Munnar: Fernweh for God’s Holiday Home

Not every day would you wake up to the sun playing hide and seek with fog and clouds far from the maddening crowds of the ever growing city. Cool and calm the greenery envelopes you in a welcoming embrace, that’s Munnar for you. If Kerala is God’s own Country, Munnar  is definitely his holiday home. There are many reasons why in your lifetime you should definitely visit the land of tea-gardens at least once. This is the reflection of a wandering traveler in search of the best places to see in India, and her train stops this time at a quite assemble of life amidst the hills. If you are hungry for a getaway, pack your bags, this particular hill-station awaits your arrival.

The culturally vibrant, historically important and greenery packed  town is situated at the confluence of three mountain streams – Mudrapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala with the serene beauty that gives the feeling of paradise on earth. Life is but too short to visit places by the book, if you are in for some exploration,  set out on your own sans tour-guides. Picturesque would be the apt. word for such a place, straight out of books, this Hill station is anything like the conventional ones we tend to visit be it with families or a romantic getaway with your beloved. Munnar promises something new held within its historical setting of ipened tea-estates, golden spice gardens and innumerable little snap-worthy nooks and corners.

 1600 m above the sea level, this hill station has a very expedient climate to enjoy. The town without “fans”-yes you heard it right, this place is devoid of fans or for that matter any sort of air-conditioning systems except for room-heaters, because summer in Munnar is a pleasant season to witness. Sky- hugging tea plantations, winding lanes, quite surroundings, innumerable spice gardens and holiday facilities make this a popular tourist attraction. The major tourist spots remain overloaded with people and are indeed pretty unavoidable, but Munnar is rather in finding out your own memory-moments. As I always love to mention travelling is like reading a book, read it thus with your own understanding; Google can take some rest while you go on to explore this Southern-Ecstasy.

Go ahead get lost amidst the glory of the town. Find out the local cuisine; indulge in the richness of our Indian delicacies while the day recedes behind the mountains. Many shops would attract you to buy wooden handicrafts, jewelry, spices, variety of tea, tea-masalas, a wide range of coffee beans, mouth-watering chocolates and beautiful flowering-seeds. There is no specific season or even any reason for you to pay a visit to this wonderland. Bored with monotonous life? Go on book your tickets: go alone, or with family or even with your partner, Munnar promises you a basket full of surprises.

If you are a newly-wed couple or would be married soon, take my word this land awaits you to pay a visit- your ultimate honeymoon destination. The sprawling grasslands, quite roads, foggy atmosphere and a cozy welcoming attitude of all, is it not perfect to start your married life with? As I mentioned earlier, you need to hold on to your partner’s hand and venture out, share moments, make memories, begin a new chapter of life in the bliss of the mountain air. Well if you have been married for quite some time and wish to find recluse in some place, even then Munnar be your option. Let go of all your worries and just enjoy. Finally if it’s a family trip to enjoy your togetherness, well you know which ride to take.

Neelakurinji the beautiful flower bathing the hills in blue once in every twelve years is indeed a pleasant phenomenon to witness along with trekking the highest peak of South India, Anamudi. Lush green vegetations and a wide range of mountain flora and fauna are but just few attributes of God’s holiday home. If your thirst for adventurous knowledge does not satiate with just being a part of such a beautiful paradise, then I would rather  suggest you to explore some things on your own. My reflections for you would always be that do not follow the crowd to all the conventional tourist spots; travel to find new regions, new snap-moments and all new things to make it trip-worthy, moreover if you have not seen the world with your own eyes then your world remains undiscovered. Get your travel-shoes out people, this time Munnar awaits you.