Munnar: Tea, Tales, and Twists

The entirety of our Munnar journey took place in a lovely 7-person van. With our trusted driver, Vippin, we left Kochi and set off towards the mountains.

Our first stop was at the resto/hotel, Cloud 9, where Vippen took us for our “western stomachs.” Then, we drove until we finally hit the luscious greenery that is Munnar. Picturesque tea gardens surrounded us from all angles - it was impossible to get a bad view. 

Due to the large size of our van, we had to bypass the bridge needed to get to our hotel. The route that we instead had to take was a long and bumpy one (think Quebec’s potholes but 10x worse). However, our prize for braving the road was the most magical reception at our hotel, Fragrant Nature. Tea, hot towels and snacks were presented to us inside the lobby. The hotel itself looked like the evil lair of a James Bond villain, perched along the side of Munnar’s many mountains. Once settled in at the front desk, we ran to our rooms and basked in the glory of big, comfy beds and steamy hot showers (each with a door)! Our next stop was the pool, which overlooked all that lush greenery. We swam and played mermaids until the team split off for massages and dinner. We later regrouped for some card games and tea until we passed out from our long yet exciting day.

After sadly checking out, we headed to a tea museum. As one could imagine, we learned everything about tea and the history of the gardens, then helped ourselves to various tea-treats and goodies. We then hit various scenic viewpoints where we had a little photoshoot. After, we headed for lunch, then our long-awaited hostel, Zostel. 

  

Prior to this trip, we were all very excited to stay at Zostel. It looked fun, it was cheap, and the name was fun to say. We stayed at one on our first night in Kochi, and it was great! So our expectations were relatively high for our Zostel Munnar stay. 

 

“Us, before the trip making a “Z” for Zostel.”

However, our expectations were not met as Zostel repetitively betrayed us. When we arrived, we realized the road to get there was too steep and narrow for our big van to bring us down. We instead had to call, and wait on a tuk-tuk to transport us and our things (Zostel offence #1). Once we finally got in the lobby, more drama ensued. A few changes were made to our booking unbeknownst to us. Instead of all staying in one room, the team was divided into 3 rooms as the hostel was “totally booked,” and it was impossible to keep us together (zostel offence #2). Dan, Tara and Caley in one room, Chloe and Maeve in another, and Spencer on his own. 

After dropping off our bags, the team hit the terrace working space and finished up the rough draft of our project course report (woo woo)! After a quick dinner, we headed off to our rooms, where we all had very different nights. 

 

Chloe and Maeve (chlaeve): Friendly (but talkative) roomies. Had the space to themselves the next morning. 

Tara, Caley and Dan (taleyan): Loud roomies and rusty bathroom (zostel offence #3).

Spencer (no combined nickname available): Slept for 2 hours due to a wonderful bonding night with his chettas (brothers in Malayalam). 

After leaving Zostel, we made a quick stop at a spice garden where we learned everything we could ever know about spices. Then, we set course back to Kochi as we were flying out early the next morning. Like Fragrant Nature, this hotel was also beautiful and blessed us with hot showers, a pool and a trampoline. We spent the afternoon swimming, reading, jumping and grading until we headed for dinner and drinks. We went to bed early, prepping for our day of travelling to Goa.