April 15 - Munnar

Went to bed real early last night, slept but couldn't sleep past 6:15 or so.

The morning is beautiful with the birds chirping and the mountains covered in mist.

Enjoyed admiring the scenery from the verandah doing nothing. Finally got ready and went to the restaurant. The walk to the restaurant is very beautiful as I expected and more in day light.




All around us the birds were chirping and flowers abound. Sudip got some beautiful photographs.

Breakfast was served at the table as well. I had pineapple juice, toast, eggs made to order, coffee and fresh cut mango. Everything was well prepared and served with a smile by the ever attentive staff.

There are so many flowers in bloom, none of whose names I know of course. The only two I remember are Jacarandas and
Honeysuckle.

We left the hotel around 10:00 AM and Manilal drove us into town where we picked up our local guide Jonas. He seemed very young but well versed, soft spoken and with a keen eye for birds.




Jonas informed us that there is a old Munnar and a new Munnar with a combined population of 70,000.

Our first stop was Madupatty Dam which produces 2mw of hydroelectric power mostly for the surrounding plantations. The dam was commissioned in 1953.

The State of Kerala has 60% hydro and the rest a combination of wind, thermal, and coal.
Our next stop was the Kundala Dam, this is a dam to control flood and does not produce electricity. It was built in 1940.
Remnants of old stone buildings submerged in the floods prior to building the dam can be seen when the water is low like now.

Our next and final stop waa Top station - 7180 ft. This is the top most station for the cable car started in 1900 but no longer in use after the roads were completely.

It was all misty but the it was easy to imagine how gorgeous the view would be.




Back to the Resort, to freshen up and have lunch. It is all misty here as well, looks mysterious but inviting.

We have a choice of sandwiches or Kerala lunch. We chose the Kerala lunch of course which consists of sambar (lentil soup with vegetables), papad, rice, 2 types of Vegetables okra and long beans with shredded coconut, and fried chicken all cooked Kerala style.

The rice was very different with fat kernels and nowhere as tasty as the cashew rice from yesterday.

The sambar was the best tasting of all the dishes.

Dessert was mixed cut fruit accompanied by coffee.

We have plans to go on the bird watching and a tour of the property but it is drizzling so not sure if it will happen. Apparently there are only two other guests today and we are the only ones going on the walk. I think I counted 8 guests including us at dinner last night.

Al right the rain stopped just in time for our walk. Our guide for the walk was Ranjit Hadlee, yet another knowledgeable youngster with a keen eye. We saw many flowers and heard many beautiful bird songs, one in particular the Malabar Whistling Thrush. It is locally called the "whistling schoolboy", which is very much what it sounds like really.

This area is full off cardamom plantations and saw plenty of them and some with seeds still on them, the season is almost over. Interestingly the cardamom flower is at the bottom of the plant and the cardamom is picked individually by hand, probably why it is typically more expensive than other spices.

A car from the resort picked us up for our return, we stopped for tea before going in to our cottage. I had the cardamom tea of course, which is their specialty. I am not a tea drinker but I really enjoyed this tea.

Thought of skipping dinner but didn't want to miss the great food here.

We are the only guests here tonight. Two other sets of guests will be coming in around 1:00 am.
After another 5 course dinner and dessert, I am ready to fall asleep at the table. The walk back to our cottage was nice, specially in this cool weather.

Now it's goodnight time for today

April 14- Coimbatore - Munnar

It was a luxury sleeping in until 7:30 this morning and also having strong cell connection and free wifi every where in the hotel.
The hotel had every modern amenity but seemed like the staff lacked warmth and training. Our driver told us that they have too many turnovers because of not paying their staff well.

Today is a big festival day in South India, the hotel and its staff were dressed in tradition.



The drive from Coimbatore to Munnar was somewhat boring and crowded for the first couple of hours but pretty soon we were in the Nilgiri mountains and the scenery changed.

Since there wasn't any good place to stop on the way we drove straight to Munnar through some gorgeous mountainous roads whose sides were covered with tea plantations. Somehow the tea plants looked different than those in Assam, perhaps the color or the way they were trimmed. Not quite sure.

Most of the way was through reserve forest with no cell connection but it came back after we reached the town of Munnar.
Stopped and ate a light lunch at a good local restaurant and proceeded on to Windermere Estate where we will be staying for the next three nights. While we were eating lunch we heard thunder, if it does rain it will be the first rain on this trip.

The place is up the hill from the town and with scant cell reception although I was assured that there is wifi in the restaurant, lobby, and in the reading room above the restaurant.

The cottage we are in is quite large and sparsely but definitely adequately furnished. We have to go down two flights of rather steep steps and I am not looking forward to doing this at night. It is also drizzling and the wet stones are slippery.

The view out of the windows and the balcony of cottage is absolutely gorgeous and makes up for all other shortcomings, not there is any other than the steps.



There is a bit of a mixup about our trip to Thekaddy a bird sanctuary a couple hours away but our tour operator is diligently working on it. I wouldn't mind just staying here and relaxing for the next two days.

The mixup got sorted out. We will be going to the bird sanctuary day after tomorrow and sight seeing around town. Apparently there is much to see including plantations, lakes etc.

Went in for dinner at around 7:30. It is nice walk from our cottage to the restaurant. I wish it was light outside, I am sure the scenery is beautiful along the walk, I am looking forward to seeing it in the morning.

The dinner is a fixed menu served at the table. The staff is very pleasant and helpful, truly service with a smile and as a bonus there is strong wifi available at the restaurant as promised at check in.

We started with Chinese sweet corn soup then a honey tomato salad followed by a duck dish, a beef dish, a paneer (home made cheese), and a mixed vegetable dish. All served with cashew rice and bread. I never had cashew rice before and it was so delicious. This is more like a banquet, I don't think we can do justice to it.

Everything tasted delicious. They said they cooked with most of their own spices from the plantation which probably is a major factor in how tasty the meal is.

For dessert, a bread pudding yet another delicious preparation.
No 5 star restaurant can match true home cooking with the freshest of ingredients.
Between the scenery, the ambiance, the personable ever helpful staff, and of course the great food, I could just stay here for the rest of the vacation.

April 13 - Bandipur - Coimbatore.

Bandipur - Ooty - Conoor - Coimbatore.

Got up at 5:00 am for a morning game drive at 6:15. We will be leaving right after we come back and have breakfast.

We saw a tiger this morning, walking majestically across the road and then vanishing into the bushes. The driver tried to look for it to come out and various strategic places but no luck. It looked like its belly was full and so probably had laid down somewhere in the bushes.

We also saw Sambar and some very large herds of spotted deer and various bird life. It was much more vibrant this morning than last evening.

Came back and had breakfast, coffee has been good all through the trip but this place has the best coffee to date.

Finished packing and checked out.

The road to Ooty is beautiful mountainous roads most of the way, rather slow going but very enjoyable.

Arrived in Ooty around 11:30 and had coffee and then lunch and proceeded on to the train station to catch the "toy train" to Conoor.
The train was totally full but well organized and left on time. Very much enjoyed the ride and the gorgeous scenery of course. We arrived around 2:15 and Manilal met us on the platform. He had driven the car and our luggage from Ooty to Conoor.



The drive from Conoor to Coimbatore had the same mountainous roads first of the way and then flattened out as we neared Coimbatore.

Checked in at the Residency, I am pretty sure I stayed at this hotel when I traveled on business but that was a long time back and nothing looked familiar.

Rested and had dinner at Chin Chin the in-house Chinese restaurant, the food was fabulous as I remember Indianized Chinese food was growing up.

Retired for the night around 10;00 PM, looking forward to sleeping in late (7:30).

April 12 - Kabini - Bandipur

Slept in this morning and had a leisurely breakfast.

Checked out around 9:30 am. The resort. staff was wonderful as they have been all through. The resort itself was one of the best I have ever stayed in any place in the world. The attention to detail even in the smallest of items is worth mentioning. Every one believes in service with a smile and quirky replies to possible tiger sightings - yes ma'am, I sent an SMS to the tiger this morning to be available for photographs and many more such replies.
Wish we stayed here few more days, next time.

The distance from Kabini to Bandipur is only 100 km but due the terrible condition of the most direct route we had to take the road to Mysore and go South from there. A long detour it took us around 3.5 - 4.00 hours.
Checked into the Windflower Resort, a beautiful but rustic place with limited amenities . The Manager on duty was very pleasant and helpful as was his staff.

There is no cell reception here and limited wifi in the conference room. Other than having to save this blog locally for now, I think I can survive 12-15 hours without.
After lunch, left at 3:30 PM for the 4:00 PM safari. This was a larger vehicle but without the visibility that the other ones had.

The forest itself was beautiful but the animals were scarce. It had some very scenic water holes but not much animal activity.




This coupled with the fact that the vehicle was noisy, hardly ever stopped for picture taking, and the spotter didn't make much effort it was a somewhat of a non productive trip.

The roads were very bad, I kept thinking of how nice everything was in Nagarhole.

Came back to the resort for coffee and snacks followed by dinner. We need to be packed for tomorrow since we will leaving right after the safari and breakfast.

April 11 - Kabini

Got up at 4:30 am to get ready for the morning safari at 5:15 am.
A very pleasant surprise in the form of a Happy Birthday text send at midnight local time. I think I totally confused and worried him by acknowledging that early.

Left for the safari with a smaller group of 10 and a much more friendly and personable guide Puran.

The highlight of the morning for me was two male gaurs showing of by much bellowing and taking fighting positions.

We saw a herd of elephants from really close along with others that were a little further away.

A peacock with it's tail feathers displayed in its full glory showed of for us or atleast that's what we would like to think.

Came back for a full breakfast and then lunch around 2:00 PM.

We saw less animals in the afternoon safari but more birds. Amazingly the birds were on lower branches and close enough for for me to see them clearly.

My highlight on the evening safari was a pair of woodpeckers building a nest. One was doing all the work and pecking at its mate if it came close.

Came back had tea and snacks and then dinner and to bed tired and happy.

April 10 - Kozicode to Kabini.

This is about 5.5 hours of drive. Roads are very good except for the last hour or so.

Some of the view as it passes the Ghats is truly spectacular. For the last stretch, the car route is around 55 km of bad road going around the dam. The Lodge makes provisions for the guests to cross the river by boat which takes less than 15 mins.

We checked into our resort. Orange County around 1:30 PM, the staff was very helpful and informative. We had a jacuzzi hut and spacious bedroom, sitting room and bathroom.

April 9 - Kochi - Kazicode

Checked out of the hotel at 9:00 am. Misplaced my watch and was convinced it had fallen somewhere in the luggage. I let the hotel staff know about it and half way to Kazicode they called to let us know that the watch has been found and they will bring it to the airport on our departure day. I am curious as to where it was, since both looked everywhere.

We had to make a small change in plans. The Arthripally Falls are pretty dry due to a dry winter so we decided to skip it and go to the elephant sanctuary instead.
Took the car ferry across the mouth of the inlet, a very smooth and quick process.

The drive was through villages and small communities the scenery was quite pretty but it stil was long and tiring.

We arrived at Guruvayoor and went into the elephant sanctuary. A very interesting place, there are about 40-50 elephants which people have donated to the temple. The temple itself is rather famous but we decided to skip it due to the long lines.

Manilal took us to Krishna Inn for lunch. It was an excellent vegetarian restaurant, with generous portions and we shared a very tasty Chettinad style mixed vegetable curry. Sudip was concerned that it would be too hot for him but turned it was not.

After lunch we drove on and
reached The Gateway Hotel at around 3:00 pm Interestingly the local pronunciation of Kozkcode sounds very closed to its anglicized version Calicut.
Another beautiful hotel with typical Taj hospitality.

Freshened up a bit and went down for tea with pakoras and cookies and then for a short walk in the well kept grounds.

As usual Sudip found a Bengali server and manager and tea and snacks became complimentary.




Back to the room and after a short rest went downstairs for dinner around 7:30 PM.

I kept changing my mind every time the server brought up a new dish much to his merriment. The restaurant staff were fore warned about my shellfish allergy and they keep making wonderful suggestions for me.

Finally settled on calamari pan roasted with Kerala spices and Sudip ordered the prawns cooked in Kerala spices
Split a Kingfisher, a popular Indian beer, while waiting for our meal.

The dinner was truly delicious but way more than I could eat so regretfully I had to quite a bit untouched.

A wonderful day but l long and another tomorrow, so retiring early for tonight.