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Munnar, is a serene hill station atop the western ghats section in the TamilNadu-Kerala border Border. Though it falls under Kerala territory tamil is the major language here. Unlike Ooty and Kodaikanal, it is less populated and even more beautiful Munnar is very famous for its tea estates, which form atleast 90% of its real estate. Wherever you go, all that you can see is tea, tea and more tea. Munnar has lot to offer in terms of green meadows all along, numerous of waterfalls and lakes, mountains engulfed with mist, neat roads and hassle free traffic, less crowd, good options for boarding and lodging, sloppy tea estates, all that a normal traveller would long for. The sight seeing places are few and far off, but you are sure to enjoy the beauty of this place. You can just go for a drive on and on enjoying the consistent beauty all along. Its rightly called as a honeymooners paradise, since there wont be much crowd any where.
It was on the 3rd of september, after a lot of hustle and bustle over the previous two weeks, we came rushing to the KPN bus stand in Perungulathur, chennai just in time for the bus which goes to Munnar directly. After a long and comfortable ride of close to 14 hours we reached Munnar around the next day noon. Once we got down at the busstand, we were swarmed by bees of autowallahs. We were really astonished by the cheap rates that these auto wallahs demanded. Took an auto, settled for Rs.150/- for a drop to Sterling Resorts, which is 22kms away from the busstand. Soon we were in the narrow, but safe and good roads enjoying the beauty of the places around and the wind brushing our face. On the way to Sterling resorts, we came across a small viewpoint, which had a tea/soup shop which also happenned to be the only shop that we encountered in the whole journey. Hence by default, this place attracted people. Dont miss the tea here, if you happen to go. The auto driver was very friendly. Hence, we booked him for the sight seeing tour too. Reached the resort by 1 PM, refreshed and had a yummy lunch in the resort. By this time, the weather turned absolutely fantastic, with the wind getting heavier and cooler and frequent short spells of rains.
Something about the resort - Sterling is a big chain of resorts and has properties in all major tourist destination across India. Munnar's sterling is their latest addition and best that i have been to, with the rooms maintained very clean. The service, facilities and the food are equally great. The location itself deserves a special mention, with a good view of the valley and a distant reservoir from all the rooms. There is a small waterfall near the resort, which can be reached by walk. In the night the resort looks even more beautiful with the light setting of the adjacent ClubMahindra resort adding more beauty. We booked through an agent. Hence, we got the rooms at close to 40% discount. For more details on the tarriff and the discount, drop a mail to shankar.nash@gmail.comThe next day, the same autowallah came to pick us up for the sight seeing trip. The weather was even more cool and there was slight drizzle all along the day. The places looked even more green and beautiful. All that we could see where tea estates and more of it only. It was as if a vast green carpet has been spread over the landscape. If there was something that we saw other than tea, then it was the mist. The ride in the auto in this weather was absolutely thrilling, with the cool winds blowing from all sides. Visited the places like Elephant point, which is supposed to be frequented by elephants. Then the echo point, which was nothing but a lake lined up with lots of small shops. Then went for a speed boat ride enroute the echo point, which was quite good. Then to a nursery, which had quite a good collection of different species of flowers. By this time, it was close to 5 PM and started getting dark, hence returned to the room. Since, we had abundant time at hand, we prepared our own dinner(noodles and soup) and finished the day with a candlelight dinner.
To be continued here
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