As part of the deal, we went on our second trip yesterday. It was not that exciting as the one before.

We left at 5.30 in the morning. We reached Courtalam waterfalls at around 8. There was good waterflow, but heavy crowd. So we couldnt enjoy as that of in Thirupparapu falls.

After that we went to Papanasam. Here too there was only disappointment left for us. Due to heavy crowd, we couldnt go neither for boating nor under the falls.

Then we left to the town, Muttam in southern tip of India. This place became famous after a movie ‘Kadalorak kavithaigal’ was shot. But it became a symbol of danger as well. Too many people visited here. This town is on the coastal side with a ferocious sea. There are many rocks on the beach side as well. So the tourists wanted to climb on these rocks and pose for pictures. But time and again, so many of them fell into the sea and lost their lives.

When we went there, indeed we saw how beautiful the coast is and how ferocious the sea is. Now the police has made enough preventive measures to keep the crowd away from dangerous areas. (It is a pity to see one police acadamy student crossing these barriers to climb the rocks and posing for pictures) We sat on the beach and talked ‘family matters’. As usual we played on the water for a while.

We started back around 6 p.m. and reached home around 10 p.m.

As we (my sister, her husband and I) came to my parents house we decided to go on a trip. Because my dad had to go for a wedding on Friday, we couldnt make a long trip. Rather we decided to make two one day trips.

We started at 5 in a Tata Sumo (an Indian Jeep). It was a comfortable vehicle for 5 people. It has two rows of seat facing front and another two seats perpendicular to these seats. We stopped for Tea at 6. Then we continued our journey. Our first stop was Thiruparappu water falls. We reached there at 8. It was right time. There was not much crowd. There was separate section for ladies and gents for shower. We took a long and pleasant shower. The water fell with force giving a feeling of a good massage.

After the shower, we left to Pechiparai Dam. The dam was completed in 1906. But it is a pity that there is no water at the moment. Then we left to Mathoor Thottipalam. It is the longest and the narrowest bridge that I have ever seen. There are 129 pillars for the bridge. The surroundings is full of banana and coconut grooves.

It was already 11 and we rushed to Padmanabapuram palace, which was built by kings who ruled Travancore region. It was completed and dedicated in 1744 AD. The palace is geographically situated in Tamilnadu but managed by state of Kerala. The palace ground is around 200 acres. The main attraction was the wooden carvings in each hall. The mirror for the queen was brought from Belgium. After spending enough time in the Palace, we proceeded to Kovalam beach in Kerala. There was not much of crowd when we went and we played in the water and had such a good fun. By around 4, crowd started coming in. We left the beach around 5 and started heading home. We reached home by 10.30 in the night. Albums are found in my home page (www.jjude.com)