Christmas in Munnar’s Tea Plantations

During our time off this year, Will and I decided to take a stab at trekking. Will’s an old pro, while I’m a bit of a timid novice but I have to say, I had so much fun. It was great to spend 5 days away from the heat, the crowds and my beloved, WiFi.

Below is a recap of our time in Munnar, Alleppey and Kochi and Kollum.

Day 1: Leave Varkala Beach for… Somewhere North

We woke up early and took a 45 minute (and 80 cent) train to Kollum where we had hoped to take an 8-hour day cruise/ferry to Alleppey. Unfortunately the ferry was sold out when we arrived so in true trekking fashion, we quickly recalculated and back on the train and headed to Kochi where we planned to catch a bus to Munnar, India – Home of cool weather, mountains and endless acres of tea plantations.

Our train to Kochi was equally cheap and surprisingly very enjoyable. We arrived a the train station in Kochi and a very helpful local couldn’t bare to see us manage on our own, so he called a tuk tuk for us, paid for it, and personally delivered us to the Kochi bus station. So nice!! We exchanged names, he gave me his Facebook URL (awe) and convinced him we would be OK on our own. Harder than you think.

We had about 20 minutes before our 5 1/2 hour bus ride to Munnar. Just enough time to try out the local eaterie. We discovered Parotta (delicious doughy/flakey South Indian bread) and curry in a bag. That’s right… curry… just right in the little baggie tied up and waiting for you. Just open it up and pour it onto your bread or rice.

So glad I got over my bagged curry prejudice and had lunch. It was the best curry we’ve had since Bangalore.

We got on the bus and after a few stops, a busted tire and a bathroom break, we arrived in Munnar, 7 1/2 hours after we departed Kochi. It was dark when we arrived, so we worked our way through the packed streets, and quickly found a place to get dinner – A highly recommended vegetarian restaurant Guru Bhavan. It was not great, but that is OK, we had more important things to worry about like finding a place to stay that night. After an hour of walking around the town and asking the hotels if they had vacancy, we quickly realized that Munnar was not just our holiday destination but that of nearly every family in India.

There were thousands of people walking around town and hundreds of party-bus-like-creations honking their horns and playing music. The local tourists were really enjoying themselves. The town itself really isn’t that great. Slightly dirty, a little polluted and not pretty. I was confused, but decided to keep my questions to myself.

We finally found a place to call around for us and we landed a room just outside of town. I swear it was the last room available for miles. We were very excited.

A photo that our new friend insisted he take for us. Thanks guy.

Nothing like a flat tire to make your Indian bus experience complete.

Thankfully Will had a little snack.

Back on the road.

The temp is dropping and the palm trees are traded out for more leafy trees.

Day 2: Discovering Munnar

We set the alarm for 7AM and woke up right on time. I think Will’s eyes were already open when the alarm went off. We were very happy to leave our strange hotel situation.

We had a cup of local tea and hired a driver for the day. We had no idea what awaited us on the road and wow… let me just say that Munnar might be the most beautiful place we’ve visited on our trip. It has to be a three-way tie between Ireland, Austria and Munnar.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Good golly! We loved every second of our drive.

We found a place to stay that night while touring “Top Station” the end point for most Munnar touring. We fell in love with this sweet place, Periyar, run by two brothers. They took to us as well, sharing their campfire, giving us the inside scoop on life in Kerala and answering all of our questions about Indian traditions. They even taught me how to put on the traditional Kerala “man skirt.”

Peaceful, Top Station really is the best place to stay. Forget Munnar town and plan on finding your accommodation in the clouds, surrounded by local wildlife (bison, goats, furry squirrels, etc) and with the most stunning views.

A few side notes about the day

We visited the Kundali and Manupatty Dams and some tree with huge beehives.
We rode horses through the tree plantations – Will rides like a pro. Despite years of horse back riding, I still can’t command my horse. Near death experiences were had. Very thankful to have avoided the Munnar Hospital.
We tried a traditional Thali lunch.
We loved our driver. He was so nice and eager to show us his beautiful country.
Our Periyar brothers showed us the secret plantation treks. We spent two hours before dinner walking with the locals is the most gorgeous place in the world. Seriously amazing.
We had a wonderfully spicy and delicious dinner at Periyar, and watched the sun set.
Enjoyed a few beers and fell asleep on some of the world’s hardest beds.

Day 3: More Munnar & A Tea Museum Visit

I woke up at 6AM to see the sun rise on the top of our hotel. It was amazing. I ended up taking a little walk while Will was waking up.

We took the city bus down from Top Station into Munnar town to go to the Tea Museum. Highly recommend the tea museum. We watched a 30 minute video about the region, the tea industry and Tata… who owns pretty much all of India apparently. We watched tea leaves being processed and enjoyed a cup of very fresh tea.

We headed back to Top Station on the city bus, which we are starting to fall in love with, and enjoyed another walk around the near by tea plantations followed by an even spicier dinner. God we love this food.

A few side notes about the day:

Riding the city bus around Munnar is like a tame roller coaster. I could ride it all day, every day. It’s so much fun. Our tickets were always 50 cents or so.
The state of Kerala is super conservative so things like co-ed hand holding, kissing, and hugging is not acceptable. Neither is drinking…especially for women. I think we lost some friends in the kitchen when we busted out our beers.
The location is known for tea and passion fruit. I had never had passion fruit until our trip to Munnar. Love how crazy they look. They were delicious and all of 10 cents per fruit.
We bought a bag of masala cashews and cashew white chocolate. Both were amazing.

Day 4: Journey Back “Home”

We tearfully said goodbye to our Periyar friends and headed to the bus stop back down to Munnar where we would catch our bus to Alleppey to catch that day cruise we missed on day 1. We were lucky travelers – We had a “parcel” of rice from the Periyar kitchen. The cook made it for our journey.

The day was fairly uneventful. We loved the city bus back down to Munnar and it was really easy to make our way to the bus station where we boarded our bus to Alleppey.

We arrived in Alleppey around 6pm and found a hotel we had heard about from friends in Varkala Beach, Sisir’s Palace (you know, like “cesar’s palace”…but not at all).

We enjoyed sitting in bed, bouncing between the Discover Chanel and National Geographic and talking about how much fun we had that week. We watched some program about elephants in India, and bears in Sweden. It was cool to think that we had been to both locations.

Just one side note: I accidently left my nice jeans on a bus. Long story… but they are no longer with me. Tear. I’m sad only because they were my favorite jeans on this trip. Alas.

Day 5: 8 Hour River Cruise to Kollum

We woke up early (around 6AM), to the sound of loud music, doors slamming, yelling, laughing, stomping, etc. I checked it out around 6:30 and of course it was a local family enjoying their relatives at a family reunion. The kids were chasing each other around and having fun…at 6AM haha.. Oh my.

We caught our ferry at 10:30 and cruised the “back waters” of Kerala for the next 8 hours, stopping for lunch and a tea break.

It rained all day, but it was a nice break from how hot it can get on the coast. We enjoyed seeing these back waters everyone was telling us about. Very pretty, but also just an interesting look into rural life in South India. Lots of things were witnessed. Some won’t be mentioned here. But all in all, a nice trip.

We arrived in Kollum right on time at 6:30PM. After an hour tuk tuk ride back to Varkala Beach, we were back “home” ringing in the new year