[muralisk]

Nice pictures and very good narration. I guess it is best done during the week days to beat the crowd and have a peaceful vacation. Great stuff, this will help me plan it out.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by laluks

Moral of the story - whatever you do, drive at 100kmph,170kmph, 200kmph you save only 10 minutes on an average on the higher speeds. Forget the risk - Drive Safe.

This fruit was nice with chilly powder.
Attachment 151075
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about speeds, " mere dil ki baat bola".

nice travelogue, waiting for more.

what is that fruit? looks like brinjal but it is not...

[laluks]

No idea what is the name of the fruit. It tastes sweet and sour. With chilly powder it tastes good

[laluks]

before going to the details of the second day let me share some pictures from my earlier trips of the picturesque Mettur Bhavani road which bypasses Salem.

Mettur Bhavani Road, beautiful two lane road


Somewhere in Mettur near the river




Mettur Stanley Reservoir

[laluks]

Day 2, June 13, 2009
Kodai - Theni - Bodinayakkanur.

Got up very late around 10AM. Had tea and breakfast at a roadside shop.

We saw a bus guy struggling to climb, and our gang helped him out to get over the slope. After all we are all happy to help gang.


Surprisingly we get a call from one of our colleagues that he is in Kodai and wants to join in our fun. How he landed up in Kodai is a big story. He has taken the tickets to Kodai road, so that he can catch another bus to Bodi for the marriage. He stayed awake so as not to miss this stop to get down and slept right before the stop came. When he woke up he saw a board Kodai 12Kms and got a wild shock. On making some phone calls someone told him that we are freaking out at Kodai and try his luck with us. We were more than willing to accomodate him - as trip expenses were already mounting.


The day was very cloudy and was raining occassionally. There was fog also. Our gang wanted to do the loop road again, against the weekend crowd. We did this loop and this time it took two full hours to exit this road due to the fog and the vehicles parked on the narrow roadsides and ofcourse the huge crowd. Not a single photo clicked as we never stopped anywhere, we just wanted to get out cursing the guy who wanted to see the fog.

We reached the lake around noon, no one wanted to do boating and hence decided to say adieu to Kodai for this time. We started to climb down towards Theni.

This is the fork where the roads from Palani and from Kodai road meet before climbing up to Kodai.


We drove down towards Kodai road, and on the way we stopped at a spot calles Rat Tail Falls. No water at the falls as ususal. But we just hung around there for a while enjoying tender coconut water and the sceneries.







We reached Theni town by around 4PM and drove towards Bodinayakkanaur. The road towards Bodi, Munnar is a very picturesque road with mountains on the sides. We did not take any photos here as we just wanted to reach the lodge at Bodi fast and get ready to attend the marriage reception at 6PM.

The day ended with attending the reception and dinner. A very small town, lovely one. Heard some stories about drugs being cultivated in some remote mountains near Bodi, about some tamil film on the topic etc.

Next day the plan is to attend marriage at 8AM and drive through Munnar to Bangalore. Munnar is another 60Km from Bodi, and Bangalore another 480Km from Munnar.

[gadadhar]

Excellent narration and cool snaps. Waiting for the Munnar story

[pypkmsrikanth]

laluks - Lovely narration and pictures.

Hope you would not mind, am giving some snaps from the trip which I made to Kodai last March when Tamil Nadu was hit with unseasonal rain. Am uploading pictures of some of the falls you saw dry. We reached Kodai when the rains just started to subside. The entire town was without power for the previous few days and was expected not to get power for a further week.

Rat tail falls which never seem to end, you could see it from the plains and continue to see it till half way through the ghats.



Silver Cascade in full glory, as many would know the excess water from Kodai lake passes through Silver Cascade. When we reached Kodai, parts of the road around the lake were flooded.



The best of them all, Fairy falls. Fortunately for us since its not part of the regular tourist route, it was completely empty when we reached there. I could park the car right next to the retaining wall of the falls.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Hope you would not mind, am giving some snaps from the trip which I made to Kodai last March when Tamil Nadu was hit with unseasonal rain. Am uploading pictures of some of the falls you saw dry.

Thanks a ton for the pictures. I never had a chance to see these falls in such glory in all my trips.

Fairy falls, Bear shola falls are not much visited, hence they are a good hide out from the crowd.

[msbehave]

Nice images. You mentioned the crowds and problems created by them. It's a pity about how we travel as Indians - I was there recently and it was littered with urban waste, snack wrappers, plastic etc. Very disappointing and depressing. We went off the tourist track and things were lovely and unspoiled. But, wonder for how long they will remain that way.

[laluks]

Apologies everyone. Could not update the thread for long. Initially it was the TBHP server change, then I was not well, then it was again my travel. I'll update the complete details by today.

[laluks]

Day3, June 14, 2009
Bodi - Munnar - Mattupetty dam - Echo point - Munnar - Devikulam - Marayoor - Chinnar - Udumalpettu - Dharapuram - Perundurai - Bangalore.

After attending the marriage we left to Munnar by 9.30Am. The roads from Theni to Munnar is very good till the border.






Once you enter Kerala the roads are patchy, but nothing to complain. After taking many breaks for the breath taking views we reached Munnar centre by 12PM.









Some waterfall


We then drove to Mattupetty dam and Echo point.



I purposefully skipped Top slip as it was further away as we did not want to drive all the way back. It is almost 30km from Munnar.

Enjoying a "Kattan" (black tea) in typical mallu style!!


As compared to Kodai all places in Munnar are placed at a distance and almost in three different directions. After visiting Echo point we reached back Munnar centre by 3PM. Had a very good lunch at Sharavana Bhavan.

Finally we bid good bye to Munnar at 4.30PM. We drove via the Eravikulam national park, Chinnar route. We reached chinnar by 6.00 and Udumalpettu by 7PM. This route you can find the natural preserved forest of sandalwood.

At the border it was fun. You have three checkposts in 100 meters. First one Kerala forest checkpost, next is Kerala excise and the third is tamilnadu forest.In all the three places they check your car thoroughly. On asking them what are they looking for they said sandalwood, but from the cars behind we found that they are looking for their night drinks!!


The rest of the roads was pretty usual. Udumalpettu - Dharapuram - Perundurai - Bangalore.

We had dinner at at Salem by 11.30PM. We reached Bangalore by 3.30AM

Statistics.
Total days - 3
Total distance 1270Km
FE Civic - 10kmpl
FE Swift - 19kmpl


The End.

I'll post some good photos covering all the attractions in Munnar from my previous trips soon.(Including the Nilgiri Thar - the endangered mountain goats and Neela Kurinji - the flower which blooms once in 12 years)

[laluks]

October 2006 & April 2007
Kurinji Flowers and Nilgiri Thar

Some more pictures of Munnar from my trips in October 2006 and April 2007. 2006 was the year in which Kurinji bloomed in Munnar. Next bloom is expected after 12 years in 2018.

Kurinji






Eravikulam national park had most of the protected kurinji plants in full bloom. Due to this in 2006 we had to stand almost 4 hours in que before we could go up to the park.




View on the way to the park.




Also the endangered Nilgiri Thar lives here. During our visit in 2006, they were all around the place and we could even touch them. In all my later visits, I could only see them from a distance.

[ravi@64bhp]

Nice pictures. Loved those Nilgiri Thar pics. You guys are lucky to go so close to them. We did not get to see one when we visited last time, due to rain and mist.

[laluks]

Some more valley views of Munnar from my previous trips. Munnar always charms me no matter how many times I visit there. I must have been there almost eight times by now!!

[laluks]

One normal tourist route is Munnar - Mattupetty - Echo point - Top slip. This is around 30km one way drive from Munnar centre. From Topslip there was a road which led to Kodai (around 60Km from Top slip), but now it is closed due to many reasons like smuggling of sandalwood, forest fire etc.

Top Slip.




Kurinji flowers were also protected at a private property in Top slip



Echopoint



Mattupetty dam at sunset

Mattupetty dam in the morning


Some boating.