Day 5 – Part 1:
Mr.Bee and I woke up early in the morning, sat across each other in the balcony, looking at the huge trees of various kinds. The only one I could recognise was that of Eucalyptus. I saw a beautiful red nosed green parrot on the trees and that made my day. (I remember seeing a green parrot in Rajamundry, during my stay at my dodda’s place.)
I woke the kids up and after our baths, we went to have our breakfast downstairs. We met fellow Telugu tourists, chatted with them and parted ways. (Wherever you go, Kerala, Kashmir, Kashi or Kanyakumari, anywhere in India, you will find at least one Telugu tourist! That’s my personal experience talking.)
The kids and I didn’t like eating anything, except for plain old bread and jam. Mr.Bee is surprisingly a non-picky eatery, during travels.
After our breakfast, we decided to pass our time in the playground. I love the swings, it brings back memories of my school days and all. GBee loves playing on the swing, just like me, whereas KBee hates it, like Mr.Bee (Mr.Bee doesn’t mind Bungee jumping, but he can’t sit even for a minute on a swing!) Since it was our anniversary, we asked GBee to take a couple of pics of us. Even though a 7 yr old does not have much experience with taking pics, GBee not only took good pics, he also suggested various poses for us to mimic!
We returned to our room and started planning for the morning and afternoon hours. Our evening plan was already in place.
N, our tour driver suggested the Greenland Spices and Ayurvedic Garden tour. I was like, why not!
We booked ourselves a garden guide, who would show each tree and plant and explain the finer points. She knew Telugu too and it was fun, listening to Telugu in a Malayalam accent and I didn’t mind it a bit.
Red Ginger Lily
Princess Flower Plant
Red Banana plant
Cardamom plant with Inch Plant at its feet
If you wonder how a cardamom looks before being Sun dried, then, this is how it looks….
Queen Bee holding a cardamom, with KBee in the background playing with seeds and what not!
We had a blast, looking at all the plants of Aswagandha, Brahmi, Bringaraj, cocoa, Punarnava plant, red ivy (used to heal wounds) etc. She even showed us plants and the combination of which is used as medication for different health issues. It was an informative tour. (Since I was worried about presence of snakes in the Spice Garden, she assured me that one particular plant repels snakes, the Sarpagandha)
With that, we returned to the car, ready to go to our next destination, Munnar Rose Garden. Once again, we saw many colourful flowering plants and other garden plants, which were cut in interesting shapes and looked ornamental. (GBee and KBee wondered why we were looking at so many plants in a single day!)
My overly enthusiastic (pun intended) chocolate muffins, enjoying their time @ Munnar Rose Garden
We took atleast two dozen pics, spent close to 45 minutes in the garden and got into the car.
Our next stop was the Echo Point, Munnar.
Echo Point – Munnar
We paid the entry fee, stood there at the end of the tiny mound of a hill and shouted out, to hear the echo which boomeranged at us from among the trees, on the opposite side. There was boating option available too, for those interested. If you want to attract the full force of the Sun, boating is the way to go!!
Incidentally, we were yet to eat our lunch and extremely tired from all the walking. We returned to the car, after buying beautiful soveneirs, a.k.a, the fridge magnets and some wooden figurines.
We had originally planned on paying a visit to the Idukki dam, but later shelved the idea. We stuffed ourselves with all the snacks available at various locations.
While N drove us back to the Munnar town, all the 4 of us had a power nap. We woke up refreshed and happy, as we reached the White House hotel.
Since it was well past our lunch time, we ordered snacks and juice and patiently waited for our room service to make their appearance!
To follow our schedule, we had to be out of the room by 4:30 p.m., so we got busy, by getting ready for our interesting evening. The Raga, here we come!
P.S:
1. Long ago, I saw snow white cockatoos in Sydney, not in a zoo, but in the balcony of an apartment and more of them on the streets, where they fly freely!
2. After visiting the spices garden I understood why the spices are costly. The process of picking them and making them usable is a time taking process which takes lots of patience. Even plucking them from the tree needs to be done carefully and requires expertise.
3. We also stopped at a random point on the road, near the tea and coffee estates, saw a couple of deers running about.
4. Dodda amma is a Telugu term used to refer to one’s maternal aunt, older sibling of mom. Pinni is an aunt, who is younger sibling of mom.
5. During our visit to the nursery in Sangareddy district, the admin told us there are snakes and to be cautious when coming with kids. Luckily, Munnar Spice Garden administration knows what they are doing, since they have Sarpagandha too!
6. All the photos except the one showing the Echo Point were taken by Mr.Bee. This post is of the travel series, previous one being Munnar, at last!
