ALLURING EMERALD HILLS OF MUNNAR.

Set at an altitude of 6000ft in Idukki district of kerala, Munnar ,was once the most favored summer retreat of the erstwhile British rulers in colonial days. Unending expanses of tea plantations, pristine valleys, exotic species of flora & fauna, and aroma of spices and cool chill in the air ,makes Munnar a all time favourite destination  all  tourists visiting kerala . It is considered as the largest  tea growing region of south India. The emerald green tea plantations  are contoured ,clipped and sculptured  like ornamental hedges , alongside the low western ghats, making magnificent scenery...often one is above the clouds, watching the veils of mists clinging to mountain tops, making every visitor speechless, as they look across.....
      As one step into the Munnar hills ,the fresh air , the smell of the woods all across and cascading waterfalls ,starts giving in a holiday mood....Though roads all across the hills are quite narrow ,terrible traffic jams takes place often as one drives up hills . The drive is so thrilling that no one wish to miss  a chance  to keep enjoying those uphill climb and all those scenic beauties all across the climb.......As those tea  estates starts on ,u  can get sure that munnar town isn't  very far off .....all across the hill climb hundreds of resorts keep welcoming all visitors for a stay ...its alway better to get ones booking done prior as Munnar is an all season destination....The town centre though ,is very congested,  but ,being a tiny hill town ,no place is too far away , so every  hotel/ resort got a beautiful view to enjoy a stay.....
    MY EXPERIENCE  SURROUNDING THE EMERALD HILLS OF MUNNAR:
      Since I was driving  all the way from kozikode via Athirpally waterfalls,  by the time we checked into our hotel room it was quite dark. We were 2 ladies travelling  ,so didnt wish to venture out at night instead take rest and wait for the day break ....A mystic  morning  woke us up and we had to plan out of day activities  and places to see .....but I alway put the tea estate view on a first priority.... after sumptuous breakfast   ,we firstly planned out to head for the tea estates across the hills ,which we missed out while on our onward journey......As we came out of our hotel room, we found that the tea estates are all around and the chill in the air making the surrounding so so beautiful....Everywhere our eyes turned its emerald green with azure blue sky in its backdrop ....my joy saw no boundaries.....my camera lens kept clicking every inch of it ....I was so so happy to enjoy this beauty , was missing my husband a lot, as he too loves to travel a lot .....after quite sometimes at the tea estate , thought to go for a tea factory visit and get some spl tea to carry back home .....I loved those apple ice tea, peach tea ,lemon - black salt tea to name a few ...besides those green leaf tea of munnar , all those unique blends of tea filled up my shopping kitty ........next we headed to idduki town to be a witness to the destruction it had encountered during the kerala flood of 2018.....next 2 days ,occupied us for local sightseeing across munnar town ......Had a wonderful  time with my youngest sister , enjoyed a 4 star hospitality stay and did lots of shopping of spices and tea 's to complete my visit to this beautiful  hills.

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Rejoicing the cascading waters of ATHIRPALLY WATERFALLS.

Athirpally waterfalls, is situated in the Athirpally  panchayat  in Chalukudy  taluk of Thrissur district  in Kerala(India) .This falls is on the chalukudy river,which originates from upper reaches of Western ghats ,at the entrance of the Sholayar  ranges.
   It is the highest waterfalls  in kerala, which stands tall at 80ft. Its marvelous cascade of frothy waters  makes a width of 330 ft and often referred  as the " NIAGARA  FALLS OF INDIA"...From here, The Athirpally  falls flows thru' the verdant  greenery of Vazhachal Forest towards the Arabian Sea, creating a spectacular  vista of scintillating  waters, emerald jungles and azure sky.
   SEPT - JAN is the best time to enjoy a stay here...lots of home stays, resorts are spread across for tourists to visit the place.

The scenic beauty of Athirpally, has always been attractive location for Film makers. Famous song " Jiya Jale" from Dil Se movie, " Barso re megha" from Guru , song sequence from Bahubali,  " Sunta hai tera khuda" from puskar,  " chalk chalay mitwa" in Nayak  have been picturised  here.

  My experience: Since ,I have almost visited kerala fully from North to south ,I just didnt wish to miss out Athirpally waterfalls...so when opportunity came my way last January to visit Kozikode,  I just had to plan a drive out to Athirpally waterfalls....since I was alone ,I thought to ask my youngest sister ,who was then working at Kozikode, to join me.....We , planned out a stay at Munnar via Athirpally waterfalls,  as we were not sure of the places to stay around Athirpally......After almost 4+ hours drive we reached Athirpally waterfalls site around mid day ....since the roads across Chalukudy is a single lane road that heads to Athirpally,  it took us quite a time to reach as non of us was sure of the location ....many of our friends did say that one has to trek almost 2kms or so to reach the waterfall site but we found ,all such information wrong .....After we parked our vehicle in parking bay at Athirpally waterfalls site , we had to walk some half a kms to the rock bed from where the waters suddenly  cascading down some 80fts ,making a beautiful  scenic beauty amidst dense jungle .....the wind here is quite strong and one cannot stand too long here as the rock beds  get too heated up ...govt of kerala  has made very good arrangement to walk around ,provided with washrooms and places to sit at some locations ....some adventure seekers can also walk down 80 ft up to the place where the water is falling but thinking about the steep climb up back ,we just dropped the idea to go down instead.....but surely ,its a wonderful experience  . Later ,on our way back we took our drive thru' rubber plantation  dense jungle across to munnar ,which too ,was another experience  altogether  for 2 ladies taking on such journey  in an unknown region .....

AWESOME DELICACIES OF SARAFA BAZAR ,INDORE.

Indore's love affairs with food is long and legendary,  with street food  being much discussed and passionately debated topic in foodie circles.Thr flavors of Indore's diverse kitchen mingle madly at legendary  Sarafa bazaar, which comes alive at 9pm,when jewellery market,behind Rajwada palace,a crumbling remnants of Holkar dynasty  closes  down.
    Sarafa Bazar has lot to offer for gastronomically inclined.Though , no oneis sure about the origin of this bazar; it is believed  that it started 100yrs  ago and was encouraged  by jewellery shop owners ,so that noise and bustle would secure their  own shops at night. This late night market gets nearly  3000 + visitors,both local and  tourists.Sarafa Bazar stays open well into the night,both fuelling and satisfying  the city's irrepressible  appetite.
About 50 different dishes are available  here.  Sabudana khichdi, Garadu  ,malpua,  khopra  patties, Egg Benjo, Dal Bafla ( close cousin of Dal Baati churma) ,Jelaba, Ratalu, Hapus Icecream with Srikhand  ,10 flavors of panipuri,  Doodh Chana,  Namkeen  ,kanji vada, Petha paan, Indori shikanji..etc etc...to name a few.
Sarafa Bazar is a place that beacons food lovers to return again and again.

My experience at THE BHIMBETKA ROCK SHELTERS.

Bhimbetka Rock shelters,  is an archeological site in central  India,close to Bhopal city, spans the prehistoric Paleolithic and Mesolithic  periods. It traces the earliest human life on the Indian Subcontinent  and evidences of stone age  starting at the site in Acheulian times.....
     Located in Raisen district  of Madhya Pradesh, about 45kms SE of Bhopal City,is an UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE, that consists of 7 hills and covers 750 or more Rock Shelters, distributed over 10kms.....Some of the shelters were inhabited  more than 1 lakh years ago.
  It gives rare glimpses  into human settlements and cultural  evolution  ,from hunters - gatherers to agriculture  and expression  of spirituality....Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters  features  prehistoric cave paintings  and earliest ones are about 30,000 yrs old....

The best time to enjoy the place is,after monsoon  or in winters ....otherwise, the rocks get very hot and it makes trekking across a very tough work...Earlier, one had the trek thru' ,all the way up to the top but now vehicles are being allowed  to the topmost point ,so that one can easily access at some 15 caves with paintings to experience that early life of Man.
     It had been a wonderful experience for me and my husband  to see such wonders found in India, about which hardly tourists in India intend to visit...... I got to see 100s of foreign tourists flocking the place and taking interest to learn more about the early Man.The route across those 15 caves opened for tourists are very well marked....covered inside evergreen trees ,its an awesome trek thru'......tried to capture the Bhimbetka Rock shelters in my lens.....

Walking across the corridors of Ahilya bai Holkar fort,Maheshwar.

Ahilya bai Holkar fort is located in Maheshwar  town,in khargoan district of M.P (India).It was the capital of Malwa ,during maratha Holkar reign.
    The exquisite beauty of Maheshwar  and River Narmada is captured in many of our Bollywood movies like Ashoka, Padman,Yamla pagla Dewana,few shots of Bajirao Mastani ,Neerja to name a few.....There's more than 100 temples at Maheshwar, telling  the stories of Maheshwar. In the late 18th century, Maheshwar, served as the capital  of the great maratha Queen Rajmata Ahilya Bai Holkar. She embellished  the city with many beautiful  buildings....
Ahilya Bai fort houses a beautiful museum ,exhibiting beautiful items used by the Queen,needless to mention is the golden jhula of gopalji, which belonged to Rajmata Ahilya bhai ....besides a beautiful  embellished  temple ,whose walls are beautiful carved with sculptures ,worked out on soft SANDSTONE....its something to look forward for ,when someone visits the places ...every wall is so unique and beautifully carved out ,might take hours to go thru' ,if someone truly admire such beautiful architectures ,standing by river Narmada....
Many of this carving on the walls inside Ahilya bai Holkar 's fort finds its place in the beautiful Maheshwari sarees ,an exquisite product which has been patented  by the artisans of maheshwar...No tourist returns back from Maheshwar without getting  oneself a piece of such masterpiece of maheshwar.....The fort ,that houses,the palace, temples might take hours to see and  cherish such masterpiece works on its walls ....I just loved it and tried to capture every frame of those carving in my camera lens.....

MY SULA VINEYARD EXPERIENCE.

Sula Vineyards or SULA ,is a winery & vineyard located in Nashik region of western India,180kms NE of Mumbai. After the launch of its first wines in 2000, Sula expanded from original 30 acres family estate in Nashik to approx 1800 acres across Nashik and the state of maharashtra.
   Sula introduced grape varieties  such as CHENIN BLANC,SAUVIGNON BLANC, RIESLING AND ZINFANDEL in India.
  To commemorate  their 15th anniversary,  Sula launched  the limited edition BRUT TROPICALE ,festive season bottle.Brut Tropicale ,is a Blanc de noirs sparkling wine produced from premium black grapes including Pinot noirs.Sula 's domestic product includes, Red Wine, White Wine, Rose Wine, sparkling wine.
    MY EXPERIENCE AT SULA:
This was my first experience at a Vineyards as well a winery...We had booked a stay at SULA'S luxury property " THE SOURCE OF SULA" ....its a beautiful property within the Sula Vineyards premise adjusted to the Winery...it houses rooms with a European look aswell few TREE HOUSES with best of the luxury available in today's market ....The stay at "The SOURCE of Sula " itself is an experience, added to it the wine tasting complimentary with the stay adds to another high.....in one word , a total awesome  package to experience......
Though ,we had planned only a day stay along with my friend but did really repented later ,why we didnot go in for a longer stay ....one should make sure of the grape season to enjoy the Vineyards strolling in chilled fresh air .....Welcomed into the property with a glass of sparkling wine,we were very very excited to enjoy our luxurious stay ....Rooms were very well done ,a best so far that I have had experienced.....I just loved it and looked forward a wonderful day ahead......After we finished our lunch ,we had to head for the Winery for Wine Tasting ,which was complimentary with our stay .....going inside the factory ,seeing the distillery, then the barrel storage zone and finally Wine tasting ....total was a awesome experience. The evening  was so beautiful  experience in this beautiful property  and we were just having great time together  here ....slowly with sun down ,the place started chilling and we thought to explore the surrounding area too ......
Next morning, we woke up to a chilling mystic environment......my husband ,just took on the exploration of this huge Vinyard on the cycle that was provided my  the hotel .....its just an awesome experience.....and I had an agenda to hit the Spa at the property for a grapeseed oil massage......
After heavy breakfast, it was slowly time to wrap up to head back to mumbai( home) .....but I didnot wish to end my trip here without carrying back a bottle of sparkling wine ,a grapeseed oil bottle as a souvenir...but my husband  added a pack of raspberry and cranberry flavoured chocolates for me as it was Chocolate  Day and my happiness found no limit....I just had a wonderful stay aswell a lovely experience.