Ponmudi

I don't know why, but blogging about beautiful places in Kerala is something I am enjoying the most these days. Last week I had gone to a place called Ponmudi in Trivandrum, Kerala.......a part of Western Ghats, this place is famous for the unending cool breezes that flow through the mountain ranges here, sometimes capable of blowing you away!!! Am not exaggerating, but during rainy season, you should use some muscle power to withstand the speedy chill winds blowing at you.

We were 8 people, and traveled in 2 cars, both my friend's. This was a treat given by me for my college friends as I got a job in an IT firm. We started off the journey on 16th Jan, 2009 early morning at around 2:30 am from my house in Newsprint Nagar, Kottayam. Ponmudi is around 180 to 200 kms from there. We reached at the foothills of Ponmudi at around 7:30, took a room to freshen up, and continued our way up the hill.

Ponmudi, as against what I thought, is not a dangerous place. The way up the hill is narrow, but as the Indian Govt is setting up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology(IISST) ,

work was going on to widen the roads leading to Ponmudi. Its around 1100 mts above sea level. There are many resorts over this place, we also saw a caravan going ahead of us, maybe some film personality.

This place is very silent, the only voice you hear once you reach the top is the gushing sound of the tree leaves waving to and fro due to the blowing winds. Well, there is nothing much you can do here, but if you fall in the "drinking" category, you will like it here. We spent

around an hour here, climbing the hills and enjoying the great view. There are many places nearby like Meenmutty waterfalls, a lake nearby, the Neyyar dam, Crocodile lake etc. We decided to go to Trivandrum( roughly some 24 kms) after that. On the way down, one of the cars showed some trouble. A metallic sound was coming from one of its front tires............we stopped to see what happened, had to use the jackie and remove the tier. A stone was stuck between the break pads and the tire.....which was making the sound. Once we removed it and fixed the tires, it was ok. On the way we had our lunch.

We reached Trivandrum at around 2 in the afternoon. Met our friend Sachin over there, and decided to go to the Kovalam beach, well..............you know why people go there............its not the waves or the sunset that draws attention............but the people who come to the beach. I must say that this is one of the beautiful beaches India has, after those in Goa, and thats why you can find a number of foreigners enjoying the sun and the beach. We had a great time at the beach , spent around 3 to 4 hours there. Went back to the city, had dinner near the stadium in the city. There was the Asianet Ujala awards going on in the stadium and we could hear a hell lot of voices from inside the stadium.

Our stay that night was at Sachin's place. We had to wake up early in the morning as it was our college mate Rigin's sister's wedding on that day. Well, after all, trips are to enjoy, and you won't get time to sleep, even if you find time, you won't be allowed to sleep...........This was a memorable one , after a long time, everyone met again.......memories to be cherished forever..........

Nelliyampathy

This is my first extensively dedicated blog, and am doing this bcoz I want to show u guys a place in Kerala most people haven't heard of much, or seen much............circumscribed by beautiful hillocks and dams, inundated by tea plantations and callow forests, this place is where every adventure loving man seeks to go.........yes, am talking about the silently mystifying Nelliyampathy...........

There is one more reason that am incline

d to do this and that's bcoz when I googled "Nelliyampathy", not much results came out that gave information about where the place is or how it can be reached.....so sad!!

So, I will start by mentioning about the trip we went to Nelliyampathy in Nov'07......I was doing my b-tech in Kottayam, Kerala at that time and was staying along with 11 other pals in a PG. We started on a Thursday night at around 12:00 am in a traveler and reached Pothundi dam at the foothills of Nelliyampathy. We took the route from Kottayam to Muvattupuzha, Chalakudi , Alathur and Pothundi Dam which took around 4 hours. This place is a very silent one, we could hear only the sound of the water

falling off from the reservoir.

As we had a little bit

tiresome, 4-hour long trip, we slept-off in the traveler. It was around 6 in the morning when I

woke up and the sight in front of me was truly mind-blowing....as dawn was just starting to fall upon the sky, it was like the nature had changed its colour from the serene green to the exotic blue.....(you can see the first photo at the top). After freshening up, we started on our way up the hill towards Nelliyampathy. We

were expecting bumpy

roads but it was just smooth all the way, Kerala government has done a good job regarding that. About half an hour later we were in Nelliyampathy. The place is famous for its ravaging beauty of the

steep hills. There are many

suicide points here, I don't remember their names .......and the best part is you can actually watch clouds floating at the same level where you are standing, its like the hills are kissing the sky. Well the first place we went was just great, we had to walk along a narrow path and at the end we could see something in white colour. What we saw when we reached that point

was the open sky, and down below some 3000 meters the lush green land lied, stretching across the horizon.

Well there are many resorts here, where you can stay for two three days and visit all the places nearby. If you are talking about Nelliyampathy, you should not forget to mention about the top-most point over there. Its a 14km up the hill drive, only 4-wheel drive powered vehicles can take that route. You can hire a jeep from the town, the driver can tell you about the place. Its about 4000 mtrs above msl. The route is very rocky and at times you should get down the jeep,

so that it can drive up the way. Sometimes, the driver said that, wild boars may come on the way. When you reach the top, you can almost have the view of half of pallakad district, some 6 dams, clouds floating just before you............its just amazing. After we came back from this place, we had our lunch from a house. We had asked them before to prepare lunch for 10 people. The thing is there is no proper restaurant over there to have food.

Then, we went to a place called Sithakund, its another suicide point, a hill, and if you climb down the hill, there is a huge cave that you can see. It was an adventurous experience for us. We met a local who took us down the hill to the cave. The place is full of leaches, so you should take care of your own blood, or by the time you watch your foot, all the blood might have gone.................huh, was that a bit over-board???

After this, we started our journey back to Kottayam and reached there at night

Well, this is all I can tell about the trip and the place. Its a must see place for adventure seekers. Also, you can have campfire , trekking sort of things here, if you plan accordingly. Any information you need about the place, feel free to contact me....

Writing off

Patruni.......