Paradise Found...

So last we left everyone we ended up in Ernankulam. Actually, we were headed for Kochi, but the train station is in Ernankulam so that's where we got off....By the way, we spell the names of these cities about as well as we pronounce them so don't hold us to anything if you can't find it on a map! Anyway, we took the train to Ernankulam and the kind students on the train looked after us as we stood for the entire 5 hours since there were no seats. They were actually shocked to see us in 'common class' as the smells alone would drive most tourists to jump from the train! Leslie spent much of the time attaching her bag to her body so that if the theives (which she was sure were sitting right next to her, eyeing her every move) would have to fight her for her bag. At the same time I was having a very friendly conversation with the students (studying hotel management). One of the students offered his flat for us to stay in if we couldn't find a hotel. Of course, in the next breath he warned that we should never trust anyone in India..."did that mean him too?" ...I strapped my bag to my leg...

Surprisingly the train ride passed quite quickly and soon enough we ended up in Ernankulam, another smelly, noisy indian city, with no place to stay. One of the train passengers we had befriended agreed to walk us around to help us find a place and after a couple tries, it appeared we found a place...until our friend left and then the hotel manager said "full"...how convenient! Back on the street we finally found a place, spent about an hour unleashing our frustrations on each other over some beers and went to bed.

Another day, another attempt at success... We took advantage of the hotel's free breakfast and actually met the first Western couple we have seen this whole trip!!!! They were like aliens to us...we stared at them for a while...watched the way they ate their toast...listened to the way they spoke English..."Help, save us we cried!!! Is there any peace in this crazy country!" The offered no solutions, but some stories of hope just around the corner...

We had heard about this place called Munnar and every time we mentioned it people would say "Ah yes, Munnar, very nice..." but then they would say that about anything, even describing an Indian bathroom so we were skeptical to say the least. We packed our bags and headed to the bus station. We have learned at this point to never trust the first person you ask for directions. Indians are horrible with directions and will tell you anything just to have an answer for you. Therefore it is usually our minimum to ask at least 26 people for directions until we are sure that we are headed to the correct place. If 14 of those people seem to be in agreement we become 'somewhat' confident. Thus with some sense of confindence we boarded a bus for Munnar. We actually scored our own row on the bus which seemed to be a blessing until the first stop and 5 other people joined us in our 3 person seat. The good news is of course that since Indian bus drivers are absolutely crazy and seem to take pleasure in overtaking other cars in near misses, we welcomed as many people as possible on our laps to absorb the shock when the bus driver would invariably run us off the side of the road. The drive was actually beautiful and wove through the mountains and tea plantations of Southern India. We arrived in Munnar with the feeling.."things are looking up!" Immediately, we grabbed a rickshaw driver and headed off to find a place to stay in Munnar. We had heard about this cute little place among the tea fields and were sure that good fortune would look our way and we would secure a room there...no such luck...not only was that place full...every place was full! We tried the low budget rooms, the mid-budget, the high end, the hidden resorts...NO VACANCY! As the moon was rising our poor little rickshaw driver "put-put-ted" away up the hills determined to find us a place. He turned up a steep hill that lead to what the sign said was the "highest resort in Southern India..." and all of a sudden our little engine that could, couldn't. Whether is was the size of Leslie's bags or of Kevin's tummy, the rickshaw could not make it up the hill with us in it. So we got out, strapped on our bags and walked to the 'highest resort in Southern India'. One mile later we arrived and were greeted by two young indian guys. I asked if they had a room and after thinking about it for a while (there were only five cottages in this place so I don't know why all the thought) they said they had a place. I asked how much and they said 3000 rs. ($75) "3000 rs!!!" I exclaimed, "are you sure you don't have anything for less?" Our most expensive place at that point had been 600 rs ($15) and 3000 was well above our budget. However, they were quite sure they didn't have anything for less and even more sure that there was no where else I could go! We agreed to the price and they took us to the room...actually I should say house. For 3000 rs we got our own two story house! Much larger than our apartment in NYC! Too bad we couldn't invite all our friends & family for a big party, because we definitely had the room. The house sat right on the cliff overlooking the entire valley...a pretty amazing view. We treated ourselves to some candle-lit room service and a short walk along the cliff before heading to bed.

Our trustly rickshaw driver arrived the next morning offering to drive us around for the day. We took him up on the offer and spent the day seeing the beautiful countyside of Munnar. We saw tea gardens, beautiful mountains, lakes, rare mountain goats (that will eat out of your hand) and tons of fun, wacky Indian tourists all wanting us to pose in pictures with them! We had one of the best (and cheapest) Indian dinners using a banana leaf as a plate and drank some of the most flavorable tea we have ever had. We retreated to our palacial cottage after a wonderful day of seeing the true natural beauty that India has to offer. "Things are looking up..." we thought.

Love from the hills of India,

Kevin & Leslie