10.2.19
Poor John didn’t get much sleep. There has been drumming and parades all day, a Christian festival of some sort.
We saw a large group walking with decorative umbrellas and trucks done up like Christmas and flashing neon all over the place. It couldn’t look less religious!
Seems the partying continued until midnight and then he was woken up by our hosts returning at 2am. I slept through everything.
We sat for the last time having coffee and watching the monkeys and buffalo from our balcony.
Feel really sad leaving Thekaddy, I think it’s my favourite place so far.
Our taxi arrived at 8am. So glad we didn’t do this journey by bus, the main road is closed as it’s being widened and the road we are on is like a UK country B road. Definitely not suited to crazy Indian buses.
Some of the houses are stunning, like millionaire’s homes. The taxi driver Uni explained it’s because of the cardamon plantations.
Uni speaks perfect English and we chatted about traffic laws. They are very strict, heavy fines are imposed and accident rates are very low. Helmets are compulsory and maximum 2 people on a bike but because it is Sunday and no one is checking we saw many without helmets and 4 people on a scooter!
We stopped to see Indias 2nd biggest dam, 4th largest in Asia.
Nearby was a toddy shop, we’ve not been brave enough to venture inside one before, Uni was having his breakfast in there so we went to investigate.
The alcholic drink is home made from coconuts and they all seemed happy drinking it!
Next we saw some of the terrible damage caused by landslides and flooding last September.
This is where the bus station once was, you can see some of the foundations.
Uni’s house was also destroyed, they had 6 days with no food or electricity, he was very choked up as he told us about it. He is in the process of having a new house built. Many people lost their lives.
We stopped again, mountain views and selfies. Uni showed us various traveller selfies he has taken in the same spot!
He showed us a cashew tree and explained the long process to get an edible nut. No wonder they’re so expensive.
The 3 and a half hour trip flew by and we were so happy to have such a fabulous driver.
Taxis are the way forward, no lugging cases to bus stations and trying to interpret malayalam alphabet. It was wonderful and great value at 3000 rupees (£30) and 2 hours quicker than by bus.
The scenery around Munnar is beautiful.
JJs cottage where we are staying is a far cry from the lovely Wild Windows. It comes highly recommended on Lonely Planet but we won’t be in the room much anyway. The place we originally booked on Booking. com cancelled with no explanation 3 weeks after booking, by which time there wasn’t a huge choice left.
The staff do seem lovely though and we are happy to have a laundry service.
Everyone said the weather is cool up here so we have both packed too many things for cold weather. I also packed too many shorts and vest tops which are not needed at all unless you enjoy being made to feel like the town hooker.
It was very hot while we had lunch, so hot we sat inside.
It was extremely noisy when we arrived, the Munnar marathon was on. John wasn’t disappointed to have missed the half marathon as it’s a high altitude one.
After a very nice lunch, (curry is now a lunchtime meal since I discovered paneer masala) we ventured into town.
Lonely Planet describe Munnar as a scruffy, traffic clogged admistration centre. I think they’re being overly kind. It’s horrible.
I asked at the District Tourism Office about trips but was all a bit vague and need a minimum of 3 people and no one else has booked yet. We could take pot luck and call in there tomorrow at 9, but only have 2 full days here so not taking the chance that we can’t go.
So we asked in a couple of places and got prices, then a tuk tuk driver accosted us and cut the price but said half the places aren’t worth going to.
We decided to get an independent opinion from where we are staying. When we finally got away from thectuk tuk driver it was raining.
Then the heavens opened and we sheltered for 20 minutes by a building with a few others, in fear of getting splashed as the pot holes overflowed and formed a mini stream.
We got a tuk tuk for the very short journey back to the pinkest house in Munnar.
We have arranged 2 full day trips through JJ’s. A tuk tuk tomorrow at 8am for the day to the Top point area, (1000 rupees) and the same driver for Tuesday at 9am by taxi to the Chinnar area.(1800 rupees).
There are entrance fees, National Park fees, elephant riding fees (but not likely to do this) etc on top, but amazing value. Virtually the same trips the DTPC were offering, but a little dearer because the driver is exclusively ours.
We would have liked to have visited Eravikulam National Park but the rare almost tame Nilgiri tahr mountain goats are breeding so the park is closed. We’re assuming they have candlelight and soft music too.
We sat in our room drinking coffee waiting for the rain to stop.
Visted the nearby Ali Baba and the 41 dishes for dinner, decided it was time to try something different and ordered dingri mattar, peas and mushroom in a spiced sauce, or gravy as they always call it.
They have run out of chicken biriyani. Oh no!! John ordered chicken rice with a vegetable kadai curry on the side. It was all just about ok once you go over the saltiness. We shall be back to our lunchtime venue for tomorrows dinner.
Looking forward to our tuk tuk tour tomorrow.
