Wednesday was amazing, I was up at 7am ready and waiting to be picked up at 7.00, at 8.05, I phoned the Bishop's Chaplain to see where they were, (as always just drawing up outside) Jeyakodi had told them not to come for me before 8.00am while he had told me they needed to pick me up at 7 and somewhere things had got very confused when he failed to pass on to me that they could come later or to them that we would be ready at 7.00am. Never mind we set off in the Diocesan 4x4 and apart from a puncture as we drew near to Shencottai all went well. At Shencottai we picked up the local pastor who was to be our introduction and guide for the day. the road went in a zig zag fashion across the Tamil Nadu border and into Kerala, then up the side of a hill/mountain one of the Ambanaad hills, part of the western Ghats, till we reached the tea plantation at 4,500. It was in fact part way back down the other side of the mountain so the road must have cleared 5,000 feet. Not up to Ken's standards in the Andes and Himalayas I know and in a car not on foot, but there you go, we all do things in our own way! The road was green and lush all the way with flowers and trees and bushes lining the road. there were waterfalls and lakes as well as streams and rivers running through mountain gorges. they kept telling em how cool it was ... Yeah right! Must have been only about 28 degrees rather than the 36 we having in the town just now!
Here are some pictures taken en route.
When we got to the top, we entered an area called the Ambanaad Hills, entry fee! No charge though as we had the pastor with us. Over the top and suddenly, we came across a huge factory (well huge-ish!) made of silver painted corrugated iron apparently dating from the 1840's this is the Arundel estates. They were delighted to hear that Arundel was an English town. They had no idea of the name's origin. Many of the estates here are named after their owners or their places of birth, there is one nearby named Merchiston... a district of Edinburgh, owned by the Richardson and Forbes families. There is also a Forbes Road in Bruntsfield another district in Edinburgh.
The equipment in the factory looks like the sort of stuff I used to play in on farms as a child, wooden conveyor belts, like hay bail lifters in barns, shaking trays and (not that I played in these) big turbines.
While we waited for the factory workers to return from their lunch break, ee had a wander around the estate, there were tea workers... naturally, working both in the factory and the fields. The ladies seem to do most of the picking with an intriguing combination of shears and collecting box, they then unload the collecting box into the amazing and presumably original 'tea-bag' hanging from their heads. The leaves are then taken to the factory, dried over warming trays and fans till they turn brown, they are then squeezed and pressed and filtered at various stages through sieve type things into the final selection of 10 grades, ranging from Orange pekoe (best) through floury pekoe, broken pekoe and tips, to broken orange pekoe fannings... basically dust!
I thought you might like to see the executive desk! The nice man was kind enough to sell me some top grade which is only for export. It was picked the day before I bought it... wow that is fresh! I've put in a fab pic of a water purifier.... no thanks, I think I'll stick to mineral water! and a mission statement.
I saw men working the rubber plantation, they really do 'tap' the trees. There is a pic of latex as it comes from the tree... extraordinary, it looks just like PVA glue as it leaves the tree! I caught this lizard on one of the factory garden walls, the flesh coloured part of its head looks as if it has a face made in relief on it. Fancy a bit of detective work on this one for me Mike?
More about my trip tomorrow!
