Chennai - Mysore - Wayanad

Decided to make another Kerala visit this August as monsoon seem to be in full swing in the western ghats. Warned of rains we still made our move the monsoon rains have significantly come down in the coastal area. Wayanad located towards the northern part of the state of Kerala was our place of visit. So we had to reach there from Chennai via Bangalore. A three state travel! Having heard about Chennai – Bangalore highway, wanted to drive through this NH ever since we got the car.

Planned to stop over at Mysore then reach Wayanad. Started from Chennai by 7am, took NH48 and NH275 route via Vellore, Hosur, Electronics city to Mysore. After having breakfast at Kanchipuram and filling the fuel tank of our car, the journey kick-started. Being a week day we had great difficulty with traffic (mainly due to engineering college buses) till Kanchipuram. Marvelous infrastructure – road was worth the tolls charged. Had paid Rs.500 as toll to reach Mysore.

Booking.com came to our rescue for accommodation in Mysore and Wayand. Google Maps hand-holded us to Treebo Oasis, which was our stay. Being a service apartment this offered a comfortable environment. Though a bit costly for a night’s stay, its standard was up to mark except for that very normal breakfast. After reaching and checking into the room, left our baggage and left immediately as Brindhavan entry gets closed by 5:30 PM. Again good friend Google maps navigated us while the Mysore roads were an added plus. Fantastic roads with a lineup of trees, less traffic and good climate. Having skipped our lunch, we stopped on the way at a make shift restaurant. Surprised with good quality and cheap food we filled our stomach and continued to our destination. By 5PM we reached Brindhavan, paid entry ticket for car, humans and camera to get inside the gates of Brindhavan.

Having been to this place years ago during our school days. Place that seems so huge and long to walk in young days now looked quite small. The place looks old showing that it has withstood times. Even though a weekday it was populated enough, more due to school kids. Huge walls of the dam still stand tall and water flowing in the center as you walk is a not to be missed one. 

As it started getting dark all them present there started moving towards the other end where musical fountain show was slated. The whole area with the auditorium steps fully occupied. Show lasted for 15 mins with 2 Kannada songs and a Hindi song. Auditorium glowed with camera lights with all of us trying to capture motion picture or stills of the show.

By 7PM we came back to Treebo Oasis. Took some break and then went down and around the area. This area seemed to be the busiest places in Mysore, with many banks, shopping complexes and other offices. But still wasn’t over crowded, very peaceful and inviting. Had sweets in the nearby Mahalakshmi Sweets – way less in terms of price compared to Chennai’s Krishna sweets or A2B. Then had dinner in the next door tiny restaurant. A chef’s startup, he was a good host and also shared with us information on Mysore, Wayanad, Coorg and Kabini. Served us lemon coriander soup, noodles, veg biriyani and chocolate sweet. Got transported to deep sleep as soon as we hit the sacks.

 

After having the complimentary breakfast by 8AM we checked out and left to Chamundi hills. Drove up the small hill to get the blessings of Chamundeshwari Devi. Got a view of Mysore and came down in an hour to start our journey to Wayanad. It was a 4 hours’ drive in which we crossed over from Karnataka to Kerala through the bandipur forest area. Here again one had to marvel at the wonderful roads. Just before the forest area, there were numerous marigold fields, vegetable and fruit stalls. After reaching Sultan Bathery in Kerala, a main place in wayanad district we had to drive through difficult roads through Amabalavayal to reach Willows – our cottage stay for the next two days.