Nov 20, 2012 07:08 PM
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Christmas and New year time is a good time for a trip down to the beautiful state of Kerala, The God’s own country! During this time, the natural views of the valleys, tea estates, hills, sun rise becomes even more vivid and the climate would be cooler. Cochin comes to life to celebrate the Christmas eve, the fort kochi beach is all lighted up with decorative lights. Various carnival events are scheduled for the last week of December. Some of them include: dance show, rock show, angling competition, burning of big Santa Claus and fireworks for the new year night.
Trivandrum
We have first reached Trivandrum city, as it is near to our next destination Kanyakumari. In Trivandrum, we booked our stay in Ginger hotel(Ph: 04716663333), which is maintained well, but is located outside the city. In the city, you get to see Military Ganapathi's temple, who is famous among the military people and is said to be a powerful god, because of which one would visit this little temple even before going to the bigger Anantha Padmanabaswamy temple, which is located near to it. In Padmanabhaswamy temple, men are allowed to wear only a dhoti. Purse, mobile phones, shirts are not allowed inside. And women have to wear chudidhar or a saree. If you are not suitably dressed, then you can pay a little fee near the entrance, to store your clothes and to rent a dhoti. Women in jeans are made to wear a dhoti around the jeans. Temple is open for darshan only at certain timings as mentioned below. Though you may not be allowed for darshan, you can still watch around the inside of the temple, which is big enough to keep you occupied for some time. Lord Vishnu is in sleeping position here and one would watch him through 3 different doors next to each other. The queue is not well organised and people keep pushing you from behind, just before you get a chance to have a darshan. Next we went to the kovalam beach, which is around 30kms from the temple. There are lot of government AC buses flying between the beach and the bus station near the temple. This beach is named as one of the most beautiful beaches in India and it is also a perfect place to spend an evening with your family playing in the water. Beach is clean, waters are shallow, sun set is pleasant and very beautiful. There are a lot of restaurants on the shore line.
Places to see in Trivandrum:
Padmanabaswamy temple timings
03:30 AM to 04:45 AM
06:30 AM to 07:00 AM
08.30 AM to 10:00 AM
10:30 AM to 11:00 AM
11:45 AM to 12:00 PM
05:00 PM to 06:15 PM
06:45 PM to 07:20 PM
Munnar
Next day early morning, we hired a cab and went to Munnar, which is a 3 hr journey from Cochin. There are one or two small waterfalls on the way. Climate changes once you reach Munnar town, it becomes colder as you climb up the altiMr_customtakeouter it gets even cooler. Tea estates are scenic all along the way. The "Kannan Devan" brand of Tea from the Tata is cultivated and processed here. Try boat ride at Mattupetti dam and also visit the Echo point near by.
And do not miss to go to Top Station, a very cold place with a breathtaking view of western ghats, where you would be standing above the clouds. Mist might block your valley view, but atleast it is worth a trouble. Have to pay an entrance fee to view the ghats. While the sun sets, the sky would be of varying vivid colors and would be a memorable scene to capture here.
Places to see in Munnar:
To read more about my experiences in Alleppey, Cochin, Kanyakumari please visit @
https://leisurenama.blogspot.in/2012/11/kerala-trip-cochin-alleppey-munnar.html
Thank you. And hoping that you liked the review.
