It was a day I returned from my native to Bengaluru after the Ugadi festival celebration, my friend Shiv called me and said macha munnar trip tomorrow! And I was like maga I just reached Bangalore!
My friend vasanth (Maamz) was in Theni (tamilnadu) and he had a guest house in munnar. At first, I was not ok with the schedule, later somehow managed to go. In fact, sudden plans will be the most successful plans. Six of us- Shivshankar (shiv), Jayanth (JBL), Mahantesh (monty), Madhu, Syed and me were ready for the trip. We assembled in Jayanth’s house for so-called ‘planning’, and did nothing except booking Train tickets to Dindigul from Bengaluru for the next day (Too much of planning is injurious to trip).
Next day we all met at the Bengaluru city railway station, we bought snacks and dinner and boarded Tuticorn express around 9 PM. Train Journey was cool as always, with fun-filled conversations. After a 10 hours journey, we got down in Dindigul and went to the city bus stop. We had tea, bought some sweets and boarded a bus to Theni where our friend Vasanth (maamz) was residing. After few minutes we realized that we have missed the sweet box at the shop in bus top. Jay, Syed and me got down and headed back to the bus stop while rest of them continued their journey. We got the sweets back and we then took a bus to Theni.
Funny thing was we three reached Theni early than rest of the guys (thanks to the driver). Vasanth picked us from the Theni bus stop. Then we headed to the coffee estate in his car. We parceled breakfast on our way. It was Ghats section (Series of mountains). The scenery around was a treat for your eyes.
The estate was somewhere in the middle of the hill. We reached the estate but then we had to climb down the hill for a while to reach the estate house. So we took the food parcels and started climbing down. It was like walking through a forest. The ambiance of the place was splendid with a variety of plants and trees. Maamz told us that there are two German shepherds right down there! When we reached there we were just shocked to see the two huge German shepherds.
We had breakfast and thought of being there for a while. Shiv was clicking selfies with German shepherds, Rest were roaming around and were capturing the nature beauty, both in their eyes and camera. We then climbed up and continued our journey towards the guest house.
Late afternoon we reached the guest house. We freshened up and left for an outing in and around the village (Gajanaparai). First thing was to find a hotel as we didn’t have our lunch. We found some Kerala restaurant. Ordered food and waited for years! Everyone were voracious but those people were serving water, onions etc. but not the main dish. Then came the food. The taste wasn’t that commendable. But we were just satisfied. Then we moved on to an Elakki farm (Cardamom). Roamed around for some time.
While coming back to home we stopped at a small river. I was near river and maamz was near the car. He called me there and said ‘maga I have left the car key inside the car and I have locked!’ Then came our engineer Syed. He opened the door with the use of scale! (not professional but he has some experience with his car). He was the hero for a moment, for that moment only. Then again we went back near the river to click few pics.
Then we headed back to the village. Near to the village, there was a tea estate we stopped there and spent some time chit chatting and clicking some pics. Then we had tea and returned to the guest house.
Dinner was chicken which was prepared by the local people near the guest house. Veggies got their food parcel from a hotel. After dinner, we had some fun by playing cards and also Hulivesha (Tiger) dance by our maamz. Then everyone slept as all were tired.
We got up early in the morning and went for a morning walk, it was so cold outside. We returned back and everyone had a hot water bath and groomed up and then left to Munnar top station.
We entered a tea estate zone. It was a great treat for our eyes. This continued for few miles.
We headed to Pallivasal falls. We climbed down and went near the water. I slipped as it was very slippery and somehow managed to escape the fall (Shoki). Otherwise, I would have bathed for a second time on that day. We continued our travel to reach the top station. The weather so cool and the scenery was Awe-inspiring.
We then headed to Mattupetty dam. We went for a speed boat ride. It was an amazing experience. We then had lunch and moved on.
On our way, we stopped at valaparai hills for sight-seeing. We had tea at a shop which few miles from valaparai. Believe me that 2 cups of tea were the best tea I have ever had in my life till date! we then reverted to Theni.
We rested there for some time and then maamz left to Chennai for some work and we guys booked train tickets for the next day from Madurai to Bangalore as our next visit was to Madurai. It was farewell time to our maamz after which We reached Theni bus stop and boarded a bus to Madurai.
Few clicks of Madurai Meenakshi amman Temple.
