Thekkady - A Brief Getaway
When every week is about deadlines, you feel just that...dead!! Couple it with a viral and feeling dead is an understatement. Yet long holidays are an impossibility this year...hence I have decided short and frequent breaks are not just essential but downright imperative!! And when a couple of school friends join in, its all the more fun...
Day 1 - September 25th 2013 - Bangalore - Thekkady
When the mind is tired it seeks comfort and familiarity, so off we went to one of our favourite resorts, Club Mahindra Tusker Trails, Thekkady in Kerala. Left home at 6am sharp, cruised through to Salem and stopped after the Namakkal toll booth for some breakfast rustled up in the rear of the Scorpio, and then resumed our journey. Barring small diversions near Krishnagiri due to road work, the journey was smooth and NH7 is a pleasure to drive on. About 5kms before Dindigul, took the service road on the left marked Kodaikanal, gave the turning to Palani a miss and turned right at the next flyover towards Vathlagundu after 396kms on NH7. The next 140kms is through good but busy roads and thanks to heavy traffic it was 3pm by the time we reached Club Mahindra Tusker Trails after a brief stop for lunch at Theni.
Met up with Noelene and Vance who had driven down from Kottayam and had already checked in. My request for my favorite rooms facing the pool and restaurant, Rooms 303 and 304 had been acceded to and after a cup of tea, we took a small snooze.
In the Evening, a stroll brought us to a stop where we witnessed the grand caparisoned elephants, showing off their finery...a Kerala Tourism initiative to popularize and advertise the Pooram festival of Thrissur, to be held shortly. Magnificent beasts, but nothing compared to a wild majestic elephant we saw the next day and Ranga captured it on camera.
A few purchases later, we returned, to relax with a drink and had an early dinner at the Restaurant 'The Periyar Room'...a beautiful and cosy wood lined room giving the feeling of being in a hunting lodge. (snapped the photo before the buffet was set up)
Tried to keep awake beyond 9.30pm and could not! The 4.30am wake up was the decider and off we went in to a deep sleep.
Day 2 - Sep 26th 2013 - Thekkady
Woke up by 6am and the cool 'foresty' sounds and aromas ensured we were hungry, a quick dip in the pool and lovely waterfall gurgling - feeling relaxed went in for breakfast at 7.45 am, had lovely appams and stew and hot pooris, sinfully sated, we went back to sleep!! Talk about sleep deprivation taking its toll!
Woke up at 10am, got dressed, drove to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and strolled down to the river, saw the boats packed with tourists and backed off seeing the crowds, fortunately all four of us crave and love solitude...we instead drove along the ghats admiring the green canopy of trees punctuated by gurgling waterfalls, beauty unrivaled as it unraveled in front of our eyes, vistas so beautiful that it actually starts to feel unreal ..returned at 12.30 pm and went spice shopping, coming out with bulging bags and had lunch at a small restaurant, a local thali...nice and then trudged back to the resort...a bit tired yet as always happy with the purchases and the feel-good factor that nature always endows.
Slept till about 6pm, then took a nice stroll through the resort admiring the spice gardens, trees etc...and then settled down to some chit - chat over drinks, it must be the clean forest air, we were hungry and dinner at 8pm was absolutely mind blowing both the Chinese and the Indian, collected a recipe for a bitter gourd thoran (yes, you got that right, he had made it so well, it was fantastic)!!, tried valiantly to read for an hour in the balcony to the sound of crickets, managed to do so partially, but the eyes decided to shut shop for the day...
Day 3 - Sep 27th 2013 - Thekkady - Bangalore.
Left the beautiful resort at 6am on schedule, leaving the keys at the lobby which was still artificially lit in the semi-darkness and some sleepy staff around...stopped at Theni at a new place - Saravana Bavan (note the spelling, nothing to do with the famous chain of TN restaurants) for breakfast and found it surprisingly yummm...then continued on our way, a brief stop en-route for coffee and again stopped at A2B after Salem toll booth, had a simple lunch and coffee and drove on.
Reached home at 3.30pm after dropping Vance and Noelene, satisfied after a beautiful getaway yet quite upset that we had to return at all...back to the humdrum life...but then, there is always the next getaway to look forward to!
Route - Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Namkkal - Salem - Karur - Dindigul (turm right) - Vatlagundu - Periyakulam - Theni - Cumbum - Kumily - Thekkady.
Distance - 543kms
Total on the odo - 1242kms.
Fuel efficiency - 14kms/litre.
Toll paid (in all) - Rs.765
Weather in Thekkady - Very Pleasant, Sunny yet not hot...perfect. Fortunately, no rains.
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