Munnar

Yesterday I met a Spanish girl at her hostel and today we meet again because we decided to go together on a walk. I have to get out of bed early and walk a lot because it is on the other side of the village. We met and start our walk. Walking through the forest, the vapor comes out of my mouth because of the cold and on the fields beyond is a thick layer of fog.

I have a jacket on but the Indians make a whole show of the cold with hats, thick winter coats and gloves. When I arrive at the football field there are dozens of coaches but the reason is completely unknown to me. In our travel guide we have found a walking route and we want to try to follow it. First a bit along the road back to Ernakulam and then left over an iron hanging bridge into the mountains.

Nearby is a national park and that quickly becomes clear by the large number of beautiful birds that flutter around here, the colored flowers and lots of butterflies. We climb up the hill and at a small wooden stand on the mountain we order a tea and enjoy the view. It is still a bit hazy, but we easily distinguish big tea plantations, tea factories and the associated workers' huts with the human eye. Far away forests and mountains in the distance.

Instead of walking up to the waterfall we arrive at a beautifully situated guest house on a mountain with an amazing view. It is a large bungalow surrounded by brightly colored flowers that are kept constantly "wet" by automatic sprinklers. We return to an asphalt path and walk past large resorts in blue-white paint.

We are ready for some adventure and take a small forest path which leads to a cinnamon plantation, which besides the bushes is also full of large boulders and there are countless trees. Unfortunately, the path nevertheless returns to the asphalt road and leads to a large Tata tea plantation. Just as we want to walk in the plantation, a guard comes to us and asks us to leave. Probably because he is afraid that we will destroy the plantation and / or keep the workers from their work. 

Further on, the gate is open from the same plantation and we make a second attempt. The path goes back to the manager who is already waiting for us with his stick in his hand as if he is going to punish us. He tells us that the big boss is driving laps with his big car (he points to a gray big box that is standing still in the mountains) and that he can not let us down under any circumstances.

Because we do not want to walk back the same route, we walk back over the road hoping for a lift. An auto rickshaw comes by and this brings us back to the village where we have lunch together with her mother.