Kumily and Munnar

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Kumily is a great place to visit just for the town itself. Its a busting spice town set in the mountains and lush green rolling hills of the Western Ghats. Its also the gateway to the Periyar Nature reserve - famous for its tigers and elephants..... but unless you have a helicopter - don't think you will see any!

Gail and I arrived in Kumily after the bus trip from hell and checked into Elephant Hills Cottages - where we got a huge room, TV and comfy bed each for 300 R.... Bargain and just what we both needed after 3 weeks in a dormitory and a few nights bunking in in Varkala! All in the name of saving money of course - but sometimes a bit of solitude can do you the world of good!

We spent a few days exploring Kumily, looking around shops and markets, chilling in bed all of one day reading and eating as the weather was foul! Then did some free style hiking up the mountains through some villages and shared a magical fruit called a Pomelo with a village family.

When you walk past villagers they smile, give you the ubiquitous head wobble and then call the rest of the family, neighbours and who ever they can find onto the street to stare at you and ask you the same questions "where you from? OR what is your place" "what is your good name" "what is your job" and if you are really lucky "where is your husband" So of course you get chatting and then the man runs around the back and grabs the biggest grapefruit type thing, splits it open and then begins to force feed you bits of this thing, breaks off pieces to give to the family who in turn also force feed you.... By the end we were so full and content that there was no need for lunch.

After a peaceful nights sleep the following morning we were up early for a bamboo rafting trip around a lake to look for wildlife.... We had been warned that after heavy rain the banks of the lake were filled with leaches. Great! So on arrival we were given the most flattering pair of leech socks to wear over our trousers. After a great day out on the water and a long walk through the forest - lets just say the leech to wildlife ratio was somewhat outweighed by leeches. We saw a heard of bison and a black monkey and 2 wild dogs.... Not exactly the Serengeti

The following day we left Kumily behind in search of Tea in Munnar. It was nice to return to Munnar as I had only spent a night there and had Delhi Belly so not a tip top experience! We stayed in a nice hotel called Green View - aptly named with green views of the tea plantations as far as the eye can see - if you shut one eye and ignore the neighbours garden.

Did a beautiful 7 hour hike with a knowledgeable guide from the hotel who was very keen to be green and encourage eco living which is a lovely change in India. Most of the time Indians want to encourage you to chuck your plastic bottles out the window of moving vehicles - which really traumatises me!
We were above the clouds most of the time and with sweeping views over the lush green valleys of Munnar - it was breathtaking! We didn't see another soul all day! Lucky lady indeed!

I slept well that night indeed - off to Kodai tomorrow. Lets see what adventures that holds....
Namaste

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