Kerala – day 7

Munnar

Wednesday, 5th April 2023

Once again, we were woken up by the sound of a Hindu temple. We quickly packed the things we needed for the trip and set off at 8 AM towards Kolukkumalai. It’s a small village surrounded by the highest tea plantations.

We spent about an hour getting there, and everyone we met along the way tried to sell us a jeep tour, as the road up was in poor condition. However, we wanted to go as far as possible on our own and then continue on foot. Unfortunately, the entire area is private property, and they take advantage of the fact that only jeeps are allowed to enter, with a ride costing 2,500 INR. We were almost there but made the mistake of stopping, and they refused to let us continue unless we bought a jeep ride. Later, we found out online that we could have just paid an entrance fee of 100 INR, and they would have let us through, but of course, they didn’t offer us that option. So, we left and decided to check out a different route where there wasn’t a soul, though our scooter couldn’t handle the steep road.

After that, we headed back, grabbed a coffee while the sound of the Hindu temple continued to play. We drove to the town of Adimali to buy some beer and have lunch. We found a pretty good restaurant—or hotel, as restaurants are called in India.

I ordered chana masala with parotta, and Jozef had fish curry with rice and a variety of sauces. The restaurant owner kept checking if we were eating and insisted on giving us more food.

For dessert, we had mango popsicles. On the way back to Munnar, we stopped by a plantation where they grew cardamom, black pepper, coffee, cocoa, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

The owner gave us a tour, and we ended up buying some spices, chocolate, and real coffee. It was a convenient stop since it started raining. We still had some time before we had to return the motorbike, so we drove to the other side towards Eravikulam National Park, where we took another ride through the tea plantations before returning the bike. After spending the whole day on the motorbike, a walk sounded nice, so we walked the 2 km back to our accommodation. Along the way, I had some boiled corn, which was really good. Indians are truly a unique people. They name a tire shop “Infant Jesus” and add a picture of a muscular guy holding a tire. I honestly don’t know how someone came up with that. In the evening, we tried to figure out where to go next, but we still had no idea. The Hindu temple continued to play in the background.