I get an email from an old pal mid january that he s biting the dust !! I thought was time that i rekindled old relationships, met old pals from school and reminded them of my existence.Well, thats how the plan transpired !
So it was 2 nights in wayanad and then a night in Kozikode where the reception took place.I called my travel friend in Kerala and found out accomodation options in Wayanad .The American chic ( Refer. Hampi Travelogue ) was to come along and we were trying to work this out between her other plans and finally it didnt materialise and i was on my own ( AS ALWAYS )..I happened to talk to few other friends and realised that they were planning Wayanad as well ! and some of their travel buddies had pulled out and there was place in the car . Bingo ! there i fit !
So it was decided .We were to leave before the break of the dawn and be there by 10 am so that we had the rest of the day at our disposal .
The group which was four of us met at night for the last minute discussions and the consensus was that we wouldnt sleep and leave in an hour which was 2 am ! Phewwwww we must be real enthu cutlets !Fine ! all decided , freshened up ,packed some sandwiches and we were ready . We left at 2 . The drive was quite nice- decent roads except for some bad streches near Bandipur .But once we touched kerala , "God" had taken special efforts to keep his "own country" roads in good condition ..hehe !
What was very amusing were the Billboards on the way !!! The company Paragon seemed to have bought this part of karnataka or slippers really sold well here ! We saw close to 20 billboards of paragon . And that was not it - soon there was competetion ,there were other footwear companies too . hehe !
It was pitch dark when we passed Bandipur forests and there we spotted a baby elephant ! We reversed the car and as were waiting in ambush,the baby seemed terrified and was desperately trying to hide behind a tree . Looked absoultely adorable ! We dint wanna torture the poor thing so we left him alone and took off.
We burnt more rubber and finally made it to Sultan Battery . Stopped at a local chaya shop and had some lovely tea . Got back to driving . The early morning mist and the whole scenery was abslolutely breathtaking . Each tree had a story to tell . Each tree seemed like it was dressed to kill. Was an expereince to just stare at them and admire them !
We reached Vythiri which is where the resort is at about 8 am after all the stoppages. It was a 5 km drive in before we actually touched the resort.We werent forwarned about the deplorable condition of the roads in ! And we drove in . Soon the car decided not to go any further and hell ! it was stubborn ! We had driven close to 3 kms already . So another 2 seemed easy to walk .So i started trekking. Saw some workers on the way to the top and tried to chit chat in the lil malayalam that i knew .I was told that the resort wasnt too far or atleast that is what i understood..heheh !! after walking 2 kms i realised that i was all alone lost in the jungle and there seeemed no trace of civilization whatsoever ! Hmmmmmm time to turn back ..Heck i wsnt even carrying my pepper spray !anyways decided to get back to the rest and finally made it down .. I called the resort owner and i was told to hang in there and they would send a four wheel to take us to the resort .
After waiting for half an hour the jeep finally surfaced and we were tired and quite ticked ! We reached the resort in 5 minutes and settled down in 2 rooms . Ordered for breakfast and crashed ! Slept for 2 hours and finally woke up and decided to walk around the resort .We played some badminton and then created out own little trek route and decided to have some fun.The resort was quite fancy and also abit pricey.
Then it was some carom and table tennis . We were certainly famised by then . Went to the dining hall to get ourselves some grub . Some good kerala cuisine awaited us . After indulging in food , we went back to our rooms .
Next morning we were up by 7 . It was an action packed day .We were to go to the Chembra Peak. We were taken in a dilaptated jeep to a certain point in midst of tea plantations before we would start trekking . It was undoubtedly one of the toughest treks i had been for. We were exhausted by the time we reached a certain point and we were running short of time so we decided to head back .
CP is the highest peak in Wayanad. The lake at the top of the hill does not dry up even in the peak of summer. Trekking to the top of this peak takes almost a day.And we certainly dint have the time.
It was nevertheless fun to trek . After which we went to a restaurant called Empire at Kalpetta and had some Local food - Kps and lotsaaa meeen !!!! All that we consumed had fish in it !!!! Yummy !
The next stop was the edakkal caves . it started raining as we were driving towards the cave .It was almost 5 by the time we made it there ,time to close down . Well we quickly bought the tickets and got into a jeep which took us to the foothill . We started the climb which was a combination of natural steps and man made steps .What was very disconcerting was the number of people .It seeemed like one of the happening tourist spots for the locals. It being a sunday , there were all kindsa people . School children , elderly people and some monkeys to give us company..
Finally made it to the caves . I would say a tad dissapointed !I mean after all the drama and trekking it didnt meet our expectations as much
Anyways , we walked around and learnt that the scriptures went way back to the neolithic age which was quite interesting .
We walked back to the main road where our jeep was parked and left for the resort .We were exhausted .Took shower and went to the common area to check out some Theyyam performance that was orgnaised by the resort for the guests .Was good .After which we went and fed our hungry selves and came back to the room.
Next morning we got up early and went around the resort trekking and got attacked by the leeches . With some confusion on the mode of payment we had to stick around at the resort till about 5 pm which was quite irritating . There was no lunch and we were absolutely dead by then . I had to call off my Kozikode plans as it was way too late . The drive i was told wasnt very pleasant with the ghats and buses took a good 3 hour . I was totally exhausted so i decided to head back to Bangalore with the rest of them...
We made it to bangalore in less than 5 hours . We had some makki ki roti and sarson ka saag at Ramanashree and headed home ..
In the NUTSHELL :
Wayanad is beautiful- not as commercialised as the much hyped "Munnar" . There are lots of activities that can be arranged there . The place itself is quite picturesque . I believe the waterfalls are very nice which we missed as we were told would be dry .Was a fantastik experience overall and hope to go there again someday and check the places that i missed .
From the foodies desk :
Malabar cuisine is delectable and one can indulge in some great local gastronomical spendour ! Must try - the curry mean and also the malabar biryani
FACT FILE :
BANGALORE – Ramnagaram – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatna - Mysore – Nanjangud – Gundlupet (Right turn) – Sulthan Bathery – Kalpetta – Vythiri
Distance in Kms :285 Kms
No.of Hours : 5- 6 hours
Road Condition : Good except some streches near Bandipur
