Frank and Robyn Do India

 Today's activity is the top valley trek. We dress appropriately for the occasion and drive past acres and acres of tea plantations. After 50 metres one of our party(no it wasn't me) has an an attack of the vapours and turns back(we wouldn't have won at ANZAC with that sort of attitude!) The remainder of the group plow on observing wildlifes and ascend to the summit-we all congratulate each other for this heroic achievement, toast the King abd sing Waltzing Matilda. We descend back to our vehicle and a lunch in a local bungalow-disgusting versions of soggy white bread sandwiches and of course a nice cup of tea. Dinner is good. 

 Today we drive into the high country. We stop of at a (Mick) jaggery factory and then stop for lunch in some colonial outpost surrounded by tea plants. Further along the road we see hills covered by tea plants-how much tea can one man drink? We arrive at Munnar and our hotel is surrounded by(you guessed it) tea plants. Dinner is good

 Today's activity is walking in the Chinnar animal reserve. We walk about 200 metres and then hear a trumpeting elephant -our guide then instructs us to climb the nearest object, which happens to be an observation tower. We cower there for about 30 minutes and skedaddle back to our van and the comforts of our eco lodge,lunch, a swim, whisky and dinner-no songs from Joe tonight-phew!

  Starting the day with a 6 hour car trip to Delhi airport and a tearful farewell to the enigmatic Mr Singh, our loyal driver. Uneventful flight to Combotoire in Tamil Nadhu and overnight in plush hotel. Following morning highlighted with Dosa for breakfast and meeting our travel companions for the next 2 weeks; I think we may be the youngsters in the group! We stop off at a cotton making place and receive a long lecture on the history and manufacture of cotton cloth-this has everybody in fits of laughter. Then a tour of a school whose gimmick is student empowerment. Great thali lunch. Stop off at a village where everybody is a weaver Local branch of Woolworths  More driving to our eco lodge; eco lodge always means dodgy plumbing and toilet paper made out of coconut shells or corn husks-I was not dissapointed! Average dinner but reasonable company.  I was generous with my whisky-half-way through dinner Joe decides he can liven up the evening by singing a capella "moonrive...

  Today we are off to see the rarely sighted Sarus crane-the tallest flying bird in the world. Mr Bachchu is our venerable guide; we have a hair raising ride in a Mahindra jeep which fortunately does not have functioning seat belts-this means in case of accident we will die instantly rather than being severely injured and enduring a slow, protracted and painful death in a hospital. Apparently Indian doctors do not require any medical training! So we stop beside the road and we see a plethora of Sarus cranes as well as all sorts of other cranes, herons, ibises and the odd bin chicken. Mr Bachchu is a font  of information but fails to tell us that the Sarus crane is all over north Queensland. In the afternoon we tour a local village and are venerated by the inhabitants, Captain Cook style. Then it is off to a holy temple sort of place where we receive blessings by the Sadhus. In the evening we meet a middle aged American tourist who shows us her collection of Sadhu dickpix!