After 4 days in Fort Cochi I decided it was time to move on. I headed for the hills to Munnar in the Western Ghats – the hills which separate Kerala from its neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and which also give Kerala its rain. This is tea plantation country.
A rickshaw driver picked me up from the Good Karma Inn at 8.30 and drove me to the bus station at Ennakalum the nearby city. He was a far better driver than yesterday’s nightmare and he even stopped to answer his mobile phone.
Rickshaw ride to the bus station
Dodging the pot holes
Traffic on a bridge
I arrived at the bus station; bought some food for the 5 and a half hour journey and made use of the station facilities – my first encounter with a squat toilet – interesting, while still wearing my rucksack!
Transport officials at the bus station
Bus station forecourt
There were a couple of modern buses in the station and I was hoping that the bus to Munnar would be one of those. But sadly not, when it arrived it was one of the local red and yellow buses with vinyl-covered bench seats and open windows – built- in air conditioning. There was a driver and a conductor. I asked for my ticket to Munnar. I thought he said 800 rupees (about £10), which I thought was a bit steep, so I gave him a note for 1000 rupees. He asked me if I had anything smaller and showed me the ticket which said 81 rupees; which is about £1.
I quickly worked out that the only place for my rucksack was next to me on a double seat, which was not a problem, as there were only a few other people on the bus. On the 3-seater seat across the aisle from me was a family with a mother with small baby of about 4 months, father and another male adult. The mother started to feed the baby a broken up sweet biscuit and then milk from a bottle. He promptly fell asleep on his mother’s lap. On the seat in front was a family of 4 – mother father, boy of about 2 and girl of about 3.
The bus left on time at 10.00 and made its way through the city picking up lots more people and within 20 minutes all seats were taken and people were starting to stand in the aisles.
There was nothing for it but to push my rucksack as best as a could into the footwell, twist my bum across behind it, put my small bag on my lap and sit with my legs at the side of my rucksack as best as a could, so that a young man could sit next to me. He put his normal-sized rucksack on his lap. He must have been about as uncomfortable as me – I’m sure he could only have 1 buttock on the seat.
The bus seemed to be as full as it could get. We pulled into the next bus station and about 10 more people got on. Somehow the conductor still managed to make his way up and down the bus selling tickets.
More passengers get on the bus
Next to my seat stood an old man dressed in white. He tapped on the shoulder of the young man sitting next to me, who then got up to give the old man his seat. But now he had nowhere to put his rucksack, so I offered to have it on my lap too.
The bus made its way through the city, and other a-joining towns. Here are some of the things I saw out of the window.
Shopping street in Ennakalum
fruit and veg stalls
Clothes shop
At some point the old man got off, so I was alleviated of the young man’s rucksack. After about two hours we started to leave the built-up areas behind and climb into the hills. The temperature started to drop and the vegetation became more lush, with coconut and banana palms and the occasional clearing of rice fields.
The start of the hills
After 3 and a half hours, just as I was wondering for several reasons if I could last the journey we stopped for 10 minutes at a bus station in a hill town, which was the young man’s home town. That was good news as I desperately needed to stretch my legs and also visit the station facilities.
Then the bus carried on, a little less full, but now I had a lady in a sari next to me. Fortunately she was quite slight, had no luggage and got off after about an hour. Bliss – I had the whole double seat to myself and my rucksack.
The road became increasing steep and winding, with hairpin bends and swung round corners rather like the fairground dodgems. On the sharp left-hand corners the traffic swapped sides - the bus had to pull over onto the right side of the road to manage the corner and any traffic coming in the other direction automatically took the inside of the bend.
It started to rain and passengers lowered the concertinaed metal shutters to keep the rain out. The inside was a cosy twilight.
When the rain stopped and shutters were opened I could see that we were now among misty tea plantations.
After 5 and a half hours we pulled into Munnar, a rather scruffy strung out town, with stunning scenery around it. As I got off the bus I was glad that I had booked my accommodation ahead, as I was bombarded with rickshaw drivers wanting to take me somewhere and men offering to find me somewhere to stay. Deepak, the proprietor of The Green View Guest House arranged a pick up and in 10 minutes I was quietly in my room with a cup of tea.
Sue, Keith and Andrew will appreciate the name of the guest house – here is the view from my window – green eh?
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