A trip to North Kerala!!!!

I work as a Software Engineer in Trivandrum hailing from Bangalore. On the weekends me and my friends generally try killing time by visiting places in and around Trivandrum. This time it was the North side of Kerala which was not much explored by us..

It was an usual week of work with a tentative plan of visiting north Kerala. My friend, the travel guide - Prateek - was ready with his crazy plan of visiting places which tourists normally don't do. It was Friday afternoon and we were still not sure of the plan. Finally by end of the day we come out of office and finalize that YES!!! we go.  We called our all time favorite driver Raabi (Innova), and told him about the plan. Luck favored us that day that he was free.

20-Oct-2012 - We started at 12:30 PM on a Friday night. Our first destination was Fort kochi. We started from Trivandrum By pass. First pit stop was CCD on the highway. A spinach corn sandwich, chocolate fantasy, samosa and of course Cappuccino satisfied our hunger and thirst. We started off again after this small break. Playing soft music i put my friends to sleep :D and get the task of keeping Rabi (Driver) awake while driving. Unfortunately the driver had not slept the previous night and since our plan was uncertain we booked his cab at the last moment. It was getting tougher to cover the last couple of hours since he was really sleepy. A few breaks here and there for Chaai helped us.

20-Oct-2012 5:15 A.M  - We were at Fort Kochi finally. On the coast we see Chinese nets which look like giant crabs to me and they were something to be explored more and i was really excited to see how it works and were waiting for daylight to break when fishermen would demonstrate their skills of operating this amazing concept of fishing net. So for sometime we walked down to the joggers path along the coast. We slept on the benches on the walk way and were looking at the mighty ocean, huge ships coming into the ports.

Once daylight was fully on we went towards the Chinese nets again and now the fishermen were there and one batch of fishing was already done.

We couldn't take our eyes off the entire process of fishing that is done using these nets. A simple but very effective method.

After all this our stomach was calling for food. There are these roadside carts where you can find authentic Kerala breakfast - Appam, Puttu, Idly, Noolappam, Vada, Kadla curry and also restaurants for English breakfasts. We chose the carts and what a choice!!, we couldn go for more than one plate(Let me explain) It was so delicious that we couldn't wait for another plate. All our hands were in one and the only plate :D:D remembered college days - One lunch box and 10 hands in it.

All satisfied, we started off and took a ferry from Fort Kochi to go on the other side and that was the Vypin islands. After getting down atVypin island we headed towards Cherai beach. It was pretty quick. Cherai beach was very calm unlike other beaches i have seen. Played volley ball with the local maamas who also had come for a trip. After tiring myself for sometime we continued...

Our next destination was the one which we were most excited of - Indian Niagra - Athirapally Waterfalls -  We took the Salem-Ernakulam highway and after covering some distance took a shortcut off Angamaly towards FISAT college through Palm plantations to Athirapally waterfall.

After travelling for an hour we were at the scenic spot where a lot of movies have been shot - ATHIRAPALLY falls one among them being Raavan.

Look at the picture. You can see people on the small rocks which are around 20-30 feet away from the waterfall. Yet people get drenched completely..

An hour in front of the falls and we still could not get enough of it. After having fun in this place we moved on to our next destination and that was Valparai through the Sholoyar forest range. This was truly an  unexpectedly beautiful place. Before entering the Sholoyar Reserve forest, there is a checkpost where vehicles and bags are checked thoroughly.

Once we entered the forest range we started looking out for wild animals. We were looking out in every single place to catch a glimpse of some wild animal. Unfortunately, we could only see a few Black Macaque with golden fur. Though there was a lot of Elephant dung on the way, the sight of majestic Ganesh eluded us.There was one spot where we found a huge calm lake and a clear view of the forest. We stopped our car and went near the lake. There was nothing around except calmness and serenity. We waited for sometime to catch something on camera but in vain. We, started off again and continued our search through the windows of our car. There were a lot of sign boards reading "animal crossing zone be careful". Maybe we were there at the wrong time. We were in the forest at around 2:30 PM a time when most wild animals don't move. Right when we thought our luck was down and out, we saw a Fox with a Reddish Coat crossing the road through the mist leaving us in complete disbelief.

Going through the forest we reached the tea estates of Valparai. My first time among the tea estates. Those estates looked beautiful and to add to that beauty was a tea factory in the middle of the estates a scene much seen in movies or described in books. We were there for a couple of hours going through the ghats.

The roads were mind blowing which looked like a well sweep-ed and moped floor. Going through the curvy roads among the tea estates we reached the Sholoyar dam. A very well constructed and maintained dam with no much crowd visiting it. This damn!! dam was on  the ghats!!..

Driving through the estates, crossing the dam we reached the MISTY MOUNTAINS . So misty the mountains got, that the visibility was almost nil. Rabi was judging the road based on the reflectors on the road something which only very experienced drivers do.

Map Showing Hairpin turns

 We had to go slow and steady. And then the road started going down the ghats to reach Pollachi- Valparai road. There were 40 hair pin turns. We could see the Aliyar reservoir from top and it was one of the best views one can find from a ghat. We couldn't capture the view since it wasn't safe to stop the car in those roads where there was hardly any visibilty. I have a snapshot of how the hairpin turns look in GMap.  As we cleared the last hair pin we clapped for Rabi to have covered it safe and sound. Once we were down the ghats we started looking out for a place called Anamalai.

That was one hell of a time asking people for route to Anamalai. We laughed our lungs out asking for the route because most of the locals confused us with the way. We went a few miles extra and finally reached Anamalai. So now from there our final desination for the night was Palakkad which was around 60 kms. It was so relieving to see a sign board showing direction for Palghat. We reached Palakkad at around 9. Booked a room in a hotel - Royal Treat near Victoria college. After freshening up we started thinking what to do the next day. But since we were very tired we dozzed in a minute and woke up at 9 in the morning :D:D

Our next day's serious plans were obviously screwed since we had to plan out and reach back to Trivandrum by 10 PM. So we thought of making it like HIGHWAY ON MY PLATE and headed straight towards RAMASERRY, a very important and memorable place. RAMASERRY is a village close to Palakkad. Probably 10-15 kms from Palakkad town on the Salem-Ernakulam highway and it is known for its flat idlies. These idlies are similar to Tatte idlies we get in Karnataka and me being a fan of south Indian breakfast insisted everyone. So, we somehow reached the place and found a small hotel for these idlies. Entered the place hungry and could not wait for the idlies to come. We started with a few appams and then took a big leaf and 6 of us had around 40 Idlies on that single leaf with probably a litre of chutney :D. Then a strong Chaaya (Tea) made our day.  Every mile we covered to reach this place was worth it                                               

So now we were mostly done. We started off for Trivandrum. On the way to Trivandrum we took a break just before reaching Ernakulam on the Thrissur-Ernakulam highway near Angamaly and had lunch in a Punjabi dhaaba who gave us the best lassi we have had in Kerala. Had heavy lunch and got back on the highway. Kept driving till we crossed allepey and reached the paddy fields where we got an  amazing lightning show exhibited by nature. Sharp lightning bolts going through kept our eyes glued to the sky. It was very unusual for me.

We got back to our journey and took the MC road and reached Trivandrum at 10:00 in the night. We had an advantage of following a ministers car on the way which helped us to get a lead and bypass the traffic and it also helped Rabi to stay awake as he was excited too.

As soon as we reached our flat and rested on our numbed out behinds on the cushy bean bags, one overpowering and all encompassing feeling pervaded our senses. Very difficult to explain what that was but one word that comes to my mind, one word that comes close to what we felt is.............. BLISSSSSSS!!!!

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