Munnar

After a soulfully invigorating experience at larger than life temples at Srirangam & Madurai our visit to Munnar was like an added benediction to our tired minds and soul. Perhaps the reason why Munnar remains the most sought after destination in Kerala. The drive was nice till we realized that our travel agent had failed to arrange the permit required to cross the border; as a result we had to take a detour and go all the way to Kumali and get the permit.Moral of the story – if you are traveling via road and require crossing state borders then do check on the paperwork required to avoid unnecessary hassles. But then me thinks, any trip is not complete without such surprises and adventures!

You will know you are close to Munnar when you find the road twisting and turning, small waterfalls at various bends,rolling mountains, curtain of mist drawing, fog playfully blocking your view and a chill in the air. Everything was so perfect, so beautiful!!!After Chennai’s heat, experiencing Munnar’s weather was pure blessing. The flora of places in and out of Munnar was amazing; on our way we found so many grape wines, bamboo trees and other plantations. Finally we reached our resort situated at Chinnakanal which is approximately 12kms from Munnar. It was raining heavily when we reached our resort. The cool breeze made our teeth chatter. We settled in our cozy rooms and decided to take it easy on day one by engaging in non adventurous card games and simply having some family time. I got to learn some interesting games that day…good fun :). We also chalked out our plan for the next day.

Though monsoons can add extra beauty to the Munnar greens but if you have plans to explore the place, it can be a dampener. To our disappointment it was raining the next day too, nevertheless,  we decided to visit few places nearby. All through our drive I kept admiring the lush green tea estates. The topiaries were simply stunning; I wondered how it was maintained in such an adept way!!! We visited the famous Mattupetty dam, the lake out there offers its visitors boat rides,thereby enjoying the landscape and the hills from waters. But of course we couldn’t enjoy the boat ride because of rains!  We noticed  fresh and tender carrots nearby which were so enticing that each one of us grabbed one carrot each,; it was delicious 🙂 We proceeded towards Periyakanal water fall which was lovely. We got our cameras busy at this spot.

Thankfully it did not rain the next day, though it was cloudy throughout!! All the ladies in our group planned to go out and have a look at the tea estates and places nearby (and shop of course…, that goes without saying :)) . We visited the Tata tea estates at Periakanal, where they also had their factory outlet from which we picked up tea leaves of various flavors. They also stock organic items like aloe vera gels, shampoos,.. etc. Btw, I found the shampoo quite nice. After lightening up our pockets we headed towards the Chirakal spice garden . The entry and the guided tour together cost 100 INR. The guide was very informative which made the tour quite interesting. We saw cardamom plants, sandal wood tree, which as per the guide was almost 700 years old, and various other plants as well.The guide also told us that how each and every spice is manufactured in different ways. There was also a tree house offering a panoramic view of the complete garden. Without giving  it a second thought we all climbed up and enjoyed the scenic beauty.  We purchased some spices out there too and went back to our resort with heavy bags. At the resort in the evening, we decided to relax and check out the games at the activity centre within the resort. Playing a few games there reminded me of my childhood days when life was such fun!!Next day morning we got up to find clear skies and a few monkeys nearby our room basking in the sun!!It was our day of return. With heavy hearts we packed our bags.  We had planned to trek in Munnar, but that could be done because of rains. But overall the trip was so relaxing that I have already made a mental plan to come back to Munnar – and hopefully the rain god will not follow us then! This is a concluding part of the guest post by Pooja Shri. For the first part of the post click here