The last of the hillstations

Mt Abu stands at 1220 metres, with a cool, pleasant climate. The main focus is the Nakki Lake and we have a very average hotel overlooking it, which is quite stunning at night. It is Holi this weekend and the town is overflowing. Large groups of young men and families of dancers and entertainers have been flooding in, all eager to have a photo taken with the only white people in town. It's like being Bollywood film stars!

Holi is the "Festival of Colours". It always falls on full moon. On the first day, a bonfire is lit at night to signify burning Holika. On the second day, known as Dhulandi, people go around until afternoon throwing colored powder and water at each other. The people drink a cannabis based concoction and go wild. They sing and dance to overcome the power of demons.

Walking down the street in Mt Abu gives you a good indication of Indian demographics. This is slighty askew due to the fact that many woman stay away from Holi due to it's often zealous nature. There are many wealthy families, carrying mobile phones and driving the latest mini car. On the other hand there are many poor, desperate, dirty faces begging for a rupee or a left over piece of toast.

More tea vicar?

From the madness of Allepey and Kochin we have retreated into the tea plantations of Tamil Nadu. High up in the hills, the weather is cool and the air crisp and pleasant. The British planted the tea here in the early 20th century and there are still miles and miles of these plants still alive and giving us a crop of tea every 10 days.

Munnar is a small town full of plantations. We went with a guide around his plantation and saw how they live and work. A simple life, but certainly not a poor one. The work is difficult in the monsoon when it rains constantly and the leeches come and attack the pickers.

The biggest town in the area is Ooty, where we stopped with our friends the Nibletts who work at a school here. We had a great time catching up with them - eating their food and drinking their tea and beer!

They recommeded we go to a small town via a miniture railway called Coonoor. We stopped at the Brookland Christian Guesthouse set in the tea plantations. We were waited on hand a foot and had some great walks. CMS have an orphanage here which we looked around and met some of the kids.

The meaning of the universe...

If there is a bright spark in the centre of the universe, then Kodiakonal (in the physical realm) is farthest from it. Set high up in the hills, this hill station is a perfect spot to cool down, chill out and eat some great food.

Our room had a perfect view of the valley and although we set out to do some walks about the area, the pull of relaxing on our balcony was more than often too strong. We took a boat out on the lake, walked about town, ate pancakes and massala.

The town was founded by American missionaries and everywhere you look there is a Christian banner, calender, sticker. Even the taxis have King of Kings and Praise the Lord plastered over them! We went to one of the 50 churches in town on Sunday. It was very lively and a mixture of Indians and Westerners. Not surprisingly we loved Kodaikonal. Still, it is not possible to stay on the mountain peaks for long - the valley of Madurai is calling....