Cool Munnar

We are all really enjoying Munnar. It is a small town on the banks of a fast flowing river joined by a series of ancient concrete bridges. In the curve of the bus station are a multitude of small stalls and shops selling tea, spices, the usual tourist paraphernalia and balaclavas. Yes, the flea bag is back in a big way here in Munnar. This seasons fashion is jeans for the ladies with a bright shift style top, a throw and a jaunty balaclava to top it all off. Men continue to favour ultra tight trousers with shirts, black nylon jackets and a scarf over the head if they don’t have a flea bag. It’s true, the evenings are cool here but it would have to be positively Siberian before I took up this particular fashion.Yesterday, we took a rickshaw to the dam 14kms from our guest house. We then spent the next three hours walking back. The road winds down through stands of Gum trees, imported here in 1961 as fuel for the tea drying plants, and tea plantations. The government of Kerela is very progressive and the plantations are now mostly workers cooperatives. Also each house on the plantations must have enough space for a kitchen garden and to graze a cow. If the latter is not available the plantation must provide free milk to the children. Not bad eh! What would Thatcher the Milk Snatcher have made of that one in the days when she could still think?The views are spectacular and we will have lots of pictures on our return but I am still having upload problems. Tomorrow we will take a full day tour with Hussein our taxi man and on Tuesday he takes us to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Our host has a cousin who runs a home stay there aptly (I hope) called El Paradiso. He will organize for us to visit a little and hopefully see some wildlife.Keep the comments coming.Patricia j’adore tes commentaries. Profitez de l’absance du petit ca fait du bien. Bisous.