to see our photos of Munnar, click on the link below
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008275&id=1112916442&l=7f56d8f5eb
After a night bus ride to Kochi(air-conditioned and freezing - 10 hours), then a day bus ride to Munnar (public bus - no windows, 4 hours), and a taxi ride we arrived at our resort in Munnar. This was a luxury week, in a timeshare resort - Club Mahendra Lakeview. The hotel was very fancy, and since it was 20km out of Munnar, we were somewhat captive. We had a kitchenette, so did our own breakfast and lunches - and went to the restaurant for dinners - excellent Indian food, very rich, so only needed one meal a day. Restaurant very fancy - even had a resident magician to entertain you at your table.
The resort is set amongst tea plantations (about 4000 feet high), and has a view over a hydro dam. The views are magnificent, and it was very pleasant sitting on our balcony watching the world go by and the women picking the tea. In the morning and evenings the valley below would fill with cloud, but it was clear above the clouds.
The resort had an amazing number of staff, and we were the only non-Indians there. There were plenty of people to bow and scrape to us. I guess it is easy work, but lots of the staff seemed to stand around doing very little most of the time. The resort also had activities scheduled which we avoided like the plague - but there were lots of families there and they seemed to enjoy them. There were also lots of tours that seemed very tame to us but seemed to be a new experience for the city folk, eg a speedboat ride (in a plywood boat that looked about 30 years old), trekking ( most Indians we have met don't walk very far).
We decided we should do something with the resort, so did a night safari to Chinnar National Park, and were surprised to actually see something. We saw elephants, bison, deer, mongoose, owl, rabbit, snake. This started at 9.30pm and we got back at 8.30 am, so slept most of the next day.
There were locals at the gate who were also offering trips, we went on a Jeep safari into the tea plantation, almost to the top of the second highest peak in southern India, and the Kollukoluma tea factory (this tea is the highest grown tea in the world,and is hand-picked.) The tea plantation was just in Tamil Nadu, (we started in Kerala). The views were magnificent. They can grow tea on slope up to about 80 degrees. This trip was definitely the highlight of the week.
We also did a trip to a spice plantation and the dam - as in the rest of the world, no photos allowed of the dam wall due to security risk. It was interesting to see all the spices growing, there is heaps and heaps of cardamon everywhere. We had also seen lots of tree-houses, and found out that at the spice planation a couple of men sleep in the tree-house each night to scare away the elephants when they come.
We went for a few walks, and are amazed at the influence of Christianity here. When the cars reverse, they do not beep, but play Silent Night or equivalent. There are large impressive churches (amongst the cottages the locals live in). Some of them have shrines (Virgin Mary) that look almost Hindu. Even the drivers going past them will bless themselves. Also lots of buses with religious messages
"Blessing", "Jesus", "Mary" etc. Many cars have rosary beads hanging where the dice should be.
Munnar is also a honeymoon destination, and the honeymoon couples were dressed in their finery - black leather cowboy hats are the current in-thing for the guys, the girls would often have western clothes that didn't quite go. They all had their photo taken a a waterfall nearby. Not that we can throw stones, they probably think that we look pretty funny.
We took a car from Munnar to Kumily - 3 hour drive, about $A35. It was a nice way to do it. Having a day off today to catch up on things, but mainly to sort out our Westpac credit card - which they had put a block on because we had bought some air tickets from India over the internet. Of course they rang to tell us after we had left, so our automatic payments have been bouncing. Thanks Ellie, Nick and Karen for all your help sorting this out.
Planning a day in Periyar National Park tomorrow, so will be up early to get the 7am boat trip
to see our photos of Munnar, click on the link below
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008275&id=1112916442&l=7f56d8f5eb
