Category: Travel Butterfly (Page 1 of 2)

Munnar : Of Terror Attacks and No show safaris

December 3, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 6 (23rd April 2025):

We woke up, freshened up, had breakfast and sat in the hotel room. I was under the weather and Mr.Bee was sweet enough to take the boys out to play, by himself.

They played in the playground at the White House Hotel, while I had a rejuvenating nap. I woke feeling a little refreshed and active.

We had our lunch in the room, watched some random movie.

Incidentally, this was also the day after the Pahalgam terror attack, about which we came to know a little late. Since we had been on the road all day (Day 5), we couldn’t be in touch with anyone (no signals at most viewpoints) and that must have been terrible for both Mr.Bee’s and my parents. We didn’t know there was a terror attack and we didn’t know people were trying to get in touch with us!

Anyway, after our evening snacks, we got out of the room at last, to go for shopping. Mr.Bee bought me a Kasavu saree at the Kasavu Aalayam. (Yet to wear it)

Our next stop was the Munnar Chocolate Factory. GBee and KBee were excited about visiting MCF and even without eating a single chocolate, they seemed to be in a sweet-induced-high!

We reached room in time for our dinner and slept peacefully.

Day 7 :

As if Munnar was silently crying for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, the day had started out bleak, with a downpour!

Although we were on a holiday, we still felt sad for the effect the terrorists had on tourists. (Incidentally, Munnar is a safe place. Most of the population here follow Christianity.)

I kept thinking about …what goes inside the brain of a terrorist ? Are they even human ? Are they crazy ? And more such thoughts continued…

We had originally planned for a safari tour, to watch the animals in the majestic Munnar. Sadly, the rain was a deterrent.

After our lunch, we decided to go out anyway. Coming to Munnar and sitting inside the hotel room for most part of the day, seemed useless.

Once the heavy rain turned into a drizzle, we booked our safari, through a phone call. (Safari tours are just a phone call away)

Our rental Ertiga driver, who was still with us in Munnar had no major work for two straight days. He was happy chatting up with other drivers and sleeping lazily throughout the day.

Our safari tour guide brought a jeep, loaded us inside and we started out.

I packed a bag with some 45th Avenue cookies, water bottles, ear muffs and fully charged phones and we were ready for the elephants!

As soon as we reached Anachal, we took beautiful photos at various viewpoints.

@ Anachal

We entered the forest area and thanks to the heavy rain since the morning, the forest was replete with waterfalls and rain water run-offs.

You really need to be there to see the beauty of Munnar. I can’t explain it any better.

At one viewpoint (pic above), we saw a car driver, park his car on the rocky trail, fill up a bucket with the water from the foot of the waterfalls, to wash his car! Even that simple task seemed new to us. (Who even washes a car near waterfalls in the city? No one.) It was a novel experience, although using a soap is not exactly environment friendly in places like Anachal and Mankulam.

Munnar is a beauty and thanks to the rain, we got to see it, in its true glory.

By the time we reached Perumbankuthu Waterfalls, the rain was not a drizzle anymore. It was more of a downpour. Our safari driver stopped the jeep, gave us two umbrellas and pointed towards the bridge and the steel deck we needed to go to, to take in the view.

Angle 1

Angle 2

Angle 3

Steps leading to deck – on normal days, with no rains…

The bridge and the viewpoint were completely deserted. (Who even goes around for tours when there is a downpour? No one, except some rare specimens like QB and family!) Here too, inspite of the umbrella in my hands, drenched feet and cool breeze causing shivers, I still enjoyed the view. It will stay in my memories, for a long time to come.

@Tiger Cave – QueenBee and a bridge!

We later made a brief stop at the Tiger Cave, near Mankulam village. It was closed because of the rains and we returned to our jeep. Every village had small shops with noodles, tea, coffee and the forever unhealthy option of packets of half filled potato chips of Lays and others.

GBee loves potato and it’s byproducts, so he demanded me for a Lays packet. I complied his request, by giving him the millet cookie! He looked at me in silence, he has the whole life ahead of him, to complain, he will get there soon!

We continued our tour, the final destination being Anakulam. It was already half past five.

The jeep came to a halt at the junction which was prominently marked by Holy Mary with Baby Jesus in Her arms. Many vehicles were parked there, filled with tourists in all sizes and shapes. We even saw a white family, who waited for a glimpse of the elephants, patiently.

We met a desi family, who are NRIs from the U.K and we discussed the tour plans and feedbacks. They were past the age of 60 and the kiddos too didn’t shy away from telling them what they really thought about the safari tour!

We waited and waited till 6:30 and decided to return to Munnar from Anakulam, since it was already getting dark and the kids were hungry.

The safari tour guide had already warned us about a ‘no-show’ from the elephants, because, heavy rains meant cold climate and foggy pathways in the forests and the elephants preferred to stay together with their herds, than roam about towards the village or play in the water, like they usually did!

@ Anakulam – on a normal day

GBee was mighty disappointed and even after a month or so after the trip came to an end, the only thing he remembered was that we couldn’t spot a single elephant in our safari tour!

@ Anakulam – a “no – show” , when it rains.

After more than one hour, we finally reached the hotel. Mr.Bee, GBee and KBee had dozed off in the jeep but I stayed awake, looking at the deserted roads and sleepy forest, on our way back.

After a quick wash up and change of clothes, we were ready to call it a day. I wish I had seen some of the pukka local elephants, spray eachother with water, but one can’t have everything!

We slept like logs, thanks to the safari trip in the jeep.

P.S :

1. I admire the army personnel who were responsible for the Operation Sindoor. Thank you guys. I don’t know know how you do it, but thanks anyways!

2. I am also thankful that we have a pro active PM and not a meritorious silent puppet, who served the Desh Drohis in silence.

3. Since it is already December and I am yet to complete my April vacation posts, I decided to finish it off first, before writing about anything else. Timing sucks!

4. The photos which were taken by me or Mr.Bee have my blog name in them, but the others I have freely taken from online. Thanks to the kind sources, who let others use their photos, without plastering them with watermarks!

5. I seem to be attracting lots of spam messages. Thanks, but no thanks!

Till the next post, bubye!

Mohiniattam, Kathakali and Kalariyapattu : c/o Munnar

October 24, 2025 / queenbee / 1 Comment

Day 5 – Part 2

After all of us took hot water baths, we changed into fresh clothes and were ready for our evening plans to fall through.

N, took us to the Raga Traditional Arts Performing Theater, a 10 minute drive from the White House hotel.

But, as soon as he stopped the car, GBee opened the car door on his side of the car and managed to scrape it against the wall. Turns out N’s boss is the Devil’s reincarnate, because, at once N lost his composure and started reprimanding GBee and Mr.Bee. By the anxiety N was going through, I had imagined the door must have been mangled and is on the verge of collapse, but the scraping on the door was hardly visible, even in the day light! (All this was to probably demand extra bucks from us for which Mr.Bee complied, since GBee was at fault.)

Anyway, with that discussion about compensation out of our way, N allowed us to go inside to watch our program.

The first program of the evening was Mohiniattam. Later Bharatanatyam dancers too joined in the dance and it was one mesmerising show. I love watching dance shows. (Mr.Bee and I have been to actress Shobana’s dance show, where she played Lord Krishna. This memory is locked inside my brain, as a part of Charlotte, USA folder!)

Bharatanatyam dance

The next leg of the performance was Kathakali, which had been my dream to watch live. (Dreams, do come true!) The skit was based on an incident from Mahabharata, Dushasana Vadha, i.e. Bheema killing off Dushasana, for disrobing Panchali, Draupadi, in the court room.

All the performers together at the end

As you can see in the above pic, Bheema is standing to the left, where as Roudra Bheema (when he is extremely angry, because of insult to his wife) is in the middle, while Dushasana is on the extreme right.

The Mohiniattam performer is flanked by Bharatanatyam dancers on either side.

When Bheema is angry, he is portrayed by the guy in the middle and I think that his aura is red and dangerous, hence the costume. He looks very similar to Bhoot Kola performers from Kantara and we had to close KBee’s eyes for him to not be scared. The performance of Roudra Bheema was intense. (They may not be paid as much for the effort they are putting in!)

Bheema and Dushasana- warning each other.

After the performance, the audience were allowed to take pics and selfies with the artists. We took a photo with them and incidentally, KBee was not facing the camera, but one of the Kathakali performers! (It was hilarious.)

Eye catching, vibrant Kathakali performer – KBee’s person of interest!

As soon as we were done with one performance, we had to rush towards the arena of Kalariyapattu! I never knew I needed this!

Kalariyapattu students and their Guru performed various stunts.

The performers pray to their weapons before start of the stunts.

Jumping through Rings of Fire!

Then there is this stunt….

Playing with fire!

It is difficult to explain but, I had most fun watching the stunts live. Even GBee and KBee who were like, let’s go to the hotel and sleep, after watching Kathakali, but Kalariyapattu, brought new life in their dull faces!

With renewed energy, we returned to the hotel. We pacified N again, promising him that we will pay the charges for the scratch.

As soon as we pressed the number 4 in the lift, we understood that the key card of our hotel room is nowhere to be seen! GBee had asked Mr.Bee for the card and put it in his pocket, but it was nowhere to be seen. (GBee had put the key card in his pocket, but before the start of the performances at the Raga, we were made to stand for the national anthem. That must have been the time GBee lost the key card from his pocket.)

You guessed it right, we paid a fine, to get a new key card! Turns out GBee was having a bad day, after all!

P.S:

1. Even after the car door incident and key card incident, we could hardly scold GBee. He is a careful boy, 95% of the time. Today was just not his day!

2. Wait, I forgot to mention, GBee managed to pull a weapon from the Kalariyapattu arena and all the weapons toppled, like you see in movies! Yup, bad bad day! (I was busy running after KBee and GBee managed to create quite a ruckus)

3. Mr.Bee re-lived his Muay Thai Kick Boxing days, by shaking hands with Kalariyapattu experts and taking a photo with them.

Mr.Bee posing with a Kalariyapattu exponent.

4. At one point, the Kathakali performers stood among the audience and KBee was shaken. He is scared of people wearing heavy makeup and costume. He had a similar scare, when he had watched the Varaha Roopam song from Kantara, when he was hardly a 2 year old baby. He had screamed loudly and wouldn’t stop crying till I had turned the t.v. off. (In my defense, he had been playing in the bedroom while I was watching the song in the hall!)

5. All the images of Kalariyapattu stunts are NOT mine. I have downloaded them from search engine.

6. We had a hearty dinner of vegetable fried rice, tomato soup and the usual and retired for the night.

Till the next post, cheerio.

Munnar, at last

July 18, 2025 / queenbee / 1 Comment

Day 4 :

After our breakfast, we checked out of Pine Borough, bid goodbye to Kodaikanal and started for Munnar, in the last leg of our vacation.

As soon as we were out of the Tamil Nadu border, the climate felt sunny and mild and I was happy we were not in cold, chilly climate.

N stopped at a random eatery for his breakfast, while Mr.Bee and I had a coffee and tea respectively. The stall had photo of Amma, Jayalalitha and somehow, that reminded me of Thalaivii movie of Kangana Ranaut! (Beats me! Why did they cast a pahadi North Indian to play a pukka South Amma! Incidentally, I also loathe the Chandramukhi 2 of Kangana. What a royal waste of time!)

Anyway, on our way to Munnar, just as we entered the Kerala border, we stopped for lunch, we were famished. We halted at Safair, which serves the worst food ever. We could hardly eat a mouthful of food. It must be heaven for non-veg customers, because, they were lining up like bees, but it is absolute bekaar and tasteless eatery for vegetarians. We could hardly finish eating the two dishes we ordered, lemon rice and curd rice!

N was surprised we returned in less than half an hour. We ate the fruits we bought, before exiting Kodaikanal.

I also saw a restaurant which was Bethel Suji restaurant and I remembered the famous dialogue of Phoebe, “Who names their child Bethel?” LOL. (I am FRIENDS fanatic!)

GBee began counting bikes, all those which he saw on the highway and his score reached 1757. ( He entertained himself this way, because KBee would sleep as soon as we were inside the car!)

Even though we knew there were not any good restaurants, we stopped at Safair because we wanted to take a scenic route to Munnar and NOT the shortest route. We took the Gap road. It is the best! ( Always go for the scenic route, not the shortest route!)

Gap road – Munnar, the most scenic road with tea plantations!

We stopped at many viewpoints, took photos and had fun. Munnar is basically heaven and just looking at it is not enough, you should also be mindfully present to enjoy it! Here, cell is just a distraction.

We saw all the tea and coffee estates, most of them belonging to TATA group, who have them for a lease of 999 years! Trespassing is prohibited, so, no photos from inside the beautiful tea estates.

At one viewpoint, since we hardly had a good lunch, we stopped for sweet corn, which is easily available along with Maggi, along the road at all the viewpoints. All the 4 of us were happily chomping our sweet corn cobs when Mr.Bee saw a group of monkeys running towards us. I swear they were at the top of the hills when we started eating. As we started eating, they came down hill, waiting to cross the road to snatch our precious corn.

Mr.Bee wanted to buy us some time, so he threw his cob towards them. They got distracted for a bit. I asked the kiddos to eat their corn, fast. I chomped as much as I could before throwing mine too, at the hunger- striken monkeys. (Situation called for a sacrifice!)

We then rushed towards the car. N banned us from eating in car and monkeys won’t let us eat in peace!

We also had to throw away the kids corn cobs, before going ahead. The kiddos found the throwing away of half eaten corn cobs towards the direction of monkeys, very entertaining! (They were like, mom let me throw, let me give it to monkey.)

We took in as much beauty as we can, staring at our surroundings and all. Kerala government is strict about the cleanliness, which means we get to see wire bins in unique shapes at almost all important locations, for collecting plastic waste like bottles.

Plastic disposal bin

After spending most of our afternoon checking out the streets of Munnar, we checked into the White House hotel.

The kids were highly impressed with the White House hotel. KBee was so sweet as to believe we were staying there forever. GBee was laid back and knew, we were only on a vacation.

After quick baths, changing into fresh nightwear, we reached the in – house restaurant, ordered our dinner.

We also made plans for the next day, after discussing with our hotel manager.

We went to the kids play area, played for sometime (kids had fun) and returned to our room.

The room service brought our dinner, which was simple as ever, fried rice, watermelon juice for all.

Since the weather was not cold like Kodaikanal (Oh, how I hated wearing socks in the hotel room in Kodaikanal), we had fan running at full speed and AC on, we slept like logs!

P.S:

1. Gap road in Munnar is the best. I remembered all the movies I had loved, thanks only to the beautiful tea plantations and estates which were in the backdrop, demanding my attention!

Remember Chennai Express and Life of Pi?

2. India has huge potential, but maintaining the cleanliness is the problem. Let’s hope for the best!

Till the next post, bubye!

Lake Kodai and Coaker’s Walk

June 26, 2025 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 3 – Part 2:

After our visit to the Guna Caves, it was time for lunch. We had been planning on going for a boat ride at the picturesque Kodai Lake. The boys were eagerly waiting to row the tiny boat on their own!

N dropped us off at the Hotel Carlton, for our afternoon lunch. While we walked towards the hotel, a couple of transgenders demanded money and we had to comply!

The view from the hotel Carlton is to die for.

I had no idea of what I was getting into, until I saw with my own myopic eyes! We sat under the umbrellas in the outdoor seating area, away from the lunch hour rush and felt at peace. I looked at the boats in the distance, which looked tiny and immersed myself in the beauty. I suddenly remembered all the scenic photo frames which I had seen in my childhood and decided that they were nothing compared to the view infront of me.

Since the kids never get past the starters, we ordered veg manchurian and crisp fried dry baby corn manchurian for them. Mr.Bee and I ordered a soulful soup of cream of mushroom, which was out of the world. It is one of the top 10 dishes I ever tasted and that is saying something.

Mr.Bee and I were immediately happy about our choice of hotel. Mr.Bee ordered an orange mocktail and I ordered my only favourite mint Mojito.

Just as the kids were done eating their starters and we filled up our stomachs with soup, it began to drizzle. We thanked our lucky stars for not being stranded on the lake, with a drizzle wetting us up! We saw frantic tourists, rowing towards the boat house.

We waited a bit for the drizzle to subside, but it escalated into a rain. We ran indoors. The interiors too were competing with the scenic exteriors of the hotel. (Good job Hotel Carlton). There was an indoor wooden ramp (made of rose wood, I guess) probably for prams and wheelchairs and KBee began sliding, like it was his personal slide.

The fried rice we ordered came at last and we ate it in a jiffy. It lived up to our expectation. Infact, Mr.Bee wanted us to check out from Pine Borough and stay at hotel Carlton after this one lunch.

GBee wanted to play at the playground but access was only for the hotel guests not for restaurant guests. (He stared longingly at all the slides, see-saw and other playground equipment visible from the upper outdoor dining area)

Pointing at the other guests and talking about them loudly!

When we were finally done, we called N, who picked us up and dropped us off at our next destination, the Coaker’s Walk. We ditched the plan of boating thanks to the unpredictable weather and sudden drop in temperature.

The Coaker’s Walk was fun, because it overlooked the valley and although there was still a curtain of mist hanging infront of eyes, it felt worth the walk.

There were make shift stalls all along the walk and we only bought a tribal couple fridge magnet, got our photo taken and printed (which now hangs on our wall), I bought a pair of ear muffs and Mr.Bee got himself a beanie, because the cold air was beginning to shake us!

There were stalls of sweet corn, chaat and ice cream, but we didn’t buy anything. Here too the Londonesque weather kept us on our toes. The sudden drizzles made us run for shelter under the plastic tarp of a junk jewellery stall.

We decided to return to the room and while we waited for N to pick us up, I saw beautiful trees and demanded Mr.Bee to click some photos for me. All the photos of trees in the post were taken by Mr.Bee.

Trees with flowers in lavender and orange colours and a huge cactus tree.

We were so exhausted from all the site seeing that we returned to room at 5:20 pm. We had a light snack of kodai apples and Dadoo’s dry fruit Laddoo.

Just as we were ready to hit the sack and turn on the room heater, all the 4 of us cuddling together, the hotel admin moved us into a better room.

With a light dinner, we ended our day. I packed up all the loose articles as tomorrow we were moving to another hotel.

P.S:

1. The new room had a bunk bed for kids and 1 queen bed for adults. (The previous room had only 1 king bed and our kids are the movers. They keep moving in circles, which means a king size bed is useless for us.)

2. Inspite of walking all day, the kids still managed to bring out residual energy, to jump from the top bunk to the queen bed! I spent the night, mostly shouting, asking them to stop jumping and sleep! (I was sleepy and tired and Mr.Bee generally falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.)

3. All the shouting I did was useless as they continued to jump and Mr.Bee continued to sleep!

P.P.S:

Our KBee started schooling this academic year and that keeps me on my toes, only my posting schedule will suffer, mostly! Cheerio my friends.

Jannaram and Kadem!

December 16, 2023 / queenbee / 1 Comment

GBee’s school had given the students 15 day Dussera holidays and we didn’t plan any travels, because of it being an important Hindu festival. We stayed back home and spent 10 days doing nothing much, except what we do in our daily lives.

Just 3 days before the end of the Dussera school break was coming to an end, we decided that we were extremely disappointed about not visiting any new place. That was when Mr.Bee zeroed in on Jannaram! (We had other destinations in our mind too. But both were more than 6hr drives from Hyderabad and 3 days is very little time for such sort of vacation.)

Mr.Bee brought out our car bed, inflated it, prepped it for our travel and I was incharge of packing the luggage. (I forgot to pack Mr.Bee’s evening shorts and he had to buy it at Jannaram, turns out it was the best mistake I ever made. Mr.Bee bought 3 new shorts and they were way better in quality than those he bought at Hyderabad!)

Day 1:

Aadi Yogi in our car, with beautiful flowers of Paarijatham!

We started by 7 a.m, (we woke at 5:30!) carried the kids into the car, even though they were sleepy and cocooned them in their blankets. But the kids were wide awake, it seems, our kiddos like us, love travelling. They were hyper to say it mildly!

We stopped at Minerva, Siddipet for breakfast. I ordered pesarattu, GBee his usual dosa and Mr.Bee ordered the breakfast special which saved our lives and mostly, energy. The breakfast special consists of an idli, a puri, a dosa and upma. This is the best choice when you have no idea what your kids might eat.

GBee’s dosa never arrived though! Mr.Bee scolded the waiter thrice and at last, the waiter packed a dosa for us, even though we said we were going to dine-in! We didn’t leave him any tip because we were vexed with the attitude. Imagine having to eat breakfast when your kids dosa hadn’t arrived. You don’t feel like eating by yourself.

At Karimnagar, Mr.Bee bought greenest of the green mandarins (Kamala pandu in Telugu) and surprisingly, they were yummy. Fresh fruits in towns and villages are generally of top quality.

We reached Haritha Resort, Jannaram by 1:45 p.m., gave the boys hot water baths, since they didn’t have one in the morning. We rushed to the in-house restaurant for two bowls of fried rice. The hunger we had, made the food taste heavenly. Even my picky eaters ate in silence!

At 3:30 p.m, we were ready for our Jungle Safari! (Always dress warmly and wear caps, sweaters if you are going for a safari. It gets cold in the forest.) A private safari for 4 is for 3500 bucks, a duration of 2 hours. We saw deers, eagle, wild boars(Adavi pandhi in Telugu), baboons (Kondamuchu in Telugu) and Cheetal deers.

The Three heads!

By the time we returned to our rooms it was 5:30 p.m, with dark sky and cold climate.It was only 21’C yet, it reminded me of Ooty!

We had our dinner in the room, phulkas, dal tadka and curd rice. (Our staple menu at any hotel stay)

Day 2:

After having our breakfast at the Udipi Hotel, Jannaram, we started for Kadem, a nearby town. We didn’t like the Udipi hotel, but that was the only mediocre one in Jannaram! We ate idli and vada. We drove 25km, to reach Kadem and the boys entertained themselves by watching the hundreds of monkeys which sat on both sides of the road, checking out the vehicular traffic. While the kiddos were half expecting to see elephants, like we did near the Bandipur forest reserve, I was reminded of my childhood vacation in a similar town of Wyra, where my paternal grandmother used to work. The most unexpected things remind us of deep rooted memories!

Anyway, we reached the Kadem Head Regulator to ride boat, but the boats were not taking tourists or anyone that day. I fail to remember the reason. We then went to the Kadem Dam, to look at it closely, mostly for my sake, trying to re-live my days as Design Engineer inspecting the site! But the dam was still not safe to drive on, deadly, in fact, if you have hyper kids, who think with their legs! (No parapet walls, even the stones which were placed on the sides were not of the required height.)

We decided to check out the Kadem Haritha resort, which is way better compared to the one in Jannaram, solely on basis of the play area for kids and food in the in-house restaurant. Kadem Haritha Resorts has the beautiful dam as background. We had our lunch and returned to our room at Jannaram.

The beautiful Sunset

The funny thing is that, the vegetarian cook at Jannaram resort was on leave that day, so we had to travel 25km again, to have our dinner at Kadem Haritha, again! (we drove through the forest reserve at night and it was only 8 p.m. but looked like it was midnight. Even the town dwellers were surprised to see vehicles moving about after 8p.m.)

The dinner at Kadem Haritha was a bust, because, the waiter forgot to bring our rotis. We waited a whole half an hour, before we demanded him what happened. He had them made, but placed them on another table and forgot all about it. He was busy feeding his own 5 year old child! After realizing his mistake, he gave us Rs.20 off on our bill!

We returned to our room, after travelling through the tiger reserve. (Rs.50 toll for late night travels. We should pay as well as risk facing the tiger too! Injustice!

We reached our room and slept soundly, making our room completely dark, since it was the night of Lunar eclipse.

Day 3:

Breakfast at the lone bearable hotel, Udipi, of idli and vada, again! We took a detour to Dharmapuri and reached Hyderabad by 6:30 p.m.

Our short and sweet trip had come to an end!

P.S:

We didn’t see any tigers in the forest reserve during our jungle safari, because most of the roads inside the forest were flooded during the rainy season. The tour guide told us, it will take atleast 3 years to completely mend it! He suggested us to visit Kadem. Thanks man!
The play area at Kadem Resort is huge. I played on the swing for 20 minutes or so, till KBee discovered that I was enjoying! I love swings.
At Dharmapuri, GBee bought a toy trumpet and on our way home, we felt our ear wax melt!
When we stopped at the Mayura Veg restaurant and the food was good. The cricket world cup had already started and on that particular day India was playing against England. We selected a booth in the restaurant, which was near the big screen!
The Aadi Yogi that adorns our car is from Subrahmanya, Karnataka! We are hopeful, that someday, we will visit this original at Coimbatore.
The incharge at Jannaram resort took immense liking to KBee and wanted to keep KBee for himself! The surprise was KBee, being a 2.5 yr old trying some stunts and surprising us all! (I don’t know where he picked it up!)
I have a tiny cartoon regarding this trip, which I will post later, because, this post is already long. Till the next post, cheerio!

Returning home!

November 11, 2023 / queenbee / 1 Comment

Day 12:

Since it was a Sunday, the resort was full of people, coming in with their families, young and old. Every room was filled.

Today was the day of us travelling back to Bangalore from Mangalore. We had our baths and came down for our breakfast at 9 A.M. The breakfast was being served outdoors, thanks to the increased number of guests. (Eating outdoors reminded me of my village!)

I ate idli, the kids ate vada and Mr.Bee was more adventurous, so he ate the upma from the breakfast buffet! The summer staple fruit watermelon was available too. The kids had a serving each of watermelon. The serving bowl was the size of a chutney bowl at Chutneys, Hyderabad! I had a piping hot cuppa masala chai too.

Chutney bowls to serve diced watermelon

We returned to our room, after asking our caretaker to help us move our luggage to the car. We started off from Hyderabad with three suitcases full of clothes. Depending on the place, we would take out one suitcase at every part of our vacation, Here too, we had one suitcase and a bag of clothes along with our beach tools etc. It is no mean feat, bringing down the kids to the car (KBee is prone to running head on into the road and the traffic!) so we needed help of the caretaker guy. He got a well deserved tip too.

KBee, GBee and I got into the car and Mr.Bee packed the luggage into the dickie or trunk and we started our long drive. Google Maps showed us that we may reach destination in approximately 7 and half hours.

It was an uneventful drive, thankfully and we stopped at Ossoor at Sakleshpur. The restaurant is in a coffee estate and most of the points go to the beautiful ambience. The food could have been better. We ordered tandoori roti with broccoli curry and paneer sabzi. We were not sure which curry the kids would like, so we ordered two. Turns out, they liked neither! Kids had watermelon juice and I ordered mosambi. (By now I was sick of watermelon!) I had to drink it as soon as it came to the table, because mosambi turns bitter within 5 min. Mr.Bee had a piping hot coffee with his lunch. He had long drive ahead of him, so caffeine is helpful for his system.

We shopped a little at the gift and toy store in the estate, both for our kids and Mr.Bee’s cousin’s kids. While Mr.Bee was busy ‘Gpay’ing, KBee and GBee had fun running around the estate and I took my time looking at the surroundings! The best thing I liked was,seeing some couple bikers who had come to have their lunch there. (It is our dream to drive a bike in Leh, Ladakh!)

Can you spot the puppy?

Anyway, we were on the highway, after spending a leisurely hour at Ossoor. We made another stop later to buy farm fresh jack fruit and baby cucumbers. I was salivating at the fresh produce.

Once inside Bangalore, we made a pit stop for snacking near Bangalore outskirts. I saw groups of bikers again, here. I forgot the name of the eatery, but it is a popular hangout, if the people and the parked vehicles are anything to go by.

Also, if you are a biker, Karnataka is the place for you. The tea and coffee estates, the ghat roads and hair pin bends make for a beautiful drive. I think we stopped for tea at 6 or something. By the time we reached the cousin’s place, it was already 9 P.M.

All we did was, take a quick bath and have dinner and hit the bed. The kids, though they met for the first time, bonded well, that too within the first 10 minutes.

Day 13:

We woke up, got ready and were on the road by 9 a.m. We hoped to visit the Dodda Ganapathi temple, but thanks to the traffic which started from the apartment itself, we had little hope!

We went directly to Mr.Bee’s office at Bangalore, chatted happily with his colleagues P and N, while KBee and GBee ran around in the plush lawns. GBee fell into a foot deep pit, where the controls for lawn watering equipment were present! (The tiny pit was hardly knee deep for a 6 year old, thank God.)

We later had Team lunch with Mr.Bee’s Bangalore team at The Big Baadshah. Everything, the food, the buffet menu, the ambiance, the mocktails were fabulous, impressive.

Baadshah ..oh Baadshah!

We later went to play box cricket, where GBee had fun running around, getting in the way of everyone, while Mr.Bee played cricket with his teammates. I couldn’t join the fun, because KBee had a nap on my shoulder! (Generally, he only sleeps on his dad’s shoulder, but since his daddy was busy, he adjusted on mine!)

Once again we returned to the cousin’s home at 9 P.M, thank you, famed Bangalore traffic!

GBee, KBee and V had most fun that night, jumping on the beds, running around playing football and what not! At night KBee cried too, waking up from his slumber to complain of pain in his legs. Hectic day. Phew!

Day 14:

Returning to Hyderabad.

We woke at 5, got ready and were on road by 6 A.M. There was no traffic at all, since it was a weekday, the highway and the roads were practically empty. After admiring the beautiful hills and the windmills at the Karnataka – Andhra border, I was once again reminded of the Grandfather Mountain, which has similar topography and climate. The drive from Bangalore to Anantapur is a memorable one.

We reached Seoul Store, Penukonda by 9 A.M. Thanks to the KIA manufacturing unit nearby at Anantapur, there are Korean stores and restaurants near by. I bought myself some Korean products and toffees.

We had our breakfast near Anantapur, where the piping hot tea I was carrying to my table, fell on my index finger and burned it badly! (It was self serve eatery and I drink chai when travelling!) My long skirt got in the way when I was walking, so my skirt is the culprit!

Anyway, we had our lunch at a drive-in at Mahabub Nagar. The food was good. Even pets were allowed inside and I saw one old couple with their Pomeranian in their lap, eating some non-veg dishes and feeding the animal.

We reached home by 4 P.M. our first ever looongggg vacation came to an end at last!

P.S:

Mr.Bee wanted to visit the Fort at Sakleshpur, but we missed it! We had to take a right somewhere but we forgot completely about it, until we passed it and went ahead for 5 min! It is difficult to take U-turns on highways, because we have to first search for an opening in the heavy vehicle traffic.
On the highway, I came across many name boards of different homestays and estates. In between all that, I also saw FulJar Soda boards everywhere. Mr.Bee and I were skeptic about trying it, but later, on reaching Hyderabad, we were told that we made a grave mistake by not tasting the FulJar soda. It is a summer drink to refresh the parched souls! Don’t forget to try it, if you are in the vicinity of Ooty and Karnataka.
I was happy looking at the leather jackets and helmets of the bikers and their beautiful bikes. It reminded me of the 2007 comedy movie, Wild Hogs, starring John Travolta. It is a favourite of Mr.Bee and me.
GBee still remembers his cousin now and then, whom he considers his best friend too and asks us to take him there. He thinks we can go to Bangalore in an hour or two!

Till the next post, cheerio!

Little Krishna’s Udupi!

November 6, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 11:

Although it is a blissful life, waking up, playing in the beach and soaking in the pool and all, but we wanted to travel out for a little bit and visit Udupi. It was my idea to visit the Udupi Krishna’s temple and have the authentic local Udupi food and satisfy my curiosity.

It goes like this, during my childhood, my dad would take us on long drives and whenever we could, we would stop at the Udipi Hotel near Suryapet, which was then a major hub. I would always eat their puri and sabzi, which was always out of the world. Now that Suryapet has undergone a major makeover, the restaurant we would frequent, has been demolished. I wanted to compare my childhood memory of Udipi Hotel and the authentic Udupi food, at Udupi!

Anyway….

We started for Udupi at 10 A.M, after having a couple of uthappam and the usual ice cold watermelon pieces (frozen for storage, apparently) with a cup of poha. I also had a cup of hot chai. The drive from Mangalore to Udupi was 20 minutes over an hour. The drive was pleasant and the traffic was mild. We had fun during the drive.

The huge kamaan, the arch at the entrance of Udupi had a chariot with Krishna as Saarathi and Arjuna, with his bow and arrow. It is a scene from the battle of Kurukshetra, Mahabharat. (It is not visible in the picture below, you can only see the horse hooves. This is the only image which is aesthetic. The only other image which is clearer, has been locked for free usage by others!)

Even I tried my hand at photography by clicking the Udupi kamaan, but I am at the best, a still photographer! Taking a pic out of a window, in a moving car, with a baby in my lap is too much pressure to perform! That is the reason I don’t have an ‘uploadable pic’.

The Udupi Kamaan – Source:Google

Sadly, we forgot it was a Saturday, until we reached the temple. The hoards of devotees waiting in lines for darshan reminded me of it being a weekend. I cursed myself for lazing around on Friday and visiting a temple on Saturday! Mr.Bee refused to go to the temple. He didn’t want to deal with standing in a line with a kid in his arms and another on his shoulders! (Whenever we visit temples, both the kids perch on their dad’s body, like birds!) I accepted defeat for the moment.

Since breakfast was not the strong point of the resort we are staying at, we were famished. We ate like a family of hens, which nibble selectively! As a last resort, I asked Mr.Bee if he was willing to return to the temple after a meal, to check how the crowd was and then think of darshan or not. He agreed, at last.

We let our car stay in the parking lot, since it is difficult to get good parking spots anywhere in India, much less tourist destinations on weekends! We hailed an auto, asked the autowala to take us to a good restaurant nearby and that was how we landed at Woodland, Udupi. For anyone interested, Udupi is a humid city.

At the restaurant, Mr.Bee ordered a North Indian thali and I, a South Indian thali. We always order different food, because we never know what our picky little eaters want to have. We also ordered watermelon juice, our staple. Sadly, GBee managed to disturb his juice and it fell, drenching my beautiful sunny green and pink tie and dye dress, which I love and incidentally, was my first time wearing it. I cried sad tears in my head, gave an in-promptu lecture to GBee about the importance of looking at where their hands go! (He has the habit of getting distracted easily.) The lecture was a success as GBee offered a sorry and some tissues to me! I was the highlight at the restaurant with everyone’s pitiful glances. I managed to clean most of the dress at the washroom and since it was summer, my dress was dry by the time our lunch was done and we were on the road. (Thank you Sri Krishna. You helped Draupadi by giving sarees and You helped me, by drying my dress on time! Of course both incidents are as different as chalk and cheese, but let me show-off my mythological gyaan! Incidentally, I bought myself a Kanchi saree. in Udupi.)

I think in the history of temple visits, this one stands out for us, because, we never eat when visiting a temple. We eat only after the darshan. But this time, we had a meager breakfast as well as a hearty lunch, before entering the Udupi temple. The darshan queues were parallel to the perimeter of the temple and we could peek inside to see the close to 50 turtles in the temple well.

The temple well as visible from outside – Source: Google

I bought a plastic hand fan and fanned away for the kids, mostly. The darshan queue is near the shops, so I managed to shop a little, while Mr.Bee waited in the line, to hold my spot.

The darshan itself took us ten minutes, but the wait time was close to one hour. I was happy, I could visit the temple. The main idol is only visible through the windows. I still remember the eyes of Lord Krishna. It was beautiful to say the least. The statue of Krishna is jet black and the eyes stand out. Here Krishna is in a child avatar, with a stick in His right hand, may be to signify that He was once a cow-herd!

After another bout of shopping for sovereigns, we were on the road, to Mangalore.

Mr.Bee had other plans, though! He took us to Pithrody. This is how the beach looks from a drone.

Ocean and River separated by a tiny village – Pithrody – Source: Google

The peace I felt here, can never be put in words! It was awesome. I even had my favourite choco bar ice-cream here and sealed the moment in my memory!

The coconut trees look like slanting lines…

After taking in as much positivity as we can from the nature, we started for the resort, at Mangalore for another bout of beach fun and pool games. We ended our day with a simple dinner.

P.S:

If you are a keen observer, you will know I have been using two different words. Udupi, Udipi! Udupi is the original city in Karnataka one and Udipi is the stuff we normally get anywhere other than Udupi! (and I am referring to the food)
Kamaan is an Urdu word, so people from other states, if you are reading this post, you may find the word new.
Pithrody village in Udupi is the Key West of India! Key West is a similar island in the city of Florida. Mr.Bee wanted us to travel to Key West during our stay in the US, but we couldn’t visit, because I was expecting GBee then and my gynecologist warned us against visiting Florida in particular. We ended up visiting Niagara Falls!
Let me add that the constructions in Pithrody are small scale and that is the reason the shuttering being used is wooden. That is the first time I saw a wooden shuttering (only read about it). I have visited less number of villages and towns. So it is a new experience for me, as a civil engineer.
The one hour we spent at Pithrody reminded me of the 4 day vacation we had at Maldives, another natural beauty!
I almost forgot to mention Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA. It is the peninsula in Atlantic Ocean. It is like staying in the ocean. I saw many natural wonders here. So this is one of my favourites. It is also the first vacation Mr.Bee and I ever had. Magnificent, isn’t it?

The pointy tip in the ocean visible from space is Cape Hatteras

I still have so much to share about Udupi, but this post is already huge and I don’t want to scare off my readers! Cheerio friends, till the next post.

Of the Ocean and the Beach!

October 31, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 10:

All the four of us are lazy souls, so we wake up late, at every possible chance we get! We don’t have exams to prepare for or have a flight to catch, so yes, waking up at leisure is not that bad. (Warning; Don’t try this at home! If you get beatings from your parents for waking up late, it is not my fault!)

As we were lazing on the beds, watching Insta reels and FB posts, the caretaker assigned for us at the resort came up to our door, begging us to come have our breakfast! It was hardly 8 A.M. (Either he had other stuff to do or is a punctual guy!)

That’s when I took the matters into my hands, woke up both the kiddos, gave them baths. All of us were ready by approximately 8:40 A.M.

Our caretaker brought us 4 thalis filled with neer dosa, onion poha and slices of ice cold watermelon, along with yellow coloured kesar. I don’t know if people in Mangalore ate sweet for breakfast, but I hardly eat sweet 10 times throughout the year. I prefer sinful chocolates and sinful is not a brand name!

Anyway, breakfast was a bust. What is this Neer Dosa? I couldn’t eat it, even if my life depended on it. It was bland and soft to touch. I like dosa which is crunchy and crispy and nothing could change my prejudice against neer dosa, not even the chutney or the sambar. (I had to wash it down my throat with huge sips of water or neer, maybe that’s why it is called Neer Dosa!)

neither crispy nor crunchy – no second chances! – pic source: Google

The breakfast menu sucked big time, mostly because I am also not a fan of poha, but if it were batata poha, the breakfast would have been in my tummy in a jiffy, thanks to the potato, but onion poha was a no-no. (It seems, the caretaker is not a specialist when it came to making breakfast!) Interestingly, this caretaker guy thought that both my kids, who are less than 7 years old combined, would eat as much as us, adults. Their plates were exactly plated like ours, in adult portions! Such wastage of food, that too, the food which none of us like!

After our not-so-satisfactory breakfast, we rushed to the beach, applying 2mm thick sunscreen and continued playing till black spots began appearing before our eyes. (Playing under the scorching Sun can do that to your eyes!)

Three to Tango!

We returned to the resort, showered under the shower head and got into the pool. We continued our fun in the swimming pool for more than half an hour, before returning to the room, taking baths again and changing into fresh dry clothes. It is hard to make the kiddos come out of the pool. Their favourite pass time is playing with water and they love swimming pool, more than anything.

The Ocean meets the sky in the background while the foreground has a cutesy pool.

For lunch, we had Veg Fried Rice, Paneer Sabzi and a foot long glass filled upto brim with masala buttermilk.

After an hour or two, we returned to the beach, with the plastic tools bought in Subrahmanya, to make the sand castles. I would make a sand castle and the baby KBee would have a hearty laugh after stamping and razing the buckets of sand, every single time. He would laugh out loud and once he is in his fits of laughter, he ends up with hiccups. So ya, its interesting watching him laugh between hiccups! (I know who he takes after!)

We also fought each other in the sand, took some pictures and again had brief fun at the swimming pool before calling it a day.

Baby with an Umbrella as a shield – KBee after a sand fight!

I took loads of pictures of Sunset and one Mr.X, an uncle of a close friend advised us that it is not a good omen to take pictures of ourselves with the setting Sun. So, there goes our beach photo session in vain! (We decided not to show them to others, lest they pass any such comments!)

Morning to noon – empty beach

Another click from my cellphone….

Coconut trees on a beach have a charm of their own.

We ate paper thin pulkas, dal tadka and had fresh watermelon juice to finish off the dinner. Both the kids are extremely picky, so the only juice they like having is that of watermelon and I too order watermelon juice if mosambi is unavailable.

With a completely satisfied stomach, we ended our day, with the background music of the rising tides of the ocean waves. Another day of leisure comes to an end.

P.S:

Sorry folks if I offended anyone about the neer dosa, but honesty is the best policy and I follow it everyday of my life. Andddd, people do have varied tastes and thank God for that!
Even if Mangalore is a beach city, we didn’t feel the humidity at all, maybe because we dressed appropriately for the beach. Food for thought!
The caretaker looked like a pukka South Indian, but turns out, he is from Assam and had relocated to Mangalore during the pandemic! That maybe the reason why his South dishes failed to impress us, whereas, pulkas and rotis were fabulous! I still can’t understand, how anyone can make a paper thin pulka! I am not giving neer dosa another chance though. It is completely opposite of everything I like, it is a no-go!
Visiting a beach on weekday, from morning to noon is the best thing one can do. No human traffic, which means, we can have the beach to ourselves. Beach at Mangalore felt like a private beach for a whole day!
Like I mentioned in previous post, never miss the masala buttermilk in any city or town of Karnataka. It is the best.
Sometimes, when Mr.Bee and I drive to far off locations, with mountains and hills, we remember Charlotte and miss those beautiful mountains, we would frequently visit, every month! I miss you GrandFather Mountain, Gatlinburg and Mt.Soma! I miss you too, Pigeon Forge and Chimney Rock!

Cheerio, till the next post.

Days of Leisure

October 12, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 8:

We had been travelling for a week already and Mr.Bee is the sole driver for our trip. Adding to that, KBee and I were down with cold. I had taken a head bath and towel dried my hair, still, I caught a cold! (Carry a hair dryer with you, if you are going to visit a temple and have little time to towel dry the hair, thanks to the temple timings and travel constraints.) Hotels in India don’t provide hair dryers, except for super luxury ones, which have foreign visitors! (The Jaipur Hotel we stayed at, last year had hair dryers, separate ‘he’ and ‘she’ wash basins and Jacuzzi too, with two different doors to access the area! Such opulence!)

Anyway….

We woke up early, had our baths, had breakfast, rode an auto to reach the Kukke Subrahmanya Swamy temple.

A clean and peaceful temple town – Subramanya, Karnataka — Pic Source : Google

Although the distance from the hotel to the temple is walk-able, we preferred the auto, because it was quite sunny! (The temperature App in my cell showed it was 32 Centigrade and we are used to more than that in Hyderabad, but we were closer to the beach city Mangalore!) It is best to use the auto services than take the car and face parking difficulties.

We breezed through the temple, with it being an off season for visitors. We returned to hotel in half an hour, spending more time near the ATM to draw out some cash, than in the temple itself! GBee and KBee wanted to buy the beach toys which were readily available near the temple shops.

One set each for both the kiddos.

With this little purchase, we returned to our room. At lunch time, we went to the in-house restaurant, had our lunch and returned to the room. We decided to not travel anywhere for the day. We ate, we drank, we watched T.V. and overall had a lazy day. Our original plan had been to visit either Dharmasthala or Sringeri, depending on our mood that day. Interestingly, our mood that day was to be lazy. So we didn’t budge from our hotel room!

Meanwhile Mr.Bee got the car checked and cleaned, since we travelled in rains and the car mud guards were heavier by a couple of kilos!

With a simple dosa dinner, we ended our day.

Day 9:

After the much needed rest, we woke up by 8 a.m, freshened up and had our breakfast. We packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. We were on our way to Southadka, an open to sky Ganesha Temple (no structure is covering the Moola Virat, Maha Ganapathi), 35 km away from the Kukke Subrahmanya temple! (Visiting both the divine brothers Ganesha and Subrahmanya in the reverse order has been fun. I was happy, because both GBee and KBee are named after the said Gods as Ganesh and Karthikeya.)

A one-of-a-kind temple, without a Garba Gudi. Deity is visible to all, from far and wide! Pic Sourced from Google.

BTW, if you are up for it, there is a shopping complex with spices, coffee powders and antiques available and you can shop till you drop. We avoided the shops because the kids wanted junk food and we had to divert them with all our new found street smart attitude.

Well within half an hour, we ended our darshan and started our journey to Mangalore. Incidentally, when I turned on the radio, I could hear Malayalam songs, so between Subrahmanya and Mangalore, I think we also crossed the Kerala state border for a brief period of time.

The drive was less than 2 hours and we reached Mangalore on time for lunch. I was reminded of my Infosys Mysore roomie, RR, who worked in Mangalore for 2 years. God, I am out of touch with most of my friends! (Sad reality of stay-at-home moms, who also happen to be introverts!)

We stayed at the VAZCO Mangalore Beach resort. All we had to do was cross the 10 feet road to reach the sandy beach! (Best experience ever!) As we checked-in, I observed that the resort was empty except for us and a couple! I was disappointed. But since it was Thursday and people generally don’t travel to beaches on weekdays, I decided to wait and watch.

We had yummy, paper thin Chapathis, with paneer sabzi and lassi glass-sized watermelon juice, to wash down our food! We had booked a family room which comes with a separate seating area outside our room and that was where we spent eating our lunches and dinners during our stay. The separate area comes in handy if you have kids who throw half the food outside their plates! The kids would eat messily and we could go into our room and sleep, while the service staff would clean it without disturbing us and our privacy, a win-win.

After the lunch, we rested for an hour, freshened up, wore our beach outfits with me applying ample sunscreen lotion. (Turns out, at the end of our beach holiday, only I didn’t tan at all. The kids and Mr.Bee had a Mangalore beach tan!)

KBee, GBee and I had a blast, making sand castles and Mr.Bee ended up being our beach photographer. We took a zip lock pouch with us to store our ‘so-called’ water-proof cells and the room key fob. Zip locks are life savers!

We returned to the resort, spent another hour completely hijacking the swimming pool. We had a blast. After washing off most of the sand from our bodies, we returned to our room and ordered garama garam onion pakoras with green chillies for added effect! Yummy! Even the fault finding kiddos ate in silence!

Onion Pakora with added green chillies – Soul Food!

We spent the rest of the evening watching T.V. and resting. KBee had been doing good. He didn’t have a relapse of fever and I was happy and thankful for that. (I met some other mothers during our course of vacation and they would judge me for bringing a tiny kiddo for a 10 day vacation. If we are prepared for food and medical requirements, no harm in travelling with a 2 year old baby. )

We really needed a break from our mundane life and thankfully, the vacation had done the trick of recharging our depleting batteries.

With a yummy yummy fried rice and lip smacking masala butter milk, we ended our day and slept like logs!

P.S:

Don’t ever miss butter milk in Karnataka. Anywhere in Karnataka, buttermilk is to die for.
Who knew a vacation can be at once hectic and leisurely!
Queen Bee’s favourite food is anything with ample green chillies! Weirdly, green chillies make my mouth water!
If you ever have severe cold or if you have breathing issues and allergies, it is always best to visit a beach area. The salty beach air works like a natural nebulizer and clears up even tough sinuses!

Till the next post… cheerio!

Subrahmanya, here we come!

August 11, 2023 / queenbee / 0 Comments

Day 7:

We woke up early. KBee and GBee looked active and happy. One night of peace can do that to anyone. Both had fun playing in and around the cottage, while Mr.Bee began searching for his shoe!

Yes, you read it right. One of Mr.Bee’s shoe was missing, but we found it soon, at the bottom-most step.

The kids running up and down the steps

Like Sherlock Holmes, Mr.Bee looked around, found footprints and decided that they were made by a deer. (At first, I wanted to believe they were made by a Cheetah or Tiger. That would have made a very compelling story for my travelogue!)

A deer must have taken the shoe, God knows for what and left it after dragging it for a while and ran away!

After the brief sleuthing, I gave both the kiddos a bath, had a bath myself and waited for Mr.Bee to return. Our car battery had died and he had to call in a mechanic.

By 8:30 a.m., I was already so hungry and I didn’t know how my kids were still playing without hunger pangs stopping them!

We went into the dining area of the resort and sat at a table. The two other tables were also filled up by families of 4. Interestingly, all the families had two sons each! (Not a single girl child in the whole resort. So sad!)

We found Telugu people from Hyderabad at the resort in Sultan Battery! When we went to Delhi, the next room neighbours were Telugus. We went to Taj Mahal, Agra, heard pukka local Telugu from fellow travellers. (East, West ,North, South, you can meet Telugu people everywhere!)

We had idiyappam with matar masala curry, rice rawa khichdi, bread with steamed banana (yummy), freshly cut ripe mango and warm Pathimugam water which is pink in colour and only available in Kerala.

Who needs jam when you can steam ripe bananas?

After our hearty breakfast, we had a quick photo session, before checking out of the resort.

One of the Art installations at the Resort

Mr.Bee bought coffee powder at Sultan Battery, because that is what Wayanad is famous for. We also bought some yellow banana chips (which are GBee’s favourite) and jack fruit chips. Since our stay at the Thejas Resort was not in our original plan, we didn’t extend our stay. We were already 1 day behind our tour schedule! (We had called the hotel in Subrahmanya to postpone our dates by one day.)

The drive from Sultan Battery to Subrahmanya is a pleasant one.

Clean and Green roads – C/o Sultan Battery

The villages near Sultan Battery made us sit up and take notice of them. Every little village was clean and well kept. I could hardly find a chocolate wrapper on the road! Everything was spic and span. Both sides of the road was lined with greenery, with beautiful red hibiscus plants near almost every home. As we drove through the roads, we saw medium sized jack fruits weight training the trees! (May be the huge harvest of jack fruits is the reason, Kerala started making jack fruit chips.)

We found similar jack fruit trees in Karnataka as well…

Jack Fruit tree – zoom in to see the fruits clearly

While we drove through forest in Kerala and entered the Karnataka State Border, it began to rain heavily. We had to have the hazard lights blinking and wait on the road, because we were unable to see anything at all.

Beautiful Forest Roads

We met a monkey on the way. Just as the monkey was nearing my side of the car, Mr.Bee opened the window (he thought I would enjoy chatting up with the tiny wild dude!) and I thought for a minute that the monkey would jump in! Luckily, I closed the window before anything untoward happened. (I felt as if I was escaping a dinosaur, closing a window at the last minute!)

Scared of the monkey, but can’t resist taking a photo!

The roads leading to Subrahmanya from Sultan Battery were ghat roads and by the time we reached Subrahmanya, I was sick of ghat roads! At some places on the road, it felt like the road suddenly came to an end, because, it would suddenly slope downwards! (reminded me of Carowinds!)

Let me include the 5th member of our trip, our Metallic Grey Itachi

We finally reached SR residency, KBee and GBee stopped by the reception to admire the fishes in the aquarium! KBee began yelling at the fish, trying to make them look at him. Obviously fish don’t turn and look at anyone, not even a 2 year old boy, even if the kid is shouting at the top of his lungs for their attention!

A new kind of notice board (comes with a typo!)

We reached the room, made ourselves presentable by taking hot showers and started for the temple, to visit Kukke Subrahmanya.

Thankfully, it was a working day and that too, schools had already re-opened after the summer vacation. So the temple had hardly any crowd. We had a good darshan of the God and returned to the hotel.

We had dinner at the in house restaurant at the ground floor. We ate masala papad, roti with dal tadka and palak paneer and to satiate our thirst, we had watermelon juice.

With that, we returned to our hotel room, to end the day!

P.S:

One lady sitting beside us during dinner looked so much like the actress who played Sai Pallavi’s sister in Fida. Mr.Bee and I took our time observing her and turns out, she is a doppelganger (a dupe, in short)!
Incidentally, I met the director Shekar Kammula, director of Fida during my days of working as a Design Engineer. We shook hands, but I was tongue tied. I couldn’t tell him how much I loved his movie, Godavari! (He came there with his kids, who were in ‘tantrum’ mode)
The doppelganger first ordered masala papad. That made me order it. After seeing us eat masala papad, another couple ordered it! Before the closing time, every table at the restaurant had masala papad either in their mouths, hands or on the table! It was yummy too.

Till the next post, cheerio friends.

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