Munnar

Day 5:

Tea plantations

 We left for Munnar today. Munnar, popular with honeymooners is a beautiful hill station famous for its tea estates which was originally started by the British. Munnar means  3 rivers in Malayalam. The 3 rivers - Mattupetti, Nallathanni and Periavaru which flow through the town, and join some distance away from Munnar.  It was the summer resort of the British. Now it is heavily crowded with Indian tourists especially in the summer when the temperature is very pleasant.  The mountains range from 1500-2500 m above sea level  and is home to the Eravikulam national park where one can see the Nilgiri Tahr which is listed as an endangered species.

We took the morning boat from Fort Kochi to Ernakulam and then a rickshaw to the transport bus stand. You can get buses to all parts of South India from there. Our bus started at around 9:30am and reached Munnar at 2:20 pm. The roads where narrow and curvwy passing through forests, water falls and scenic surroundings of tea estates on the way to Munnar. We checked in to Poopada hotel near to KSRTC bus depot. The place is about 10 mins walk from Munnar center, which in a way was good to avoid the crowd of tourists. 

 

Photo point

We met Swamy the rikshaw guy and he offered to show us around in the evening. We had food in a nearby restaurant from where we got the first hit of food poisoning. I had mostly stomach problems and for Gela it was much worse with vomiting n stomach problems. In the evening Swamy picked us up from the hotel and we did a roundtrip to the nearby tea gardens, and to a spice garden where we got a crash course on the different spice plants. On the way back we stopped at the photo point to have a tea and watched the cloudy sunsent without the sun. Still the landscape was absolutely beautiful.

Day 6:

The food poisoning hit Gela hard and she vomited multiple times at night.  As a result she was very tired in the morning. Swamy picked us up again in the morning for a trip to the top station which is around 36 km from Munnar. Travelling by a rickshaw was a mistake as the road was not in good shape and we had a rough ride. On the way Swamy managed to find a location where wild elephants came out of the forest to have a breakfast in the open.  It was a wonderful sight of a small herd with little ones tagging along.

We stopped at the Mattupetti dam which is about 10 km from Munnar. It is a picnic spot where one can go for boating or horse driving. We just had some snaps and then proceeded to the Echo point which is about 15 kms from Munnar. It is a small lake surrounded by beautiful woods where a loud call will produce an echo by the surrounding hills. We stopped at tea plantations on the way to have a look around and take photographs. Though you are not allowed to enter tea plantations without permission I think it is somewhat tolerated as long as you don’t do damage to the plants. The greenery of the tea plantations covering the hills like a blanket is breath taking. It is one of the most beautiful scenes.  

View from topstation

Top station is a worth a visit as one gets a wonderful view of the western ghats on a sunny day. The area is also known for small violet flower called Neelakurunji plant, which flowers only once every 12 years. But we didn’t see it as it was not the right season. On the way back we had lunch in the restaurant in the town and bought tea from Kannan Devan tea outlet in the town. Most of the tea estates here belong to Tata and Kannan Devan is the brand name of their tea that is cultivated here.

 
Day 7:
 

Botanical garden

We had a slow start in the morning. We had breakfast in the hotel and then took a rickshaw ride to the Tata tea museum. It was a good decision. We got a tour of the tea factory along with interesting information about the origin of tea plantations in Munnar and the production of tea.  On the way back from there we stopped at the tourist office to get information on Kalarippayat performance in the town in evening.  We dropped by at the botanical garden near to where we stayed. It is a nice place with wide variety of flowers. And it is also a nice picnic spot.

Kalarippayat

 

 

 

Kalarippayat is one of the oldest martial arts forms in the world which originated in Kerala. Some believe that it is the forerunner of all martial arts with roots back to the 12^th century.  Still there are schools in Kerala where one can learn Kalarippayat. So the performance was given by one such school. We went for watching the performance in the evening after taking a food in one of the vegetarian restaurants in the town. The Kalarippayat takes place in a rectangular arena called kalari with Hindu deities placed on the corner.  The performance went on for about an hour and it was very impressive. It’s a very long time since I have watched such a performance.