Keralan travels

On Monday morning 12th Nov, we headed out of our hothouse to the boat to take a leisurely journey on the backwaters from Kollan to Appelley. It was a relaxing 8 hour trip although after 5 we did feel we could have moved on. However we had a lovely simple Thali lunch - this is very traditional in India. Its rice with sauces and veg to accompany it. It was served on a banana leaf and you are suppose to eat with your hands - although being prudish we found our sporks came in handy!
On arrival in Appelley Monday evening, we found lodgings very quickly and headed to a restaurant the guide book recommended for beer and butter chicken (this is the closest thing to Chicken Tikka Masala - a British staple in menu items). The guide book was not wrong.

Tuesday we left town for Kumily, which was east into the mountains. This is spice & tea country. The town was slightly disappointing as there was not much to see or do, but we found a nice home stay for the night and decided to head to the Periyar Wildlife Park the next day. That evening we met a girl from America who having spent 5 months in India was very positive about the place, but told us to give the park a miss as you won't really see any animals and it will cost 2 nights accommodation to get in. So we heeded her advice and decided to see tea and spices instead.
We were shown around a lovely garden full of cardamon, vanilla, cocoa, banana's, allspice, curry powder leaves, coffee beans, chili peppers, bell peppers, mints, lots of medicinal herbs and spices and we were given a leaf to chew on that was 100 times sweeter than sugar ! I found this place so interesting as spices to me just come in little jars made by Schwartz.
We followed this with a trip to a tea factory and saw the process from leaf to loose tea (ready for teabags). The process was so simplistic but brilliant. What a fab industry, and it does make you think about all the work that goes into making a simple teabag that we so often take for granted.

Tuesday afternoon we took a bus to Munnar, further into the mountains as every report says its a stunning place. The bus was due to be direct but as with many of India's transportation options, this was not the case. We had to change and wait for 45 mins for a bus that we were not even sure would turn up. We did use this opportunity for a comfort break, we were met by dark and dingy conditions but I was OK, Ryan on the other hand I don't think has recovered from his disgust. I don't think he ever wished he had lost his sight and sense of smell as much as on this occasion. I decided to grab two cups of hot coffee to have before the bus arrived, but as I had just ordered, the bus pulled up. Ryan was queuing to get on as I grabbed the two flimsy plastic cups of boiling coffee and made my way on board with him. Both of us had backpacks on, Ryan had to stand and I had 4 inches of seat near the front facing backwards as to just perch my right buttock on the seat - the seat was already housing 3 other women at the time. A saner person would have ditched the coffee but we needed it. Off we ploughed into the twisting and turning pitch black hills clinging on for dear life (and clinging to our coffees), so needless to say we were thrilled at one point to see the headlights fail!!

We arrived, tired and hungry in Munnar. Thinking the whole traumatic affair was over and all we needed to do was get off the bus. OH MY GOD... never in all my days have I seen anything like it. People were piling on through the door we needed to get out of, so we thought of going through the drivers door but were met with more people. I couldn't see a way through.. I had to prise women's hands off the bars just to get past them and was then faced with about 10 more on the stairs and ground below all trying to get forward. There was only one thing for it .. I launched myself at them (backpack on so full weight) and crowd surfed to the ground. I thought as I cursed the crazy people that Ryan was a goner and this is where we would part ways. I called to him to go back and try the drivers seat route as there was no way he would get out the back doors. Luckily it had cleared and off he got and we headed to get food and lodging bewildered and shocked at the experience.