“Munnar is a lovely hill station. If we time it right,
we might even be able to see a wild elephant or two.” More such promises by hubby followed, and I did want to see a wild elephant standing in the middle of
the road blocking our way. That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?
My brother, husband, and I reached Munnar late in the evening and checked into our
two-room cottage.
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| Two-bedroom cottage |
The next morning, I stepped out to see the surroundings and
was immediately floored by the beauty. Our cottage was literally in the middle
of a forest with winding roads.
After breakfast, we hired a cab to take us around Munnar.
Our first stop was by a tea estate, and out came bro with his camera, and hubby
with his mobile phone. They had me pose for 5 minutes or so and merrily clicked away.
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| Amidst the tea estate |
Next, another stop beside a tea estate where a photographer
tied a scarf around my head and hung a bamboo basket on my back, and viola, tea
estate worker look was complete!
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| Me in tea plant worker garb |
Next stop, Elephant park. I wanted to jump with joy when I saw six tame
elephants all of the same size and height at one place. And, what’s more? I also got to ride on one of them. It was a thrilling experience. I could feel the elephant's muscles move under me when it walked.
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| Me and hubby on elephant |
What a magnificent creature! Elephant ride lasted for about 15 minutes,
and I fed the elephant a basket of pineapples.
Next stop, boat house at Maattupatty dam. Wearing life
jackets, we stepped onto the boat for a 20-minute ride in the lake. The lake is
surrounded by tall and majestic eucalyptus trees. A few minutes into the ride,
just when I was getting used to the rhythm of the boat, the boat driver manoeuvred the boat to draw a figure eight, and I let out a shriek. Apparently,
all boat drivers do that, and that’s the speciality of the boat ride. Later, I
told myself, “Mmm…what’s the fun in travelling straight in a boat? There needs
to be some sort of adventure.” We requested the boat driver to take our
photographs with the eucalyptus trees in the background. He did one better and
let the boat turn slowly a 360 degree and clicked away. What an idea!
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| One of the snaps when the boat was turning 360 degrees |
Next we visited Kundala dam. It is a good place for a leisurely evening walk,
except that the dropping temperature makes you yearn for a hot cup of tea. We
amused ourselves by shooting balloons. Hubby successfully shot 4 balloons,
while brother and I shot none. Then we returned to our cottage and the next
morning we left Munnar.
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| At Kundala dam after shooting balloons |
A few personal observations
Food - Hotel Saravana Bhavan has the best quality food (only vegetarian)
Elephant park - for Rs. 250, they take photographs of you riding the elephant and a short video of the same. The elephant ride is charged separately. In my opinion, take pictures from your own camera.
Shopping - shop in the main town for tea leaves and home made chocolates. For trinkets, go to the shops at Echo Point.
After a little asking around, we found that BRHolidays offers you something different in addition to the usual sightseeing and accommodation gig.
If you inform in advance, they would provide you with a cook at the cottage.
At night, the caretaker of the cottage and the cook would light a campfire and grill a chicken or lamb over it (on request).
During the day it is quite pleasant and you can hire a bicycle and a guide and ride the hills.
If you are in Munnar when tea leaves are being plucked, try your hand at tea plucking wearing the tea plant worker attire.
You can reach BRHolidays at brholidays@yahoo.com.
