WRITING IN MUNNAR

I said goodbye to Kai and was on the bus to the Tea plantations of Munnar. Sadness was my traveling companion, though there also a sense of release. Not from Kai but from the pattern we had formed together. We had lived in each others pockets and knew what the other would say before they said it. Like brothers. Now I was heading off on my own into the unknown again. Unnerving, exciting and it felt right.The bus journey was horrendous. It started off well. Calmly climbing the steep mountain edge, it was only on the descent that devil took over the driver and reminded us all how close to death we all really are. I was stupidly sitting in the back, experiencing the full force of this runaway bus. Flung from side to, a literal white knuckle ride. And they were. The little boy in front of me was sick and still we powered on, the bus conductor angry at the boy's father for letting him puke. A frightened western woman sat rigid next to the boy, too scared to move away from the vomit that had seeped into her Aladdin trousers. What a joke. We were so close to becoming another statistic, yet none of us said anything. Too scared to confront the culture, to loosen our grip or to be seen as weak? Whatever it was, I was pissed for not listening to my instincts, which were screaming....Get off of this bus !!!! We arrived at Munnar having zipped through some stunning landscapes. Lush plantations, blankets of green. I was exhausted through fear and stood at the back of the bus searching for my rucksack. I was not in a good mood. My best buddy had gone and I was there, with no one to share my experience with, so it was bottled up....that is until a dumb ass hippy western bloke told me to hurry up with the bags. Whoops, I lost it and told him where to go. We stood facing each other and luckily both realized that we had endured the same fearful ride and were speaking the same angry language. There was a look of apology and we got off the bus. No fisticuffs. Thank god !!!!

DEW DROPS was where I asked the cab driver to take me. A small hotel, series of cabins really, isolated, a little expensive and my home for the next 7 days. Well, it was stunning. It was quiet, set in a beautiful part of the world and I wrote every day, surrounded by trees and the constant bird song . I was a happy man at the end of it and a little sad to leave. Apologies to Kai who had asked me to try and remain detached from the other guests. We had talked about the ease at which I made contact with other people. Nice Richard getting along with everyone. So his challenge was to stay separate. I failed. Miserably !!!! I knew all the other guests by the end of the week and even found myself talking for 2 hours, with a delightful older couple, about their sightings of little plant people. Little people who looked after mother earth and all her plants. Who knows. They believed and I believed they believed. Just wonderful. Sorry Kai but a Leopard and spots and all that !!!!!! Thank you Munnar xxxxx