Tea Planations

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Today we are heading to Munnar which is an old hill station. We walked the 2km to the main road and caught the bus up the hill. The scenery from the bus was beautiful as we passed tea plantations and boulders.


Once in Munnar we headed for coffee.  We found a little cake shop and ordered coffee.  The cakes on display were too much of a temptation, so we ordered 2 milk buns.  They were a little like donuts but more moist inside.

We then wandered around the town and market place.  We saw a beautiful mosque and a beautiful church up on the hill.  An old bridge was a reminder of when the British were here.


Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  Having been to Munnar on a previous trip, we knew a good place.  We both ordered the Kerela meal and enjoyed every bit of it ... and there was a lot! 


After lunch we started walking.  We walked through little villages along the river.  We stopped to have a look at the High Range Club.  An exclusive club from the British era.  Outside it had beautiful gardens with lots of flowers we recognised including sunflowers and hydrangeas.  We had hoped to have a look inside but were met by a guard who informed us it was for members only and no we could not just have a quick look.


Onwards with our walk.  We walked through kilometres of tea planations with beautiful views of the hills all around us.  We passed groups of tea pickers. Up and down we went.  On one 'up' we spotted a little tea stall so decided to rest and have a cuppa. The stallholder convinced us to try a type of biscuit which was in a spiral.  We took a bite and were surprised to find it was spicy not sweet.  It was nice nonetheless.


We carried on up and down through the plantations.  At one point we were unsure which way to turn and although we were in the middle of a tea planation, there was a man sitting on a rock who pointed and said 'short way to waterfall'.  He knew exactly where we were headed!

We carried on, passing a pretty little church and eventually came to the waterfall.  Up close it did not look as impressive as it had from the bus (later as we carried on up we could see the whole waterfall).  It definitely looked better from a distance.


A steep climb up through another tea planation and we were back on the main road where we caught a bus back to Anachal.

By now we had walked over 12km so decided we deserved more tea and cake.  We headed to the same tea shop as yesterday and had tea and halwa.  After a bit of a rest we bought some roti to go with our dinner and headed back to base for the evening.



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