Kurangini to Top Station trekking

Trekking fee: 200
Route: ernakulum to theni to bodi to kurangini.
Trekking distance:12km
Trekking route: kurangini to central station to top station.
Difficulty: moderate
Height start to reach: 700m - 2200m above sea level
Best Time to trek: Sep to Apr

We, the four Started over night journey from ernakulum to theni. Bus connectivity was good, we didn't wait much. Started from theni to bodi(Bodinayakkanur) and then to kurangini, also known as bottom station. This was the last station of the old ropeway that carried tea chests from Munnar. 12km trek from kurangini to top station is not a easy job, we planned well to carry biscuits, glucose and sufficient water. We started at 6:24 in the morning from kurangini and reached central station at 8:30 am. Central station is like a village in hinterland is about 4-5 km from the bottom station. We met locals, two kids and their father  taking them to home for vacation from bodi to some place after top station. We went along with them talking and taking short cuts. Had sharbath at Central station which boosted us. Not more than 10 families living at Central station. You won't find anything else except one shop. Path throughout the trek was quite good. Birds sound, flowers, fresh breeze which says hello when you feel tired, mountains, to take a snap for the cover pic, you don't need to google for it, just a one click in 360°, Amazing mountains around you. You can see kolukkumalai, worlds highest organic tea plantation at 2300m above sea level. There will be a story to discuss about it in future. Skip it. Horses carry things from bottom to top station. Imagine, a guy from central station forgot to bring one item among the list of groceries. Horrible right!

Central to top station is another 7 km kilometers where you will see wonderful sceneries. We reached finally with a sweat and smile to top station. We are at 2200m above the sea level. It took four hours for us I.e., 10:30. Had a good breakfast and returned to ernakulum by bus. Luckily we got every bus in time to preferred location.

There are bunch of tourism locations within the kottagudi valley. Kottagudi, kurangini, middle station or Central station, top station, kolukkumalai, yellapatty.

Weather from top station to Munnar was inexpressible. You guys can read about MUNNAR in previous posts.





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Click After Central Station

At Central Station

Click from the wild

Bike trip to Thattekad, near Kothamangalam

Thattekad is the good hangout place for bird watchers, readers and nature lovers, just 50km from ernakulum. Places to see are birds village, hanging bridge and checkdams along the way. Spending time at hanging bridge was the best time we spent. This place is one of the entrances of Western Ghats. Over all this place is cool.

Route from ernakulum: ernakulum - perumbavoor - kothamangalam - thattekad.
Distance - 50km appro.
Transport - buses from kakkanad or connecting buses from perumbavoor. No train route.

Valparai

The pollution free heavenly land, Valparai is located above 3,500 feet from the sea level. Best time to visit this place is September to March, not the otherway around. Valparai is in Tamilnadu state, border of Kerala.

Describing my journey from Ernakulum to Valparai. Bus 1 is Ernakulum to Chalakudy from Vytilla Hub or from Ernakulum south bustand. Bus 2 is from Chalakudy to Valparai of about 107KM. If you're planning for one day trip, there is only one bus from chalakudy to valparai at 6:45AM from Chalakudy private bus terminal and next one will be in the afternoon everyday. No direct Ksrtc service available from Chalakudy. Only one halt at Puliyilappara for the breakfast. Will reach valparai at 11:30AM through the beautiful forest, dams and hairpins of westernghats. This route is special. We can go valparai through palakkad, pollachi. But dont miss this route. Ernakulum-Chalakudy-Valparai-Pollachi-Palakkad-Thrissur-Ernakulum. Circle trip of almost 400 KM.

Tea Plantations along the road from Malakkappara to Valparai makes you feel the heaven lies on earth not somewhere in sky. Very well maintained plantations add much more beauty to the beautiful place. Food at Valparai is the best, many snacks shops by local vendors. Having food at local shops is best. Really cheap and tasty. Hotels and lodges are available here.

Valparai to pollachi journey will include 40 Hairpin bends. You can find Nilgiri Langur, Nilgiri Tahr, waterfalls, dam on the route.


Second trip to this place was more fun. Stayed two days for just 700/- room shared with 3 persons. Whole one day food expense per person was 300 maximum, even you eat like a hell in normal shops. Went trekking around the place, trekking into tea plantations. It was a monsoon season. Climate is too good compared to summer. Best months to visit are June to March. Whole journey cost 1200/- per person throughout the journey along with travel experiences.

Gavi

Dense forest with rich in flora and fauna, less human explored. This place is Known to the people by the malayam movie "ordinary". Two buses from pathanamtitta, one in the early morning 6:30 am and afternoon 1:30 pm. Buses goes via gavi to kumily. Buses reaches to gavi at 11am and the same bus returns at 3:30pm in the afternoon. Fare is 93 rupees.

Bamboo trees Welcome's you throughout the way by giving shake hands through the bus Windows. Never prefer to travel in private vehicle. U will miss the fun with the forest. Driver and conductor are friendly. They will slow down the bus to show the animals. Wild buffaloes, elephants, nilagiri langur, birds. Almost four hours journey in the jungle. This place is best for nature lovers and bird watchers. If you are stuck in modern world, you can't enjoy this place. Better don't go. Climate is 20-26 c throughout the day. Forest department is maintaining packages to promote eco tourism. To book online Visit gaviecotourism.com if you would like to spend money and to stay in nights in jungle. I prefer not to. Private vehicles need to take permission to pass through. Periyar tiger reserve starts 10km before reaching gavi and spread till kumily area.

Never go into the dams, stick to roads. Leaches sucks your blood. Carry food from home or bus stops at aanamuzhi before entering the gavi forest, have and carry food. 3-4 hours of jungle ride begins with no human life. You find only one grocery shop at gavi, there you get only bread, biscuits and banana. No hotels. No mobile network.

P.S: Visit even you wont enjoy the nature, the oxygen you breathe worth the day and money you spent to gavi.

Athirapally Water falls - Thrissur dist

It is 66km from Ernakulum to the north of kerala. You can go by bus/train to Chalakudy and then by bus to Athirapally Water falls. Must see place in kerala. Its located in Western Ghats. It is followed by chapra and vazhachal falls with 5km from Athirapally falls.  

"When the Last tree is cut & The Last River is Poisoned, Man will realise that he can't .... Eat his Money" by Kerala Forest Department vazhachal Division

Athirapally waterfalls

Kozhikode(calicut)

 Beautiful city in the state of Kerala on the Malabar Coast. Took morning train, reached by the afternoon, 4 hours, 191km journey from Ernakulum. First thing I did was, took a walk towards Rahmath Hotel, best biryani place. You need to come out of the calicut station from fourth platform and walk 500m straight. Just beside right of Rahmath hotel juction, SM Street, busiest market place where we purchased Kozhikode Halwa. Lot of varieties from simple/plain to mixed ingrediants like cashews, dry grapes and ghee...

To the left of the Rahmath Hotel junction, take a walk around 1.5 km straight, there you find the beach, great place to hangout with family or friends and you have to know about this "Vasco da Gama lands in Kozhikode on 20 May 1498". Walked almost along the beach, captured sunset, fishermen boats, birds flying, children playing in sea water and with skylines. Best thing I had here was 'Ice Achar' mixture of crushed ice, fruits, vegetables, venegar. I had spicy(eruvu) one. We can get Madhuram(sweet taste) one too. Had Pineapple piece and Gooseberry(Vusiri/nelli) which are actually preserved in the venegar jar Rs:5/- per piece. Couldnt find Masala Tsunami drink.

People speak hindi well here. Asked a guy about the route to EMS Corporation Stadium. He gave pretty good clarity about the way and transport I need to take. Took a bus from Kozhikode Muncipal Corporation to Stadium. Forgot to mention about Mananchira Square, I couldn't manage to visit this park but just touched on the way to stadium. U23 nagjee football tournament between Argentina and tsv 1806 münchen at 7pm, enjoyed a match from gallery, TSV played really well and won by 3-0.

Day went pretty well as I planned but missed two places, Regional science planetarium and mananchira Square.

After the match, me and my colleague cum friend Shimil went to Rahmath hotel again to have dinner. Biryani again, took halwa from SM street, couple of glasses of lime and took a walk to beach. Again Ice Achar and butter milk. The day ended with 3 Ice achars, 2 biryanis and limes. Hired a auto to railway station, No direct trains so went shorunur junction and then to Ernakulum.

Need to visit again with perfect plan to cover more places. Autos with meters even in nights, you will never find this in ernakulum.

Kozhikode Beach

Kozhikode Beach

Kozhikode Beach

EMS Corporate Stadium, Kozhikode

Ice Achar

Kozhikode Beach

Bicycle trips to Vypin, Fort Kochi, Mulla Panthal Restaurant

Mullapanthal

Its about 12 kms to vypin straight road from Kakkanad and then we went to Fort Kochi by ferry(vehicle carry). We roam in our bicycle visited Jews street and Kayees biryani and returned in the same way.

Visited again during night with colleagues in car, day before christmas.
Direct buses are available to fort kochi from Kakkanad or from many places of kochi. Can go from Ferry if you can reach to Marine Drive, place famous for kulukki drink.

Mulla panthal family restaurant for all varieties of sea, animal and bird dishes like duck, quail, pork, beef, chicken, fish head, oysters, small dry fish, rabbit, prawns ...

Fishing nets

Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Kaloor

Kerala, you feel is it a part of India? Football has craze here. Whole India is behind cricket leaving even National game Hocky treating it as Cocky but Communist ruling places like Kerala and West Bengal are crazy about football. Search in google, you can find Autos, cheeks, bikes wearing Argentina tshirts and tatoos at the time of FIFA world cup. Nagji trophy, local tournaments will be conducting between local players of argentina, brazil to increase awareness of football here. Malapuram, calicut people are more enthusiastic towards it. I heard people coming in trucks and lorries for ISL matches at Kaloor, Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Kochi. Went to four ISL matches here in 2015 november – december season with colleagues, stadium roared with 60 to 65k audience everytime. Waiting for next season ISL.

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, kaloor

sabarimala(ernakulum-kottayam-erumely-pamba-sabarimala-chengannur-trivendrum-ernakulum)

Journey started from Ernakulum Bustand to Kottayam and to Erumely. Erumely is the holy place for both Hindus and Muslims located in kottayam district of kerala, and is on the way to sabarimala. Ayyapas will come to take blessings of VAVAR swamy at Nainar Masjid before visiting Ayyappa Swami(some story behind it)by performing a dance known as Pettathulal. This is done by coloring self, holding wooden bows and arrows. We had food and moved to pamba. In pamba, I kept the things in locker room and had bath in pampa/pamba river and started moving towards Sabarimala by foot which is almost 8kms uphill. Reached top at 2 Am, took a room and a nap till 6 and went for darshan. I separated because of not having irumudi and had normal darshan after two hours of waiting in the line. Took prasadham and moved back downhill which is too tough than going uphill. From pamba, took AC bus to Chengannur Mahadevar Temple, chengannur situated in Allappuzha dist. (Kerala). We are at right time to see the evening pooja, pradakshin with elephants and had peaceful darshan. Temple architecture and pradakshin are spectacular. Reached railway station after that and executed the plan of visiting Padma nabha swami temple in trivendrum(thiruvananthapuram). Just took 4 hours to reach TVM and took a nap in station itself, kept luggage in cloak room in station, Our room is rail bus itself for bath and washroom, I am lucky because of swami's with me, No police objected taking nap there. Some strange timings of darshan in PNS temple, took darshan twice by 6AM itself, the idol of vishnu is mesmirizing and couldnt stop staring at him. Felt very happy and heard lot of stories about travancore kings and the temple with high security. We returned to ernakulum by 7'O clock intercity train where my friends need to get down at Aluva and I am at ERN(ernakulum North). They had a enough time to catch a flight at 4Pm. Sendoff and bye bye to the trip.

Chengannur

Sabarimala

Kulukki shops - Marine drive

Kulukki, it's a drink. Kulukki means dance as far I know in our local language. The shop guy shakes it before give it to you. Best place to drink kulukki is near marine drive, there are shops where you get fresh fruit juice kulukki and with different combinations too. It is a drink with Basil seeds, pudina leaves, lemon, fruit juice/fruit flavor like green apple, ginger, mango, strawberry, green chillies ...

Apart from it, Sada kulukki(without any juice/flavor), Soda Sharbhat and Uppu soda will be nice to have in hot day.

LuLu Mall, edapally

Almost every weekend I visit this place to hangout in my early days in kerala. Three floor wide mall which has movies at two, food court, kids play tools, skating at three, most important and most people visited place in this mall is Hyper Market where you can find everything you want. Delicious wide varieties of sea foods, chicken, mutton, kababs, vegetables, groceries and so many. We usually buy kuboos(Rs:12/- per packet) and grilled full chicken(Rs:240/-) and have those at food court. I usually go to hindi movies here. Note: you can only find Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi movies. Apart from this mall, oberon Mall is nearby pipeline junction. Oberon is the moon of Uranus which is the seventh planet of our solar system.

Fish Market

Chemannur(Ernakulum-Aluva-Perumbavoor-Kothamangalam-adimali-Rajakkad-Chemmanur)

Trip to chemmanur, idukki district with my friend(sharat) back from UOH. We touched aluva, perumbavoor, kothamangalam, adimali, rajakkad and finally chemmanur. Place and People are beautiful here. Hilly and stable cool climate. You must feel like settling down there. Idukki district itself is awesome. Everyplace hidden in it is wonderful.

Life in Kerala - Hill Palace, Thrippunithura

Kerala, Gods own country, very greenish and beautiful state. One of the myths, Parasurama retrieved land from sea. 

I stay in NGO Quaters, Kakkanad close to LuLu Mall, edapally.

The first place visited here is Fort Kochi, portugal architecture attracts lot of foreigners. Kayees biryani is famous here. Churches, Jew street and sea foods, beach. We can go through jetty from marine drive or from Vypin just Rs:4/-.

Hill Palace is the another place which is 10kms from kakkanad on seaport-airport road. It is actually a place where the king lived with his family. You can find deer park, museum. Its a place to have family get together.

Life in Hyderabad Central University in brief

Writing about University of Hyderabad life, someone think about within state exploration. When I joined course here, HCU,AP but when I left HCU, TS.

University of Hyderabad located in outskirts of Hyderabad is the best place I lived and studied MTech, Post Gradution from 2012-14. University is about 2000 acres with lakes, peacocks, deers, wild boars and lot many species like chameleon, crickets which gives beauty to the university. Mushroom rock, buffalo lake, fishing lake, check-dam and different architecture construction of fine arts and mass communication departments. Trees give glory to this greenish place. About people, we can meet every person of India and international students. It is a diverse world. You can live without looking out of the university.

Munnar

Munnar, idukki district wonderful place where you actually felt its gods own country with its tea plantation, valleys, waterfalls and chilling climate. Top Station, Photo point, echo point, Mattupetty dam, eravikulum national park(dont expect tigers, lions and elephants) it is famous for tahr. Walking and trekking through tea plantations is the wonderful moment in munnar. Chocolates and cakes are good here. we walked around 10kms from echo point to mattupetty dam in which we(me and Shimil Rahman) gone through some amazing sceneries.

eravikulam national park

Trekking through Tea Plantations

Echo point, Munnar

First Feel Good Moment - Chandigarh

 Lot of things happening around us. Humans done with the exploration of own planet, started exploring outer space, another planets and their moons, galaxies in search of life.
P.S "Not all humans"
 So what are we doing here with our life? Just surviving? We are addicted to comfort and luxury. No Pain, No Gain. I compare my life with bicycling on a bridge, Half the Struggle, Half the Luxury. I find the same in trekking and visiting places. Trying my level best to explore the places. Lets go to check what I saw so far.
 
Exploration

Chandigarh, the most beautiful and cleanest city in India. I stayed for four months in Sector 4. It's a Union Territory. It is known internationally for its architecture and urban design. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, transformed from earlier plans created by the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki and the American planner Albert Mayer.

Its not a wiki to give details of population and density and etc., Lets move to exploration part. 

From chandigarh, few of my colleagues planned a trip to Kulu-Manali, Amritsar, wagah border(you must visit in the evening for the parade) very close to Lahore, Pakistan. 

Manali- Hidimba Devi Temple, Rohtang Pass, Pandoh Dam. These were which I visited but lot more to see. Rohtang Pass is the best trekking place located in Himalayas. I have lot of memories here. This trekking happened in 2012.