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Awesome Roads in Kottayam

Road trips are fun. Time for some in-land roadtrips. These great roads are spread across the 5 Taluks (Vaikom, Meenachil, Kanjirappally, Changanacherry and Kottayam) in Kottayam. There are adequate wayside amenities viz. restaurants, fuel stations, ATMs, stop-over shoulders.

A view from Cherpunkal, on the Ettumanoor – Pala – Erattupetta road

The roads are:

1. Vaikom – Thalayolaparambu – Ettumanoor
2. Ettumanoor – Pala – Erattupetta
3. Kidangoor – Manarcadu
4. Kottayam – Pulikkal Kavala – Kanjirappally
5. Pulikkal Kavala – Karukachal – Changanacherry
6. Changanacherry – Alappuzha
7. Chengalam – Kumarakom stretch of the Kottayam – Kumarakom road

Smooth and free-flowing, these roads are a pleasure to take on.
~~Tastes best when chilled.~~ Feels best on Sundays and holidays.

The following route map includes all of the above roads to form a single route.

Individual Maps

Vaikom – Thalayolaparambu – Ettumanoor

Ettumanoor – Pala – Erattupetta

Kidangoor – Manarcadu

Kottayam – Pulikkal Kavala – Kanjirappally

Pulikkal Kavala – Karukachal – Changanacherry

Changanacherry – Alappuzha

Chengalam – Kumarakom (part of Kottayam – Kumarakom road)

Maps courtesy: Google Maps

Louis Philippe and Van Heusen opened. Town expands.

Factory outlets of Louis Philippe and Van Heusen are now open.

Location:
Left, road side, Thannickalpady. (Just before St. Antony’s Motors on the way to Vadavathoor)

Being a direct factory outlet, fresh stock and frequent offers are expected. Talking of offers, they’re running big launch offers on everything. Here’s the breakdown –

Louis Philippe

30% off – 1 item
40% off – 2 items
50% off – 3 items and more
Flat 70% off on Suits/Blazers above Rs.5000/-
(which means, you pay just Rs. 6300 for a suit worth Rs. 21000)

Van Heusen

Buy 1 Get 1 Free
Varied other offers upto 50% off
Flat 60% off on Suits
Flat 50% off on Blazers

They will be having offers throughout the year.

Even though the new municipal town limits haven’t expanded along the K.K. Road (it’s expanded along the M.C. Road, towards Ettumanoor side and Chingavanam side) the business landscape of Kottayam is already expanding along the K.K. Road side too. These outlets are the first among the very-possible multitude of commercial centers.

Butterfly Garden Opens, Kottayam Gets More Serene

Kottayam got something great to be proud of – a nice Butterfly Garden. It’s prepared & maintained to the right of the main entrance of the Kottayam Collectorate (Civil Station) and is always open to all (but the time between 10 am and 12 noon is the best time to sight butterflies).

Butterfly Garden is not something new, but the one we just got at Kottayam is indeed unique; it’s the only open-environment butterfly garden in the World that’s situated at a busy urban area (Note that the place is so close to the always busy K.K. Road (N.H. 220)). It is called ‘open-environment’ because the butterflies are NOT put inside some cages or walls. Then how does it work, you ask.

In the specially maintained area, the minds behind this great venture – Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences – have planted and nourished those plants and shrubs, which play important roles in the life cycle of butterflies. And yes, the butterflies come automagically!

The butterfly garden was inaugurated by Hon’ble District Collector, Mrs. Mini Antony on 31st October, 2009. The garden is built & maintained by the Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences led by Dr. Punnen Kurian (Zoology lecturer, St. Mary’s College, Manarcadu).

Periodic awareness and demo sessions will be arranged at the garden. School students are the main target audience, since they are mainly the ones who need to understand and love nature. The idea of a butterfly garden is expected to spread wide, with gardens being built in school & college campuses and public sector institutions.

We were present there for the inaugural event, and here are the photos, followed by a short video clip.