Backpacking through Kerala - Part II - Wayanad district

As you know from my recent blogs we had just been on a 5-day trip to Kerala. And frankly I just couldn't wait to get back there, or at least get out of Bangalore. So we decided on making a trip out to Wayanad, one of the northern districts in Kerala and quite close to Bangalore as well. So we took off on a Friday evening ie 26th May and this time too just booked the onward journey tickets.

Day 1: Arrival, hunt for lodging, sight seeing and getting tired
We reached Kalpetta at around 4am and were wondering what the hell to do. Called up all the local resorts and hotels and found that every good cottage or anything close to an inhabitable spot in the wilderness was booked out for the weekend. So we got into a jeep and headed out to the next nearest town Sultan Bethrey which was around 25kms away. The ride was horrendous considering that the driver was not in his senses at all and could fall asleep anytime. We reached there and checked out The Resort and Regency. The latter turned out to be better equipped and cleaner and so he took 2 rooms for ourselves at Rs660/24hrs. After getting ready we ate like vultures at the hotel's restaurant and had a stack of plates left on one side of the table once we were done. We had a jeep waiting to get us to all the tourist spots close by. He promised to show us most of the stuff by the end of the day. We started off with the Jain temple and the headed to Eddakal caves and finally at the Vythiri caves with some minor spots along the way. The trek up the hill/mountain to the caves was the most amazing part considering that it was pouring cats and dogs all the way and the three (Alok, Himanshu and myself) of us managed to make it nearly to the top of the mountain without too much trouble. But the sad part was that the could cover was so dense that we were unable to take any pics of the high spots and hence no substantial evidence to the claim that we made. Anyways it was a whole lot of fun. The waterfalls that we headed out to next was also equally great. Here the trek was downhill and the heavy rain had cause all of us to be wet and soggy at the toes. But the thunderous pour of the waterfalls was enough to rejuvenate us and Himanshu even made it out to the distant rocks to find his Heman sword :)

For lunch we halted at a local joined and hogged ourselves to some wonderful kerala paratha's, chappathis, ghee rice and curries. We were all stuffed and surprised to see the bill which was grand totalled at Rs62, and yes that was for the whole meal.

Later for dinner we revisited the Regency's restaurant and tried out their chicken and fish items which turned out to be really good. So again a lavish mean with dessert and the works. We went overboard with the milkshakes that we ordered to the room later though:)

Day2: To sleep or to visit the sanctuary?
Well the previous day was really tiring for us. But before going to bed we had called the jeep at 7am to take us out to the wild life sanctuary. At around 6.30am when we woke up, even though the alarm was for 5.50, we were in two minds as to whether we enjoy the sleep of peace in that blissful rainy weather or head out. After some talk we just decided to make the most of our trip by visiting the next place. So we had our breakfast and headed out the sanctuary. The ride was good this time and the rain had just heeded so it made the climate just perfect with little vehicular traffic around. The sanctuary turned out to be a damp squid. We saw a few elephants and tons of deer/bison around the place but no wild cats to satiate our appetite. We hung out on the sides of the jeep the whole time and enjoyed the bumpy ride in there along with large intakes of fresh air. Well maybe that was heavy breathing due to the apprehension that there might be a wild cat right behind us in mid-flight about to take a chunk out of one of our asses. Then in an impromptu decision we decided to head out to Kurva island which was around 50kms away. That too turned out to be a damp squid since river surrounding the island was overflowing and the way was blocked. So no Kurva island either. Just as an FYI it is supposed to be 6kms in circumference with just some tribal inhabitants.

And yes on our way we did stop at a small town for breakfast. There again we hogged ourselves silly. I had a liver plate as well and we nearly tried all the breakfast dishes in the restaurant. And oh the grand bill came up to Rs55 for that and yes for all the four of us.

So we got back to the hotel early. We made sure we packed everything up and were ready to leave at 4pm towards Mysore. We somehow squeesed ourselves onto the overcrowded KeralaSRTC bus and managed to make it to Mysore by 8pm. We had a sumptuous meal at Dasprakash (supposedly the creator of the dosai) and got onto the semi-luxury bus headed to Bangalore at around 10pm. We reached back to this god-forsaken place at and were in bed by nearly 1am.


Closure
And there ends another wonderful journey into Kerala. Wayanad is a wonderful place and supposedly has the second largest amount of rainfall in India after Cherapunji. The place is wonderful and has some tea plantations as well, though not as beautiful as Munnar. There are nice places to visit and I have heard that staying at one of the resorts in Vythiri is worth the 7-8k/night for a cottage.

As I have mentioned the food is cheap and tasty as well. The people are friendly but very few of them know English or Hindi. So it seems that it is not a spot visited by outsiders as a tourist destination. So it makes it all the more appealing since the crowds are pretty low where ever you go. But don't be surprised if all that changes pretty soon. The total expenses for the trip turned out to be Rs.2000/head for the four of us which was per budget.

All in all Wayanad is a wonderful place and I suggest you take a day to just eat, sleep and relax while the wonderful torrential-like rain hits the rooftop.


link to the pics of the trip at yahoo photos