It wasn't the best start for Munnar. Firstly, our 6 hour bus/train journey became a 10 hour journey due to being delayed because a drunk man got on the bus and started shouting various communist remarks that started a bit of a fight with every other bloke on the bus. This meant we had to wait ages for the police to arrive, who then arrested about half of the bus. As well as this, our bags got soaking wet on the bus from the heavy downpour of rain from outside. Once we finally arrived in Munnar, the guesthouse we wanted was full and the only other cheapish one had an arrogant manager who we soon fell out with so we left. This left us wandering down a busy unlit road in the pitch dark, whilst getting battered by the monsoon rain. As you can imagine, a few cross words were said between us during this episode and the less said about it the better.

The following day we managed to get into the place we wanted and we spent the next 4 nights exploring the town and area. Munnar is the central township and administrative area for the surrounding tea estates that cover the cloud piercing hills and mountains nearby. The scenery is stunning and there are several waterfalls, viewpoints, wildlife sanctuaries and other sites in the area that are either accessed by one of the hundreds of tuks tuks and buses that are whizzing about, or by scooter as we did.

Enchanting mist clad hills, quaint cottages, fragrant tea gardens and mist draped mornings is the hallmark of Munnar. The scenery is really like nothing else as we trekked around two of the tea plantations, one on our own to a view point and waterfall and the other was a 15km hike as part of a guided group. The sculpted tea bushes roll forever into the distance with the workers are scattered around the plantations from dawn till dusk picking the leaves for tea. The workers get paid about £2 a day, but the tea company provides healthcare, housing, and schooling for the children, so by India standards it's actually quite reasonable. The ladies do the majority of the picking leaves whereas the men often work in the factories. We had one tour of a working tea factory, which was interesting. We watched the whole process of fresh tea leaves being dried out, sorted and turned into tea bags. The company sells the tea bags to Twinnings, Tetleys and other international tea companies.

Tea facts. A tea bush gives three leaves. The big one for normal black tea, the smaller leaf used for green tea and the tiny one in the middle is used for gold tea.

Gold tea however is that expensive nobody in India can actually afford to drink it.

On the scooter, we drove out to lots of waterfalls and viewpoints as well as a place called top station. Which used to be a high station of of some sort. We won't forget it as a place with high prices. They actually charge £2 each to look at a view! They must have caught us on a good day because we paid it!

Our tightness with money has reached a new level now and we are doing things that we are actually not even a tiny bit ashamed of. For example, before taking the scooter back for the day we wanted to quickly nip to the Tea Factory, however to do this we needed to fill the tank with about £1 worth of petrol. We didn't want to return the bike back completely empty and anymore petrol would have been a waste for us. At the petrol station David asked to put in £1 worth of fuel, however the attendant misheard and instead put in an extortionate £2! Now, you might think that its only a quid, and in any normal circumstances you would just pay and be done with it. But like we said, we are at a completely new level now. So, after a 10 minute argument with a few of the attendants and then the manager, the poor lad who had put in the fuel was summoned to get a hose pipe and a measuring jug and then began to actually siphon out £1 worth of fuel!. We watched as he sucked on the pipe spurting horrible petrol into his mouth and measuring to the millilitre the exact amount of fuel in the jug...it got worse when we then had the audacity to pay for our £1 worth of fuel with a £10 note! You've got to remember that we are on a budget and that £1 is worth 2 beers!

On the last day we decided to get a tuk tuk to take us to the nearby Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary. Getting a tuk tuk there was a good experience, our driver knew all the best spots on the way there to stop for photos and food. And he was amazing at spotting animals. We stopped and saw the local giant grizzled squirrel, several birds, wild buffalo and most importantly loads of monkeys!!

The wildlife sanctuary was good. We hiked through the reserve up to the top of the mountain with two guides. It's worth mentioning that it is a requirement to have 2 guides in this park as you are actually walking through tiger territory! The park is home to over 30 wild tigers and although we were told to be extremely quiet on some parts of the walk we felt extremely safe - especially with our weapon that one of the guides carried...a stick. How that would have saved our lives if we were being chased by a giant Bengal Tiger we would still like to know?

Although we didn't see anything at all in the way of wildlife for the first hour and a half, apart from the backside of a bison, on our way back to the entrance we finally saw what we had come to see, wild elephants. A huge male and a couple of females were wandering round about 50 metres away from us and we had an excellent view of them for about 20 minutes. It made the whole thing worth it.

On the way back we were that impressed with our guide/wildlife spotter that we took him out for lunch. This took him by surprise as he said he wouldn't normally be able to come to the restaurant we went too. Drivers are normally expected to wait outside or to eat at the street stalls. We aren't sure if this was a class/caste thing or just a money thing? Either way it was nice to be able to treat him to a meal that cost 60p - see, we aren't always tight.

All in all, Munnar has been really good.


Things we have learned
1 A lot of work goes in that perfect cup of tea.
2 The best brownies in India are located in Munnar at a very small bakery
3 Keep your opinions to yourself on a bus ride in India


Planes used - 4
Buses used - 21 (+2)
Trains used - 17 (+1)
Metros/subways used - 28
Cars used - 5
Minivans - 8
Russian Campervans used -1
Horses used - 1
Camels used - 1
Taxis used - 8
Cable cars used - 1
Bicycles used- 1
Tuk tuks/autorickshaw used - 23 (+4)
Scooters used - 5 (+1)
Elephants used - 0
Ferrys used - 4
CycloRickshaw - 1
Bamboo HouseBoat - 1