Visit to Cochin , Allepey and Munnar

Visit to Cochin , Allepey and Munnar

2-3 years back I had decided that I will not work on my birthday and it should always be celebrated in a new place. So this time the location was Munnar and Cochin. I had been planning for a long time and after checking few travels and costs finally decided for a 4 days and 3 nights’ package for Munnar and Cochin. It was a group of 7 including my friend and me. Planning for the trip for me has always been exhausting and the day before the travel has always been a sleepless night for me due to excitement.

Caught an early morning flight to Cochin from Bangalore and reached in almost 1 hour. Out itinerary was planned in such a way that direct from Cochin will go to Munnar, spend 1 day there and 1 day in Boat House in Allepey. So after landing in Cochin at 7.30am and after collecting our luggage we went in search for our driver who was waiting for us outside the airport. We were told by the package tour that we will be provided an English and Hindi speaking driver and were happy as none of us could speak Malayalam. But to our dismay, the only English he could speak was “Yes Yes “, “ No No “, “Ah Yes “. And we had to adjust with that as no other go.  We decided to have breakfast and move towards Munnar.

We decided to see a couple of places on the way in Cochin to Munnar so as to save time while coming back. So our first destination was Mahavishnu Temple, Cochin. Our praying we visited the Dutch Palace which is just next to the Temple. The Mattancherry Palace is a Portuguese palace popularly known as the Dutch Palace, in Mattancherry, which features Kerala murals depicting portraits and exhibits of the Rajas of Kochi. The Palace was built and gifted by the Portuguese as a present to the king of Cochin around 1555.We spent some half an hour and Dickson took us to St Francis Church. Constructed in 1503 by Portuguese, this is believed to be India’s oldest European-built church. The Current Church that stands here today was built in the mid-16th century to replace the original wooden structure. Explorer Vasco da Gama, who died in Cochin in 1524, was buried in this spot for 14 years before his remains were taken to Lisbon – you can view his tombstone in the church. We also had some time to visit the Fort Kochi beach which is like any other beach. As the weather had become humid we stopped for some time for refreshments@ Kashi Arts and I purchased a hat for myself. As it was already becoming 1 pm, we decided to proceed as we did not want to reach Munnar late which is a 4-5 hours’ journey which is a Ghat section.

The road from Cochin to Munnar is very nice. There is greenery all around and the weather was not too humid as we had expected. Before coming we had made a list of places on the route to Munnar and we managed to communicate to Dickson, our driver the same. He nodded Ah Yes and we continued. During our journey we tried to make him feel comfortable as we were all ladies from the age group of 16 to 60 and he was around 26 (we checked his age ) and felt  maybe he was not comfortable as we were a noisy  group but his was always a blank face.

Anyways on the way we stopped at Cheeyappara Falls, a small waterfall on the way. Huge crowd was there taking snaps and getting wet and enjoying. But most annoying was witnessing a guy taking a bath using soap as if he had got up from bed and come all the way just for that. And not just that, he ended it with washing his clothes with detergent there. He made a laughing stock of himself. We should ban such people in such tourist places. After having tea and clicking snaps, we started our journey.

Our next stop was Spice Garden, which is around 7-8 acres of wide areas. We arranged for a tour inside the Garden where one can view different types of herbs and spices which are grown here. The tour lasted for 30 minutes where the guide will show us every herb and spice and tell the benefits of each. Post the tour they will take us to the store where you can make your purchases of spices and Oils which are of distinct tastes and flavours. Mind you, it will be costly here. We purchased a couple of spices here and made our way out. Our next destination was now Munnar only and we had to reach before 8 pm. And we were already late. The weather became cooler in the Ghat section and we reached Munnar by 8.30 pm. We were all tired and decided to have dinner immediately and disperse.

The early morning was very foggy and me and my friend decided for a walk which was very refreshing and the roadside tea post the walk was too kadak like I usually have. We went back to our room and decided the day’s itinerary as we thought of covering the major places. So the plan was to go farthest location which we could go and while coming back cover at least 4-5 places. We told Dickson our plan.

Night we could not notice but Munnar is all green and beautiful. One will easily fall in love with the place. The best scenery in Munnar is the Green Carpet in the mountains, the whole Munnar is in green with the numerous tea estates, The lush tea gardens with gentle slopes and a beautiful climate. One is so tempted to just drop in, absorb the greenery,  walk and photo shoot there and we did just that. The colour green will simply soothe your eyes.

The drive and the greenery and Dickson ‘s music which was played perfectly suiting the atmosphere- Hum jo chalne lage, chalne lage hai yeh raaste. Ah ha ha manzil se behtar lagne lage hai yeh raaste. We could just go on and on just driving. We all loved Dickson’s choice of Music that he played all along our journey.

We visited Top Station where as the name suggest one can view from the top and it’s an amazing view. This was our first destination and we started our journey back with the second place being the Echo Point. We too tried to check if echo comes, but only mild. The place is a small lake where once can do boating.  We stayed there for some half an hour and reached Kundala Dam.

The best part here is how Dickson introduced the place to us. We were all busy cranking jokes in the car when all of a sudden Dickson said “Damn this”. We were taken aback for a moment till be realised that what he meant was” This is Dam”. We just burst out laughing unable to control our laughter while Dickson staring at us totally confused wondering Are we mad!  . As the monsoons were just starting, there was not too much of water once can see that time. Now it must be overflowing. We walked around the place and one can do horse riding here. We were feeling famished and as it was post lunchtime had noodles at a local tea shop which was made very nicely. We had tea and proceeded. Our next stop was the Rose Garden, where we did not witness much roses but different varieties of flowers.
 

It was already 6.30 when we reached back. So evening Dickson took us to a theatre where we attended and witnessed Kerala culture- Kathakali and Kalaripayattu which was a one hour programme.

Kathakali is one of the major forms of classical Indian dance which is distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up, costumes and facemasks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear. Kalaripayattu is a martial art, which originated as a style in Kerala. It is considered to be one of the oldest surviving fighting systems in still existence in the world. We went back to our hotel and relaxed. Next day we departed from our hotel in Munnar but before that we visited Tea Museum.

 

  The Tata Tea Museum portrays the growth of Munnar tea estates, which is conveyed through some of the displays like the tea roller to the modern fully automated tea factory. It shows the process of how tea is made. and also learn a thing or two about the production of black tea, white tea and Green tea from the same plant. What we learnt is it that the first  top 3-4 new leaves which is used for making leaves. What I also learnt that Green tea and White tea should never be drunk on an empty stomach. As it is rich in anti-oxidants if, taken on an empty stomach it will kill even the good bacteria present in our body.  It will harm you more than cure. We came back after purchasing all the 3 flavours- White-Green and Black. The tour was quite informative. We also visited the Chocolate factory where one can buy varieties of homemade chocolates. We finally bid adieu to Munnar.
 

Our next destination was Allepey but for that we had to go via Cochin only. In Allepey, we had arranged for 1-night stay in boat house in the backwaters of Kerala. It took some 6-7 hours to reach Allepey.Our check in was at 11 am but we actually reached at 2 pm due to our sudden diversion to Tea Factory and Chocolate factory. Our boat house was call Hail Mary which was quite spacious with 3 bedrooms and a deck above. Once we had boarded, the boat took off and showed us the scenery around. The backwaters really stink. There were numerous boat houses of various shapes and sizes on the way which was quite an interesting watch. Lunch and dinner was part of the package. The cook had arranged fish, chiken, rice , sabzi curry etc which was okay. A different experience of dining in a boat house. By evening around 6 pm, the boat house will park for the night and that is when the power and AC will work as all the boat houses will connect to the power cable in the night. We had dinner, sang, watched movies and made merry till we were tired enough to sleep. Next morning by 6 am again, the boat will start and take us back to the shore where we had boarded after breakfast. It is a nice one-time experience for 1 day.

Dickson was there waiting to take us back. Our flight was at 2 pm. So we had to reach before 12 pm and it was a good 3 hours’ journey. On the way back we just stopped in between to purchase the famous banana chips and made our way to the airport. We bid farewell to Dickson and Kerala .