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At my last couchsurfer’s place I meet a German development worker from Afghanistan. Together we take the bus to Munnar, a mountain village which is famous for its tea plantations. The bus need almost 6 hours for just 120 km. But we have good conversations, therefor the time passes quickly. It is very interesting to listen to stories from travelling and working in Afghanistan.

Munnar is situated at 1500 metres above sea level and surrounded by tea and vegetable plantations. You can see for kilometres only tea plantations. The region is green, cool and almost empty corresponding to low season. We get a nice hotel and have to rent a tuk-tuk driver for the next day because all motorbikes are in maintenance currently. The town is small and a local tailor repair skilful my pants. It is always interesting to see handicraftman in developing countries. The tuk tuk ride is better than expected because our driver is nice and explains a lot (different to most experiences with tuk-tuk driver worldwide). He also let me drive his tuk-tuk and it is a lot of fun. We see monkeys, elephants, a beautiful lake and of course a lot of tea plantations.

The last day we do a hike into the tea plantations and meet the workers there. Only woman are working in the tea fields. Men are working in the factory or as drivers. The workers are curious and want to be in the pictures. I’m also working just for fun on the tea plantations, ok to be honest only five minutes. 😉

My last stop before Bangalore is Mysore. It is very famous for its beautiful palace and I’m still tired from the long bus ride when I arrive at the entrance gate. I pay the 200 Rupees entrance fees for foreigners and then I stand inside. The garden is huge and again I can see elephants. Furthermore it is relatively empty because the palace has just opened. It is a beautiful palace with great ceremony halls; a lot of wooden ceilings with carvings and a lot of marble. Thus it is not surprising that it is one of the most visited attractions in India.

In Bangalore it is time to rest and visit some friends. I also do couchsurfing again and seek insights about the Indian life.