At nineish we went across for our buffet breakfast at our hotel high on the hill. Apparently, buffets are generally not a good idea for travellers in India as eating food that's been sitting around lazily for a few hours can lead to stomach problems. With this in mind, I avoided the salads and started with Cornflakes and hot milk and then had the attendant egg minder to make me an omelette which was far too greasy for my delicate innards. But c'est la vie as they...

We left our hillside bungalow in mid-morning after we had eaten our Keralan breakfast, watched the slight of frame porters haul our luggage head high down to the taxi and paid our debts and left a tip for the workers. Again I cannot but wonder what is a good tip? We left about five pounds to be shared amongst the staff. Very little in British terms but quite a lot here! Still feeling tender as our driver launched us through the mist amongst the teas plantations...

A poor night's sleep for me having woken about 2 a.m. and then remained awake struggling to fight an increasingly heavy cold and battling to breathe through a challengingly blocked nose. Also I started to get stomach and rear end food removal problems. Due to the lack of hygiene of the food plonking boat men from yesterday? I wonder. Anyway, having ordered porridge for breakfast, I failed to eat anything for fear of returning the food in an inappropriate manner...