It was hot and humid and we were sweating like pigs, the kids, the moms, the grandparents all were a bit irritated.. what has happened to Kerala? Is this the same place where we once grew up? The Innova driver was a bit impatient. It was already 2:30 PM and we were yet to start our trip. It might rain in the evenings and then there are the ghat roads to cross. When this realization sunk in, we were already in a jiffy and started off on our trip to Munnar.
As predicted the summer showers came crashing on us by 3:30 but it felt heavenly. The sudden change in weather was a warm welcome and we all enjoyed the drive in the rich Kerala rains.. “wow how I missed this deluge of the Kerala rain!!” my sister exclaimed. The kids were blissfully asleep till 4:30 after which we had a tea break. It is nice when the rain has stopped and u hear the platter of the remaining raindrops falling from the thatches of the roofs and you sip your hot tea/coffee sitting by the edge of the road on a bench. the real pleasures of a road trip I would say.
By 6:30 pm when we entered the Woodwest Munnar it was already dark and even after stepping out of the Ac car it still felt as if the AC was on. I simply couldn’t believe we were still in Kerala. We had a sumptuous dinner of soup, dragon potato that my son loved and roti with Nilgiri korma. The rooms were great too and after some fun and frolic, we all hopped into the beds. It was the first time in my 2 weeks stay in Kerala that I wrapped a blanket around me.
Next day, the morning breakfast greeted us with this view… It felt surreal and I was feeling so happy that I had undertaken this trip. After filling up all bellies, off we went to explore the tea plantations and gardens… The kids really enjoyed the tea factory visit that included a movie on Munnar and we all loved the rose garden visit which really had a large collection of beautiful flowers. After covering the tea museum, rose garden and mattupetty dam and clicking a hundred pictures.. we all were famished. Just in time to enjoy a hearty meal at one of the many north Indian pure veg thali restaurants. We chose not to go to echo point which is farther ahead form a mattupetty dam, as the toddlers in our group would be better off with their afternoon naps. After the small siesta, we again hoped on the Innova and reached the hydel park. This visit was all for the kids as it is a children’s park with zip liners, Burma bridge, rock climbing, animal figures all to woo the kids. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and called it a day with a simple supper again at our restaurant.
The next day was the day of check out thanks to our hectic schedules we just had a short vacation in Munnar. But thanks to the knowledge of the driver on our way back we saw few waterfalls and also the green garden spice garden which had a heavenly tree house with a jackfruit tree passing right inside it and a plethora of ayurvedic herbs and medicinal plants. After the tree climbing, garden hopping along with our very friendly guide Joyce and purchasing a few ayurvedic shampoos and supplements we resumed our journey to Cochin. Overall it was a short, sweet and a much essential break in Munnar for all of us.