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Published: July 25th 2006
After coming back to India from Singapore, I chose to take a break at Kerala from 27th to the 30th of June with my family. Me, my brother, my dad and mom packed stuff and left for Coimbatore city, located in the state of Tamilnadu from the state capital Chennai, by train on the 26th night. After reaching Coimbatore the next morning, we rented a Qualis (jeep) and went to Aliyar, a place near Pollachi near the Aliyar dam. After joining my grandparents, the six of us went to the Palani temple (dedicated to Lord Muruga) came back to aliyar and spent the night there. The next day we started for Munnar - a hill station at around ~ 5000 metres above sea level. The star highlight about Munnar is that it is not commercialized as Ooty (Udhagamandalam) or Kodaikanal, and has vast expanses of tea plantations. The area was discovered by British explorers and engineers who found the soil suitable for tea and planted tea here. The views were splendid with mist covered mountains and waterfalls. We stayed in Munnar the night at the Hill view hotel (US$28 per day for an economy double bed room) and enjoyed the cold
weather - a welcome change from the 38 degree celsius in Chennai. The next morning, we went to the Madupatty dam, and enjoyed the landscape and weather there and started on the journey to Kumarakkom.
The journey from Munnar to Kumarakkom took us through the heart of Kerala - mountainous regions, sloped-roof houses, waterfalls, lots of Toddy (Coconut-based intoxicating drink) shops and of course copious bursts of rain. The villages and cities of Kerala were a sight to watch, in stark contrast to the water-starved Tamilnadu. We reached Kumarakkom at 7 PM, and not much to do for the day than rest at the Paddy Fields resort.
Kumarakkom is green, wet and beautiful. The season (May-July) is monsoon and continuous incessant rains are a common sight. The landscape is beautiful with backwaters, and houses on either side of the canal. Kumarakkom was called as the "Venice of the East", as people regularly use boats to travel from one house to another. The local people rent the boats they own to tourists. The next day we started at around 7 AM and took the boat to go around the canals for a fantastic view of Kumarakkom, the houses, and
head out onto the vast expanse of the river to an island....
After spending 3 hours on the boat ride, we came back to the hotel, ate the local speciality food - karimeen (fried fish) and checked out of the hotel to head back to Coimbatore. he train journey from Coimbatore will bring us back to Chennai tomorrow morning.
I have posted some pics taken with my Digicam in Munnar...The Kumarakkom pics will be posted soon...
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