Short Holiday To God's Own Country


Thread Starter #1
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
81
Likes
48
Location
India
For the last few weeks had been thinking to take a small break & go for a weekend to some nearby places but for some or the other reason was not able to make it.
Then a few days back one of my cousins calls up & asks if I was ready for a weekend drive to nearby place. It was suppose to be a five family weekend holiday & were wondering where do we go. Suggestion poured in, some said Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munnar, Valparai, Vagamon but most of the places had been visited multiple times except for Vagamon. As this holiday was going to be an Onam weekend most of the hotels in Vagamon were fully booked. Then one of my cousin said why not visit Cochin, It would be nice to celebrate Onam & enjoy the place by visiting the heritage places over there. Though all of us has visited the place but never been to Cochin as a holiday destination.
In the meantime few of my cousins had backed out & at the end it was my family with my brother in laws (BIL’s)family & one more cousin with his family from Pollachi were the once who ended up with this trip.
All this plans for the holiday was planned in a week’s time in which the hotels had to be booked. We were not sure whether we would get a good deal in any of the good hotels in such a short notice & that too on a Onam weekend but thanks to "Make My Trip" got a good deal for all of us for two nights in Casino Hotel CGH Earth @ Wellingdon Island Cochin. The bookings were made from 2th - 4th of September for the three families. So it was decided we would leave Coimbatore on 2th by 7.30am & reach the destination by lunch time & yeah I forgot to write that my BIL’s grand parents were based from Cochin & he knew the place pretty well.
So on the 8th evening purchased some snacks & essentials required as we had three kids travelling with us so as to keep them busy during the drive & also got the car washed after that. There was a heavy downpour in the night & due to this the electricity was cut to prevent untowards incidents in middle of the night. Didn’t have a great sleep & was awake by 6am.

Day 1
My son, Myself & my wife were ready by 7am & the car was loaded with our luggage with a mandatory bye to my parents & we started from our house. It was decided by me & my BIL that we would meet for breakfast at Hotel Anandhas near Lakshmi Mills. My other cousin was going to drive down to Vadacancherry from pollachi where we would meet him & drive down together.
We had a sumptuous breakfast of hot idlis & dosas & started from there in two cars. Both the cars had to have a fuel break as both of us had not done the previous day. Brimmed both the cars to the full & in no time both the cars hit the highways.

The odo before leaving for the trip.
IMG_20170902_072524.jpg

Just before leaving Anandhas.
IMG_20170902_072552.jpg

IMG_20170902_072617.jpg

The roads were good fourlaned & in no time we had crossed Palghat. Kerela is the only place where I have seen signals on the highway. Every few kms there are signals & driving there is just pathetic.
We reached Vadacancherry & my cousin was yet to reach there. The roads from here were really bad. The work in on for four laning on the ghat section & this place usually takes a little time to drive out as there is lot of traffic. My cousin somehow caught on with us in this section & from here on all the three cars drove together till Cochin.
The drive till Aluva was ok but from here on till Angamally the traffic was really bad & we were progressing inch by inch on a four lane highway. As there was heavy traffic we took a detour from Angamally & reached our destination by 2pm.
We stopped at hotel Dwarka as the kids & all of us were really hungry & had a good veg Kerela Sapad (Meal). With all of us with a full tummy we drove down to Wellindon island & checked in our hotels.
As I Had not had a proper sleep the prior night I just crashed to the bed to catch up some sleep & kids were happy playing around & few of them opted to have a massage at the hotel. By the time I got up it was already 5.30pm. We all thought that we all not venture out today & spend some time at the hotel. So it was decided we all spend some time at the swimming pool with the kids & then had dinner & called it a day.
 
Last edited:
Thread Starter #2
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
81
Likes
48
Location
India
Re: Short holiday to Gods Own Country.

Got stuck in the traffic near Aluva.
IMG_20170902_114457.jpg

Saw this yellow Porshe Panamera
IMG_20170902_110659.jpg

Day 2.
Got up by & 7.00am & had our breakfast at the hotel & as the kids were bent towards spending some time at the swimming pool again we had no choice but to listen to them. So it was decided we spend some time at pool & by 11.00 leave the hotel & have a Sadya sapad ( it’s a special meal served during Onam) at Sarovaram BTH. By the time we left hotel it was 12pm & we left for BTH. There was a huge crowd over there waiting for their turn to have food.
We somehow managed to get seats for ourselves & enjoyed our food. By the time we finished our food it was pouring outside & we decided to wait for some time. In few minutes the rains subsided & we decided to head to Jew town. Visited few of the shops dealing with old artifacts, Police museum & the Synagogue. Once we were finished had some good tea & coffee at Mocha Art Cafe. This place is done up beautifully & must place to visit. Its just opposite to the Synagogue.

Let the pictures do the some talking now.
Sadya Sapad.
IMG_20170903_134656.jpg

Busy with the food except for my son who finished it.
IMG_20170903_140238.jpg

Strolling in Jew town
IMG-20170904-WA0032.jpg

Some of the museum picture of old car & kerosine operated referigerator & table fan. IMG_20170903_155414.jpg

IMG_20170903_155632.jpg

IMG_20170903_155717.jpg

Having coffee at Mocha Art Cafe.
IMG_20170903_164404.jpg

By the time we finished this place it was 4.30pm & then we headed to my BIL’s grandfather house to visit them. Spent some time their & from their we left for Fort Kochi. Drove around this place for some time & all the ladies wanted to do some shopping so we were entrusted with the work of babysitting our kids. By the time they were done we headed to David Hall Gallery Cafe where they served us lovely hot Pizzas. Had our dinner & headed back to the hotel & called it day.
 
Last edited:
Thread Starter #5
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
81
Likes
48
Location
India
Day 3.
This was our last day at Cochin & we had decided to have our breakfast , get ready & check out of the hotel & head towards the famous mall of Kochi. Lullu Mall was the place where we were headed where again all the ladies left the kids with us & headed for some shopping. We took all the kids & went to play area where they spent time doing ice skating, Bowling alley & few rides. By the time the ladies were back it was 2.30pm. The kids wanted to have burger & so even my BIL. So they headed to Burger King & we headed towards Kochi Maharaja Bhog where they serve authentic Marwari meals. All of had our sumptuous meals & decided to walk back to the parking lot & start our drive back to Coimbatore.
Kids doing skating.
IMG-20170904-WA0013.jpg
Parting shot at Lullu mall parking area.
IMG_20170904_114223.jpg

The drive back uneventful & we drove till Vadacancherry nonstop & a coffee break & said a good bye to one of my cousin & his wife who were taking a diversion to Pollachi from here. The other two cars drove down to Coimbatore directly & again had a pit stop at Anandhas for dinner. Had our Dinner & headed home. We reached our sweet home by 10.30pm.
This is my first travelogue & do pardon me for the mistakes made.
Cheers
vdm295
 

Top Bottom