By Bus from Kumily to Munnar

We took our first bus trip in India today and survived 106 km of narrow twisting mountain roads!  We were warned that the road from Kumily to Munnar was dreadful, but that speaker obviously hasn't been to Sri Lanka where they're far worse.  This was a very reasonable road indeed.  It was only the last 30 km where it became considerably narrow, and thus a little hair-raising at times.  We left Kumily more or less on time (9:50 AM) and arrived as expected at 2:30 PM with one 20 minute break (for a clean toilet, and well worth the 5 rupee charge) and another 10 minute break.   So a journey of 106 km that took 4 hours+ meant that we were travelling at about 25 km per hour, thus able to enjoy the sights out our window.  And it cost only 81 rupees each (about $1.60).  We could have hired a private car and driver for about $40 but  the journey would probably have still been at least 3 hours.

Looking out the window--no glass, just aluminum shutters that were rolled up.

I thrust my camera out the window to take this view of us.  Note that we had seats because we arrived at the bus station well in advance of departure.

These sweet young women, one sitting beside Lloyd and her friend standing were happy to have me take their picture.

This cutie-pie in her pretty dress would only sit next to Lloyd if her father sat down too.  

The little boy in the seat ahead of us.

When the road became much narrower, I had a perfect view of on-coming traffic.  It was a tight squeeze for this truck.

The bus had stopped for the truck to continue.

And a successful pass.

Some of the spectacular scenery enroute.

We are now happily ensconced at Royal Mist homestay and it's everything that their website promises and more.  Our hosts have been wonderfully welcoming, from meeting us in our tuk-tuk at a rendezvous point (thank goodness everyone else carries mobile phones--they're happy to make calls for us...), providing a great cup of tea at 4 PM and then a wonderful Keralan dinner at 7:30, and inviting us on a pre-dinner stroll where they gave us an introduction to the botany of the area (spices, tea, coffee, fruit...more about that in another post tomorrow.)

So, until then, we're now off to bed!  It's 10:43 PM.