Picking up where I left off, the hotel was rather nice, perched on the side of the hill looking out over the valley the view down to the paddi fields below and up to the mist shrouded hill tops magical. (if you are genuinely interested you can have a peak here http://www.thewindmunnar.com/) Apprently the hotel had only opened the previous year and the rooms spacious and modern. It was ranked #1 on TripAdvisor so we were in for a treat, or so we thought. We woke at dawn to watch the sun rise at one end of the valley and a full moon set behind the mountains at the other, stunning.
There was just one problem, apart from the tuk tuk ride down the cliff that is, the service. Don't get me wrong, the staff were all smiles and eager to please, just clueless, perhaps the best illustration was breakfast.
As usual i ordered masala dosa, coffee, and juice. Sarah ordered scrambled eggs on toast (having given up trying to explain what poached meant) juice and lemon honey and hot water as she doesn't do caffeine. I should have known by the fixed smile, wobble of the head and panicked eyes the waiter had no idea what we had ordered. After 30 mins I popped my head in the kitchen to be shooed out with assurances that it was "coming". Sure enough 10 mins later two glasses of pineapple juice arrived, followed after another ten minutes by a basket of toast (which was sent back by us to be toasted) and reappeared another 10 minutes later. Sarah's eggs arrived next which she ate so they wouldn't get cold. 15 mins after she had eaten her eggs a smiling waiter popped out of the kitchen to ask if we had enjoyed breakfast. I calmly (honestly, i was too gob smacked to get angry) pointed out I hadn't had any and where were my dosas? "Dosa... Coming..."
Breakfast took just over 90 mins, we had effectively eaten alone taking it in turn to watch the other one eat.
Our driver hadn't had much luck either, he had slept in the car and by morning was rather cold so he popped down to the local chai wallah for a warming cup of sweet milky tea only to be told black tea only... a cobra had bitten the chai wallahs cow which had died. We should have taken it as an omen.
Once we had managed to escape from breakfast we jumped into the taxi ready for a day of sight seeing, the tea gardens, Munnar town, elephant camp, floral gardens, the Tea Museum and the National Park. Here's my thoughts and ratings.
The Tea Gardens 8/10
Tea Gardens in India are different to the ones at home in England, no cast iron chairs and tables, parasols, clotted cream or Victoria sponge just thousands and thousands of neatly trimmed camellia bushes stretching for miles and miles up ludicrously steep hills, looking like a real life set from the telly tubbies. Watching the tea pickers work was fascinating they actually do look like the picture on the PG Tips box. I could bore you with the difference between white, black and green tea, the different grades from dust to tips but if you are that interested i suggest you look it up (I'd probably get it confused anyway).
Munnar Town 3/10
All the charm of a long distance lorry park being used for a car boot sale. Its one of the few places that have banished plastics in an attempt to deal with the rubbish problem, there are signs up and everything.... but as out taxi driver said "They are only words". We have been coming to India for 8 years now and it ranks as our least favourite place, maybe its the contrast with the beauty of the hills but it really is an ugly town.
Elephant Camp 4/10
If you love seeing elephants being made to perform for the public this is for you, but not for us.
Floral Gardens 6/10
Nice flowers, think B&Q bedding plants on a may day bank holiday with a few Tesco orchids thrown in.
Tea Museum 8/10
Interesting, in fact more interesting than I'd expected. History of Munnar as a tea town with a nice video presentation.
National park
Abandoned - decided to call it a day and return to the hotel as we had another 10 hour journey back to Kovalam the next morning
The return trip was uneventful, no one died, i got to eat a beef thalli meal (I think it was made from the hoof of the cow killed by the cobra) but thats all really.
In short, the hills are worth a look but not worth a special trip to see them, go when you are in the area going to Alappuzha or Kochi. Munnar town is a dump and don't rely on TripAdvisor ratings as your sole reference when picking your hotel.
So now we are back in 34+C heat, swimming every day in blue seas and eating great food. The trip had done just what we needed, reminded us how much we like living here.
K&S
p.s. We also visited a Hydroelectric dam, Echo point and a Pharmacy to get some Listerine, the Pharmacy was the high point.
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