Day 5 Munnar - Thekkady

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 Another nice cool morning. We needed to be packed up and have had breakfast to be ready to leave by 9.30.

Today's trip was through the most scenic areas we have been through yet. Mountains, tea plantations, forests etc.

            Munnar Botannical Gardens
              Tea plantation workers houses
             Tea - as far as the eye can see

New planting in the distance. A species of camelia. A tree can last upto 150 years
Quite a few eucs here too

Best road we have been on so far
Dam. Low water just now, but will fill in the monsoon season in a couple of months time. Used for hydro power

If you look closely, there are elephants!

Tea pickers right beside the road. They have hedge cutters with a basket attached to cut the new leaves off and catch them.


     Stopped at a roadside shop for a coconut


          Churches and temples everywhere



At last, arrived at Thekkady about lunch time

Arrived at the Spice Village where we were welcomed and shown to our cottage. A good sized unit with large bedroom and bathroom. The Spice Village is set out as a village. All the cottages are thatched with elephant grass. This resort is part of the CGH group, and is up to the same standard as the Brunton Boatyard !  ❤️


We had lunch at the smaller of the 2 restaurants and had a bit of a relax, as the temp was getting quite high. Saw squirrels and Guinea fowls.

Later we had two shows to go to. The first was a Kathakarli show. Traditional dance drama. It started off showing how the makeup is applied.


Then how the costume is put on. A two person job


Note the cord that stretched right out the back of the stage. It was all used eventually



                       The finished article

Next another character came out and showed all the facial expressions and hand mudras


The two characters then danced a traditional dance together. Very enjoyable, but a bit loud for Dave  who had to take his hearing aids out !!

Straight after that we went nextdoor for a Traditional Keralan martial arts show. These guys are very strong, fit and bendy. Must do a lot of yoga !

A selection of weapons used

The performers were down in a pit. It felt like they were Roman gladiators, fighting to the death

          The weapons are real. Sparks flew




                    It was a fantastic show.

After it was all over we went downtown with Dennis to find some dinner. We had just ordered when there were fireworks going off and a lot of noise outside. We raced out to see the people in a procession, going to a temple. Drums, fireworks and dancing.  The women, in their best sarees and with jasmine in their hair had little lamps made of coconut shells and filled with oil and lit. They followed on after the first part of the procession had passed. 

That was an unexpected bonus ! Went back inside. Our dinner came out quickly after that.  Then back to the village for the night.


Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 15, 2023 at 12:07 AM

    It looks like you are experiencing good accommodation? Are you enjoying the food?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 15, 2023 at 7:39 AM

      Yep. Everything is giung well. We are very well looked after - Deb

      Delete

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