A travel tale of cycling from Kochi to Munnar with a bikepacking setup. From the coast on the Arabian Sea to tea gardens in the Western Ghats.
“Where is it raining?”
“Everywhere!”
“I mean, where is it not raining?”
“Oooo, the Western Ghats seem to be dry(ish)”
And with that bit of expert-level weather forecasting we began the sojourn to Munnar, Kodaikanal and Ooty in the Western Ghats…
With the route finalised only a couple of days prior, it was time to hop onto the bus. Arguably one of the best bus networks in India is run by the KSRTC (Karnataka’s interstate bus service). The biggest advantage being that the personnel are habituated to seeing cyclists and assisting them with storing their bikes in the luggage bay. While the buses are superb, getting to the bus stand is a whole different story. Navigating Bengaluru’s peak hour traffic requires more bravery awards than skiing down Everest, or so if feels!
Read: Transporting your Bicycle in India by Bus
Safely ensconced in the confines of Swedish House Mafia, or Volvo buses as these are more commonly known, we were on our way to the west coast of Kerala. A night’s dreams later we were welcomed by the bracing air of the Arabian Sea off the coast of Kochi. And lottery tickets! The moment you peek your head into Kerala, lottery tickets stare right back at you. It was 6 AM and there were already gentlemen selling these fortune cookies to the Karnataka bus drivers and conductors. Because these motoring gentlemen are unable to make such dreamy purchases in their home state.
The other thing which hits you immediately in Kerala is the relative cleanliness. We could safely enter and more importantly exit the public restrooms in a bus stand. Such tiny luxuries are difficult to imagine in most other states of the country.
Cycling from Kochi to Munnar…
By the time we got our act together of setting up our cycles and strapping on our luggage bags, it was the start of Kochi’s rush hour on a Monday morning. At such times, one sees the benefit of living in smaller cities of India. Cycling through this peak hour traffic was not a big deal, even getting out of the city limits was a matter of a few kilometres. No lives were used up of this cat! It is unbelievable to see people choosing big metro cities of India, where life is actually lifeless.
From the coast we were headed to the hills, with some pretty rolling terrain in between. In Kerala scenic highway views aren’t made up of lush green farms, instead it is row after row of houses. Painted in bright pink, purple and green; colours you’d associate with rave parties rather than retired citizen housing.
Foodie Paradise
First order of business in Kerala, who aren’t interested in lottery tickets, is getting my hands (and mouth) on beef fry and appam. Possibly the best’est’ thing to originate from this state, it is truly wonderful that you can get it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. At the eatery it once again became obvious that the language of choice in Kerala is Hindi! All the workers are from Bengal, Bihar, Assam or Nepal, which has forced even the ‘capitalist communists’ to learn the language. Making it a breeze for peeps like me who do not speak either Malayalam or Tamil.
The plan for the day was to take it easy and ride the flat stretch of road till Kothamangalam, but we reached there by noon and it felt a bit too early to stop. A quick google search later, we rode on to a tiny town on the Periyar River called Neriamangalam. Not only did the climb start, but also lots of roadwork. From there it was varying bad stretches of road all the way to Munnar.
Of Kerala Booze and Buses
Besides the lottery tickets and beef shops, there is one other thing which stands out to the outsider. A steady stream of toddy shops along the road. The rivers might run dry, but not these shops. Interestingly most of these shops had ‘daru’ written in Devnagari script. Not in Tamil, nor Kannada, only in Malayalam and Hindi. Once again catering to the migrant workers.
Fortunately, on slow-moving cycles, avoiding dizzy uncles crossing roads after having patronised one of these shops isn’t too difficult! The same cannot be said of automobiles, who have expertly learnt to spot them from a mile away. Even the speeding local buses…
Talking about Kerala buses, these are confounding pieces of machinery. They try running over every SUV which crosses their path, yet they were extraordinarily polite while overtaking our humble bicycles. The flying bus drivers bring a little bit of the communist ideology on the road as well!
Neriamangalam, our halt for the day, was small enough that a 10-minute walk was sufficient to have criss-crossed the entire place. What the town lacked in vistas was more than made up on the plate, with a host of sweet snacks to accompany tea. After having gorged on sweets, we rounded off dinner with kappa biryani, where google reviews of the restaurant warned people that kappa biryani is actually beef!
Neriamangalam to Munnar
The next morning, we left from our hotel and immediately thanked our good fortune of having stopped where we did. Because it was a constant climb from the very first pedal stroke. The first 13 lucky kilometres were all climbing through thick vegetation, which meant it was hot and humid and we were sweating buckets. A quick breakfast later we continued the climb as it flattened out and we almost saw two waterfalls. We couldn’t quite see it because the falls were covered with buses and busloads of tourists. It was an easy ride till a town called Adimali, from where one road turns off towards Idukki, while the other continues to Munnar. It is also where the climb starts in earnest, gaining about 900 metres in 27 km.
As we rode through tea estates, the irony hit me hard. While the food in Kerala is to die for, the tea is enough to kill you! With tea dotting the landscape, it is incredible that every cup of tea sold is so terrible. You are transported back to your childhood, where your parents would put a drop of tea in your cup of milk, just to give it a little colour and make you happy. But the only flavour you get is milk, no tea!
While we didn’t get lucky with the tea, we did get lucky with the rain. We got perfect weather, cloudy with the threat of rain. And when it did come chucking down for a few minutes, we were perfectly placed to jump into a dhaba for lunch. There we tried out some amla pickled in brine. Salty and tangy enough to get you up the slopes at double speed!
Hotel, Hotel Everywhere… But not an affordable one to stay!
We reached Munnar in reasonably good condition only to find all the decent accommodation listed on google, priced out of our budget. Finally, we found a nice-looking place online, but it was at the other end of town. We braced ourselves and rode, only to realise that ‘just’ 3 km from the city centre was up a steep climb. When we reached the hotel, I sincerely hoped the effort wouldn’t be in vain.
Lo and behold we were rewarded with beautiful views of tea gardens from the room; away from the hustle and bustle of Munnar. There is always a dark lining on a silver cloud and we had to walk 6 km to and fro the town centre for every bite of food. By the time we finished dinner and returned to our hotel, we were hungry again!
Munnar on two three wheels with three experiences!
After the big climb to Munnar, we took a break from the saddle the next day. We traded in our cycles for an autorickshaw driven by Kannan. He gave us the masala of Munnar, telling us that ‘90% of people in Munnar speak Tamil’, even though it is in Kerala. This was also the only place in Kerala we saw almost no north Indian staff in hotels and restaurants. Everybody was speaking Tamil. Even the visitors were not Keralites! Most tourists seemed to be from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bengal. They arrive in large numbers and are noisy as hell!
Our touristy autorickshaw ride with Kannan, took us along a scenic road to ‘Echo Point’. Along the way we stopped at a bunch of ‘this and that points’. Where a good tourist gets off the auto, clicks a bunch of selfies and moves on to the next point! What’s the point of it all, who knows…
Even in our touristy avatar we enjoyed some novel experiences.
First Tea Pickings
The standout being a visit to a tea factory, where we saw the production process of tea and were introduced to ‘white tea’.
Second World War on Alcohol
The second interesting encounter was meeting an old Nepalese man selling passion fruit at Echo Point. He spoke Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and a smattering of English as well. He told us that he had been there for two decades and hadn’t been home for more than fifteen years. After his marriage broke down, he chose to never visit his family at home, rather living in solitude and sorrow in Kerala. Our conversation ended with a poignant remark by him, ‘people in Kerala and Nepal are similar, if they earn 1000 rupees, they will spend 5000 on alcohol’…
Third Placed Gardens!
The third and final remarkable encounter was visiting two botanical gardens, one with a plethora of flowers and the other with as many cacti as you could imagine. The flowers were brilliant, but the cacti were far more magnificent IMHO!
Munnar on TWO wheels… Honest… No Cheating!
After a day’s rest in Munnar, we picked up our bikes to do a short excursion around the town. We took the road towards Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. This route was devoid of traffic and had gorgeous vistas. It fortunately didn’t have any ‘points’ to attract the tourist crowd, so we could soak in the scenery in silence.
Along the way we stopped outside a tea plantation for photographs. And another old man accosted us. He was selling corn, pineapple and conversation! He asked us about our bikes and travel. Interestingly when cycling in the north of India, nobody ever asked us if we were married. But in the south, we are almost always asked if we are married! This old man was no different… he then told us he was from Tamil Nadu and had settled there after having worked in the tea gardens all his life. Now that he had retired, he stayed on, even though two of his kids had moved back to Tamil Nadu.
The two days of exploring Munnar and its surroundings were coming to an end. The gorgeous vistas and the incredible Kerala food were the two things that really stayed with us. For me particularly, the food was something I hogged on, knowing fully well that I would be going to Tamil Nadu and dieting!
Kerala is a great place for a bicycle holiday. You have the coast, hills, beautiful views, amazing food (as long as you like coconut!), friendly people, no language issues, relative cleanliness and traffic which gave us cyclists a lot of respect and a wide berth while passing.
I highly recommend Kerala for your next cycling vacation… And cycling from Kochi to Munnar if you like a spot of climbing!
Also read our cycling journey from Goa to Ooty along the Western Ghats…
Good read and pics after ages. Hungry for more