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Hello World that appears to have gone facebook crazy. Here's my second blog from the stunning surrounds of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Not much to report from last time as I've been mainly lazing around in my tree house. Until I saw a big snake which looked suspiciously like a Cobra (I can't be sure as I'm not Austin Stevens) lurking not so far away this morning. So I thought I'd retreat to the safety of the internet cafe. Abject failure in terms of loading more photos on I'm afraid - maybe Beth's technological wizardry as a trained ITBMLer can help when she arrives. Hope so.
So what's new. Well, unwittingly, I did one illegal trek with a tout which turned out to be mostly animal free, although I did witness some spectacular views over the border with Tamil Nadu. I then did an exhilarating night trek (legally - through the main entrance!) with only my petite French friend Isabelle and two ultra brave and confident guides for company - minus their guns as promised in the brochure I might add! No Elephants or Tigers spotted but my adrenaline was all over the shop. We couldn't see a thing so I think my imagination ran away with itself - all I could think of was William Blake's poem for the whole 3 hours. This definitely made it value for money though since whenever we spotted something equally weak as ourselves like a mighty deer or 'wild' pig it meant we became massively excited and (briefly) scared. Ok, so I was the most scared.
What else? A visit to 'Abraham's Spice Garden' was equally adventurous. One personal guided tour around Abe's backyard later and, amongst other delicious items plucked from the plants, I had tasted the sweetest honey ever and quite possibly the hottest chillies to boot. Of the latter there were two varieties and whilst a small green rat-s***-esq one was potent, it was the other 'eardrum burster' which after a delayed effect induced much sweat and no little panic. All good though and apparently the Beeb have been round filming recently - something about the world's 100 greatest gardens apparently, so watch out for Alan Titchmarsh and Abraham! Tacked onto the Spice Garden visit was a fascinating look around a tea factory and plantation. Us Ingerlunders introduced tea there in 1941 and now it's privately owned by an Indian individual. Good to see our 'civilising' impact though! As an official tea fan (builders only mind) it was really interesting to see what's involved and where it all comes from (China - orginally!). The women all work in the field and the men in the factory, of course. Also, it seems to share aspects of our social history since there are houses for workers on the actual plantation. Cue yound memories of Cadbury'sWorld! Oops, just realised I've gone off on a history dirge here. Anyway, the black tea is delicious - Vanilla, Cardamom, Ginger, Lemon etc - and I've bought some and it only takes a mere 3 months to get to Blightly by Seamail! Bonus. Chai if you haven't tasted it is pretty revolting in my humble opinion what with all the milk and sugar involved.
Also, before all of the unadularated excitingness of the tea factory (stay with me folks) I had my first proper massage ever. An Ayurvedic one no less, which proved less painful than I was expecting since it seems to be mainly about rebalancing the fire, water, earth, wind (hocus pocus if you ask me!) in our bodies rather than actually manipulating my sore little muscles too much. Anyway, my wallet felt much more relaxed post massage though I didn't feel massively laid back, perhaps because I felt I'd been left locked up in my post massage steam bath a tad too long. Sorry to Mr Massager if he now sounds like a Bond Villain but he is!
To sum up, essay style, after 2 disappointing wildlife parks I'm excited about flying to Calcutta on Monday since (apart from no doubt being an amazing City) there's another wildlife reserve nearby called Sunderbans where you can get a boat through the Mangrove swamps at the mouth of the Ganges looking for more elusive Tigers. Exotic eh? Admittedly, this holiday is becoming a Tiger hunt and why not! Also, I met 2 great friends in Isabelle and Jeroen (A cool Dutch guy btw. Are there any non-cool ones?) and we all got on like a Jungle on fire but they have since hit the road again leaving me on my tod and not really wanting to meet people whom I can't immediately burst into fits of laughter with after Fred the Mosquito tampers with my boiled eggs* or other such events.
*Apologies for the Private Joke.
Catch the next instalment from Cochin or Calcutta where you can see how I've still not seen a big cat in the wild or learn how I still haven't mastered the art of uploading rubbish photos.
DT (The Tiger Hunter)
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