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Kerala is a popular tourist destination in south India. With pleasant climate and equally pleasant people, it is rightly named as ‘god’s own country’.

Wayanad is one such popular destination on the north-east of the state. Being part of Western Ghats, it boasts of excellent natural beauty – wild life sanctuaries, mountain ranges, islands and lakes.

Three days are not sufficient enough to enjoy all of Wayanad; but unfortunately that was all the time that we had. We planned to utilize the best of these three days – we had detailed plans of what to see on each day.

We started at about 6 am. from Bangalore in Toyota Qualis. We traveled via Mandya and reached Rain Country Resorts at about 1 pm., ready for lunch. It was an indicator of what we were going to have in the coming days – it was an excellent lunch.

After lunch, we left to Pookot Lake. We took a boat ride and then strolled along the lake for sometime.

Later in the day, at the resort, we were informed that a bandh was organized the next day to protest against the recent fuel hike. We didn’t like it; but what is a travel plan, if it doesn’t change during its course?

Though all of us took a book with us, I didn’t want to spend a whole day sitting in the resort. I discussed with the resort staff for options. One of them offered to be a guide to walk us through the woods to the near-by peak. My brother-in-law and I gladly agreed.

I was excited at change of plan. Walking through woods was not in our initial plan. We had planned to hop from one tourist spot to the other. But this sudden change will give us an opportunity to spend much more time with the nature.

I was excited for another reason too – I was reading Bill Bryson’s adventurous walk through the Appalachian Trail’ in his book ‘A Walk in the woods‘.  Obviously I was thrilled to take a walk through the woods; of course my brother-in-law is no match for Katz (Bryson’s partner in the walk), but he is closer.

We left after breakfast. The initial climb was a steep one and tiring. While BIL (brother-in-law) and I were panting and falling behind (much like Katz), the guide went on walking as if it was anything normal. I was afraid that our hike will end much before it started! But we survived.

The woods were wild and unspoiled. It was a fantastic feeling to be in the woods listening to the birds chirp and to the rustling sound of dry leaves on the ground. The rest of the walk was not so much steep as the initial one and we were glad about it.

The guide warned us that there were leeches along the route and he took a bottle of salt water in case it was needed. We didn’t use it though.

The final piece was a steep climb on the hill. While the guide climbed up without much effort, it took us a lot of sweat. But when we stood on top of the hill, we felt such an elation – not just because we made it to the top of the hill, but the scenery was splendid. We were on a hill surrounded on all directions by mountains with layers of natural beauty. Having done a basic degree in geology, BIL went about giving me information of the rocks that were surrounding us. Though it was mid noon with sun scorching, we stayed back as long as we could.

We did have a concern that we will be bored for the rest of the day. But we were wrong. As my sister was flying frequently and all of us were caught up in the pace of our work, we didn’t have any family time for few months. So this gave us a chance to sit down as a family and talk. We talked – talked about our childhood; dad’s and mom’s childhood days; our growing up; how life has changed and all else. We didn’t realize how fast time went by until one of the staff came in to call us for dinner. We resumed the family chit-chat after dinner too. All of us felt pretty good about the day.

Next day we left to Tholpatty wild life sanctuary. We were the first ones to take the safari and we expected a thrilling one; but we didn’t see any animals on the way. It was a disappointing one.

Immediately after breakfast, we went to Kuruva island, an uninhibited group of small islands. We were in the absolute tranquil with the nature. Having developed a liking for un-spoilt nature, I was enjoying each moment of the walk through the tall trees.

Kuruva island is not just a long stretch of tall trees; but it is made up of many rivulets, if I remember there are around 64 of them. Crossing each of them was dangerous – we had to cross on rocky bed as the stream flows through them. In some places water was knee deep. We were debating if we need to return without taking a risk on these rivulets, as my mom and dad were with us. But my mother surprised us saying, let us do it boys! We carefully crossed about 9 rivulets; in each my mother surprising us with her strength and stamina.

Every good thing comes to an end and so was this trip. But the trek through the woods, Crossing of rivulets with my parents and the quality time we had with each other will make us to remember our trip to Wayanad stay in our mind for a long time to come.

Enjoy some of the photos here. More photos in Flickr.

Group of bikers followed us.

In Pookot Lake

Cute, isn’t it?

Natural Swimming Pool in the Resort

Shot during the Camp-fire in the Resort

Deer skull found on our trek

Wild Mushroom. There were many more wild flowers

From the top of the hill

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BIL and the guide walking down from the hill

Jeep is an economical vehicle owing to the hilly surroundings

I like to travel – smelling new land, tasting native food, seeing new faces, visiting monuments, cuddling with nature and loosing oneself excites me too much to stay comfortable within four walls.

And when I travel, I like to write down what I see and how I feel when I see them. I tried to write at the end of day; didn’t work. I tried carrying a notebook and write down taking short breaks during the trip; didn’t work either. May be if I was BBC reporter or a BootsnAll contributor, it would force me to write; but being a ‘hobby’ traveler, I find it difficult to log when I travel.

I’ve tried to write once back home. I could make some notes, but most often, I forget the ‘little’ details, which means that what I end-up writing is no different from the thousands of other ‘informatory’ articles on the net. So I’ve lived with the guilt so far.

Recently I heard of a popular micro-blogging site, Twitter and immediately registered there. Twitter provides an option to update via mobile – as it is a micro blog, it makes sense to update via mobile – one tend to keep it short.

Soon after that we, as a family, planned to go to Wayanad in Kerala. We were excited about the trip – it is to the beautiful ‘God’s-own-country’; a family trip in years; a needed break for all of us from our hectic work schedule.

Being a family trip, I wanted to spend as much time as possible, with the family rather than sitting and writing travel notes. Thanks to mobility provided by Twitter, I can send short logs to Twitter by way of SMS! So I carried my mobile, though I wasn’t sure if there will be signal – despite Airtel’s ads claiming, the coverage over sea, villages, mountains and forests. Its time to check that claim.

It came as a pleasant surprise that Airtel’s claim was true – except for the short area between Karnataka & Kerala border, there was signal all through our trip – during trekking through forest near the resort, on crossing many rivulets in Kuruva island or when spending hours of quality time with the family in the resort. I kept sending short messages to Twitter without ever knowing if they reach the site – there is no Internet connection in the resort.

I checked on Twitter as soon as I came home. Wow! every single log was in. With Airtel and Twitter, I’ve captured all the ‘little’ details of our trip without spending too much time away from the family. Thank you, Airtel & Twitter.

I don’t know the feasibility of this option for international travelers and also for hard-core back-bag travelers. I am just writing what worked for me. And believe me, I am paid neither by Airtel or Twitter for this.

Barely two months passed when I got an invitation to join the team for a weekend trip. Malpe, an exotic beach at the western end of Karnataka was a good choice to get away from the daily routine. However, I was caught between two strong opposing views. I absolutely love traveling, and what better opportunity to start the year than being in an Arabian Sea beach. On the other hand, I’ve not traveled in a group. Being a seclusive and an introvert, I’ve always traveled alone. After a little thoughtful consideration, I decided to go because traveling with a team that makes me comfortable seemed like a safe bet.

As the day approached all of us were excited. Preparations went on for group games, room allocation and all other activities that accompany such team outings.

We were supposed to leave on Friday night at 20h30. We experienced the first rule of travel – Be ready for change of plans! Due to chaotic traffic, dinner arrived later than our departure time. By the time we were on the bus it was already 22h00. Still, the enthusiasm was so great that everyone was dancing in bus until midnight and little after midnight slowly they fell asleep.

Next day, we woke up to an entirely different environment – A warm sun welcomed us and backwaters on both sides of road cheered us. We reached ‘Paradise Isle Beach resort’. Was the hotel a paradise? Well, it wasn’t and it didn’t matter.

After a quick shower and a short breakfast, we headed to St.Mary’s island. History tells us that the great Portuguese explorer ‘Vasco da gamma’ landed on one of these islands and named them ‘El Padron de Santa Maria’, from which the present day name is derived. The island is filled with coconut groove and hexagonal shaped basalt rocks; this unique combination provides the island an idyllic nature. Probably nothing attracts a team as good as water. Almost everyone got into water to play, including our boss. As usual, I disappeared from the crowd clicking photos. When everyone got tired, they realised it is time for lunch.

Lunch refreshed the team for another play in water. As Malpe beach was dirty, we headed to Kaup beach. It was another time for water games. Again, almost every one got into water. However, I found another pleasure: walking on unspoiled, soft beach sand is a treat for your feet.

There is an old 100ft tall lighthouse built on a rock. Sure, from top of lighthouse it would’ve been a fantastic view, but it wasn’t opened. So I’d to be satisfied with the view from the rock, which is not that bad. Backwaters, sea and sight of other islands make a spectacular all-round view from the rock. Sitting on the serene rock and letting sea-breeze play on your body will quieten any soul. As if it wasn’t enough, sun was setting into the Arabian Sea. While I was becoming one with the nature, the team had beach volleyball, tug-of-war and so on. We kissed good-bye to the lovely beach and proceeded to our resort.

Back in the resort the mood was one of exhilaration. Arrangements were made for bon-fire, disco and a little bar. I was amazed about the energy of the team. For the next three hours, they danced – some consciously and others unknowingly, if you know what I mean. I witnessed the national unity too – there were music from Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. There was little English music too.

We had a well spent day. But we had to return. We returned with lots of memories – both personal and digital.

P.S: After our return, there were prizes on various categories. One was ‘Best Swimmer’. Apparently, I was the only one who didn’t get into water and I got the award.

After having spent good amount of time visiting Luxor, Aswan & Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, it was time for what I love to do during travel – going off-beaten path. With some search and enquiry, I decided to go to Daraw, a village near Aswan, famous for its camel market. I learnt that camels are brought from as far as Sudan and sold here and the market is in existence for many years. Enquiring at the reception and the hotel travel desk, I came to know that it is better to take a bus there; no cabs come to Daraw.
So dawned my day with an excitement. I took a luxurious highway bus which passes through the village. I had to walk for a long distance from the bus stop; don’t remember if it was 2 or 3 km; not that it mattered. I was in a place where time has come to a stand still. I was walking on a dirt road with old mud houses on both sides, with wild bushes here and there. A Chevrolet Jeep carrying a man with a mobile phone zipped past to announce the existence of modern life in the otherwise ancient village. Along the way, I watched in awe, men traveling on donkeys, camels tied and carried in Jeeps and fertile fields.

I would have walked for couple of hours, and there it was, a huge ground with countless number of camels. May be 500 or may be 1000! Kiddy ones, healthy ones and lean ones (I am sure there were female and male too, but I don’t know how to differentiate). I have never seen so many camels in one place. Some of them were lying down, others standing on three legs (for the fourth one was tied so that they wouldn’t run away), and few others were grazing whatever was left on the ground. My eyes were twinkling in surprise.

At one end of the market, there was a thatched roof and men were sitting and smoking water-pipes and others drinking black tea. There was an old man who has been a guide for the camel market for a period that he can’t remember. He took me around explaining how to identify a race camel from a camel brought for just plain meat. There was a big butcher shop within the market. He even said the approximate age of each of camel. Those men were amazed with the digital pictures I took of them. So with the video camera, I shooted them and entertained them with the video. They were happy and I was much more than happy. For few hours I witnessed life lived in an ancient way.

On my way back, I stopped by a road side shop. There was a big pan and the guy was making something that looked delicious. I asked, ‘what is it?’. His answer seemed like a shout! Then someone emerged out of nowhere to explain, in rather broken English, that it is a made of spinach and…, again something that I didn’t understand. I asked him a simple question: Is it good and he shook his head up & down to imply yes. I ended up eating few and I found them very delicious.

Thus went the day; a memorable one, partly living in the ancient Egyptian way.

Ooty is a well-known hill station in Tamil Nadu, India. In fact Ooty was the only tourist town known to us when we grew up. From School trips to Honeymoon trips every one went to Ooty. My sister and I had been to Ooty in family, school and college trips. But my brother-in-law had not seen Ooty. So off we went to Ooty during 2004 New year holidays.

At noon 28th December, we checked into YWCA. After a warm bath and a homely lunch, we set out to explore Ooty. Ooty looked similar to any other major city in the region – totally crowded with people, here and there some cows and dogs, walls full of graffiti, and large hoardings; but with a notable difference – a pleasant cilmate. We took an auto-rickshaw to botanical garden. It is a huge garden hosting species from all over the globe. The British estabilished the garden as early as 1848. Though it is well planned and maintained, it has a bit of artificiality attached to it. We strolled around bullying each other, taking pictures and eating maze. We didn’t want to do a lot on the first day itself and so we returned to the hostel quickly.

29th
We hired a taxi to see around. There are guided tours with mini vans. But then you are restricted in time and place. That one reason was enough for us to go for a taxi. First we went to Dodapetta peak which is 2623 meters high and is the highest peak in Tamil Nadu. From here there is a wonderful view of Ooty and near by towns, collectively known as Nilgris. Nilgris is full of tea estates. How about stopping by a tea-estate? We stopped by one whose owner has around 2500 acres of tea gardens. Oh Man! Not every one in India is poor. There are five kinds of teas – the first four qualities of tea are for exports and only the last one comes into Indian kitchens. We had a taste of all teas and bought few packets as well. Then we drove to Sim’s park, a botanical garden in Coonoor, a near by town. It has much more natural settings than the one in Ooty. Sim’s park has a tree planted in 1850. We also visited Dolphine’s nose, named for the shape of the rock, and Lamb’s rock, named after an Englishman, before returning to Ooty for a boat ride. Ooty lake was constructed in 1824 by Mr. John Sullivan, the then Collector of Coimbatore, who located and constructed early settlements of British Raj in Ooty.

30th
After enjoying the well trodden tourist path, we decided to go where others don’t go usually. We were passing through woods and being with unspoilt nature. Each of us were saying, “Wow! we never knew such places exist in our region”. All of these places became known to public after series of Tamil movie shootings here.
To start we walked down a pine forest region to reach a lake. There is no boating, no shops, no crowd – just the lake surrounded by green mountain ranges. We thought we found a great place. The driver told us to wait for the next. Of course to find something great you need to exert sweat, even in the cold climate. We did so when we walked up to a place called 9th mile. I don’t know the reason behind the name. But it is worth walking up. There is nothing but lush vegetation everywhere you see. The mountain range at the background makes it even more romantic.
When we got to Pykara waterfalls, we learnt that there is not much water there. Actually my sister was very much eager to see the ‘Nilgris Niagara’. But still we wanted to walk there to see how it looks without water. Good that we walked there. There was no waterfalls, but it wasn’t disappointing. It looked like we were in a canyon. We took lots and lots of pictures. The only disappointing trip was to Pykara boat house. It wasn’t worth walking for an hour. Still, we were walking through the forest and so we did enjoy the walk, up and down. Wasn’t it time to return? No, we still had Glenmorgan. This is a power station which lies between the mountains and a winch to get there, but we should have gotten the permission and we didn’t. But no worry, even without the winch it was a gorgeous view. We were surrounded by layers of mountain ranges and beneath us stood thick, dense forest. We couldn’t have asked for more.
With a complete satisfaction, we drove back to Ooty. We couldn’t believe what we saw. Our legs needed rest, off we went for rest.

31st
After a full day of walking and enjoying the nature, we decided to take it easy. We took rest in the morning and in the afternoon we visited Rose Garden, the name tells what it is. But we were not in season, so couldn’t see roses in full blossom. Still, we came to know that there exists so many types of roses, not just in color but even in structure. Afterwards, we wandered around the commercial road, mostly window shopping. We bought some herbal oils. At 20h00, there was a special New year buffet at YWCA. It was a homely atmosphere with homely food. I heard that many frequent visitors came by for the party. It is not surprising, considering the fact that YWCA staff are very friendly and courteous.

1st
For a change we decided to use the public transport to go around. So we took a bus to Kotagiri, a near-by hill station. There is another reason as well, we were told there is not much to see in Kotagiri except the Kodanadu view point. Kotagiri is 30 kms from Ooty and it takes one and half hour by bus and from Kotagiri we had to catch another bus to reach the viewpoint, which is another half hour travel by bus. From this view point one can see, Moyar river forming a natural boundary between Tamilnadu and Karnataka. It takes curves and bends and beautifully enriches the land for vegetation. Together with the river, other peaks of the western ghats presents an idyllic view. The stylish ‘M’ shaped Rengasamy peak is a unique sighting. After around an hour enjoying the scenic beauty, we left back to Ooty.

2nd
We planned to visit Mudumalai, a wild life sanctuary. We booked our trip with Sri Murugan Travels, a day prior and the guy came promptly and collected the money. The van was supposed to pick us by 14h00. But around 15h00, he called us to say that there is seat only for 2 persons and would we be willing to postpone our trip. What a customer service! As we didn’t have another day, we couldn’t make it to Mudumalai.
We went on with walking around the city, watching TV, and talking to a German couple staying in YWCA.
After days of being with nature, homely YWCA and piercing cold, it was time to say good-bye. We enjoyed being in Ooty and found a part of India we never knew before. We have with us sweet memories to cherish and lots of photos to revisit.