My Tour Minutes...

Waynaad...

A lovely place and an adventurous one. It was an eventful tour for me, both during and after the tour.

Our plan was to go by train up to Calicut, and from there to Waynaad by van arranged by our travels.

14 of us boarded Mangalore Express on 23rd Sep at 8.30 P.M.( read my post about my friends which i will post it after this article)

Kavitha Madam’s daughter Madumitha and Jaisakthi madam’s son Jitesh also accompanied us. Sivagami Madam’s daughter Sandhya boarded the train at Erode junction. All three of them were quite a handful.

It was fun from the moment the train left Chennai Central. Inspite of the age difference between us,all the seniors in our gang made the journey( and the tour), how a college tour really should be(ofcourse with some restrictions).

I was happy(an understatment of the year) when i introduced my parents and sister to my friends when the train stopped at Katpadi(i couldn't introduce milo to them,may be some time in future). They had a chance to see VIT.Double delight for me,ha ha...

After Katpadi,we played cards and ankthashri upto 2.30,when it was time to meet our little madam Sandhya at Erode junction,but she was shy to meet us all and clung to her mother and eventually they went to sleep.2 of our berths was in some other compartments,but i and rakesh slept in the floor.

8.30 the next morning we reached Calicut, and was met there by Kasim our driver for the van cum tour guide(??) and the van cleaner Ramesh(he said that they were coming directly from Ooty from another college tour,which was an all girls tour,kuduthuvachavanga).Our van was a Swaraj Mazda which was good but only disappointment was the sound system which was horrible.

We had a tough time finding a hotel to eat breakfast, and finally we found one and it had only dosa and porrata.

On the way we stopped at Valley View(we knew this only on the last day of our tour,kasim what a guide!!),it was a spectacular view.

At 1.30 in the afternoon we reached Kalpheta and our hotel The WoodLands.It was nice hotel with good hospitality and nice food.

4 of them shared a room. We immediatley got ready and at about 3 pm, after finishing our lunch we left to see Soojipara falls(don't mind the spelling).

Soojipara falls..
To see the falls,itself was an adventure of its own,and after arriving at the falls, to go near it was an another one.

It was nearly 2km from the main road upto the falls,and it was not a National Highway..
But it was worth all the trouble,because the falls was a amazing one with all its wild beauty, and Kavitha mam was very angry with me for taking risk in going near the falls,i was touched by her protective instinct.
That night i slept like wood..

Next morning we went to Karaphulza dam which was under construction(??),but we changed the dull surrounding into an enjoyable one by going down to the water front and taking photos and all..

That afternoon we went to Edakkal caves, and this time we climbed nearly 1km(it seemed to be like that for me) up a mountain and again it was worth the time,Eventhough the cave was a samll one it felt good to be there.
The only disappointing of our tour was the wild life sanctury,because the so called wildlife sanctury which had only us visiting and no wildlife(if u don't inlcude monkeys and rakesh and suba).

That night we returned to the hotel and again i slept like a wood..if i kept on visiting those kind of places i don't have to worry about diet and all..

Next day, our last one , we visited Pukkad Lake,which was a nice place but the charge for boating was a cheat..

After visiting lake we went in search of Banasura sagar dam, which was some where inside Waynaad,and that too was under construction and again we turned that into an enjoyable one.

Our train was at 4.30 and we had to board the train at Quilandy and not at Calicut because we didn't get reservation.We caught the train at the last moment.

Our tour to kerela,i would say came to a nail biting finish.

Once on the train it was fun agian.I decided i will not sleep that night because Kavitha madam must get down at Jolarpettai around 1 am and i at Katpadi around 3 am.

But the train we travelled was to be a passenger train until it touches TamilNadu,we didn't know that and when it finally arrived at jolarpettai it was around 3 am.

I,rakesh,suba ,thilagavathy,and abirami was awake until 2 am ,and after that others went to sleep and i was alone fighting to keep myself awake,eventually when it was only 1/2 an hour to katpadi i drifted to sleep.I would have missed katpadi,if it not for suba who woke me up,thanks to her.

It was a tour i will never forget....