Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Travelogue: MUA Kannur

An MUA to Kannur wont pass by the ears, without a chill in the bones. Kannur ? Isnt there any better option ? Are we not planning any other MUA after this one ?! Do we need to prepare our wills prior to the trip ?!!!

All these proves incorrect. And that was one super successful trip to Kannur. Of course, with a special reason attached to it - Bin's Bro's Wedding. Except for me, none of the touring gang has even seen the groom. But as the saying goes.. "Cake khaane ke liye hum kahi bhi pahonch jaate hain" :D

Thanks to Pritz (she has becoming my official ticketing agent :-s), got all 6 tkts in the same bus, all of 'em paired up. To reach Kalasipalya on a busy Friday evening is a big ask. We 4- rat,gas,mri,jim - got into an auto by 7.15. Sand,Soo had already got into a red volvo from their place to reach the destination. In the end, we were the ones to reach first. At 8.15PM (The bus is scheduled to leave the place at 8.30PM). Sand-Soo too landed in 10 mins.

The privileged duo had already had their dinner @home. The remaining 4 of us took refuge into a 4-wheeled 5-star thattukada. The food wasnt any bad, lemme tell you ! Pritz joined to taste the food, before getting into her bus. We got into our bus, when the driver decided its time. Luckily no 'Kalabhavan Mani' movies in the bus. Nice sleep (of course, keep aside the 1 hour ghat stretch, where there used to be a tarred road) :-D

7AM Sharp. We deboarded at Ponniam Road. 7 mins walk to Aishwarya. Dad n mom welcomed us at the door. We were alloted rooms at level 2. A bed tea, after freshening up. Followed by a heavy breakfast of putt and kadala. After almost half an hour into this exercise, mom came to the table and asked our man "Gasper, mathiyaakkiyo?". Gasper seemed to have taken that to heart, and made it a point to leave no trace in the putt vessel :D

Wasting no time, the team of 5 (note that Mridul continued his journey in the bus, to get down at Kannur) got into silver WagonR to head towards the first destination of the day - Telicherry Fort. Among the series of photos taken were a new set of pics - code named Mat Pics - of Gasper. Mat stands for 'matrimonial' :D After fort, off to Tly Sea View point, Tly Fishing beach (the "fragrance" is still around :D ) and then to the abandoned sea pier. All this, under the hot sun :) Gasper was constantly worried about his complexion. Jim too :-D


Muzhapilangad drive in beach was planned for post-lunch. But all of a sudden, we had a lot of time in hand. And we set off to the drive in beach - the longest in India (I heard a version, where 'india' is replaced with 'asia'. might be true!) Awaiting us, here was a team from Aero India. They had organized a para gliding session - well, not exclusively for us, but we formed a big chunk of adventurers to try it out. A nice thing to do. And for 250 bucks per person, not a big hole in the pocket.. It wasnt as scary as it looked to be. Climbing up was smooth. Getting down was easy too. And to get a birds eye view of the entire place was a thrilling sight.

The bravest among the lot, Jim, opted not to try this 'wild' thing. He preferred to be on ground - which was stabler when it comes to PE=mgh calculation. And he had cam in hand, so we had these images captured, even while we were airborne.

Soon after the last man standing flew and landed, we packed back to Aishwarya. Yummy lunch was waiting us - served hot on plantain leaves. Post lunch, a short trip to Mahe Tagore Park, Mahe Church, back to Tly to the 2-rupee park (:D). Then a call to Bin "Daa... biriyani ready aayo?". A positive reply saw the wagonR charging towards Pinarayi. Since I was 'reasonably well aware' of the route to his house, I asked him to pick us up from the nearest known landmark spot. Reached house by 7PM. Korachu neram thirinju kalichittu nere dining table ilottu chaadi veenu. Koyi biriyani :)

After foodings, Bin took us for a round trip of the place - all the neighboring buildings are his relatives'. There is a temple inside the compound. There is a pond too. And there is a martial arts centre, where he claims to have undergone kalari-payatu training. (lavane kandaal parayoola) :D

We quit the place, dropped the movie plan and dropped into Tly City Centre. Well, this is not Bangalore, and 8PM is shut down time. Nothing much to see there. We aimed for house. Bath. Sleep.. ZZz....

Continued...

Random Shots:

Shadow Play @ Underground Hide-out in Tly Fort
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Abandoned Light-house at Tly Fort
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Abandoned Sea Pier at Tly Fishing Beach
(ee naattil ellaam abandoned aanallo :-s )
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Adventure Sports @ Muzhapilangad Drive in Beach
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View from the 2-rupee park :)

Skanda Giri / Kalavarahalli Betta Trek

[This blog is a break from Goa blog, to fill up a commitment :)]

Diwali. 3 day extended weekend.
Off to a trek on Sunday morning at 5.30
(Thats right.. The numbers are true!)

A detailed write-up has been already put up by Gasper.

My part, in this collaborative blog, is to add up a few lines to what he has written. Its nothing but the "lessons learnt" from the rigorous 2.5 hours of knee breaking extravaganza. Here we go:

1. Do proper homework. Get the route map. Get basic stuff - water, bread, biscuit. Get glucose and chocolates too - these are quick energizers.
2. Find out a shoe that resembles MRF Nylogrip at the base, and put it on !
3. Do a fuel-check. Carry the documents! (Jim's pulsar had all the documents till 2 km into the trip, before he lost them :D Luckily, all xerox copies)
4. The earlier the better. We found a group that started by 3AM! The moonlit trek ought to be some fun!
5. A hill-climb doesnt necessarily require a 5m network cable in your bag. Thats what we found in Jim's bag, when we did a reality weight-check at the top of the hill!
6. Minimize the luggage (back-pack) size. Split the weight across, rather than stuffing it all into one bag!
7. Jins had a lesson learnt to add up "Shouldnt we have simply slept away at home, instead of all this ordeal?" :-))


Tail:
1. We had a dog to guide our way down hill. The dog would go down quick, take a nap, and then again get on to its foot, when we reach :P
2. The traffic police had big plans for the day. Found them at multiple points on the highway, but nobody was interested in checking our whereabouts. Good for us :)
3. Had a minor accident. Rat the victim. During down-hill trek, in an attempt to get a little hand-support, fell flat on palm, onto one of the rocks. The rock had thick king-sized 'rock-colored' thorns on it. That was a few drops of redness wasted...
4. To our surprise, at the top of the hills, we found a bread-omlette/tea point. It was 'party time' up there :)

A few stills:

Thats flat terrain. Its gonna change soon!


Stay with the flock


Rock-support!


At the peak



Highly deceptive !