Day 2

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Day 2
We were asleep by about 8.30! ... And slept solid through until the rude awakening of the alarm at 6.45. We were both up and about, showered, re packed, and at the breakfast table by 7.15. I was surreal, on the rooftop, eating gorgeous banana pancakes, and drinking tea in such tranquil surroundings in the morning. Perfect.
We settled our bill, which was more than reasonable at rs 850, was very reasonable for 2! Considering I had turned up very early in the morning and gone to bed! Tom was told that an American lady was in his room!
Today we are setting off on a week long private tour. This was a last minute arrangement by Tom and a couple of UK girls, in conjunction with a lot of help from their CEO. The guy has worked wonders! Especially given the time of year!
We were picked up after breakfast by the driver in his very nice, spacious, air conditioned Toyota Innova. Our new travel partners, Kate and Nicola, and their backpacks, were already in the car. Thekkady. The first activity will be tomorrow at Periyar National Park. We have about a six hour drive ahead.
At 1pm we stopped off for lunch, as Najim described it, it was clean. The food was also very nice. Najim seems like a really nice fellow. He is married with two small children, yet spending Xmas with us!
We continued on our long, winding journey through what I would describe as, 'the tea mountains!' We found ourselves drowning in tea plantations. It is also important to note the vast punt of beautiful Catholic churches intermittently placed along the journey. There are many buses full of Hindu men dressed with their pieces of orange clothing travelling to a temple that is only open for 40 days per year. They travel there to pay homage to Eiyippa.
En route, we agree that we should visit the Connemara tea plantation and factory.
It was a very interesting tour of the factory. We saw the whole process from start to finish. We completed the tour by tasting the tea, very nice it was too!
Finally, we arrived at our hotel at 16.45, tired and sweaty!

The room is amazing! Very happy with it! Led lighting with stones built into the floor! Wwooaaww!
We have time for a shower before tonight's show which is based on Kerala traditional fighting.
We are then going out for dinner before having another early night. We have an early start in the morning.

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Comments

[Helen]

Safe travels
Hi Lesley Glad you got there safely. Sounds like you already back in the swing of it . Enjoy every minute. Xx