Feb

22

2018

TRAVELOGUE 6: Cochin – Munnar – Kumarakom – Alappuzha – Kochi (25 th December - 29 th December 2017)


NAME OF THE GUEST: KEE (MALAYSIA)

NUMBER OF PERSONS: 7

NAME OF THE DRIVER: JUSTIN SEBASTIAN

The festive season of Christmas became an apt time for Kee and her family to spend some time together in the God's Own Country of Kerala. Being from Malaysia, they were very excited on coming to India and hence they contacted Kerala.com Travel Division, a part of World Viewer Dot Com India Pvt Ltd, Kochi, Kerala, to plan their trip. Ms. Jismy John, the Tour Consultant of Kerala.com Travel Division made up their travel plans for 4 Nights/5 Days.

It was our experienced chauffeur cum guide Mr. Justin Sebastian who was given the duty of taking the guests around the assigned places.

(Travelogue as told by Mr. Justin Sebastian)

DAY 1 (25 th December): KOCHI - MUNNAR

The holy day of Christmas had arrived and like every person here I woke up early in the morning and went for the morning Holy Mass at my church. After this I straight away went to the airport to pick my guests. But alas, I came to know that the flight was late. I then waited on for the flight to land. When it was time I moved on to the Arrival pick-up point at the airport with the name board in my hands. The flight from Malaysia landed by 10:30 am and soon a lady came forward to meet me. She was none other my guest Kee. Her family members followed her and I warmly welcomed each member to Kerala. Along with this I also wished them a 'Merry Christmas'. We got into the traveller to start the trip. The first stop was at the mist filled destination of Munnar.

rasa

The noon time was approaching and they wanted to stop at a restaurant for their lunch. I then suggested them to try our Kerala special Sadhya,which they all agreed happily. So by 12:35 we reached the Rasa Restaurant at Oonnukal, which lies on the way. They filled their stomachs with the authentic and lip smacking Sadhya served on a banana leaf. They were indeed very happy and they thanked the hoteliers for arranging this delicious spread.

We continued on to Munnar. The guests were tired from the flight travel and hence wanted to straightly go to their place of stay. Keeping that in mind, I slowed down the vehicle when we reached the Valara Waterfalls so that the guests could enjoy the views of the falls without getting down from the Traveller. But then I felt sad that the guests was missing the fun of the trip on their first day itself. I didn't lose hope, still continued on the journey to Munnar.

Just before reaching Munnar, on the roadside itself, there was a splendid tea plantation. I stopped the vehicle there and asked the guests to come out. As they got out of the vehicle I took the camera from their hands and started taking their pics. After taking two or three, I showed it to them. They were impressed seeing the photos and was as if magically that their tiredness vanished. They then started posing for the photos and soon the number of photos increased. They were very delighted and seeing their happiness even I got happy. With happy and delighted hearts we reached the hotel where the guests were to stay. I bid them good night and agreed to meet them the next morning for a whole new experience.

DAY 2 (26 th December): MUNNAR SIGHTSEEING

munnar

In the morning, after breakfast, we got ready to go and explore the beauty of Munnar. Being a vacation season, the area was overflowing with tourists and owing to that there was also high chances of getting traffic blocks everywhere. I had informed this fact to the guests beforehand itself.

Agreeing to this, we started off from the hotel towards the famous Mattupetty Dam. But as expected, the road was congested with vehicles even before we reached the Rose Gardens. Even after 20 minutes, there was no sign of the traffic jam clearing. On enquiring with the other drivers it came to be known that the roads ahead were also in the same state. I told the guests about this and we had to make a quick decision. We wasted no more time and I U-turned the vehicle to move on to the destination of Devikulam, which is at a distance of 12 kilometers.

At Devikulam, I first took the guests to the Harrison Tea Factory. As it was a holiday for the workers, there were no one in there. But the office staff were kind enough to help the guests take a tour of the factory. They conducted demo sessions and also explained the processes of tea making.

After lunch, I took the guests to the Chengulam Dam. On the way I stopped the Traveller at the Attukal Waterfalls. The view of the falls was a treat to their cameras and plenty of pictures were taken. As we moved on to the dam site, we were again greeted by traffic block at Anachal. It seemed to be that there was some festivity in the temple at Anachal. We then slowly paved our way through the crowd. At 2 kilometers from there, we finally reached the Chengulam Dam. After seeing and enjoying the dam's beauty, we started our return journey.

On the way back, I stopped at the View Point, where the guests enjoyed their time taking pictures. By night we reached back to the hotel where I left the guests to go back to their rooms and enjoy their night's sleep.

DAY 3 (27 th December): MUNNAR - KUMARAKOM

munnar-kumarakam

In the morning after breakfast, I picked up the guests and we left off to the serene land of Kumarakom. While going, on the way, we stopped by the Cheeyappara Waterfalls and Valara Waterfalls. We had lunch on the way and by 3 pm in the evening we reached the hotel at Kumarakom, where the guests had checked in for the night.

DAY 4 (28 th December): KUMARAKOM - ALLEPPEY

After breakfast in the morning, I picked the guests from the hotel and we left off to Alleppey/Alappuzha. When here, I dropped off the guests at the boat jetty, where they were to get on a houseboat. After the guests started their houseboat journey, my duty of the day was over. The guests went on in the houseboat to enjoy and I went back to my home to relax and enjoy.

DAY 5 (29 th December): ALLEPPEY - KOCHI

I reached Alappuzha in the morning to pick the guests. After they got down from the houseboat, I took them and we went on to the historical Fort Kochi, which is 60 kilometers from here.

Once there I took them to the main attractions of Fort Kochi like Beach, St. Francis Church, Chinese Fishing Net, Mattancherry Palace, Jew Street, Synagogue and so on. After visiting these attractions, we straight away went to the Queen of Arabian Sea -Kochi. The guests were taken around Kochi for the rest of the day,till evening.

airport

In the evening, they were taken to the Cochin International Airport, for their return journey to Malaysia. As I dropped them, I wished each of them a very Happy New Year and the guests went back with heart full of memories and camera full of pictures.

My last trip for the year 2017 ended on a very happy note and with fully of memories of all the guests that I had taken around Kerala…all round the year…


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