30-03-2024
From Munnar we went on to Thekkady. But first we visited a tea factory. Kerala roads are an enigma to me. we left the newly paved highway, to access the tea factory. And all of a sudden, the road was no longre paved, but made out of gravel, and twisting and turning in such a way, that I could not imagine how the lorry's would be able to reach the plant to collect the finished product.
But we managed to reach the factory. As we got out of the car, we could smell the fresh scent of the tea. It became quite overwhelming as we entered the factory. The first signs inside were one saying you shouldn't drink your tea with milk, and one saying no photography allowed. Next, we went into the drying room, where the plucked tea was spread on long tables to dry. the guide explained how and why. And then told us we could take a picture. Typically Indian logic.
We walked through all steps of the process, among which were rolling the leaves, seperation of fibre and packageing, we had a tea tasting. We could try white tea, green tea, orange peccoe, black tea and tea powder. They're all made from the same plant, only the timing of picking and the processing differs. The powder is usually for the Indian market, and is wrapped in teabags. All the other types of tea are mainly exported. And of course we could buy tea. Being tea lovers, this was impossible to resist. So we bought white tea and orange peccoe.
Lijo drove us away from the factory, taking another road from the one we had on the way there. This one was shorter, less twisted and with fewer potholes. Better to use for the lorries. We entered the highway from this road. There was no seperate lane for entering. Worse: right next to the curve, there was a zebracrossing, crossing the highway! Only in India.
We drove on. We stopped at several viewpoints and took picures of the magnificent views. Lijo tried to discover what we would like to see, and made some stops for watching flowers, a temple or a statue. Slowly, the scenery changed. The large teaplantations made way for more forrested hills. And underneath the trees, a dence coppice of cardamom. This part of the western Ghats is also known as the Cardamom Hills. The cardamom plant grows at a lower altitude from the teaplants, and prefers the shade. Although the views became a little less far, they were still impressive. When we got out of the car to take some photo's, there was a slight smell of cardamom in the air.
Kerala is the spice country of India. The Dutch East India Company knew. And before them, the Portugese. And the Romans before them, and even the Phoenicians before them came here to trade. The amounts of spices in the shops, and the wonderful smells blowing down the street, makes one wanting to buy. But we are hesitant. We still have four more months in Kerala, and won't be cooking our own meals. So we make do with taking deep breaths as we pass the spice shops and enjoy the scents of the bags full of pepper, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cardamom, starannis, ginger, curcuma, dried chillies, and more.
The way to our hotel, led us steeply uphill on an unpaved road. I was very glad we had our driver, as I would not feel comfortable driving on this kind of road myself. the hotel, however, is something I culd get accustomed to. Surrounded by jungle like gardens, I felt like Mowgli. Simon wondered where all the noise came from. They were the cicades, making a terrible rackit. On the hotel grounds there is a tea garden, where complimentary tea is served between 4.30 and 5.30 pm, and swimming pool to cool off from the heat. And we already met one inhabitant of the gardens: The Indian garden lizard, or calotes versicolor.
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