Happy to be back from a very nice trip down to god's own country - Kerala. This trip shall stay long in memory for reasons more than one. It could rightly be called an adventure trip as we had not planned anything, absolutely nothing. The original travel group consisted of 4 very different people including myself, Ashwin the techie, Ashok Anna the professor and Sibi sir the bureaucrat. Ashwin was unable to make it at the last minute. First the idea was to ride to Goa from near Nagpur where Sibi sir is posted. With the monsoon burst in Kerala catching headlines, we decided to trail it from Kochi to Mangalore. Sibi sir took sick all of a sudden and the plan stood cancelled. Later on a very short notice he decided to go for it and gave me a call. Now the problem was to plan a trip for not more than 3 days in less than 10 hours to a destination never visited. I was in Neyveli, Sibi sir in Erode and Ashok anna in Chidambaram when we decided to go for it. Bangalore was the only possible base station for us to meet, hire bikes and hope for visiting any worthy place in 3 days time. We assembled at Bangalore on 12th June with an idea of renting out bikes and visiting Iruppu falls near wayanad. We were fortunate to meet one Mr. Anand running Indimotard - adventure tour organizers. We hired two REs from him one Thunder Bird 350 CC and one Machismo 500 CC. The passionate gentleman guided us with different places we could visit and routes that can be taken in all detail. Hence started our trip, that I like to call as Breather 2011.
Day 1 - June 13, 2011: Bangalore - Mysore
9:00 AM Started from Indimotard at Brooke fields. Plan was to reach Mysore in a little more than 3 hours. Distance to destination: 145 kms (on paper)
4:00 PM Reached Mysore - hell yes. We were on the roads all this while :). We spent a good couple of hours sailing through traffic in B'lore. There was a plan to do some shopping in Mysore and reach Masinagudi (TN), a base camp for Ooty by nightfall. The extra 3 hours on road to Mysore forced changes in our plans and we halted there. Thanks to Sibi sir, we enjoyed our stay in the magnificent British era state guest house. For tamil folks, it is the house that featured as Collector Aravind Swamy's residence in Thalapathi. We did some hearty shopping in Mysore and roamed around till late night.
Day 2 - June 14, 2011: Mysore - Gundlupet - Bandipur (Reserve Forest) - Mudumalai (Res. Forest) - Masinagudi (Ooty, TN) - Sulthan Bathery (Wayanad, Kerala) - Kalpetta
7:00 AM Left Mysore for Masinagudi. Day 2 was the best of the 3 days. Riding across not one but two reserve forests was thrilling and exciting. Blessed with a lovely weather, we rode from Mysore to Bandipur via Gundlupet. Bandipur is a tiger reserve and when you ride across it, you are sure to spot wild elephants. If you wonder what is the thrill in spotting an elephant, then you surely donot know the difference between the domesticated ones and the wild ones.
2:00 PM Masinagudi. Shortly after Bandipur tiger reserve comes the TN-K'taka border. The moment we entered TN, we were shown 'Idhu thaan da police' by maamas. We were thoroughly checked if were carrying sarakku (liquor), luckily we din't. After a joyful ride of 20 odd kms through Mudumalai elephant reserve forest, we reached Masinagudi, the famous base camp of Ooty. We had hearty tamil nadu meals in some Indra mess suggested by the localites.
5:30 PM Sulthan Bathery. This place was not in our plan at all. It sprang up when we heard that we could get a comfortable stay in Wayanad. So change in plans for night halt from Masinagudi to Wayanad. A joyful ride through mountains and beautiful curves took us to God's own country - Kerala. Sulthan Bathery comes from Sultan Battery suggesting that Tipu Sultan had some battery of ammunition here. Nevertheless, its heaven on earth. Its a treasure trove for tourists with more than 10 places nearby worth mentioning on any travel guide.
7:00 PM Kalpetta. We stopped here for food. What fun in visiting Kerala if you dont get to eat kozha puttu (though an under statement, nearest explanation I can think of is flour steamed in tube shape). As an established foodie, I tried two pieces malabar parotta, 3 pieces of appam, one serving of puttu all with one large serving of Garlic chicken. I finished it off in style with a Kerala style chaaya (tea).
8:00 PM Vythiri PWD rest house. Reached Vythiri hill station for night halt. We din't know much about Vythiri and had no access to internet. The rest house care taker shared with us all he knew. Thanks to Ashwin and Thamarai Kannan in Chennai who helped with some info over the phone. We decided to visit few places of interest near Kalpetta itself before returning back to B'lore.
Day 3: Vythiri - Kalpetta - Meenmutty falls - Karapuzha dam - Edakkal Caves - back to K'taka
7:30 AM To Meenmutty. Ashok anna was hell bent on visiting a waterfalls. Having heard nice reviews about Meenmutty, we proceeded towards it. Little did we know that monsoon on its peak respects nothing. The falls was closed for tourists owing to excess water flow.
09:30 AM Karapuzha dam. We returned back in the same way, had breakfast at a joint in Ambalavadi and inquired for other waterfalls in the area. We were surprised to hear that there were far too many waterfalls but none of them is safe to visit at this point of monsoon. So we had to substitute waterfalls with a dam, the Karapuzha. Not so big but it was very quiet and beautiful. Enjoyed the aura there.
11:15 PM Phantom Rock. I was absolutely stunned to see the Phantom rock. It was the exact one shown as the residence of Phantom inside the forests of Bengalla in the comic series. Phantom was my favourite childhood hero and I was happy to have been to the rock.
12:00 PM Edakkal Caves. After some photo shoots at Phantom rock, we moved to Edakkal caves. There are some very interesting neo-lithic period inscriptions there. What we dint know till we reached this point was that there is a 1 km steep trekking involved to reach the caves. The inscriptions are in tamil brahmi script and there are some wall paintings depicting a king hunting a tiger.
1:30 PM Return Journey. Back through thick bamboo forests made me sing 'Moongil Kaadugalae..' all the way. We reached to Mysore via Gudlupet from Calicut side.
6:30 PM Chennapatna. Many would have come across this little town on the B'lore - Mysore highway but few knew that the traditional toys made here are world famous and are about to get a GI IPR. Having two fathers in the group, I had to visit a toys shop. Was really amazed to see a traditional industry surviving on innovation and craftsmanship. A place to stop for everyone.
10:40 PM Brooke Fields. Returned the bikes, thanked Mr. Anand and proceeded to our hotel.
Tid-Bits:
- Bangalore is not an expensive place to stay. We stayed at hotel Sanman lodge in Majestic bus station area at just Rs. 500 a day. The room was neat beyond a rs.500 expectation and the food in the restaurant was good.
- For those who are new to Bangalore, its in your best interest to leave the city late in the night or very early in the morning to avoid traffic. Being first time riders in the city, it took us a good two and half hours to criss cross it and reach the Mysore highway.
- Internet surfing wont give you all the details. We wasted a good amount of time searching for a waterfalls and when we found it, it was of no use. However, it helps to have someone at home with internet access to help you with info.
- Do have a good digicam for stills even if you are carrying a handycam for video.
- My favourite picks from the trip:
- B'lore - dosas (yummy)
- Mysore - idlis at Big Bazaar
- Gundlupet - tea near SBI
- Tamil Nadu - Police
- Kalpetta - appam & puttu with garlic chicken, Phantom rock, banana shop
- Kerala - K'taka border - Bamboo forests
- Kerala overall - Girls!!! (Bharathiar was not wrong)
To watch our photostream,
click here.
