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Other entries in Munnar

Hiking around Top Station

Sun 4/3/07 D30

The manager of the hotel I'd been staying at had told me that I'd have to check out by 5 a.m., so I was up and packing my stuff just after 4. Actually, on my way out, I had to wake up the said manager, who'd been sleeping on a mattress under a mozzie net in the "reception" area, so that he would open the door and let me out :). Serves him right... ;). Maybe he'll change that stupid rule :)

Another thing about heat and humidity in Cochin. This is, so far, the only place I've been to where I woke up every morning sticky, greasy and covered in sweat... :|. My hair got completely soaked during each night. Not sure how exactly that happened, but every morning it was as if I had just stepped out of a shower. If I touched my hair, I had streaks of water/sweat running down my hand... :|. That's how humid it was in that place

Anyway, I didn't mind having to get up and leave this early, because that have me the chance to take the day's first bus to Munnar, a village/small town in East Kerala where there's nothing to do except for hiking and biking in the surrounding hills, which happen to be the centre of Kerala's tea growing industry. That first bus was set to leave at 6 a.m., but about 15 minutes before the scheduled departure I grabbed my backpack and got off the bus. An Indian couple who were also on that bus found out that there'd be another bus, the so-called "superfast" one, leaving for Munnar at 0630 hrs, so we opted to wait for that one.  BTW: "superfast" or "fast" is a very relative term. What it means is that the bus will make fewer stops along the way than a regular local bus but, as you travel from A to B, you'll still average about 30-40 kph. That's especially true on a road like the one from Cochin to Munnar. It's a narrow road that, to a large extent, consists of S-shaped chicanes and U-turns; it also climbs about 1600 meters. Thus, the roughly 130 km busride took about 4,5 hours. At least the last hour of that journey was very scenic (hills, tea plantations, waterfalls...)

Not long after arriving in Munnar I found a decent hotel room and, rather than just sitting around and unpacking, I chose to go straight to a bus stand and catch a bus to Top Station, 34 km from Munnar (mostly uphill) on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, where you find India's highest tea plantations as well as some pretty nice views of the mountains. Shortly after getting on the bus I realized I had made one fundamental mistake. I'd kept on the clothes I'd worn on the way from Cochin: a T-shirt and shorts. The whole change in altitude thing just slipped my mind. Munnar lies much higher than Cochin and Top Station is even further up. Consequently, I was freezing on that bus :|. Though, it did get better once I got off in Top Station (BTW: it's just a couple of shacks in the middle of nowhere) and started walking. I arrived there at 1 pm and learned that there'd be only two busses back to Munnar: one at 1430 and another one at 1730. I decided to take my time and wait for the last bus, so I had a couple of hours to go to the mountain viewpoint and hike through the tea estates. BTW: the tea estates are just sooo scenic. I mean, it's just some bushes ;), but the way theyr'e maintained/cut and the way the cover entire hills creates some really stunning vistas. There were quite a few tourists going to and from the mountain viewpoint, but when I walked through the plantations I was all alone - well, there were some birds chirping in the trees and bushes. Other than that, it's just you and the vast, green, rolling hills. It's a great experience... :)

The busride back to Munnar was going pretty well until we were about 15 minutes away from the city. Just when the bus was taking a left hairpin turn, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes and all the bags flew forward... Next, all the passengers did a horizontal imitation of prairie doggiesand 40 heads looked out the windows to see what had happened :). Then, everybody quickly got off the bus. Here's what happened: when the bus in the middle of the hairpin turn, a part of the front axle or something broke off (we later saw it lying on the road). As a result, the front wheels got either stuck or disconnected from the steering wheel (we saw some Indian guys trying to manually move each wheel :)) and, instead of following the road, the bus started heading straight for the drop. Luckily, it managed to stop right on the edge (photo included :))

Some people stopped cars that were going towards Munnar and asked for a lift; other got onto jeeps that regularly travel between different cities here. Here's a question: how many people can you fit into a jeep? First, here's a bit of info about the jeep: It looked a bit like a smaller version of the Defender. There were seats in front, seats/bench in the back and two short benches along the walls behind the back seat. So, how many people can travel in such a jeep? No, you're wrong... :) The answer is 18 :). Here's how: 5 people sat in the front; one of them had the driver sitting on his lap :). Another 5 in the back seat. We, the six Westerners, squeezed onto the two seats/benches at the very back. Last but not least ;), two Indian men were standing on the rear bumper and holding onto the roof :). That makes 18 :). We managed to arrive back in Munnar in one piece :)

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