South India: Munnar Mountains Tea Plantation Hike

Tea in backdrop

Abraham ADORES our guides, especially Salaam

Boom talking NONSTOP to Salaam, about wild elephants, leopards, and snakes

Tea plantation worker, always carries a machete.
Loves long tea breaks, until the supervisor shows up.

Throwing rocks into the forest. Can't do that much in Kuala Lumpur or NYC

Salaam yelling the female mating call of the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel

What we saw on way to hike -- Farmer

Communist Party Workers up at dawn, blasting "inspiring" music and political words
all day long

The offending speakers

Burning trees and brush,
part of the reason for the "brown cloud" across Asia

Lots of building going on in this formerly small tea plantation worker village

3 generations of debonair men with hats return to Home Sweet Home, Camp Noel

April 8, 2011

Mary and Harvey decided to join us for our morning hike today, only after they were reassured by Salaam, our guide, that it was only about 150 meters of hiking. Of course, it wasn’t that short, and Harvey kept joking asking if we’d hit 150 meters yet. The hike ended up being a stretch but pretty much perfect for all 3 generations. We walked from Camp Noel through the local village which was BLASTING festive Indian music punctuating hours of canned Communist party campaign speeches played over and over, echoing over the mountainous valley. The communist (current ruling party of the state of Kerala) party seems to be winning around here, if you simply count the sheer number of communist flags flying and the noise pollution. Click HERE for video.

We continued on the dirt road, past local farms, new local homes that had clear-cutting of trees to create room for their terraced farms, and past many, many cows. We were confused as to why the cows are tied up. We had a romantic view of India has having cows loose and free, and uneaten, because Indians are largely Hindu, thus treating cows like Gods. And, we did see cows loose, laying in roads, with cars slowing down to avoid them. But here, we saw cows tied up and one cow owner herding her cows by throwing rocks at them. As Abraham liked to point out, it didn’t hurt the cows when you threw rocks at them!

The tea plantation was spectacular, climbing up to the base of the rocky outcropping peak of the mountain. The latitude lines seemed to be etched in place by the paths snaking between rows of tea bushes. Truly, the contours of the land were drawn in black.

We walked the rolling hills up the tea path, seeing tea workers along the way. These men had very dark skin from a living made in the bright sun. They all carried machetes used to clear unnecessary brush away. When we walked by, each small group of men seemed emotionally shut down as they sat in the shade on their tea break. Then, they’d slowly light up, like a growing flame, upon seeing Abraham. They'd point and yell Hello at him, some of them reaching out to touch his soft, cherubic cheeks.

I took a picture of one, with his machete. And, you can see the pride they take, regardless of the status of their work. He wears a collared shirt, like all Indian men, despite the drudgery of his sweaty work. And, he was excited to see his picture replayed on my digital camera, with his friends squeezing in to see him too, like he was captured as a celebrity for all the West to see.

Then, the supervisor rode up in his motorbike. All the men started putting away their metal tea cups and slowly snaking their way back through the small paths in between tea bushes. The supervisor distinguishes himself from the masses of tea workers by his colorful, clean vest over his collared shirt. And, his loud voice echoing across the valley of tea to reach groups far away. The men took out their machetes and chopped off dead branches, clearing way for new tea growth again.

We passed by the remains of a campfire on a boulder. Abraham asked Salaam what was burnt there. Salaam explained that security guards burnt wood to stay warm on frigid nights among the tea leaves. I asked if they were guarding the tea from thieving locals. He said, No, they were guarding the taller trees interspersed among the tea bushes. Why would they be paid to guard trees? Because the shade from the trees are necessary for the tea to thrive. And, the locals feel in desperate search of trees to chop for wood.

Salaam then took us off the dirt road for cars in the tea plantation down through a small opening between a couple tea bushes. We wove our way down through a small path in between bushes, with Ken helping Mary through the rough spots. It felt like an adventure and charged the kids up after the direct sun had tired them out. They also threw rocks with Salaam, who continued to amaze Boom with his champion rock throwing skills. Salaam is God to Abraham. Click HERE for tea hiking and rock throwing video.

We landed at the woods and Salaam asked us to be silent. We stood and waited while he made the female mating call of the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel living in the woods. His call went unreturned and we only saw the remains of a Giant Squirrel nest. They are about the size of medium-sized dogs. He thought they’d gone deeper into the woods for the day. Click HERE to see and hear Salaam making the endangered female Grizzled Giant Squirrel call.

We hiked our way back up to the main dirt road, and just as I was about to finally ask Mary for some free advice on my refugee mental health work, the Camp Noel van pulled up. The driver jumped out and asked if Mary wanted a ride back to Camp Noel. And, without a second of hesitation, Mary yelled “Yes!” and hopped into the van, not looking back.

Munnar Hill Top Station, India: Cool Climes

Our home at Camp Noel in the Munnar part of the Ghat Mountains

Road down from our house to the soccer field. The kids thrived in having complete freedom to run anywhere and they loved it. Our life in KL is very restricted to our high rise apartment with too many condo rules for kids. Here, no cars, no rules, just running and playing.

Harvey at our front door

Boom sad because he couldn't climb up the steep mini-climbing hill, as Griffin can do in the next picture below.

Our guide Salaam with us before our hike up to the peak, in the distance

Hidden tunnel

Villagers along the hike. Most work at the tea plantation.

Our unofficial guide to playing in the mountains. He followed us the whole way up and down the mountain.

Boom carried again by his super Daddy up the steep parts

Mountain peak in shape of dog's nose

Conquerors at top of the mountain

Family at top o' mountain

Goat herder

Cabbage

Path to a house

House along hike

Mountain flowers that feel like paper but seem alive when they quickly close after water is poured on them

Mountain wildflowers only out during March and April

Tired Boom! Almost home.

Climbing under the gate

Gardener around our house. She wanted me to pay her for taking this shot after I took this photo.
Harvey was sitting in the same spot we left him before our hike. Except now, his skin was completely burnt. So burnt it pussed yellow in parts the next day. He hadn't budged, even to put sunscreen on. Poor, sick Harvey.

We joined him to relax on the deck after our hike.

Playing tuk tuk

View of sun going down from terrace

View of the "dog nose" peak we'd hiked to, view from our terrace

Happy, beer-drinking, New Yorker-reading Dad on the terrace watching the sun set

April 7, 2011

We left Cochin in South India, and after almost 8 hours of driving, twisting and turning up mountain passes, and a couple vomit stops for Alice, we arrived at the famous Munnar hill top station. The Munnar area is in the Ghat mountains, surrounded by tea plantations. We stole the idea from the British colonists who would come up here to cool off. Unfortunately, there is not a well-preserved set of hotels from the colonial era, so we stayed at “Camp Noel” which is an hour drive past the main town of Munnar (Munnar is unpleasant, not even worth stopping in). It is an hour drive on a dirt road to Camp Noel.

Without old-world charm, modern Camp Noel has the charm of its outrageously beautiful mountainous surroundings. We all stayed in a cute house with a large terrace looking out over the valley. We would watch the sun rise over the facing mountain, turning our “great room” pink every morning. At night, we would look at the many stars and hear the croaking of frogs and birds’ pre-sleep singing at twilight. We also faced a mountain peak that we climbed.

The peak is the shape of a dog’s face, as seen from our terrace. A guide named Salaam took us up the peak, a short walk from Camp Noel. He and his friends climb all over these mountains. He says that if you hike 2.5 hours, over a couple mountains behind Camp Noel, then you see real wildlife. He’s seen 5 leopards. Wild elephants. Bison. Deer. He tells stories of the wild elephants deliberately, systematically sliding down the slippery, steep mountain to get to the bottom, during the wet monsoon season in June and July. He showed us how to distinguish elephant from bison from cow poop.

You wonder how much interaction there is between humans and the wild elephants. Salaam told a story of drunk Indian men throwing beer bottles at some elephants next to a dam. One bottle hit the elephant’s tusk, exploding on carbonated impact. The elephant was enraged, turned and rammed over 30 cars then pushed 13 cars into the dam. Lesson learned. Or, at least, Abraham will never throw a beer bottle at an elephant because that story made such a strong impression that he told it to each adult over and over. Abraham had a whole new respect for Salaam, with his wildlife tales, and held his hand on both the hike down the mountain peak and the next day, through the tea plantations. Abraham talked nonstop to Salaam the entire walk down the mountain peak. Truth is, Boom has become attached to each of our male hiking guides, always holding their hands through the return hike, probably seeing them as muscular, superhero-like role models capable of fighting off wild animals.

On our way up and down the mountain peak, a local Indian boy raced alongside us. Like most Indian children in this rural area, the only English he knows is “What your name? My name is …” In the tight confines of a large city, he’d be diagnosed with ADHD. But, in this rural freedom, he was lithe, graceful, and fearless in his climbing up the peak. He made a point of non-verbally teaching us how to turn nature into toys, like jumping onto a skinny tree and pulling it down with your weight, then using it to jump up and down as if you’re riding a pony. He taught Griffin the tire-spinning game used by all the boys living in the mountains here. They take a tire and spin it down the steep hills using a stick – their tire balancing skills are impeccable. Click HERE for a video of the boy doing it, and then HERE for a video of Griffin doing it.

I honestly think the boy aggressively insisted on posing for so many pictures for me because he wanted money for them. Same thing happened when I took a picture of a female gardener outside our home. I didn’t understand when she asked for money after the photo until she mimed eating food. My reaction usually is irritation at someone letting me take their picture then demanding money afterwards, but in such a relatively poor country, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

We made it to the top, feeling good, enjoying the cool mountain top breezes and outrageous views. We sat and ate our picnic lunch, watching the kids scramble all over the top.

Grammy and Harvey didn’t join us for this steep mountain hike. Click HERE to see us yelling from the top of the mountain peak to Harvey, pretending our voices could reach him, lazing on our terrace. Harvey was recovering from a nasty virus and Mary’s metal knees prohibit anything steep.

Good idea they skipped the hike since when we returned home, Kenny and I collapsed in bed, complaining of sore hamstrings all day. The kids, on the other hand, insisted we join them for a game of “family soccer” later. We couldn’t say no since we know that once we’re back in KL a few days later, we can’t play soccer in our concrete jungle. Despite a lot of chasing the soccer ball down steep hills and skin burning from the surprisingly strong sun, we had a great time, with the kids somehow beating us. No, really, Griffin is faster than me and Ken now, constantly eluding us with his patented footwork.

We ended the day on our terrace drinking beer, watching the sun go down on our mountain peak.

Griffin Blog Interlude: Griffin's Legos (Worth every incredibly overpriced penny! Meet our babysitter, Ms. Lego)

My Lego Castle

Top Control of Castle where my guy lives

The bank, Boom's house, and dormitories

Car Repair Shop

April 16, 2011

There is also boat control in my castle. And, broomsticks. Weapons. Two ships parked. A gate with a bolt. A courtyard. Two guard towers. That's it. It took me about 3 days to build the whole castle.

Signed, Griffin