It had been a while since I traveled with my parents. I took my 5 day vacation as a chance to compensate for that. The summer was in its peak and I wanted to be at a cool place and decided Munnar as the destination.Arranging accommodation was the first obstacle, Jits pitched in with help and gave a contact at Munnar who would be able to arrange accommodation, he did warn that "The guy is just another travel agent" and to be careful while dealing. Me dad and Mom was not enough fun, roped in 2 of my chotta cousins (one 6 years old and another 8 years old ) and five of us Boarded the early morning train to Ernakulam. reached Ernakulam at around 11-45 and head to the KSRTC Bus stand . Fortunate enough, we got the 12 o clock bus to Munnar. It started raining as soon as the bus started so the journey was cool even though slow. The drive till "Adivaaram" (guess its the valley down hill ) was quite normal . After that the nature of the road and surroundings changed dramatically and temperature dropped . The drive was through dense forest (The cloud cover, lack of light and a bit of mist made it feel more denser) with steep climbing hairpin bends, the dazed views of peaks and depths drove me into a relaxed "enjoy the moment" mood . There was quite a bit of traffic through the road which worried me as we didn't have a confirmed accommodation. By quarter to six we were at Munnar "proper Munnar as the locals say". There were a flood of drivers and "so called' guides surrounding us with offer of accommodation.
we headed straight to a restaurant . the only decent looking restaurant i could see was Saravana Bhavan and we went in even though there was a huge crowd. I used the one rupee coin booth to ring the number Jits had given for the accommodation stuff. The phone was cut and the the guy i was looking for was in front of me . I couldnt help but remember Jits Words "Just another Travel Agent" but i had no option but to follow his path. As soon as we finished our tea (or was it Lunch) we were taken in an indica to the place where we was to spent our nite. On the way he explained about how difficult it was to get accommodation as it was tourist season.
In 5 minutes we reached, it was one of those quarters for the TATA tea staff , quite an old fashioned one .The instance we saw it My Dad (and me) was not happy about it and told we don't want it. On compulsion we went inside to have a look well, it was clean and spacious and didn't seem that bad. Finally, we agreed to stay and the taxi guy left his number with me for the site seeing next morning.
A while later we went for a walk to the town to have dinner and have a look around.
The town was quite old fashioned with a lot of stores selling tea and spices(to trick the foreigners), we made a couple of phone calls . Dad was happy when he figured out a Gujarati Restaurant and decided Gujarati cuisine for dinner. The cold weather was definitely an appetizer in itself and the taste didn't matter. Well, I should admit it was a "no danger dinner" to have, especially when you are on tour :). After dinner i checked out a few hotels for rooms ( just in case they had one ) but had to return disappointed :( .
The walk back to the Quarters was an experience, It was dark and we could hardly see the road except when a vehicle passed by occasionally (mind you, it was a 2 km walk up the slope), It was getting colder (much colder than it was when we walked to the town). I could almost feel the nature around, at times you hear the sound of a frothing stream running down hill. I had a vague memory of the beautiful view of distant tea gardens when we climbed up the hill in the Indica. I was more worried about the accommodation then, to enjoy the scenic beauty. But as i walked, I could almost imagine (or feel rather) the distant tea gardens. My Mom was sad she didn't carry a blanket, because we never thought it would be that cold, or may be it was the sudden summer rain down the valley that caused the sudden dip in temperature, how would i know. Back in the room we had a bit of chit chat and decided to sleep . I could hardly sleep and then i heard my mom complain about the water, yes the water was muddy and then i decided we leave Munnar the next evening after site seeing and stay at Ernakulam the next nite (The initial plan was to stay 2 nights at Munnar and leave early morning on the second day). I remember staying awake for a long time that night hearing the crickets and the sound vehicles which passed by occassionally.
Next morning i woke up early and opened the doors of the quarters for a site I believe will not forget for a long time , a big cloud of thin mist moving across the distant green tea gardens in the morning breeze. I couldn't stop myself from trying to capture the image in spite of enough knowledge to know that my camera isn't a wide angled one and its very bad in capturing depths.
A quick round of freshening up in the muddy water and we were ready for site seeing. Imade a quick walk to the nearest telephone both (almost near to the town) and called up the number of the taxi guy. He turned up immediately. The breakfast was quick and then we set off to the Rajamalai (Eravikulam National park) . The Indica was allowed only till the entrance and then we were taken in a mini bus to the top and all we saw there was the Nilgiri Tahr(varayaadu). The animal was known for the pace with which it climbs the rocky terrains sometimes even generating sparks in the process which triggers forest fires. We walked a long distance up hill and then retreated, back to the minibus which took as down hill to the place we boarded it. freshly plucked carrot which were put on sale caught my eye and i bought it. The next destination were all view points, which presented different views of the montains tea gardens and the valley and a lake too , the most popular locations for movie etc . A relaxed lunch, a drive through Matupetty dam a walk through a garden (cant remember the name) . Then we headed for the last spot called Top station .
There was a rock climbing camp sort of thing there, spent a bit of time watching it and then I stood there watching the nature around . Mist was slowly rising and as i stood there sipping a hot cup of tea the mist cloud covered us and it was still rising . The driver warned we have to hurry , for the visibility was not getting any better and the bus to Ernakulam would leave in an hour. Back to the Munnar town, paid the Taxi driver, our bus arrived. Before boarding the bus , Driver reminded me to contact him if i come to Munnar again ... he didnt forget to add "anything can be arranged :-)" . In the bus as we were seated i overheard a girl talking to her relative (valyamma, as i understood) back home . She just said there was nothing much to see, but Munnar was "pleasant and cool" ....
The drive down hill was faster, so was the temperature climb and so was the life around, By 11:00 when we reached Ernakulam, Munnar looked a thing of distant past..
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