Day 9 – South India (Kochi)

Lazily wasted morning and took too much time deciding what to do. So, left the resort around 12pm. Took auto which our resort reception arranged. Took Rs. 170 and made us reach the Vypeen ferry port approx. 15 km far and went straight to local bike rental on other side. Rented two bikes, Yamaha FZ for Rs.450 and Activa for Rs.250. These are per day charges. Had to submit original licenses with the owner and he provided receipt which could be shown to police, as a proof that we have license to drive but kept with the owner.

Earlier planned to visit Athirappilly Waterfalls which will take at least 2 hrs. drive. But couldn't go as we were short of time and it needed to leave early from our place. Anyways, visited Lulu Mall and bought gold. Later visited Vypen lighthouse in the evening and the beach nearby. Had the opportunity to travel from Vypin to Fort kochi via ferry which takes vehicles as well. One ferry for people with vehicles(cost Rs.10 including persons) and another for people without vehicles(cost just Rs.2). Via road also, you may reach from Vypin to Fort Kochi, but it takes around 1.5 hrs. whereas via ferry it takes around 40mins including the queue. Last time for ferry is 10 pm but avoid travelling at this time. No pubic transport, no autos, no rickshaw are easily available. Public transport ends at 9 – 9:15 pm.

Finally ended our last day of the trip with dinner at a local restaurant at 9pm. And had the opportunity to see rain, for the first time during our trip, else it was sun only which was with us everywhere.

Next day, from resort in Vypin to airport costed us Rs.1500 and finally flight from Kochi to Mumbai marked the end of trip.

Day 8 – South India (Munnar to Kochi)

Had breakfast and checked out for our last destination Kochi around 12pm. On the way, driver(not us) planned for sightseeing.

Visited Tea Museum and spent around 2 hrs. there. Ticket cost is around Rs.60/person, and you get to see a movie for Munnar tea history, get a complimentary machine tea (but u can drink as many, drink as you want) , a speech for tea health benefits, demo of tea making process and finally counter to buy the tea. You should buy and try different flavored tea. There is a shop for printing tees and mugs, etc. but costly. Not worth it. Coming back to tea, you wouldn’t find it in grocery stores near your place. Remaining sightseeing places were waste of time. He made us reach our resort at Vypeen, Kochi by 8pm. Last but not the least, do buy home made chocolates. Available everywhere. Kodaikanal, Munnar. Try every flavor of it. It will be around Rs80 to Rs100 per 250 gms.

Relaxed at the resort and had worst dinner of our trip at the resort. This marks the end of the day.

Day 7 – South India (Munnar)

Next morning, left for the usual sightseeing towards the Madupetty Dam. Photo point: nice pine trees for clicks. then to Madupatty dam where motor Boating costed us Rs.500 for 15 minutes ride for 4 people. Do check the time when u hop on boat. Driver brings u back in 10 minutes. Be aware. It was nice to ride on it. Then it was echo point, another side of river where madupatty dam is built upon. Decent.

We had planned to visit Kudaly Lake and top station as well, as they very well are normal sightseeing but the driver cheated us on this, and didn't take us there. His reason was, less profit as 'top station' is quite far, 23kms from Munnar. So my suggestion would be, if you are hiring a vehicle, at the beginning itself, make it clear to driver the exact places you wish to visit and then decide upon the price. We discussed the cities to visit and sightseeing around it. Expected him to cover sightseeing where we wished to go, not according to his economical plan. So clarify on sightseeing in detail.

So instead of 'top station', driver took us to Eravikulam national park, which we had planned for next day. Eravikulam national park was worth the visit for its scenery. Animal sightseeing was minimal. To visit the place, dedicated mini buses are available which costed us Rs.65 each for up and down. The point where the buses dropped us, was another entry point for walking only. At this point you can have dougnuts at Rs. 25/- or Rs. 50/-. Nice to try. There you further climb up 2 kms max, after which tourists are prohibited.

Our day ends with Punjabi dinner at local restaurant.

Day 6 – South India (Kodaikanal)

Had a tight sleep at the hotel previous night, packed the bags and left early for the sightseeing in Kodaikanal in 1st half of the day and then left for our next destination Munnar. Realized within a couple of hours that Kodaikanal is not worth the visit, we could have skipped it entirely. Nothing worth for sightseeing.

But one thing was worth. Cycling around the lake. Normal Cycle Rs. 20 per hour and double pedal rs. 50 per half hour. So many vendors. Perimeter of lake is 5 km. At every curve you feel like lake just ended but seriously it didn’t. So basically if you are a good rider 3-4 rounds of lake and you will enjoy it. Do that in evening, pleasant weather.

A shortcut from Kodaikanal to Munnar exists from the dense forests, but government has closed it permanently. So everyone goes via the long route. We reached Munnar by 9PM and directly checked into the hotel. Booked the hotel on the way via call. Skipped the taxes, so it costed less, includes Wi-Fi.

Day 5 – South India (Rameshwaram)

Its 4am. Man, so early..!! Aawwwwaaahhh..

Reached temple a.s.a.p. and got to know that we have to shell out money to see God. Around Rs.65. On the entry it was written, it is for special entry, but I could not see any other queue apart from ours. What is this now?

Had darshan, bought ‘paid’ parshad, clicked few pics, though they were prohibited inside the temple. And yes,non-hindus are also prohibited. This makes me sick about ancient temples. This is the 2^nd time I saw such prohibition. Last time it was in my previous trip to another temple in outskirts of Chennai.

Apart from this temple, the other must-see place is Dhanushkodi according to the story where Lord Rama get the bridge built to Lanka. This place is merely 14kms from Sri Lanka, as claimed by local fisherman.

From Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi is 25kms, but non-4 wheel drives could only reach a point where road ends and barren land starts up to the end of land where Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal meets. That land has pure sand beach and little rock.

One needs to hire local mini buses or trucks to reach the Dhanushkodi end as only 4WD vehicles could only get pass through more than 10 inches of sand. We saw Scorpio and an exception, 2 wheeler bike with big tyres, to reach.

Normal shared charge is Rs.100, but mini truck or vehicle goes only when vehicle is full. Else you take a jeep for Rs.1000 or Rs.1300 from your hotel itself.

It was 9am when we reached there and waited for other passengers. We got free by 12pm.

The Dhanushkodi land is simply majestic. I had not seen such a beautiful beach like this. The water is crystal clear, beach glowing in the sun. While reaching the end, on my right side was Indian Ocean which was making waves as any other beaches, but on my left side, was a calmer Bay of Bengal, with no waves. Very calm. The view was serene to watch a boat silently floating on it. Simply awesome. Though the sun was scorching hot and we were deep in sweats, but words are less to describe the beauty of this place.

Left Dhaunshkodi, and Rameshwaram and headed straight for our next destination Kodaikanal via Madurai. And a small stop at Meenakshi Temple.

Couldn’t visit the Meenakshi Temple as some festival was going on and it was too much rush around the temple. Moreover we were running late due to slow and economical driver of ours and we had to cover hilly area in daylight as much as possible.

Reached Kodaikanal, found the govt. hotel but was expensive, with the help of local tout looked for other hotels which didn’t help and at end without anyone’s help found a hotel at reasonable price (without taxes). 1850 per night and one complimentary bed + 250 extra per bed.