Wayanad

We started on Friday at around 6 in the morning for Mysore on the way to Wayanad (Kerala). Mysore is around 160 Kms from Bangalore by road though after the BMIC project is completed, you will have an alternative route of only 111 Kms. All said, the road leading to Mysore was very good and it’s a smooth drive. We must laud the Government for constructing such good roads between Bangalore and Mysore. The only excepting being the stretch of Mandya where the roads are in bad condition. Our ex-chief minister Mr. S.M. Krishna hails from Mandya. While driving, I touched the speeds of +10 and +20 easily.

The first break we took was in Mysore at Hotel Kamath Vegeterian. It is situated on the start of Ooty road. The food is good at this place. After a break of half-an-hour, we started again. The start of Ooty road is ridden with potholes for a stretch of around 10 kms or so (roughly, I am not sure!). You have to head towards Nanjangud, which is 26 Kms south of Mysore. From Nanjangud, we drove towards Gundalpet, which is close to 40 Kms from Nanjangud.

From Gundalpet, you have to take a diversion towards Sulthan Bathery which is off Ooty road. While you are on this road and you have crossed roughly 20 Kms or so, you find yourself in the middle of forest with the trees covering you on the top. It started to drizzle a little while we were in the aforementioned forest area and I can term it as my best drive to-date. Nature at its best! The air was so soothing and refreshing that I wished the drive extended as much as possible.

First came Sulthan Bathery, followed by Kalpetta where we had booked two cottages in Royal Palm (http://www.royalpalmwayanad.com/).

That particular day, we visited only Pookat lake (or Pookode lake). Pookat lake is 13 Kms from Kalpetta and it comes under district Calicut. It was drizzling again when we reached there. We had been thru all kinds of weather on Friday so we didn’t find it difficult. We were carrying umbrellas with us though we chose not to use them. The lake was overflowing, the water was muddy but the scenery was just breath-taking. There was also an aquarium with variety of fishes. The lake is girdled by mountains on all sides and clouds seemed to descend much below these mountains. We also noticed all Tourism police personal enjoying a Malayalam movie on T.V.

We had dinner in Hotel Affas which serves decent dinner. We called it a day and retreated to Royal Palms.

Next day morning, we checked-out by 7:30 a.m. and set out for Karapuzha dam (pronounced as Karapuda) and Edakkal Caves. The drive is good but somewhat risky. Going back from Kalpetta towards Sulthan Bathery, Karapuzha dam comes first. You have to take a right from the main road and go inside 7.5 Kms. It is the scenery that is good. There is no dam as such or may be there was one in the past. We took some pictures and came back. This place can be avoided. We then reached the main road again and headed towards Edekkal Caves which is 12 Kms from the main road on the right. There comes a point further to which, you are not allowed to take your vehicle. We were either supposed to walk up until the caves or hire a jeep. Finding no jeep in vicinity, we had no option left but to walk. I would suggest you to take a jeep and reach the Edekkal Caves. You can do trekking thereafter as well. Since, we wanted to return to Bangalore the same day, time was scarce. We chose not to go inside the Caves. May be, next time!

We finally moved towards Mysore. It was very sunny and heat started to take its toll on us. We reached Mysore and had lunch in the same Kamath restaurant. They serve good tea here.

Now, our destination was Infosys, Mysore about which I will write later. After seeing Infosys, we started for Bangalore. After entering Bangalore, we were completely lost in finding our way in and around Majestic. There are no boards which show you the way to Airport, M.G. Road, Vidhan Soudha or any other important place. If there are some, they are written in Kannada. We would have set a record to ask maximum no. of auto-rickshaw drivers, the way to Vidhan Soudha. Finally, a Cabbie driving a Sumo helped us. The traffic on a Saturday evening in Bangalore is horrible and atrocious. We should have entered the city through Kanakpura road.

Junta, I will post the pictures later. All in all, it was a good and a memorable journey though I would like to add the following: Wayanad is not a place where you can see some points or important places. It is a place to relax, drive, experience wonderful weather, trek etc…Don’t go with an aim of seeing Wayanad. All places are very far from each other. For records, i drove 680 Kms in two days!!!