Weekend ride to Munnar

We planned on a weekend trip to Munnar for the Oct 2nd weekend. Manu, Appu n Divya travelled in Appu's car, while I hopped on my Royal Enfield.
my main agenda of the trip was to test my bike and my fitness level!!
Appu had booked 2 rooms in Munnar through a local friend. Having decided to leave early on saturday morning, manu n I stayed at Appu's place, while Divya cooked an excellent dinner.
All set, we just realised that we didnt have alchohol. Being the 1st of the month, no supply in kerala and saturday being Gandhi Jayanti, we were doomed. Having just returned from bangalore that morning, i was already feeling very tired. While Divya was preparing dinner, we drove around the whole city looking for any sale of liquor and finally returned home past 10 pm in vain.
After a heavy dinner we slept at around 1 still hoping we'll be up by 6 atleast. Being a holiday none of us wanted to rush it...Up at 9, we three guys were ready in half an hour, while the lady of the house came out at 10:30 am....Had breakfast at Indian Coffee House, while still trying our luck with the spirits. nope!!

Stopped by at the petrol station and hit the road finally at 11:30. unfortunately we had to slow down before Muvatupuzha, where a religious procession blocked the roads for half an hour.Reached Adimali by 2:30, where a friend promised to deliver the 'parcel'..still no luck!

Stopped for food at Adimali where all 4 of us had a silent lunch, disappointed that we wudnt have any liquor for the evening...
the fun begins now. closing in on munnar the ride was getting more exciting for me..
wet, winding roads and hairpin bends broke my back at every turns, while i cut through the descending mist. the visibility was less than 5m and the headlights/fog lights was my only sign of opposite traffic.
My agenda for the trip was partially fulfilled, and i was in high spirits already...

On reaching the , only to find that there were no rooms vacant..great!as an alternative they took us to an annexe, which looked like a side y joint. Appu tried calling his friend, who never really tried to help, while divya was ready to head back to cochi....

Our trip seemed to have taken a full beating, starting the delay, to the lack of alchohol and now no place to stay. I tried contacting a friend of mine to see if he could help us and luckily he found us an awesome place which had 2 suite rooms at very affordable pricing..our balconies overlooked a lovely stream...

the group was getting cheered up now and after a hot bath we head to the town..i must mention here that it wasnt a great idea to travel to munnar on a public holiday, since the town was jammed with tourist buses and other vehicles. and dont forget the rains here!!

we finally managed to buy some rum and vodka which were exorbitantly priced and head back to rooms.
The spirits complimented the excellent weather, accompanied by decent food....after all of us got high we still managed to go for a drive looking for elephants (which was a very bad idea) and some liquor ofcourse. hit the bed by 3 i guess?

had breakfast and went to madupetty lake, were another traffic snarl greeeted us. saw a couple of trained elephants which looked under-fed.

Checked out from our hotel and dined at a Jain/Rajasthani/Gujrati/Marwari restaurant. left munnar by around 2:30 and headed straight to Cochi. I had to take a break after the hills, since the fingers on my left hand had gone numb. There was no looking back after that, hit our destination non-stop, reaching cochi by around 5:30. On my return journey rains were pouring down like crazy and I was completely soaked. but then there was no point in stopping, since the rains werent goin to stop completely.

Having tested my bike, it was a highly satisfying trip for me...now i know what has to be tuned in my bull and me...;-)

Trip Statistics:

Cochin to Munnar - 138km+145km (to and fro)
Roads- Good in parts to worse
Weather Conditions- incessant rains

Shall meet you soon with a longer ride...
until then, happy riding!!!