Not For All The Tea In Munnar - Munnar, Kerala

Adoring the Western Ghats tremendously, we decide to travel to Munnar on the other side of the mountains. Munnar is only 235km away, yet it takes three buses and 8 hours to get there. I really do prefer taking the train.

Munnar is another small town in the mountains that proved to be even more stunning than Kodaikanal. Almost every foot of hillside is covered in tea shrubs and sprinkled with trees covered in orange and red blossoms. The assorted hues of green and patterns of the tea shrubs make for an ever changing backdrop to the bus ride up. This is the India I've been waiting for.

My favorite part of Munnar was hiring a rickshaw and going to Top Station, a station post on the boarder of Kerala and Tamil Nadu 39kms away. The scenery is tremendous. The sheer amount of tea that is grown here is overwhelming. The start of the trip started on a slightly irritating note as our rickshaw driver incessantly tried to sell us on other sight-seeing packages even though this one had just begun. He finally settled down after about an hour or so. Then, as Matt was asking questions about his rickshaw the driver suddenly offered his rickshaw for us to drive. Matt jumped at the chance with me slightly hesitant at first. Once I learned to shift gears I was on my way driving us up to Top Station. It was fantastic! My uneasiness faded as the road was quite vacant. This was a good thing as vehicles come within inches of each other and people here. My hearts not strong enough for that.

Click here for more pictures of Munnar