Ezhatumughom - Athirapilly October 16 2011

We was planning for a Wayanad trip with Vinu, Antony on 15th & 16th which was decided on 13th but on 14th afternoon Antony informed that he is not well and will not be able to join us Vinu also voiced the same and postponed this trip.

As I have sanctioned my leave for 15th Saturday I was bit frustrated, so at home we had a small discussion and planned for a trip to Ezhattumughom & Athirapilly. Sheeja & Rajeev also informed that they wi

ll join us and Krishnamma also joined us. So next thing we have to get the vehicle probably a maruthi van after some phone calls we got Manish, Lachus school van driver who will come for the trip. Breakfast Chappathy & masala and Lunch chicken curry & Pulav and salad by Sheeja

We started by about 8.30 and went thru Ezhatumuhom plantation road just after Angamaly it was a rough ride but after about 1-2 hrs we reached Ezhattumuhom and had our breakfast and all went to the side of the river and found some nice place to cool off. Amma and Krishnama was not willing for a walk on the shallow waters, but all others had a great time in the water.

After about 1-2 hrs it was about 12.30 we planned to go to Athirapilly its about 30-45 minutes from here so on the way we had a brief stop to had our Pulav & Chicken curry and after we moved to Athirapilly.

Athirapilly falls beauty is enjoyed from the bottom of the falls as its was October the falls was not very strong. So we decided to go down that

is about 100 steps its around 100 - 150 feet down from the road but its laid with cement steps so all can go down without ease. But Amma and Krishnamma had a tought time because of the steep steps. We had a nice time near the

falls and we all spend some time near the falls. After this we decided to move up to the top of the falls ie

without steps but laid with granite stones not very steep, but if you want to cut corners, ie shortcuts it would be steep after about 10-20 minutes coaxing and puffing we reached the top of the falls, little bit crowdy becuase it was a weekend.

Me Rajeev, Manish & Akaash walked along the river and found a nice place, with small waterfalls and had a great time there in the cool water and after about 30-45 minutes we decided to windup and start our return by about 9-10 pm we reached home.

Valpara Parambikulam Munnar 15.05.2011 - 17.05.2011

Valpara Parambikulam Munnar

This tour was planned in a week due to hectic work and other functions Jaimey, Judson could not spare Friday, Saturday, Sunday so this tour was planned for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A bit of confusion about the vehicle I was very much inclined to book the Sumo with Rajesh, but all was not sure about the space in Sumo because kids have grown up, but we had a call with Rajesh and told all can accommodate and taking Innova for daily rent is not feasible because we have to shell out ` for every 1500Km, so we decided to book Sumo. So the next thing was food for the three days so the menu goes like this Appam, Chappathi, for break fast / dinner and rice for lunch for all 3 days because we have rice cooker and for the third day break fast/ dinner from hotel.

15.05.2011

The plan was to start the journey by 8 am so can we can reachto Valpara. We were ready by 7 am andAthirapilly by about 11- 12 am spend sometime there and move on Rajesh came by about 7.30 we went to Jaimeys house picked them and went to Judans house and all bags were kept on the carrier with two cans of water. We started by about 8.30 am and reached Ezhattumugam to have our breakfast and kids have a great time in the water it was very safe so all had a dip in the water and we had a great time there had our breakfast with

appam and chicken curry and we moved from there by about 12.30pm to Athirapilly. When we were about to reach Athirapilly we saw about 10-15 vehicles waiting for the entry ticket so we changed plan to skip Athirapilly and move on, we had a nice view of Athirapilly {time : 1.40} pm from the road.

At Vazhachal forest ch

eck post all vehicles are thoroughly checked and all plastic bags, disposible plates, bottles are counted and noted in the entry slip, we saw a group of bachelors everything was checked even cigarettes were not allowed, we were spared because of family members and after that we moved to Sholayar forest had a stop over for our lunch all eyes were glued to either sides of the forest for any movement to see something but upto Sholayar nothing was seen we had a small stop on the Sholayar valve house to see the penstock pipes which leads

to the Sholayar power house. [ time 5 pm ] all phones will be out of coverage except bsnl. On the way to Malakkapara we saw a heard of elephants in the forest it was little far from the road so didnt had clear view but all of them had a vi

ew of the wild elephants. At about time [6.30pm] we reached Malakkapara had tea and we called Jaimeys relative Tomy uncle from a telephone booth, who is in Valppara who has booked our accomodation, he told that we will reach there at about 8pm. By about 8pm we reached Valpara and called Tomy uncle he came and took to our accomodation it was a cosy home home stay on the first floor with 2 be

drooms with attached toilet, hall and a small kitchen with amenities hot water, tv, extra bed, blankets, dining table, and glasses, we loved this accomodation. So everyone was very hungry so all were busy with making omlettes, rice for tomorrow, and all the curries were heated. We had a good dinner and went to sleep by about 11pm so all were told to keep the alarm at 6 am so we can start our day from 8 am Tomy uncle also briefed us some places in Valpara, but we were not interested as we have to reach Parambikulam and dont know when we will reach there so that we can have the jungle safari. Tomy uncle informed us that we can go to Parambikulam without going to pollachi the route was Anamalai - Sethumadadi - Topslip- Parambikulam.

16.05.2011

The route from Valpara to Pollachi is with 40 hairpin bends with a nice view of Aliyar dam on the way we had great views and at hair pin 9 there is a view point and saw two Nilgiri Tahr from there we reached Parambikulam at about 1pm, road from Top slip to Anappady was very bad we saw some Bison, wild pigs , and waited for the entry procedures to the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve. Visitors vehicle are not allowed to the Parambikulam Tiger reserve visitors are taken in the Safari vehicle our vehicle was a tempo traveller we took 9 seats and 4 others also joined us we saw a hear of spotted deer when we started the safari the roads in the sanctuary is very bad and the safari vehicle was not very good only views was teak plantations and the first place was the Kanimara teak which is about 450 years old we took some pics and moved to Thunakadavu dam and from there to Parambikulam dam not much to see on the way. When was returning we saw a heard of bison and elephants and we were back to Parambikulam had tea and moved to Anapadi. Our next place was Udumalpet which was 50-60 kms on the way we saw wind farms had a stop and took a nice look on the wind mill and moved to Udumalpet and reach

ed there at about 8pm. We checked out some lodges and find a lodge AM lodge near Udumalpet bustand, there also we reheated our food and had chappati & curry.

17.5.2011

Our next destination was Munnar which was about 80 km from Udumalpet we started by about 8.30 on the way we went to Amaravathi Crocodile rearing centre and Amaravati dam had breakfast bread & bannanas and we moved to Chinnar which was a a boring way not much to see only just barren lands may because of the harsh summer.

We reached marayoor and on the way we saw a good location to have lunch and to take a dip in the waters it was a very nice and safe place all had a nice time there and after some time the weather changed very fast and it was going to rain so all had to rush to our vehicle. From there we moved to Munnar now this is place is very congested becasue of the vacation lots of people everywhere by around 5pm we reached munnar and moved to Devikulam and from there to Attukad waterfalls that was around 6.45 pm had a nice view of the falls and moved to Ernakulam and reached by 11 pm