I woke up to the fresh mountain air running through my veins, it was brisk. I watched out my window as the endless trees ran past in a green blur of life. Much to my surprise, I managed to sleep the entire trip from Pondicherry and felt invigorated as we arrived into my favorite trekking spot, Kodaikanal.
A good friend of mine, Bryant, generously allowed us to stay in his apartment for the 5 days we would be in Kodai. He lived in a small town called Nadipurum, which was about a 4km walk into the main city center. We found out the correct direction as we descended the bus steps, and headed off to put our luggage down.
There is one steep winding hill on the way to his place, normally it would have been draining with the backpacks on, but for some reason it just stimulated us for the rest of the day.
Bryant informed us of a place called Pastry Corner, that has the best bread items in town. Being a little ravished from the long journey, we walked toward it like flies to bright light.
The walk was pleasant, we sauntered past Kodaikanal lake...
and eventually arrived at our destination!...
we did quickly find out that we had 30 minutes until they opened, so, we went to my favorite tea man for a fresh cup.
Once we got in Pastry Corner, we ate up a storm. I think we tried every combination of dough they had. With, of course, another cup of tea.
From here, we wandered around the nearby shops. We went into an antique shop which I stumbled into during my last trip to Kodai. He had sextants, old compasses, binoculars, paintings, furniture, lamps, cameras, radios... you name it!
Awesomely enough, Thi purchased one of the old compasses for me for Christmas. That is, after she fixed the dis-functioning needle herself! This compass is half compass, and half sundial! The lid also has world time engraved into it. A cool combination if you ask me!
From the little shops, we headed toward Vatakanal, I wanted to visit my old pal, Eddy! On the way there I couldn't resist a little climbing...
About 6km later, we were even higher up, and in Vatakanal. Crossing a small stream and waterfall, we were on the road to Eddy's.
I remembered a little path that led to a cool overlook on a cliff, and we headed there before reaching Eddy's.
We spent quite a while taking in the scenery and air. It was great...
Eddy was very surprised to see me! It had been 3 or 4 months, and we haven't been in contact because, well... he doesn't have an email address or phone! Ha. Eddy being Eddy, he quickly made us some tea and food. It was absolutely incredible, it was a rice dish with all sorts of vegetables, so good! We chatted for a long while, and then Eddy and I explored his stack of paintings to find the one he did in front of me last time I was there.
It was getting late, and in these parts, the later it gets, the colder it gets! We said our goodbyes, and I told him we would be back before we leave. The sky smiled for us as we called it a day...
We awoke early, and greeted the day going for a walk the 4km into Kodai (which became a daily routine), and then about 3km more to Croaker's walk. This provided a good overview of the city below, and neighboring areas.
From here, we kept on trekking, 8km from Pillar Rock. After 3km we were lucky enough for my hitchhiking signal to work and we were dropped another 3km closer. Only about 2km from our destination now.
A man named Moné picked us up, he joked about his name that he had no money! A nice guy. I gave him a US $1 note when we departed, he enjoyed that.
So, we continued on walking!
Took a break on a nice little bridge...
Look at that house!!!
At last, we made it. Pillar Rock.
It was a cool sight, though the lateness of the day provided a return shortly after. We decided to get a ride the entire way this time, and bargained with a man to take us back to Kodai.
We still had the 4km walk back to where we were staying. No complaints here...
Closer to where we were staying, there was a fire station. Being there were no fires at the time, there was an intense game of badminton.
What else can you do but join?!
We got back around sunset. And decided to walk even farther up a large hill to get some good views.
..It was worth it!
A cool picture, I think.
The next day we decided kind of on a whim to go play golf. We ended up walking a good distance over the 18 hilly-holes we played! Though it was still very relaxing.
Despite my complete lack of proper golf attire (gym pants & boots...) I managed to make a good impression on the course pro there, and he let me use his Ping i5 irons and Taylormade woods. This resulted in a much better golf day for me than my previous outing a few months ago. These clubs were a nicer fit to what I play with back home, a very enjoyable outing! Thi and I made friends with both our caddies, mine was the pro's brother, the caddies played along side of us while rolling our bags around... I finished somewhere around 5 over and managed to put in a few birdies along the way.
After golfing we were ready to eat! We stopped at a little shop that serves rice, bread omelets and tea. I had come there the last time I went up to this part of town in my previous trip. They actually remembered me! Thi and I indulged in multiple bread omelets and cups of tea.
A man, Babu, was sitting at the same table as us, and he joined in our friendly conversation. Soon enough, he was offering to drive us back part of the long journey back. We gladly accepted and piled 3 people on his motorcycle.
We had a nice walk back and decided to stop by Eddys.
Shortcut! Shh...
We talked with Eddy for about an hour, and then decided to go back into town. We were able to save our legs from the daunting journey ahead by getting a ride.
This also allowed us to see an epic sunset over the lake!
I had been dangling a journey to 'the secret waterfall' to Thi for the last few days. I was shown this spot by a local, and I experiences makes me think almost nobody knows how to get to it... well, today was the day!
One look into the lake before heading off.
The path to Vatakanal...
If you can remember back to the beginning of this post, the edge of the cliff right before Eddy's house. Well, that small path leads to this pine forest. Follow these pictures, and you'll find yourself at the falls ;).
And this pine forest contains a path down down down...
It quickly turns from a pine forest to a dense, wet, jungle-like atmosphere...
Throughout the last few days, I kept telling Thi she would have to do this hike barefoot. She wouldn't believe me! I had taken my shoes off a good km or two ago, and finally, after a few shaky steps, she gave in ;).
and we go deeper...
at last, a few more kilometers and then we see the light!
sitting on the edge of the world!!!
This is the most incredible place. It is a beautiful waterfall. Surrounded by nothing but the purest Nature you can see... nothing but it. We spent quite a long time enjoying the mist from the falls, and taking in the emptiness that encompassed us.
After a good time, we decided it time to start the journey back. Thi had the great idea of going back UP the waterfall, rather than the path we came down. I had never done this, and frankly, didn't know it is was possible. But, we moved confidently ahead!
What followed was one of the most enjoyable treks I've had. There was walking, climbing, sliding and of course, falling. Tip toeing across tree branches, skipping across rocks. The views were out of this world. It seemed like it would never end, and I never wanted it to.
At last, we reached the main road, and it wasn't before climbing up the tree vines that we had made it. What a trek!
We immediately took refuge in some small shops for food and drink. Mohan, made some amazing bread omelets and tea. I must say. Quite the character, too.
We actually walked the ~8km back... barefoot (shoes and socks were drenched)... Walking back was ridiculous, thinking of what we just did. But apparently the bread omelets gave us enough fuel to do it. A long sleep was in order...
But not before Christmas Eve dinner!!! We headed to a nice looking hotel that was nearby.
It was a good meal after an amazing day.
!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
We enjoyed the morning, and then headed once again into Kodaikanal. This time, however, we were to meet up with Bevan, Eliza, The Littles, and five of Bevan&Eliza's friends, Rick, Carolyn, Rick, Conor, and Anne. We met them at the Sunday city market which was buzzing! The whole city comes together for this!
(for comparison, this is the area on the 26th.. haha!)
After we were worn out by the market, we decided to get a bite to eat. I fearlessly ordered the steak, I do so almost every chance I get, in hopes that one day, one steak will taste like steak.
... it did! It was so good! And French Fries!!! Where am I?!
I just had to take a picture when I realized what was occurring ...
From here, we all piled into their car and headed to where the rest of them were staying, Elephant Valley, about 30km down the mountain.
Before we reached, we had to re-stock the 30 passion fruits that we had quickly devoured. This lady is a true salesperson. She first comes at us with the price of 10rupee per passion fruit, which is a bit overpriced, but manageable. Her alternative option is 150rupee for a kilogram of passion fruits. I think for a bit, and say, okay I'll do the kg. This tricky lady counts 13 passion fruits equal a kg. I'm thinking, whoa whoa, that is a worse deal than paying 10 rupee for each individually! Luckily, we had our driver, Kiren, translate during the whole thing. Which made it even more comical, she knew we knew that we knew that she knew what was happening. I say, I want 20 passion fruits for 150 rupee. Which, undoubtedly was translated perfectly by our 8-lanaguage-speaking driver. She throws 7 more into our bag. I smile as I think we have finally come to an understanding, and then I have to do a double-take when she replies, 200 rupee! Haha! Trickster! I say no no, and she says yes yes! Then, in a desperate act to seal this ridiculous deal, she says "one free", and places the 21st passion fruit in our bag. As if this drastically upsets the 10rupee to 1passionfruit ratio that was going on. Everyone was laughing, and I say, add two Cherimoya and you have yourself a deal! She picks the smallest ones she could find, we give each other a smile and then we set off on our way.
It took a good time to finally reach where everyone was staying, I say, this place is 100% inaccessible without a vehicle.
It was an eco-tourism lodge, they did everything in an environmentally friendly way. The place was beautiful. Bevan, Thi and myself still had energy out of the large group, and went on a small hike before cocktail hour and Christmas dinner.
Fresh coffee beans, which I found out, you can eat! Awesome.
If you don't know, Bevan's favorite fruit is jackfruit. It is virtually impossible to find this time of year. Ironically enough, this forest was filled with jackfruit trees! Unfortunately, most of these trees grow straight up without branches, which pose an interesting challenge to get the fruits!
We did manage to find one that had some branches, and Bevan scaled it in order to get closer to the prize. I had 3 things to MacGyver to make this work ... 1) an incredible walking stick I found during the waterfall trek, sturdy and ~5 feet tall, 2) a knife, 3) shoe laces. After some quick fashioning I was throwing Bevan a long reach saw!
After a good 15 minutes... A-HA!
The saddest part is that the fruit was extremely unripe. Welp, can't say we didn't try!
My future house................
On our way back, Thi insisted that she redecorate the tree. I must agree that is was pretty skimpy and hastily done. She worked her magic (at least as high as she could reach!) ...
After some drinks, cheese and laughs. We headed to the main hut for dinner!
Myself taking a picture of Conor taking a picture of Rick taking picture of the Grasshopper on Bevan's hand.
Thi taking a picture of me taking a picture of Conor taking a picture of Rick taking a picture of the Grasshopper on Bevan's hand.
The grasshopper! On my lens!
The dinner was fantastic. And the company was even better! What a fun night. We headed back to the room for a few more drinks before we were dropped back off at our residence by the driver.
The next day was a half day, so we meandered around Kodaikanal itself, literally covering every inch of it.
This picture makes me laugh.
Lily pads!
Bug!
Now we started our walk around the very large lake! This took almost the entire rest of the day, minus the ice cream stops in the middle...
I climbed out on a tree branch to get these next shots, the people were happily surprised to see me hovering over them (so I like to think).
This is actually a funny picture. That puppy is eating something obviously delicious. The crow next to him wants it more than anything in the world. The crow proceeded to hop over to the puppy, peck at him and then hop away, it was hilarious! The first 3 or 4 times the pup seemed unfazed, and then, it started to look up. Luckily for the pup, the pups mom came over (you can see the hand in the top right of the picture) and set the crow flying for the hills! You'll be happy to know he ate safety after that.
moo.
...Part 4... New Years in Kerala
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