A Long Way Down
Breakfast was a 10 minute uphill walk but worth it. Parathas served by a super friendly young man. After eating we started to walk to find the waterfalls behind where we are staying. The route was uphill, downhill and then uphill again. However that didn't matter, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We took a wrong turn along the way which, in the end, turned out in our favour.
Had we taken the route we thought we were following we would have arrived at the top of the falls, rather thank the bottom, where the best view is. This we found out from a friendly chap on a motorbike who stopped when he saw we were looking a little lost. Having explained this to us, he then said hop on, I'll take you to the road you need to follow. So on we both jumped and this saved us about an extra 2km walk.
We followed the steep path down and arrived at the river, which we followed to the beautiful waterfall. As we took photos we noticed a large black cloud coming over. We had started to head back along the river when the rain started. There were some little cafes at the river so we ducked into one just before the rain got really heavy. We ordered some tea whilst we waited for the rain to stop.. and we waited, and waited. Then the thunder came and we waited! Whilst we waited we helped the lady pack up for the day. She kindly let us sit under her canopy until it was time for her to leave. She suggested we went to the place next door, so we did. There were a group of young men playing cards and they made us some tea but wouldn't let us pay ...as it was raining! How kind.
Eventually the rain eased and we started to head back up the hill. We hadn't gone far when we met a chap coming out of his driveway. We said hello and he asked us where we were from and told us his son lives in Cumbria. He then said come and have some tea. Why not?! So we headed down his driveway. He spoke to his wife then said come with me. He took us on a walk down through the back of his house showing us pepper, cardamon, cocoa and rubber plants. Before we knew it we were back at the river, at the top of the waterfall looking over at a viewing deck full of tourists. On with our walk he showed us the zipline over the river. Just as we started to walk back we heard someone on the zipline so we headed back. We thought we were just going to watch but an exchange took place and the chap running the zipline seemed to think we wanted to have a go. We indicated this was not the case and we set off back. We are not sure if the chap showing us around owned the zipline! We walked back up to the house and he invited us in for tea, which his wife had very kindly made. Neither spoke much English but with Google translate we found out all the surrounding land belonged to them. They have 100 cocoa trees along with cardamon, black pepper and nutmeg ....we were given a bag of each as a gift. We drank cardamon tea, tried cocoa and cardamon straight from the pod and the strongest black peppercorns we have ever tasted. Having expresse our thanks for their kindness the chap walked us up the road pointing out all the different trees and bushes along the way including jackfruit and coffee. We said our goodbyes when we got to the main road and through Google translate the chap invited us to spend a week at his house on our next visit. Indian people are just so kind.
After a couple of wrong turns we eventually got on to the road leading back to our accommodation. We had great views of Chokramundi Peak in the distance. It was uphill all the way and quite steep. A few wrong turns and it was getting dark. Luckily the GPS started to give more accurate readings and we followed it home. We even made it before dark!
We unloaded our bags and went straight out to eat. We had a fantastic beef curry with tapioca plus an egg curry and Parotha. Coffee followed and finally the 10 minute stroll home. We stopped as soon as we left to get some sweet things, curd and a few bananas.
The end of a great day of adventure.
