SN Tourist Home 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 ...

... to drive fast to guesthouse and take first aid and clean the car. After crossing 5 minutes drive we found some local officers working on pesticides in the tea gardens. Mohan said its worth asking them about leech bite and approached them. They were really cool and told not to panic as it is nothing and we would not lose much blood because of that and nothing harm too.. Thank God we got cool down and on the plan to reach guesthouse and had lunch.. then we moved a head to ...

... over the Western Gats and lake/stars/lightening doesn't mean we had it too good at all... :) Sorry for the random order of the post but we only left this morning and civilization (we had chicken in a restaurant with cutlery!!) needs time to settle in my head. We are in Munnar now, a town surrounded by tea plantations and rolling mountains and mist. Which is nice if you like scenery and that kind of things. :) Will post photos soon. Gary/Rengachami.

... most native flora and fauna of Munnar has disappeared due to severe habitat fragmentation by the tea plantations. There are protected areas of forest nearby that are especially known for several threatened and endemic species including the Nilgiri Thar goat, Elephants and the Grizzled Giant Squirrel. Even though i felt guilty taking a ride on an elephant that used to be wild and now works for humans, i couldn't give up the chance so Nadine and i rode tandem through the ...

... garden pathways. Walking on the road was equally pleasant, the sides were chock full of lantanas and wild daisies, copiously over run with the aptly named Ipomea 'Heavenly Blue'. Friendly Red Whiskers and butterflies flitted in and out. Nilgiri wood pigeons languidly occupied a nearby branch. The road came out at the rear entrance of the Munnar High Range Club, along a river with people boating in the distance. Timed to perfection, Munis arrived minutes later to drive us to the ...

Not much to report right now, other than that Keralan food is good! It's very similar to that of Tamil Nadu, but less greasy. Lots of rice and soupy curries, but more stuff is steamed or fried without oil. Parottas are especially popular. Also called Parathas or Porottas, they're like naan bread, but they'll be made from a ball, then smacked down on a hot place until they cook, then they'll be taken ...

... muching away on bamboo right down at the water. We tryed to get closer but they were gone hopping away in a second. Higher up some more of those crazy black monkeys..oohh oohh!Loads of bright coloured kingfishers would fly around the edge and some weird crane like birds. We had to get back by a certain time (the park would close!) so we went peddling like ninety (but only going maybe 2km/hr) and getting slightly burned in the process. We were late (more than we ...

... zahrady kde jsme mohly videt milion let stary kmen stromu.Ted jsme stale v Ooti, a dnes jsme podnikly vylet na motorce na cely den po horach, k vodopadu, ale bohuzel bez vody, jelikoz je sucho. Ale pro nas byt v horach se stalo prijemnou zmenou, jelikoz je tady chladneji a to tak ze v noci musime spat v nasich vibornych spacacich-diky mami a tati za ne:]]],Zitra se chystame do narodniho parku Mudamalai.Uz se namuzeme dockat videt tygry a vsechny mozny zvirata.

... Meer. Inmitten dieser Meere, dem Festland vorgelagert, ist eine kleine Insel, auf der 1892 der indische Philosoph Swami Vivekanada seine Erleuchtung gefunden hat und die heute ihm zu ehren eine Gedenkstätte beherbergt. Ebenfalls in Kanyakumari befindet sich ein Gandhi-Denkmal. Es ist die Stätte, in der Mahatma Gandhis Asche aufbewahrt wurde, bevor man sie dem Meer übergab. Die Anlage soll an einen Tempel in Orissa erinnern und sie ist so konstruiert, daß am 2.Oktober (Gandhis ...