“When do we go for a vacation?” – The dreaded annual question had surfaced again. What made it difficult was that the demands of scheduling brought you out of your cocoon of inertia; you get so ensconced with the daily routine that sometimes the great escape doesn’t really seem so alluring. Constraints of the workplace meant that my participation had to be deferred; I had suggested that my parents go ahead with the trip in any case. Since my father is an auditor, his profession provides him with only a very small window in the year to take a break, and my mother being a homemaker (that thankless and draining job with almost no leave) was completely deserving of one. So the date was set for the 8th of June with the location being Munnar. The wisdom of choosing a place that received copious amount of rainfall during this time of year was certainly questioned, but there was no alternative (one of the disadvantages of having to claim holidays in the timeshare model). Luckily my project ended a few days before the D-day, and I was able to join in.
We had arranged for a vehicle by a travel operator who (unsurprisingly) said he’d send a driver who knew the route to Munnar well. These chaps inevitably end up sending a driver, who although at the end of the day will take you to your destination, more often than not takes a circuitous route in the process. The first hint that this was the case was when the driver seemed a bit confused after we asked him to take a diversion from the highway to have breakfast at Dharmapuri. In anticipation of such an eventuality, I had made note of the complete route, using which (coupled with help from the locals of the area) we were able to get back on track fairly quickly – well, almost. Hardly had we gone some distance down the highway, there appeared a signboard; according to my route we had to take a right towards Mettur. But the driver had been asked to take a different route and to confirm this called his owner (the driver who was originally supposed to come but couldn’t as he was unwell). Apparently the Madurai route was shorter; however the Mettur route would be more scenic and thus I didn’t mind the extra kilometres. The driver said we’d take his route to get to Munnar quicker, and come back along the route I had suggested. We accepted the compromise and trundled along the roads of the plains. I say trundled because the vehicle speed was agonizingly slow; while others were hurtling down the highway, our good man refused to go over 80 km/h (if you think that’s fast, you’ve probably never driven on a highway) – he mumbled something about Karnataka vehicles having to go slower in Tamil Nadu, which seemed quite incredible. Anyway, we sputtered our way to the Kodaikanal road (before getting to which visiting the famed Meenakshi temple in Madurai had been considered but was dropped due to time and distance constraints), where upon asking for directions we got lost. A taxi then proffered to show us the right way, and we promptly followed. All the while, our driver kept fretting over not having seen a checkpost, as we needed to obtain a permit before entering Kerala. As it happened, we ended up at a Kerala checkpost without the permit, and the over-anxiousness of the driver (the officer hadn’t yet asked for any documents) resulted in needing to grease the hands of the officials to pass. Anyway, half an hour later we finally reached the resort, Club Mahindra Munnar that is located on a hillock and offered a very good view of the surrounding greenery. However, the first room we were allotted didn’t have a good view, and more importantly, was not easily accessible – one needed to climb/descend several flights of stairs, and since my mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, we asked for a change of room. The new room satisfied both our grouses, and we settled in. Since we reached in the evening, there was little else to do. There was a magic show at the fun and activity centre by a local magician (some of the tricks were very good), following which we had dinner and called it a night.
Day 2: We headed to Eravikulam National Park, home to the largest population of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr. Private vehicles are not allowed – park buses ply to and fro the mountain top. Looking at the queue, I initially thought we’d come a tad late and it would be a long wait. However, the queue moved along quickly and soon we were on a bus. While approaching the entrance to the park there was an object on the road. As we got closer, I could make out it was a Nilgiri Tahr that had settled happily there! That seemed like a good sign of finding more of them. And yes, there were quite a few near the entrance itself – I was able to get some good shots. We walked up the road (that went through the park) a fair distance and then decided to head back. The view from the park was quite good; luckily there weren’t too many clouds obscuring the scenery. While waiting for the bus to go back down, some of the tahrs had come down to the road – apparently the rest of park was too boring! The guard had his hands full chasing them back up the slopes. It was time for lunch by the time we’d come down, and so we headed back to the town centre. Munnar – and Kerala in general with perhaps the exception of the bigger cities – is notoriously bad when having to find a half-decent restaurant, and fortunately while we had been standing in the queue, a man had engaged in some opportunistic marketing; he had handed out business cards of a Marwari restaurant, knowing full well the limited options tourists had in the town. So we decided to head there; the food was quite good. Post lunch it was back to the resort. My mother is an excellent planner – she’d carried along many of the small necessities and items such as disposable cups, plates and spoons, a knife and some methi theplas too (a last fallback option in the worst-case scenario!) – but forgot to remind me to pack the games! We’d decided that with the free time available once we were back in the room, we’d play games such as Scrabble, Monopoly and Uno. Unfortunately I completely forgot to pack these, and now we’d lost a golden opportunity. Though there was carrom and scrabble at the activity centre, nothing beats playing at leisure in the comfort of one’s room. I then decided that we wouldn’t just accept the situation – we’ll make our own game! So I went down to the activity centre where they had internet browsing, and noted down the Scrabble board layout and the tile distributions. My father had some cardboard with him which came in handy for making the tiles. So I made the board while my parents did the tiles (100 squares), and an hour later, we were ready to play! It was better than nothing, and quite good fun!
Day 3: The Club Mahindra resort is claimed to be a 5-star resort; it certainly seems so when one looks at the prices on the restaurant menu. Of course, you can’t make too much out of these things when you’ve decided to come to an expensive resort, but it does seem a bit outrageous and pinches your pockets. Moreover, the buffet generally is a bit too much for us, and so we decided to have some bread (the resort’s grocery store came in handy). Once we had descended to the town, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Top Station (a viewpoint) and Matupetty Dam (which is on the way). It seems our driver had been told (while he was making some enquiries) that we would not be able to do the climb in our vehicle and would need to hire a jeep. Our driver sensed a ploy to make some quick money and after confirming with a couple of local drivers that there was not a steep climb, was confident of making it to the viewpoint. On the way, we visited the Matupetty and Kundala dams. The rains had not yet started in full earnest (and weren’t we glad) so the water level in the reservoirs was a bit on the lower side. At Kundala we spotted some homemade chocolates that looked attractive and so picked up a box. Between the 2 dams, we came across Echo point, which strangely was just a row of shops on either side! We tried to figure it out again on the return journey but to no avail. On the way to Top Station we were suddenly flagged down by a vehicle on the side of the road. We were wondering what it could be about when a person asked us to come quickly as he had spotted a pair of elephants with a calf! We hurried to the spot where there was a small clearing among the trees, and indeed spotted the said elephants. I was able to get a photo just in time before the trio disappeared into the woods. We thanked the person who stopped us for his sharp observation and carried on. The road to Top Station was quite scenic; though when we got there it was initially confusing as the view point was not immediately visible. On walking a small distance, there were some steep steps to be negotiated before getting to the viewpoint. A person returning made a pessimistic observation that my parents wouldn’t be able to handle the steps; we just ignored him and continued. After all, they couldn’t just turn back after having come this far! Besides, my mother had climbed the steps of Tirupathi, so this was no big deal. The viewpoint itself was not the best I’ve seen, but it was still good. We then returned to the town and did some spice shopping before going for lunch, post which we set out in search of spice gardens, where one can see all the spice plants in a natural setting. The road seemed to continue on and on, with the spice garden nowhere in sight. In Kerala, the directions given by the locals need to be taken with a pinch of salt; they will keep motioning that the destination is just a few kilometres further, while in reality it will be several times that. Perhaps they misjudge distances as they walk quite a lot. Anyway, when we finally got to the spice garden a faint drizzle had started. On offer was a guided tour in which 50 plants would be shown – though the entry fee was a bit steep so that only serious enthusiasts (and foreigners!) would evince interest. Since I was not too keen, my parents decided to take a look. My mother already knew many of the plants; but overall it was a decent experience. We then got back to the resort and played a game of our self-made Scrabble!
Day 4: We had picked up a packet of some ready-to-eat MTR upma at the grocery store, so that settled breakfast. We had covered almost all the important places in Munnar, and thus decided to go to Thekkady. This route was fantastic, with lots of winding curves through the lush forests. However, here we endured a small setback in the form of a tyre puncture. It took a while for the driver to get the tyre jack in position, after which it was a routine tyre change. By the time we reached Thekkady, we were quite hungry, and decided to have lunch before entering the Periyar National Park (which is the main place of interest). Finding a decent vegetarian restaurant proved to be quite a task, and finally after going around in circles we managed to find one. This turned out to be a branch of one of 2 Marwari restaurants in Munnar, though the food was just alright. We then entered Periyar, which is also a tiger reserve (the odds of spotting one were sky-high). Given the limited time at our disposal, the easiest way of spotting some wildlife was to take the boat ride, which was for an hour. After having some rather bulky lifejackets thrust upon us, the boat ride commenced. It was a slow and arduous cruise, given the languid pace of the boat. To further compound our misery, it started to rain which scuppered any slim chances we already had of catching a glimpse of the park fauna. We were just lucky to see some deer, a couple of wild boar and some birds. It was quite disappointing but given that the majority of the park is a restricted core area, with a very small buffer zone where tourists are allowed, it was hardly surprising. After that we stopped to get the punctured tyre repaired before setting off to Munnar. At the puncture shop, our driver struck a conversation with some fellow who had setup a business in Bangalore, and thus knew Kannada. He proceeded to suggest some places around Thekkady that were worth a dekko, and also went so far as to recommend that we visit Kovalam beach (which is not really very close by and also would have sent our plans for a toss)! Though we were a bit weary and wanted to get back to the resort before nightfall, our driver seemed to be very keen and enthusiastic about visiting the places his ‘friend’ had suggested. And it ended up becoming a bit of a wild goose chase, searching for a viewpoint that was eventually pointless going to as the cloudy weather afforded zero visibility, and a non-existential waterfall. There were a few frights and anxious moments as we went through a narrow mud road (on account of the morning’s event) but luckily came back alright. A heavy downpour meant that it was time for a cup of tea; a nearby tea shack provided some shelter too. Here we bought a pack of jackfruit chips which was quite delicious. The driver seemed very pleased with our little excursion but was slightly dejected that it was not wholly successful thanks to the elusive waterfall. He seemed very confident of driving back in the fading light (it would be past sunset by the time we would return), and towards the end the conditions were quite treacherous as heavy clouds obscured visibility. Somehow we were able to reach back safely in one piece (we later got to know the reason for our driver’s confidence: he had been along this route to pay the permit at the checkpost we had missed coming into Munnar after dropping us at the resort). What surprised me was how quickly the Kerala taxis were going; they were zipping past us. Perhaps they are so familiar with the roads and conditions that they could afford to do so. Some bread and the theplas constituted our dinner, and we quickly retired.
Day 5: The rain that had started the previous night showed no signs of letting up. Our luck with the monsoon had finally run out I suppose; but fortunately we had covered most of the places by then. We opted to have breakfast in the resort itself, after which we went and played a few games of carrom. The electric buggies that were used to ferry guests between the lobby and the rooms had broken down, so we had to wait for the van instead. That too failed to start so we just walked back to the room, where it was back to a game of Scrabble. The game went on quite well and soon it was time for lunch. We decided to go down to the town, and also have a look at the tea factory there. On the way, there were suddenly hundreds of tiny water streams flowing out over the hillside, thanks to the heavy overnight rain, which made for pleasant viewing. The Periakanal waterfall had also sprung to life; I had read about it being close to the resort and had been wondering where it was. Thanks to the rain, it had come into existence all of a sudden! In the town, we asked the tea sales outlet for directions to the factory. The tea museum housed a mini tea factory, and the process of making tea was explained. It was a very interesting experience. We were also shown a small documentary about the origin of the tea plantations in the Kannan Devan hills (the area around Munnar). After that we headed back to the resort, and made preparations to leave for Bangalore the next morning; our trip had wound to an end.
Day 6: The rain had lashed incessantly now for the past day and a half. Getting into the taxi proved to be difficult and we got a bit wet in the process. But waiting for the rain to stop would have been foolhardy; we would have just been delayed. We bid goodbye to the resort and started the journey back to Bangalore, this time taking the route I had suggested. This route passed through the Marayoor Sandalwood reserve and the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. We soaked in the wonderful scenery, and by the time we passed out of Chinnar, the weather was dry and we were back onto the plains. Here our good man reverted to his old ways; while he drove like a demon on the ghat section roads (which was surprising considering this had been his first time – another startling revelation: the man had never been to Munnar at all!), he was agonizingly slow on the smooth highway. It seemed like it would be forever before we would reach Bangalore. Even my mother, who prefers steady and stable driving, was getting frustrated by the driver’s lazy approach. One good thing was we managed to avoid several of the toll booths that we had encountered while we were going to Munnar. We should have burned rubber on the smooth asphalt; instead we just ended up burning our pockets paying the toll. The only time our good fellow drove a bit quickly was when we got caught in heavy vehicle traffic. He began to overtake aggressively, and this sparked some hope into my speed-starved senses. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a momentary lapse in our driver’s concentration, and he quickly settled into a steady speed once we were done with the traffic. We finally reached Bangalore at around 8 pm. The distance we covered on the return journey was quite similar to the onward one; however we refused to pay for the extra miles done by the driver to obtain the permit; after all, he should have been properly informed about where to go and ended up making a rookie mistake.
That about summed up our trip to Munnar. All in all, it was very enjoyable and we hope to do more such trips in the near future.
The photos are here: Munnar photos