My Trip To Waynad


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nozzlering

nozzlering

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The idea for a weekend getaway came to my mind as soon as my son said that the next day (last Friday) would be a holiday. My wife gave go ahead. It was followed by a frentic search on internet. We shortlisted Munnar, Kodaikanal and Waynad. My priorities were
  • Distance: Within 500 kms
  • Budget hotel: As I believe in sight seeing rather than paying for a luxurious stay.
Finally we decided for Waynad as it would take lesser time to reach there. And we can use the time there.
It was already 1930 hrs and we are supposed to leave tomorrow early morning. And we are yet to find an accomodation. I was looking at makemytrip, cleartrip and hotels' own websites. Since I have booked through cleartrip quite a number of time, they forwarded me a deal for a resort in Waynad (It seems they track the people browsing through there site). The fotos looked good, and the deal was tempting. I booked for 2 nights. Soon I got a call from resort that my booking is confirmed. My wife started packing and I went down to the car. Though all is OK, I did few checks, topped up the fuel tank and air pressure checked in all tyres.
We had planned to start at 0400 hrs, but managed to start at 0700 hrs. Moderate traffic had creeped in to the Mysore road. But it was manageable. Last night I was trying to search the resort on google map, but I couldn't find. Some one has posted the coordinates of this resort. So I fed it to my gps and blindly followed it. Mistake, which I realised later. Here are few pics.
 

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nozzlering

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So I was blindly following the coordinates I got from net. I have already done more than 300 kms!! I started feeling something is wrong. No signboard. Hotel cant be so remote. And I ended up taking smaller and smaller roads, and ended up in a paddy field. Can I reverse? No way! I called up the hotel, and handed over the fone to a farmer working in the paddy field. Then I talked to the hotel guy again. He told me I have taken a wrong diversion. Anyways, with a bit of struggle, I turned my car and headed towards Kalpetta, as what I understood from the helpful farmer and the hotel manager. I went to Kalpetta. Had my lunch there. And headed towards Vythri. Took the dam road and after going for about 10 kms, there are 2 roads. Again I am lost!! I have driven almost 400 kms. And all this was not frustrating, because the greenary was so refreshing. The view of tea gardens was amazing. I was in "God's own country"!!
 

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nozzlering

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I again called up the hotel, and aasked which way to take. They guided me and I drove again. After about 7 kms, I saw a signboard of resort and a man waiting for us. I followed him. The next 1 km was like serious off-roading for me. Maybe I am exagerrating, But the road was very narrow, loose sand, slippery, full of potholes. Facing such road for the first time, I was worried, but my Manza took it with ease. Next day, while driving back, I made a video, which I will put soon. Now when I reached the resort, I said wow. The cottages were so beautiful. Since I was the only guest there on that day, I got the best room, facing towards the lake with mountains in backdrop. I forgot to mention, it was raining all this time. We checked in. But no covered parking for my Manza. It was nearing 1600 hrs, and we wanted to relax a bit.
 

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nozzlering

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Though we were tired, after relaxing for a while, we roamed around inside the property. Then I saw my car full of dirt, and a water hose and water supply! My son and me quickly rigged the hose and cleaned the car (before anyone could pose objection). My car was shining again. Soon after we had dinner and the manager informed us about the places of interest. We planned for tomorrow, and called the day off.
 

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350Z

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Nice write up. It must have been awesome to spend a weekend in such a beautiful and quiet place in the lap of nature. Keep it coming. I’m hooked to this thread. :smile:

nozzlering said:
I was looking at makemytrip, cleartrip and hotels' own websites. Since I have booked through cleartrip quite a number of time, they forwarded me a deal for a resort in Waynad (It seems they track the people browsing through there site).
Click to expand...
Good to see a fellow Clear Trip user. I also use their services to manage the trips. The experience has always been pleasant with them.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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nozzlering

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Thanks all for liking. The next day started with a nice south Indian breakfast. Then the manager accompanied us to a nearby reservoir. He told us that the place was inhabited by tribals about few years back. The govt relocated them and made the reservoir there. The reservoir is supposedly world's largest reservoir (sand/mud barrier) Most of the dams have concrete barrier. Anyways, the barrier is quite far from this place. We went to one of the ends of the reservoir. Here few families of tribals still live. Though we couldn't see the tribals. There dogs did greet us. And it seemed they didn't like us. [:)] We saw pits made by the tribals for collecting potable water. My son did a bit of rafting on a rickety bamboo raft. After spending some time here we went back to the resort. On the way back, manager showed us coffee plants, pepper plants. The place is rich with vegetation. Here, I saw a centipede, largest I have seen in my entire life. Now we were getting ready for the day. It was going to be a long day for me. After a while we were heading towards Banasura dam (The one I mentioned above).
 

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manjoo

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Hey buddy you took the long route so how was the long drive, the climatic conditions is perfect to visit such a place, Didn't you take the road slippery pics as you had mentioned road conditions was terrible and hope your manza didn't trouble you much.
Eagerly waiting for the next set of pics :)
 
Thread Starter #11
nozzlering

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No. We took a video instead. I have never driven on such road, that too a long stretch. It was a mixed feeling of worry and excitement. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Infact for one of the videos, I purposely delayed so that I reach resort after its dark. I drove the stretch in dark. For serious off-roaders it might be nothing. But for us, used to plane metalled roads, it was way too much. Though, as I said earlier, Manza took it with ease. Posting the videos soon. Just finished resizing them. Will post once uploaded on youtube.
Anyways, the dam wasn't far.We reached there in about 30 minutes. After parking the car, we had to take there transport, a Jeep to the dam. It was drizzling all the time. After reaching there we took a speed boat ride. The boat took us all around the reservoir, and the visuals are breathtaking. We didn't spend much time here. After finishing the boat ride, we took the jeep back to base. From where we went to Kalpetta, had lunch there. And headed towards Soochipara Falls. Another great drive.
 

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Thread Starter #13
nozzlering

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rajvel said:
hai friend
Awaiting for rest of the pictures. Too much addicted to your photos .
Myself visited Wayanad and made a travelogue '' http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/voyage-junction/8282-my-trip-ooty-wayand.html '' and finished 3 days and 4 th day has to be done. when you visited wayanad and the name of your resort and whats the tariff
Click to expand...
I was there last weekend. The resort is newly built. Its name is Sharoy Resort. The tariff is high. But I got a quickie deal from cleatrip, and I took it immediately. It cost me about 6k for 2 nights, with breakfast. Though its worth much more than that. Normally, it costs about 5k per night for 2 people.
 
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Rajvel

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thanks for the information and a lovely video[clap] it would be wonderful experience you . i like traveling and staying in a lonely place like this.


wayanad is always gods own country
 
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