[Marlon]

An 1800 km drive vacation with my family included our ancestral fisher folk village and a popular hill station.


About my ancestoral village - Manapad , situated 650 KM down south from Chennai near Thiruchendur.

Manapad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Churches and the beach have featured in couple of films like (Iyarkai - Tamil - Most of the move is shot here, Ek Deewana Tha - Song has been shot here, Vettai - Tamil - Beach and quite a few scenes,etc ) or am sure you will watch this place soon since Mani Ratnam's upcoming movie 'Kadal' is shot in this pictureque location.

If you are planning to visit this place, you need to stay in Tiruchendur and travel to Manapad which is around 17 km drive . There is no place to have food or stay unless you have your relatives there. There are couple of small shops where you will get some snacks,nothing more in the village.

Planning :

Planning for this trip started 3 months back since there was a function in my village. Around 20 of my relatives booked their travel by train. My dad wanted me to come by train, but I had other ideas. I wanted to drive and also take another couple of days vacation and spend time away from office pressures.

Vehicle : Indica Xeta - Petrol

1. Start from Chennai 09th Jun 2012 at 3.00 am . Reach Tuticorin on 09th June 2012 at 3.00 pm
2. Spend couple of days then leave on 11th June 2012 at 6.00 am and reach Kumily by 12.30 pm
3. Couple of Nights Stay at Green Woods Resort, Kumily and leave on 13th June 2012 Wednesday around 11 am to reach Chennai by 9 pm


Actual Trip

Vehicle : Fiat Punto 1.3 Active - Diesel - Cousin's Car.

Route : Chennai - Trichy - Madurai - Tuticorin - Manapad

Day 1 (8/6/12) :

Our relatives left at 7.30 pm by Pear City Express to Tuticorin. I was planning to sleep for few hours and leave early in the morning but the plans changed. As usual the excitement of a long drive did not permit me to sleep. My 3 yr old daughter was over excited and she wanted to leave immediatley and reach first. Around 9 pm we had our dinner and then made our decision to leave. At 10 pm we started from our home in Nungambakkam. My daughter was harldy awake for 2 km and slept. Traffic was quite heavy. I thought may be we should go back home and sleep for a few hours but then decided to carry on. I have never left at this time for long drives and the traffic was painful. By the time we reached the city outer we lost around 1.30 hours. At each toll we had to spend a minimum of 15 min. I vowed never to leave on Friday Night 10 pm after this experience.

Day 2 (9/6/12)

After around 3.30 am I was feeling sleepy. Had a short break, refreshed my self and reached Trichy by around 4.30 am. Situation was same till this point and was cruising at 80 - 90 km/hr till this point. Trichy outer I had a power nap for 10 mins and on the way to Madurai had another break to refresh my self. Till madurai by-pass there was no problem with safe 4 lane road. The Madurai By-Pass is a two laned road and need to be alert with the oncoming traffic. It was around 7.15 am by the time I touched the Madurai - Tuticorin highway. Took a break and called up my cousin and he told his train had crossed Virudhunagar some 30 mins back. Madurai - Tuticorin highway is a beauty of a road with very less traffic. I was able to
cover this strech in 1.30 hours with a fuel break. The train reached at 7.45 am and at the same time I was in the Tuticorin By-pass on the way to Tiruchendur highway. My daughter was sleeping all the way from Chennai to Tuticorin, she now woke up and the first question she asked was ' Have we reached before others?'. From Tuticorin, Manapad is around 55 kms and the roads are 2 lane and with some villages and some bad streches. Still can maintain good speeds and reached Manapad at 8.45 am. We went straight to the Holy Cross Church and spent few minutes on the beach before reaching our relatives place. All the other folks reached only around 10.00 am

Had a good sleep and food and left to beach around 4 pm and was playing till way past 7 pm. Amazing fun in the shallow waters. There is a particular spot where there is harldly any waves and the beach is at its best. I am not sure of how many beaches are like this is India where you can have unlimited safe fun.


Day 3 ( 10/6/12)

Early morning to church and then went for vegetable, meat and grocery shopping to the next bigger village "Udangudi" which is close to 6 km away from Manapad. Then came back and again went to the beach. Fun all the way till lunch time.

Came back took rest and evening we attended the church feast and went to bed.

Day 4( 11/6/12)

Woke up at 3.00 am due to lack on electicity and was not able to sleep. After an our woke up my wife and we started packing and left Manapad at 6.00 am. Route planned - Manapad - Tuticorin - Madurai - Theni - Thekkady. Reached Madurai

By-pass around 8.30 am. Had breakfast and left around 9.00 am. Consulted my friend who suggested to take the road to 'Usilampatti' from Tirumangalam which was shorter and in good shape. Reached Theni around 10.30 am. Road from Theni to Thekkady is not in best shape with lot of diversions and bad roads. Reached our resort ' Green Wood's ' around 12.30 pm. Had good lunch in the resort and spent time in the resort.

Around 3 pm we left to 'Elephant Junction' where we had an amazing time in Elephant Ride, Feeding the elephant, bathing the elephant and then at last the elephant bathed us. On our way back , went to a spice planation tour and was amazed by the number of fruits , veggies and spices grown in the same premises. Something more amazing was the rice is cultivated on a concerte ground with some local sand on it. It was told that in a small place of around 1200 sq.ft, 100 kg of rice was harvested every 120 days. The person even suggested that this could be done at out home terraces. Came back spent time in the resort activities and went to bed

Day 5 (12/6/12)

Woke up early in the morning and left to the Periyar Lake for Boating. The first boating starts at 7.30 am and we were just in time to get the tickets. Spent 1.30 hours boating and came back to the resort for breakfast. The breakfast spread at the resort was awesome with choice of south indian , north indian and continental food.
I have heard about the famous "Idukki Arch Dam" and decided to explore it. Never knew the route and there was no proper guidance. Took the wrong route and traveled around 15 km then found out the correct route and had to return back.Finally took the route via Anaivilasam and Kattupanna. Reached Idukki and explored various ways to reach the top of the dam and then figured out the the access for the same is restricted and had to return back. Spoke to a local person/tribal near the dam and took couple of huge Jack fruits for Rs 100. Returned via the proper route and reached resort. Rest of the day was spent inside the resort.

Day 6 (13/6/12)

As usual woke up early at 6.00 am and had a dip in the pool. The climate and water was chilled at 7.00 am. Spent around an hour and then left for breakfast. After some time of relaxing and packing we left the place around 10.30 am to Chennai. On the way we stopped over at Cumbum and picked up box of grapes at Rs 20 per kg. Reached Dindigul at 2.00 pm. Spent around 1.30 hours in my friends place for lunch and started around 3.45 pm. With only a single break of 30 mins in between was able to reach home by 9.45 pm.


Let the pics do the talking now.

[Marlon]

Pictures taken in Manapad

[Marlon]

Pictures taken in Thekkady