What a difference a week makes,cooler air and lighter food
Delhi belly – 0, Mosquito bites – 2, Public buses – 3, tuk-tuks – 5, trains – 0
Independent reads this week – How to be a footballer by Peter Crouch – Mark giggled all the way through;light hearted and interesting for a football fan. When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi – Certainly makes you want to grab life with both hands and the epilogue by his wife was moving,but I couldn’t relate to the American medical system (thank goodness).
Average daily spend for 2 = £58 (more this week due to activities).
Highlights this week include:
1. Spices – We’re loving the flavours of South Indian food, full of taste and not too spicy (although we have found my spice threshold).Intrigued as to where the spices all come from we went on a wonderful spice garden tour – who knew that green,black,red and white pepper all come from the same plant? That cardamon is from the route of a palm, or that vanilla grows as an epiphyte, interesting stuff!
2. Cooking – Having seen the spices growing we wanted to get in on the cooking action. We joined Mrs Sheril in her home to cook up a feast (okra curry,chicken masala,pineapple and coconut curry,Kerala chips,parotta,rice and popadoms). We learnt that curries seem to start with the same basic oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves, a LOT of oil is used in cooking and it’s all such hard work.The meal was delicious.
3. Animals – We had a wonderful 4 days in Kumily (we extended as we were enjoying it so much, helped by the roof top pool, if you’re ever in Kumily I’d recommend Chrissies guest house). The guest house was surrounded by forest and we were able to see black monkeys (Langur), giant squirrel (Malabar),fruit bats and numerous species of birds from our terrace. We also had a lovely day in the Periyar national park hiking, swimming and bamboo rafting and we were lucky to see wild Asian elephants and Bison.
4. Tea – Ah the lovely British institution.Munnar is one of the highest hill top stations and surrounded by luscious green tea plantations.We went on a visit to the Lockhart tea factory, the museum was completely random full of British artefacts and nothing to do with tea, but the factory tour was great watching the processing in action – just like inside the factory but with no regard for health and safety. We sampled the white and black tea at the end and decided it was distinctly average so decided not to buy. Turns out the area doesn’t supply any of our home tea bags.
5. Trekking – With the cooler weather in Kumily and Munnar we’ve been able to enjoy some lovely treks in the national park and up high in Munnar for some great views.Turns out Indian guides are very knowledgable but don’t actively volunteer their knowledge. They also like to rest (on one they slept for 1.5hrs at midday whilst we swam and the other read the paper).
Sabbatical adventures (Mark and Lizzie) 