Tea, Spice and All Things Nice in Munnar
We arrived at Ernakulum bus stand just in time to witness what appeared to be the filming of a scene for a Bollywood movie with a whole camera, lights and action set up to film a dance scene in front of where the buses pulled in. Some entertainment at least while we attempted to find out where to get the bus that we needed. We were directed to the Station Masters office where we found the announcer for arriving and departing buses. We were told the next bus to Munnar was departing in 30 mins and a wave of his arm gestured towards the line of waiting buses to indicate where our bus would depart from. Given that all the buses had destination information on them only in local script, we decided to wait next to the announcer and asked him to inform us when our bus arrived. This worked well as, without this specific help, I am still not sure how we would have located the right bus.
Our bus was typical of many we had seen driving around the streets of Kochi. There was no glass in the Windows, no air conditioning, no toilets and bench-style seats configured as rows of 3 seats on one side and 2 seats on the other. The bus turned out to be a better experience than expected. The lack of air conditioning made up for by the breeze through the open nature of a bus with no glass windows. As the bus got busier it did get a little cramped, but the constantly changing scenery makes up for it.
The first part of the journey takes you through busy urban areas with endless horn beeping through dusty noisy streets lined with shops and stalls selling an array of food, drinks, lottery tickets and more. The lack of air conditioning was not a problem with plenty of ventilation through the bus, and an option of pull-down blind to protect against the sun. There are a couple of stops with just enough time to jump off and visit the bathroom if needed, but you are not necessarily guaranteed to still have a seat when you get back. After a couple of hours, the scenery slowly begins to change and the bus starts a steady climb towards Munnar. It becomes much greener and in a couple of places, monkeys sit on the roadside.
Our stop was Anachal, about 15km before Munnar itself. We had read and been told that Munnar itself did not have a great deal going to it and that it was quieter and more scenic a little further out. The ticket collector on our bus made sure we got off at the right stop. We have found on most of our travel experiences across India that people are only too happy to help despite the language barrier.
Anachal town appears to be one short strip of shops and cafes. Given our 4 hours on the bus, with limited water and food consumption to ensure we didn’t need the loo en-route, we headed into one of the 2 local cafes we could find for a late lunch before getting an auto-rickshaw to our homestay. The road to the homestay was narrow and full of potholes and with a driver who had not appeared entirely clear about where we needed to go- even with the help of Google maps to try and explain but we somehow ended up just a few hundred meters from where we needed to be though with no signage to help us locate the final destination. Following a call to our homestay host, Bony, we were soon picked up by him in his Mahindra Jeep. He explained later that the government has banned the homestays from putting signs for their properties on the roadside. The entrance to Peppercorn County was up an extremely steep, extremely narrow path and about 500metres long that we would have had no way to finding on our own.
Bony has developed the homestay with his family over the last 2 years on land that used to belong to his grandfather before he passed away. Lower down the track is his Uncle’s house, and the homestay itself consists of 2 detached chalets, with outdoor seating and dining areas and a kitchen. Bony lived up to the reviews we had seen of him on Booking.com, being genuinely accommodating and helpful. Along with the homestay he offers day trips for both sightseeing and hiking and we ended up using his services on each of the 3 days of our stay. The accommodation was simple but clean, with a spacious double room and en-suite bathroom with hot running water in the shower – not often the case in India. But what made the homestay so fabulous was the incredible setting in land that was brimming with fruit trees (banana, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit) and spices (pepper, cardamom and vanilla), with a few out across to spice farms and tree plantations into the distance. All of the noise of the town was gone and the only sounds were birds singing and the occasional dog bark.
Day 1 – Munnar Tea Museum is located about 15km West of Munnar. This small museum starts with an exhibition detailing the history of the tea plantations in Munnar and information extolling the benefits of drinking tea. I had not realized that Green and black tea come from the same tea plant, it is the way they are treated after picking that determines the type of tea they become. There was a 20 min film that explains the British influence back in the late 1800s that led to tea being planted in Munnar, through to the sale of the plantations to Tata following independence and then the withdrawal of Tata from the Indian tea market when they decided to help set up a workers cooperative where the workers bought shares in the company and still own it to this day. We missed out on the tea tasting which is usually available, but unfortunately not on the day we visited, so made do with a small cup of tea bought in the museum cafe and made from trees grown in the hills around us.
We headed to Eravikulam National Park. The entry fee includes a steep uphill bus ride a single-track path to the start of the short 1.5km walk into the reserve itself. The walk was interesting enough, with some nice views out across tea plantations below but there are potentially more interesting parts of the reserve are not accessible by foot. Our single sighting of the Nilgiri Thar (mountain goat) was unfortunately of it being chased down the path with families keen to get selfies with the poor thing rather than it being at one with nature. We saw a better side of human nature back at the car park when a lady stepped forward to offer us some of the sliced mango coated in masala powder she had just bought. She said she had seen us looking at it and wanted us to try hers. It is one of many friendly exchanges with Indian people that have shown us their kind nature and generous spirit.
Heading back to Anachal, we had a brief stop at Munnar town which felt much like many of the other small Indian towns we have been in, busy and noisy with lots of shops and market stalls. Nice to experience but we had no desire to stay for long. It did give us the opportunity to buy some chocolate-flavoured tea – sadly not chocolatey enough as it turned out, and to buy some homemade chocolates made from locally grown cacao.
Day 2 – during our time in India there were a number of protests against the Citizen’s (Amendment) Act. The amendment was passed in 2019 ensures that migrants who had entered India by the end of 2014 and had suffered or fear religious persecution in their country of origin would be eligible for Indian citizenship but has a number of contentious aspects that have led to protests Our second day coincided with a full day strike in Munnar and the surrounding area as their way to protest the Citizen’s Act. This meant that our options for any activities were limited as everything would be shut. Our host Bony suggested a trek. Over the next 4 hours, we walked through Cardamom and tea plantations, and along tree-lined paths. There were plenty of steep uphill parts so needed plenty of stops along the way, at each one taking the opportunity to find out more about our host Bony and tap into his local knowledge.
Day 3 – For our final day in Munnar, we decided to opt for a full-day excursion to the Munnar Top Station viewpoint which looks out over the Tamil Nadu Peak Range – except we couldn’t see anything but mist, treetops and a couple of monkeys on the day we visited! Along the route, we made a couple of stops including the Mattupetty and Kundula Dams and a visit to Echo Point, a scenic spot on the reservoir where your voice echoes as you shout from one side of the reservoir to the other. we rounded the day off with a late lunch/early dinner in Munnar town and stopped to watch the sunset on the way back to the homestay at a spot recommended by Bony.
Day 4 – Getting on the wrong bus heading back to Kochi meant 3 buses to experience rather than the one direct one we should have had. It also meant that we had to stand on our first bus as it drove, at speed, down the hillside road that had bought us there 4 days before. This turned out to be a real core and arm workout as every muscle needed to be engaged to try and stay upright. Thankfully it was just 30 mins until we were on the next bus and grateful for our seats. We changed again a few hours later and it had actually worked out better making the bus changes as at least we could take a loo break in between!
Getting there – we travelled from Ernakulum, Kochi to Anachal on one of the local buses run by KRSTC. Journey time: 4.5 hours Price: 135 rupees each. At the time we travelled there were no Air conditioned buses running on this route, and no option to book in advance. This turned out to be less of an issue than we were expecting with buses running frequently and with payment taken on the bus.
We stayed at the PepperCorn Homestay in Anachal.
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