I stayed at the SMM Cottage in Munnar, Kerala

I stayed at the SMM Cottage in Munnar, Kerala

In Munnar I stayed at the SMM Cottage, which was next door to the JJ Cottage hotel, which was full. The room cost about 350 rupees. The room was small but adequate. To eat one can walk to the S & N restaurant down the road; otherwise you need to take an auto-rickshaw to town to find a restaurant.

The nice thing about this place is that you can step outside your door, walk uphill, and find yourself in the middle of the tea plantations.

You don't need to take an auto-rickshaw to see them; you are surrounded by them. In twenty minutes or so you are on top of a hill of tea plantation surrounded by the hills of Munnar.

The tea plantations reminded me of walking through vineyards. They are planted on steep hillsides, some of which can only be navigated by foot. The difference is that instead of trellises and vines, tea plants look like shrubs. So there are rows and rows of shrubs planted up and down the hillside. The leaves are shiny and show different shades of green when the light hits at different angles.

I took an auto-rickshaw up one of the side valleys; it was also very scenic. We looked for wild elephants but only saw where they had slept the night before.

I stayed at the SMM Cottage in Munnar, Kerala