[nandita_bayan21]

Prologue

Considered as one of the nature rich areas of Kerala, Idukki is a traveler’s heaven. It is the largest district in Kerala and houses famous hill station destinations like Munnar and Thekkady. Abundant with scenic vegetation, Idukki is definitely a must visit place for any nature lover. From a long time, we wanted to come visit here and the Christmas holiday being a long one was the best time we could utilize for this trip.

We searched for hotels and resorts in Idukki but they were turning out to be too expensive. So we decided to look for hotels somewhere in the nearby towns and see if we get a good deal. Kattappana is one of the main urban center in the high ranges of Idukki district and most of the places to visit were in and around this town. We got a very good deal in one of the best resort of Kattappana, The Edassery Resort. Booked the room three weeks in advance so as to avoid rush during the Christmas long weekend.

And as usual, the wait for the ride day began.

Some quick bytes from the ride:

Bikes: Kawasaki Versys 650
Rider: Atul and I (pillion)
Dates: 23rd, 24th and 25th Dec, 2017
Route Taken: BTM > Salem > Dindigul > Theni > Udumbanchola > Kattappana > Idukki Town > Kuttikanam > Kumily > Cumbum > Theni > Dindigul > Salem > BTM
Distance covered: a little over 1200kms
Total expenditure (for two people): Rs 3800 for petrol, Rs 2000 for hotel room and Rs 3400 for food and other expenses = Rs 9200 approx. in total.

[nandita_bayan21]

Day 1

Like the usual ritual, Atul tanked up Hulk and all of our packing was done the previous night. I wasn’t keeping well from the previous few days because of viral fever and severe cold cough, hence we decided to start the ride a bit late in order to avoid the chilly morning cold and breeze. Atul loaded Hulk with the saddle bags and tank bag, around 6am we started our ride towards Electronic city. Considering less traffic, we didn’t take the elevated expressway and continued in the highway itself. Number of vehicles on the road was maddening and it looked like entire Bangalore came out onto the roads for the long weekend. Even the service lane was jam packed along with the highway, at some point it was even a standstill traffic. It took us almost 40 mins to get past the Attibele toll booth because of this bumper to bumper traffic. With saddle bags on both sides, it was difficult for us to squeeze through gaps as well.

After losing so much time at Attibele, as soon as we crossed the toll gate, we decided to cover distance faster and with lesser breaks. The weather, as of now was pleasant and apt for riding, despite being misty it wasn’t the frosty biting cold. By 9am we crossed Salem town and took diversion towards Namakkal. Rode a bit more and around 10am we stopped for our breakfast. This restaurant was the same one we stopped for breakfast during our Rameshwaram trip. Not many people eat here but surprisingly today the scene was different. The place was overly crowded and we had to wait for nearly 15 minutes to get our table. Once we got the table, we ordered ghee masala dosa, idiyappam, sunny side up eggs and tea. 15 minutes and we were done eating, without wasting much time, we resumed our ride and headed towards Dindigul. The traffic became thinner from here on but the weather started getting hotter.

Around 12:30pm we crossed Dindigul and took diversion towards Theni. Crossing the Batlagundu bypass was the best part of our ride till now. This bypass is laid to ease out traffic congestion for people heading towards Theni and by passing the Batlagundu town. The scenery around this highway is mesmerizingly beautiful, mountain ranges seen at a distance, well laid tarmac, green crop-fields, array of coconut trees and sparkling water reflection from the lakes and ponds. All these just itched me to bring out my camera and take some shots. Post this we headed towards a petrol station to re-fuel and then continued our ride.


















We reached a small town called Uttamapalayam after crossing Theni and stopped for quick lunch. Got inside a local restaurant and ordered the plantain leaf meal. The view of the country side from the restaurant was brilliant – lush green fields, clear water ponds and tall rising coconut trees. This was by far one of the best comfort food I had in recent times, simple rice, sambar, poriyal, curd and appalam. The place was full of devotees to/from Sabarimala who stopped by for quick lunch. This attracted unnecessary attention towards Hulk as well as people were astonished to see a big green bike loaded with so much bags. We quickly finished our lunch followed by tea and decided to head towards Kattappana which was some 45kms away.






Once we crossed Cumbum town and took diversion for Kattappana, the ghat road started and the view was quite beautiful. At far distance, small towns could be seen, the arrow straight highway below and the tall standing mountain ranges. With many trucks and buses plying through this road, one has to be quite careful at hair pin bends and narrow turns. At few places, we encountered traffic as well due to huge buses taking switch backs. Finally, around 5pm we reached Kattappana town and finding our resort was a piece of cake as it was situated right in the middle of the town. Atul finished all the hotel check in formalities, unloaded the bags and we got inside our room. The room was a double bed AC deluxe room costing us Rs 1000 per night including GST. The property was well maintained, neat and had ample amount of parking space. The only thing which disappointed me was our room was facing towards the main road rather than the better view of mountains which the other rooms provided. Nonetheless, we took rest for a while and decided to head out for an evening stroll around 7pm.

The hustle bustle of the city dwellers doing Christmas shopping, all places lit up with lights and colorful stars definitely gave a feeling of festive season. We roamed around the town for a while and then got inside a restaurant to have our dinner. Ordered Kerala paratha, beef fry, chicken fry and dosa. Food was yum and low on cost as well. Since they weren’t serving tea, we paid our bills and headed towards our hotel in search of some tea. Order two cups of tea, planned our places for next day, paid bills and headed to the room.

Both of us agreed for sleeping early. 10pm and we were on bed.

[nandita_bayan21]

Day 2

Both of us woke up at around 8am in the morning after a relaxing sleep. After getting freshened up, we decided to have our breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant itself. Not much of an option to choose from as the breakfast menu was too limited – egg curry, veg curry, appams and dosa. Agreed to have appams, egg curry and tea. The egg curry was one of the finest I had in recent time, succulent taste and appams were spongy, soft and hot. After Atul and I devouring some 15-20 appams (can’t help, they were brilliant) it was time to stop and give the cook a break. Done with food and tea we walked back to our room to take shower, pack bags and head out for the day.



By 10am we were out from the hotel and heading towards Calvary Mount (it is also spelled as Kalvari, however, I would stick to ‘Calvary’). The view point was just 16kms away from the hotel and involved riding through ghat roads amidst beautiful scenic green lush views, valleys and mountain ranges. Roads were in decent shape apart from small sections which had bumps and potholes. A 30 minutes ride and we were there. In order to reach the viewpoint, vehicles have to climb a steep uphill through a tea estate, manageable yet have to be careful and only one car at a time. The place had ample amount of space for parking, for both two and four wheelers. Parking fee was Rs 10 for bikes and entry into the viewpoint site was Rs 20 per person.




A small walk through the gardens, laid down by the tourism department, one can have the most amazing view of the landscape. One would marvel the nature’s ability to adapt itself to human intervention at Calvary Mount. From here you can see the mighty Idukki dam and its reservoir from the highest point, the panoramic view from the top is simply refreshing and exhilarating. So the view comprises of the reservoir on one side, villages on the other, mountain ranges and thick forests in the distance. Though most section of the landscape was covered with mist, yet the view was quite picturesque. Each and every angle of view gave a different perspective to the landscape. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here, clicking pictures and appreciating the beauty that nature had to offer. As time passed by, the place started getting more crowded with tourists and that was the end of enjoying the view peacefully. Around 11:45am we decided to head back and go see Idukki Dam, which was just 8kms away from here.














As we reached Idukki Dam, to our much disappointment, we were informed by a police officer that the dam was closed today for the tourists as there was some maintenance work going on. I don’t like coming to a place and not able to see the main must visit place of that location. Nonetheless, can’t go against the authorities so immediately we headed for Cheruthoni Dam, 2kms away. Cheruthoni Dam is part of Idukki project reserving water from the Periyar River.

Another setback when we reached this dam. Apparently, if we have to get inside and walk through the dam, we have to surrender our mobiles, cameras, DSLRs, GoPro as no form of photography and videography is allowed inside the dam’s wall. All these stuff have to be kept inside a cloak room and collected once we are out. They were giving receipt for the things we keep, yet I felt it was not safe and I can’t afford to lose or incur damage to any of things, be it the mobiles, DSLRs or GoPro. Though some people were sneaking through their mobiles, we decided to give it a pass and not keep our belongings in some strange untrusted safe box. The dam was visible from outside, though not fully, so I clicked couple of pictures from here itself. It was also getting hotter, so we had some lime juice, ice creams and biscuits for quick refreshment.





It was already 1:30pm by now, we headed back towards Kattappana town and our next destination would be Anchuruli Tunnel. But before that we wanted to finish with our lunch and tank up Hulk. We stopped by at a restaurant in Kattappana town for lunch, ordered two Malabar Biriyani. Unlike all other biriyanis, somehow I kind of like the unique aroma and taste of this biriyani variant. Also, the blend of all Kerala spices contributes to the flavor of this amazing biriyani. Done with lunch, we quickly took a petrol break and rode towards Anchuruli tunnel around 3pm. A 10kms ride and we reached our destination.



Anchuruli Tunnel is the catchment area (place from where water flows into the reservoir) of Idukki Dam. The tunnel is more than 2km long that carries water from another dam in Kattappana to Idukki reservoir. This place is highly unique, at least for me as I never seen a tunnel flowing through water into a reservoir that too in such a high speed. Apparently, sometimes this will have lesser amount of water and adventurous folks can walk through tunnel during summer. But today the water flow was too fast and getting a proper view of the tunnel was quite dangerous. I didn’t want to leave without taking a picture so walked through some small blocks of rocks laid down for a view, and clicked the sole photo of the tunnel. Though the act was too dangerous and foolish as one wrong step and I could fall into the water cliff and would have ended up straight into the deep reservoir (to top it up I don’t know swimming). Obviously, this foolish bravery act was followed by a scolding and gyan session from Atul.



As the water flowed into the reservoir, the view along the water body was equally soothing and breathtaking. Sparkling water turning into a golden blanket because of the sun rays, misty layers of mountains, lush green trees and vegetation, thick dense forest and a sole fisherman doing his daily chores of catching fishes - all this was just picture perfect. We spent some time here capturing the view, clicking pictures and enjoying the scenery. Around 4:45pm we headed towards the last destination for the day – the Ayyappancoil Hanging Bridge. This was a ride for 14kms.







When I reached the destination, the bridge somehow felt like a miniature version of Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Ayyappancoil Hanging Bridge is built over Periyar River and connecting two villages. The suspension bridge is extremely intriguing to watch and apparently very exciting to walk on but I would prefer to stay away from walking on it as I’m extremely scared of walking on suspension bridges (I have the fear that suspensions would snap off, the bridge will collapse and I’ll fall into the water, eventually end up drowning and dying – too dramatic isn’t it? All thanks to my fear of not able to swim and the movie “Final Destination”). The adjacent area is blessed with beauty of nature and a small lake around the bridge is a perfect place for a boat ride. Being one of the longest hanging bridge in Kerala, it is being visited by many tourists every day, however, it is still untouched by concrete civilization and hence nature is well preserved as of now. After some photo sessions and relaxing for a bit, by 5:45pm we agreed to head towards our hotel which was 18kms away. On our way we took a quick tea and snacks break for breaking the riding monotony.







By 7pm we reached our hotel room. Before going for dinner we took shower, relaxed and went for a quick stroll in the vicinity. Being the Christmas Eve the town was sparkling bright with colorful lights and stars and the sight was beautiful. Around 9pm we returned back, went to the hotel restaurant and ordered food – chicken fried rice, pork fry, paratha and as usual, tea. Came back to our room, packed some of the stuff for our return journey next day, checked out the pictures we took during the day.

11pm and both of us crashed into our beds. Goodnight time!

[nandita_bayan21]

Few more snaps from Day 2

Parking lot of our hotel



Some more shots from Calvary Mount






A church in the Udambanchola, Idukki town



Some more shots from Cheruthoni Dam





What I love doing the most



Always busy doing something or the other




The beautiful crescent moon



Some more snaps from Anchuruli






Some more shots from Ayyappancoil Hanging Bridge

[nandita_bayan21]

Day 3

Merry Christmas – it’s Christmas Day! Our morning started at about 8am with a call from the hotel folks to come for breakfast early as it might get over soon considering a lot of people checked into the restaurant. The menu was same as the previous day with an inclusion of bread omelet. We ordered appams, egg curry, bread toasts and bread omelet, followed by tea and coffee. After a relaxed breakfast, we went up the room for all the final packing and getting ready for the ride back home.

Around 11am, Atul finished all the hotel formalities and clearing all the bills, loading the bike with bags, we were good to go, a ride of 480kms to home. Our plan was to ride via Kuttikanam and Kumily, to reach Cumbum. A ride through the country roads, twist and turns, amidst green tea estates is always refreshing and welcoming. We stopped at multiple places to click pictures and enjoy the scenery. By 12:30pm we reached Kuttikanam town and took diversion for Kumily.







Most part of the ride was through ghat roads and between tea estates. A quick pit stop happened near Pattumala for tea and some quick snacks. Here I saw a very beautiful church, named Our Lady of Good Health Church, and couldn’t help clicking picture. Bang opposite to the church was this famous zipline activity circuit ran by Muddy Boots. A faint thought of doing zipline did cross my mind but then it would mean delay in reaching home. Hence, finished tea, clicked pictures and started our ride once again. Next we reached Kumily around 2:30pm but then crossing Kumily and entering Tamil Nadu state took us a hell lot of time. This was because a lot of Sabarimala pilgrims would do pit stops here and buy the famous Kerala banana chips. Also, majority of the traffic was due to TN and KL state transport buses plying between the borders, this is supposedly a major hub for both the states. After battling the traffic for some 30 mins, we were out from KL and entered TN territory. And, just as we could realize, Atul and I completed 10K on Hulk as well.












By 3:15pm we completed the ghat sections and touched the highway to head towards Theni. This was a total highway run to cover more distances as we lost a lot of time at Kumily. With no lunch, both of us were starving by now, came across this local restaurant on the highway, which was luckily still providing lunch – once again had the plantain leaf meal. When one is dying of hunger and you get such sumptuous homemade meal, what more can you ask for? This is what I like about travelling, we can find happiness right through our soul even in simple no frills attached meals, a glass of small tea, little nimble of snacks sitting in a non-fancy wooden slab and reminiscing the sweet memories of all the travels.

Nonetheless, 4:45pm done with lunch, we resumed our ride until it was almost sunset time and I couldn’t resist capturing the moments through my lenses. The sunset did happen in a very beautiful frame, what I liked most was the surrounding landscape. Sun setting behind a mountain, the open highway, vehicles plying through the road, a calm yet vast lake, distance mountains, misty atmosphere, golden color blanket from the golden hour, array of trees and the evening breeze.









At 6:15pm we hit the national highway from Dindigul. Kept riding with very limited breaks until we reached Salem and had to do a petrol break. To keep going further and remove fatigue, both of us took a tea break as well. A little more push and we reached Shoolagiri around 11:30pm, decided to have our dinner here at the McDonalds. Quickly ordered food, some burgers, fries and coffee – to energize us and keep ticking till we reach home. After a 45 mins break we start the ride again, until we reached Electronic City (the expressway was closed for maintenance work at midnight so had to take the Hosur road). 1:30am and we reached home safe and sound, after clocking almost 1200kms on the ODO.

End of each trip brings in mixed feelings for me, sad because the ride/drive comes to an end and happiness because we collect so many beautiful memories and treasure them all throughout our life. As the famous saying goes “Life is a circle. The end of one journey is the beginning of the next”. So until I return with our next trip log!!

[aah78]

Thread moved to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[SourabhSuresh]

You guys are a source of inspiration and jealousy. I love reading your T-Logs and day dreaming about my future trips. Keep coming back with more such experiences. Ride safe.

[krishnamarathe]

Beautiful pictures and what a joy to read your travelogue! I'm already infected with your enthusiasm and now I'm itching to drive out somewhere!

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

Prologue

Yet another travelogue from you and with some breathtaking pictures for us to feast upon!

And one of the best parts of all your travelogues is how you list out most of the details and the costing involved. It greatly helps everyone here who want to travel to these places and are wondering about the overall budget after looking at the skyrocketing prices online!

And ask Atul to smile more often at the frames

Ride Safe!
R-Six

[Shekhar2509]

Oh-boy! Another wonderful and detailed ride-log by you sprinkled with breathtaking pictures! Must admit, I had to go through the thread twice; the first time I just kept relishing on the beautiful pics!

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

Day 2
I didn’t want to leave without taking a picture so walked through some small blocks of rocks laid down for a view, and clicked the sole photo of the tunnel. Though the act was too dangerous and foolish as one wrong step and I could fall into the water cliff and would have ended up straight into the deep reservoir (to top it up I don’t know swimming). Obviously, this foolish bravery act was followed by a scolding and gyan session from Atul.

Passion for photography is quite understandable, but taking such risks- not done! Stay safe!

P.S.- Hulk looks handsome as ever!

Wish you many more such happy miles. Ride Safe!
Cheers!

[atul.ktm]

Here is a video that we made for Day 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiUeRH1kpo

Day 2 will be posted soon

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by SourabhSuresh

You guys are a source of inspiration and jealousy. I love reading your T-Logs and day dreaming about my future trips. Keep coming back with more such experiences. Ride safe.

Thank you so much!

Originally Posted by krishnamarathe

Beautiful pictures and what a joy to read your travelogue! I'm already infected with your enthusiasm and now I'm itching to drive out somewhere!

Thanks a lot

Originally Posted by R-Six

Yet another travelogue from you and with some breathtaking pictures for us to feast upon! - And ask Atul to smile more often at the frames

Ride Safe!
R-Six

Thank you so much.

And, it is so difficult to make Atul smile for photos. So now I have given up

Originally Posted by Shekhar2509

Oh-boy! Another wonderful and detailed ride-log by you sprinkled with breathtaking pictures! Must admit, I had to go through the thread twice; the first time I just kept relishing on the beautiful pics!


Passion for photography is quite understandable, but taking such risks- not done! Stay safe!

P.S.- Hulk looks handsome as ever!

Wish you many more such happy miles. Ride Safe!
Cheers!

Thank you so much Will keep in mind not to risk self while clicking pics at rough and dangerous terrains.

Originally Posted by atul.ktm

Here is a video that we made for Day 1:

..

Day 2 will be posted soon

Thanks for sharing the video, Atul.

[YaeJay]

Awesome as always! Waiting for video day 2 and of course about the Hulk. I am sure there are others like me who are pretty serious about an upgrade, after rediscovering the joys of two wheels post 40, after testing waters with a more sublime steed and doubts about physical limitations. Please ask atul to share more info on the hulk. And nandy, from the smiles I see on your face, thats one happy rear seat.

ride safe!

[naveenroy]

Great stuff! I love the way you write up and post some great photographs!

I remember they were just working on the Batlagundu bypass and I rode it on the CBR 250R - god I still remember the horrific ride. Good to see the awesome road it is now. It is always beautiful in Kerala and even better - the awesome kerala parotta and beef fry that you get there - even for breakfast! Yumm!!

How was the ride for you as a pillion? Do you find it comfortable? Is it just the stock seats? What bike did you guys own before this? Sorry, I am a bit lazy to go back and check your previous travelogues. EDIT - was it the Pulsar 200NS?

Waiting for the Day 2 video.

[petrol_power]

Originally Posted by atul.ktm

Here is a video that we made for Day 1:

Wow, Atul and Nandita, the new Video concept in your travelogue is great. . Pl add one video log in every of your upcoming travelogues (I know that it comes on every fortnight) and pl keep on updating more information in the upcoming videos including some comments regarding roads taken, their conditions, specialities, places not to be missed, etc.