Munnar and the Mountains
24th -27th November
It was a relatively relaxed departure from our hotel at 8.30 am, avoiding the large puddles left by the previous night’s storm, but not noticeably cooler. After we left Fort Cochin, crossing the man- made island of Willingdon, commissioned by the British in 1928, we hit the Monday morning rush hour. Cochin has many conurbations with a population of 2.3 million. We saw a large advertising sign for retirement living accommodation, but we weren’t tempted.
The journey of 150km was uneventful save for Lynne spilling her whole tumbler of coffee at our mid-journey break. Our driver was anxious to express his enthusiasm for Narendra Modi and his disregard for the governing Communist Party in Kerala, of which both our pick-up travel representative and our guide in Cochin waxed lyrical about!
The highway to Munnar was good but with huge roadworks on the road we took a smaller more challenging route. Driving with bends and large vehicles in both directions requires a good horn, good brakes and good luck, as recounted to us by our driver. As well as stationary cars, cows or dogs providing obstacles, there were many unexpected sleeping policemen and passages where the road deteriorated into dirt track.
As we started to climb the drizzle started. The scenery, including waterfalls and hydroelectric power stations was interesting. Kerala exports electricity to the rest of India. Finding the hotel, The Spicetree, Rajakumari proved a challenge and the approach road through the cardamom plantation a tight squeeze.
Despite the absolutely torrential rain, we could tell that this was going to be a fantastic hideaway. Since it was gone 3pm we opted to miss lunch and indeed the meditation session before dinner.
We had a garden room which was huge with a big bathroom with shower and sunken bath. The only missing element: heating. Lynne was feeling distinctly unwell and slept before dinner.
We had to order our food at least an hour in advance so that it was fresh, farm to fork. Peter noted that not only was the restaurant unheated, but all the French windows were wide open. So Lynne put on as many layers as she could manage in an attempt to keep warm.
The food was great. We were given Coriander-infused water; Peter had a glass of suspect red wine. There was only one other couple staying at the hotel, from Shrewsbury and we shared in her surprise birthday cake!
Afterwards, Lynne climbed into our huge bed even wearing socks, fighting her fever and swollen joints through the night, until suddenly she felt human again.
Our first full day involved a climb through the highest tea plantation in India. It took a good hour to get to the start point, driving past tea plantations with lovely scenery and one really poor dirt track road. Then we transferred to our jeep, together with a guide. It was warm and sunny.
We alighted from the jeep and climbed through paths through the Upper Surianalle Estate, past a waterfall and small Hindu temple and ladies picking the tea leaves. Some of the trees can still produce leaves for as long as 140 years. We stopped for a delicious snack of passion fruit and a peeler and some juice.
Too soon we were back in the jeep for a very bumpy ride to a viewpoint at Kolukkumalai, at 7120 feet. We were right on the border with the neighbouring state, Tamil Nadu. The weather was different over the ridge, with clouds moving quickly to obscure and then reveal the view.
Lynne was most uncomfortable as we were obliged to hold on tight in the jeep all the way down. Our guide was excellent in showing us medicinal plants and finding us some local passion fruit. We even had a sandwich lunch!
Next stop the local Lockhart tea factory to be shown the different stages in the process of making tea. We were reminded of our tour of the malt whisky distillery in Oban. Some of the processes seemed similar. Followed by a tasting as well: of 5 teas this time, including White tea.
We opted to return to the hotel. We’d enjoyed a full day out.
We decided not to drive anywhere the next day, opting to amuse ourselves in the hotel’s environs. For Lynne the day started with yoga, in a large room with fantastic views of Rajakumari and the verdant countryside. Peter indulged in transcendental meditation. Breakfast was outside on the terrace in rather cooler conditions than near the coast.
Lynne’s arm needed a rest after the previous day’s escapade in the jeep. We also wanted some hot water. The hotel had forgotten to switch it on but finally we were able to have a hot shower.
We indulged in a fantastic guided walk around the grounds, testing the variety of spices and seeing the fruits, flowers, dairy cattle, hens and vegetables. Unfortunately we both managed to get some red chilli pepper on our noses which was prickly.
The afternoon finished with a massage each in the spa. Lynne was not allowed the steam bath and had so much oil in her hair that she had to wash her hair twice more!
We had had a lovely stay, with the hotel quite empty but apparently fully booked for December and most of January. We are unsure whether the weather got warmer, our bodies acclimatised or Lynne’s flu had passed or a combination of all 3!
After breakfast we said a fond farewell to the other couple from England, Lynne laughing that we’d probably bump into them at the break stop en-route or on the Kerala Backwaters; we did not!
We left the hotel at 8.30am for a 210km drive to Alleppey. The weather was better so that we could see waterfalls as we drove down and the small villages as we arrived at the Backwaters. With a small coffee break and a road closure we arrived just after 2pm. It was definitely worth the trip up at the mountains, but if we had any recommendations, it would be to add another night there, so as not to spend so much time on the road.
