For our honeymoon we planned to visit Kerala, and Munnar was our first destination. We spent 3 days there to view almost all the scenic places, our accomodation 3kms away from Munnar Town and next to a passing river. Munnar is one of the most visited hill stations and is surrounded by tea estates, forests, lakes and water falls. It is extremely beautiful and people like us who love nature will never ever forget this destination.
On our first day, we went boating in Mattupetty Dam. The surrounding was really nice, with an almost 360 degree view of mountains and clear blue sky, you can almost feel like you're in heaven. After boating, we visited Pothamedu, a view point which offers you an excellent view of tea, coffee and cardamom plantations. From the top you can see the lush green mountain, giving a velvet feel due to the tea plantatins spread out in acres. We really enjoyed taking photographs of the surrounding beauty. The evening brought on unexpected rain and the climate was very lovely and cool.
The next morning (second day) was completely foggy and the view from our room was totally breathtaking. What we saw was thick fog moving slowly, the flowing river and sun's rays bursting through the tall trees. We started to Devikulam, another excellent view point, and then to Rajamala which is 15kms away from Munnar and 2695m above sea level. Throughout the day we were travelling in our cab to various view points and taking pictures of everything which looked scenic and beautiful.
On the third day we planned to complete the rest of the view points and we started with Echo Point which is 15kms drive from Munnar.It was our favourite place - beautiful in a way that words cannot express. After Echo Point we went to see the actual tea plantation and processing owned by Tata Tea. This place also had an antique collection of tea processing machines and vessels used by the British - an interesting collection. It was quite interesting to know facts about the tea leaf and the elaborate process of it being transformed to tea powder. We did a little shopping over here and tasted their fresh tea. We moved to Palkulamedu, 3125m above sea level, another wonderful spot.
We moved to Malankara Reservoir, an artifical lake for boating. Then to Pallivasal, venue of the first Hydro Electric Project in Kerala and a place of immense scenic beauty. We also took the Herbal Tour to view hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers - it was almost a 2 hour nature walk. At one point, we went on top of a tree house to have a cup of coffee. Our Munnar trip ends here.
The next morning we left to Thekkady (Kumily) for 2 days. The main attraction here is the Periyar Lake boating. Thekkady is one of the world's most fascinating natural wildlife reserves. The Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 777 sq.km, of which 360 sq.km is thick evergreen forest. The first day we missed out the boats to Periyar Lake because a lot of tourists were there. So we planned to visit it the next morning. The first day we went to see the Kathakali show and spent some time at Kumily town market, did some shopping and the day just passed by. We started early next morning to Periyar and booked the first boat to the lake. This splendid artificial lake formed by the Mullaperiyar Dam across the Periyar adds to the charm. The greatest attraction of Periyar, however, is the herds of wild elephants that come down to the edge of the lake, but we didn't see any. It was close to 2.5 hours of boating across this lake which is spans 26 sq.km. The boating experience here was very beautiful, especially when it travels past the barks of trees within the lake, and almost gives you a dramatic set-up feel.
The last destination was Alleppey or Alappuzha and is also known as the "Venice of the East". We came here to experience the backwaters of Kerala and WOW, it was amazing and thrilling. We booked a special boat and spent 4.5 hours sailing on the Alleppey Lake. At one point, we stopped by and admired the paddy fields scattered in a vast area at 'R-Block'. These islands are hedged by mud walls, a haven for migratory birds, with paddy fields inundated with water throughout the year.
These fields stand below sea level. There were several house boats sailing across the lake and while returning, we took a few narrow routes which one has to pass through to villages in the middle of the lake. We took many photos of the house boats passing by and we also saw the longest boat parked at one place. We later came to know that it is used for boat racing festivals and is called a Snake boat. The next day we had few more hours to spend, so we went to Alleppey beach which was at high tide and a little scary. Alleppey beach has this broken bridge laid and you can see the light house which is 1000ft tall.

- Hitesh and Hemal