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13th July 2019, 12:04
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| BHPian  | Cochin Diaries: Jatayu Earth's Center, Ponmudi Hills and Kovalam Beach Introduction “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” Its been long since my last trip and itch to hit the highways was getting real hard to ignore. The roads were calling and I was desperately looking for a reason to pack my bags. Fellow travel addicts can understand how suffocating it can get if one is stuck in a place for too long! Soon I did get a genuine reason to hit the roads. My friends and fellow travelers, Neethu and Sandip, were getting married, to each other. Their wedding reception was in Trivandrum. That would be a smooth 10 hours of drive, from Coimbatore to Trivandrum. Finally, something to look forward to! Very soon, however, I came to know that some of my friends (ex-colleagues) were planning to attend the wedding too and were planning to start from Cochin. So I changed my plans and decided to head to Cochin one day before so that we can travel to Trivandrum from there. Nice! The route:  We planned to hit the following places: 1. Jatayu Earth's Center 2. Meenmutti Waterfalls 3. Ponmudi Hills 4. Kovalam Beach The wedding was on Friday, 21st June. We decided to make it a 2 day trip so as to cover all these places. It was raining at that time so the waterfalls and the hills were doubtful. Now the decision about the ride. Obviously my Baleno was a contender. The other was my friend's City. But since there were 5 of us for the trip, it would have been a tight fit. One other friend, who we were supposed to pick up from Kottayam, has a BR-V CVT and so we decided to take that. So I'll drive from Coimbatore to Cochin in my Baleno, take my friend's City to Kottayam, and then drive to Trivandrum in his BR-V! This is my kinda buffet! I reached Cochin the previous night, on 20th June. Me, Swarish and Mathew were to start on 21st morning and drive to Kottayam and pick up Sreenath and Arun. Our plan was to reach Trivandrum by friday afternoon so that we could do some sightseeing before attending the wedding reception, and then spend the next two days exploring the city. Note: Its been nearly a year since I typed the first post in this thread! Soon after this trip, I too got married and the 4 of us went to our honeymoon in Ladakh. (An adventure honeymoon: 1500 km bike ride through the Himalayas!) Then life happened and I forgot all about this post. The covid lock-down and the subsequent boredom helped me (re)discover this old thread! Day 1 Having reached Cochin the previous day, I had camped out at my relatives place in Kaloor. By around 6:30 AM, Mathew and I reached Swarish's home in Kakkanad. After having some tea, we started in his City by around 7 AM. Traffic was sparse in the morning and we reached Kottayam town by around 8:30 AM. We had some difficulty navigating to Sreenath's place as none of us were very familiar with the town. There we had our breakfast and spent some time playing with his daughter. By around 9:30 AM, we started from his place. One Honda goes into the garage,  while the other one comes out!  We left Kottayam town and headed towards Trivandrum at a leisurely pace. I had left the company about a year ago and I was meeting my old team mates after a long time, so this was kind of a re-union for me. On the way, we picked up Arun as well.  Jatayu Earth's Center Our first destination was the Jatayu Earth's Center. Its about a 100 kms from Kottayam, on the way to Trivandrum. Jatayu Earth's Center is a tourist center and it has the largest bird sculpture in the world. Located in Chadayamangalam town, the sculpture is built on a rock, which is said to be where Jatayu landed after he was killed by Ravanan. The sculpture can be seen from quite a distance away. To get to the top, you can either take a cable car from the entrance, or hike all the way.  It was drizzling by the time we got there. From the main road, one has to take a diversion to reach the entrance. The first thing we noticed, was that it was spectacularly well maintained! This is the path leading to the parking area. Extremely well kept!  The entrance to the main building. Entry tickets are available here. There are a few restrooms here, all of them spotlessly clean.  Looks like an airport inside! Beautifully built waiting area with plenty of chairs, an awesome view of the greenery all around, spotlessly clean and well mannered staff. To be honest, it doesn't feel like the usual tourist spot in India. Reminded me of the Awana Skyway in Genting, Malaysia.  Once inside, they give you an RFID wrist strap to wear. You have to scan them at a checkpoint to get to the cable car.  There is a nice waiting area with a refreshments stall and some restrooms. We waited our turns to get into the cable car. There were plenty of staff here and they called us when it was our turn.  We had to climb a few floors to get to the cable car platform. There is also a lift IIRC. The system of cable cars here is quite different from the Awana Skyway. In Awana, the cars would slow down as they neared the platform while the rest of the cars were unaffected. We had to climb into (slowly) moving cars as they wouldn't stop, and they went non-stop all the way to the top. Over here, the cars stop at platform. While people get in and out, the other cars on the rope line too would be stopped, halfway to the top. There are guards at the top and bottom who co-ordinate all this.  Plenty of room inside the car. It was drizzling on the way to the top. Good thing too, as it would have been very hot had it been sunny.  One set of cars, on their way down. The cars did sway slightly in the wind.  A helipad, somewhere on the way to the top. For VIPs and medical emergencies I guess. You can also see the trekking path nearby. They seemed to be well kept.  At the top, there is another platform. There are separate areas to enter/exit the cars. Once we got out, we had out first view of the sculpture. Have to say, looks awesome!  In addition to the giant sculpture (which is actually a museum on the inside), there are several other areas on top of the rock. Theres a temple and an amphitheater, in addition to a viewing tower. All of these were under construction when we went. The area around the sculpture is paved and you can walk around. The view from the top is spectacular!  View of the trekking path. Not sure if the trail was ready when we went.  The paved area around the sculpture. It was indeed a blessing for us that it was cloudy and drizzling. The hill top would have been burning on a hot summer day!  One section of the amphitheater. Still under construction. The temple is visible in the background.  Some more pics of the sculpture.    The attention to detail is incredible! But... wasn't Jatayu supposed to be a vulture?   By now it was around 1:30 PM and we were starting to feel very very hungry. There were a couple of refreshment stalls near the sculptures, but our hunger couldn't be satisfied by a measly burger or a sandwich. Sreenath knew of a good restaurant nearby and we decided to go there for lunch. We went to the exit section of the cable car platform, where we had to wait for around 20 mins. It was lunch and there were no new visitors and so the cable cars had to be called only for those leaving. The guard wanted more people before he could call the cars, hence the wait.  At the bottom, the exit platform lead to an area with some arcade games and such. A family could spend at least half a day here.  We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Vazhiyorakkada, located about 15 kms from the Jatayu Center. The hotel has excellent reviews. There was a huge line of cars in front of it and the place was packed! Theres a main dining hall and multiple smaller individual dining huts.  It was late by the time we reached and many items were sold out. Still we ordered multiple fish and beef dishes and they were all awesome! I definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting the Jatayu center.  We topped off the sumptuous lunch with some equally delicious lime soda from a stall nearby. We had to wait a few minutes for the food to go down before we started again!  Traffic started to worsen as we approached Trivandrum. We had booked rooms at the Orion Residency Tower, which was located close to the Trivandrum Central railway station.  We checked into the hotel by around 5 PM and freshened up. By around 6 PM, we left the hotel to attend the wedding reception. It was a nice ceremony and we wished the best to the newly wedded couple. Of course, I would see them again in a months time, as they would be traveling to my home town to attend my wedding! We left the hall and returned to our hotel by around 9:30 PM. Sreenath stayed at a relative's home nearby and Arun returned home. Swarish, Mathew and I stayed at the hotel. The rooms were very comfortable. They had a rooftop swimming pool and a bar. We spent some time there and came back when it started to drizzle again. Last edited by GeneralJazz : 13th April 2020 at 11:11. |
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11th April 2020, 21:32
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| BHPian | Re: Cochin Diaries: Jatayu Earth's Center, Ponmudi Hills and Kovalam Beach Day 2 We woke up early the next day. We had planned to chill for a hour on the swimming pool before having breakfast. Sadly, it was raining in the morning and the pool was closed. Bummer! So we spent time on the rooftop admiring the view instead.  Kallar Meenmutty Waterfalls After breakfast, we left the hotel and headed towards Meenmutty waterfalls. The waterfall is en route to Ponmudi hills and you need to take a diversion from Kallar. This is an Eco-tourism spot and plastics are strictly banned here.  There was a counter where we had to purchase the entry ticket. While we waited, we explored the area nearby and found this. Seems to be one of the small parallel paths of the Vamanapuram river.  From there, we drove for a couple of kms along what seemed to be an off road trail. It was really beautiful, through the forests. The slight drizzle made it all the more prettier.  The path was really bad at some spots. Needed some careful maneuvering to avoid scraping the bottom. We did scrape the front bumpers at a couple of spots though.   The path lead to a cramped parking area. By cramped I mean that there is limited space for cars to maneuver. We had to park it in a tight spot to fit the long car.  From the car parking, its a bit of a trek to reach the falls, about 1.5 kms IIRC. Once again we were lucky that it was cloudy.  Most of the trail was covered by a dense canopy of trees. We did cross some really interesting looking trees.  The climb got steeper as we went along. There weren't a lot of people that day and we did have a nagging fear of encountering a wild animal!  After sometime, we reached this water crossing. It wasn't very deep but was a bit slippery. There was a good flow of water too. Ropes had been tied along one side to help people cross.   We took this opportunity to catch our breath and spent some time here. It was very refreshing to just sit there, with out feet in the cool water.  There are plenty of rocks nearby where people can sit around and spend a lazy weekend evening. There are areas where the water is deep enough for people to fully submerge. This could be an excellent picnic spot for the locals.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of climbing, we reached the Meenmutty falls. Slightly underwhelming, given the tough trek that preceded it. I guess there would be more flow during peak of monsoon.  We did spend some time here though, as we weren't too eager to get back to the trail!  By around 12 PM, we started climbing down. There were more people now including many couples. This is a great spot for some privacy! On the way down, we reached the water crossing again and by this time, it was quite crowded.  Ponmudi Hills Ponmudi hills is about 15 kms from Meenmutty falls. Since we had a heavy breakfast, we decided to skip lunch and visit the hill. It was a nice winding road all the way to the top.  As we started the climb, it got cloudy and began drizzling. The scenery became very beautiful and we stopped at multiple places to take pics.  Soon we reached a police check point, where we entered our vehicle details. People kept trying to overtake and blocked the oncoming lane and created a nuisance.  Once that was done, we continued our climb. Very soon, it became foggy. The fog progressively thickened as we climbed. Even in this dense fog, we came across several equally dense morons on bikes, overtaking and pulling stunts! Once slip and they would go right off the edge and end up at the bottom of the hill.  After some time, the fog became so thick that we had to pull over. It was becoming too unsafe to drive. We found a clearing to one side and parked there. Took some pics while we waited for the fog to thin out.  We explored the clearing a little. The drizzle and the fog made the greenery extremely beautiful.  The fog was starting to thin, but we waited for some more time! It was that beautiful!  We started after some time. But this was what we drove through! And it got progressively worse as we climbed. We stopped multiple times as the visibility dropped to a few meters! We came across a bunch of guys in bikes recording stunts. They were attempting wheelies!   Last edited by GeneralJazz : 12th April 2020 at 16:30. |
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12th April 2020, 16:43
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| BHPian | Re: Cochin Diaries: Jatayu Earth's Center, Ponmudi Hills and Kovalam Beach There is a designated parking area at what I assumed to be the top. The fog was so thick that we parked the car purely based on the directions from the staff there. They guided us to what I think was the parking area and helped us navigate into a spot.  After parking our car there, we started walking towards the top. Visibility continued to remain poor. I don't know if this is the usual, but the place was quite crowded.  The path leading to the top. There seemed to be quite a lot of people up there, judging by all the disembodied voices floating around! It was certainly creepy, even though it was midday!  We spent some time there. My DSLR couldn't get a focus on anything. And the drizzle started again.  Mathew was standing literally 5 meters behind me. Can't see him can you? John Cena would have loved it here!  There was a semi-visible hut in the distance. I could also make out what seemed to be a fence. We spent some more time there but since we couldn't see anything, we decided to leave. And the drizzle was starting to get heavier.  On our way down, we saw more of the crazy bikers. Or maybe they were part of the same group, who cares. As we climbed lower, the fog thinned out and we could pick up the pace. It was around 3 PM by now and our stomachs were beginning to protest. We found this small road side shop on the way and stopped for some snacks.  Aaah! Hot tea, thick fog, forests, and a wonderful car! Perfect!  We decided to head back to town. My train was at 9:30 PM or so and we wanted to visit the Kovalam beach as well. It was a 2 hour drive back to town. By the time we reached, we were really hungry. Sreenath knew of a good eatery in town and we headed there. It was called the Hotel Saurashtra Gujarathi hotel.  Their specialty is poori. They serve it with a bunch of curries and some some sweet mango pickle. The food was awesome and we nearly lost count of how many extra pooris we ordered! Yumm-mee!  Kovalam Beach Once we had our fill, we headed towards Kovalam beach. The beach is around 15 kms from the town. We took the Kovalam bypass (I think that's what its called). The road was excellent but some parts were still under construction. From Kovalam town, we took the diversion towards the beach. It had started to rain by now.  We passed many resorts and homestays. A govt. guest house is also present here. Saw this notice installed by the government. Can't fully read it though.  I don't know if it was the tide or the rain, but the beach was completely gone. Fully taken over by the sea. We could only park on the road side watch the sunset. Or assume the sun set, as it was too cloudy to see anything.  Not even an inch of the beach left. Cops were present there and making sure people don't venture out into the water.  The Kovalam Juma Masjid. Wonderful location for a place of worship.  It was quite windy and the sea was very rough. The waves were crashing onto the stones and sending a fine spray all over the place. There seemed to be some weather alert, as the cops soon asked us to leave the place. Would have loved to spend some more time there.  One more pic of the beach.  We left the beach by around 5:30 PM and drove back to town. The highway was super smooth and we quickly reached the town. I think this highway is a part of the new extension to the NH66.  I still had a few more hours left for my train, so we decided to stop at the Mall of Travancore. It is located by the NH66 and was close to the railway station as well.  As it was a weekend evening, the place was pretty crowded. Pictured ; weekend shoppers having a go at the mall along with a few youngsters enjoying the novel sport of bird watching in this mall so close to the IT Park.  Thereafter , we spent the next couple of hours within the mall , just gallivanting in the food court and settling our tummies with light dinner . At 8:30 we left the mall and they dropped me unto the railway station. EPILOGUE It was as I settled into the folds of our very own Indian Railways laundered blanket en route to my hometown , that the first opening to this travelogue bore seeds in my mind. Soon I were to be married , and this was my official last trip as a bachelor ( a thought that both excited and scared me  ) . And as far as trips go , this one was a memorable one , what with a chance to catch up with old colleagues whilst the nature in her monsoon glory snuggled us to the sort of calm that only comes with good companionship. A well spent weekend , indeed.Until next time, this is GeneralJazz signing off.... Last edited by GeneralJazz : 13th April 2020 at 11:16. |
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14th April 2020, 08:16
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| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: S'pore/Thrissur
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| Thread moved from Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thank you for sharing!  |
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14th April 2020, 21:02
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17th April 2020, 16:49
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| BHPian Join Date: May 2019 Location: Trivandrum
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| Re: Cochin Diaries: Jatayu Earth's Center, Ponmudi Hills and Kovalam Beach Nice Travelogue GeneralJazz! Lovely pictures too. Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by vik99 : 17th April 2020 at 17:10. Reason: Added details. | ||
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19th April 2020, 18:25
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