Hampi - Bangalore - Munnar

After nine days in Hampi the climbing-eating-swimming-napping-climbing-drinking-sleeping routine stared to become repetitive and it was time to move on.

I was genuinely sad to leave the Goan Corner as I'd had a great time and met many fantastic people, including Arthur (USA), Dhillan (India), Banit (India), Suhail (India), Vinay (India), Rahul (India), Rashmi, (India), Soren (Denmark), Sebastian (Chile), Kirsty (England), Chris (Italy), Remus (Germany), Bernard (Germany), Soraya (Netherlands) and Sam (Netherlands), not to mention the amazing staff at the GC. But so it goes when travelling solo.

Some parting shots from Hampi:

Ouch, that granite is sharp!

Arthur, highballin'

The lovely approach to the boulder fields

My favourite chai girl. She was no-nonsense; I could never refuse a 20 rupee chai from her.

Mucho relaxo at the Goan Corner

Sunset jam session / hangout

Swimming at the reservoir with Banit and Arthur

Staff at the Goan Corner (clockwise from the top): Sharmilla, Yogesh, Prashanth and Israel

My immediate destination was Bangalore (pop. 8.5 million), the capital of Karnataka state, where I would spend two nights before carrying on to Munnar, Kerala. To get to Bangalore, I had to catch an overnight bus from Hospet, which is about 45 mins outside of Hampi. While waiting for the bus in Hostpet, two interesting things happened: 1) I saw the biggest (dead) rat I've ever seen. This f*cker was a good 10" long and weighed at least couple pounds; 2) a Swiss guy who was soon returning home gave me a simple wood and leather Tissot watch that he'd been using during his trip. It was his mom's old watch and neither he nor she had any more use for it. (Lesson: it can pay to ask Swiss travellers if they any watches to spare.) The ride on the nightbus itself was bumpy, mostly sleepless and very snotty, as I had a runny nose and no tissue save for my notebook paper (which I discovered is not absorbent).

I arrived in Bangalore at around 6:00 on the morning of January 23. Via Airbnb I had rented a room in an apartment occupied by four young, hospitable guys. Unfortunately I was coming down with a cold, so after a nap I could only manage a few hours exploring central Bangalore. I used the time to buy an Iron Maiden tee, enjoy a pint at a microbrewery and eat a delicious dosa at a popular local restaurant. I returned home at around 5:30 to pretty much pass out in bed with a sore throath, fever and muscle aches. Thankfully I had a pouch of Neo Citran and one of the hosts gave me some medication for my fever, both of which did some good.

The next day I still had the sore throat and cough, so decided to stay close to home to begin planning the Februrary leg of my trip in India. I also managed to get my haircut for less than a $1, play some guitar and make an Indian-style herbal tea concoction to soothe my troat (thanks to Jehan for the recipe).

Munnar, Kerala

On January 25 I flew from Bangalore to Kochi (Cochin), Kerala and arranged a ride to take me three hours east to mountainous Munnar. Munnar (pop. 68,000) is situated 1,600 m above sea level and is south India's largest tea-growing region. To quote Lonely Planet "the rolling hills around Munnar are carpeted in emerald-green tea plantations, contoured, clipped and sculpted like ornamental hedges." Simply put, the landscape is incredible. I couldn't wait to spend a day trekking through it.

The guesthouse I'd reserved for my stay in Munnar was full for my first night there, so they temporarily put me up in thier sister 'cottage' located in the spice and tea plantations 30 minutes outside of town. At 6:30 the next morning I tagged along with an Austrian couple who'd hired a car to tour them around some interesting sights and hiking spots in the region. Our first stop was Top Station, a popular mountain lookout point on Kerala's border with Tamil Nadu. We climbed over 30 km of winding roads in anticipation of spectacular views, but were unfortunately about 30 minutes too late. By the time we reached the summit the clouds had rolled in, engulfing Top Station in a sea of fog. Slightly discouraged, we got back in the car to have our driver take us other points of interest. The funny thing was that we were never sure where he was taking us. Every 30 minutes or so, he'd stop the car and tell us to get out to take pictures. One such area that was popular with the Indian tourists was a modest pond in a valley where you could hear your echo if you yelled. Not amazing at all. There was also the elephant zoo, which we declined, and something called "speed boats", which seemed to consist of getting a ride in a motorboat driven eradically across a lake (this we also declined). In hindsight, there was obviously some misunderstanding between what we were hoping to do (i.e. be taken to interesting hiking spots) and what our driver thought we wanted to see. But the significant language barrier left us having not much choice but to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Fortunately we got back early enough for me to move into my room at the guesthouse I'd orginally reserved in Munar itself and to take a stroll through town. I spent the evening drinking (several) homemade vodka cocktails and socializing with other travellers on the guesthouse terrace.

Exploring the Munnar landscape

At 6:30 the next morning I joined a small group from the guesthouse on a full-day guided trek through the surrounding tea and spice plantations. All in, we covered close to 20 km of varied terrain, including a great breakfast on the summit of a mountain overlooking Munnar. The hardest part was that they didn't feed us much between our 9:00 breakfast and our end-of-hike meal at 4:00. You can imagine my reaction when I asked our guide at noon when we'd be eating lunch and he told me 3:30-4:00, with a 'juice break' in between. But it was amazing to hike through the tea plantations, see tea pickers at work, and walk through forests of spice plants (pepper, cardamom, tapioca, cloves), wild flowers and fruit.

The next day I visited the tea museum in town to learn about the history of tea cultivation in the region and about the tea cultivation process. I also enjoyed a nice sunset stroll through the tea plantations with my new travel buddy Catherine, which we followed with an evening of drinks and laughs with Dan and Ally, an awesome couple from England.

Some highlights from Munnar:

• Hiking the hills and tea plantations with a great group of fellow travellers: Catherine (Australia), Israel and Irit (Israel), and Richard and Flore (France).
• While hiking, coming across elephant 'droppings', one huge green spider, several cows, and many cute children
• Enjoying cups of sweet masala chai in the chilly mornings, surrounded the gorgeous Munnar landscape.
• Kerala-style 'donuts' (I forget the name). Think plain Tim Horton's donuts made with chilies, onions and no sugar. Yum!
• Meeting a group of very drunk Poles in town and surprising them with my Polish. They were disappointed that I would not join them for rum and Cokes, which they were carrying around in a backpack
• Hanging out and sharing many laughs with Dan and Ally from England, who were touring southern India by motorcycle. On to their advice, after Munnar I headed south to Alleppy to explore the famous backwater canals of Kerala by canoe.
• Leaving Munnar on January 29 to head four hours south by car to Alleppey, Kerala, accompanied by Israel and Irit. On that day, the entire Munnar region was on strike to protest government reforms affecting building and agriculture in the region. As a result, almost every business was closed and the roads were virtually empty. It was the most serene drive any of us had had to date in India.
• En route to Alleppey, passing a flatbed truck carrying an elephant.

Some photos:

Grazing at 6:30 am

Not a bad place for breakfast

Endless tea plantations

Drying spices

This spider's body was at least 1.5 inches long

I'm not sure of this is offensive

Warning to alchaholic inebriated person

Cloudy view from Top Station

Munnar Fine Wines & Spirits

Indian tourists

Town of Munnar

Bananas!

Your next Windows wallpaper

Drinks with Dan, Catherine and Ally

Tea museum

 

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