Moon Over Munnar

Okay, new plan. I'll live in Munnar for the winter, Rishikesh in the spring, monsoon season in Canada and autumn in Dharmasala.

The drive up to Munnar was absolutely enchanting with twisty turns, morning glories and cardamom bushes, tea and oranges. The air was fresh with a delicious scent and the sheer lushness was almost overwhelming. The narrow sharp turns with surprise buses around the corners kept our adrenaline on high. Cl gave us some more "whoas" and a really large intake of breath as one bus caromed around a corner and directly in front of our grille.

We did make it alive to our guesthouse situated in a spice jungle. The grounds were gorgeous with a profusion of trees, flowers and spice plants. The insides were less impressive, and less impressive again when it was revealed they could not provide each person with a towel. Some towel raiding of unoccupied rooms may have occurred. It was Cz's turn for the cot and, in this case, it was a mattress on the floor. I felt bad for her but not bad enough to be on the cot two times in a row. Our common gathering area wasn't a lobby, but the gravel parking lot. Oh well, the rooms were clean and our bathroom had leaping dolphins tiles. So what if they didn't have any refreshments on hand or a fridge to cool the beer they bought for us.

Munnar is pretty much owned by the TATA tea company. The entire area is rolling verdant hills of tea dotted with women snipping away at tea plants with their shears with the tea catching bags attached. TATA built the housing for its workers, schools for their children, and many of the community buildings. They also run a business for differently abled children, house them and provide all their medical care. The "children" who seemed to be children the same way the middle aged cast of Grease were "teenagers", worked making high quality jams, paper products and natural textiles. We got to tour the textile factory and watch them dye fabrics using natural dyes, do batik, and transform fabric into shawls and other items of clothing. This was not the usual "take pity on the poor disadvantaged" crap; these people were turning out incredible works of art and they caused some serious damage to my wallet. Who needs a deep indigo pashmina? Why, that would be me.

With such a delicious setting, some of us could not resist a good trek. We walked for 5 hours with a guide through tea plantations, through a few meters of jungle, and up grassy meadows to mountain peaks. I have never seen so many shades of green in one place. We passed "caution: elephant crossing" signs and fresh elephant spoors on the paths where we trekked. The colours and scents (not of the spoor) were ecstasy inducing. I found myself fantasizing about settling down in Munnar, having my oranges and fresh tea with fresh spices every morning before setting out for a stroll through the flowering trees, jasmine braided in my hair. It really is close to heaven on earth.

Mind you, I burned like a crispy critter in heaven. I was expecting that more in the other place.