[longdriveblusky]

It seems like an awfully long time since we drove anywhere, or so it seems after a month or two, always. So we have to do something this monsoon season. Now that there has been not much rain (yet) here in Bangalore, we decide to head to the hill stations of Munnar and then Wayanad. We have a booking at Munnar for two nights since that was the first destination. I also make a list of hotels and homestays at Wayanad to help us make a reservation so we can head there after Munnar.


We planned to leave on Independence Day, at 4 a.m. Since we both are not really morning people, we finally leave at 5:30. We are to take the following route:

Bangalore – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Thoppur (Exit NH7 and turn Right) – Mettur – Bhavani (Join NH47) – (Exit NH47) Perundurai – Chennimalai – Kangayam – Dharapuram – Udumalaipettai – Marayoor – Munnar (Thanks to dreamdielsel's post which we referred to: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...swift-d-2.html)

We stop for breakfast at A2B after Hosur against my husband's wishes. Luckily it isn't too crowded like the last time and the time before that and the time before that.. wait, like usual! Just as we ordered, a long queue forms behind us. We have a nice, heavy breakfast and leave from there quickly, hopefully the crowd and the traffic behind us.

We stop for lunch at Dharapuram at the same restaurant, Anjappar, where we had eaten earlier while coming back from Kodai. This restaurant seems to be the favorite amongst locals there. We have a decent meal. Rest of the journey is uneventful.

Finally, the hills are visible:



At the check posts in TN bordering the forests, one has to get down many times and make entries and give 20 rupees to the guards there. My husband takes care of this. Once we enter kerala, it is very surprising that no one asks for any money.

We drive through the beautiful ghats and the views are just awesome. This is my first visit to Munnar and I love it at first sight:






We reach our hotel, Silvertips, by 5:30 pm. As we step in, we see pictures from old movies, movie stars and so on. There is even a projector at the entrance. It seems like an interesting place. We guess that the owner may be a movie lover. Later we find out that the hotel was actually an old movie theatre and that is why the owner decided to have a movie theme to it, which makes much more sense. We ask for a room with good views and we get a nice room with a lovely view of the football field surrounded by the hills and the luscious landscapes. We get some rest and then wander to munnar town which is quite close to the hotel, maybe about a kilometer. We get some chocolates, walk through the alleys and head back to dinner and call it a day, a good day, good views, great drive.



To be continued.

[supratim07]

Nice writeup would be waiting for some more from your end. I did plan to visit munnar last month but got cancelled the last moment but sure would take time off to visit this place.

[longdriveblusky]

The next morning we go out for a drive to top station. We cover almost all the tourist spots on the way. The views are breathtaking. The roads are absolutely amazing:




Thanks again to dreamdiesel's post with a comprehensive list of places to visit. A print out of this post was very helpful.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post1479496

Boating at the lake "Kundala" should not be missed. The lake itself is beautiful, the surroundings very quiet and serene and the hills with tea plantations all around. It is magical. Words fail me. I can only share some pictures:








Some more pictures:











We reach top station and manage to get down half way and realize it would be a long walk back. I have injured my ankle just before this trip and hence decide not to go all the way down since it seems like a lot of steps and quite a steep climb back up. But the view, even half way through, was superb:



We stop at a nursery on the way back. Its raining. I'm not a big fan of photographing flowers, but that is all I can click here!




We buy some tea, chocolates etc. on the way back to the hotel at the KDHP store close to our hotel. We go back and start planning the rest of our trip. Our next destination, we decide, should be Wayanad. We almost book a place as well. While talking to the guy who runs the homestay there, I ask him about the temperature. He says it is around 28 degrees. My husband who hears it starts signalling to me that we cannot go there. I also feel the same. Immediately, I tell him that we would be back when the temperature was a bit cooler and I apologize for having almost confirmed the booking. We must thank this gentleman for being honest even at the cost of losing a booking. We then started thinking of alternative places to go to, we really can't think of any other place with weather as pleasant as Munnar, hence we decide to head to a beach instead. After some quick search, we decide to head towards Kannur or Cannanore. The beaches seem nice. We are both ok with it and decide to head there. We are too tired to do any more research and we just sleep.

[longdriveblusky]

It's raining heavily the next morning and is quite overcast; we wake up to have some tea looking at the rain pouring down.





We just laze around till about 10 and then start making some calls. Most places are already booked. Finally we get a call back from one of the famous home stays telling us there has been a cancellation and is now available for the next two days, we confirm our booking. We still have second thoughts about leaving. Either the beauty of Munnar is holding us back or we are plain lazy. We slowly pack up and checkout from our hotel. We do some last minute chocolate shopping at the KDHP store and leave Munnar at 12 noon. We don't really think driving to Kannur is a big deal. It is about 350 km away and we think we can make it in about 7 hrs. We were in for a surprise!

The drive from Munnar through the ghats is breathtakingly beautiful. My husband enjoys driving in constant rain through curving roads with dense fog. The experience of sticking one's head or hand out from the passenger seat to feel the rain and fog, even for a moment, is no less joy. It is also the time when I can put my camera to test. I know it can do well here.





We come across so many waterfalls and such green hills. Wow. We are just mesmerized. The constant rain is only adding to the whole setting.







After a long long drive we get through the ghats. It is still raining.


We are on an NH (This is not one of those wide 4 lane, divided ones, but smaller ones with no divider and crazy bus drivers), and we see some jeeps, cars and other vehicles stopped at a certain point. We see water on the road. We are confused. It doesn't look so bad but we stop to check with the people who have stopped there. The locals there are waving and saying stuff we don’t understand. The only thing we get from the gestures is this guy’s constant signaling to something as high as his shoulder! This makes us think we can’t go this way and we need to go back in a different route. We turn around without second thoughts. If the jeeps can’t make it, cars don’t dare cross it.



We turn around and drive back in a different route after checking with the locals. This is how it was on most roads:





It is still raining. It is still fantastic.



Its getting dark. The rains have now become intermittent. The beauty is slowly vanishing as the maniacal bus drivers start harassing others driving on the road. They constantly honk if behind you, and they just come in the wrong way at high speeds from the opposite direction. Every now and then we must just pull over and give way so they don't run us over. We finally reach Calicut at 1030 in the night. We are so exhausted that we do not want to drive for another 2 hrs to Kannur. We check with a couple of hotels but they seem full. Finally, we have dinner in a small restaurant on the beach road and feel a little better. We then decide to drive it out to Kannur where we have a confirmed reservation and a place to sleep, we look forward to it. We call the person who runs the homestay in Kannur and he is concerned if we will be able to find the place at that hour of the night. We confidently say yes and head towards Kannur.

We leave Calicut by 11. All the way my heart is pounding thinking of the possibilities. Though we have the exact directions to the resort, at midnight we won't be able to ask anyone on the road. I am just telling myself that we will never do something like this again. But then, we reach Thottada, and luckily we find some people and ask them how to get to a certain railway crossing. We then find some officials managing the crossing and get directions from them. We reach somewhere close to the resort and find some cops who are doing a beat. They too help us out and tell us how to get there. We follow the signs and talk to the caretaker of the homestay and we keep driving. We reach a narrow stretch of road. Its pitch dark with long grass on both sides of the road and it is 1 something at night and we are now not sure if this is the right road. We go further. The road continues to be the same. We are not sure. The guy tries to explain but he also can't figure out if we are on the right track. So we decide to head back to a certain junction and ask him to come there and guide us from there. Luckily, he comes there in his bike and we follow him. We end up at the same road we had been to earlier. We just had to continue further ahead and then some more and then we reach the place. Phew! The time is 1:30 AM!! We are so relieved.

We enter the resort after crossing a small canal sort of thing. We are led to our room by the really sweet caretaker. If only the room was half as nice. We enter and we see rat crap on the bedsheets and an unclean bathroom with no hot water which we badly needed after such a tiresome journey. But we are not in any state to complain. We are so tired that we just need a bed to crash. My husband even sees a cat while I am washing up. It came chasing the rat I suppose. We just clean up the bed and fall asleep. We wake up the next morning and open the door and the view was quite nice. We ask for a different room, which is available, thanks to someone who is leaving. We move into one which is more sealed to the elements and rodents. How much better our night would have been if this was given to us. The place has nice views but the rooms need to be taken care of. The caretaker was a very sweet and helpful fellow. The place, however, is overrated and not value for money.

[longdriveblusky]

We have a nice and simple breakfast and head out for a walk on the beach. The views are quite nice.




We relax for a while, have lunch and head to kannur town. There isn't much we want to do. We go to Payyambalam beach which is close to the town center. This is a beautiful beach. We have a good walk on the beach and then head towards the fort. We are there at almost closing time. We just take a quick look around and leave.



The town is crowded since it was Eid the next day. We come back to the homestay, have dinner, chat with some other visitors there and hit the bed. We plan to leave the next day at around 12.

We go to the beach for a while the next morning. We come back, have some tea, get ready and start by 12 noon. We drive through Waynad, Nagarahole, HD Kote, Mysore and Bangalore.



The views at sunset at HD Kote are beautiful. The sight at this time in the villages is very pleasant- the cattle heading back home, people relaxing at the end of the day, kids playing and so on.








We reach Mysore and decide to stop for a quick peek and a pic of the lit up palace. We scurry to find a place to park our car and step in front of the gates, I pull out the camera to take a picture- the lights go off! aargh. Bad luck. I click anyway and here is a picture of the palace when the lights went off:


We leave Mysore and drive to Bangalore nonstop. We reach Bangalore at around 10:30, order a pizza and call it another fantastic day.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[joe1980]

Awesome set of pictures. Keep them coming!

Which Camera equipment did you use for the trip?

[nkrishnap]

Munnar and the western ghats in monsoon is simply bliss. Love the rains.

The roads near HD Kote will never be repaired. Huh.

Lovely pics by the way, Loved the first pic which simply tells how much of a joy it would be to visit these places in monsoon.

Thanks for sharing.

[longdriveblusky]

Originally Posted by joe1980

Awesome set of pictures. Keep them coming!

Which Camera equipment did you use for the trip?

Thank you! I use a canon 400D with the kit lens 18-55, a 55-250 and mostly use a 50mm prime.

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Munnar and the western ghats in monsoon is simply bliss. Love the rains.

The roads near HD Kote will never be repaired. Huh.

Lovely pics by the way, Loved the first pic which simply tells how much of a joy it would be to visit these places in monsoon.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! The roads near HD kote were very bad but the awesome scenery made up for it. I guess there are better routes to take while returning from kannur. We just didn't check very well.

[sandsun7]

Nice pics. Good to see more people choosing Kannur as their holiday destinations nowadays. There are a couple of more beautiful beaches in Kannur - Muzhappilangad drive in Beach, Chal beach, Kizhunna Ezhara beach etc. Calm, quiet and neat. In future for any assistance in Kannur, do feel free to contact me. My home town is Kannur

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

The roads near HD Kote will never be repaired. Huh.

Finally, it is getting repaired. Work starts today and will be inaugurated by the area MP Dhruvanarayana and HD Kote MLA chikanna . The now horrible stretch of around 13 km from Dhammanamkhatta to Udgur Village will be relaid at a cost of 16.5 crores. The time frame given for completion of the work is 6 months. Source: Manoramaonline.com.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Finally, it is getting repaired. Work starts today and will be inaugurated by the area MP Dhruvanarayana and HD Kote MLA chikanna . The now horrible stretch of around 13 km from Dhammanamkhatta to Udgur Village will be relaid at a cost of 16.5 crores. The time frame given for completion of the work is 6 months. Source: Manoramaonline.com.

Finally some relief. This was long due. Will drive through there once the roads are in shape.

Thanks for the info

[CountDracoola]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Good snaps of Kerala monsoons, you can almost smell and feel the rains. It has been a while since I enjoyed it.
The roar of the waterfall, so close to the road must be deafening!

[longdriveblusky]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Nice pics. Good to see more people choosing Kannur as their holiday destinations nowadays. There are a couple of more beautiful beaches in Kannur - Muzhappilangad drive in Beach, Chal beach, Kizhunna Ezhara beach etc. Calm, quiet and neat. In future for any assistance in Kannur, do feel free to contact me. My home town is Kannur



Finally, it is getting repaired. Work starts today and will be inaugurated by the area MP Dhruvanarayana and HD Kote MLA chikanna . The now horrible stretch of around 13 km from Dhammanamkhatta to Udgur Village will be relaid at a cost of 16.5 crores. The time frame given for completion of the work is 6 months. Source: Manoramaonline.com.

Thanks so much for the info. I only heard of Muzhappilangad drive in Beach while we were there. But could not go there. We will surely visit the other beaches you mentioned when we go there next time. The beaches are really beautiful.

Good to hear that the roads are being repaired. Thanks for letting us know.

Originally Posted by CountDracoola

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Good snaps of Kerala monsoons, you can almost smell and feel the rains. It has been a while since I enjoyed it.
The roar of the waterfall, so close to the road must be deafening!

Thank you. We didn't get to go too close to the waterfall because we were getting so wet already and our umbrellas proved quite useless!