The next stop on the Kerala tour was to climb the hills of Munnar. Located 1,600 metres above sea level in the Western Ghats Mountain Range that splits Kerala from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Up here it’s all about Tea with numerous plantations surrounding the town and villages.

Our day started on the Ernakulam-Munnar Public Bus. At 86 pence for a 140km bus journey through the mountains it’s hard to beat on value. It also provides a hard beating on the traveller as there is a distinct lack of suspension built into the vehicle – you feel every bump. It was a big beast of iron and steam. It looked and sounded like it was forged by dwarfs in their workshop and filled with the spirit of a tiger.. It’s wheels like talons making short work of the hill climbs it had to undertake that day.

So enjoyable was the journey that our weary travellers missed their stop and took another 6 kilometres down the road to register that fact. John was to blame for his indecisiveness on whether it was the right stop or not.It is survival of the fittest on Indian Public buses – you either know in your heart this is your stop or you are doomed to travel onwards on the bus for an eternity.

Deposited on the mountainside, lost and marooned we had no way of contacting our accomodation – much less knowing where it was in relation to our current position. But not all was lost – the purchase of some Sprites and a Snickers bar or two managed to convince the shopkeeper that we were worth saving and he rang a friend who arrived like a knight in shining armour with his trusty Tuktuk to bring us to our accomodation.

Our new home was the River Rock Homestay, just outside the village of Kunchittany. The room was excellent having recently been built and the views were stunning. The only downside, however, was the cooking but it was salvaged by the ‘summons to dinner’…

“Come. Come on to dinner. Come. Come on!!” – said in a sharp Indian accent and the banging of a pot.

The rooms were pretty good, balcony, decent bathroom and bed and we also had a television. On turning this on we were treated to the movie Braveheart. Nice

The next morning we met our driver for the day. Friendly enough fellow but he hadn’t enough English to even say ‘Hello’. This would be fun.

After a 2 hour drive our first stop was Top Station. Nearly 8,000 feet above sea level this afforded great views and photo opportunities of the surrounding lands. Top Station is actually located in the next door state of Tamil Nadu but the only road connecting it comes from Kerala. It derives its name by being the uppermost terminus of the Kottagudi Aerial Ropeway that was used to transport chests of tea down from the mountain plantations.

After that we visited 2 dams and a spot in the river called Echo Point  – a place where a natural echo phenomenon allows you to shout across a from one bank of Kundula Lake and hear your voice back. It is quite the tourist destination so there were a number of vendors so we bought some lovely homemade chocolate from one of the many stalls and had a few photo stops. We stopped for lunch back in the main town – an excellent Thali (a platter of food served on a banana leaf if you are lucky!) that was only superseded by the Thali the following day.

After lunch, with the heat beckoning and the driver running out of good ideas we decided to go back to the homestay in the early afternoon.

The next day we went into Munnar Town on a less flash packer TukTuk and headed straight for the Tea Museum. Opening in 2005 by the Tata group, this museum tells the story of tea production in the Munnar area. It was great and we got to see close up the tea making process from leaf to cup.

When the tour guide found out that John was Irish he was dragged across the factory by a couple of workers to another area away from the tour. He need not have worried as the intent was to show him an an old piece of machinery that was still in use today to make Tea. Made in Belfast Ireland was stamped on it! An OCB Tea Roller made by the Davidson & Co. Limited.

To get back into Munnar we borrowed someone’s TukTuk as the roads were not pedestrian friendly. We spent the next few hours pottering around town, including a stop at the Munnar Wine Shop – the only place in town to buy booze as were still in Kerala.

Our last night in the homestay was packed as two French families were staying the night. Little did they know that Johnny boy speaks French. Instead of salacious gossip they were talking fruit and chocolate..even Karen understood what they were saying! Luckily we had our forbidden beers to drink on the room balcony for entertainment.

Munnar was relaxing but the 5.30am alarm in the form of the nearby temple was a bit much!