Day 5: Whispering Waters to Munnar

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A bit of a lie in this morning after a rather disturbed night. Olivia and I decided that an adult should be in each bedroom rather late. So, I picked Chloe up from the kids room and Olivia slept in there. Phoebe then had an upset stomach into the early hours of the morning and so not a great deal of sleep was had.

After a light breakfast we packed up and left Whispering Waters for our new destination in Munnar. We stopped after a few minutes for Anoop to show us how rubber is collected. He gave us a couple of interesting facts about it too: rubber was discovered in Brazil and was first used as a pencil eraser!

It was a 3 hour journey to Munnar and everyone was fairly quiet as the roads were windy and a bit of car sickness was creeping in. After a pit stop at a viewing point (beautiful waterfall) we got out of the van and walked for a bit and got our first glimpses of the tea plantations of Munnar, quite a sight! Anoop also showed us a couple of shrines to Shiva and a Black headed Eagle.

We got to the hotel and were greeted in what is now becoming the usual fashion of loads of Indians who cant do enough to help. Oddly we are the only ones at the hotel, but great in that we have all the staff looking after us! After a brief rest to recover and a lunch of chicken noodles we headed out on our trek.

Walking up and behind the hotel our guide took us through Cardamom plantations, and showed us where the seeds came from. He next pointed out the coffee plants, 2 main types, Arabica (bigger plant) and Robusta (smaller and stronger caffeine). We came across the Morning Glory flower, the Angels Trumpet, Poinsettia and loads of others that I cant remember. We saw a Macaque monkey and a couple of squirrels- absolutely huge! A great wildlife and wilderness experience. We finished up in the tea plantations and our guide gave us a talk on where it came from and how it has become the staple export of the Western Ghats of Kerala; they are replanted every 100 years, and were brought to the region by a Scotsman (Baron Von Rosenberg). We were told that the whole area is now a co-op between all of the farmers of the region. Within each plant there are 3 types of tea: white (best – good for cancer apparently), green (good for the digestive) and black (what everyone drinks).

Views were incredible and whilst there was a bit of moaning from Phoebe, Lucas and Chloe I think everyone enjoyed it. Heading back was fairly quick and we had a bit of a rest before a delicious supper of multiple currys, Keralan rice, chapatti and mango juice. Lucas and Chloe had cheese sandwiches and chips!!

Early morning tomorrow so we had an early night…

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