A view on part of Gods own Country - Munnar, Thekkady

Welcome to my blog on a part of Gods own country -  Kerala. To be precise this blog is about Munnar and Thekkady which are famous hill stations in Kerala. Geographically speaking these places belong to Idukki district in Kerala. But most of us are familiar with Munnar, Thekkady than Idukki. The Kannandevan hills of this region separates the border between Kerala and Tamilnadu.
Having said let us see how can we reach there.

Munnar/Thekkady can be reached from Bengaluru in two paths.
1. Bengaluru-Mysuru-Chamarajanagara-Udamalpet-Munnar - 473KM
2. Bengaluru-Krishnagiri-Salem-Udamalapet-Munnar - 476 KM

Many people prefer route 2 because road conditions are very good. More importantly, in route-1 there is a variable factor - Bandipur which gets closed between 9PM to 6AM. So, if someone wants to use that route, they should be passing Bandipura before the above mentioned timings -  which is a constraint. Hence route -2 is better option.

We can go by private vehicle. But permit taxes will be huge because it has to go cross the border of two states. Hence it is better to reach there by bus/ own vehicle. We took bus from Bengaluru to Thekkady. It started here at 7.30PM from wilson garden and reached Kumily at 6AM. The journey was good because both road and  bus conditions were good. While returning we started from Munnar at 4.30PM and reached Bengaluru by 5AM. We took SRS sleeper buses both way. There are other options as well like KPN, Sam tourists etc. But SRS looks better among them.

In Thekkady we stayed in Periyar Meadows hotel. It is at about 1km from Kumily bus stand and there are many eateries around this place. The hotel has restaurant as well which serves tasty food. We had booked for boating in Periyar reservoir in 11.15AM slot. We had booked online. It is better to book it online to avoid the crowd and possibly missing out the ride. Though we can hardly spot any animals in this boating, we were compensated by the beauty of nature, variety of birds, indian gaurs. The periyar reservoir is famous for tigers. But we could not spot any in boating. Also, there are other trails specific to tigers safari only. So, if someone wishes to explore that, can do that. Nature lovers can spend good amount of time here and enjoy its silence and beauty with variety of creatures.
In evening we witnessed the famous martial art of Kerala - Kalaripayattu from Mudra organization. The stunts performed by the members of this org is awesome and is a good experience for tourists. They will also perform Kathakali which is a famous dance variety from Kerala. Both the shows happen in same venue with each show lasting for an hour. We ended our day with good memories of Kalaripayattu and boating.

Next day we started to Munnar from Thekkady by bus. There are limited number of buses from Thekkady from Munnar. The bus timings are 6AM, 6.45AM, 7.30AM, 9.45AM, 12.30PM. Among them 12.30PM is the bus operated by government of Kerala. So, if anybody is planning to go by bus, should cross check the bus timings and plan accordingly. The bus takes lengthy 4.5 hours to reach Munnar. This is a local bus which moves along scenic places of Kerala. Though it seems refreshing and charming at the beginning, it gets monotonous and boring as the journey progresses. Since it has to carry lot of locals from one town to another, it involves lot of stops as well. We had breakfast at hotel and got into 9.45 bus. We reached Munnar at 2.30PM.

We checked into hotel Grand Plaza. Since it was a long weekend we had booked everything well in advance to avoid rush. We had lunch at restaurant in hotel. The food was tasty. Later in the evening we just roamed around the town. We booked jeep for sight seeing around Munnar for 1200rp and went to have dinner at Saravana Bhavan. Since it was peak time the hotel was also crowded. After dinner we returned to hotel by auto. For information regarding sight seeing/maps of sight seeing have a look at below pics which says it all :)

Directions of sight seeing

DTPC package

Route map of DTPC

To get clear information, zoom the pics attached above. As you can see from pic-1, there are 4 directions in sight seeing. Mattupetty, Coimbatore, Cochin, Thekkady direction. Out of these, we took first route which involved 12 points of sight seeing. One can contact local taxi/jeep operators near bus stand for details regarding view points. The jeep we hired quoted 1500-2000 initially. After bargain he agreed to take us for 1300 for 6 people. Actually it is the rate for entire jeep irrespective of number of people. But DTPC has fixed rate of 400rp per person. You can see the timings of DTPC package in second picture. I feel going with private jeeps will give you more freedom with respect to the time.

We had breakfast in Sangeeta restaurant and proceeded for sight seeing at 10AM. For people visiting hill stations for the first time this will be an amazing experience. But for the people who have visited places like Ooty, Coonoor, Waynadu, Chikmagaluru, Kudremukha, Madikeri it will not be exciting as it would be for the first timers. Still nature has its charm to sooth every person who visits the place. Enjoy the place without much expectations. After the sight seeing, we returned to hotel and experienced the famous body massage of Kerala. We ordered food for room service and had a sound sleep with relaxed mind.

Next day again we had breakfast at Saravana Bhavan and booked the same jeep for tea factory visit. He charged 800rp for the same. In tea factory they charge 200 per person for factory visit. If someone is interested in how tea powders are formed and how are they processed, its a must visit place. We ended this half day tour by 1PM and got ready to check out of Munnar.

Important notes:

1. For vegetarians, lots of good restaurants are there. So no issues.

2. If planning to visit in long weekends, book buses/hotels in advance to get better deals.

3. Be a roman in Rome. Use local public transport to get to know about the places better.

4. Bargain properly to get better deals in local sight seeing.

5. For safaris enquire well in advance and prepare accordingly.

6. It rains at odd times here. So carry umbrella with you.

7. While buying spices/any items from shops double check the items. Bargain well. Buy only if you need it.

8. Experience the massage.

Let me know if any information is needed regarding planning to visit these places. I will be happy to help with amount of information I have.

Magadi Ranganathaswamy and Doddaladamara

Welcome to the blog on the one day weekend get away place near Bengaluru - Magadi, Doddaladamara. Magadi belongs to Ramanagara district and is at a distance of 40km from Bengaluru. The place is well known for various reasons. Kempegowda who built Bengaluru is from this place only. One can see the fort built by him here. The place is well known for agriculture. Especially the Avarekai grown here will be brought to Bengaluru during Sankranti and they celebrate Avarekai Mela at food street VV Puram. Magadi is also well known for the famous Ranganatha Swamy temple. I am now taking you to this temple now.

This place is also called as Tirumale. Magadi Ranganatha Swamy temple is believed to be udbhava Saligrama. Saligrama is a powerful stone which would resemble one particular god. This has equal importance as that of Gods idol. Sometimes it is considered to be even more powerful and precious. This is seen right in front of the Ranganatha swamy idol installed by Mandavya Rishi. The water/milk abhisheka done to this Saligrama will disappear as soon as abhisheka is done. Whatever could be the amount of water/milk. It disappears. Nobody knows where it flows. Few believe it to be ksheerasagara. One more interesting factor here is though it is called temple of Sri Ranganathaswamy, we see the gods idol in standing position instead of sleeping position as in Srirangapattana. The Lord is shankha chakra gada hasta in this temple, hence resembles tirupati Venkateshwara temple. Hence it is also called Tirumale. The main temple premise is been built during Chola dynasty period. However later it was renovated during the period of Vijayanagara dynasty. The temple is surrounded by small gudis of other gods like Ammanavara temple, Lakshmi temple etc. One of the other main attraction is Beleyo Ranga temple. This is the temple in which the idol of Bala ranga (small ranga) is believed to be growing. Beleyo means to grow in Kannada. Hence the name Beleyo Ranga. People who wish to have kids come with their wishes in mind and offer the god once their wish is fulfilled. Overall temple complex looks divine and filled with other small temples.

The description will not be complete without mentioning about the pushkarini right outside the temple premises. People used to take bath here and get freshen up and visit the almighty. Now a days due to safety reasons the pushkarini is closed for bathing. But the water will be still there in this place. The temple is maintained by the Government Mujarai department. There is a guest house that is built at this place for the convenience of people who wish to stay here. There are two dining halls right across the temple which serve the hot and tasty food during weekends and during government holidays. One should enjoy the taste of the Annaprasada and complete their visit to this place.

Now, enough of story telling. Let the pics say a bit :)

Temple Gopura

Gopura as seen from entrance

Pushkarini

One more view of Pushkarini

On the way back, we visited the Doddaladamara (Big Banyan tree). This is must visit for one time visit to see how huge the aladamara is. Apart from that there is nothing much here. The picture says it all.

View inside the garden

Key points:

We started from Bengaluru by about 12PM and reached the Magadi temple by 1PM on saturday. I took the route via Kengeri - Overbridge towards Kengeri Upanagara - Near Karnataka bank took a deviation towards Ramohalli. Once we go for some distance in that road, we will get one junction where in we have to keep straight to reach Magadi. The road condition is good. But it is village limit and single road. So, drive with caution. The road goes via tippagondana halli lake which was closed for sight seeing that day. One can buy Avarekai over here. There will be lot of vegetables sold in roadside. Buy them only if it is needed. They tell more price than Bengaluru market. So beware if you are buying from them.

1. There are plenty of buses available form Bengaluru. Both government and private buses go here.

2. On weekends the temple will close at 2PM and reopen at 5PM and stays open till 7.30PM. So plan accordingly.

3. Anna Prasada will be served(lunch) on weekends and on government holidays from 11AM till 3PM.

4. There is a guest house from Government near the temple. One can stay here if needed.

5. Carry water.

6. If visiting by own car drive with caution. 

7. While returning, there will be deviations available for other places like Savandurga and Doddaladamara. Spot them properly for deviation

8. Food options are available in Mysore road. But apart from that not much options in Magadi road.

Hope you enjoyed this article :) Open for feedback :)