on wednesday, a group of eight of us boarded our plane for coimbature, which is located in the state of tamil nadu. we had school off on wednesday, so we decided to jump start our weekend early by skipping our thursday and nonexistent friday classes. our ultimate destination, munnar, is located in the state of kerala (where i was last weekend), but it was cheaper to fly into coimbature and then take a six hour bus ride to munnar. we landed in coimbature around 10ish am, and took a cab to the bus depot. we made friends with a newlywed indian couple who was also headed to munnar; they helped us figure out which bus to get on. we boarded the first bus of our two bus saga to munnar.
that bus ride was the bus ride from hell. why you may ask
1) the bus honked every 6 seconds or so
2) the bus honk was so loud it hurt
3) the bus honk was a dissonant chord
4) it was the hottest part of the day
5) we all wanted to sleep, but there was no support for our necks
6) it was 3 hours long
ways i coped:
sleeping anyway
wedging earbuds in my ears to mute the noise
when we got off the bus:
we sweat through our pants
there was earwax stuck on the earbuds i was using
...we, along with the indian newlyweds, decided to take a cab for the rest of the way. the indian guy sought out a cab that would fit all of us for a reasonable price. after about an hour, the cab shows up. all ten of us pile into this jeep that should normally fit seven passengers. as soon as we made it out of the bus stop city, we drove through the chinnar wildlife sanctuary, which also acted as the border between tamil nadu and kerala. we saw wild elephants!
once we were in kerala, we started driving up and up into the mountains so the temperature dropped. it was lovely and crisp and green with munnar's famous tea fields. when we finally made it to munnar, it was around 7 pm. we got a delicious dinner in town, and then another cab picked us up and took us to our cottage/villa about 10 km away from town. it was dark and we were tired when we got there, so we didn't realize what a lovely place we were staying in until the morning. we were tucked back in the lush mountains, and we even had our own personal cook staying with us in case we got hungry at the house and didn't feel like catching the twenty minute bus ride to town.
thursday morning we all woke up ready to hike. we went into town and asked our helpful concierge dude for hiking information. we booked a hike with him as our guide for friday morning, but thursday we went on our own self guided tour through the tea fields. as we meandered through the curves of the tea mountains, we saw tea pickers on their way to work.
the boys split off to adventure on their own, and the girls stopped to eat some snacks in the shade. as we were laying in the fields, a man came up to us and told us that we were on private property. so we packed up our stuff and retraced our steps back to town. on our way back, we pit stopped in this old church (est. 1910), and then stopped at a tourist information office. he gave directions to a waterfall hike.
as we were walking down to the waterfall, a woman in the tea fields saw us and motioned for us to come to her. we climbed to where she was and then all smiles, told us to give her rupees or else her manager would catch her and us. we crouched down and waddle-escaped from her wrath.
eliana and kaitlin hitched a ride with a rickshaw back up the gorge to our starting point because they were tired, but tracy and i walked back up. we found a secret staircase shortcut through the tea fields and we eventually crossed paths with the boys. they were climbing back down, so since tracy and i didn't have any other plans, we went down to the waterfalls again with the boys. this time, we kept going after the waterfalls--it took us to a tea plantation village. it was starting to get dark, and a nice guy from the village called a jeep to pick us up and take us back to town. we had a nice dinner, but we were all sunburned and tired, so we were antsy to get back to our villa and sleep.
friday morning we woke up at 4:30 am so we would be ready when our jeep picked us up at 5. the jeep took us to the concierge place of our hotel in town where we met up with our guide, who had hot tea and cookies for us to eat before we started our ascent. our guide drove us up a trailhead and we started on our hike around 6 am. as we hiked, we saw the sunrise over munnar, and we eventually climbed higher than the clouds. to our right were spice plantations and on our left were tea plantations.
around 8, we summited the third highest mountain in southern india (approximately 2400 meters). our guide unzipped his magical backpack, full of toast, jam, butter, hard boiled eggs, bananas, and a thermos of hot tea. we had breakfast on the top of the mountain! it was surreal.
when we headed back down, we walked through the misty clouds. it felt like a movie. i want to go back and do this everyday.
at the bottom, we had to wait for another jeep to pick us up. by the time we made it back to town, it was around 11:30, so we grabbed some lunch and then went back to our villa to nap and hang out and take it easy for the rest of the day.
when we got back, we showered and napped in our underwear since the power was out and--lucky for us--it was the hottest and most humid part of the day. when we woke from our slumbers, we opened up some beers, played music (matthew brought his ukulele), played badminton, made friends with the neighbors and their children and their pet goat. our personal chef, parthi, made a spicy and yummy dinner for us, and then off to bed.
saturday, in true lauren and tracy fashion, we woke up at 7 and went on a walk. when we got back to our villa, parthi was making breakfast for us. we had to check out early from our villa because another party had booked it for the next several days. so we packed up our stuff in a hurry to check out by noon. the boys took our stuff back to town and checked into another hotel while the girls went to go ride ELEPHANTS through spice/tea plantations.
we hitched a jeep ride back to town after our elephant adventure and met up with the boys. we went on another hike through some other tea plantations and summited another mountain on our own. from the top we could see all of munnar, the waterfalls we'd seen a couple days before, and the windy roads leading to our villa.
when we got back down from the mountain, we stopped and got chai at a street vendor just as it was about to rain. we walked around for a little bit and then back to our hotel to meet up before dinner. we walked to dinner in the rain and it was a delight. our first rain in india!
dinner was at a place called surya soma, a restaurant recommended by lonely planet. it was so good, warm in our tummies, and got to us pretty fast. after dinner, we walked to some tea and spice shops and then walked back to the hotel.
sunday morning, three of our crew took the 6 hour bus ride back to coimbature at 6:30 am. the remaining five of us booked a cab to take us there. we woke up early, got dosas (a south indian speciality: a crepe with some sauces/chutney to dip it in), and waited for our cab to arrive at 10:30. on our way, we even stopped at a waterfall and hung out with some monkeys. we all reunited at the very very outdated airport and made it back to hyderabad.
ending note: a man on our flight back had the longest ear hair i've ever seen. it was at least two inches long and it just sprouted from his ears, blending in with the hair on his head. let that resonate with you.
hope yall feel loved and happy,
lauren
that bus ride was the bus ride from hell. why you may ask
1) the bus honked every 6 seconds or so
2) the bus honk was so loud it hurt
3) the bus honk was a dissonant chord
4) it was the hottest part of the day
5) we all wanted to sleep, but there was no support for our necks
6) it was 3 hours long
ways i coped:
sleeping anyway
wedging earbuds in my ears to mute the noise
when we got off the bus:
we sweat through our pants
there was earwax stuck on the earbuds i was using
...we, along with the indian newlyweds, decided to take a cab for the rest of the way. the indian guy sought out a cab that would fit all of us for a reasonable price. after about an hour, the cab shows up. all ten of us pile into this jeep that should normally fit seven passengers. as soon as we made it out of the bus stop city, we drove through the chinnar wildlife sanctuary, which also acted as the border between tamil nadu and kerala. we saw wild elephants!
 |
| mama and baby |
 |
| the view from our front door |
 |
| tea fields |
the boys split off to adventure on their own, and the girls stopped to eat some snacks in the shade. as we were laying in the fields, a man came up to us and told us that we were on private property. so we packed up our stuff and retraced our steps back to town. on our way back, we pit stopped in this old church (est. 1910), and then stopped at a tourist information office. he gave directions to a waterfall hike.
as we were walking down to the waterfall, a woman in the tea fields saw us and motioned for us to come to her. we climbed to where she was and then all smiles, told us to give her rupees or else her manager would catch her and us. we crouched down and waddle-escaped from her wrath.
 |
| the trickster herself |
 |
| workers in the tea fields |
 |
| the waterfall at the end of the hike |
friday morning we woke up at 4:30 am so we would be ready when our jeep picked us up at 5. the jeep took us to the concierge place of our hotel in town where we met up with our guide, who had hot tea and cookies for us to eat before we started our ascent. our guide drove us up a trailhead and we started on our hike around 6 am. as we hiked, we saw the sunrise over munnar, and we eventually climbed higher than the clouds. to our right were spice plantations and on our left were tea plantations.
around 8, we summited the third highest mountain in southern india (approximately 2400 meters). our guide unzipped his magical backpack, full of toast, jam, butter, hard boiled eggs, bananas, and a thermos of hot tea. we had breakfast on the top of the mountain! it was surreal.
 |
| sunrising |
 |
| view from the top |
 |
| the better view from the top ;) |
 |
| breakfast nom nom nom |
when we headed back down, we walked through the misty clouds. it felt like a movie. i want to go back and do this everyday.
at the bottom, we had to wait for another jeep to pick us up. by the time we made it back to town, it was around 11:30, so we grabbed some lunch and then went back to our villa to nap and hang out and take it easy for the rest of the day.
when we got back, we showered and napped in our underwear since the power was out and--lucky for us--it was the hottest and most humid part of the day. when we woke from our slumbers, we opened up some beers, played music (matthew brought his ukulele), played badminton, made friends with the neighbors and their children and their pet goat. our personal chef, parthi, made a spicy and yummy dinner for us, and then off to bed.
saturday, in true lauren and tracy fashion, we woke up at 7 and went on a walk. when we got back to our villa, parthi was making breakfast for us. we had to check out early from our villa because another party had booked it for the next several days. so we packed up our stuff in a hurry to check out by noon. the boys took our stuff back to town and checked into another hotel while the girls went to go ride ELEPHANTS through spice/tea plantations.
 |
| eliana and i riding the elephant |
 |
| elephant hugz (please don't note the guy with the pokey stick next to me & ele) |
when we got back down from the mountain, we stopped and got chai at a street vendor just as it was about to rain. we walked around for a little bit and then back to our hotel to meet up before dinner. we walked to dinner in the rain and it was a delight. our first rain in india!
dinner was at a place called surya soma, a restaurant recommended by lonely planet. it was so good, warm in our tummies, and got to us pretty fast. after dinner, we walked to some tea and spice shops and then walked back to the hotel.
sunday morning, three of our crew took the 6 hour bus ride back to coimbature at 6:30 am. the remaining five of us booked a cab to take us there. we woke up early, got dosas (a south indian speciality: a crepe with some sauces/chutney to dip it in), and waited for our cab to arrive at 10:30. on our way, we even stopped at a waterfall and hung out with some monkeys. we all reunited at the very very outdated airport and made it back to hyderabad.
ending note: a man on our flight back had the longest ear hair i've ever seen. it was at least two inches long and it just sprouted from his ears, blending in with the hair on his head. let that resonate with you.
hope yall feel loved and happy,
lauren
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