Exploring Karnataka and Kerala

"Beautiful Western Ghats, Historic and Old Temples, Delightful beaches,Enchanting Spice Gardens, Enormous Tea Plantations, Traditional Kathakali shows and Marshall arts enhancing culture and heritage, Scenic hill stations, intriguing flora and fauna,aroma of spices in the air"- its all about Karnataka and Kerala in brief.

Bangalore- Kukke Subramanya-  Dharmastala- Manglore- Udipi- Cochi- Munnar- Thekkadi.

Day -1:                                                                                                                                                 

Reached Bangalore at 6pm after a  5 hour journey from Chittoor. The actual trip begins from here.

Subramanya Road

Convenient train journeys always happen in the night-board, sleep and disembark for a full day of whatever.After a 6 hour overnight train journey, we reached SBHR station at 5 am and it took 20 mins to reach the Kukke Subramanya by bus.

PS: Buses are very frequent from SBHR station to Kukke

After performing pooja at Kukke Subramanya

 After a fresh up in a classic and traditional hotel ie SLV Residency  nearby, we reached temple at 7 am.Performed pooja till 11 am. The funniest thing about the pooja was,people who attended the pooja were sweating a lot but we were so fresh.Later we realized that they are the natives of Bangalore and Manglore and we from Chennai and Kadapa.

Western Ghats

And in noon, we started to Dharmastala by bus. Even the bus journey was fantastic as it is through the scenic western ghats. Stayed in that place till 6pm and then we started to Manglore to catch a bus to Kochi as our trip to Kerala will start from Kochi.

PS: Kerala trip was through makemytrip.com

Gate Way of Dharmastala

 But unfortunately we missed the bus to Kochi , so we were supposed to stay in Manglore for one day.

Day 2:

Udipi Krishna Temple

 As Udipi is so close to Manglore, we went to Udipi in the early morning to see Lord Krishna Temple and returned back by noon. Then comes the beautiful Arabian Sea ie Panambur Beach in Manglore.

A selfie at the entrance of Panambur Beach

N & N at Arabian Sea

You can guess my routine task if I see the sand on beaches. That too such a soft and slippery sand of Arabian Sea.
Yes!!!! you are right. Enjoyed by writing the names of us on the sand. "N&N @ Arabian Sea" .

"N&N!!!!" Stop guessing guys. Its "Nithin & Naishi".

The art of roof making influenced from Kerala

The influence of Kerala in Manglore is seen everywhere may be in terms of architecture, jewelry designs etc as they both are so close.

Sunset on the Sea Shore

Spent wonderful time in the beach by playing in the soft white sand,  letting the cool breezes hit our faces, and enjoying the scenic Sunset in the Arabian sea. We roamed the entire city as if we were the locals by catching local buses, shopping etc as the trip was self planned.

Day 3:

Reached Kochi in the morning and met the driver of makemytrip.com. And from Cochi, we started to Munnar and it is 4 hour journey covering 150kms.  All the way from Cochi to Munnar is so scenic and refreshing. We can enjoy each and every part of nature starting from the green dense forests covered wit fog to the babbling waterfalls.

A walk on the beautiful ghat road

Nithin playing with Touch me Nots

Scared of my first ever fish massage

On the way to Munnar, there was a Spice Garden and we  spent almost an hour over there. Though this spice garden trip is useful for botanical students, we enjoyed it.The most unforgettable incident in that spice garden was ' Fish Massage'. As I don't know anything about it, I just thought of giving a look over there but Nithin forced me to do that massage. Though I just had tickling sensation, I was very very scared in the beginning.







Reached Munnar at 2 pm and we checked in at Hill View Hotel.
We started the trip of Munnar with a classical , traditional Kathakali show. The show is very special for us due to Nithin's performance. Coming to the detail, we sat at the first row starting from makeup session of performers to Kathakali dance show. And the performer was observing us  from the beginning as I was trying to motivate Nithin as he is feeling so bored. Once the show started, the performer called Nithin to come to dais to perform with him and I was giving replies to them from the audience. In this way, we became the talk of the show. But the sad thing is , I Couldn't take photograph's of him while performing as the camera and mobiles are with him.

Kathakali Show

Make up time

Couple of the day

After the show, we went to Hydel Park which is very near to our hotel. Spent wonderful time there enjoying the scenic beauty of  Munnar.

Hydel Park

Beautiful scenery at Hydel PArk

Day 4:

The journey to previous trips and this trip differed a lot due to technology.  Google maps and several location based android apps helped a lot to explore all the places near by Munnar.

The next day in our itinerary list was the  Eravikulam National Park, Tea Museum, Madupetty Dam, Echo Park, Shooting Spot, Ripple Tea Plantations.

There was a very big queue for that National park as it is Saturday. May be after a 30 to 40 minute wait, we got entry tickets for it.  It took 30 mins to reach the park by bus and you can enjoy the scenic beauty through out the journey.

The attraction of that park was the Nilgiri Tahr. At first , when we found him, we where so exited. but later we found that we can notice them everywhere throughout the trek.

Trying to capture Nithin with Nilgiri Tahr as unfortunately both are matching matching

Kind of Nilgiri Tahr on the Tee

This trek made us active due to sun bath after so many days of cool climate and we were so hungry as always. So for instant energy, we found these fresh and delicious carrots.

Yummy Yummy fresh Carrots

Next place in our itinerary list was the Tea Museum. Learnt more than required about tea manufacturing process, types of tea etc.

Tea Museum

Visiting a tea museum and without tea!!!!--- No way!!!

Nithin is trying to enjoy tea as it is his first time

Then comes the Ripple Tea Plantaions

Posing as if we are the brand ambassadors for Ripple Tea 

Madupetty Dam

One

Two

Spent some time playing with pebbles and then comes the Shooting spot where most of the South Indian movies are pictured. The name itself (SHOOTING SPOT)  made us so exited and here is the result of it.

Lights  Camera  Action

Action 1

Action 2

Action 3

Credits to our driver who was very patient with us and of-course with our photographs and made the trip so funny with his Malayalam accent English.

Shopping!!!!

Next we went to Echo Point.

I should admit it that a girl can't live without shopping!!!!!
Somehow I managed to shop a cap and a scarf in that hill station. Haappyyyy!!!!!

Straaw strawww strawberryyyyyy

As we didn't had lunch, even the sour strawberries seems to be so tasty for us.

May be at around 3, we had lunch in a local Kerala Hotel as we are bored of the Restaurants out there after covering all places of Munnar. Chicken Biryani was very tasty there.

Then we thought of resting in the hotel but on the way we found an adventure club, i e Fun Forest. All our lost energy came to full swing after seeing that. So went there.There are many adventure activities like in Takeshi's Castle.
First Event was walking on a rope and it was Nithin's turn. He took so much time and I din't understood why and I thought to do it well in my turn.

I thought I can walk so easily like the heroin in Phalguni Phatak Song ,  ' oh piya, oh piya, leke doli aa'.  But to my surprise, it is very difficulty to balance on a rope.

Fun Activity 1

Fun Activity 2

Fun Activity 3

Resting time

Day 5:
Munnar to Thekkady.. Journey was hectic as it is a complete ghat road. In the entire ghat section, you will enjoy the aroma of spices. We noticed something strange at every village and churches there. People are roaming in white dresses holding coconut leaves. We asked our driver and he said something but after watching " Om Shanthi Oshana" movie(Malayalam), I understood the importance of "Oshana Sunday".

Oshana Sunday

Planned to visit Periyar Tiger Reserve but as it as Sunday getting tickets became a big deal. So hardly we took a picture of Periyar Tiger Reserve and came off.

As we have no clue now, I tried my first ever Thekkaday's special Ayurvedic Spa; massaged with hot ayurvedic oils, ninety minutes of auromatic bliss!!!

We went for an evening walk, and found a Flower Show which was near to our hotel. You can see the true locals of Kerala there. And there is a fair which makes you feel  that you are back in 1960s and 70s.

Can't read it!!!

Day 6: Kochi... Will be writing a separate post for Kochi. So stay tuned :P