Monday 6 December 2010
Last blog home...
Well we arrived at our final location on Friday night truly exhausted (but exhilirated) with car horns blaring and hazard lights flashing, to the rousing sound of a traditional Keralan 'band' and the hugest and most beautiful elepant - carnival time! It was magical. There was much hugging of newly made friends and tears of relief and sadness that the trip was essentially over - save for the last party!
The party was to start at 7.30pm so we emptied cars and made our way to some of the best accommodation we have had on the whole trip - little apartments looking out onto beautiful lawns bordering a huge feshwater lake with the view of fisherman laying their nets for the night from narrow,elegant rowing boats and the traditional raffia covered houseboats gliding quietly by.
After much scrubbing under hot showers we gathered in all our newly bought Indian finery on the lawns of this beautiful hotel with the lake in front of us, palm trees and the sound of crikets all around - it was a stunning sight and a great party!
So to finish off I'd like to say that Neil and I have had an amazing trip: we've seen some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and the Indian people we have met on the way have been an insipiration to us in their tolerance of others, their diversity and their inner stillness where somehow they can 'just be' amid all the chaos that is India. Thank you India for having us.
Thursday 2 December 2010
Tea, tea and more tea...
Today has been magical and great fun - we left this morning in thick cloud but as we descended our mountain the clouds thinned and the sun shone. After driving through a large connerbation during rush hour and a really delightful village that Neil said reminded him of Cornwall (really had to use my imagination for that one) we began our ascent to the tea plantations through countryside which I can only describe as majestic - it is so so beautiful - each hairpin bend leading to an even more breathtakng view until we arrived at the hill station Munnar in the middle of mile upon mile of tea!
There were however 'words' exchanged on route - we are clearly feeling the strains of ten days of driving and Neil lost his rag twice today - I know you're going to find it hard to believe but I remained calm (oh the beauty of writing the blog)! But I digress; the first 'exchange' was as a result of Neil's difficulty in reading our map whilst looking out for an 'English wine shop' (a bit of a misnomer as they don't sell wine) after coming to our fourth fork/T junction with no word from Neil as to which way to go - all I said was 'you're supposed to be navigating' - when the bottom lip went out and he shouted that it was not possible for him to do two two things at once - oh what fun I've had with that.
The second was when we were on a narrow bit of road with a vertiginous drop to one side and a large bus motoring towards us whilst blaring his horn loudly and continuously - I couldn't believe how little space there was availalble so was trying furiously to capture the moment by photographing said bus (it was exciting) but Neil screamed at me that this was not the time for taking holiday snaps! Anyway, we made it and holiday snap is v good!
Before I go Neil said today that to see the tea plantations in all their glory has been worth every gruelling kilometre! And lastly - how on earth did Russia get to host the 2018 world cup?!
There were however 'words' exchanged on route - we are clearly feeling the strains of ten days of driving and Neil lost his rag twice today - I know you're going to find it hard to believe but I remained calm (oh the beauty of writing the blog)! But I digress; the first 'exchange' was as a result of Neil's difficulty in reading our map whilst looking out for an 'English wine shop' (a bit of a misnomer as they don't sell wine) after coming to our fourth fork/T junction with no word from Neil as to which way to go - all I said was 'you're supposed to be navigating' - when the bottom lip went out and he shouted that it was not possible for him to do two two things at once - oh what fun I've had with that.
The second was when we were on a narrow bit of road with a vertiginous drop to one side and a large bus motoring towards us whilst blaring his horn loudly and continuously - I couldn't believe how little space there was availalble so was trying furiously to capture the moment by photographing said bus (it was exciting) but Neil screamed at me that this was not the time for taking holiday snaps! Anyway, we made it and holiday snap is v good!
Before I go Neil said today that to see the tea plantations in all their glory has been worth every gruelling kilometre! And lastly - how on earth did Russia get to host the 2018 world cup?!
Today's Update from Thelma and Louise !
Hi all. No energy to blog last night. There was a landslide on our route so instead of driving 295km we drove 500!! Nearly 100 in the dark which was a bit scary and last 50 a continuous climb through hairpin bends!! Tired and emotional. One of the group so ill he had to be lifted out of his car and wheelchaired to the hotel but refused to go to hospital for a once over. Woke today in mountains to drizzle and low cloud so boo hoo! Off to the tea plantations in munnar now and hoping for some sunshine. Neil making me drive down then mountain who said chivalry is dead! By the way heard its freezing there !
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