Honeymoon - Nov2008
Our marriage on 10thNov2008 and the Honeymoon trip was planned to start on 17thNov.Initially, both the side parents didnt like the idea of me taking the car driving myself all the trip. The convincing saga didnt land anywhere and i had to shift to Plan B..that is, still going ahead with the planned plan but 'behind the screen'.
05th Nov2009: i was relieved from the current project and i was left free to start my trip by 06th.
06th Nov Thursday:
Palio was fully loaded with dress & other stuffs related to marraige and the honey moon trip.It was around lunch time when i left blr towards mysore. Driving solo on a long trip gave me a chill. It was a smooth drive on blr-mysore stretch but it was just pretty hot as the sun was just opp through the windshield. Late lunch at mysore Kamat...gulped a lot of food & butter milk followed by a short power nap before starting towards chamrajnagar. Post chamrajnagat, the road became worst as expected but i coverd that stretch just before the dark as i wanted to be.
Soon the TN entry and the smooth road heading towards Sathyamangalam through the forest. After coming down from the Thimbam ghat section, i stopped for tea near Bannari temple. I used that break time to fix the Hella spot lights and it was fun driving with them on the highway in dark. The interior route to Udumalaipettai was familiar to me and i didnt have to do the typical route enquiry every now & then.Stayed at the hotel 'Anaimalais' which is a decent option over there.
07th Nov Friday:
Had a nice breakfast and proceeded towards Munnar. Its a 85+ kms long narrow road twisting through forest/tea estates with scenic views all the way. I am used to this road on bike but this is the first time i am going in car. The familiar checkposts in TN / KL border. Stepped out of the car to make an entry in the checkpost...while signing in the register, one of the guards started shouting at my car. Turned back and i realised that a monkey family donning that area entered my car through the window. Within the fraction of time they managed to pull out few snack packs..a couple of Tropicana cans, few biscuit & chips packs..guess they had my marriage feast in advance! :)
Reached Munnar and found that this tiny little town is infested with tourists. Went up & down through all the roads going out of the town in search of a nice resort but i could not finalise any..either they are crowded or they are not good enough for a stay. Finally gave up the idea and decided to proceed towards Theni. After about 12kms from Munnar, in the middle of tea estates, saw that sign board to a resort pointing to a narrow deviation. Again, its a familiar deviation from one my bike trips in which i examined the estate but didnt opt to stay that time as it was out of budget..but now it looked like a nice option..booked it right away.
With the satisfaction that resort is booked, i proceeded towards Theni to my friend's house.. met him and parked the car in his house and took a bus to my hometown.. hope now you know what i meant by 'behind the screen' :)
Engagement and Marriage went fine.. infact Marriage was in a kind of Brahmin style with things like Parrot from Menakshi temple / ammi methiththu arunthathi parthu etc...apart from the usual torchers from photographers/ people throwing rice on head etc, the whole Marriage function was sweet and went interesting...and then a week full of feast in each of my relatives houses consiting of all kinds my fav Non-Veg items! ;-)
A week rolled down smoothly... and 17th Monday morning came when we are supposed to start our Honey moon trip. Plan is like we 2 start the trip on bus on our own and in the weekend my parents will be reaching blr ahead of us waiting to invite us when we reach blr after completing the trip.. ;-) Monday early morning we took the bus to Madurai which is couple of hours anway.. we had just 2 but rediculously heavy bags to carry..not many people in the bus and we took the first seat with the huge windshield infront us. It was pretty interesting..that early morning sun ray..the views..sitting next to her.. the feel that taking her out of my town to start a new life! :-)
At madurai, we went to my sisters house..spent some time with her.. and then took another bus to Theni which was couple of hours from there. The bus went through villages where i spent my 3 years of Bsc golden life..i was showing her my college & the places i roomed around..after a while she got bored and went to sleep! :-) In Theni, my friend was waiting for me...went to his house where my car was parked. Refreshed ourslef and went out for lunch with my friend. Had a heavy lunch..bid goodbye to my friend and took the car out of the town..i could say the actual Honey moon trip started from here.. :-) From Theni, Munnar is under 80km distance with a long ghat section..there was no traffic with village road and greenary all around..we were stopping at every corner.
At one scenic spot in a hairpin bend, i stopped the car and gave a surprise gift (a leather strap watch) to her. :) stopped at a village to buy bananas..had a tea..later we crossed some view points..a huge waterfall at dark..and then at around 8 pm we reached the resort. Its a big estate having a slight rain forest touch but with modern buildings. Stayed there for next couple of days. The food & stay was good.. and we did a bit of Munanr sight seeing as well. Top station view point was interesting..may be bcz we went at the closing time at around 6pm and we were the only people at the view point which was a KM trek away..surrounded by mountains and fog all around.. Gate keeper had to litterally pull us out when its dark.. :-) While in munnar, we mostly had our food at Saravanabhavan which is a pretty nice opiton anywhere in TN.
19th Wednesday 11am: we decided to leave Munnar after our memorable 2 days stay..but it seemed like Munnar didnt want us to leave.. it was all foggy / drizzling / cold and it was simply awesome. We were making a slow progress by stopping at every corner in the 85km ghat section downhill.. coming down & down in the ghat..even after couple of hours, the scenary was as good as ever. Reached udumalaipetti and had a late lunch.. then took an interiror route towards Ooty..it was a long but decent drive in the night.. Ooty ghat section from Mettuppalayam side was narrow and crazy..lots of fun whenever there is a truck or volvo coming opp down in the hairpin..otherwise the road was smooth. reached Ooty at around 10pm..freaking cold outside to even open the car window..stayed in LakeView resort which is one of the best option in Ooty. Had a couple of candles up to give some warmth from the cold! .. ;-)
20th Thursday:
Morning went for boating.. may be i was doing boating after about 15 yrs bypassing the whole of bachelor life..;P and it was nice infact! :D Evening went for a drive in Red hills road which is going out of Ooty into remote areas... stopped the car right infront of a scenic lake and sat there in the grass and spent the evening time in that calm and pretty scenic place.. stayed till dark and came back. Later we were exploring the Ooty market..did some purchase as well.
21st Friday:
Morning went to Botanical garden..it was slightly crowded but the garden itself was
beautiful ..much thicker than blr Lalbagh. There was a film shooting going on. Had a heavy lunch at Sharavanas and went for some more shopping in Ooty market. Later at about 6pm, started back to Blr. The ghat section coming down through Mudumalai & Bandipur is known for elephants and we did spot couple of them. Road was smooth and the drive was interesting..listening to songs..munching Paan and getting the scoldings for the same.. :) Reached mysore Kamat just abt closing time 10:30 and had a heavy dinner. started at around 11:30 and reached blr 1:15. My parents had to wakeup and do an 'Aarathi' to invite the couples in.. :-) It was a safe & interesting trip altogether which we wont forget for life!
posted by Arun | 12:27 PM
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