Trip to Munnar and Alleppey

It had been quite a while since we had gone on a tour. The last time we took a break was in October 2009, when  we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. And Bharani also changed his job from Accenture to Volvo. We thought of going for a week long getaway, but since my project at office had a very tight schedule, we decided to go for just 2 days to Madikeri. A place i had seen but Bharani had not. Then in January of 2010, both of us desperately deserved a break and so we went for a week long tour to Munnar and Allepey from 25th to 30th. I used my comp offs for this.

It was a great trip. He drove the entire journey alone. We first went to Munnar and covered around 450 kms. While coming back it was around 600 kms. It was a very big and one of the most enjoyable trips for both of us. I think it is very important to find partners who share common likes and dislikes. Both Bharani and me like to travel a lot. He loves to drive cars and I enjoy going with him. Apart from this, I can hardly think of any common likes, it's mostly uncommon.... :)

Every time we go on vacations, we experience something unusual / memorable. This time it was the Munnar bandh. It was bad that day. We didn't get lunch!! :( We then moved on and literally begged one restaurant which was open for residents of their hotel but not for outsiders. Got food and were very grateful. "Annadata Sukheebhava"...

Route we took:

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Munnar to Alleppey:

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Alleppey to Bangalore:

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Hotels: Hotel Misha, Munnar.
Remarks: We booked it before we left from Bangalore but unfortunately it was not very impressive. For Rs. 1350 we got a room so small and not very good in terms of cleanliness also. We then requested for a bigger room for which we had to pay another Rs. 700. View from the room was very good though. Food was good as it was outsourced to a hotel Annapoorna, managed by a group of North Indians. There were other hotels around which were much better than Hotel Misha, Hotel Green Ridge and Hotel Bell Mount. I suggest people visiting Munnar to hire rooms in one of these two hotels or checkout better hotels in Munnar.

Hotels: Pagoda Resorts, Alleppey.
Remarks: A very good resort and a very comfortable one. Clean rooms and the service was great. The ambiance is extremely good. Food is a little expensive and good for non-vegetarians. We got a double room at Rs. 1250 per day. Really worth the price. We also took their speed boat for a round around the back waters and it was great. No hassles what so ever. They charged us Rs. 500 per hour. The whole boat was for us exclusively, no disturbances, no problems. We went around for 2 hours. People generally hire a house boat for a day or two in which we stay, eat and sleep in it. There are house boats with a single room, 2 rooms, 3 rooms and upto 5 rooms. Very spacious and splendid. We didn't hire as we were just the 2 of us and thought that we would get bored without any games. There is a TV, DVD player, etc for entertainment. But it is always better to go in groups of 4 or more so that you don't bored just looking at the water and your companion around.