Munnar Travel:Places,Photos,Videos

Munnar

A One Day trip

Participants:

Gaurav Sinha:Writer

Ankita Sinha:Video Editing

Thanks To Karuna Sinha for guest appearance

Thanks To Pritish Shankar Ray for "Hariyali Ki"

How the day went by...

Woke up at 6:30 am. Started at 7:30.

First we went to top station. On our way back covered most of the important places like Echo point(which has got litte echo but the view is superb,by far the most visited tourist place), Kundala lake(not recommended), Mettupetty dam(its better than Kundala lake), Rose Garden(nice collection of flowers and plants) and bypassed some of them like 8th Mile boating point, photo point etc. We were fortunate enough to see the wild elephants taking mudbath on the banks of the Periyar river. Finally, had lunch in Munnar town at 2:15pm where we ordered the famous dish of Kerala,chicken masala and the fried fish.

Now we were confused for where to go as there were so many options. We picked Idduki dam over Eravikulam national park and Rajamalai national park. We were not very keen on going to national parks as on our way back from the top station, we had already encountered wild elephants and we were told by the locals that you wont be finding anything else.

Note : Going to Rajamalai national park in your own vehicle requires permits from forest officials. Also the queue there is said to be very long and we were advised, going there will eat up a lot of our precious time.

Spot Us:Me and Gaurav does a random rock climbing

All over the internet, its mentioned that Idduki dam is 40kms from Munnar. May be because of the wrong route taken by our driver, the milestones on the roadside started with 60kms! We discussed amongst ourselves and came to the conclusion that it is not worth going there which would have taken 5hrs going and coming back. We would have missed out on all the remaining spots in Munnar as well. Our decision was also influenced by the Senthal dam which was about 15kms from where we had started and thankfully came in the way of our not so great idea of going to Idduki dam in such a short span of time. To be honest, we had enough of dams.

Now we were feeling relaxed as we felt we have enough daytime to cover the remaining places near Munnar. First spices park(where the major attraction turned out to be elephants ride), then Pullivasal tea gardens, Pothamedu viewpoint(where the view is not so nice but the nearby rocks are great for amateur rock climbers like us) and finally to the Hydel park, a large park which has got loads of plants and ohhh well,a DAM!

Forgot to add,at Pothamedu viewpoint we were again in a dilemma! To watch the dance and martial arts show or to go to the hydel park. IMO, we made the wrong choice. Afterall, Kerala is famous for its rich culture. Anyway next we stopped at a temple which was nearby KSRTC bus stand, a must visit place if you are going with your elders who usually find the viewpoints,lakes,dams and parks pretty boring. Our next stop was for a thing that the ladies of all the age groups enjoy, a thing all the famous hillstations are known for and the only thing which is common between cities and hills, SHOPPING!

Kerala and Munnar in particular is famous for one more thing, spices. And we bought lots of them. I cant recall their names as my parents were buying them while I was buzy looking for chocolates. What I remember is that they bought green and leaf tea, dried black grapes, walnut(which is comparatively cheaper) and the best of the lot was the herbal hair moisturizer. My dad had a good laugh with the salesperson. We again got lucky as in the very next shop, the price turned out to be 50% higher. My sincere advice would be to go to as many shops as possible and buy accordingly.

It was almost 7 and we headed straight to the forest rest house which was located at about 10kms from Munnar. Everyone was very tired except me. As I switched on the TV, the score reads Nadal3 - Djokovic1. After an hour,the match between Spain and Italy went underway. Like the rest of the day, I was again spoilt for choices but my tiredness took over me and I dived to my bed much much before the completion of either of the clashes.Next morning, got to know Spain drew with Italy and later on Nadal won record 7th french open, and that was exactly what I wanted. I thought what a splendid day it was and headed straight to Kochi.

Summary

What did we learn?

If you are on a tight schedule, start early. I was rather surprised after reaching top station that we were among the first tourists getting there. Munnar sleeps till 9 in the morning and one can take advantage of that.

Plan properly. Personally, I dint like Kundala lake and Mettupetty dam(which are similar to Echo point) and Pothamedu viewpoint. Instead we should have gone to tea factory and cultural show as they offer something different. Also we wasted a lot of time in our failed attempt of going to Idduki dam. We should have done our research beforehand.

Have a nice trip.Thank You