#Just Google : Inside Out with Rahul Yuvi #
It’s about the journey, the story of which should have been told 6.5 years ago, a time when I weighed just 48 Kgs (yes you read it right, 48 kgs) and Nishtha had just completed her bachelors..As we just commenced a new innings of life , we chose Kerala-God’s Own Country – for our first trip together.
Before this trip ,wanderlust was yet to bite me and I was rather a reluctant and anxious traveler who used to make long list of things to carry before travel and then recheck smallest of stuff before leaving the Hotel room. How both of us got obsessed with travel after Kerala trip is more than evident from our Facebook profile and travel blogs that I have published so far.
The Journey :
As we landed at Cochin Airport , we were quiet expectedly greeted by hot & humid weather, forcing us to take off our heavy Jackets which were in line with chilled December winters of Delhi from where we took off.
While being driven from Cochin to Munnar , I was little tense since it was our first trip together and I really wanted everything to fall in place perfectly without any hiccups.. So I was somewhat anxious about everything – food , Hotels ,sightseeing spots etc. – that whether they all will actually be as good & great as I had planned or not . Two hours into the drive and we decided to have lunch .
But , as the destiny would have it , our first dine stop didn’t turn out as good as one would wish to. Firstly , taste of the food was pretty average and to add to our woes , there was very strong smell of fish / meat all around.Being Vegetarian and addicted to the typical spicy north Indian food resulted in uneasiness for both of us .Anyways , we somehow managed and left the place with my heart little heavier with the guilt that oh, our first dining experience on the tour , which should have been exotic & excellent, was anything but great. { Still only 10 days of marriage so I wanted to make an impression of being the best husband in the world }
But all my apprehensions came to a halt as we reached our resort at Munnar .Excellent Locations, beautiful ambiance and wonderful room.
Munnar is a beautiful hill station located in the Idukki district of Kerala.It is called ‘Kashmir of South India’ because of it’s scenic resemblance to Kashmir .
There was a local market nearby to our resort, where we used to take long strolls and enjoy local delicacies every evening. But there’s a particular instance that happened in Munnar which needs a special mention :
Elephant ride : The Untold Story #1
It looked a mere child’s play to have an elephant ride to both of us until Mr. Elephant started throwing tantrums & refused to return to the start point with both of us over his back. Nishtha looked at me with scary eyes .While I tried my level best to put my brave foot forward in front of my newly found friend for life, unfortunately, odd sounds made by the Biggie forced me to yell to the mahout , ” bhaiya bachao , bhaiya bachao ” (Please save us bro !).The Mahout looked at us with amused eyes , I am not sure whether he even understood Hindi language but yes ,he did help us. With a rather embarrassing show in the time of distress , I kept quiet and tried to avoid any conversation with her for the rest of the day, which otherwise I was planning to spend in telling Nishtha my Childhood stories of courage :P
Photographs below will give a glimpse of a few other sightseeing spots we visited around Munnar.
Kayal Resort – The Untold story # 2 – Before I spill the beans on our next story , please have a look at clicks below which will give you an idea of how wonderful and extravagant our resort at Kumarakom was :
Ok , so photographs done, now coming back to the real turn up of events – We reached Kayal resort , Kumarakom from Munnar at around 7 :30 pm .As we were being driven to the resort , there was total darkness backed by pin drop silence on the roads with rural ambiance all around .I got little disappointed as I threw my expectations out of window for what kind of resort would be there in the vicinity of such an area .
Fortunately, I was wrong as Kayal Resort turned out to be superb , with lightening around pool making it look even better. But – Story abi baaki hai mere dost (real story is yet to unfold) – As we were seeping in the feeling of staying in a super neatly done suite ,situated amidst clear blue waters , we were told that we were the only guests in the resort that night .Yes, we would have certainly liked our privacy but such a huge resort with hardly 2-3 staff people around ,those too unknown at an unknown place far from the city, was certainly not something we asked for .For the first few minutes into the room , we kept saying ,”Mast resort hai yar ” (Resort is good) but then a sudden sound of somebody whistling loud followed by some other guy shouting made sure that we spent the entire Night happily – with our eyes wide open & every possible light in the room on (including those of Toilets) :)..Resort in itself was however truly superb !
But hey, it’s not that we have only scary stories to recall from kerala, no no, kerala is too beautiful a state to have not impressed whosoever visits it.Let’s move towards some delightful memories from hereon .
House Boat experience with a mandatory overnight stay is probably the best thing that can happen to you in Kerala. Enjoying hot & sizzling food, prepared live in front of you while your house boat runs you through greenery & backwaters of Kerala, is truly a mesmerizing experience .Here are a few pics to share :
Ah ! Who can forget the ever famous Kovalam beaches where we had so much fun for two back to back days. We stayed at the Uday Samudra which proved to be a good choice ,thanks to the beaches in the immediate vicinity .The sound of sea waves dancing in the night and water touching your feet as you enjoy sea side candle light dinner makes you go ecstatic .
We took a short trip from Kovalam to Kanyakumari on our penultimate day in Kerala where our primary stop was at Vivekanand Rock Memorial . Please don’t judge the pic as my facial expressions in the pic are totally contradictory to my happy mood then. {I don’t know what forced me to give such bad expressions – strong winds may be or the sun with it’s full throttle on or..I really don’t know :O }
Time now to say goodbye as we have reached the last day of this travel narration when we headed back to New Delhi from Thrivanathpuram Airport but hey wait ! After having gone through some of my earlier personal blogs, you all must be very wondering how come Nishtha didn’t shop on this trip.
Well she did : Kasavu Sarees !! ( Swear on my god I heard this term Kasavu for the first time there at Kovalam )
As for the Kerala , goes without saying – a must visit destination for sure !!
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I hope you enjoyed our first journey together ! Would love to hear your feedback in the comments below or simply google Inside Out with Rahul Yuvi.
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Namaste & take care !
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