Trip to Munnar

Wanted to go on a trip with family for a long time...finally it materialised. I wanted to take care of all the bookings, so did lot of googling on the net and finally zeroed it on Destination Munnar, picked a hotel called Westwood which had amazing pictures of the views from the hotel, a dining area with a lake view...hotel surrounded by greenery...when i saw the site i could not believe i am gonna stay there...felt maybe they are just catering to foreigners.

My mother and brother finally came on sat and we left on sunday. On reaching the airport, a person from the hotel was there to pick us up...you can guess how they must have addressed my name on the board. Mr Madhu it read...i wondered, why they could not realise it was a woman and not a man. Was wondering if a guy corresponds to someone and the person assumes him as her, i am sure the guy will be offended while if its the other way round, a girl being assumed as a guy its not a big deal. Will say its because we(women) don't fuss over small stuff :)

The guy who picked us did not know hindi or english....so was interesting to correspond to him...our flight had landed in the afternoon, so we all were starving, hence asked the driver to take us to a good hotel that serves vegetarian food, the driver took us to the a hotel(i guess he had some tie up with that), the menu had all north indian dishes majority non-veg, my mom announced she will not eat and will have fruits instead, we can go ahead and have something there...on hearing her sacrifice we decide to go some where else...finally went to Sarvanana bhavan, had full meals it was amazing :) Eating on banana leaf that too food that too typical local food is awesome.

The route to munnar from cochin was amazing....did not think it will be so green...the mountains covered in a shawl of green of various shades was really beautiful...the tea plantations weaved an amazing pattern of Cris-crosses. Finally we arrived at the hotel, was surprised to find a building with not much space around..i wondered how they posted the pictures that were there on the site...on reaching the hotel room, found the room to be small contrary to how it appeared in the internet...we could all just sit or sleep in one place...no place to move...on top of that...got to hear TV from the neighbouring room...could feel the trip going on a negative spiral already.

Decided to explore some other hotels otherwise the precious vacation will be doomed..so i and my brother explored some other places...either they were too expensive or there was no room.

Decided to check places in the morning again in day light, if we do not find any other place by noon..promised to not crib anymore. With a sad heart came back...it was time to have dinner...in the menu, there were all north indian dishes instead of local specialities...who wants to eat dal makhani in kerela...felt i have become too fussy, my image of me adjusting anywhere shattered, i guess when it comes to vacation u do not want to adjust....the food was pathetic..the sambhar tasted like maggi noodles masala....could not eat anything apart from curd rice, decided that tomorrow we will definitely shift somewhere else, no one can rescue the trip from being a total disaster.

Next day, went to the tourist office, got to know about some cottages in cardamom's plantations, went there...was amazing to see the place surrounded by greenery, with no further thought...paid the advance and we rushed back to get our baggages. 

On coming back...felt now the vacation starts....felt great sitting in the balcony hearing the birds talk...there was one bird whose voice was sweeter than koel...the next day went along with the women who worked on the plantations to see how cardamom plants look like...though we could not talk...as had no common language...there was a bond. The guy who picked us from airport, accompanied me as he was worried i may get lost...felt nice realising his unspoken concern. One of the worker dropped us back else we would have got lost in the jungle. The next day went to the Tea museum which showed the history of munnar and the process of making tea. Before the tea plantations...this place was mainly inhibited by muthuvan tribe...the English bought the land and converted it to tea plantations to make the best use of the land...they left out some part of the forest to serve them for their recreation....hunting tahr, tiger etc...After independence, Indian govt. took over....apart from some schools, hospitals...the geography of the place remained exactly the same. 

A trip to Eravikulam natural park was very depressing...it did not firstly look like a national park...apart from the mountain goat, could not see any other species. I felt lot of the flora and fauna has been destroyed in this area....sadly things are just continuing.

Inspite of all this....loved munnar for the fresh air...the amazing greenery and the simple people of kerala. The driver as he dropped us back at airport...said for the 4-5 days he got a mother an elder brother and a sister...i knew he meant every word he said and did not say it for the heck of it...he also called us later to ensure we had reached safely.

Looking forward to another trip to Kerala, there is lot more to explore in 'God's own land'.