Although it was, as we are finding to be the case with most holiday's so far from home, hard to get into the spirit, last week was a big birthday for me. To celebrate, we decided it was time for another road trip, so after dropping Yogi off with Ollie and her too amazing parents, we piled into the Innova for the six hour journey to Wayanad, Kerala. Wayanad is a very rural and agricultural district in north-east Kerala nestled into the Western Ghats, an area dotted with coffee, tea, and spice plantations and rice paddies. Our home for the weekend was to be a coffee plantation home stay, but before we even arrived we learned something new about India and had a first wild animal sighting.
For our learning, driving into Kerala was a first experience of what state's rights actually means: rather than simply passing a wonderfully over-sized rock sculpture of the state with a big "Welcome to Kerala" emblazoned across it, crossing into Kerala required a stop at a security check point. Here John needed to present an entire binder full of documents proving the legality of our car: emissions reports, license and registration, proof of insurance, proof of permission to drive, and many many more that we probably don't want to know about. We also had to pay a nominal fee, which we think was lower than it might have been because John, in his infinite amazingness, was able to talk to the border guard in his native language. This was also the first time in a long time that John was wearing his dress whites; although he usually does dress up by driver's standards, he almost never wears his whites. Why the formality for this six hour road trip? If he wasn't wearing his uniform he faced a Rs500 fine at the border!! So yes, they take their borders seriously.
More fun was had when our drive took us through the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw legion of monkeys, quite a few deer, and our first wild elephants! At this point Andi was ready to turn around and head home - nothing could top that.
Nevertheless, we continued on, and after the long drive pulled into Tranquil just in time for lunch. Sitting on a 400 acre coffee and spice plantation, Tranquil is a quite amazing home stay. In a number of ways it is really hard to consider it a home stay, but that's what it is, so that's what we'll call it.
We chose Tranquil primarily for two reasons: first, the 400 acre plantation is crossed by 12 trails of varying difficulty, almost all with amazing views of the surrounding plantations and paddies...
... and second, they have a treehouse. Yes, a treehouse.
So that was our weekend: eating, drinking, hiking. Which is, if you are wondering, a great way to celebrate a birthday in India.
For our learning, driving into Kerala was a first experience of what state's rights actually means: rather than simply passing a wonderfully over-sized rock sculpture of the state with a big "Welcome to Kerala" emblazoned across it, crossing into Kerala required a stop at a security check point. Here John needed to present an entire binder full of documents proving the legality of our car: emissions reports, license and registration, proof of insurance, proof of permission to drive, and many many more that we probably don't want to know about. We also had to pay a nominal fee, which we think was lower than it might have been because John, in his infinite amazingness, was able to talk to the border guard in his native language. This was also the first time in a long time that John was wearing his dress whites; although he usually does dress up by driver's standards, he almost never wears his whites. Why the formality for this six hour road trip? If he wasn't wearing his uniform he faced a Rs500 fine at the border!! So yes, they take their borders seriously.
More fun was had when our drive took us through the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw legion of monkeys, quite a few deer, and our first wild elephants! At this point Andi was ready to turn around and head home - nothing could top that.
Nevertheless, we continued on, and after the long drive pulled into Tranquil just in time for lunch. Sitting on a 400 acre coffee and spice plantation, Tranquil is a quite amazing home stay. In a number of ways it is really hard to consider it a home stay, but that's what it is, so that's what we'll call it.
We chose Tranquil primarily for two reasons: first, the 400 acre plantation is crossed by 12 trails of varying difficulty, almost all with amazing views of the surrounding plantations and paddies...
Morning hike and misty valley.
Our trusty hiking companion, Shadow.
... and second, they have a treehouse. Yes, a treehouse.
The path to our treehouse.
The neighbors stopping by to say 'hello.'
Later that night they would prove to be a little rowdy, throwing a dance party on our roof.
So that was our weekend: eating, drinking, hiking. Which is, if you are wondering, a great way to celebrate a birthday in India.
I so want to run away for a year sebatical. My kind of life!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat was marvelous. However, minus the elephants and monkeys, we have a lot of that here in the UP, and that makes me very lucky. (We also do not have border guards. :-)
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