| God's own Country
Last evening (30th Dec) came back from a four day trip to Calicut and Wayanad.
The trip started on Sunday (27th Dec) morning at 7AM from my home in Coimbatore. My Scorpio (2006 SLX) was the mode of transport. We took the Coimbatore - Palakkad route and from Palakkad we took the NH 213 all the way to Calicut. The roads at most places are good. The only irritant is that the roads are winding all the way to Calicut. We reached Calicut in about four hours. Checked into Taj Calicut ( The Gateway Hotel). Like all Taj properties this too was very good and of course the superb service only made our trip that much more enjoyable. After lunch and a short rest we set out to Kappad Beach. Its about 20 KM from the hotel on the Kannur road. The beach is so very clean with fine white sand. Not too crowded at all. Had a great time at the beach. Back to hotel and had a good night rest.
The next morning at 7 AM set out to Wayanad (for this trip we hired a car from the Hotel). We took the Mysore road and the drive was fabulous. You reach Wyanad up the mountains negotiating 9 hairpin bends. The weather was very good - nice warm weather, and ocassional showers along the way. Our first halt was at Soojipara water falls. Its a little bit of a trek to reach the falls. But very enjoyable. Next we hit the Muthanga Wild Life Sanctuary. We were at the gates of the sanctuary well in time. The gates are open from 7 am to 10 am in the morning and from 3 pm to 5 pm in the evening. We were in for the afternoon trip. There was such a big rush at the gates (lots of tourists from Karnataka) the forest officals decided to limit the no. of vehicle to 50. We hired a beaten down Mahindra 4x4 through the Forest dept. and went inside the sanctuary. We spotted deers by the tens. And we were so fortunate to see a small elephant family (two adults and a calf).
After the wild life sanctuary we drove down to Pookote Lake. Awesome place. Then we drove back to Calicut. In the night the view from the top of the mountains was breathtaking. Back to the hotel for a good night sleep.
Next day (29th Dec) was a bandh in Kerala. Absolutely no vehicles on the road and all shops and restaurants closed till 6pm. Had a great day indoors, playing TT and lazing in the hotel swimming pool. After 6pm ventured into the city.
On 30th Morning after break fast we went to Beypore beach and then drove back to Coimbatore. This time the drive was a little longer due to traffic in the towns that we passed through.
In all we did about 750 kms out of which about 500 kms was on the Scorpio. Overall a great trip, Kerala certainly offers a lot in terms of sight, smell and sound. The weather was very good and the Scorpio was just brilliant.
Will post some pictures.
Raja. | 
31st December 2009, 09:47
Just kidding.
