It’s time for tea… and a little medical tourism

From Masinagudi it’s a short taxi ride, up 36 hairpin bends to the British hill station of Coonoor in the Nilgiris hills.  It’s technically in the same area of jungle as Masinagudi – just over the hill to the south – but at 1,850m altitude it feels like worlds away. There are no tigers here, but there are bison, leopards and warthogs to keep you on your toes… and lots of tea.

From Wild Haven we’ve come to Acres Wild, a home stay on a small cheese farm. Coonoor  is divided into lower (main bus stand, train station and very real & thriving market) and upper (a bit more upmarket, some roads with attractive British colonial houses and Coonoor Club). Thankfully though, we’ve followed the Lonely Planet advice and gone for somewhere out of the town, with lovely views across the valley to the tea plantations that dominate this area. We have our own little bungalow with a cosy sitting room with a fire and a little kitchen. It’s our first chance to do any self catering and Jemima brilliantly steps up as head chef (OK, that’s maybe bigging it up just a little, given there wasn’t too much actually cooking involved, but still) banning those who are not helping from the kitchen and taking great pride in the presentation of her food. (A career in catering is beckoning, perhaps?). We also enjoyed the landmark occasion of Jemima making and bringing us our first cup of tea in bed – oh happy days!

On our way to Coonoor after passing though the larger hill station of (Snooty) Ooty – actually the town looks a bit shabby these days, despite its houses painted the colours of sweets – we stop off at the most unlikely bakery / patisserie / coffee shop. Where are we? Paris? Vienna?  It feels like we’ve just hit the hyperspace button and transported back to Europe. The children have a hot chocolate and cake; Fi and I have delicious coffee with macaroon and almond tart, respectively. We promise ourselves we’ll be back for a meal.  What’s more, there’s a beautiful craft shop behind and the children stock up on embroidery and French knitting kit – this is brilliant as it’s as light as a feather and Jemima & Gabriel spend many hours honing their skills over our time here. Hopefully the novelty won’t wear off any time soon!

We’re sticking to our India policy of not trying to pack too much in, so hang out around the farm a fair bit, including seeing the cheese being made, Gabriel trying his hand at milking one of the 10 cattle, even a bit of soap making. The owners, Mansoor & Tina, have deliberately taken this farm back from a tea plantation to a small dairy farm, which is what it would have been before the British came and introduced our tea. They are an intellectual couple – Mansoor has published a book on global economics and growth, The Third Curve, with a strong focus on energy and sustainability instead of pure financial growth. 

But tea dominates this area. The fields, either a patchwork of individual bushes or neat rows, come in three colours: dark green, recently picked; fresh vibrant green, ready to be picked; or dry brown, recently pruned (and they are pruned back HARD). We visit a local tea factory which is fascinating, seeing the different processes for leaf and dust tea. Jemima gets the chance to dress up as women used to to pick the tea, but today’s reality is that the women are working hard for just 200 Rupees per day (about £2) – something to think about next time I throw and half-drunk cold cup of tea down the sink!

Jemima is complaining of a touch of toothache, so Mansoor refers us to his dentist who has a surgery that certainly wouldn’t look out of place back in St Margaret’s. Fi suggests that while we’re here I enquire about the implant that I’ve been talking about having done ever since I’ve known her (about 12 years ago, after a night out in Leeds with Keith Bird and Mike Lander, I bit hard on a late night kebab that unfortunately had an olive with a stone in it – crunch, end of tooth!). With only one day to go before we leave, I’m sure this is going to come to nothing. However, after a quick chat and an X-ray, I leave with an appointment to come back the next morning for stage 1 of the implant!! This is going to cost less that £200, which is a fraction of the price back home – I had no idea we were here for medical tourism! So the next morning I return and an hour later I have a titanium screw in my jaw and the rest of the implant in my pocket, to give to a dentist in New Zealand to complete the procedure.

We leave Coonoor via the famous ‘toy train’ down to Mettupalayam – it’s a narrow gauge steam train that goes steeply downhill (in the direction we’re going), using a rack & pinion system. It takes about three hours to do the 27km down to Mettupalayam, but the views are breathtaking. It’s a cloudy day, so we miss some of the views, but it’s wonderfully atmospheric. There are tea plantations, tunnels, bridges, waterfalls and dense, dense undergrowth in which you just know leopards are lurking. This is a journey not to be missed (although the children mostly did, because they watched a film on the iPad!).

From there it’s our last overnight train, from Mettupalayam (isn’t that a great name for a place?!) to Chennai. We’re staying in our smartest hotel so far – duvets, minibar, internet that works (although they charge for it – grrr), pool, extensive buffet breakfast that the kids love… I’ve probably stayed in a thousand such hotels on business in my time but never have I appreciated one as I do this one – it is SUCH a treat.

And now at last, I’m up to date with my blog!! With the internet challenges we’ve had it’s been a real challenge but we were determined to catch up before we leave India, which we do tomorrow. No doubt we’ll drop behind again as we head on to Nepal, but for this fleeting moment, I can taking some satisfaction in having achieved that goal!