Periyar Tiger Reserve

In Periyar Tiger Reserve

The other day I got up at stupid o’clock in order to queue for tickets for the 07.30 boat trip on the lake of The Periyar Tiger Reserve. The 07.30 is the first trip of the day and is by far, the most popular as there is more chance of seeing the wild animals come down to the water’s edge for a morning drink. However, unlike all the other activities in The Reserve, the boat trip cannot be booked and it’s a first come, first serve scenario which irrupts into total chaos. To get to the boat landing, you have to first pay to get into The Reserve: 300 Rupees if you’re a foreigner and 25 Rupees if you’re Indian. I’m not into political correctness but that is just blatant discrimination. I remember a similar policy in place at The Taj Mahal and I thought then, this is all wrong. It just wouldn’t be allowed in other countries and rightly so. 12 times more expensive for crying out loud!Anyway, the tuk tuk I had booked the previous day didn’t turn up at my hotel at the allotted time of 06.00 and I couldn’t find another one until 06.45. When I arrived at the gate, I was told I wouldn’t get the 07.30 boat so went back to the hotel. This is when you despair at Indian organisation. You see, apart from the road from the gate to the

Cool tree

 Anyway, the tuk tuk I had booked the previous day didn’t turn up at my hotel at the allotted time of 06.00 and I couldn’t find another one until 06.45. When I arrived at the gate, I was told I wouldn’t get the 07.30 boat so went back to the hotel. This is when you despair at Indian organisation. You see, apart from the road from the gate to the boat landing, you cannot go anywhere within The Reserve once you’ve paid to get in, if you want to do another activity, you cannot book in The Reserve or at the gate, it has to be done the previous day. This means that every day, people pay their money to get into The Reserve then can’t get on the boat and all hell breaks out as there’s bugger all to do and you have to wait 3 hours for next boat trip by which time, all the animals will be hiding in the trees. 

This is the reason I tried to leave so early but that tuk tuk driver not turning up was a blessing in disguise as later that morning I did some more research and read reviews on this boat trip and it really is a total nightmare. Not only is it a literal fight to get a ticket which I can well believe having experienced the lack of queuing in India, once on board, it is very noisy (which funnily enough, animals aren’t attracted to) and you are forced to wear a life-jacket for the entire time. [This sounded very strange to me as India is not a health and safety conscious nation but a week later, I found out that in September 2009, one of the boats capsized and 45 people died] I don’t do crowds, queue barging, life jackets or stress so I was glad I missed out.

Instead, I went to the tourist office and booked a day’s excursion, bamboo rafting and trekking. Everywhere you go in Kerala, the published prices seem to be out of date but they don’t go up by a few percent each time, more like 50%. The trip I booked had gone from 1,000 Rupees to 1,500 Rupees and the entrance into The Reserve this time last year was 150 Rupees, now 300 Rupees, slightly more than India’s 11.7% rate of inflation. Still cheap but that’s not the point.

It was explained to me that this day trip was 3 hours rafting (the guides do all the work) and 3 hours trekking. I must have been feeling a bit confident with my back when I booked as I haven’t walked that far for a very long time. The timing of the trip is 08.00 – 17.00 so it would be another early start. I had 2 days to psyche myself up for it and wonder what we spend the other 3 hours doing......

That evening, I met an lovely couple from Angelssey, Brian and Sue who had coincidently taken the same trip that day and they told me about it emphasising it was an easy walk and to take something to protect yourself from the sun as there is no shade on the raft and it’s hot hot hot. As they were definitely into their 60s, I felt a bit better about the trek. The 3 of us went out for dinner the next 2 nights and it was good to have some company and a good laugh. It’s probably what I miss most when I travel around on my own – talking to people who understand my sense of humour, or at least 80% of it. Indians aren’t really known for enjoying the craic.

Another Shitty Day in God’s Own Country

 

Periyar Tiger Reserve

The rafting day was immense fun. There were 7 English and 3 French people in the party. Of the 3 English couples, one was on honeymoon, one was doing a world trip and the other couple were in their 50s, looked younger than me and were barking mad. Superb. We did gel very well together and had lots of laughs but shut up when we were supposed to.

Our rafts

Mummy and baby

It began with the issuance of leech socks (I passed) and signing your life away and then around an hour’s easy walk (but a bit fast for me) on the shore of the lake to the bamboo rafts. I was drugged up nicely on Tramadol but my knees gave me some minor problems. After the walk, it was breakfast time: stale bread, pineapple jam, biscuits, coffee and pukey bananas. I ate a biscuit and a bit of Jeanie’s chaphati and jam for energy purposes. We sat around doing nothing for quite a while before getting onto the rafts where we were handed life jackets, put them on, took them off and sat on them as they made good seat cushions. Off we went in the peaceful and beautiful surroundings of this man-made lake. I tried out my French but at times like this, I find I am suddenly fluent in Dutch et j’oublie ma française. I did however, manage to break the news,  to these Frenchmen, with great glee that Italy had beaten them in “le rugby” a few days earlier. We did see a Mummy elephant and her baby by the water and watched them for a quite a while. The way they use their trunk is fascinating. Who needs thumbs when you have a trunk (and 4 knees)? One of the honeymooners was about as active as me and he certainly enjoyed being paddled around the lovely lake, lying on his back, snoozing away.

Honeymooners

The lake was created when The Mullapperiyar Dam was built in 1895, the old trees in the basin still pop above the water’s surface which gives the place a slightly eerie feel. Apparently the dam needs more than a bit of maintenance but seeing as it’s located in Kerala but also serves the people of Tami Nadu, there’s a bit of an argument about who will pay for it. I can see them fighting about it for some while. The Reserve is 777 km² and the guides say there are 46 tigers but seeing as none of them are tagged, I don’t know how they know this. Our park ranger has seen 2 tigers in 6 years. I think I’ll be safe.

After floating around for about 90 minutes, it was time for another break which involved lunch of rice, raitha and pickle (lemon, not Branston); a siesta and lots of chatting. It was very hot so we sat underneath the trees and some people slept. The peace was lovely with the distant noises of monkeys in the trees, no litter, no horns, just nature and going to the toilet behind trees.

Yours truly

Back on the rafts but we saw no other wildlife apart from the odd bird (or was that me) or 2 and then the difficult bit – the walk. We all started well under the shade of the trees but just as things were getting a bit tough and very hot, we got the signal to stop and shut up. We hit the jackpot, a group of 12 elephants which included the Big Daddy of the territory with his beautiful tusks. We stood and watched for a long time, totally mesmerised. The ranger and guides were very cautious and looked slightly anxious because the big male was there. We were probably 100 – 150 metres away and felt totally out of any danger but you never know.....it really was wonderful seeing these fabulous creatures in the wild, watching their mannerisms and eating, eating and eating. I think that’s all they do all day.

Real, wild elephants

Ironically, my back seemed to be coping OK with the trek but my knees were starting to ache quite badly and everyone was hoping we would be back soon, what an unfit bunch we were except one of the Frenchmen who had a t-shirt on indicating he was a hill runner. He had run from Kumily to the boat landing (4km) and indeed ran back again – idiot. When we arrived back at the starting point, it was a relief alright. I had had a great day but now was ready for a shower and some rest. In fact, when I got back to the hotel, a headache appeared out of the blue and I didn’t feel too good at all. Self diagnosis – sunstroke. I prescribed myself lots of water and bed.

View at the end of the trek

In the morning, I felt absolutely fine, hardly any aches and pains at all. I said goodbye to Periyar Meadows and went to buy my drinking water from the woman down the road whom I liked because she laughed at my jokes.....or maybe she was just laughing at me. I really had a lovely week there.

Thekkady

I left Munnar on Saturday morning for Thekkady in the Idukki District, an area known for it’s wildlife and spice plantations. It lies next to the Periyar Tiger Reserve which should drop the tiger bit as no one seems to have spotted one for a very long time.

It is normal to get 4 hour taxi rides in this part of the world and seeing as I didn’t want a permanent driver, that’s exactly what I did. It cost 1,600 rupees to get from Munnar to Kumily (next to Thekkady) which is about 27 yoyos or 23 Great British Pounds. Petrol and Diesel are cheaper here - 53 and 42 rupees per litre respectively but it’s still ridiculously cheap. Unfortunately my driver, yet again, didn’t know how to use his gears effectively and he didn’t appreciate the driving lesson I tried to give him, I mean from a woman and all that! (My Dad doesn’t like me telling him what gear he should be in either) The road is very windey and undulating and this driver was permanently on his mobile phone, not a plus point in my book of avoiding crashing on these kind of roads.

It was a very scenic driver out of Munnar. We began to descend and gradually the tea plantations diappeared and the palm trees re-emerged along with the fragrant spice plantations. The flora is so very green and lush with odd spots of brilliant colour, even the soil is a rich red and as the sun shone down from the bright blue sky, you instantly forget about the cold, grey, European winter.

Half way into the drive, we stopped at a small bakery/tea stall just outside the small village of Sheelakshmi for a drink. I’m beginning to get used to drinking this wonderful, sweet masala tea. It was here that I met an Indian couple who instead of saying “Where you from?”, they asked “Where do you come from?” I have given up explaining that I’m English, living in Amsterdam so I just say “England”. The wife said “Of course you are, you have the red, rugby rose of England on your t-shirt”. That surprised me but then again, they did explain that they had been living in Doncaster for the past 50 years.....

Some of the name places around here, make me giggle like a child. I love the name Pampadumpara on the SH19 road. I have also noticed that cement adverts by the roadside have given way to those advertising pipes but the cows persist in walking down the middle of the road.

I keep getting asked questions about home and the Indians have no shame in asking me why I’m not married and have no children. They aren’t the kind of people you say “Piss off, it’s none of your business” to so I’m going to start lying from now on and invent a husband who happens to be an astronaut and therefore is away from home a lot. I am liberal with the truth when they ask me what I do too but my driver this particular morning asked me if I was still studying which amused me as I finished studying over half my life ago. I laughed at the unintended compliment and immediately forgot about his bad driving.

I’m staying at a hotel called “Periyar Meadows” for 7 nights and it’s OK, the beds are again too hard and there is the incessant noise of guest slamming doors, two things I just cannot escape from in India. The first thing I had to do was haggle with them for the cost of wireless internet. Data is still very expensive in India and this hotel pays per KB rather than have anything like a monthly set fee for unlimited broadband. At first they wanted to charge me an absurd INR 5,500 for my stay which is not far off EUR 100! I finally got them down to INR 1,500 which is still ridiculously expensive but I have a lot free time here so I bit the bullet. The service has been brilliant though and I found out today that I am the first guest to ever spend 7 nights here

Kumily is strangely full of Tibetan and Kashmiri shops, selling clothes and jewellery. You can’t walk past one without someone trying to entice you to come and have a look which is hugely irritating. I am tempted to tell these people that tourists are more likely to look in their shops if they don’t get hassled. These shops are plentiful and only matched by the spice shops which give off a fabulous aroma as you walk past them.

There are a limited things to do here so I decided to stretch them out over the week. First stop was The Spice Garden which was an informative trip. A couple from Mumbai and I had a tour together and I think I surprised everyone, including myself with my depth of knowledge on Indian spices. I didn’t recognise all the trees and plants but did intentify every one of the smells. The garden itself was small but they still packed cardamom (black and green), vanilla, lemon grass, bayleaf, cinnamon, basil (4 types), ginger, lemon grass, mint, coriander, pepper (red, green, white and black), chilli (several types) aloe vera, curry leaf, clove, tobacco, cocoa, coffee, nutmeg, all spice and garam masala plants or trees in along with fruits such as mango, pineapple, fig, banana, yam, coconut, papaya and jack fruit all in the one place. They are also trying to branch out and have built a tree house home stay; keep rabbits; have fish ponds (with giant edible goldfish!) and even a tiny paddy field for rice.

The next day, I had one of those once in a life time experiences with my favourite animals, elephants. I had seen the brochure for Elephant Junction in Attappallam which professed to offer a 2 hour programme including a one hour ride through the forest, feeding, timber dragging, bath and shower but being sceptical, I thought there would be a big group of people, maybe 6 on each elephant and as was I really going to have that “close interaction” which they advertise? I am so happy to be wrong sometimes and in every way conceivable: One elephant, 2 handlers and just me, grinning away from start to finish of the whole 2 hours.

She is beautiful, she is a 25 year old Mum called “Meda” and we had a wonderful time together. As soon as I got my leg over her, sat on her neck and she started trudging out of the elephant park, I knew I was in trouble in two very different ways: My back was going to have big problems with the one buttock up, one buttock down motion and I think I had fallen in love (Don’t tell Barry). I popped some painkillers to sort the first problem out but the second.........

Poor Meda, I don't think she appreciated my boney arse on her back but I made it up to her by stroking her ears, scratching her hairy head and whispering sweet nothings to her.  We climbed up through the forest of pepper, mango, palm and bamboo trees, cocoa and cardamom plants. I don’t think the smile ever left my face, especially when she purred or flapped her ears against my legs. One of the handlers took my camera and started snapping away. Unfortunately their skills in photography are not quite as proficient as their skills in elephant communication but I did get one or two OK shots.

The walk was serene and an hour later, we were back in camp and I had a lovely cup of tea and Meda had a few of the 400 litres of water she drinks per day. She looked a bit hungry so I fed her a small snack of yams, just a kilo or two of her daily 350kg food consumption Her pink tongue is long and very thick and her teeth made short work of the vegetables. Good job elephants are herbivores or she would have had my arm. Then she displayed her strength by messing around with a big log, actually a 300 kg tree trunk, all expertly instructed by a little Indian man uttering words of fluent Elephant. Strong lass our Meda, most impressive. She has a mouth on her too, roaring away like a band of trombones.

After all that, she needed a bath, so we got into a paddling pool together and I gave her a good scrub with a coconut shell. She just lay down, enjoying it all, making me do the work. She didn’t return the gesture, bad elephant. Her skin is 2 inches thick so I had to work pretty hard for her to enjoy her complimentary massage.

I tried to learn some words of Elephant but the handlers couldn’t translate my English into Malayalam, never mind Elephant. Nevertheless, I got the message when Meda told me I stank and I needed a shower so I climbed onto her enormous back again, she stuck the end of her trunk into the water bath, had a good suck and proceeded to shower me with the cold water, over and over again.

Finally, it was time to get sentimental as I sat on her front leg and said my long goodbyes. We had had a good time, a special time and unforgettable time together.

When I got back to the hotel in the late afternoon, I sat on my balcony, over-looking Periyar Meadow, the sun was slowly falling out of the sky and I watched a group of young men playing cricket just below me. They shared the meadow with a number of cows, who took up fielding positions at long on and long off but most were in the field at cow corner.

I got an unexpected visit today, twice in fact. First Daddy and a couple of hours later, the kiddies of a cheeky monkey family who waltzed into my room after climbing onto the balcony. At least they didn’t attack me as I swore monkey profanities at them.

Today is 17^th March, St. Patrick’s Day and instead of toasting him several times with perfect pints of Guinness from Mulligans, I am having an earlyish night as I have a long day out tomorrow, bamboo rafting and trekking in the Reserve. The only way I’ll get through the day is with my friend Mr. Tramadol but looking forward to it all the same. This evening, I went to a  demonstration of kalaripayattu, apparently the oldest of all martial arts. It was OK, a bit odd and not spectacular. Dinner was much more fun with Brian and Sue, a couple I met last night and in fact the first non Indian people I have talked to since I left the Ayurveda place in Wayanad. They had found a good restaurant at the posh Muthoot Cardamom County Hotel down the road where we ate both last night and tonight. The ambience there is much more laid back which I miss. The food at the hotel has been fine but the bright lights, harsh lines and the echoing sounds of people eating (badly) is not nice and I find myself eating my breakfast with my fingers stuck in my ears. (More on food later)

I also crossed the state line today, wandering into Tamil Nadu and back again. Nothing to report from over there.

Munnar

The hill station town of Munnar

Superbly kept gardens

I didn’t really know what to do the following day, I had done the sight-seeing trail the previous day and had been slightly disillusioned with it. I had had a bad night’s sleep on an uncomfortable bed so didn’t appreciate the phone call from reception at 9 o’clock asking “Would Madam like breakfast? Closing at 9.30” The hotel had told me breakfast was served until 10.30am. and I had intended getting my daily fruit at around 10.25am. I shouldn’t have bothered my backside getting out of bed as the breakfast looked inedible and the only fruit they had was those wretched bananas.

Lovely gardens opposite the open air urinal

The day was spent ambling around town, not a lot to see apart from the beautiful gardens of the KDHP. (Kanan Devan Hills Plantations) Unfortunately, the spot across the river from these fabulous gardens was a tuk tuk hangout and therefore treated like a public toilet and the place stank of piss so I didn’t hang around. 

The hotel's garden

The afternoon was spent sitting in the sun, reading a book in the hotel’s fairly well kept gardens beneath the tea trees, half stoned on tramadol. I thought I would spend my final day in Munnar going to the tea factory, which I had passed on the first day and also the tea museum, just 1km from the hotel. After all I was in tea country so should feign some kind of interest in the beverage I hardly ever drink. My walk into town coincided with the morning school run, which takes on a slightly different image to back home. No Yummy Mummy’s and their pathetic SUVs or parents cycling with their kids on the front or back of their bicycle, just tuk tuks rammed to the rafters with kids, I counted ten in one of them.

On the road to the tea factory

Those tuk tuk drivers not on school duty were lurking in town with the taxi drivers asking if “Madam would like to go sight-seeing”. I tend to ignore anyone who annoys me and choose a driver who looks clean and unlikely to ask me too many questions as I am getting a little bit tired of the irritating “Where you from?” malarkey. After the standard bartering, Mano the tuk tuk driver with ridiculously white teeth carts me off to the tea factory which was closed for a month....... Ever so sulkily, I blamed Mano, took a photo as the factory is set in lovely surroundings and then thought sod it, I’ll get him to take me to the Top Station which is about 40km (or 60km according to a tuk tuk driver) from Munnar and a lot of the buses don’t go up there. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made in my wide experience of travelling.

The silver oak trees amongst the tea just outside the closed tea factory

It was still relatively early in the morning and the roads were quiet and the breeze had not kicked in yet. When we got to Matupetty Dam, there were very few tourists around and the hawkers had not set up their stalls yet. The reservoir (the locals call it a man-made lake, which in my reckoning, is a reservoir) was calm and stunningly beautiful with the mountains in the background. The drive up until Kundala Dam, which I had already experienced once already was far more enjoyable this time around..

Kundala "Lake"

My chariot and a cuppa tea

Further on up the road, the scenery got even better and the roads were now practically empty. We stopped at a tiny village called Yellapatty for a cuppa and a snack resembling a small donut but made from rice flour, I think. The chai was made in a painstakingly but no doubt traditional way which involved a series of pouring procedures from one receptacle to another. I couldn’t keep up as to what was moving from one place to another or why but it resulted in a fine cup of sweetened, milky masala tea which was delicious, even to me.

Growing vegetables as well as tea

During our tea break, I had a look around and could see that there was a fairly expensive market garden operation going on in the flat areas of Yellapatty. Potatoes, carrots, cabbages, peas, beans and strawberries are all grown up here. Cocoa plants are prevalent too and lots of the shops in town sell homemade chocolate.

I really like this place

Mano paid for the tea and snack (I was obviously over-paying for the trip) and we were off again.The next few bends brought the most picturesque plantations of them all and we stopped a while watching the women going about plucking the tea-leaves. Only women do the plucking, it is believed that they have more dextrous fingers so while they do the back-breaking work, the men seem to just stand around in the middle of the road drinking tea.

Tea was first planted in the region, by the English in 1880, during the years of The Raj. The story of the last 130 years of tea making ion Munnar is actually heart-warming instead of oppressive. Not only were the workers well cared for but the Muthuvan tribe, the mountain, nomad people were respected and have never been driven from the make-shift homes. These tribes were paramount to the success of the plantations, using their expert knowledge of the land.

Women plucking

The workers had access to the best healthcare probably anywhere in India, at a time when cholera and malaria were rife in the hills.  Education facilities were built for their children and still today, the first rate schooling continues, with many of the schools having gained excellent credentials. Nothing much has changed about the workers’ colourful, little, single storey cottages over the years, with their corrugated roofs weighed down with small rocks.

The entire region is so green and beautiful

Top Station as at an altitude of around 1,750 metres, depending on which Google entry you read. The road ends here and there’s a bit of a walk to get you out to a sort of peninsula in the midst of the Ikkuri District with views of South India’s highest peak at 2,700m, Anamudi. Entrance into this heavenly place is 15 Rupees and the views are priceless.

There’s a bit of a hike down hundreds of makeshift steps out to the viewpoint and my dodgy knees told me it would be easier getting back up the steps than going down them. My lungs were to argue with my knees a bit later on.......

The mountains surrounded me and me only, I was alone in one of the most fabulous settings I have ever been in. I am lucky enough to have witnessed some of the most spectacular scenery in the world like The Swiss Alps, The Grand Canyon, Table Mountain, The Hai Van Pass in Vietnam, The west coast of Ireland at last but not least The Yorkshire Dales and this place has now joined this distinguished list.

I was able to hear a steam running somewhere in the distance, birds singing, bees buzzing, cockerels cock-a-doodle-dooing and the very distant and occasional chug chug chug of some vehicle or other. At one stage, I heard a big crash sounding like a truck going over the side but this was just my super sensitive ears and imagination running wild.

The Top Station is advertised as a somewhere to float in the clouds. There were no clouds when I was there, just a hazy mist in the far distance but I could imagine what it would be like on such a day popping out above cloud level and seeming to be on top of the world. I also couldn’t help wondering how wonderful it would be to watch the sun rise here, or to sit around a camp fire as the sun sets. There are a couple of homestays at the top so maybe I can do these things, next time.

I’ve never been a tourist who goes to a beautiful place, takes some photos and leaves. I like to sit down in the peace and quiet, take it all in and ponder. I was so fortunate to have the place to myself for almost an hour so I made the most of it sat on a big rock in the fierce sun, but cool wind and as soon as some other people arrived, I was off. On the hike back up, I took in the colourful, wild flowers and what I think were spathodea and jacaranda trees in the midst of this truly awe inspiring landscape.

I don’t think I wiped the grin off my face all the way back to Munnar. The touristy spots had turned into hell again and I realised that all these people had driven from Cochin so didn’t reach Munnar until the afternoon. Amazing how many people come all that distance on a day trip. Their loss was my gain.

This shop sells everything

I had one of those panic moments when I was back in the hotel. I had shot a lot of footage on my camera and the 1 GB memory card was full but I have my laptop so just transferred all my images and videos but as I was doing so, my camera died, the very long battery life had at last come to an end. It’s a new camera and I brought the USB cable with me thinking that I could charge the battery through the laptop but alas, not. My camera was rendered useless. I didn’t hang out a lot of hope on being able to find a charger in such a small town and had visions of having to order one from Cochin and getting it driven to me. Not to be defeated, I rushed into town and found a tiny electronics shop and told them my problem. The man just reached behind him, took a small box off the shelf, took some contraption out, inserted my battery and a light came on but me the eternal pessimist didn’t get excited. The he plugged it in and the charger started doing a disco dance. After a couple of minutes, still cynical, I inserted the battery back into my camera and to my delight, it had a slight charge so I took a quick picture of the shop and skipped home, again with a smile on my face.

The tea museum was open for just one more hour so I strode up the hill towards it as schoolchildren from the adjacent school walked down. They all said hello to me and some asked me for a pen but I only had one spare one with me so some lucky kid is now in possession of a “Holiday Inn” pen, I hope she enjoys it. One boy was a bit cheeky and even though my command of the Malayalam language has stalled, he was obviously making some comment about my breasts!

The playing fields which the school kids share with cows

The tea museum was fairly interesting. Making tea is very simple: Pluck leaves, put on a conveyor belt, cut, oxidise, dry, filtrate and pack. They have a complete plant in the museum, just for tourist purposes and a pocketed some of the end product. We were given a complimentary cup while waiting for a documentary to begin and I have now become a convert, to cardamom tea, probably the best cup of tea I’ll ever had and get this, it was made with powdered milk!

I will never forget my cardamon tea

The film we were shown was informative and I won’t bore you with the history of tea-making in Munnar but I was impressed to hear that the current workers and ex-employees actually own the vast majority of KDHP. Tata, who seem to own/rule India, have a stake too but prior to 2005, they owned the whole lot. The English hierarchy sold up after independence in 1947.

I left the tea museum, with my packet of cardamom tea and sauntered back to the hotel in the cooling air as the sun was disappearing behind the plantations of the Nallathanni Estate. A huge tasty dinner at Rapsy Restro ended a perfect day.

Cochin - Munnar

What is the correct unit of measure of prawns? Some people incorrectly call them shrimps but shrimps are completely different to prawns, they are best fished in places like Morecambe on the north-west coast of England and should be potted with clarified butter and eaten with nothing more fancy than a piece of toast. I digress. The term “King prawn” is so liberally used, describing all sizes of the yummy crustacean from 2 inches upwards which is all wrong. I think I have seen “Giant prawns” mentioned on a menu somewhere on my travels but the ones I had last night should have been billed as “Seriously Super Massive Prawns”. They weren’t actually on the menu so I’m not sure what their official status was but trust me, they were bloody huge. My special dinner consisted of four of these monsters cooked in a spicy Keralan masala with a side dish of bindi, Kerala paratha (more crumbly than traditional ones) and appam a kind of fluffy pancake made with rice flour, all washed down with a Diet Coke. Heerlijk/Delicious (delete as applicable). Bill - 720 Rupees, £10, which is very expensive!

Sweet shop on a motorbike

Anyway, that was last night. I had an extraordinarily early start for me today. Sainu, my driver picked me up from the hotel at 06.45. Breakfast had kindly been packaged up for me and I bade my farewells to Dream Hotel, Cochin and their exemplary service. First stop, Elephants! Ever since I spent a day at Addo in South Africa where I got up close and personal with these majestic animals, I have loved elephants. There’s something about their size combined with their gentleness and the lumbering way they walk that enchants me. Did you know that they are the only animal with 4 knees? Not that I have a knee fetish……

About an hour’s drive out of Cochin (the roads were blissfully quiet at this time) we turned off the MC Road at Vallom, through the delightfully named small villages of Koovappady and Kurichilakode and into Kodanad, where we stopped. I took a short walk down a rocky track towards the river where I was greeted by a family of elephants and more white people I’ve seen in a long time! An obvious tourist attraction but for elephant lovers like me, an absolute treat despite the throng of people lining the riverbank.

The elephants were being scrubbed with makeshift loofahs (coconut shells) and enjoying every single second of it. You could tell that in their eyes and their smiles (or maybe I was imagining that bit). I was stroking one of the 2 year old babies and he started purring like a cat so he must have been happy. I wanted to take him home and keep him on my roof terrace.

The purring baby elephant

  Totally mesmerised, I admired the regalness of the parents and the playfulness of the little kiddies. Many years ago, I rode an elephant in Goa but I didn’t enjoy it as the poor creature was obviously mistreated and that upset me hugely but this family was not only healthy and beautiful, they were obviously spoiled rotten and why not? Their handlers did have sticks and did have to tie the elephants’ back feet together, to prevent them running off while they watched their parents/siblings/children get scoured but it was only for a short and necessary time. After bath time, the elephants congregated and prepared to parade back to their camp. The big male looked fairly imposing but didn’t care less with me stroking his glorious ears and grabbing his surprisingly cold, ivory tusks. I watched the elephants disappear with a big smile on my face and resumed our journey to Munnar.

Cold tusks

Bye bye Mr. Elephant

There are a fair amount of places in this part of the world ending in “pady”, like Kuruppampady and Kottappady and the afore mentioned Koovappady. No Irish connection to be sure.

I don’t get a few things about India, one of them is their speed prevention methods. The police erect two barriers on each side of the road, creating a chicane in the middle of the road. There are no warning signs indicating the presence of these unmanned, unlit barriers and traffic coming from both directions fight it out on who goes first through this chicane. And this is a safety measure…….

It was a lovely drive through the palm trees, cocoa plants and banana trees. They gave way to Eucalyptus trees and the tea plantations as we climbed over 1,500 metres. Mercifully, there was very little traffic and the roads hadn’t fallen apart.

 

The weather became cooler, around 28°c compared to Cochin’s 36°c. Shortly before noon, I checked into my hotel, Silver Tips then Sainu took me on a sight-seeing tour of the region beyond Munnar. The scenic tea plantations looked resplendent. The leaves of the tea trees are a vivid green and their pentagonal/hexagonal arrangement is somehow symmetrical and wacky at the same time. The mountains add to the spectacular landscape.

A bit of England in Munnar

There is obviously a set sight-seeing route for tourists who take in The Flower Garden, The Tea Factory, Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point, Kundala Dam and The Tea Museum back in Munnar. I hate following hordes of tourists and I said as much but unfortunately drivers are programmed to do this set routine and not think outside the box. I tried to explain to Sainu that while he was with me that I wanted to go to off the beaten track places but he didn’t understand neither my English nor the concept.

Echo Point was so full of litter, I preferred to look at carrots

The crowds of tourists at both the dams and Echo Point all came with drivers causing unofficial car parks on the roads at these so-called beauty spots supplemented by vast numbers of irritating hawkers. I wasn’t infuriated at all this commotion but I was at the ubiquitous litter dumping. It maddened me, saddened me and demoralised me. I was surrounded by natural beauty and the people of India just destroy it. Devastated, I asked Sainu to take me back to the hotel.

Eucalyptus Trees by Kundala "Lake"

The hotel was disappointing, there was construction work going on which was very noisy and the design of the place caused amplification  of any sound whether it me building work, slamming doors, talking and in this hotel, Bollywood music which was piped throughout the hotel’s foyer and corridors. Unhappy with this, I Skyped Sanoj and got him to move to me to another hotel. The joys of having a travel agent! The hotel manager didn’t understand my suggestion that it was a good idea to inform guests that there was construction work going on when they booked and also to be truthful about it. He had kept saying to me, “No problem, work stops in 5 minutes” but it didn’t and I pointed out that it would continue tomorrow but he shook his said and said “No problem”. Eventually I got him to admit that the work, and therefore deafening din would persist during my stay. He looked forlorn at my departure, God knows why, I am the guest from hell. Within half an hour, a car came to pick me up and off I went to the C7 Hotel.

View of workers' cottages and tea plantation from the hotel

My first impression of this hotel was “Wow! The view!” The sun was just setting behind the tea plantations and it was so peaceful on my balcony just watching, listening and contemplating. The hotel itself was nothing to write in a blog about, I had read that the food was terrible so made a mental note to eat in town, just a few hundred yards away, for lunch and dinner.

Just after sunrise, taken from my room's balcony

Munnar is at an altitude of 1,600 metres and when the sun disappears, the temperature plummets rapidly, possibly as much as 15-20° in 90 minutes. When I left Wayanad, I shoved my fleece into the bottom of my suitcase but in Munnar, not only did I have start rummaging to the depths of my case for my fleece, my jeans, trainers and scarf were also required and I was still cold. The power walk in the pitch dark into town warmed me up, as did the aloo gobi dinner.

Being a chilly and clear evening, the stars were incredibly bright and plentiful. A tendency of mine in settings like this is to look for Orion and wonder who else was looking at his belt. I love looking at stars but it was a good idea to keep my eyes on the road using the little light I had to navigate my way home with just a cow for company.