Glimpse of what we saw...
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 :
There is chill in the air... mom-dad are awake to see us off..
Cab walla calls at 3.30am to get the exact address.. he reaches our place at 3.50am.. I ask him to wait till we get ready and go our final final checks..
mobile? chargers? cameras? all set !
We reach the airport in no time.. its just 4.20am..
We are greeted at the airport by a HUGE queue at the Jetairways counter to checkin our luggage..
I wait impatiently as our queue struggles to move ahead.. Add to that there are people cutting in the Q and the uncle in front of me looses his patience before me..
he says : bhiasaab line peeche hai..
that gives me some calmness...
Its 4.45am and we are still in the Q.. no headway...
they have 3 flights scheduled around 5.30am and only 4 counters open for checkin.. Jet seriously needs to understand people management..
There is a Kesari Tours going somewhere.. there are 23 of them ahead of us
i keep waiting impatiently.. I hope they call for people flying to Kochi and i get ahead of the line..
There comes a call "People going to Rajkot, please report to counter 41".. damn it !
Finally at around 5.00am, we get a call "People going to Kochi, please report to counter 41".. I raise both my hands.. wave them frantically.. to my comfort only 3 more passengers raise their hand.. *sigh* the Kesari tour group is not on the same flight..
I go to the counter 41.. the guy there seems lost .. he is helping the earlier passenger with his alcohol bottles..
"No sir, you cant take them in the cabin luggage"
Passenger " but i was told by your customer care, i can"
"No sir, you cant"
Finally he attends to me.. I just give him the print of my ticket.. i keep the ID cards ready.. he doesnt check anything.. I remind him 3 times of tagging my luggage "Fragile" .. finally he does..
We take our boarding passes.. and move in the Q for security check.. its already 5.10am..
One more jet airways staff comes in and asks for people departing to Kochi.. I again wave frantically..
he says " Sir, not here please move to the first floor"..
We start running towards the escalator.. I take the stairs.. wife takes the escalator..
I run to the top and wait for her to arrive
No Q at the security check.. *siiigggggggghhhh* the biggest of them all..
We seat ourselves near the gate.. people are moving in, so I wait for the Q to get over..
I relieve myself of the natures call.. drink some water and am back to the seat.. now its wifes turn..
Till she comes back i take out my camera to click a photo...
Suddenly i hear an announcement... Seems its for me
Staff : "This is the final call for Mr. Vaibhav Gokhale and Mrs. Gokhale".. She is not in sight..
I take all the 3 bags.. 2 mine and 1 hers to the staff standing there..
Me : " I am vaibhav and my wifes gone to the loo"..
Staff : "Sir the Gates are closed"...
I keep turning back to see if she is there yet.. i still dont see her..
Me : "You just gave the final call..how can the gates close immediately, give me 2 mins, my wife will be on her way"..
Staff : "No sir, but the gates are closed"..
Me : "2 mins, please".. and I see her running.. she would have beaten even PT Usha, had she been there...
The staff calls someone on the walky-talky and tells that the last 2 passengers are there..
One of them escorts us downstairs to the airport gate where the last bus is standing with the remaining passengers.. we board the bus and we are off to the flight..
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 : continued...
We land at the kochi airport on time..
We search for the driver (Alex) in the arrival lounge but cant find him.. decide to call him and he says "saar, standing out saar"
I am like, OK, i will search for you..
I get out of the terminal, and find my name on a piece of paper being held by the driver.. and i get the first glimpse of kerala.. he is wearing a white shirt and a green lungi.. !
we exchange a few words.. and are off to the indica standing in the parking lot..
make ourselves comfortable in the car and we are off to Alleppy...
Our first stop is at a udipi hotel for breakfast..after an OK idli wada sambar and a good cup of coffee we are off again..
Sightseeing on the way we stop at the Kerala Folklore Museum.. It was a rip-off..
Entry ticket
250/- per head and camera 100/-
anyways we are in..
this is what we see inside..
looking back, i think we could have easily skipped that one...
anyways back on the highway and zooming into Alleppy... the roads are wide and great..
We encounter only ONE toll booth in all the 5 days that we travelled, and that was between Kochi and Alleppy..
We reach Alleppy at around 11.30am.. We are greeted by the houseboat owner and taken to the houseboat.. Calls his guy to take the luggage to the houseboat..
I tip the guy20 thinking, he might just be working for the owner... turns out he was the Captain of the houseboat
Its 12pm and We are on the backwaters.............
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 : continued...
a few more clicks..
Life on the BackWaters...
thats the life on the sidelines of the backwaters..
Finally we stopped for Lunch at around 1pm and that was a good 1 hour break for us as well as the captain and the cook..
I was actually bored by now.. there is nothing to see except the rice fields/people on either side of the water..
Then again, we were on the waters for nearly 3 hours, before we anchored near one of the villages from where the guys source electricity for the ACs to work..
Here we decided to take a small boat ride to the bylanes, where the biggers house boats dont venture.. that was again a very good break..
The sun was about to set and we saw this...
We got off the boat ride in front of a Temple of Local Swamiji... Sorry i forgot the name..
the whole temple as lit using lamps and it was a really really awesome sight !
I could not do justice to what i saw.. dearly missed my tripod
As we were about to leave the temple, people over there suggested we visit one more temple behind.. the Durga mata's temple.. it was a good walk of around 500mts with water on both sides.. We did not carry a torch with us, so we were left with my camera light to show us the way..
As we reached the Durga temple, it was even more serene and beautiful..the whole temple was lit with the lamps and it was just WoW !
As i tried to get in the temple, the guys standing there stopped me.. but they let my wife go in.. no hindi/no english that was the problem..
I thought, guys were not allowed inside the temple.. so decided to wait outside..
but then, there was this another couple whom they allowed to go inside, but made the guy to take out his shirt..
I was wearing a black t-shirt, so i thought might be its black so i am not allowed in..
meanwhile, i stand at the gate of the temple, another guys comes and asks me..
"from where"
me - mumbai/bombay..
"come with me, rounding?" he said..
i was like, ok lets go
he took me around the temple, and showed me other smallers temples around the main Durga temple..
meanwhile, the Puja at the main temple was done and everybody assembled at the smaller temple of Balaji(not sure though)..
Then the guy accompanied me to the main gate of the temple.. took me infront of the Durga temple and said..
"click photo"..
i was like "uhh?"..
"click, i give authority"..
then he pointed to the Dan-Peti just outside the temple.. I started putting in money.. he said "half you, half madam"
that was so nice of him.. I was just blessed to have him around..
We came back to the houseboat.. had dinner and slept off..
Day 1 : December 20th 2011 : Alleppy to Thekkady...
Got up at around 7am and just slid the curtains.. amazing sight again..
We started back to the Alleppy village by 8.. Had breakfast on the boat itself..reached by 9am..
Some local MLA owns this...
Alex was waiting for us to drive us to Thekkady..
First stop of the day was at the Allapuzha beach.. it was serene.. no crowd and beautiful blue water was making it more adorable..
Alleppy to Thekkady is a distance of nearly 100kms and its pure Ghat.. nothing but Ghat.. But the roads are in great condition.. I was dearly missing my bike to ride on the curves.. We dint stop much..
Saw the rubber plantations and pineapple plantations on the way...
Thekkady was calling
Reached thekkady around 3.30pm... I was asked if I have a reservation .. and then this happened..
they were standing with a thali and garland to welcome us what a welcome..
We were made to sit and filled some forms.. given a brief about the Greenwoods property and activities around..
We knew this was an awesome place to be..
check in the rooms .. go through one door and we are at the private balcony... then the next door, where there was a storage area..
again a door and we were in the main room..
We had already booked ourselves with the tickets for Kathakkali show and the Kalari show which would be from 5-6 and 6-7 at the same venue..
Also got an appointment for body massage
Unfortunately i got a 3rd row seat for Kathakkali...and this guy in front of me was also photographing.. so he was continuously blocking my view.. telling him not to keep moving, i got caught in his Wife's ire.. darn i was like, madam i am talking with him not you
Finally got some shots as he settled down..
I takes nearly 2-3 hours for the artists to get ready for the show..
one of them dons the costume in front of the audience..
those are gunny bags around his waste..
he was the "She" of the play..
showed us the different expression as well as hand signs/gestures called mudras used in the play...
thats the flower and a bee is hovering around ..
there were some 24 hand gestures, but i could catch only 8..
The main play started around 5.30 and was for about 30 minutes more..
From here we moved on to the Kalari show..
they were too fast and the light was too low even for my 35mm
this is all i could get from there..
From here, we went to the Ayurvedic massage centre and got ourselves a good much needed massage.. wont get into details there
back to the hotel.. had food and slept.. i booked ourselves a jeep tour of the area for the next day morning at 8....
Day 2 : December 21st 2011 : Around Thekkady ...
Day started with us waking up a bit late than expected.. We had thought of getting up early and going around the town so that we could also take the Periyar boat safari..
but the day started at 9am with the Jeep tour of Thekkady.. We paid extra 2k here for the Jeep tour as this was not included in the sightseeing i had confirmed with the travel agent ..
Our driver was a very very nice guy... The first destination for the day was the Camel Head..
Its a hill top view around 3000ft above sea level.. we can see the periyar lake but the fog/smog wasnt helping at all..
some homestays and resorts.. the road is the munnar road..
Spent about 45 mins here and started for the next destination... it was the Old Syrian Church right in the middle of Thekkday..
Then we visited the Tamilnadu border.. nothing much to see there apart from a small waterfall on one side..
this was clicked using my goggle as a filter
Next on the plate was the Spice garden .. There are a lot of spice gardens around the town.. We were at the drivers mercy
few clicks from there..
saw this weird spider.. would appreciate if someone would id this..
I got bored of any more clicking
next destination was Vanya... Its a tree house that Greenwoods has built near the Periyar sanctuary border in dense forest..
The location is beautiful, it takes around 30 minutes to walk upto the treehouse.. but the charges are exhorbitant.. It costs nearly 20k for a night..
We start the walk..
And I am greeted by this beauty.. I was already contented couldnt ask for mroe..
thats the tree house..
just a record shot.. it was just too far.. and is cropped a lot !
We came back to the hotel around 5 .. I went to the garden for some more timepaas while wife took some rest..
thats the coffee house inside the hotel premise..
it was getting dark.. so went back to the room..
Got a call from reception asking me what time would i be going to dinner..
i was like sometime around 9pm..
reception: so i will book the table for two for 9pm.. i said ok..
i called back to change the time to 9.30 as we were not that hungry..
reception : ok sir, no problem.. but sure 9.30, right?
me : yes, thanks !
*thinking to myself, what makes them book a table today.. they did not do that yesterday*...
again a call at 8.45.. sir, we have booked a table for you for dinner at 9.30..
I was like, ok ok i will be there..
but then, we keep watching TV and its already 9.45
We quickly go down for dinner..
With the dinner on.. the reception guys come to me and says..
"sir, can i have the room keys.. we need to change something.."
me : .. ok here you go...
done with the dinner and we are about to leave.. the waiter says "sir, can you please wait for 5 minutes? "..
I thought, since its checkout tomorrow, they might be getting the dues cleared..
but then the BEST and the AWESOMEST surprise awaited us..
they switched off the lights and out came a cake.. It was Our Wedding Anniversary.. and the cake was courtesy some friends in Mumbai..
Ohhhh.... Myy..... God !!!!!
I was the best time we had.. all the waiters came together and wished us..
we move to the room after cake cutting and eating..
this is what awaited us there..
the best day of my life......... i still get goosebums as i write it down...
what a day... what a day !!!
Day 3 : December 22th 2011 : Thekkady to Munnar
With heavy hearts it was time to bid goodbye to Thekkady.. the place we celebrated our first anniversary.. the place we got to interact with such good people.. the place which surprised us and gave us memories for the rest of our lives..
Before even we checkout I grabbed the opportunity to click some more from the surrounding area.. I asked Wife to come directly to the breakfast area while I click in the garden..
We checkout of the place at around 9am when our driver asked us if we would like to try Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, boat safari.. I jumped up and said yes yes...
We need to walk around 500mts or even more to reach the ticketing counter.. there are no proper directions but we reached there not before a bit of birding and monkeying..
Its Chaos at the ticketing counter there.. The boat ride starts at 10.30am and we reached there at around 10am..
You need to write down your details on a form which then needs to be submitted at the counter..
The staff there is not really efficient in using computer.. He took a while to punch in the forms already infront of him..
Finally at 10.25 I got the last 2 tickets of the boat ride.. *sigh*..
We hopped on the boat and were asked to be seated in the 2nd and 3rd row.. the boat was absolutely full..
Finally the journey started on the waters..
Its a nearly 90% crop.. was just too far..
You wont be disappointed with Periyar.. If you dont find anything, you are bound to find these for sure
I was not satisfied, but then thats a gamble in safaris... We came out of the safari by around 11am and were on the way out, when we saw this..
I was as usual searching for some movement on the branches for birding and i saw something black on one of the branches.. it was a malabar squirrel..
With that done.. we were on our way on the magnificient ghat between Thekkady and Munnar.. its around 140 odd kms of twisties..
Stopped at the Anayirangal Dam for some snaps..
some vistas on the way to Munnar..
We reached KTDC Tea county around 5pm.. There was no Welcome at the 4* hotel like we had at Thekkady.. No one even smiled ..
Even the room felt disappointing after the stay at Greenwoods..
Day 4 : December 22th 2011 : Around Munnar
This would be the last day that we would be in Kerala.. Tomorrow evening we have a flight to catch at 4.30 for Mumbai..
Day started with me going around the KTDC clicking..
Next on the cards was India's highest National Park.. the Eravikulam National park.
As we enter the ticket counter we see huge rush for the tickets.. It works like this.. The govt bus takes you to the entrance of the park which is a good 5kms away from the ticketing counter and the parking lot..
We stand in the Q for around an hour before we are checked for plastics and let in the bus..
Being India's Highest NP, the views are bearthtaking..but the main attraction remain the Mountain goat..
thats what she was clicking...
We thought it would be difficult to sight the goat.. but there it was, right in front of the bus as we got down to enter the park..
the views..
Nothing much to do other than walking till the top, we saw this pretty little birdie..
and again back to the views..
thats the point where the park ends..
We spent a good hour and a half walking up and down the park soaking in the beautiful weather..
It was lunch time by then and today we wanted to have the "authentic" keralite thali.. and there is it It was AWESOME !
Next we visited the Flower garden nearby..
The so called Photo point of Munnar...
As the evening started to set we reached the Mattupatty Dam..
and that was the End of the sightseeing.. Next day we visited a KDHP Tea Factory and saw how tea is made and left the Gods Own Country with beautiful memories to cherish..
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 :
There is chill in the air... mom-dad are awake to see us off..
Cab walla calls at 3.30am to get the exact address.. he reaches our place at 3.50am.. I ask him to wait till we get ready and go our final final checks..
mobile? chargers? cameras? all set !
We reach the airport in no time.. its just 4.20am..
We are greeted at the airport by a HUGE queue at the Jetairways counter to checkin our luggage..
I wait impatiently as our queue struggles to move ahead.. Add to that there are people cutting in the Q and the uncle in front of me looses his patience before me..
he says : bhiasaab line peeche hai..
that gives me some calmness...
Its 4.45am and we are still in the Q.. no headway...
they have 3 flights scheduled around 5.30am and only 4 counters open for checkin.. Jet seriously needs to understand people management..
There is a Kesari Tours going somewhere.. there are 23 of them ahead of us
i keep waiting impatiently.. I hope they call for people flying to Kochi and i get ahead of the line..There comes a call "People going to Rajkot, please report to counter 41".. damn it !
Finally at around 5.00am, we get a call "People going to Kochi, please report to counter 41".. I raise both my hands.. wave them frantically.. to my comfort only 3 more passengers raise their hand.. *sigh* the Kesari tour group is not on the same flight..
I go to the counter 41.. the guy there seems lost .. he is helping the earlier passenger with his alcohol bottles..
"No sir, you cant take them in the cabin luggage"
Passenger " but i was told by your customer care, i can"
"No sir, you cant"
Finally he attends to me.. I just give him the print of my ticket.. i keep the ID cards ready.. he doesnt check anything.. I remind him 3 times of tagging my luggage "Fragile" .. finally he does..
We take our boarding passes.. and move in the Q for security check.. its already 5.10am..
One more jet airways staff comes in and asks for people departing to Kochi.. I again wave frantically..
he says " Sir, not here please move to the first floor"..
We start running towards the escalator.. I take the stairs.. wife takes the escalator..
I run to the top and wait for her to arrive
No Q at the security check.. *siiigggggggghhhh* the biggest of them all..
We seat ourselves near the gate.. people are moving in, so I wait for the Q to get over..
I relieve myself of the natures call.. drink some water and am back to the seat.. now its wifes turn..
Till she comes back i take out my camera to click a photo...
Suddenly i hear an announcement... Seems its for me
Staff : "This is the final call for Mr. Vaibhav Gokhale and Mrs. Gokhale".. She is not in sight..
I take all the 3 bags.. 2 mine and 1 hers to the staff standing there..
Me : " I am vaibhav and my wifes gone to the loo"..
Staff : "Sir the Gates are closed"...
I keep turning back to see if she is there yet.. i still dont see her..
Me : "You just gave the final call..how can the gates close immediately, give me 2 mins, my wife will be on her way"..
Staff : "No sir, but the gates are closed"..
Me : "2 mins, please".. and I see her running.. she would have beaten even PT Usha, had she been there...
The staff calls someone on the walky-talky and tells that the last 2 passengers are there..
One of them escorts us downstairs to the airport gate where the last bus is standing with the remaining passengers.. we board the bus and we are off to the flight..
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 : continued...
We land at the kochi airport on time..
We search for the driver (Alex) in the arrival lounge but cant find him.. decide to call him and he says "saar, standing out saar"
I am like, OK, i will search for you..
I get out of the terminal, and find my name on a piece of paper being held by the driver.. and i get the first glimpse of kerala.. he is wearing a white shirt and a green lungi.. !
we exchange a few words.. and are off to the indica standing in the parking lot..
make ourselves comfortable in the car and we are off to Alleppy...
Our first stop is at a udipi hotel for breakfast..after an OK idli wada sambar and a good cup of coffee we are off again..
Sightseeing on the way we stop at the Kerala Folklore Museum.. It was a rip-off..
Entry ticket
250/- per head and camera 100/- anyways we are in..this is what we see inside..
looking back, i think we could have easily skipped that one...
anyways back on the highway and zooming into Alleppy... the roads are wide and great..
We encounter only ONE toll booth in all the 5 days that we travelled, and that was between Kochi and Alleppy..
We reach Alleppy at around 11.30am.. We are greeted by the houseboat owner and taken to the houseboat.. Calls his guy to take the luggage to the houseboat..
I tip the guy
20 thinking, he might just be working for the owner... turns out he was the Captain of the houseboat Its 12pm and We are on the backwaters.............
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 : continued...
Its 12pm and We are on the backwaters... We will be on the houseboat for the next 18 hours..
We start our journey on the backwaters of Alleppy..
The views..
Some other houseboat overtaking us..
Tried postcard processing..
Avian life on the backwaters..
Its 12pm and We are on the backwaters... We will be on the houseboat for the next 18 hours..
We start our journey on the backwaters of Alleppy..
The views..
Some other houseboat overtaking us..
Tried postcard processing..
Avian life on the backwaters..
Day 0 : December 19th 2011 : continued...
a few more clicks..
Life on the BackWaters...
thats the life on the sidelines of the backwaters..
Finally we stopped for Lunch at around 1pm and that was a good 1 hour break for us as well as the captain and the cook..
I was actually bored by now.. there is nothing to see except the rice fields/people on either side of the water..
Then again, we were on the waters for nearly 3 hours, before we anchored near one of the villages from where the guys source electricity for the ACs to work..
Here we decided to take a small boat ride to the bylanes, where the biggers house boats dont venture.. that was again a very good break..
The sun was about to set and we saw this...
We got off the boat ride in front of a Temple of Local Swamiji... Sorry i forgot the name..
the whole temple as lit using lamps and it was a really really awesome sight !
I could not do justice to what i saw.. dearly missed my tripod
As we were about to leave the temple, people over there suggested we visit one more temple behind.. the Durga mata's temple.. it was a good walk of around 500mts with water on both sides.. We did not carry a torch with us, so we were left with my camera light to show us the way..
As we reached the Durga temple, it was even more serene and beautiful..the whole temple was lit with the lamps and it was just WoW !
As i tried to get in the temple, the guys standing there stopped me.. but they let my wife go in.. no hindi/no english that was the problem..
I thought, guys were not allowed inside the temple.. so decided to wait outside..
but then, there was this another couple whom they allowed to go inside, but made the guy to take out his shirt..
I was wearing a black t-shirt, so i thought might be its black so i am not allowed in..
meanwhile, i stand at the gate of the temple, another guys comes and asks me..
"from where"
me - mumbai/bombay..
"come with me, rounding?" he said..
i was like, ok lets go
he took me around the temple, and showed me other smallers temples around the main Durga temple..
meanwhile, the Puja at the main temple was done and everybody assembled at the smaller temple of Balaji(not sure though)..
Then the guy accompanied me to the main gate of the temple.. took me infront of the Durga temple and said..
"click photo"..
i was like "uhh?"..
"click, i give authority"..
then he pointed to the Dan-Peti just outside the temple.. I started putting in money.. he said "half you, half madam"
that was so nice of him.. I was just blessed to have him around..
We came back to the houseboat.. had dinner and slept off..
Day 1 : December 20th 2011 : Alleppy to Thekkady...
Got up at around 7am and just slid the curtains.. amazing sight again..
We started back to the Alleppy village by 8.. Had breakfast on the boat itself..reached by 9am..
Some local MLA owns this...
Alex was waiting for us to drive us to Thekkady..
First stop of the day was at the Allapuzha beach.. it was serene.. no crowd and beautiful blue water was making it more adorable..
Alleppy to Thekkady is a distance of nearly 100kms and its pure Ghat.. nothing but Ghat.. But the roads are in great condition.. I was dearly missing my bike to ride on the curves.. We dint stop much..
Saw the rubber plantations and pineapple plantations on the way...
Thekkady was calling
Reached thekkady around 3.30pm... I was asked if I have a reservation .. and then this happened..
they were standing with a thali and garland to welcome us
what a welcome..We were made to sit and filled some forms.. given a brief about the Greenwoods property and activities around..
We knew this was an awesome place to be..
check in the rooms .. go through one door and we are at the private balcony... then the next door, where there was a storage area..
again a door and we were in the main room..
We had already booked ourselves with the tickets for Kathakkali show and the Kalari show which would be from 5-6 and 6-7 at the same venue..
Also got an appointment for body massage
Unfortunately i got a 3rd row seat for Kathakkali...and this guy in front of me was also photographing.. so he was continuously blocking my view.. telling him not to keep moving, i got caught in his Wife's ire.. darn i was like, madam i am talking with him not you
Finally got some shots as he settled down..
I takes nearly 2-3 hours for the artists to get ready for the show..
one of them dons the costume in front of the audience..
those are gunny bags around his waste..
he was the "She" of the play..
showed us the different expression as well as hand signs/gestures called mudras used in the play...
thats the flower and a bee is hovering around ..
there were some 24 hand gestures, but i could catch only 8..
The main play started around 5.30 and was for about 30 minutes more..
From here we moved on to the Kalari show..
they were too fast and the light was too low even for my 35mm
this is all i could get from there..
From here, we went to the Ayurvedic massage centre and got ourselves a good much needed massage.. wont get into details there
back to the hotel.. had food and slept.. i booked ourselves a jeep tour of the area for the next day morning at 8....
Day 2 : December 21st 2011 : Around Thekkady ...
Day started with us waking up a bit late than expected.. We had thought of getting up early and going around the town so that we could also take the Periyar boat safari..
but the day started at 9am with the Jeep tour of Thekkady.. We paid extra 2k here for the Jeep tour as this was not included in the sightseeing i had confirmed with the travel agent ..
Our driver was a very very nice guy... The first destination for the day was the Camel Head..
Its a hill top view around 3000ft above sea level.. we can see the periyar lake but the fog/smog wasnt helping at all..
some homestays and resorts.. the road is the munnar road..
Spent about 45 mins here and started for the next destination... it was the Old Syrian Church right in the middle of Thekkday..
Then we visited the Tamilnadu border.. nothing much to see there apart from a small waterfall on one side..
this was clicked using my goggle as a filter
Next on the plate was the Spice garden .. There are a lot of spice gardens around the town.. We were at the drivers mercy
few clicks from there..
saw this weird spider.. would appreciate if someone would id this..
I got bored of any more clicking
next destination was Vanya... Its a tree house that Greenwoods has built near the Periyar sanctuary border in dense forest..
The location is beautiful, it takes around 30 minutes to walk upto the treehouse.. but the charges are exhorbitant.. It costs nearly 20k for a night..
We start the walk..
And I am greeted by this beauty.. I was already contented
couldnt ask for mroe..thats the tree house..
just a record shot.. it was just too far.. and is cropped a lot !
We came back to the hotel around 5 .. I went to the garden for some more timepaas while wife took some rest..
thats the coffee house inside the hotel premise..
it was getting dark.. so went back to the room..
Got a call from reception asking me what time would i be going to dinner..
i was like sometime around 9pm..reception: so i will book the table for two for 9pm.. i said ok..
i called back to change the time to 9.30 as we were not that hungry..
reception : ok sir, no problem.. but sure 9.30, right?
me : yes, thanks !
*thinking to myself, what makes them book a table today.. they did not do that yesterday*...
again a call at 8.45.. sir, we have booked a table for you for dinner at 9.30..
I was like, ok ok i will be there..
but then, we keep watching TV and its already 9.45
We quickly go down for dinner..
With the dinner on.. the reception guys come to me and says..
"sir, can i have the room keys.. we need to change something.."
me :
.. ok here you go...done with the dinner and we are about to leave.. the waiter says "sir, can you please wait for 5 minutes? "..
I thought, since its checkout tomorrow, they might be getting the dues cleared..
but then the BEST and the AWESOMEST surprise awaited us..
they switched off the lights and out came a cake.. It was Our Wedding Anniversary.. and the cake was courtesy some friends in Mumbai..
Ohhhh.... Myy..... God !!!!!
I was the best time we had.. all the waiters came together and wished us..
we move to the room after cake cutting and eating..
this is what awaited us there..
the best day of my life......... i still get goosebums as i write it down...
what a day... what a day !!!
Day 3 : December 22th 2011 : Thekkady to Munnar
With heavy hearts it was time to bid goodbye to Thekkady.. the place we celebrated our first anniversary.. the place we got to interact with such good people.. the place which surprised us and gave us memories for the rest of our lives..
Before even we checkout I grabbed the opportunity to click some more from the surrounding area.. I asked Wife to come directly to the breakfast area while I click in the garden..
We checkout of the place at around 9am when our driver asked us if we would like to try Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, boat safari.. I jumped up and said yes yes...
We need to walk around 500mts or even more to reach the ticketing counter.. there are no proper directions but we reached there not before a bit of birding and monkeying..
Its Chaos at the ticketing counter there.. The boat ride starts at 10.30am and we reached there at around 10am..
You need to write down your details on a form which then needs to be submitted at the counter..
The staff there is not really efficient in using computer.. He took a while to punch in the forms already infront of him..
Finally at 10.25 I got the last 2 tickets of the boat ride.. *sigh*..
We hopped on the boat and were asked to be seated in the 2nd and 3rd row.. the boat was absolutely full..
Finally the journey started on the waters..
Its a nearly 90% crop.. was just too far..
You wont be disappointed with Periyar.. If you dont find anything, you are bound to find these for sure
I was not satisfied, but then thats a gamble in safaris... We came out of the safari by around 11am and were on the way out, when we saw this..
I was as usual searching for some movement on the branches for birding and i saw something black on one of the branches.. it was a malabar squirrel..
With that done.. we were on our way on the magnificient ghat between Thekkady and Munnar.. its around 140 odd kms of twisties..
Stopped at the Anayirangal Dam for some snaps..
some vistas on the way to Munnar..
We reached KTDC Tea county around 5pm.. There was no Welcome at the 4* hotel like we had at Thekkady.. No one even smiled
.. Even the room felt disappointing after the stay at Greenwoods..
Day 4 : December 22th 2011 : Around Munnar
This would be the last day that we would be in Kerala.. Tomorrow evening we have a flight to catch at 4.30 for Mumbai..
Day started with me going around the KTDC clicking..
Next on the cards was India's highest National Park.. the Eravikulam National park.
As we enter the ticket counter we see huge rush for the tickets.. It works like this.. The govt bus takes you to the entrance of the park which is a good 5kms away from the ticketing counter and the parking lot..
We stand in the Q for around an hour before we are checked for plastics and let in the bus..
Being India's Highest NP, the views are bearthtaking..but the main attraction remain the Mountain goat..
thats what she was clicking...
We thought it would be difficult to sight the goat.. but there it was, right in front of the bus as we got down to enter the park..
the views..
Nothing much to do other than walking till the top, we saw this pretty little birdie..
and again back to the views..
thats the point where the park ends..
We spent a good hour and a half walking up and down the park soaking in the beautiful weather..
It was lunch time by then and today we wanted to have the "authentic" keralite thali.. and there is it
It was AWESOME !Next we visited the Flower garden nearby..
The so called Photo point of Munnar...
As the evening started to set we reached the Mattupatty Dam..
and that was the End of the sightseeing.. Next day we visited a KDHP Tea Factory and saw how tea is made and left the Gods Own Country with beautiful memories to cherish..
Jhakaaasssssss Mr. Gokhale ;P
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