Men Are Back AGAIN

Day 1: 14^th July 2011

4 AM we hit the road and our next stop was after traveling 405 Kms via Salem for our first destination on the way to Munnar, @ Amaravathi Dam. We had taken couple of pit stops for a breakfast at Ananda bhavan { and here it starts my count of Masala Dosa's that i had over this trip.}

Amaravathi Dam at Amaravathinagar, 25 km south on NH 17 from Udumalpet, is located in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Coimbatore district. It was built primarily for irrigation and flood control and now also has 4 megawatts of electric generating capacity installed. It is notable for the significant population of Mugger Crocodiles living in its reservoir and catchment basin. And there is a small croc park which you can visit for just paying a fees of 50 PAISE {i still have no idea on the logic of taking 50 paise as a entrance fees when parking and all other stuff are free}

The next 76 Kms to Munnar via Lakkam Water Falls and Marayoor - It is the only place in Kerala with natural growth of sandalwood trees, natural caves with murals, and relics from late Stone Age civilisation. The road passes through Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary as well. Most of the time goes in clearing checkpoint you may come across some 8 check posts by forest dept. Police dept. of both the states. Each check post you need to pay some cash for no reason tho{I am not sure if this is some kind of bribe}.

Finally we arrived @ Munnar around 6 PM and landed directly @ Sarvana Bhavan for yet another Masala Dosa {guys don't keep a count of that i will let you know how many dosa i had at the end of this writeup}. And now in the chilling weather of Munnar we needed to hunt for our stay and after several hours of investigation we finally landed in Thayyil's cottages located on Tea county road i must say thats the best location for stay in Munnar.

Day 2: 15^th July 2011

Eravikulam (Rajamalai) National Park, takes almost 3 Hrs as there is lot to see, rare flora and fauna, Atlas moth (largest in the world), lion-tailed macaque, leopards, tigers, The Kurichi or Neelakurinji Flowers turn the hills of Rajamalai blue every 12 years. By the way we could not see most of them as it was heavy fog and there was hardly visibility, at times not more than 20 meters. But we had a good view of The Nilgiri tahr, a very rare type of mountain goat (Hemitragas bylocres) , on the verge of extinction. Half the world population of this rare goat is seen in and around Rajamala. One can actually debate if going to the high peak just to see some goats is worth all the effort or not. However, the walk along the park is very romantic and has some breath taking view of Namakad water falls.

Well to cover Munnar in all direction you need to plan well as every direction has so many places to see. Post lunch we had a drive on Bothamedu view point on Cochin direction then headed towards Top Station Direction.

Our first stop was Mattupetty Lake and Dam, which lie 13 km from Munnar, enroute Top Station, at an altitude of 1700 mt. The lake and dam surrounded by wooden hills and tea plantations, makes a great view. Boating is also allowed on Mattupetty Lake and combined with picnic and trekking, makes for a great outing from Munnar. Our next stop was Kundala Lake, Echo Point, Shooting point. And finally it was Top station view point. This view point lies in Tamil Nadu and you need to trek a bit to go to the final tip to have a breath taking view. Its worth the effort to reach to this final spot.

Day 3: 16^th July 2011

We started early morning with a power Dosa @ Sarava Bhavan again :)

Our next stop was Madurai 153 Kms drive with a very dangerous ghat section to be covered. {And it was a journey from 15 degrees to 35 degrees temprature in 2 Hrs}With couple of pit stops. We reached Madurai, post Lunch had a struggle to find parking near the Meenaxi temple road and our only purpose to visit Madurai was to see the Sri Meenakshi - Sundareswarar Temple since the temple opened @ 4 PM we haaded towards Thirumalai Nayak Palace to kill some time, I don't recommend this place at all. BTW this was the location for Mani Ratnam's super hit song “Kehana hi kya” from Bombay was shot {feathering Manisha koirala and Arvind swamy and super hit music from ARRahman}

After the disappointment at this palace we headed towards Sri Meenakshi Temple.

Synonymous with Madurai is the Meenakshi Sundareswarar twin Temple, the pivot around which the city has evolved. The Meenakshi Temple complex is literally a city - one of the largest of its kind in India and undoubtedly one of the oldest too. The temple grew with the contribution of each dynasty and victorious monarchs, into an enormous complex extending over an area of 65000 Sq m. There are four massive gateways enclosing these two shrines. Even a casual visitor is fascinated by the many paintings and sculptures.

A striking feature of the temple is the astonishing structure know as “Ayiramkaal Mandapam” or the Hall of Thousand Pillars and each pillar features high, ornate, bold sculptures that look life like. View from any angle these pillars appear to be in a straight line, an architectural masterpiece indeed In the outermost corridors are situated the matchless musical pillars carved out of stones. When it is tapped, each pillar produces different musical note.

Our last activity in Madurai was the Murugan Idly. Its just next to the temple lane and its a must do activity in Madurai after the temple visit just taste the Idly's here and those idly's marked the completion of our Madurai chapter of journey :)

Our final stop for the day was Tiruchi. Madurai to Tiruchi 138 Kms was covered in a whopping 60 Min drive. And that was one stretch on NH 45B just too good road done by NHAI. And i must admit tho the toll is pretty high, end of day it saves time and fuel. And that we had covered our destination in less the half the time as expected we decided to move on to Tanjavur and take our night halt there. What next Tiruchi to Tanjavur another express way waited for us and the next 60 Kms drive was covered in 45 Min. By the time we hunted a stay almost whole of Tanjavur went to sleep and we had to compromise on our dinner at a hotel which served us NOT so well done Masala dosa :(

Day 4: 17^th July 2011

Fourth day and our last day of our tour. We had couple of places in Tanjavur and Tiruchi to cover before we had back to B'lore. So before having our breakfast we headed to The Peruvudaiyar Koyil or Brihadeeswarar Temple , is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas kingdom in temple architecture. It remains as one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture. This temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples".

This temple is one of India's most prized architectural sites. The temple stands amidst fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th century. The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. The Kalash or 'Chikharam' (apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is not carved out of a single stone as widely believed. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high. The entire temple structure is made out of hard granite stones, a material sparsely available currently in Thanjavur area where the temple is located. Brihadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years in 2010.

After the temple visit we had a taste of Steaming Idly's of Thanjavur and headed towards Tiruchi for the final spot Rock fort. The 83m high Rock Fort is the only outcrop in the otherwise flat land of the city. The rock is one of the oldest in the world-approximately 3.800 million years, which makes it as old as the rocks of Greenland and older than the Himalayas. The sheer abruptness of its rise is a thrill in itself, but the actual center of attraction is not the fort itself, of which very little remains, but the temple at the summit. 344 steps out of rock lead to the top where there are inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century B.C. Hardly anything remains of the ramparts but the Main Guard Gate is still intact.

So finally it was time for another 340 Kms drive back to B'lore. We had a a break @ Saravana Bhavan for another and final Tamil Meals to recharge ourself.

B'lore-Munnar-Madurai-Tanjore-Tiruchirapalli-B'lore Total kms 1453 kMS.

Thanks to Sarvana Bhavan and Anand Bhavan for cont..supply of Masala dosa throughout our tour.

Thanks to Raghu to driving us safely through our the tour, he was the only one who drove throughout safe and sound Thanks buddy.

Prashant thanks for your skill to understand Tamil and Malayalam that helped us to communicate throughout the journey.

Arun pawar for being obedient and giving be the front seat of the car most of the time :)

BhimSen buddy this is your first tour with our gang Thanks for being a good boy :)

{ The total cost of 4 day tour was 3350/- INR per head including Fuel/Food/Stay }