my trip to Kerala: A report

Hi Guyz,

I am an Indian Male, Age 29 and recently I went on a trip to Kerala for 9 days and had a wonderful time. Thanks to all the India mike members for their knowledge sharing about the place, it was really helpful. I was traveling alone since my Wife had some important work here in Delhi.

I would like to share a short trip report including the places I visited and money spent
specially on hotels, travel and meal. When I was planning my trip, I was looking for a report about a budget trip for Kerala; I found it for some places but could not find it for all the places I wanted to visit.

Here I would like to share my trip report (without any intention to promote any hotel, or restaurant) and hope that it would be useful for people who are traveling alone and are on a budget trip.



DAY 1 (2nd October) : I took a Jet Airways Flight from Delhi early on Oct 2 and landed in Cochin at about 1 pm (it was Via Mumbai with a 40 minutes halt), I booked my tickets for round trip (Del-Coc-Del) in Rs. 8900 one month before. Now, from Airport I heard a
lot of things from people on how to reach Cochin (and how not to trust the prepaid cabs) so I decided to take an auto rickshaw from outside. Surprisingly, I saw lots of them inside the Airport and had no problem (as suggested in one of the reports).

I negotiated and paid Rs. 250 to Ernakulum, where I decided to stay for the night. Here, I would like to tell one thing that I decided not to book anything before going there and wanted to explore on my own.

So, after reaching Ernakulum, I asked the auto driver to take me to some hotels in Ernakulum (I agreed to pay him 50 Rs. more for this job). Unfortunately, most of the places were full then someone told me about Hotel Lucia (near Ernakulum Bus Stand), since I had to catch a bus next morning to Allepy I thought this might be a good idea. I reached there, and fortunately a room was available.

I went up to see the room, it was small but nice and clean and I decided to take it for the night. The Guy at the reception told me that it is for Rs. 950 for one night (I got the room in 850 after some negotiations, decent prize for Ac room).

I paid money to the auto driver (he was tired of traveling with me since I didn't
understand Malayalam and he was not good with English, except a few words only).



I was tired so took a shower and decided to take a nap for some time but could not sleep (here I would like to mention that I have this problem whenever I try to sleep at a new place, like most people do) so I decided to go out. It was 4pm now and I took my Camera along with the carry bag and headed out.

I had my priorities clear; I wanted to visit Fort Kochi first of all so I asked an auto driver near the bus stand to show me the main places in Fort Kochi. He asked Rs. 150 for that, finally we agreed on Rs. 120 and headed towards Fort Kochi. He showed me most of the places and finally dropped me near the Fort Kochi Beach.

I never had much interest in Art and Architecture, so this was the only place of interest for me here. I took some photos of the Chinese Fishing Nets (unfortunately,
The sun was hiding behind the clouds so could not see the famous view of Chinese Fishing Nets against the sun set) took some photos anyway and headed towards the Beach (which I have to say was not good feeling), a lot of Garbage and
stinking smell, took some photos and decided to head out towards the market place just outside the park and decided to have a cup of tea (it was not good at all) and had a smoke.

Then I headed towards the boat jetty to take the Ferry back to Ernakulum (Now, this was good). The ticket was Rs. 2.50 only and we got in the boat. I could not find a seat since all the seats were taken up within 1 minute (now being an Indian I am used to this) so I decided to stand near the Front gate and it was better than sitting in the crowd (for sure). I really enjoyed this 30-40 minutes ride and took some photos.

After arriving at the boat jetty, I decided to walk to the hotel (this was a mistake!!!!) as soon as I got out, a light drizzle started. I knew that it would not be too difficult to find the hotel as it was near the main bus stand.

I went through the market and found a vegetarian hotel (I don’t remember the name exactly, I think it was Arya Bhavan or Niwas)
and I decided to eat something (didn't I tell you guyz, I am a veggie) as the drizzle was becoming heavier now.

I saw the menu and ordered the Masala Dosa (this is the only south Indian dish I am familiar with apart from Idli and utthapam), anyways
it was good and the tea was awesome (finally) and surprisingly, it only cost me something like 25-30 Rs., well I was happy after all and headed towards the Hotel.

Suddenly, it started raining heavily and I had to take shelter under the tin shed of a closed shop (I saw a lot of people standing there, who didn’t have umbrella, just like me). I was more worried about the Camera than anything else (after all it's new). In 10 minutes, the rain stopped and I was on my way to the Hotel.

I kept asking people to make sure I was on the right path. Suddenly, while crossing the road, the rain came down heavily again and this time I was caught! totally drenched I ran towards the nearest shelter which was about 100 meters away ( well I ran like Usain Bolt to reach there, you should have seen that! I don’t like the rains much, honestly) after spending 10 minutes there I again proceeded towards the Hotel and finally reached there with soggy clothes.

I went up to the room and had a good hot shower, now I was feeling much better and decided to take a look around in the hotel so I took the stairs down instead of Lift. When I reached the reception, the guy welcomed me with a smile and I asked him where I can have a couple of drinks (I saw when I checked in, they had a bar), he told me that Bar is closed today since its 2nd October (Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday) a dry day (he dropped a bombshell on me to be honest, why didn't I remember it was a dry day today!!) Okey so it was a dry day, I tried to convince him to serve the drinks in the room but he denied politely.

After spending about 15 minutes on this, he said he might arrange a beer or two in the room but no whisky, I agreed (happily, after all something is better than nothing). I went up the room and switched on the TV waiting for someone to knock with a Beer and some poppads. Well, after half an hour no one came, I call the reception and the guy said he is trying to arrange it but can't promise. Fearing the worst, I tried to wait for some time more, it was 9 pm and still no response and then I decided to order the dinner instead of waiting any further. Some fried rice along with Dal ( food was not that good)
So, I had the dinner and decided to crash since I had to catch early morning bus to Allepy.

END OF DAY ONE

DAY 2 (3rd October): I woke up at about 7 am in the morning and was ready at 8 am. I went down to the restaurant for breakfast (it was complimentary) and had Appam (made of rice) along with mixed veg, it was not so great but hey it was complimentary so can't complain much about that. I settled the hotel bill and headed to the bus station.

I asked at the inquiry and he pointed towards a red bus, I got into it and took a window seat but there was not enough space for luggage (or probably my bag was too big), I had to keep it under my seat. I instructed the conductor to tell me when the bus reaches Allepy, he nodded but I don’t think he understood fully what I said, so I was a bit wary of missing the stop. I decided to keep an eye on the signboards (only some of these were in English). I paid about 30-40 rs for ticket and we reached Allepy in about 2.30 hours. My policy of keeping an eye on signboards paid good dividend as I knew when Allepy came.

I got down and took an auto to Malayalam Lake Resort (heard very good reviews of it so I decided to give Jose a call one month prior, the only place I booked before going). I paid Rs. 40 to auto rickshaw and headed to Malayalam Lake resort near the Lake. I reached there and Jose was there to welcome me. He introduced me to his uncle Thomas and aunt Rosy (very nice people)

He showed me the room (it was more a cottage made out of some kind of wood, very basic, open air bathroom, this was good). Okey, so here I was in the famous backwaters of Allepy and I have to say it was as beautiful as expected. I decided to take a shower
in the open air bathroom.

In the mean time, Thomas came and told me that they don’t serve Lunch so I will have to go out for that. I was okey since I had to go to town. I proceeded towards the town, there is one drawback staying here that the only way you can reach the town is taking an auto rickshaw (if you don’t want to walk of course!), so I asked the auto rickshaw driver to take me to the liquor shop and come back. He asked for 100 rs. (Damn thug), we finally agreed on 80 rs and headed towards the town.

They did not have any good whisky so I decided to stick my second favorite (Vodka) and bought a bottle of White Mischief for about 350 rs. Along with it, some snacks (banana chips, orange juice and cakes) and headed back to the Malayalam House.

There was a nice wooden bed right in front of room, under the tree, almost in the Lake. I decided to grab it before anyone else and hopped on with my stuff. Well, this was the most enjoyable part of my stay here. There was nice breeze blowing and I was sipping Vodka with banana chips (very good) and reading Outlook Traveler (which I bought at the airport). There were lots of boats passing by and people waving at me, some screamed, saying this is cool!!! , some were even taking my pictures (honestly, I felt like I am a celebrity or something for some time, then got used to it). In the mean time, I was busy with my stuff, when I saw a young couple (staying in the next cottage) staring at me, with the hope that they will get to sit there when I vacant it (I was not gonna do it, for sure).

I was also taking some photographs in between; it was beautiful in the sunset. A local guy came to me in a canoe, asking me to take a ride. He said 150rs for an hour; I decided to take a 2 hr ride and agreed on rs300.

Finally, I was out of that bed and the couple jumped onto that. I sat on the other side in the canoe and headed for some smaller canals. It was a wonderful experience to see the local people going through their daily routine, as it is quite different from what we see in day to day life. I noticed some fisherman playing volleyball, they invited me. I joined them for 15-20 minutes, thanked them and again headed towards another canal. It was getting dark now and after some tome we reached the home stay.

I had a nice shower and in the mean time dinner was ready. Fried rice, boiled Vegetables, poppad and a small banana was on the menu, it was good. Now, came the hard part as I decided to sit out for a while after dinner. There were a lot of mosquitoes (as expected near stagnant water) but surprisingly they were defying the mosquito repellent cream.

After, having an hard time for half an hour I decided to walk for some time around the home stay. Local people were catching fish in the night as well. Then I decided to crash as I was having second thought about staying on for the next day (as I booked it for 2 nights). As I was about to go to sleep, a friend sent a text and I was in the process of replying (standing on the floor) when I got the shock of my life, a frog jumped onto my foot (I almost screamed, but fortunately I saw in the light that it was a little frog).

Okay, now I went in James Bond mode and tried to look for any other creatures in the room apart from me with the help of searchlight. Next, I saw a big cockroach (damn it, a real big one!!) and I hate these things the most (I can still manage with frog, but not cockroach). I decided to kill it (I don’t want to be misunderstood here as I am a real nature and wildlife lover) and as I went on hunting, it disappeared under the bed. Now, it was a scary situation for me, I brushed my teeth in a hurry and kept looking down at my feet to see if any night creature is there. I got in the room and closed the bathroom door, actually it was here that I noticed a gap in the bathroom door and the wall, and this is where the little creatures came by.

I opened the mosquito net around my bed and tried to sleep, thinking what if the cockroach comes on to the bed (becoz there was space in the bed) and this was the time, I made up my mind that I will not be staying here for another night. I had a backup plan and decided to move towards Kumily next morning.

END OF DAY TWO

DAY 3 (4th October): I woke up at about 6.00 am to have a sunrise view by the lake and had an early tea. Now I was out of the room and was feeling a lot better. There were a lot of birds around and I managed to capture some of those in camera. In the mean time, there was an Irish guy roaming around taking photos, we exchanged smiles and good mornings. He asked me whether I am with family or alone, I said I am traveling alone and he was surprised (rightly, as traveling alone is still vary rare in Indian families, especially after you are married). He came here with family though and had a little daughter (running around taking photos, lovely kid). After some talks, we decided to bid adieu and I came to the wooden bed with my camera waiting to capture the sunrise in my camera.

Finally, the sun began to come out and OH BOY!! It was a beautiful site. The early morning sun peeping through the coconut trees along the lake (I dreamt of it while planning my trip to Kerala). After soaking in the atmosphere for a while I decided to speak to Jose to have some idea about the Ferry timings from Allepy to Kottayam (I planned to go to Kumily via Kottayam) and he informed me about the timings and also drew a small map of Kottayam boat jetty to bus station (so nice of him). I decided to take the take the 9.30 Ferry.

I had a shower and Rosy served the breakfast. This time it was Kerala Porotha along with mix vegetable and taste was good. Thomas came with the bill and to my surprise it was rs715 in total (including food and lodging). In all, it was value for money (if you leave the cockroach and frog out). I decided to say goodbye and headed towards the boat jetty. I paid rs40 for auto rickshaw and reached the boat jetty.

I had to wait as the boat was still not there. After waiting for 15 minutes, the boat arrived I hoped in and took a window seat (still unsure if this is the right boat). Two white girls took a seat just behind me and one of them asked if this boat is going to Kottayam (we all were in the same boat). Then I decided to take the bull by the horns and asked the person sitting in front of me, if this boat is going to Kottayam? He nodded positively and I conveyed the same to the two white girls and we all were happy that we are in the right boat.

The ticket collector came by and asked (in Malayalam) where I would go, I said Kottayam and he asked for 10rs and gave me a ticket (damn cheap !! for a 3 hours ride) and the journey began.

It was a fantastic experience and I would certainly put this above the 24 hour boat cruise for which people pay something like Rs.5000-25000. You get to travel with local people and they are very friendly as well. After spending almost 3 hrs into the Ferry and taking lots of photos we finally arrived at Kottayam.

I took an auto rickshaw to the bus stand (remember there are 2 bus stand, one is private and another is Govt., and always go to the Govt. bus stand) for 30 rs. The next destination was Kumily (since I already registered for Tiger Trail program for 2 days and 1 night), as I thought going there 1 day before schedule would give me some time to roam around the town.

We total travel time was about 3-4 hrs and weather was very pleasant. The journey is really enjoyable and temperature tends to drop as you go up into the Western Ghats and window seat in the bus is highly recommended. I reached there in the evening and started to search for a home stay. There are a lot of home stays in Kumily and is divided in 2 parts, one is Thekkedy Road and another is the road nearby KTDC office (Hotel Kumily Gate Road, adjacent to the bus stand).

I decided to opt for the road nearby bus stand and market. There are a lot of Home Stays on this road and are damn cheap too. So, if you are not planning to stay a lot in the room (just like me) this is perfect. I reached Rainbow Cottage and asked the owner if I could see the room. He showed me the room ( it was a big room, clean and newly built) and asked for rs. 750 per night and finally we agreed on rs. 650 and I checked in.

This place is 10 minutes walk from the Bus Stand and away from the hustle and bustle of town, although one drawback was that Rafiq (the owner) had some construction work pending on top floor (I was on 1st floor) but it hardly bothered me as I used to get up early and out of room by 8 am in the morning. After having a shower, I walked into town and had some food. I found Hotel Ariya Bhavan just opposite to bus stand (veg hotel) and food was good and cheap. I roamed around in the town for 1 hr and saw the only Bar here (Hotel Kumily Gate) and decided to slip in and ordered a chilled beer (as they did not had any good whisky) only KingFisher and some local beer were available and I decided to go for KingFisher, along with some masala peanuts (very spicy). The bar was not that good though; I decided to sit in a cabin and finished the beer. I paid about rs. 100 and walked into the town again.

After purchasing some spices I had an early diner and headed towards the home stay (I should mention here, that this home stay would only provide tea and water bottle, no food here), it was a 10 min walk and I decided to sleep early as next morning I booked the Tiger Trail program. I crashed dreaming about my stay in jungle and possible encounter with Elephants, and so on.

END OF DAY THREE
DAY 4 (5th October): I woke up early and had a shower and left the room by 7.00 am and headed towards the Forest Dept. office on Thekkedy Road and to my surprise it was closed with black flags on it. Now, if you remember about the boat tragedy in Periyar River a week back and they told me that last dead body was recovered on 4th October evening and park is closed till further instruction from higher authorities. It was the shock of my life as I heard good things about the Tiger Trail and was desperate to get on board. The forest guards did not even allow me to go to the lake in the morning. I walked back with heavy heart (although the early morning walk was fantastic) and had breakfast in one of the shops.

So, now I had to alter my plans as I kept 3 days in reserve for Periyar so I headed towards a tourist information center and asked about the nearby places I could visit in Kumily. There was a fixed program wherein a visit to Spice Plantation, Tea Factory, Elephant Park, and Chellarkovil Falls etc and I decided to follow this program. The person sitting on counter told me that an auto rickshaw would cost me around 400-500 rs and a jeep would cost me about 900 rs. Fortunately, my home stay owner had a car (Indigo) and I met his driver the evening I reached there. I saw him at the taxi stand and asked him for sight seeing; he agreed and asked for rs. 1000 for full day, we agreed on rs. 800 and headed towards the Spice Plantation.

I visited the Spice Garden (rs. 100 for fee) and it was good. They have lots of spices and herbal plants there. Next, we went to the Tea Factory (Konnemara Tea rs. 100 for fee) , this was very informative as I got to know about the processing of tea (my favorite drink, after alcohol). Here I met an elderly couple from U.K., they were on their holidays and William (poor man, he is a big fan of Bolton Wanderers) told me how passionate he was about football. We had good fun though and clicked some nice photographs and our visit finished with tasting the tea (this was the best part).

Next, I headed towards the Elephant park and the owner told me about different program they have and cheapest of them all was for rs 700 (15 min. elephant ride). He came down to rs. 500 after seeing that I am not too interested and finally, I agreed and took a 15-20 min. ride. The elephant took me to their private property (the park owner has a large area of spice plantation here) and it was nice. But, I would not recommend if you are traveling solo, as this looked costly to me.

It was afternoon, and I had my lunch at Ariya Nivas (typical Kerala veg. food, good though) and headed towards Chellarkovil Falls. This water fall is located about 15-20 km from Kumily and water falls into the plains of Tamilnadu. We reached there and it is a moderate 10 min. track upto the view point (yes, you can only see it from a distance). The scenery was fantastic, as the sun was playing hide and seek.

I rested here for about half an hour, took some photos. The view of Tamilnadu plains was superb along with the waterfall from a distance though. I paid rs 20 to the house owner (as the track goes through his house, lucky man) and we headed towards Kumily once again.

In the mean time, I told my driver (Shahul) how I could not get into the park today morning, and he said that he will take me to the park (as in the morning, he told me that it would be around 6 pm in the evening when we come back from sight seeing, but we still had some time left, it was 4 pm). To my surprise, he drove straight into the park and the guards did not stop the car (later he told me that he is a local and the forest guards know him very well, good for me).

We reached the lake and I saw a lot of tourists gathered there (one local forest guard told me that the park was only opened in the afternoon), all the boats were standing still (as if mourning the tragedy happened a week ago, 45 people lost their lives here). We saw the boat Jal Kanya, which capsized.

I rested here for half an hour, took some pictures and left for the town and I hit the bar straight away. After a chilled beer, I felt relaxed and now I decided to go for Ayurvedic message. There are lots of message centers on Thekkedy Road and I walked into one (don’t remember the name). They have different rates for different kind of message; I opted for 75 min. message including head message and steam bath.

This was very relaxing and I asked the guy to use hard hands as I was feeling tired, and did so (very hard hands). They use 3-4 different kind of oils (coconut, sandal and etc.). After message, I took steam bath and felt very relaxed. I would certainly recommend this (rs. 750) to everyone who visits Kerala. I headed towards the town once again and saw a cultural center (for some local cultural program, like the famous Kath kali and a martial arts performance (may be Kallaripetty, I don’t remember the exact name). The ticket was for 300 rs. For both the programs. I really enjoyed both the shows and would highly recommend these for anyone visiting Kerala, as these would give you an insight to the local culture and tradition.

After and long and tiring day, I did some shopping (a periyar t-shirt, along with some art pieces made of coconut wood) and had my dinner. I headed straight to the home stay thinking about next day’s plan. I thought long and hard and finally decided that there is nothing more for me to do here next day and decided to proceed to Munnar next morning.
END OF DAY FOUR

To be continued…….

DAY 5 (6th October): Again, I woke up early this morning and packed my bag at around 8.00 am and headed towards the bus station (I confirmed in the evening that bust to Munnar will leave at 9.30 in the morning). I had my breakfast and waited for the bus, it arrived at 9.00 and departure was scheduled for 9.30 (one thing I would like to mention here, that all the bus rides I took in Kerala were in the price range of 30-50 rs and this is very cheap compared to traveling by hired car, just hop into the bus, take a window seat and enjoy the ride). I took the window seat and after 10 min. the bus left for Munnar.
The journey again was beautiful, winding roads, lovely waterfalls on the road and cool weather. The driver was driving as if he was a distant cousin of Michael Schumacher. Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed the 3-4 hours journey and reached Munnar around afternoon.
To my surprise, a cab was waiting to pick me up from the bus station (he told me that he is a friend of the same driver Shahul, who was with me in Thekkedy, and was told to pick me up from bus stand), I realized that since I discussed my plans with Shahul, he must have informed his friend in Munnar.

His name was Ganesh and he was a nice person. I asked him to take me to some good and cheap home stays and we arrived at Sea Grace Cottage (Cochin road, near DTPC office). It was a small home stay with a total of 5-6 rooms. The owner, Mr. Josyboy was very friendly, I saw the room. The rooms were nice and clean, not very spacious though, we agreed on rs. 800 per night. This cottage is in front of West Wood Hotel.

I took a nice shower and had a cup of tea. It was drizzling so I decided to stay in my room for the evening. Then I came down to have a chat with the home stay owner about the places to visit nearby Munnar, to my surprise he was ready with a leaflet containing all the information. Now, there are a lot of places worth visiting nearby Munnar and you can spend at least 2 days easily here (if you have that much time). I zeroed in a package of 2 days, first day starting from Ernakulum National Park and ending at Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and on the second day starting from Flower Garden to Top Station.
Now, came the hard part, the driver was asking for rs. 2200 for 2 days and I certainly was not ready to shell out that much money. So, I decided to confirm the same with some other tour operators in the market. By now, the drizzle had stopped and one of the drivers told me about a small track just behind Hotel West Wood. I packed my bag (water bottle, camera, spare batteries and an umbrella, which was borrowed from the home stay owner) and started the journey.
There is a small bridge just behind West Wood and after that you have to take a left turn, then after a distance of 50 meters, you will see a small track going up into the Tea Estate. I proceeded towards that after walking some distance I found that it was blocked by fences and a small gap was left for a human being to pass. I thought for some time and then I entered into the estate. The track was muddy because of the light rain but I had my tracking shoes with me, so no worries.
This was indeed as wonderful and soul refreshing experience as I saw no human being but only birds, air was refreshing. After walking up the hill for about half an hour and taking photos in between, I decided to return since it was getting dark. I would certainly recommend people staying nearby to go here and enjoy the experience of being alone in the nature.
I decided to walk all the way to the main market (it takes about half an hour from here to main market) and enquired about a good Veg Hotel. After lot of research, I found Hotel Sri Nivas, the food was very good and did not cost a lot (rs. 30-40 for all the dishes). I came here regularly for next 2 days for breakfast and dinner. After having an early dinner, I went to some tour operators and enquired about the 2 day sight seeing package (everybody has the same places on their itenery). The lowest quote I got here was rs. 1600 for 2 days, this sound reasonable to me as I was to occupy the cab for 2 full days and also the distance was reasonable.
I took his number and told him that I would inform him by tonight. Then I called Ganesh (the same person who picked me and was quoting rs. 2200 for this package) and informed him that people are quoting less in the market, on this he agreed on rs. 1600 and the deal was done. We decided to depart at 8 am next morning.
END OF DAY FIVE

To be continued......

DAY 6 (7th October): Next morning, Ganesh was waiting with the cab at 8 am and we left for the first leg of 2day sight seeing trip. First stop was Ernakulum National Park, here entry fee was waived off for 1 one week, I only had to pay rs. 25 for my camera. There are mini buses operated by Ernakulum National Park which would take you inside the park, no private vehicles are allowed inside the park. The 20 min. ride was exciting, if you don’t pay much attention to the noise created by people inside the bus. It dropped us near the park gate and from there it was an uphill walk for half an hour.

The view is fantastic from here; you can see the Annamudi peak (highest peak in South India) very clearly when sun is out. After walking for 20 min I decided to catch my breath and took some photos. You can see the tea plantation all around, very beautiful. I started walking again and as I was about to reach the boundary, I had my first encounter with the endangered Nilgiri Thar (mountain goat). This is a very beautiful creature, a bit shy as expected but gave me plenty of nice pictures for my camera. I had reached the fences and visitors not allowed beyond that so I started walking back. The sun was shining brightly and I had a very good view of the Annamudi Peak.
I reached at the gate and waited for the next bus to arrive so I could go back to my car. We saw a beautiful waterfall on the way (don’t remember the name). I read in all the review that the outskirts of Munnar is worth spending some time, and how true that was! I fell in love with the beautiful weather, lush green tea estates and plenty of small waterfalls.

Next stop was Lakkam Falls; it is on the way to Marayoor. Again, spend some time there taking photos and proceeded towards Marayoor Sandalwood Forest. It is on the way to Chinnar and certainly worth visiting. All the sandalwood trees are inside the fences so you can’t enter but there were a few trees on the road. Sandalwood is certainly very expensive (Govt. controlled rate is rs. 10000 per k.g., that’s expensive!!) and this is the reason the local people are involved in illegal cutting and smuggling of sandalwood, well I’ll keep this story for another day.

After Marayoor, we stopped for lunch at a small roadside Hotel, food was okay. Next destination was Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. I was very eager to go there as I could not visit Periyar. We reached there and I saw 4-5 people sitting in a shed and a tea shop nearby. I went to them and asked the options available to visit the sanctuary, now these people didn’t even understand a single word of English (damn you Kerala Tourism, for god sake it’s a wildlife sanctuary and they should appoint people who can at least understand English).

I had to take help from my driver (who fortunately could communicate a little bit in English) and he told me that there are 2 options available; either I can track up to a Cave or down to Thuvanam waterfalls. I opted for the later and paid rs. 90 and I started the trek along with my guide (these are local tribal people who live in nearby villages).

The guide could not speak English (except for a few words) and didn’t understand any as well. Anyways, he told me that it is a 1.5 hrs track one side and we would be going to the Thuvanam Falls. I was really excited once I was in the jungle (there is always a different feel in the lap of nature). After walking for about 15 min. the guide suddenly made a gesture towards a tree, we stopped and saw a Malabar Giant Squirrel (wow!! It was big), initially it was little hesitant to come out of the tree so we decided to wait there and after 10 min. or so, it finally gave us a good pose (thanks to my ultra zoom camera, I was able to capture it). The guide told me that this is a baby, not adult and I thought how big an adult would be.

We moved on, the track was easy up to now and I had no trouble negotiating (I have done some moderate tracks in the past). The sanctuary was bathed in sunshine and was indeed looking beautiful. Fortunately, not too many visitors come here so you will find nobody to disturb you and nature.

We kept moving at a fast pace (don’t make this mistake, I’ll explain later) and certainly there were lot of evidence indicating towards the presence of elephants and bisons (fresh dung and footmarks near the water sources), I kept taking lot of pictures as were going up and down, deep in the jungle.

You will see some of the very rare and colorful birds, flowers, and butterflies etc., certainly a sight to behold. I was feeling little tired by now and slowed the pace down. The guide was good and he kept up with my pace. Now the terrain was becoming little difficult as we were nearing the waterfall, but the thundering sound of the waterfall kept my excitement levels up.

As we were nearing the waterfall, suddenly the guide gestured me to stop and he was looking for something in the bushes. He screamed Cobra! Cobra! I ran towards him with the camera but alas! It was too quick for me. I did catch a glimpse of it though and it was really long. It disappeared in the bushes quickly.

Now we were almost there, I could feel the moisture in the air. Suddenly we came out of the bushes and here it was, the Thuvanam Falls. It was beautiful as the water was plummeting from almost 40-50 feet (I guess!) and I was the only one to enjoy here. Although I did see some empty water bottles and biscuit packs, which indicates that people do come here once in a while but not today though.

I was very tired by now so I took of my shoes and put the feet into water and sat there for quite some time. The water was very cold but relaxing. The guide disappeared and came back in a few minutes. He signaled me to come near the fall; I put on my shoes and went after him. He said that we could track up to the top of the fall. I was not very enthusiastic though, the track up was very slippery and we had nothing to hold onto (except bushes). We did go half way though, there was a small cave, and this was the last stop as I did not want to go further up. It was damp and moist everywhere. Unfortunately, I forgot my carry bag in the car (water bottle, towel, diary, biscuits etc.) otherwise I would have loved to sit down for some time and pen down the experience then and there.

After spending some quality time, we decided to head back and the journey was tough this time. I was really tired and was worried about my camera (as light drizzle started and I did not have my carry bag with me). I had to stop 2-3 times on the return journey, but it was certainly a wonderful experience. We reached the check post and I had a cup of tea.

We started our drive back to Munnar, stopping in between for taking photos (that’s why I feel it is worth paying money to hire your personal car in this area). We reached Munnar in the evening and I asked the driver to drop me to Residency Bar (only bar in Munnar I guess!). Well, after a hard day the chilled beer was very refreshing. I had early dinner at Hotel SriNivas and decided to walk back to the home stay. I had a nice shower and crashed, that was it for the day.
END OF DAY SIX

To be continued.....

Hi,

Thoroughly wonderful read, Waiting with baited breath for next episode.
Seems like you had a fab time.
Chris

FABULOUS trip report. Thank you so much for sharing the details of your days there! This kind of detail is so informative.
Looking foreward to the next installment...

DAY 7 (8th October): This morning I woke up little late than usual (around 8 am) and as I came down at around 8.45, the car was waiting. We headed towards the market for breakfast and then en route to sight seeing. Today the destination was Top Station and first stop was Flower Garden.

They have a wide variety of flowers (can’t even remember the names), nice place if you wanna try macro photography. Next stop was a crowded view point (I couldn’t understand what was special about the view, as everywhere around Munnar you would get the same view) which gave me opportunity to click a few photos.

Next, was a jungle honeybee tree (a special tree) I guess the honey bee liked it more than me. Madupetty Dam was on the agenda next. My driver parked the car and asked me to go down if I wanted boating. Well, as I am not a great swimmer generally I tend to avoid this (especially if it’s a large dam) but I went down to explore further. There were 2 separate counters and the prize for speed boat was rs. 300 for 15 min ride, looked expensive to me so after some thought I decided to go in the speed boat ride.

I don’t know why they call it a speed boat (may be coz it goes faster than a pedal boat) as the speed was not that great. When I was wearing my life jacket I was hoping for something more fast and furious!! But the best part was when the driver took me to far away to the other side or the dam and I saw a female elephant with a really small baby WOW!!. These were wild elephants (you can recognize them from their color as they are mostly covered in dung and mud and look a lot darker than pet elephants)

We were stationed there for about 10 min and took a lot of photos until another so called sped boat arrived and we moved out of there.

I was excited as these elephants were hardly 10-20 meters away from where the boat was; beautiful animal indeed! I came out of the boat and we headed towards Echo point. There were a lot of tourists here but I enjoyed. We all screamed, whistled and it all came back to us (good fun), and one thing I forgot to mention that I drank lots of coconut water during this trip. We do have the coconut water available in Delhi but the taste was certainly different.

Next stop was another Dam (don’t remember the name) and than we moved towards Top Station. The road was almost non existent for a few meters (the driver told me that this is an area between Kerala and Tamilnadu borders and none of them wants to repair). The view from up here was fantastic. The driver told me that I will have to walk to the view point. I went through a gate, first it looked like a park but I continued and saw some people coming back. There were lot of stalls for tea & coffee, women selling oranges (small but after applying some masala, taste was yum!!) on roadside.

After about 15 min. I reached at the counter and paid rs. 15-20 for entry pass. It was a downhill path from there on and very dangerous. They have put ropes on both sides but the very thought of slipping from there, was indeed scary. I would advise you should only go till the last point if you have insurance, I do have so I went till the last piece of land and view was indeed fantastic from here. You could see the plains of Tamilnadu surrounded by mountains. I sat on a rock and was collecting my thoughts as a short, bearded white guy passed me in a hurry, saying Hello!! , I replied and he went straight down the hill (for one moment I thought he is trying to commit suicide!!) then I gathered some courage and walked to the edge and I saw he was sitting there, down 10-15 paces, right on a cliff and was writing something. I did not had the courage to go down so I came back and sat on the rock again. I was enjoying the calmness, until a group of 4-5 people came shouting and laughing (damn!!) and I decided to walk back.

It was indeed a tiring uphill journey for about 15 min. (as my legs were still feeling the effect of previous day’s heroics) but finally I came back up.

It was afternoon time and I was feeling hungry so slipped into a restaurant (bad idea!!). I went downstairs and there was no one to attend, after 10 min. a guy came and I asked him if they have lunch, he nodded positively. Well, this was the worst food I had in my stay in Kerala. I would have been better of having some veg noodles in a nearby shop. I would suggest you guys should give it a miss (unless you are dying out of hunger).

It was evening time and we headed back towards Munnar. I was feeling very tired after these 2 days and decided not to stop the car to take photos. We reached Munnar and as usual, the driver dropped me to the Bar. Since this was the third day in a row, the bartender recognized me and asked if I would have the same combo (chilled beer and roasted poppads, nice combo!!!!), I nodded positively.

Now had some serious thinking to do, as today as 8th October and my return flight was on 10th October evening from Cochin. I still had a day and half to spend and Munnar was completed today. I brought out my map and started looking at some other places to visit. After 2 beers and 6 poppads, I finalized two places, one was Athirapplly falls and other was Guruvayoor temple. I headed towards Hotel Srinivas for dinner (this was certainly the best vegetarian food I had in Kerala) and then back to the home stay. The home stay owner Mr. Joseboy was reading news paper and I told him about my plans for next day. He had good knowledge about the places and advised me to stay at Chalakudi to cover these two places, as this is right in center of these two. It is a small town after Permbavoor and he advised me to take bus from Munnar to Permbavoor and than to Chalakudi. I was not sure about the bus timings but decided to give it a go next morning. I went up, had a shower and switched on the T.V. There was good show being aired on National Geographic (about bugs found in Brazil and how they can harm you). The funniest part was one spider found in the heart of Rio, if it bites any male he would have an erection lasting quite a few hours (who needs Viagra!!). I switched off the T.V. and went to sleep.

END OF DAY SEVEN

To be continued.....

Thanks alot for the encouragement guyz! I will try and complete this post ASAP. Meanwhile, you can have a look at the pics in following link

http://incredibleindia2manish.shutterfly.com/

Hi,

Anoyher superb read. Extremely helpful as we are going in January
Very grateful for all your hard work.
Chris

Enjoyable write up, lovely photos and superb close ups of elephants and waterfalls. Keep writing !

Lovely write up, so sorry you couldnt make the most of Periyar.

GREAT details!! Interesting Brazilian spider (-;

DAY 8 (9th October): I woke up today a bit early since I had to leave Munnar today and was ready by 8 am. I paid the bill for home stay and cab and left for bus station. I had to catch a bus to Permbavoor but as I found out there was no direct bus for Permbavoor, the ticket collector suggested to go to Kothamangalam and then to Permbavoor. I got myself a ticket to Kothamangalam and jumped quickly to a window seat. As usual, the journey was fantastic (except the fact that the bus was stopping every 10 min to pick up school children), nice waterfalls on the road. As we started to descend the Western Ghats, the temperatures began to soar. We reached Kothamangalam in about 2.30 hours and I was sweating.

It was nearly 11 am as I had a cuppa on the bus station and was waiting for the bus to Permbavoor. I was doubtful now whether I would be able to reach Chalakudi in time for Athirampally falls.

I had to make a decision quickly now on whether to take a cab or continue in the bus, and decided to take a cab from here to Chalakudi. I hired an auto rickshaw and went to the taxi stand. After a lot of bargaining, Rs. 700 was the best prize I could get from them and I was still not convinced. After seeing all this, suddenly the auto rickshaw driver took me aside and asked if I could travel in the auto rickshaw till Chalakudi. In fact, he had some relatives there and he also wanted to visit them. We agreed on Rs. 350 and headed towards Chalakudi. This was the first time I was traveling in auto rickshaw for a long distance, but I would say I enjoyed the ride somewhat. We reached there in about 1.5 hrs. and I asked him to drop me to any lodge.

Chalakudi is a small town situated on Cochin- Calicut highway and I found a lodge cum bar right on the highway, its name was Quality Hotels. They had rooms available and quoted Rs. 800 per night for A/c accommodation. I saw the room, it was big (yes this was the first word that came to my mind big!!), nice and clean. I decided to take the room. (make sure you go for A/c accommodation here as it is very humid)

I put my luggage in a straight away headed out to look for a cab. There is a taxi stand nearby and I told them about my plans, first Athirampally and then Guruvayoor next morning. After negotiating, I decided to book the same cab for both places as the charges for Athirapplly was rs. 600 and for Guruvayoor rs. 800, so I had to pay rs. 1400 for both the places. Although, I was not very happy shedding out that much money (I am never happy doing that!) but since this was my last stay here I decided to take a chance.

I boarded the cab (Indigo it was) and headed towards Athirampally. This waterfall is situated in the Sholayar ranges and again as most part of Kerala, the route was very scenic. Once again, my driver Ravi was not very good with English (what the heck!! I was used to it by now) but a nice person.

There are a lot of rubber and palm oil plantation on the way, lot of small waterfalls as well. I wanted to soak in the atmosphere as much as I could since this was to be my last afternoon here. After some 30 odd km. we reached at the entrance where I paid (rs. 20 or 30, don’t remember exactly but it was including camera). It was a gate pass for two waterfalls, Vazachal and Athirampally. First on the way was Vazachal, it is again very beautiful. Here the water does not fall from a great height like Athirampally, but still very scenic.

After taking some photos, we moved on towards Athirampally. Here you would have to walk some 10-15 min. to reach the waterfall. The sun was out in its full glory and the water plummeted from a great height, wonderful sight to see. However, this place was very crowded as lots of Indian families come here for picnic.

I took some photos and sat there for about half an hour, writing my diary when a monkey came down from the tree to have a look at my belongings (don’t be fooled by their cute looks). Initially, I was not worried but when I saw the whole family looking at me I thought it was time to move out (wise decision!!).

I came out and had some coconut water and we headed towards Chalakudi. I was very quite the whole way but Ravi kept giving me a piece of his mind (in Malayalam!!). I guess I was feeling a bit sad that all the fun will end tomorrow. We reached the hotel and I asked Ravi that we would start at 7 am tomorrow morning to Guruvayoor temple.

I had a nice shower and turned to my best friend (T.V. of course!) for some entertainment. Suddenly, I remembered that this hotel has a bar and I called the reception. A guy came up in about 10 min. with the menu. I had my favorite soft drink (I guess beer would be in the category of soft drink for a man who likes scotch) and ordered some veg snacks (masala Gobhi it was, very nice)

I had a look at all the photos I clicked on my trip and decided to sleep as I had to getup early tomorrow morning.

END OF DAY EIGHT

To Be Continued....

Great Tour report. I am planning to visit either Andaman or kerela this december ( A solo traveller). Your way of shareing the detailed experience is inspiring me to take your route. Please devort some more time for us and complete this serial . And at last pl. mention the total budget required.

KEEP TRAVELLING , SO THAT WE ALL CAN GET SOME IDEAS.

DAY 9 (10th October) : I got up early today and was ready at 7 am and to my surprise I received a call from reception saying that the car has arrived to pick me up.

It was a pleasant morning and the sunrise gave me the chance to click some photos. I kept collecting my thoughts as we were driving on the highway. Guruvayoor is about 50-60 km. from here. First, we reached Thirssur and then headed towards Guruvayoor. Thirssur is a small but happening town as you will find lot of jewellery shops and of course big silk showrooms. We reached Guruvayoor and Ravi parked the car and decided to come with me to show the temple.

I would be honest here that I am not a very religious man, and this temple never featured in my itenery but I guess the all mighty himself wanted me to see the grandeur (who am I to argue with him!!)

We reached the temple and there was long queue for Darshanam, it was really long and bent 3-4 times in between. Upon seeing this, I was not very hopeful if I could get inside. At this time, Ravi stepped in and said that we could go thorough another gate which would get us inside the temple (but not the main temple of Lord Guruvaurappan, what a shame!!). I decided to follow his advice; after all he is the resident expert. I could not go inside with my pant and shirt, so we purchased the traditional dress in rs. 120 (it is basically a 2 mtr. White cloth in place of pants and a very small cloth in place of shirt) but changing in open air was a bit embarrassing. Anyways, I just kept looking towards a wall and changed the clothes. The queue was very small compared to the main temple (I guess people like me) and soon we got in. Ravi took off his shirt and put it on his shoulder (oh! He was already wearing Lungi). He showed me around inside the temple, it was very crowed (when I say crowed, it means absolutely jam packed!) but I was determined to go further.

There are a lot of small temples inside this and I kept bowing in front of every God and Goddess (in hope of getting good promotion and salary hike this year, how greedy of me!!!) to my surprise though, there was another gate inside wherein we could catch the glimpse of the Holy Lord Guruvaurappan. As I was making my wish, I got pushed aside quite quickly by the crowd. I was also determined not to move an inch without making my wish, finally I won.

After taking the Sandal prasadam, we slowly moved out of the temple. Once again I had to change my clothes in open. I have to mention here that Ravi was very helpful indeed. We headed out to search for breakfast and found one veg hotel and had a nice masala dosa and tea. Next destination was another place nearby wherein all the Tuskers of this temple live (60 or 70 maybe).

This place is located about 3-4 km from main temple and I had to pay a small amount for camera fee. I was amazed to see so many elephants in one place. Some of them were taking message, while others were enjoying the bath and scrub.

This was the last place I visited in Kerala. We came out and headed towards the car and I was really feeling sad that I had to leave this beautiful state and go back to work. I asked Ravi if he could drop me to the airport, he asked for rs. 350 and we both agreed. We came back to the hotel; I had a shower and packed my bags. Ravi was waiting at the reception. I paid the bill and we headed towards the airport which is about 30-35 km from here.

FINAL ASSESSMENT:

I would have to say that this was a wonderful experience being in Kerala for 9 days, although I could not bring my family here but that did not dampen my spirits. I always like to travel to different places and this trip will last in my memory for a long time.

TRANSPORT
I want to talk about total expenses here as most people would be interested in that. First, I would say that when you are traveling from one place to another it would be wise to use the local transport. There are a lot of buses for known tourist places and you would end up saving lot of money. I used local transport from Cochin to Allepy (bus takes about 2.5 hrs and about 30- 40 rs.), Allepy to Kottayam (ferry takes 3 hrs and 10 rs.), Kottayam to Thekkedy (bus takes about 3-4 hrs. and 40-50 rs.), Thekkedy to Munnar (bus takes about 3-4 hrs. and 40-50rs.), this is the most enjoyable part of the trip and most of the people would argue to take a cab on this route however I would still go with bus. If you can grab a window seat the ride would be enjoyable and as far as the photo opportunities are concerned, you will have a lot of them in and around Munnar.

FOOD & DRINKS

Since I am a veggie, I can only dwell on this variety of food. There are a lot of good and cheap places to eat veg food in Kerala as I have mentioned in the report as well. If my memory serves me right, I don’t remember paying more than 50 rs. For lunch or dinner whenever I decided to eat outside of the hotel.

The sad part is that you will not find all the liquor brands in Kerala (even after this state has the highest per capita alcohol consumption ratio in India), or may be I went to the wrong places. I would advise to stick with Kingfisher Strong as this is tried and tested and would serve the purpose well.

HOTEL & HOMESTAY

Again this depends on person to person, as I am a guy who is ready to sacrifice little bit of comfort whenever I am traveling outside. My theory is that you will hardly spend time in your room except sleeping. All the places I stayed were nice and clean with hot water and I had no problems at all. Right from Cochin (about 850 rs. Per night for A/c room), Allepy (about 720 rs. Including food, no A/c here but weather was okay), Thekkedy (about 650 rs. Per night without food, A/c is not needed in this part of Kerala), Munnar (800 rs. Per night without food and A/c) and finally Chalakudi was also in the same range.

SIGHTSEEING

This is one part where I don’t like to compromise much. In Munnar area a 2 day sight seeing trip would cost you about rs. 1600 (this would cover the whole Munnar area), in Allepy you can take the country boat ride in the day or canoe ride and both these are not very costly. I did not feel the urge to take the 24 hrs. Cruise as I was staying in a resort situated on the lake. Ernakulum and Fort Cochin can be easily covered via the Ferry (cost 2.5 rs.) and auto rickshaw (about 100-150 rs.). The visit to Guruvayoor temple and Athirampally Falls would cost you about 1400 rs. Which I feel is reasonable considering the distance and time spent at these places. The good part is that if you can get a likeminded person on board with you all these expenses could be split 2 or 3 way between you.

You could figure out the total expenses was roughly about rs. 10000-12000 (except airfare) and I feel that is quite an achievement since I heard in the past that Kerala is very expensive etc. I guess it depends on you how much you can adjust to lower the expenses but I would say that I totally enjoyed and never for one moment felt that I should have stayed in any expensive hotel or resort.

In the end, a special thanks to all the India mike members for their valued inputs that made this trip possible, and for those who took time out to read this report and for their encouraging comments.

Till the next trip, this is Manish signing off.

A Hairless spider, now that is freaky.



vandy