We awoke in our beautiful hotel and dined like kings on the impressive buffet breakfast spread, trying new Keralan specialities like Idli, Sambar, Dosa, Uttapam and vada... We met our driver, Jeenu, at 8:00. He was playing soft instrumental flute type music, so we felt like we were relaxing in a moving spa in his immaculately clean, spacious, air conditioned car. Van even had a power nap on the way.
On the way to Munnar, he stopped for us at two waterfalls, where we stopped for photos and bought cups of chopped up pineapple from one of the many colourful roadside stalls. Horny monkeys were playing (and shagging) along the roadside walls. They had different faces to the monkeys we have at home, and different to the North of India as well, their faces look like old men with middle parted hair...
The drive was really fantastic, along narrow winding roads, we climbed higher and higher into the mountains known as the Western Ghats. Initially we drove through cities and towns, fringed by lush palm trees and other tropical greenery. As we got higher, the scenery changed to lush tea plantations, looking like enormous soft green quilts laid over the hills.
Lots of small colourful churches were dotted around. People walked in the streets, mostly in traditional clothing. The men here wear a long cloth wrapped around their waists, either at ankle length, or folded double to reach the knees. I think it might be called a mundu. This is worn with a western style collared shirt. The woman wear beautiful saris, and the colours are quite different from the cerises and saffrons we saw in Rajasthan.
We reached the Dreamland spice park, where Jeenu paid our entrance fee of Rs300 each, since it was part of our tour. We also had the option to add on elephant, camel or horse rides (or all three!) but we declined. A guide took us on a pleasant walk through the gardens, and started off by showing us the tea, of course. He explained that only the three youngest softest smallest leaves on the branch are actually used for tea. He also showed us many, many other spices, such as ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg andlemongrass, as well as coconuts, cacao, plantains and tody palms - the latter used to make the local brew. They had a pineapple plant, and explained that each plant produces only one pineapple, and then dies. When we reached the pepper tree he encouraged us to try the raw berries, which were remakably peppery, and fresher tasting.
We then had some time to explore the tree houses, one of which was extremely high and required us to climb around 20 metal stairs to enjoy the view from the top. They also had a large swing which made you feel like you were flying over the plantation. We made our way to the spice shop, and decided to get some masala chai and garam masala. Lastly we tried some different teas (ginger, and cardamom) and some deliciously spicy onion pakoda at the snack cafe.
Jeenu drove us to our "hotel", the Pearl Green Resort to check in... Well its more like a room in a random building than a hotel, and it sure isn't a resort! It has a randomly large entrance hall, a bedroom with two tone painted walls, the smallest tv ever with the largest selection of channels ever (69 or so) and a ceiling so damp it looks like it might fall on us at any moment.
Jeenu then drove us into Munnar town for lunch, only 8km from the "hotel", but quite slow going on the very windy roads. The town itself is not much to write home about...it's a bit of a jumble of buildings and people, in fairly typical Indian style, with some random looking hotels and spice shops dotted in between, amongst continuing tea plantations. We dined at the Eastend restaurant and chose Bhai Baingan (Aubergine curry) and Bhuna (mutton) Gosht, with parantha and chapatti, Rs470 inc drinks and chai.
Next we went to the Tea Museum in town, Rs75 per person. We really enjoyed it but it was super packed with visitors! They seemed a little unequipped to cope with so many people. On arrival we were given a talk about the tea making process, crowded into a tiny little room. Tea was originally discovered by the Chinese way back in 2700 BC, but was only used for medicinal purposes. The British popularized it as a beverage and cultivated it in India. The tea making process involves drying, cutting, turning, and finally oxidizing which produces the brown color. Thereafter it is sorted and graded, apparently the coarseness determines the strength and flavour which are inversely proportional. The talk also described the process for making green and white tea. Green tea is not oxidized resulting in more antioxidants, but a more bitter flavour. White tea is made from the very tips of the leaves making it very expensive to produce. Apparently tea should not be boiled in order to preserve the antioxidants and get the most health benefits, this is why we boil the water prior to adding the tea.
Then we went through to the factory where we could see the production line, cutting up the leaves, rolling, drying etc. Another machine was sorting the dried tea into different grades by shaking through successive sieves.
At this stage we backtracked to the start of the museum to watch the video. We got an insight into what the alaskan salmon goes through when swimming upstream, such was the tide of humanity going in the opposite direction. We finally made it into the theatre and the video presentation kicked off. It started with the history of the area, way back to the first British exploration of the area and conflicts with the Mysore kingdom. The area was allocated for cultivation, and the Brits experimented with various crops until they stumbled upon tea which favours the high altitude, soil and slopes. The movie went on about the development of the Munnar area, introduction of rail, electricity, livestock etc. At one point serious flooding devastated the area and major repairs had to be performed. The company changed its ownership several times over the years and eventually got bought by Tata in the 70s. The movie had a slightly propagandist biased slant to it, explaining all the benefits to the workers and their families, empowering women, and the preservation of the environment etc. We wondered if all the benefits were all accurate and true, but we had to admire what had been achieved over the years.
Afterwards we bought some tea from the shop, and had a delicious cup of tea to finish off. We drove back to the hotel and relaxed and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of Munnar.
- Nix and Van
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Munnar, India
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