Thursday, January 14, 2010

Happy New Year !!

Spent last week of 2009 and first week of 2010 traveling to Munnar, Alleppy, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry etc. Spent a lot of time introspecting and resolving my priorities. And it helped.

Sharing a few pics and some information that you may like to note.

Munnar

  • Stay in good resorts only. There are lots of good-for-nothing hotels with catchy websites.
  • Tea Gardens are best. Wake up early, walk in tea gardens and do not touch plants.
  • Beef is cooked in most of the hotels. Avoid/ be careful, if you are not too fond of beef.
  • Don’t try buying a ton of tea. It is not too different from what we get in our cities.




Alleppy

  • Water is dirty and deep. Be very careful if you are coming with a kid.
  • Boats start around 12 Noon and stop moving by 5.30 PM. After 5.30 PM, you will stay in same boat till next morning. After another hour moving on boat in the morning, you’ll have to check out.
  • There is not much price difference between AC and Non-AC boat. And AC works on batteries and is started only at night.
  • Bring your Music/ Movie CDs and DVDs. Don’t drink too much. Wake up early and have a tea/ coffee on the deck.


Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry
  • Have written already. Pondicherry is good for a weekend, not more. Try getting Park Guest House, Arvindo Ashram on Beach Road. (Tariff is Rs 600/-).
  • Visit Auroville near Pondicherry. It’s really good.
  • Mahabalipuram is good for 1 day. Come back to Chennai or Pondicherry in the night.
  • Avoid night driving in East Coast Road (ECR). It is good during the day but difficult at night because of no road dividers; and people normally drive too fast.





And I close this post with the point I have decided to follow here on:

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you should determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."

Happy New Year !!

11 comments:

How do we know said...

awesome one liner at the end, and that holiday looks fun enough for us to be jealous and happy for u in equal measure!

Glad u posted again.. in fact, VERY glad u posted again.. pls use some of that time to post some more! :-)

my space said...

Manish..beautiful pics..n v gd info..if n wenever i decide to go to munnar I am going to re-read the post!!

Oreen said...

hey, all this is very good info. i have not been to Munnar and Allepey yet, so will keep this in mind before i plan my trip...

Kiran said...

Beautiful pics :)
in fact i have never heard of Munnar..so this was all very informative too :)

Aparna said...

Have not been to Munnar, though I have heard great things about the place.
Thanks for sharing, this was a big help to people who are planning to visit these places.

Manish Raj said...

@HDWK - Thanks. Sure. But traveling has increased again :( let us see.

@MS, Oreen, Kiran - Welcome. Thanks. Actually a little of info and carefulness adds to the fun.

@Aparna - Well Munnar is like Darjeeling or Kunnoor. Not more. Quieter hotels are outside the main town among the tea-gardens. Mahindra I think is quite good.

Sh@s said...

Lovely pics n u hav a cute kid.

Arooj said...

thanks u so much for ur lovely and lively comments....
and may u and ur loved ones keep smilinmg...

sheeza said...

beautiful pictures... and sights

Mampi said...

Thanks for the tips.
And I Loved the biggest tip at the end about time.

rupankar said...

Good that u hv a travel blog. Link mine --http://seven-sisters.blogspot.com