Elseem Garden 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 ...

... beautiful wild flowers, and more tahr. But no other animals. We did, however, encounter many young Keralans and they were quite friendly and eager to practice a little English. As we left the park we sampled some local delights: "Home-Made Chocolate" aka fudge, roasted corn with marsala spices and spiced roasted cashews. While the corn could have been sweeter, the fudge and cashews were very good.

From the park we drove to a tea ...

... rain. To correct the sentence there was no road at all throughout the uphill (you will find some hairpin bends to).

The giant bamboos and trees will give you a horror atmosphere. We were not so scared because of our earlier trip gave us more courage. The only concern is about the car tyre. We went and couldn’t spot anything as the forest officer said… but still we gave a try till Kerala border and came back. Almost the thrill was retained and the search was ...

... screaming into the corner in response, the breaks screeching in alarm and everybody sat quietly except the gangsters who grinned at each other like two maniacs. What a way to move on. The landscape changed from the tall white barked eucalyptuses to smaller banana and coconut palms and thickened and the red earth and mud came into the picture until like a river, the road straightened and the villages either side sprung out of the mist and they were well on their way to Ernakulam.

... factory is in production every other day, and we happened to arrive on a day that there is no production, although we were able to see leaves in the withering process and there was enough tea around for us to see the different machines working. The first part of the process of course is the hand picking of the tea leaves. After the leaves come to the factory there is a seven step process. This factory produces tea by the 'Orthodox' method which is more time ...

... broad rivers. Managalore - we'd just like to say what a pleasant place to break journey and refresh ourselves for a morning but we can't - a hole. Typical shabby, busy and unbearably hot Indian town. Skip it. We pick up a sleeper train that afternoon to travel a further 800km South, into Kerala. This we shall call the 'Cockroach Express'. The passengers were not alone. Kate took this well. Even when waking at 2am with a thumb sized specimen taking an early morning ...

Après la chaleur écrasante du Tamil Nadu et de la côte du Kerala, je monte dans les montagnes a Munnar. Enfin un peu de fraicheur (voir froideur le soir) ! Munnar est une "station climatique", en fait une rue comportant un Bazaar et un mini temple. Mais si le village n'est d'aucun intéret, les plantations de thé et ...

... sitting atop a rooftop restaurant eating dinner and fireworks have started going off on the horizon. In the north, everyone walks around with a shawl wrapped around them. It's probably the most comfortable thing possible. It's kind of like everyday is a Saturday morning and you've come downstairs with your blanket ready to watch cartoons, but instead of watching cartoons you're watching the amazingness of India go by - which I guess is kind of ...

... kind of let their limbs drift in my gener*l direction. Things th*t *t home wouldn't be too creepy, but in this country where men *nd women don't ever sit together on the bus unless they're m*rried, it is tot*lly in*ppropri*te beh*viour. Other times they st*rt to ch*t in *n innocent enough m*nner, but then when they *sk to sh*ke h*nds (try to kiss h*nds, r*ther) or t*ke photos of us together, *l*rm bells st*rt ringing. They're so persistent too! Sometimes * few loudly spoken words ...

... if I was coming home anytime soon! We stopped to spot some wild elephant, which got the adrenalin pumping, as they can be quite unpredictable. But the excitement didn't stop there.. Oh no.. I noticed blood on my toe and thought I had scratched myself. When the rickshaw driver said 'leech' I almost started screaming. They are the only creature capable of reducing me into a quivering wreck. Marcus was chuckling away, obviously highly ...