Highrange Inn Munnar

We had a great drive up into the mountains. The drive up was curvy and we stopped a few times to look at rubber trees, spice plants, and waterfalls.

The Dew Drops Home stay is quiet and the temp has cooled down into the 80s. There are occasional rains, but nothing sustained. The result is a misty mountain experience. The guest house is located at above 5000 ft elevation. Barb and I ...

... is spectacular and mostly undeveloped, in those parts we could have been anywhere in the world (with mountains, lake, deep forests and the occasional tea plantation).

Then back to town for spice shopping in a small shop jammed with locals. Bought vanilla, lots of assorted Indian spices, and a fruit cake to give to some unsuspecting soul back home for Christmas. I also visited a local state wine store and bought a bottle of Maharashtra ...

... the tea plantations five feet in front of you, and then the swirling mist that occasionally moved on to offer a view of five feet. We turned around and descended from the clouds on the slippery serpentines to the clear (ish) valleys below and drove down some more serpentines to the bottom of some striking waterfalls that were just around the corner so we couldn't see them, only from very far away. It was still nice.
Once again back onto the whistling scooter and sped back the way ...

... pretty cloudy, still beautiful though. Mia got us to go walking around the tea plantations for an hour. We saw lots of elephant droppings, but fortunately no elephants because apparently the wild ones are not so friendly. We went for tea and homemade marshmellows later, pretty good! Next morning, we woke up at 5am to catch a 6:20am bus to Alleppey on the coast. It was a pretty pleasant ride through palm-tree towns :)

... past sprinklers and a big row of women with tea-leaf cropping devices. They waved Hello. A group of truck drivers called me over and asked for a joint or maybe a nip of whiskey. I offered them some rum, whiskey and scotch I brought with me for the hike. Just kidding. They had noticed my Om psychedelic shirt from Goa so they must've figured I was into the pot-smoking hippie scene. I felt out-of-place wearing dressier shirts in Goa when everyone was wearing T ...

This place is spectacular - the hills are covered in tea plantations that look like huge, green manicured gardens. The mountains above the height of the plantations are a bit like something you'd see in Connemara (made us a bit homesick actually!). And thrown in for good measure you've got a couple of waterfalls and a load of lakes. Of course the town itself is a bit ...

... essence, the Nature Conservation Foundation had very little bargaining power in the midst of powerful plantations and a legal system not developed to help them with land issues. Nevertheless, plantations owned by TATA, a large conglomerate, for example, were acting progressively, so there is perhaps hope. Truly what Sridar and Divya were doing was important work, as most forests in India are under extreme pressures. Every tree counts in restoration ecology.

... just following as they showed us the two little rooms, the little kitchen where Jaya graciously offered us food although she likely had not a drop extra to share, and then they showed us their garden. It was so sweet. We all smiled and giggled a lot as you do when language barriers are abound. The husband kept pointing out the trees he had and his pretty view from the huge rock where his clothes were drying. After a bit, we slowly headed out and she so did not want to let go of ...

... short drive in any direction reveals stunning misty mountain vistas and waterfall-rich valleys. Literally, breathtaking. Tea plantations stretch for miles and miles around, and the air is laden with the scent of eucalyptus, lemongrass and, of course, tea. The fresh mountain air was much needed after the dust and pollution of India's cities, and the cool climate reminded me of being back home in Yorkshire. Many shops sold delicious homemade chocolate, and we sampled possibly the ...

... Inkulturation" ergibt. Nun bringt der Beruf des Designers leider nicht nur das kreative Arbeiten mit sich, sondern auch viel von Papierkrieg. Dieser Bereich wird sich in Zukunft noch vermehren, denn ab Dezember werde ich hier "Mädchen für alles", da die neue Managerin (seit Juli im Einsatz) überraschend Indien verlassen muß. D.h. neben dem Design, den Produktionskontrollen und den Stoffeinkäufen wird jetzt auch noch eine ganze Menge Verwaltungskram und Leitungsaufgaben auf mich zu ...