If there was any non-Indian who knew India best, it would be Kipling. I grew up reading Kipling's books and India never ceased to arouse my curiosity. It is a land of sacred sites and ancient ruins, of windswept deserts and palm-fringed beaches, of the Ganges and the backwaters, of the Raj and rich colonial history. Never mind the chaos, the slums, the beggars and the high probability of contracting Delhi Belly.
At 8am on 22 May 2014, there we were standing at the Arrivals Hall of Cochin Airport. The AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Cochin was at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. but this meant that we had an early start. Our driver Jitesh from Experience Kerala came and soon we were on our way to cover the 130km or so to Munnar, our first stop on the itinerary. Munnar is a hill station that used to be the summer resort for the British back in the colonial heyday. Today, it is more known for its vast tea plantations.
Jitesh, like most of Indian drivers, drove as if the Devil himself was chasing him and overtook at every single opportunity. There were many times that I pressed on the imaginary brake pedal. But they seemed to have a loose system in place so that cars could be overtaken with minimal possibility of a crash, blaring the horns incessantly being one of the techniques. After an hour or so, I sat back and relaxed. It was my first time on the Subcontinent and I relished every sight, sound and smell.
About halfway through the journey, we stopped at a roadside vegetarian restaurant for a late breakfast. The dining areas were in individual huts and and soon we were tucking in to our first masala dosa and masala chai in India; Snufkin, his first chapati in India.
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Jitesh standing in front of the hut where we were seated |
We continued our journey on National Highway 49 and at one point went on the Neriamangalam Bridge. This bridge was built across the Periyar river and is often referred as 'The Gateway to the Highranges' as it is on the way to the higher regions of the Idukki district.
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Neriamangalam Bridge |
After the bridge, the road became narrower and was flanked by lush hilly forests and ravines on either side. It was an uphill drive with many corners and hairpin bends, and the occasional waterfalls. The journey seemed never-ending but after close to 4 hours, we were rewarded with our first sights of Indian tea plantations. Munnar town was still a short distance away but first we wanted to check-in at our accommodation, a place that I was looking forward as much as Munnar itself.
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Tea plantation in Munnar |
Accommodation
Although we had planned this trip relatively last minute, we managed to get a room at one of the nicest accommodation in Munnar (ranked 9 out of 103 on Tripadvisor). Gruenberg Tea Plantation Haus was 10km from Munnar town centre but that probably worked to its advantage as there's no redeeming quality in the town centre itself. The best part about Gruenberg is its location right smack in the middle of a tea plantation. And it only has 5 rooms.
The road leading to the front door of Gruenberg was just a narrow dirt track but that somewhat added to the charm of the place.
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Our first sight of Gruenberg Tea Haus |
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A closer view of the building |
Our room on the 2nd floor came with a balcony and big glass windows. Lying on the bed, you could see the endless rows of tea bushes on one side and hills, banana trees and more tea bushes on the other side.
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Our Lorelei room |
The piece-de-resistant was the balcony/roof terrace, to which we retreated in the evenings. There were bookshelves with books you could borrow and a small telescope that could keep the small ones occupied for long stretch of time.
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Playing I Spy |
On our first evening there, we ordered muruku and masala chai for tea and sat at the balcony surrounded by tea plantations, trees and more trees. Everything were ludicrous shades of green. In the distance the hills of the Western Ghat were partly shrouded in mist. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the occasional conversations in Malayalam wafting in from the staff quarters. This was the India that I had never imagined. India without chaos. India with cool breeze and greens as far as the eyes could see.
The only difficult decision to make that evening was which book to choose and what to order for dinner.
Note:
Gruenberg Tea Plantation Haus - Adress: Chithirapuram P.O Power house Road Dobipalam, 685565 Munnar, India.
Rates booked through booking.com was Rs9,200 (RM500) for 2 nights.
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