Tea and More in Conoor

Conoor

Like all good things in travel Conoor happened on whim. This hill station in India was not supposed to be one of our destinations, but when we got to Ciombatore and found out that the ashram we were staying at was not what we expected, we started looking for other options. It was Tino and Shasha that did the research and found the place. (Of course it was in The Lonely Planet.) FiFi and Kiki were still sick so they were happy to move since they would not be doing yoga anyway. It was decided then. We would be leaving that very day on the next bus to Conoor.

Our late night arrival. How does Sofi fit everything in that bag

When we arrived it was late and misty. We walked to the nearest restaurant and dropped our bags. After we ate Tino and Shasha went on the prowl for a hostel. The hostel they found was decent, but what made it okay was the bakery downstairs and the smell of cookies that would wake us in the morning. The next day we went for a walk to look around. We found the perfect guesthouse. It was a bit expensive (800 rupees ($16) a day) but worth it. All meals were included plus a morning and evening tea. We had our own rooms and we were surrounded by tea fields. The fog would roll through all day long, giving the place a magical appearance. The Brooklands Christian Guesthouse was just the perfect place for us.

View from my window

Afternoon tea in the garden

There was a garden close by that we walked to one day. There was also Dolphin’s Nose, a great viewpoint, about 12km away, so we decided to take pack lunches and go check it out. The owners of the guesthouse must not be walkers because they were astonished that we were going to walk all the way there and back. It was not a bad hike seeing that it was on a road and not on a trail. It was a beautiful walk through tea field after tea field. Everything shrouded in a layer of fog. When we got there though you could only see fog; the whole viewpoint was whiteout. We thought we should make the best of it and have lunch and some tea. When we sat down some monkey tried to steal our sandwiches and I had to hiss at him to go away.

Me on the way to dolphin's nose

Cheeky monkey that tried to steal our sandwiches

tea stall at dolphin's nose

Sofi was not so lucky when it came to thieving monkeys. All over Conoor are sweet shops selling amazing chocolate. Everyone bought some to stock pile in their rooms. When we got back one day Sofi opened her door to find it ransacked. The garbage was all over the floor, her mint floss was ripped up, her incense was thrown all over the room and worst of all her chocolate was missing. Yes a monkey had opened a window and tried to use her mint floss.

Also close by was a posh café that served something called a sizzling brownie. Why anyone thought this would be a good idea I don’t know. I ordered one not knowing what I was getting myself into and regretted it the rest of the day. It was a brownie on an extremely hot pan (think fajita pan) and when they bring it to the table they pour hot fudge on it and it sizzles. That combined with the two scoops of ice cream made me so sick and I only ate half of it.

Chocolate death

I was sad to leave that place. I had never been in a place where they ring a bell for meals, serve tea in the garden, and is surrounded by rolling green fields of tea. I will miss it and I recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing worry free getaway.

Women working in the tea fields

Lulu