Let's leave the malls and markets of Bangkok for a bit and go way back to the tea estates in South India. The last post on this was all about Munnar's tea museum, which was very interesting but not relaxing at all and not even all that pretty. The surrounding countryside, on the other hand, might be the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
Bright green tea growing up the mountain slopes, flowering trees, mist rolling down from the higher altitudes ... breathtaking! These photos don't really do it justice. John said it felt like a fairy tale, and it's true. It would not have shocked me to see a knight in shining armor come trotting down the road, or maybe a hobbit sitting under a roadside tree.
We stayed in a homestay that was once the main house on an old plantation.
One of our rooms opened into a huge covered veranda, where the kids found this old table game. I can't think of the name of the game right now, but it's one Johnny had learned to play in his Indian Studies class at school. That's what he told me, anyway. I strongly suspect he was making up the rules as he went along.
Evie and I were roommates. Isn't she sweet?
The next morning before breakfast we did some walking around the still-working plantation and saw views like this ...
We also explored the gardens right around the house ...
This poinsettia plant made me think of Mexico City, where you see the big flowering bushes planted along the main roads at Christmastime ...
Breakfast was egg and toast ...
More exploring ... Johnny wasn't feeling well, but he stuck it out as long as we stayed near the house.
We put Johnny back in bed when he started swaying, and the rest of us hiked through the surrounding plantation.
Here are Samuel and Evie demonstrating proper tea-picking technique. It's all done by hand because of the way the plants follow the curvature of the land, and also because of the steep slopes and the fragility of the leaves. Pickers also have to know how to leave younger leaves behind, because tea is continually producing as opposed to plants that have only one season a year.
We saw these funny-looking flowers all over the place ...
I left the hike early to check on Johnny. Coming back to the homestay ...
Here's the sickie. He was sick all that day, which included a long drive to our next destination, Vanilla County. Poor Johnny!
After getting Johnny back to bed, I walked around close to the house ...
... where I found fresh passion fruit! Yummy!
Kareem risked life and limb to pick some of the fruit (it was growing out over a steep slope) ...
I love passion fruit, but Evie wasn't a fan ...
If we were to do Kerala again, we'd probably build in more time for relaxing at the tea estates. This time our schedule was packed, though, so after our hike we loaded up the car and took a long, winding, mountainous drive to our next destination ... Vanilla County. Stay tuned!
Bright green tea growing up the mountain slopes, flowering trees, mist rolling down from the higher altitudes ... breathtaking! These photos don't really do it justice. John said it felt like a fairy tale, and it's true. It would not have shocked me to see a knight in shining armor come trotting down the road, or maybe a hobbit sitting under a roadside tree.
We stayed in a homestay that was once the main house on an old plantation.
One of our rooms opened into a huge covered veranda, where the kids found this old table game. I can't think of the name of the game right now, but it's one Johnny had learned to play in his Indian Studies class at school. That's what he told me, anyway. I strongly suspect he was making up the rules as he went along.
Evie and I were roommates. Isn't she sweet?
The next morning before breakfast we did some walking around the still-working plantation and saw views like this ...
We also explored the gardens right around the house ...
This poinsettia plant made me think of Mexico City, where you see the big flowering bushes planted along the main roads at Christmastime ...
Breakfast was egg and toast ...
More exploring ... Johnny wasn't feeling well, but he stuck it out as long as we stayed near the house.
We put Johnny back in bed when he started swaying, and the rest of us hiked through the surrounding plantation.
Evie stopped to smell any flowers within her reach ...
Here are Samuel and Evie demonstrating proper tea-picking technique. It's all done by hand because of the way the plants follow the curvature of the land, and also because of the steep slopes and the fragility of the leaves. Pickers also have to know how to leave younger leaves behind, because tea is continually producing as opposed to plants that have only one season a year.
We saw these funny-looking flowers all over the place ...
I left the hike early to check on Johnny. Coming back to the homestay ...
Here's the sickie. He was sick all that day, which included a long drive to our next destination, Vanilla County. Poor Johnny!
After getting Johnny back to bed, I walked around close to the house ...
... where I found fresh passion fruit! Yummy!
Kareem risked life and limb to pick some of the fruit (it was growing out over a steep slope) ...
I love passion fruit, but Evie wasn't a fan ...
If we were to do Kerala again, we'd probably build in more time for relaxing at the tea estates. This time our schedule was packed, though, so after our hike we loaded up the car and took a long, winding, mountainous drive to our next destination ... Vanilla County. Stay tuned!
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