Up in the hills of Munnar...

As much as we love the buzz of the cities, both of us have been really craving something a bit more chilled and wild- so Munnar, just a 5 and a half hour ride from Ernakulam, seemed the perfect place to visit next.
   We got to take our first public bus, which in a strange way I've actually been looking forward to- the buses here amuse me, with their funny musical horns, fairy lights...and reckless driving. At one point in the journey, Pat said to me 'I'm enjoying this bus ride, mainly 'cos of the fear that everyone seems to be ignoring!' That pretty much sums it up! As we wound up the beautifully lush hills to Munnar, we almost always seemed wincingly close to the edge, although nobody else seemed bothered. And if not to the edge, then to other buses- we had various Matrix-style moments where two buses would abruptly slow and squeeze past each other on a cliff-side road, each bus's passengers having a stare-down before we were whipped down the road again. Lots of fun though- and very cool to travel through all the inland Keralan villages!We also got our first glance of the tea plantations surrounding Munnar, that seemed to go on and on into the horizon.

  Our accommodation is probably the best yet. It's a 'homestay'- the family that own it live underneath, and their living room also doubles as the office! The very sweet owner knew the way to our hearts- as soon as we'd put our backpacks down he offered us a 'cold beer'! We're very easily persuaded- especially after an 18 hour journey!

Some guys who asked for our photo- so we asked for theirs!

   I mentioned before the tea plantations; this is the main reason for visiting Munnar, so we decided to go for a little wander out of town today. As we were walking up one of the hills, stunning views all around, we came across a little 'chai' stall. Here we got chatting to a few Indian men from the local area, who were kind enough to give us their chai's and order more for themselves! One taught English and Maths, and I think the other was an auditor. One thing I love about India already is how warm and infinitely curious the people are. OK, getting beeped at and people shouting 'hello' to you ALL THE TIME can be exhausting, but somehow the excitement in their huge smiles stops you from getting too annoyed- even after the 200th picture!

The chai shop where we made some friends

   We head back to Ernakulam tomorrow, then to Alleppey for the night. We're both very excited about Tuesday, when we're going to be staying in a typical Keralan village just 10km from Alleppey. We'll hopefully have the opportunity to go canoeing, cycling around, and learning local crafts! Just the kind of experience we've been waiting for. Will tell you all about it very soon! And thanks very much for reading this far! xxxx