Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Noiseless, Pollutionless Holiday Story, Part III - Green, Green, Everywhere, At Munnar!

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This post about our trip to Munnar, is due for the past few months! This is my first post for the new year!

When I said 'Green, green, everywhere', I meant it...you can see the proof in the pictures below!


This is the bungalow, called Nettikudi bungalow, where we stayed! The picture was taken from the backside road, when we went for an evening walk!



View from the Bungalow!


Partial view of the bungalow! The picture of the giant butterfly was taken from the left side roof of this bungalow!




Full view of the bungalow! We loved this secluded place without any interference from the outside world...heaven! Not even street lights were there in the evening!

We went to Munnar, after visiting Aathoor.  I had written two posts on the above title and posted a couple of pictures also from Aathoor and Munnar here.  We didn't visit the normal touristy places (visited Top slip and Kannan Devan tea factory, that is all!) but stayed at the bungalow we had booked and enjoyed the surroundings! Sometimes it was drizzling and quite cold but not unbearably cold. We went for long walks on the narrow roads which were meant for just the jeeps which were taking the labourers for plucking the tea leaves and taking the bags of the day's collection of the plucked leaves in the evening!

This is an old typical English Bungalow, which was built in 1927,  for the Tea Estate Managers.  You can read more about this bungalow with pictures, here!
They have got 3 rooms with old type furniture with clean linen.  Our family and our friend's family took two rooms.  One had renovated bathroom and one had old type bathroom...! The dining room had good cutlery and the food (vegetarian) was quite good! We still remember the taste of the Tea, they served there, which was very good! The staff were polite and seemed to work there from many years from generations! Have a look at their kitchen:

They use this choolha even now! They had a huge boiler in the corner too, which supplied water to the rooms! The light switches were of the old type, in the kitchen... round black one!


This old picture was there at the reception!



The beautiful dining room!
The front lawn of the bungalow! My husband and his friend were exercising here in the mornings!
The 'walking' bird!
The bird in the above picture was walking all the time! I saw it flying only to the beam of the building and started walking there again with a funny sound!
I didn't see much birds except the bulbuls, some humming birds and koyals! Majority were bulbul birds.  I am very fond of them and feel them like members of our family, the reason is here!

Now, to the sceneries! Nature at its best!

 
It was drizzling most of the time.  We saw these clouds in the mornings and evenings and sometimes, in daytime too!

Green, green...!


It looks as if the clouds bit the mountain partially!


Again, the clouds, mountains and valley!





Tea pluckers!

We saw these wild elephants on our way to Top Slip. 

We don't have good photographs from 'Top Slip', a beautiful place at Munnar.  It was cloudy or drizzling and the pictures were hazy.  Went for elephant rides.  Found a Jain hotel for lunch, where the food was quite good. Came back, played cards, had a good chat and slept comfortably! A typical holiday!

Now, have a look at a small clip of the video, we took it there! Click on the pictures to have a clear picture!




You can watch this video in higher quality on YouTube

Edited to add (11.1.12): The video was taken from the front side of the bungalow.  It starts from the narrow lane, which is the way to the building.  As I told you, it is situated in a remote area, pollutionless   area! At 1.26 mts. you can see a beautiful white patch in the right side top corner, which is a waterfall!

31 comments :

KParthasarathi said...

Excellent post with great pictures and crisp captions.It was for me a small tour of Munnar showing its enchanting greenery, the narrow roads snaking through mountains,the houses situated at different levels and nature decked in all her beauty.The place where you stayed ,especially the lawn at the high level, looks very inviting.Could you trek or walk along the narrow paths?How safe are they?

Sandhya said...

K PARTHASARATHI: Many options were there, but we walked in the morning and evening in the narrow roads, plucking and tasting the tender tea leaves! They were tasty! The staff asked us not to venture after sunset because the area was famous for leeches! No other problem.

Thank you, Partha Sir!

Bikram said...

oh wow, such beautiful place . I really loved the scenery so greeen.

I would have loved to stay there just my type of place plenty to walk around and all that green and the biggest advantage no Disturbance ...

beautiful
Bikram's

L KRUPAA said...

That was a wonderful getaway. The place looks so beautiful. Hope to make it there sometime.

Destination Infinity said...

I have visited Munnar many years back. Good to see that its still green and not become filled with concrete white structures (like Ooty). The vastness of Tea estates, as shown in your pictures and video surprises one. Imagine how much efforts it might take to plant tea in such a challenging and vast area... I guess the video is taken from Top Slip, its very beautiful.

Destination Infinity

Sandhya said...

BIKRAMJIT: Yes, if you are the person to be happy without going out, then this is the place! The staff are very good and they cook every type of food too. Nice place.


L.KRUPAA: Yes, please do visit this place! You will enjoy!


DESTINATION INFINITY: Ooty is full of filth. Too crowded too! This place is very good. But there are not much places to visit. The town is crowded. If you like to be in a silent, serene place, this is it!

Yes, we too wondered how they planted in those days and how the labourers walked up/walk up and to pluck the tea leaves...amazing! But felt sad about them! Too much hard work!

No, the video was taken from the front of the bungalow! Top slip view was not very clear...very cloudy/foggy!

BK Chowla, said...

Must be very exciting.Pictures are very nice.
A friend of mineused to work for a plantation company in Munnar.One morning, he saw a snake sitting on his vehicle as was preparing to go to work.
His wife made him leave his jobame evening.

R. Ramesh said...

wah wah supera irruke..nice photos n post...haha BKC's comment:)

Amrit said...

Wow great pictures

It was noiseless, pollutionless holiday but NOT POINTLESS

Geeta said...

Was blog hopping and stumbled upon yours. Your blog name stood out. Nice one.

This place takes you back in time. So serene and peaceful. Is on my list to visit.

Saritha said...

Beautiful post sandhya,lovely pics.
My sister went to munnar,she told us a lot about that place.Hope i visit such place...

dharmabum said...

my parents recently went there and were apparently disappointed. among other things, they said it was quite warm!
happy new year to you :)

Rahul Bhatia said...

A lovely post and now it is time to see this beautiful destination. I have seen Kerala a bit but missed this one!

Sandhya said...

BK CHOWLA: Nice story! I would have insisted on my husband to get out of the place too!


A: Yes, not 'pointless'! Thank you, Amrit!


GEETA: Welcome to my blog, Geeta! Yes, this place is worth visiting!


VARUNAVI: You will definitely visit, Saritha! Let the children grow up a bit, then they too will enjoy and remember the trip!


DHARMABUM: Nice to see you here, after a long time Dharma! The town area is crowded. The area where we stayed was very serene and peaceful. Maybe that was the big plus point for us!

Happy New Year and Happy pongal to you and your family, Dharma!


RAHUL BHATIA: Please visit, you and your family will definitely enjoy, Rahulji!

radha said...

How lovely, and so lush and green. Staying in cities these scenes are lost to us. Wonderful pics.

SM said...

green green
so beautiful pics

sharada.econtent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wini said...

Wow! This reminds of my holiday at Kodaikanal maami! We stayed at the MRF guest house. It was beautiful! Felt as though we were in Europe! Even the food tasted better, probably because of the fresh vegetables!

What a lovely house to spend your holiday in and elephants! :) Enga ponalum vidadhu :) LOVE the pictures.

The picture taken in 1924 is a revelation. People actually wore blazers with shorts. What a fashion statement that would have been! :P

Sandhya said...

RADHA: Thank you, Radha!


SM: Yes, green green! Thank you!


ASHWINI SRIRAM: I remember you telling me the story of your Kodai visit! It is always nice to be in a place surrounded by greenery, Ashwini!

Yes, aanai yenge ponaalum vidaathu yennai!

You have got sharp eyes! They had one more old picture too! Just the 3 bedrooms and dining and reception were painted and looked new! The kitchen at the backside looked primitive. After our Kashmir boathouse visit, this is the place I loved most and would like to visit again!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous pictures and what a lovely, green holiday!! Love such old style houses, loved that kitchen (though I would not want to use it every day)... there's history in these houses!

Anonymous said...

nice travelogue with beautifully captured photos and nice information

thanks for sharing

HAPPY PONGAL TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

Sandhya said...

INDIAN HOME MAKER: Yes, it was really a green holiday...Aathoor and Munnar, IHM. The bungalow was old-fashioned with old wooden furniture with quite big rooms.

The old fashioned choolha is just for admiring for us!


KRISHNA: Thank you, Krishna!

Happy Pongal to you and your family too!

ashok said...

wow! wonderful post!

Happy Pongal !

Kala said...

I always wanted to visit munnar planed many times unfortunately couldn't make it till now..Ur pics are too good and increased my will to visit the place for sure

dsdsds said...

It should have been like Paradise.. without any pollution and surrounded by all that beauty.. nice post to start the new year.. i too have a couple of travel post, but i am dreading to post them becoz my pics wont be very good! Happy New Year and Happy Pongal too.. I read those tags you had answered earlier.. It was nice getting to know you! :))

Jyoti Babel said...

I have been to Munnar and it is indeed a green paradise on earth.. your pictures very much captures the essence of the place..

Sandhya said...

ASHOK: Thank you and wish you and your family, the same!


KALA: Please visit. You will like it and never forget the trip, Kala!


HEMA: Yes, it is paradise without any contact from the outside world!

You write very well, Hema! Please write about your travels!

Thank you and wish you and your family, a very happy pongal!

If you read 'voh kaagaz ki kashti' tag, you will know more about me! Thank you!

Anu said...

First time on your blog. These are eye captivating pictures of green mountains! I have lovely honeymoon memories of munnar! The Cottage house where you stayed looked gorgeous - set on perfect location! And it's nice to have that vintage feeling, especially the building had so much of history itself!

Sujatha Sathya said...

you brought back beautiful memories of my own trip to Munnar. so beautiful it was! i must add, you have photographed the place extremely well. the captions, the write-up very nice post
and when we returned from there, in the bus o Blore, they played the movie Maina (Tamil) it was like icing on the cake because that movie is fully shot in Munnar

Ramakrishnan said...

Awesome post & amazing pics of Munnar. Never been there before but plan to visit soon. You are indeed fortunate to wild elephants at Top Slip.
The little bird strolling in the lawn is a wagtail.

Sandhya said...

VAISH: Welcome to my space, Vaish! Yes, we enjoyed both the atmosphere inside the cottage and outside! Funny thing is, we rented just two rooms. One room was vacant. They have got only three rooms for letting out. So, we had the privacy, our family and our friend's and it was not very expensive too!

Yes, the building's each and every corner is full of history. Did you see the video, it hasn't got a proper road too!

Thanks for the comment, Vaish!


SUJATHA SATHYA: Now, I must see 'Maina'! I know the songs are good and heard that the movie also was good.

It is nice to go there or places like that and get de-toxed, once in a while!


R.RAMAKRISHNAN: Remember to stay there, Ramakrishnan Sir! You will enjoy more!

Even if we went near the bird, it was not flying off, but walking faster! Thanks for the information!

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