as it was very long horizontally...Will read it once the mods adjust it otherwise dragging and reading is quite taxing.

Next time, please do a preview before submit the thread.
Abhi

Actually the pics are links to another site... so it's showing the full res of the pic...
mods how can i edit the thread?

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by akroy

common mjothi, it is far bigger than 19", me too sitting infront of 19" btw

Abhi

Ok, when Hari mentioned about width I thought he is talking about ONE picture. So, seems the whole picture is next to next horizontally for you is it?
I am using FireFox, and I see it one below the other. So, no idea why it behaves diff for some.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by akroy

common mjothi, it is far bigger than 19", me too sitting infront of 19" btw

Abhi

Originally Posted by mjothi

Possible. I use 19" monitor so not noticed i guess.,

I use 22". Even then this problem persists. I think Mods have to edit this...

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

I use 22". Even then this problem persists. I think Mods have to edit this...

I just checked it on IE. It is horizontal.
As I mentioned, I get no issues when viewed from Firefox.

[Lukeskywalker]

It has nothing to do with the pics, the pics are sized correctly, it is the text which is in 'extra wide' mode, so as akroy pointed out you have to keep scrolling horizontally for a long time to read just one line of text.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Nice pics dude
I went to munnar once
loved the place especially the tea gardens and the deer park ( or similar)

[asethi]

Originally Posted by mjothi

I just checked it on IE. It is horizontal.
As I mentioned, I get no issues when viewed from Firefox.

Yeah... I too posted this thread from firefox only, and got no problems!!