Munnar

The heat, oh God the heat! It was getting to the point where I couldn't perform basic brain functions, like where to eat for lunch. I needed to snap out of this catatonic state fast, and the answer was Munnar.

Munnar is a hill station within Kerala that, because of it's altitude, made it an ideal place to rediscover what the human body is like without sweat all over it. Let me tell you, it's magnificent. Munnar is beautiful. The hills are covered in tea fields, occasionally interrupted by waterfalls or brilliant rock faces that tower over you. I would guess that it doesn't produce the same amount of tea as Darjeeling, but I put forward that it is just as beautiful.

Clauds and I had the good fortune of being part of a rather eclectic and great group of people. We have a Scotsman, French girl, German guy, English lady living in America and the two token Aussies. We travelled the seven hours together from Fort Cochin to Munnar and scouted brilliant lodgings. Let me set the scene.....

A cottage on top of a hill, behind is the striking undulating tea fields, in front is the view of hills with one or two houses tucked away between the trees. We sit around a bonfire with a glorious silence, occasionally interrupted by bird, bug, or beast, and all around us are fireflies. FIREFLIES!!! I've never been in such picturesque surroundings.

For the four days we were there we did a whole ot of nothing. God it was satisfying. We talked, we sat, we drank, occasionaly throwing another log on the fire. I did venture out one day to see a tea factory, just so I can say that I did something in Munnar other than discover what the bottom of beer bottles looks like, (round and clear by the way). So Clauds and Mad(Frenchie) joined me for a tea education. The Lonely Planet described the Tata Tea museum as having a guide and tea tasting. Awesome. Well we arrive to see a hodge podge collection of English items that we were restricted from taking photographs of. After 20 seconds in the place I wondered what deranged person would want to. There was animal heads stuffed and mounted all over the place. I couldn't see any connection to tea so I just presumed they were caught feeding off the bushes and shot. My theory was shot to hell when I saw a bear head. It went on to list when certain items became available in Munnar. One exciting item was the electric fan, c. 1976. Well we finally tracked down the tea tasting. It was three large cups of pre-prepared tea that had dust floating on the top giving it the impression of a stagnant pond. There were three teaspoons sitting in a shallow pool of water that gave the distinct impression of "Use me, I am covered with diseases!" I moved on. The guide was much more intersting, though seemed to lack the passion of a master tea maker that I was expecting. We were shown through the factory, from the drying of the leaves to finished product. It was quite nifty to see but unfortunately a lot of information was missed because the guy had quite a thick accent. I had to concentrate to hear anything. The only thing I heard, (between my frequent nods of understanding which I COMPLETELY faked) was that the tea plant is a tree and not a bush. I'll just chuck that fact into dinner parties and sound intelligent.

xoxo
Sim