Leaving our hotel in an array of Jeeps to meet up with our bus.
The means of securing hubcaps should have warned us about what was ahead.
This morning we descended from the mountains that included the highest peak in Southern India,on a narrow road through numerous hair-raising bends, between high cliffs on one side and deep ravines on the other. Our coach built to take 40 passengers squeezed its way, sometimes inching past other large lorries and buses, often the only way was to move to the outer edge on the wrong side to achieve the turning circle. We had to trust the driver and the firmness of the road edge but with the thick fog as well we could only know how deep the ravines were it the coach were to roll off. It didn't.
We are staying at a hotel called the Spice Village another member of the CGH Earth chain (not Changi General Hospital!) like the one we stayed at Kochi. The buffet lunch was course up to the usual high standard, down to the manual frothing of my coffee (south India or Malaysian"Tarik" style) when I asked for cappuccino. It was Kay's birthday so the management upgraded us to a better "room" meaning that we run the danger of leaving things behind in this bungalow house size accommodation tomorrow morning when we checkout.
Kumily is a bustling town famous for its spice trade, but mainly cardamon ,pepper, and turmeric. The heavy rain eased enough for us to take a walk through a "spice park" making real contacts with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, pepper and even coffee. KM
Cardamom pods at the root of the plant.
Piles of cardamom after drying.
Then being sorted
and finally in bags. And I pay $5.00 for about 20gm in Sydney. Imagine the value of this lot.
Yet one more spice - nutmeg. The nutmeg we use is inside the black shell, which is the seed of the fruit. The red mace is attached. It is used by cooks - and the police.
