Visited In August 2022
It was serious rains, dams open and red alerts in almost all districts of Kerala. For someone following the news channels aired from Kerala would have had an impression that the entire state was flooding! But being here in Kerala, we realised that, yes we have to be cautious and careful, but situation was not as bad as being portrayed.
My best friends from Dubai - Sony and Sreejith. We worked together in the same project team for many years while in Dubai, now we are all settled in different places. While in Dubai, we never managed to get vacations together for obvious reasons, now we got that most awaited time. Hmm...the rains could be a spoiler, but we had to decide! We observed the situation closely and moved our travel plan at night to early morning and decided to catch up at the beautiful location of Idukki, which is the native place of Sreejith. The next 2 days were happy hours of friends and family reunion.
We started at 4 am from Thrissur and it was a 5 hours journey to Idukki. The ride was indeed pleasant with no rain, lot of mist and fog and beautiful sceneries once we were nearing Idukki. Nothing could have been more rewarding for a sleepless night and early morning drive!
After breakfast and some good catch up - chit chat, we roamed around to see the neighborhood.
In the evening, we stayed in a resort in Kumily and it was very close to the Periyar Tiger Reserve forest. Enjoyed the time with friends and family and slept well.
Next day, we crossed the Tamil Nadu border which is just next to Kumily town and drove to Cumbom. It is just less than an hour drive and we got to see the grape vineyards in Cumbom. Had some fresh tender coconut, a bit of sight seeing ad back to Kumily.
On the way, we get to see the huge pipelines carrying water from Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala to Tamil Nadu. Kerala is blessed with abundance of rain and fresh water, while the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu badly needs water due to relatively less rainfall. Water is precious, save it and use it wisely!!
The grape vineyard
After returning from Cumbom, we had a good lunch and then decided to visit one of the Cardomom estates. It was an interesting off-road drive as well.
Off-road drive to Cardamom estate:
This scene of cattle race on the road was interesting, from Cumbom:
After enjoying 2 days of togetherness, it was time to bid goodbye to my besties and wait for next year for a similar get together! Friendship is forever and memories are everlasting. Thank You Sony, Sreejith, Soumya and Asha for the lovely moments together.
I cannot thank enough Sreejith and Soumya's parents for taking so good care of us with abundant love, care, attention and most importantly home cooked delicacies.
Moments:
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