We - myself, my 2 cousins and our common friend, decided to go for a 2 days trip and after some planning we fixed it as a road trip to Ponmudi hill station at Trivandrum. Also we planned to visit the Palaruvi waterfalls at Kollam district. There is around 300 km from our place Thrissur to Ponmudi.
So on Saturday, 14th December 2019, I started the journey from my home. It was only me then because one of my cousin will join from Angamali and other one from Kottarakara on our way. Our common friend has got some works on that day at Trivandrum and he will only be able to join the trip at evening. We were taking Angamali - Perumbavoor - Muvattupuzha - Koothattukulam - Pambady - Pandalam - Adoor - Kottarakara - Vithura - Ponmudi route. At morning 8 o'clock I reached Angamali town and my cousin joined me. After that we had breakfast from an hotel near Muvattupuzha around 9. The traffic was very less all the way and road condition was very good except for the back to back turnings.
After a 3 more hours of driving, we reached at Kottakarakara where my other cousin is waiting. After taking him, we decided to have lunch on the way. But after leaving Kottarakara we were not able to find any good restaurants on the way. After some drive, we finally found one restaurant and had lunch at around 2 p.m. We then went directly to Ponmudi.
Ponmudi also known as Golden peak is one of the lesser known hill station in Kerala. Mostly people from Trivandrum and Kollam districts visits here. It cannot be compared to other hill stations as the facilities here are much less. There is only one hotel available for the over night stay which is run by Kerala tourism department. There are no houses or settlements near the hill station. The forest road to Ponmudi hills starts from a place called Kallar which itself is an eco-tourism spot. There are 22 hair pin bends on the way to Ponmudi. The road passes through dense forests and it is a great experience to have a drive through there.
After the beautiful drive through the scenic road we reached the entrance of Ponmudi hill station at around 3 p.m. We had to take the tickets from an checkpoint which is 2 km before the hill station view point. This is a place surrounded by hills and we can climb them to reach the top to get some delightful views of the valleys around. The place was very cool and there was an cool breeze which made it even more enjoyable. A 10 min walk will take us to top of one of the hills and views from there was breathtaking. We spent 30 mins there and then climbed down to go to another rocky hill. Every hill top will provide a different view which was so adorable. After some time it started to drizzle and we were shivering.
We then went to the near by restaurant which was the only one food joint available there. We stood there and watched the beauty of hills during rain. It was quiet a good experience. After spending around 2 hours at Ponmudi we decided to return. It started raining heavily then.
We drove back and picked our friend from Vithura. Our plan was to stay that night at Thenmala which was the nearest point of Palaruvi waterfalls. So we decided to drive 70 km to Thenmala. The road condition was very bad because of the widening works and due to the rains it had became even worst. After a tough drive we reached at Thenmala at around 8 p.m. We got a room at a budget hotel very near to Thenmala eco-tourism office. Thenmala is India's first planned eco-tourism destination. There are a lot of activities to do there which are available under different packages. We didn't planned to visit Thenmala due to our time constraints.
We had dinner from a restaurant there and we just walked to the area of Thenmala dam which was just 200 metre from our hotel. Everything there were closed as it was already 9 p.m except for a small eatery shop. We had omelette from there. After this we returned to our hotel and went to sleep.
Next day morning 9 o'clock, we checked out from our hotel and had breakfast from Ruchi restaurant. It was one of the few good restaurants available around Thenmala. After this we drove to Palaruvi Waterfalls. It is a 15 km drive from Thenmala. On the way to the waterfalls is the famous Pathimoonu Kannara bridge. This is an arch bridge along the Kollam - Shengotta railway line just by the side of N.H 208. It consists of 13 arches from which it got its name, Pathimoonu in malayalam means thirteen. We spent around 30 minutes there taking some photos and all but we were not lucky enough to see a train passing by.
An 10 mins drive from here took us to the ticket counter of beautiful Palaruvi waterfalls. It was a beautiful place inside a forest managed by forest department. From here there is 3 km to the waterfalls. We were not allowed to take private vehicles there, instead forest department runs mini buses. We took the tickets and got in to the bus. It was a great scenic drive inside the forest. We can see the streams flowing near by the road. The road was passing through thick forests and it was a beautiful experience. This 3 km road to the waterfalls is the thing which makes it special. After a 10 mins drive we reached at the waterfall area. There is a small canteen providing tea and snacks there. The area is full of monkeys and if we took any eatery items out, they will take it from us.
From there a 5 min walk will take us to the beautiful waterfalls across Kallada river. It is one of the biggest waterfalls in Kerala and watching the water coming down the rocks standing inside a dense forest is something that cannot be explained in words. The water was little less but it hadn't changed the tempting beauty of the falls. There are some steps available to go to the top where a mandap or open pavilion is build. From here we can view the waterfalls at a very close range flowing all the way down. We spent around one hour near the waterfall. It was a joyful experience.
After that we took an mini bus back to the starting point and then took our car to start the return journey. On our way back, we had lunch from an restaurant near Kottarakara. One of the cousin alighted there. We then continued our journey back via Adoor - Chenganur - Tiruvala - Kottayam - Ettumanur - Kothattukulam - Muvattupuzha - Angamali route. Other cousin got out at Angamali and our friend at Pudukad. At around 7 p.m, I reached back at my home after a good trip with some special people in my life.