29th March 2014
After spice shopping and the beauty of Thekkady, suddenly I find my self in the hills of Munnar. It’s much cooler and the only thing you see all over is rolling hills filled with tea! This is the land of tea plantations and apart from a few cardamom plantations this is all you see. I’m not really a tea drinker but I can appreciate the brew when it’s unadulterated and not drowning in milk. Though I didn’t drink any while I was here.
I did however take a bunch of clichéd photos in the middle of all the tea. I also discovered my poor coordination while taking jump shots and much to everyone’s pleasure I looked like a fool jumping up and down trying to get the correct photo. It was hilarious but after many attempts I finally got it !
There really isn’t much to do in Munnar apart from visiting tea factories which is fun and I’ve been there before but you can’t take any pictures inside and my fingers were just itching to snap something. We left Munnar and headed towards Muzuri and then to Cochin and for some reason this particular bus ride just refused to end.
I mean we were on the road for some ridiculous 10 odd hours and really there are only that much conversation you can make, that many corny jokes and that many sleep bombs! I don’t know if it was the complete lack of interest in anything except reaching my hotel or the sheer exhaustion of the journey so far but I discovered my passion for terrible rhyming songs and waddya know? Everyone joined in ?
But there is always light at the end of the tunnel and in this instance it’s called the Marriot Courtyard hotel. Yep, Tiny’s chillin’ in style. The hotel is of course fancy and has a massive comfy bed and a super hot shower but nothing is more exciting than wifi in my room. I think if you cut off a bloggers internet connection it’s as good as strangling them or cutting off their air supply.
After spending more time in hotel lobbies than my bed trying to catch wifi and upload images, it’s a luxury to do it from my bed! The Marriot were very pleased with having us and went all out with a fancy dinner by the pool where the chef met with us and fed us well. I was expecting more curries and appams but as he rightly put it, it’s nice to change things a bit. The menu is a mix and match of all things yummy and was really good. Some stuff really stood out like their dum biryani and their jack-fruit and chicken salad. Spicy, very Asian like in its flavours and style and a rather unusual combination but it worked well.
The breakfast the next morning was equally exciting with freshly made pancakes, ample bread rolls, eggs and lots more but the most exciting was the cheese platter. I just went a little crazy with the cheese. Sad to say goodbye to my fancy room but the show must go on – Next stop Thrissur !
