Munnar from an Auto

Thanks to Good Friday, there came another long weekend, and I dint want to spent it like the last one – sitting at home and watching TV for 2 straight days. Even Udi was insisting to get away from Bangalore. But I was too lazy to plan anything in advance. As a result by Friday I afternoon I realized that spending 2.5 more days in Bangalore would be a nightmare and its time to get away. Munnar - came the suggestion from Chaudhary, which got finalized and the accommodation, travel etc everything was decided on Friday evening. We had to leave the same night. I had to forgo my sleep (I really hated it) to go and get tickets since nothing was available online on such short notice. Already a day was wasted.
Anways, me, Udi and Pravin reached Munnar on Saturday afternoon. Leaving its relatively difficult reach aside, Munnar is one of the most beautiful places in southern India. For the non-initiated, it is a hill station in Kerela, and used to be a summer resort for British Govt whenever they were there.
Journey, Lodging and local travel:
I thought it would be an over night journey, but it was a long one. Due to such short notice planning we did not get reservations in the direct bus from Bangalore to Munnar and our route was:
Bangalore– Coimbatore-Private AC Bus-7hrs
Coimbatore – Udumallai pet – State Bus– 2hrs
Udumallai Pet – Munnar – State Bus -4hrs
The last 6 hours of journey was in strip down state buses with no reservations and we travelled most of the time standing. But it was fun, since it made me remember by DTC days in engineering college.
The hotel where we stayed was 17kms from the Munnar town. The view outside from the room’s balcony was breathtaking. The skyline was visible with spiral roads, lush tea gardens, small houses, mountains and clouds painting an extremely beautiful sight.
The best part of the trip was that we did all the sight seeing and travelling, by an Auto. We hired the auto for 2 half-days. The auto waala was very cooperative, who waited for us, without creating any fuss, took us to the best places to eat in Munnar town and guided us where to buy tea from. If you wanna have that thrill too, contact Alagu Autowaala in Munnar at 9447825632.
The weather in Munnar was fairly cold but not chilling. It was pleasant and as I said the view from our hotels balcony was simply breathtaking. I want to take mom to Munnar. She would love the place. Large part of Munnar is covered with Tea plantations owned by various tea estates. Places that we saw were:

• Mattupetti Dam - 10km from Munnar, this popular picnic spot activities like boating and horse riding and is a great place to spend the day. We could just have a look at it, since on the way back we did not had much time left to spend on the dam.
• Mattupetti Indo-Swiss Farm - Better known as Mattupetti (cattle village), Tamil migrant laborers had once upon a time reared cattle here. The cool climate and abundance of fodder made it the ideal location for the Indo-Swiss dairy farm. The dairy farm is a unique one of its kind with more than 100 varieties of high-yielding cattle being reared.
• Echo Point - 15km from Munnar, on the way to top station from Munnar is a small lake set amidst rolling hills. Every loud call made from a spot on the lake embankment is returned manifold by the echo from the surrounding hills. Have a look at this beautiful place, in the adjoining picture.
• Top Station - 37km from Munnar on the Kerala and Tamil Nadu border, has great views of the Western Ghats. Top station is the "top"-tourist attraction. This place gives a real 'above the clouds' experience. The area is known for the Neelakurunji plant, which flowers only once every twelve years. The flower is violet.
• Kundala Lake - This lake is very beautiful amidst lush jungles. Hiring a pedal boat and exploring the lake and its surroundings is an awesome experience. Except at the place you hired the boat, don't expect to find humans around the lake as it is surrounded by scenic jungles and hills.
• Atukkad Waterfalls - A scenic waterfalls amidst hills and jungles. You can find a road leading to Atukkad Waterfalls on Kochi road (just about 5 km from Munnar). This road is very narrow and needs a lot of experience to drive on. Besides, at this time of the year, the waterfall wasn’t too big, but turned out to be a great photography spot.

People of Munnar seemed to be quite friendly. Kerela being the most literate state, stands up to its name, with every one from Auto driver, to the rediwaala selling honey – able to understand and speak decent English. I bought honey and tea from Munnar. We spent 24 hrs in Munnar and could cover most of the sight seeing places. In addition to it, the drive anywhere is full of viewpoints and photo spots. Its not too commercial till date, and that may be because of its relatively difficult reach. While leaving all of us were feeling if we could skip the Monday's office and spend a day more in Munnar. But we all knew, this excuse would not find much favor with our manager and we reluctantly started our return journey.
I had great fun in Munnar. So if you have 2 days to spare and wanna beat heat, run to Munnar.