I leaned against my tiny window and peeped through the glass as the plane approached Trivandrum airport, only to see hundreds and hundreds of coconut trees, spread for miles on end, in all directions as far as the eye could go... amazingly close, yet comfortably spaced out, as if someone had carefully measured the distance between them. Modestly-proud in a strange way, they seemed to be silently welcoming us into this unfamiliar paradise, aptly termed ‘God’s own country’.
The unassuming environs of the airport were hardly an indication of the beauty that lay ahead, just waiting to be discovered. We hired a pre-paid cab to take us to Munnar, a 4 hour long drive covering 130 kms. Our lungi-clad Malayali cab driver conversed in perfectly good English, but seemed to be content with restricting his attention to the winding road, and we were free to savour the interesting sights along the route. Crossing dozens of sleepy village lanes scattered with coconut trees, little ponds and thatched huts, we finally reached Western Ghats. Charming rivulets, quaint old wooden bridges, narrow winding roads up the grand sweeping hills, cool mountain air, trees, trees, and more trees…”refreshing” suddenly had a whole new meaning. I could feel the freshness tingling through me, as my eyes ran across patch after patch of green. Heaven!
Darkness had settled in by the time we neared Munnar, and we could barely see anything of the road, as our cab driver expertly, yet slowly manoeuvred through the mystic fog enveloping the tea gardens. Every time we entered the foggy roads passing through yet another tea garden, I caught my breath…and heaved a sigh of relief as we hit the clear road again. After what seemed like eternity, we finally spotted the Mahindra Holiday Resort, Munnar in the far distance and the cab driver muttered something about ‘having made it safe and sound’. A hefty tip and he was on his way, leaving us to complete our hotel check-in.
The hotel boasted of a prime location, but was no benchmark for luxury…in fact the room assigned to us had pathetic cleanliness standards. Some heartburn and several serious complaints later, we settled for a suite…thankfully, it was much closer to our taste…with a four-poster bed, en-suite Jacuzzi and separate living room, and traditional Travancore style furnishings. One couldn’t say the same of the dining options, however. The next two days were a trial of sorts…absence of great food is a big turn-off for us while vacationing, and we could barely make it through. To make things worse, it rained heavily and incessantly, leaving us with no options to explore the gorgeous natural beauty surrounding us, except by peering through our room’s windows or strolling around the hotel patio. To top it, we had to cancel our elephant-spotting adventure trip to nearby Periyar, because of a recent boat capsizing disaster, in which several tourists lost their lives. We had 2 more days before we hit Kumarakom, our next destination and we couldn’t possibly spend 2 more days in Munnar!!! Spontaneous change of plan…we decided we would go to Kochi.
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