Munnar Trek Time
Thursday 1/10
Today we woke once again to the acoustic progression of the last three days. Just before 5:30 the melodic and rather haunting Muslim call to worship. Just after 5:30 the Hindu temples in the valley would start kicking out music and vocals which would continue until about 8:30. At 6:00 the shift change siren from the local hydroelectric plant would sound for about 15 seconds. Then, at about 6:15, the forest would wake up and the sound of many different birds could be heard lingering with the Hindu music. All of these sounds give yet another interesting vibe to the whole experience. Google has an auto function that 'stylizes' images. Here one such shot from our deck that begins to capture some of the morning feeling here, at least in image form.
We have had a variety of breakfasts here at the homestay including Dosa, Sambar, rice with coconut, banannas, watermelon and fresh pinapple juice. We chose to take our dinners here as we are far out of town and it is such a pleasant place. Our dinners have been simple and slightly varied but always good. Much of the ingredients are grown right here on the property.
We met our tea trekking guide and headed out for a 4.5 hour hike that took us up through the tea fields and to the tops of some of the surrounding hills for great views.
We learned that originally the British worked the tea plantations with elephants to reach the tops of the full grown tea trees. The elephants would have been a site to see and watching them navigate the steep hillsides would have been impressive. The trees are now kept at about elbow height to make for easy plucking without the assistance of an elephant.
Our guide was mid 20's and definately had lots to talk about. The topic ranged from what we were seeing on the trek itself, to politics, public school, nutrition, exercise, family dynamics, etc. He said that almost all the marriages in the village are arranged and that does not work so well, lots of fighting ensues. But his mom is good to him and will let him choose his bride. He called Patti 'Mom', or 'Ma'am' the whole time, not sure. He called me the same a few times which made me even more unsure.
David said that he is eventually going to move away from Munnar, even though this is 'Gods own country', and go to a white people country so he can earn a better living. Munnar really is something special. It is beautiful and the climate is moderate all year round, no heating required in the winter and no air conditioning required in the summer. Also the mosquito count is really low ;-). However, there is no opportunity here for him and he will have to move to make it beyond just being a guide and he does not want to work in the tea fields like his parents.
The kids were a little wiped after the hike so we grabbed some lunch at a place we intended to go yesterday but could not because most of the restaurants were closed. I got another Thali plate, this one had a wide variety of different dishes. No day in Munnar is complete now without scoring some chocolate. Today we hit a chocolate factory, really it was just a demonstration site, but you could choose from a wide variety of different milk chocolates and the best 90% dark that I have ever had, and they would individually wrap them for you. We sampled everything and definately had our fill by the time we were required to purchase. We went for it and picked up 750 grams which should last at least a half an hour with our little chocolate fiends.
At dinner Tara was experiencing Pre Tramatic Stress Disorder. She was goofing around with Riley and broke a glass so we told her that she had to find our homestay host and apologize to him and indicate that she will be paying for the glass. She was unable to do this. As time went on the bargaining stakes went higher and higher for some alternate to the directive. I finally adjusted a little bit and came away with a 15 minute massage and some other Tara time.
Images in 2019 Munnar
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
Today we woke once again to the acoustic progression of the last three days. Just before 5:30 the melodic and rather haunting Muslim call to worship. Just after 5:30 the Hindu temples in the valley would start kicking out music and vocals which would continue until about 8:30. At 6:00 the shift change siren from the local hydroelectric plant would sound for about 15 seconds. Then, at about 6:15, the forest would wake up and the sound of many different birds could be heard lingering with the Hindu music. All of these sounds give yet another interesting vibe to the whole experience. Google has an auto function that 'stylizes' images. Here one such shot from our deck that begins to capture some of the morning feeling here, at least in image form.
We have had a variety of breakfasts here at the homestay including Dosa, Sambar, rice with coconut, banannas, watermelon and fresh pinapple juice. We chose to take our dinners here as we are far out of town and it is such a pleasant place. Our dinners have been simple and slightly varied but always good. Much of the ingredients are grown right here on the property.
We met our tea trekking guide and headed out for a 4.5 hour hike that took us up through the tea fields and to the tops of some of the surrounding hills for great views.
We learned that originally the British worked the tea plantations with elephants to reach the tops of the full grown tea trees. The elephants would have been a site to see and watching them navigate the steep hillsides would have been impressive. The trees are now kept at about elbow height to make for easy plucking without the assistance of an elephant.
Our guide was mid 20's and definately had lots to talk about. The topic ranged from what we were seeing on the trek itself, to politics, public school, nutrition, exercise, family dynamics, etc. He said that almost all the marriages in the village are arranged and that does not work so well, lots of fighting ensues. But his mom is good to him and will let him choose his bride. He called Patti 'Mom', or 'Ma'am' the whole time, not sure. He called me the same a few times which made me even more unsure.
David said that he is eventually going to move away from Munnar, even though this is 'Gods own country', and go to a white people country so he can earn a better living. Munnar really is something special. It is beautiful and the climate is moderate all year round, no heating required in the winter and no air conditioning required in the summer. Also the mosquito count is really low ;-). However, there is no opportunity here for him and he will have to move to make it beyond just being a guide and he does not want to work in the tea fields like his parents.
The kids were a little wiped after the hike so we grabbed some lunch at a place we intended to go yesterday but could not because most of the restaurants were closed. I got another Thali plate, this one had a wide variety of different dishes. No day in Munnar is complete now without scoring some chocolate. Today we hit a chocolate factory, really it was just a demonstration site, but you could choose from a wide variety of different milk chocolates and the best 90% dark that I have ever had, and they would individually wrap them for you. We sampled everything and definately had our fill by the time we were required to purchase. We went for it and picked up 750 grams which should last at least a half an hour with our little chocolate fiends.
At dinner Tara was experiencing Pre Tramatic Stress Disorder. She was goofing around with Riley and broke a glass so we told her that she had to find our homestay host and apologize to him and indicate that she will be paying for the glass. She was unable to do this. As time went on the bargaining stakes went higher and higher for some alternate to the directive. I finally adjusted a little bit and came away with a 15 minute massage and some other Tara time.
Images in 2019 Munnar
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
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