[rihan01234]

My first post in Travelogues. Its a trip from thalassery to munnar along with my friend Mr.Thufael in my E280 CDI .I hate writing but had to write this as i couldnt wait to share my experience.
every year Thufael and me make sure we travel to some where serene, somewhere unruffled just to get out of the uncanny city life. And every time we think of a place to visit, we unanimously decide
munnar as the place to go and relax. This has been the case for the past 3-4 years.
Having covered most of the tourist spots in munnar previously (chinnar,marayoor,rajamalai,devikulam,mattupetty etc) we decided we will go to Lakkom falls which is about 30 kms from munnar. Its on
)the way to udumalpet.
We left thalassery at 9 pm as i like driving in the night so the private buses leave the field and the road is all for us and the zillions of other lorries. At least there is less traffic in the
night. We fuelled from thalassery itself , from a Bharat petroleum pump were the Merc gulped about 65 litres of the heavy liquid (Tank being 80 litres -u can drive it all the way to the moon ,such
is the range it offers due to the larget fuel tank). Driving the merc on the highway is a pleasure. The 2987 cc V6 engine offers monstrous torque that pulls the car in a way it will put most
petrol cars to shame. 100 kph feels like we are doing 50-60 in a normal car. The mid range acceleration is very good and that eases the effort needed to overtake.
We decided to travel to ernakulam and then stay there at my brothers place and then leave to munnar the next day .The route we chose to Ernakulam was
Thalassery>calicut>Kunnamkulam>chavakkad<kodungall or>ernakulam. On the way we stopped at Payyoli for a quick bite of delicious chicken fry from a small restaurant (sorry i don't know the name but
PM
me and i will give you the directions). The restaurant has been featured in some magazines. to say the least the chicken is delicious and the pleasure of having it by the road side is incomparable.
As time passed by the roads became more deserted and that allowed me to push the merc to some extent. The unmatched safety offered by merc gives you a sense of invincibility ,that you drive the
car the way it has to be driven ,and that means 140-160 kph in straights and taking corners at 100+kph in kerala roads. The 250+ km journey finished in a flash and i felt an urge to drive more but
as we had planned to stay at ernakulam we had to put a stop to the driving nirvana and cosy up to the warmth of the Duvet.
The next day we left ernakulam at 10 am after a very good breakfast prepared by my sis in law. The route we planned to take was ernakulam>aluva>perumbavoor>kothamangalam>adimali> munnar. The highway
to aluva welcomed us with busy roads where u can hardly travel above 40+kms. From aluva town we moved on to perumbavoor and then to kothamangalam where we stopped for a tea at the Cloud 9 Hotel.
The Ghat roads to munnar are very good , and very inviting to drive on. The view on route to munnar is splendid and it begs us to stop and click some pictures.
We reached munnar at 2 pm and went to our hotel which is the silver tips at munnar. Its a new hotel which is very well laid out and every room had a theme which was based on movies. The experience
at the hotel was good and at the price they offered i felt it was a bargain. The hotel is very near to munnar town unlike the resorts which are 10+km from munnar town. I agree that the hotel
doesn't offer any good view what so ever but it would suit people who need to find a room close to the town centre.
After check in we went to mattupetty dam and echo point and spent the evening there. On our return to our room we stopped over to munch the delicacies prepared at the thattukadas just opposite to
the taxi stand and petrol pump. The delicious kaada mutta fry and kappa biriyani are some things which ought not to be missed. This has been the case every year and we make sure we fill our tummies
at the thattukadas.
The next day morning we left to lakkom water falls which is about 17 kms from eravikulam national park. The photos have been attached below. The waterfalls is an ideal place to relax . There are
small shops which offer refreshments. There are also public toilets so you dont want to dwell deep into the treacherous slopes to answer the natures call. Make sure you are all prepared to get wet
in the water falls. the experience is just amazing. We spent a lot of time there and then returned to our room in the evening. we packed our bags and left to thalassery the next day.
The merc felt rock solid during the trip and this trip will stay fresh in my heart for years to come.
Some pics during the trip.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

YOu mean you actually found a place selling edible food at Payyoli??


And any reason you do not fill up @ Mahe, where the essential liquids are cheaper?

I would have taken Kunnamkulam > Trichur > Angamaly > Perumbavoor instead of Kunnamkulam > Ekm > Aluva > Perumbavoor. I think you un-necessarily spent some extra time on the notional highway between Kodungaluur and Edappally. .

Edit:- missout out the relative-in-Ernakulam part.

Please post details of that restaurant in the "eating out in Kerala" thread.

[rihan01234]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

YOu mean you actually found a place selling edible food at Payyoli??

And any reason you do not fill up @ Mahe, where the essential liquids are cheaper?

Yes 100% edible and Really Yummy. Dont miss it when you pass payyoli the next time. The restaurant is really busy in the night

I dont trust the fuel at Mahe as there has been so many incidents where customers were given adulterated fuel or fuel with less quantity. more over diesel is not that cheaper when you compare the price difference of petrol.

Hence i prefer to refuel at a pump near to my house which i trust. Cheers