India Day 7: A canoe, tuktuk, train and two taxis to Munnar

Yes, it really did take all those modes.of transport to get us to our new destination. You might think that having precooked the train ticket from Kollam to Kochi and the taxi to pick us up from the station and take us to the Windemere Estate in Munnar, that all would be well. Aha! Think again!

We woke up early and packed before Vijeesh brought us a goodbye coffee which ws very sweet of him. We then settled up paying on Monzo which was brilliant as the exchange rate is fabulous and there didn't seem to be any commission involved for paying in rupees. The whole 3 night trip including all the meals and activities came to £145, well worth it.

I'd asked Vijeesh to book us a taxi back to Kollam station but he looked up the train route and said that it actually stopped at a much nearer station so we could get a tuktuk there. A no trainer really. So at 7:10 we shouldered oir bags and he led us down to the road...across rhe road and to the canoe and told us that the tuktuk was on the other side of the river as it is a bit quicker to go from there.

So, into the canoe. I was getting a little nervous of making the train but India is about going with it. So I went with it and we reached the other side (lovely sunrise over the water), said goodbye to our host and got in the tutuk. It was more like a little van this time but sounded the same as a normal auto rickshaw.

Off we hurtled toward the unknown station (Sasthancotta) which took about 10 minutes and we paid the driver 200 rupees and walked along the platform. We asked a local to make sure it was the platform for Kochi, which it was...but we had no idea where oir carriage (with our precooked seats) would stop. Kochi station had an info screen to tell you which part of the platform to stand on for your carriage..

But nothing like it here.

So, we sat and waited. Our carriage was an air conditioned chair class carriage, C2 and I checked Google which said it was usually middle-front of the train. Google also tole me where the train was, which was useful as it was running late (yep, another late train - that's the third one this trip...all of them in fact!).

So we sat and waited and a very friendly Indian chap sat next to us and started talking. He asked lots of stuff about the UK and told me his wife was working there and that he had been there recently. He seemed nice and probably was just that...but I'd read lots of scammer stories about stuff like this so was a bit wary. In the end we became friends on Facebook but I unfriended him later. It's nothing personal.

Becs managed to clock our carriage as it went past us and we had to run up the platform to get it before the train departed. We stashed our bags on the luggage rack (Becs said I'd whacked a couple of passengers with my rucksack as I came into the carriage - no wonder they were all looking at me funny) and settled down for the 3 hour trip back to Kochi. This was a much slower, and older train than the one we had taken a few days before, but was OK. The temperature went a bit up and down though as the air con was really cold but as soon as someone opened the compartment door all the humidity rushed in.

Still, we got to Ernakulum Town North Station in the end, only 30 minutes late and aligned to look for our taxi driver.

No sign of him. Well, this had happened before and I was ready this time. I messaged and whatsapp called the company I had booked it through and after a few minutes they came back, very apologetic and trying to find out where the driver was. Turns out he was at a different location and they were sending another taxi to pick us up and take us to him. So I sent them a very sharp yet quite reserved message and we waited on the platform. We'd not had anything to eat that day and it was already lunchtime so were getting quite hungry. Luckily there was a food stall on the platform so we treated ourselves to a can of coke and a snickers....gorgeous!

The taxi eventually turned up, we had to share our exact location on WhatsApp so he knew where to find us but find us he did.amd we jumped in ready to go to Munnar. 

Only we didn't go there, we were going to the other taxi, which was parked at the side of the road about half and hour away just outside Kochi. I'm not really sure what happened with all this but we finally had the correct taxi and were finally on our way.

The driver seemed  nice sort and asked us if we wanted to stop for lunch, which we did in a kind of Indian roadside Little Chef. Was quite fun, we both had the thali for 280 rupees each. There were toilets there too.

Back in the taxi we still and 2 hours of the 3 and a half to Munnar to go...and the road started to climb. Our driver offered some site seeing on the way (there were waterfalls and view points) but we were getting tired by this time Nd just wanted to get there. Cue the mad dash to the top where our driver had decided to drive faster than anyone else...but it still seemed safe (ish) and we got there unscathed. The scenery really was amazing, mountainous with large tea plantation all around.

We arrived at Windemere to a lovely colonial style welcome where at least 4 staff came out to see us. Two of them grabbed our bags and took them off to our room while we signed the guest book. A nice Indian lady then gave us a tour of the estate before showing us to our room. It was lovely, a big room with a seating area out front. It really was quite plush. 

Dinner was a three course set menu of soup, curry and a very tasty milk cake with cardamom dessert. Must have put on so much weight this holiday.

Tomorrow we explore but tonight we're tired. But we're here in Munnar!