Munnar a dream come true!

You stole my heart

Visiting Munnar was on my Travel bucket list and I am happy that I was able to visit this scenic site. After travelling to so many hill stations in the North East I had my heart set at Munnar, a sleepy hill station located in Idukki district of Kerala.  We decided to go on a road trip which would have us cover 600+ kilometres, starting from Chennai heading towards Tirchy, Theni, Bodi and finally winding up at Munnar.

We started our journey around 3:am and it was raining heavily when we reached Chengelpet. We arrived at Trichy around 11 o' clock and planned to have lunch at Munnar as it was just few more hours to reach the destination. What I remember most about the trip is the scenery slowly changing . I was once again surrounded by coconut tress and green pastures. When we reached Theni we were able to spot the majestic hills from a distance. My eyes rose up to meet the towering hills. My husband pointed his finger and said to his mom "we are travelling up there".

On our way to Munnar

The journey was fun. My eyes lit up when I saw mist. The weather was rainy and most welcoming. There were tiny waterfalls breaking out at the curve of each hair pin bend. We lost and found our way many times, we went in circles and narrow roads before reaching our destination at around 4 in the evening. We settled for a late afternoon brunch and went for a small walk. Our cottage was a queer and comfortable place scented with eucalyptus.

View from Munnar Tea Country Resort

On day 2 we headed out for sight seeing, stopping occasionally at random tea estates and clicking pics like kids. I began to experience altitude/motion sickness yet again but raw mango sprinkled with red chilli powder and salt saved the day.

Tea estates - The Random green cloud crumbs fallen from heaven

After taking many such short breaks and figuring our way around we finally hit the breaks near a calm lake around half a kilometre before the Echo point. We walked towards the lake munching on fresh carrots and found a seat for ourselves among the rocks. It was drizzling and an old fisherman was waiting patiently to take home the day's catch. We spend few hours sitting in silence and basking in the cold serenity.

Munnar - The land of 3 rivers and this small lake 

We did not go to the Top station as it was raining and there was a huge rush of traffic. As we made our way back to the hotel, we saw tiny hills plastered with green grass, their serenity guarded by electric fences. We made our way through the misty roads and stopped occasionally to marvel at the beauty of this queer countryside. We decided to have lunch at Munnar town, after parking our car we went around searching for a good place to eat. Almost all the non-vegetarian restaurants were full. Suddenly it started raining heavily and we had to quickly settle down some were. It was then that my mom-in-law realised she lost her watch and she ran back all of a sudden accross the little bridge we had just crossed. She ran back to all the shops we had visited and was lucky to find her watch at at place were he had stopped to refresh. When she crossed over the little bridge she ran on desperately searching for her watch the localities all began smiling and asking her if she found what she had lost.

We finally found a decent place to eat and once the rain stopped we headed back to our car but not before buying two Umbrellas.

We reached our hotel by 5 in the evening.The food offered at the resort we stayed was good and we spent the rest of our time exploring the sleepy neighbourhood.

Munnar Tea Country Resort

The next day morning we started from Munnar and headed back to Chennai, the descent as always was easy and we had figured our way back much easily. We stopped at a small waterfall across the road, the one experience we did not want to miss. The cold water reminded me of what I was going to miss once we reach Chennai. Although I missed the mountains I was happy to see the flat roads again. After a quick but yummy lunch at Trichy we headed back to Chennai. We were welcomed by dark clouds and a not so gentle breeze when we reached Chengelpet. We reached home sweet home around 8. It's been 6 months but I can still smell the lingering smell of Eucalyptus in the air. They are now part of my odour-evoked autobiographical memories.