Weekend Drive to Manimuthar Falls – Manjolai – Kuthiraivetti – Part II (Nov ’11)
The next day we woke up as early as 5 AM as we had lot many things to do before we head home the same day. Got ready by 6 and went to visit Raja’s palace before we took leave. Some pictures of the Raja’s palace were shared in the previous post. After this quick tour, we started our journey towards Manjolai/Kuthiraivetti. The atmosphere is quite good and soon we were on the uphill road to Manjolai. We quickly passed Manimuthar falls & proceeded towards Manjolai and ours was the first vehicle to enter that day. The drive was in itself was a pleasurable experience as we saw small to medium waterfalls for every couple of kms. It was an awesome ride with lush green all around with no souls except the chirping of birds. We stopped at a waterfall, which was close to the road and washed our car. Once that’s done, we went straight to Manjolai and were greeted by few peoples of Manjolai. It’s being a very tiny settlement, not much facility available for food, except an Estate Bakery & a Tea stall, where we munched some crispy hot Vada.
We left behind some curious onlookers and proceeded towards Naalumuku, out next stop before Kuthiraivetti. The drive from Manjolai to Naalumuku was even more adventurous with narrow roads & sharp turns inside dense forest. We crossed a wooden bridge, under which a stream of fresh water was flowing. Took some photographs around that place and quickly hopped on to the car as we have return to base before 4 PM, also we were hungry. By the time we reach Naalumuku, the breakfast was over and we had the same tea/vada, but we skipped and got some biscuits from the nearby shop. We ordered lunch at the Kerala mess, which he said will be ready around 1 PM. So, after confirming the food, we started our journey towards Kuthiraivetti. It was some good 15-18 kms and it took around 90 mins to reach our destination. The wind was blowing quite fast and the weather looked overcast. We stopped our car at the base of the place and walked towards the view point, where one can see three dams.
We were able to see 2 dams only due to the overcast conditions, and soon the atmosphere changed drastically. The clouds converged on the top and it seemed we are in for a big lashing of rain. To protect our camera gears we soon left the place and started our journey back to Naalumukku. The return journey till Naalumuku was awesome as we witnessed fog covering the narrow roads in no time. Driving through fog at noon was so wonderful, added to that it started drizzling a bit making the scenic landscape more beautiful. Enjoying these scenes we reached Naalumuku at 2.30 and had our lunch. The lunch was delicious as I asked them to prepare ‘Chicken Curry’. After filling our empty tummies we headed towards Tirunelveli and reached the base around 4.30 PM. While we are heading towards Tirunelveli to buy the famous ‘Alwa’ we witnessed another beauty, ‘The Rainbow’. It spread across the vast area forming a semi-circle; unfortunately we couldn’t capture the entire area.
After that we quickly went into the town and purchased few kilos of the famous ‘Iruttukada Alwa’ and started our journey back to Chennai by 5. The return journey was uneventful except witnessing a live accident between a Govt. bus and a sedan. Couldn’t identify who was wrong, but passengers in the car got hurt badly and a couple of passengers were taken to hospital by a passerby cab. We quickly passed on that area and praying for their wellness. We reached Chennai around 3 AM with a dinner break and couple of breaks for nature calls. Overall it’s a satisfying & wonderful experience. Overall distance covered over the weekend stood at 1350 :), not bad indeed.
