Kieran:
Today, we're in Munnar, high in the mountains, surrounded by miles and miles of green patchwork quilt tea plantations.We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 5 hour public bus in the rain (as usual!). We did all our sight seeing today however, and in the morning jumped on an all day tour and managed to remain relatively dry. We stopped off at some mountain viewpoints (1800m was the highest point we reached i believe), walked to a waterfall, saw some wild bison in a forest of sandal trees (the only place they are found) and finished off with a two hour trek in the Chinnar Wildlife Park. We didn't see much wildlife, but the views were amazing.
Its pretty cool up here, with a lot of the surrounding mountains lost in white cloud. (I debated buying a jumper). When you are in Munnar it gives the town a rather gloomy feel, but when you're out amongst the countryside, it gives the whole landscape a more mystical feel. Its a big change from the coast of Kerala and a welcome one at that.
We fly to Bangalore the day after tomorrow, so are taking the long bus back to Fort Cochin tomorrow morning... Fun.
Nick:
It's raining here in Munnar! It was worth coming just for the 5 hour bus ride though (cost about 75p), the hills and windy roads are amazing, and the tea plantations were all covered in mist (it wasn't raining yet). There were no other white people on the bus either, rather nice. We've eaten at a cheap little Indian mentioned in Lonely Planet, (Kieran didn't like the food much or the weather, hope he cheers up!) and had two cups of tea already! It's also really high up, different feel to anywhere we've been so far... a worthy expedition!
We're checked in at SN Homestay, it's mentioned in lonely planet. I haven't got my internal flight details on me, our main packs are in storage at Tag und Nacht in Kochi, I'll get you the info on Monday!
If the weather is okay tomorrow then we'll head on a trek to the waterfalls and view points around here, if it's not maybe we'll hop on one of the organised car tours to all the main sites...
We're checked in at SN Homestay, it's mentioned in lonely planet. I haven't got my internal flight details on me, our main packs are in storage at Tag und Nacht in Kochi, I'll get you the info on Monday!
If the weather is okay tomorrow then we'll head on a trek to the waterfalls and view points around here, if it's not maybe we'll hop on one of the organised car tours to all the main sites...
I've got a copy of the boy in striped pyjamas to read, I swapped it with my copy of White Tiger, which was fairly enjoyable. The book stores are really cool, they all buy sell and swap, and give you nice woven bags for your books!
Oh and as for Bangalore, we're not going to stay anywhere, as our flight leaves, at 6.50am, we have to be there 3 hours before for check in, and leave an hour or two for traffic and getting from the centre. This would mean leaving the hotel at like 1:30am anyway, so we figure we'll probably drop our bags in the cloak room (assuming there is one), see Bangalore, and then head back to the airport in the evening, and just wait for check in to open. We hear there's plenty around the airport to keep us happy we hope!
Oh and as for Bangalore, we're not going to stay anywhere, as our flight leaves, at 6.50am, we have to be there 3 hours before for check in, and leave an hour or two for traffic and getting from the centre. This would mean leaving the hotel at like 1:30am anyway, so we figure we'll probably drop our bags in the cloak room (assuming there is one), see Bangalore, and then head back to the airport in the evening, and just wait for check in to open. We hear there's plenty around the airport to keep us happy we hope!
I'm not sure about what tea gets sent to Britain, but 90% of the Tea here is owned by Tata, who make most of the tea for India, and also all the cars too... We know lots about tea now! There's all kinds here, but that's true of all of India, the tea tastes as good as anywhere, but no more... Will explain tea when I get back.
Next day....
We hopped on a tour around the area which was cool. We shared our bus with two Swedish couples who were rather nice. We saw all the tea plantations and had them explained, and also saw coffee and pepper being grown. Then we visited some Sandal Trees which make Sandal Wood (funnily enough), visited a waterfall and saw some Wild Bison... After that they dropped us for a two hour hike around Chennar wildlife sanctuary. As usual not much there! A couple of monkeys, and some very very distant bison. The views however were spectacular, really high peaks stretching far off in to the distance, and plenty of mist. It did rain a bit but not too bad.
A nice day, but we're pretty tired out. We've managed to move hotel rooms, because our previous one was right by reception and really noisy! Oh and when I said we were at SN Homestay, we're actually at SMM Cottages Homestay whatever, SN is a restaurant across the road, very confusing...
I finished White Tiger on the train to Kochi, it was fairly insightful, and reassured me that I had the right idea about a lot of things too... If it's a highly exposing novel, we've seen the vast majority of things mentioned in the book. Not an amazing story though, he starts by telling you the end, and there are few surprises!
Anyways, we're back to Kochi tomorrow morning by Bus. We'll confirm our flights and book our taxi when we get there, and maybe spend some spare rupees in Jew Town, and hunt something out for Danbam.
We hopped on a tour around the area which was cool. We shared our bus with two Swedish couples who were rather nice. We saw all the tea plantations and had them explained, and also saw coffee and pepper being grown. Then we visited some Sandal Trees which make Sandal Wood (funnily enough), visited a waterfall and saw some Wild Bison... After that they dropped us for a two hour hike around Chennar wildlife sanctuary. As usual not much there! A couple of monkeys, and some very very distant bison. The views however were spectacular, really high peaks stretching far off in to the distance, and plenty of mist. It did rain a bit but not too bad.
A nice day, but we're pretty tired out. We've managed to move hotel rooms, because our previous one was right by reception and really noisy! Oh and when I said we were at SN Homestay, we're actually at SMM Cottages Homestay whatever, SN is a restaurant across the road, very confusing...
I finished White Tiger on the train to Kochi, it was fairly insightful, and reassured me that I had the right idea about a lot of things too... If it's a highly exposing novel, we've seen the vast majority of things mentioned in the book. Not an amazing story though, he starts by telling you the end, and there are few surprises!
Anyways, we're back to Kochi tomorrow morning by Bus. We'll confirm our flights and book our taxi when we get there, and maybe spend some spare rupees in Jew Town, and hunt something out for Danbam.
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