The Coffee Plantations

After leaving Kerala we made our way, on a very slow train, to Madikeri which is up in the hills between Mysore and the sea.

It would be what the Brits, in the days of the Empire, would have called a Hill Station. At 1300 metres altitute it was the perfect place to escape the scorching heat of the summer, but also the ideal place to grow coffee, tea, and spices.

As the morning turns to afternoon the paddy fields become drier, vegetation turns to dust, green to dry orange. Sadly, the monsoon is not due for another three months....


Eventually we changed over to a bus. I love our bus journeys. I understand why Indians don't need amusement parks, they dont need the thrill, they just get on a bus. For a start, our bus driver didn't drive on the left, nor on the right, but somewhere in the middle.

On top of that, you always get some in-house entertainment. In this case it was a huge argument between a family of 20 and the conductor. The family didn't want to pay for the extra luggage they'd brought. And as they were all from different parts of India they started arguing in English. I had to thank them for the show...


However, they never reached an agreement...

So, a bit later on, when I was happily listening to Petula Clark, two policemen boarded the bus. I thought it was a bit excessive of the conductor. Until the policemen came and stood by my side...what had I done???

Well it seems that the local police transfers criminals on local buses so a chappy called Manol and someone else, who was too embarrased to give me his name, were actually travelling with me towards court....

Anyway, there was no more drama and we eventually got to our destination...


The view over the plantations is amazing. Once again, another hidden gem of India.

Tomorrow Charles and I will be trekking across a coffee plantation.

The longer I spend in India, the more I love this country...