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Published: March 19th 2007
Raj popped his head around the door again. This was the third time in a minute. This time he wanted to know if we had spotted the switch for the lamp with the green lightbulb in the corner of the room. Eager to ensure that we had absolutely everything we wanted Raj closed the door again. We didn’t have to peek through the curtain to know that he was lurking outside the door thinking up what else we could possibly need.
The Keralan hospitality has been first class. Raj, a 28 year old business graduate who has built some tourist rooms next to his family house in the hill station of Munnar is a shining example of this. The food has been superb and al the little tours we have been on have been highly efficient.
We arrived a few days ago in Kochin having flown from Mumbai. It was a much needed change of pace. Fort Kochin is a charming little town on a beach that is lined with Chinese fishing nets. The following day Ollie and I took a day trip on the famous Keralan backwaters which was very relaxing and scenic. The tranquil nature of the
'Special Carrotts'!
Ourtuk tuk driver insisted that we but a bunch of carrotts to munch on as we toured Munnar's tea estates!boat ride was broken when an English girl took exception to an Indian man throwing his water bottle into the reeds. Calm was eventually restored and we carried on to have an enjoyable day. Ollie didn’t know if it was enjoyable or not because he slept for 89% of it!
The hill station of Munnar is where we are currently. It is so much cooler than the sweltering Kochin as parts of it are high up in the clouds. All the hills are covered in tea plantations. Today we bumped up and down the hills in a tuk tuk, driving through clouds and stopping to watch passing monkeys. There was some concern that our driver would be drunk as his breath smelled heavily of alcohol when he picked us up at nine o clock this morning. Fortunately he passed us over to his brother who drove expertly!
Off to Periyar National Park tomorrow. Loving Kerala.
PS: apologies for the incorrect spelling of 'carrot'!
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