A rare goat (or three)
After another set of albino pancakes (still not found out the proper name for these!) we were ushered into our car to go and buy a ticket for Eravikulam National Park. I thought it was a bit weird buying this about 13km from the park, and it turned out what we had actually purchased (for 50 Rps each) was some sort of queue jump ticket. When we arrived at the park itself, we soon understood why, skipping straight to the front of a queue of a few hundred, and onto a bus to do the final 4km to the entrance.
This bus journey was lovely, the morning light falling in the abundance of tidy tea plants. A shame I couldn't really take photos as it was a twisty and pacy ride! We were dropped off and carried on by foot, up a switch-back type sealed road. We certainly hadn't been first to the party this morning so it was fairly busy with Indian tourists, but nevertheless we kept our eyes peeled for the rare Nilgiri Tahr (a type of mountain goat). On the way down we managed to spot one - well three - and get a portrait of it too (albeit on the long lens).
Back in Munnar, we arranged a short trek for the afternoon, then our driver took us to a few "sightseeing spots", including a dam and an echo point. He seems very good at picking the same spots as everyone else, so rather than being able to enjoy the views, I took advantage of the stalls to buy some tasty chocolate, before asking the driver to stop a little further down the road for some unimpeded photos. The dam and lake themselves were fairly impressive, but we were certainly looking forward to some fresh air and walking.
Lunch was had (we chose some parotta and a chickpea curry from the fairly extensive menu, plus a biryani that turned out to be just veg fried rice) before we got into a jeep to go to the start point for our trek. Jeeps I find a little confusing - the seats in the back (so most of them) don't have enough headroom for a normal person to sit upright without hitting their head on the roof bars, a fairly fatal design flaw and I wonder why anyone buys them for passenger use. I was glad therefore to soon reach the start point and set of with Jose, our guide. Over the course of 15km or so, on a mixture of tracks, trails and sealed roads, we enjoyed stunning views of tea plantations, luscious valleys and a few dry season waterfalls. Jose told us in great detail about the local fruits, spices, GST tax system, corrupted government and the varying price of cardamon. It was so great to be out and walking in relative quiet, treating ourselves to oranges from the trees on the way, as well as some weird pink fruits a cute little girl gave us when we passed. The orange peel also proved very handy for repelling the hundreds of mosquitoes swarming in the one cardamon plantation we walked through, thankfully we stayed well clear after that!
After returning by jeep from our end point (and getting out head intact) we dined at a menu-less little place at the side of the road, recommended to us by our driver. This would have been great (and was good) but by unfortunate coincidence we were served the exact same food that we had chosen to eat at lunchtime! However, it was very tasty yet again, and super cheap - I think we paid £2 for the entire meal.
Foodwise, most things here seem a tad spicier than up north, which is OK as they are normally served with something starchy or bready. The oddest thing I think is that we are in a tea region yet haven't had any tea, despite drinking loads of it up to this point...!
After another set of albino pancakes (still not found out the proper name for these!) we were ushered into our car to go and buy a ticket for Eravikulam National Park. I thought it was a bit weird buying this about 13km from the park, and it turned out what we had actually purchased (for 50 Rps each) was some sort of queue jump ticket. When we arrived at the park itself, we soon understood why, skipping straight to the front of a queue of a few hundred, and onto a bus to do the final 4km to the entrance.
This bus journey was lovely, the morning light falling in the abundance of tidy tea plants. A shame I couldn't really take photos as it was a twisty and pacy ride! We were dropped off and carried on by foot, up a switch-back type sealed road. We certainly hadn't been first to the party this morning so it was fairly busy with Indian tourists, but nevertheless we kept our eyes peeled for the rare Nilgiri Tahr (a type of mountain goat). On the way down we managed to spot one - well three - and get a portrait of it too (albeit on the long lens).
Back in Munnar, we arranged a short trek for the afternoon, then our driver took us to a few "sightseeing spots", including a dam and an echo point. He seems very good at picking the same spots as everyone else, so rather than being able to enjoy the views, I took advantage of the stalls to buy some tasty chocolate, before asking the driver to stop a little further down the road for some unimpeded photos. The dam and lake themselves were fairly impressive, but we were certainly looking forward to some fresh air and walking.
Lunch was had (we chose some parotta and a chickpea curry from the fairly extensive menu, plus a biryani that turned out to be just veg fried rice) before we got into a jeep to go to the start point for our trek. Jeeps I find a little confusing - the seats in the back (so most of them) don't have enough headroom for a normal person to sit upright without hitting their head on the roof bars, a fairly fatal design flaw and I wonder why anyone buys them for passenger use. I was glad therefore to soon reach the start point and set of with Jose, our guide. Over the course of 15km or so, on a mixture of tracks, trails and sealed roads, we enjoyed stunning views of tea plantations, luscious valleys and a few dry season waterfalls. Jose told us in great detail about the local fruits, spices, GST tax system, corrupted government and the varying price of cardamon. It was so great to be out and walking in relative quiet, treating ourselves to oranges from the trees on the way, as well as some weird pink fruits a cute little girl gave us when we passed. The orange peel also proved very handy for repelling the hundreds of mosquitoes swarming in the one cardamon plantation we walked through, thankfully we stayed well clear after that!
After returning by jeep from our end point (and getting out head intact) we dined at a menu-less little place at the side of the road, recommended to us by our driver. This would have been great (and was good) but by unfortunate coincidence we were served the exact same food that we had chosen to eat at lunchtime! However, it was very tasty yet again, and super cheap - I think we paid £2 for the entire meal.
Foodwise, most things here seem a tad spicier than up north, which is OK as they are normally served with something starchy or bready. The oddest thing I think is that we are in a tea region yet haven't had any tea, despite drinking loads of it up to this point...!
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