Day 8: Trekking in Shola - Tea and Cardamom plantations and the Great Outdoors

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Woke up to a beautiful view outside our window. As the mists started to rise off the mountains and the sun started to burn through it, the cockerel was crowing and the hotel was beginning to wake up.

We had a short breakfast of eggs toast and a savoury pancake- Indian style and celebrated the exciting news that Phoebe has got a major part in the Rose Theatre production of Snow Queen. She is going to be the narrator which she is over the moon about.

Today we had a big trek through the hills South of Munnar, of about 12km. Up and down hills, through thick plantations and forest but also across wide open hills with views right across the valley. Anoop brought with him another guide who showed us lots of fauna and the odd animal. It was quite a tough start as mostly uphill but we got the chance to see and try mulberry, basil, curry leaves, we saw our first snake - Chloe spotted it as it was crossing the road which was quite exciting.

We were all in high spirits after a good nights sleep and hot showers and the heat rising didn't affect it too much! We had a pit stop mid-morning on a large rock overlooking the valley where Chloe proceeded to teach everyone how to do cartwheels and handsprings. The girls could do them one handed, Anoop gave it a go- not one of his strengths!- and Lucas didnt try very hard at all. There was also a Shiva Shrine up there (they seem to pop up everywhere). We were told you can spot shrines to Shiva (who is the fighter) by the trident that is always part of it, and there might be donations of tobacco to him.

As we carried on down the trek we spotted a myna - but it wouldnt repeat what we were saying to it - endless flowers and fruit including coffee, cinnamon, papaya and grapefruit. Eventually we reached the end and collapsed into the van which took us back to the hotel for showers and a rest.

Since we're in India we thought we'd watch the Exotic Marigold Hotel which is based in Rajesthan (and in a hotel that is in Kochi that we saw), and so topical - very good.



Tomorrow we move on to Periyar National Park to stay in a Forest Canopy hotel and, whilst its been a brilliant stay in Shola, we're looking forward to the next stage in our adventure in Kerala....

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Comments

[Bharat Taxi]

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Really great article. The pictures are really awesome. I like this blog very much. Thanks for sharing.