Ambat Hotel Munnar

... enjoying the place. We are alone here most of the time. We walk the wooded roads along a jungle river here. They grow all sorts of spices here. You can see coffee plants, cardamom, pepper and pineapple. Lots of strange insects, and spiders. On one morning walk I came back with a bloody sock. I noticed it after I showered. I think I may have had an encounter with a leech. It's always ...

... beautiful birds and wild flowers. When we got off the bus, thankful that we our driver had negotiated the hairpin turns and sheer drops, we saw an asphalt path winding its way up the mountain. Visitors are not allowed to stray from that path. We also immediately saw a tahr placidly munching grass alongside the path. It seems that they have become tame and no longer fear man. As we walked the path up to its end (about 30 minutes) we saw lots of ...

... and cars off into the mud on either side of the road, spotting more of the gang, and slowing down only so they could hop on and pay the fare (which was incidentally 180 rupees for the two of them) and sit down.
They arrived in town, went all the way through and turned around the other side. Casie, the conductor explained this was the Superfast to the Fort, and Fabor winked while Cecil cried in dismay – I wish this wasn't so fast. The bus by now left the town and hurtled ...

... after we passed through the plantation gate and paid 50 rupees ($1.22) for the privilege. The scenery was amazing and unfortunately none of the two hundred photos we took today can possibly show the colours, or the depth, or the steepness both of the land that the tea grows on or the roads. The road is over 100 years old and consisted originally of large rocks placed side by side with progressively smaller rocks on top with a layer of gravel to finish it ...

After the harrowing bus ride to Kumily we decided to hire a car and go to Munnar that day. Which was a great choice as the main things to see are the tea plantations and the spice gardens on the way to Munnar. The driver stopped on the way allowing us to take pictures of the Cardamom plants and all the tea fields.

Munnar is my top favorite place in the whole of India. It is fantastically lush, green, clean and beautiful. This is where the tea you drink every morning grows. I've never seen a land, or rather hills like this before in my life. The place is chilled and the people are super friendly and less spaced out. This is the first place I visit in Kerala, the ...

... play with a kite in Toronto or in rural China or Baghdad. There's something so simple, so genuine and so human about it that it really makes you wonder why there's so much conflict in the world. All anyone really cares about is putting food on their plate, sleeping with a roof over their head and doing what's best for their children. Excuse my hippie rant, I am traveling through India after all. In the western world, we have these ...

... I slept b*dly bec*use it's very unsettling to know th*t there *re hundreds of m*ny-legged cre*tures squirming *nd scuttling over your he*d. One in p*rticul*r g*ve me the willies, *nd it w*s only the two legs th*t were visible th*t c*used me such m*l*ise. Through the cr*ck in the concrete w*ll, these two long, bl*ck, spindly spider legs kept twiddling *bout. The *ctu*l spider never showed it's f*ce (*t le*st not when the lights were on) but those two legs were long enough to ...

... reach in the hope of fewer tourists. The bus ride into the mountains was bone shattering! Thank god for Marcus's ipod, which stopped me from puking out the bus window (ahem!). We could see waterfalls and dense jungle, which reminded me of Belize and put a grin on my face that still has not left me! I don't think I've ever been so aware of my sense of smell. The air is cooler at altitude and had a typical rainforest smell; damp and earthy ...

... versorgt und meine Finger sind mal wieder eingefroren vom sitzen im kalten Haus. Wir freuen uns auf unseren ersten Familienbesuch aus Deutschland und auf ein ruhiges Weihnachtsfest in Kodi; ich glaube es wird sehr schön: Lars plant einen Candlelight Service an Heilig Abend, und dann werden wir ganz traditionell unterm Weihnachtsbaum sitzen und feiern. Auch Euch wünschen wir ein fröhliches und gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest, sowie einen passenden Rahmen für die Jahrtausendwende. Wir grüßen Euch ganz herzlich Eure Lars und Ulrike