Meet the Elephants.
We arrived in Munnar last night after spending a very interesting afternoon with the Little Sisters of Nazareth. The town is about 5,000 feet above sea level. We booked into the "Westend Hotel" it has a grand entrance , with beautiful gardens. I've stayed in this hotel once before. it has a bit of a colonial feel to it. Perhaps the present owner may not like that idea, but it certainly reflects a bygone era.
We were welcomed and shown to our rooms. The sheets on the bed can only be described, as they say in Glasgow as "mankie" one had a hole in it.
In comparison the sheets on the second class sleeper from Chennai to Dindigul were dazzling white. Anyway this is good missionary training. But we still made a point of getting them changed.
Munnar is a hill town built up by the Brits when India was part of the British Empire. Its a tea town, surrounded by tea plantations. It snuggles into the rich green vegetation of the hillside. It has become the holiday destination for many Indian tourists seeking to find a place of sanctuary from the relentless heat of the Indian cities. The temperatures here are just like a mild summer in the UK.
So first thing this morning we head out for a bit of down time. This was an opportunity to visit Mattupatty and go for a brilliant ride on the resovoir there in order to see the wild elephants. it was a great experience. Following on from this great experience on the speed boat, ( video of which could be available), we continued with the elephant theme and went on an Elephant ride expedition. have a look at the pictures below.
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Posted By: Mike Munro On: 2 Aug 2009 At: 9:16pm
Here was us thinking that you lot were roughing it, when in fact you have been staying fancy hotels and going on safari, with Temple Bay still to come!