Claire and Morten Travel Blog in India 2012: 14/02/2012

Last night we mostly slept well except for some commotion between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. Claire thinks that one of the 17 other guests went sleep-walkabouting while calling out for someone called Judy - this spurred on a lot of activity with people getting out to find the offender and get her back in to bed again - quite funny really, if it wasn't for the fact that we are in the middle of the jungle and that the last thing you want to do is go outside in the dark on your own in the middle of the night ;-)
Anyway we got up at 8:00 and I did feel a lot better this morning, energetic and ready to take off - and for Valentines Day of course, although none of us had any preparations or cards made for the "event" ;-) So we went for breakfast just after 9:00 and then arranged with John to go trekking. He called up his minions and found both a driver and a guide (called Maury?) who certainly looked authentic, with his simple wrap-around clothes, his bottle of water and a slash-hook, while chewing tobacco and constantly talking to everyone who cared to listen - even those that didn't (I am glad that we didn't much speak the same language as that would have been complete information overload ;-) - quite the character!
At 11:00 we took off for a 45 minute drive in the jeep, which turned out to go up the mountains and we ended up at around 2100 meters, which was really nice and cool at probably around 20c - it was funny to see all those Indians wrapped up in big shirts, jumpers, thick pants and actual shoes (as opposed to the usual compliment of sandals) while we came up in shorts and T-shirts, feeling nicely at home at this moderate temperature.
On the way we came across a water reservoir near the top with a dam, with surrounding trees, which looked really nice with all the colours and greens to rival Ireland. Will upload pictures later!
On arrival we actually ended up in a tree plantation called the Dunsandle Estate (Bombay Burma Trading Corporation) and the surroundings were incredibly picturesque. However, after about an hour's walk through the plantation I got stopped by a security guy on a motor bike who told me that taking pictures of the estate was not allowed - that really got my blood boiling; we oftentimes find that we are not allowed to take pictures in India or that you have to pay separately (sometimes up to €10) to bring cameras in to see places. Which is stupid because tourists undoubtedly get fed up and pissed off with it, which gives India a bad reputation. So after 10 minutes of ranting about it and seeing the security guy disappear down the road I took out the camera and got a-clicking again; a Buddha image on a wall - next thing we heard a large yell by a boy and the guide actually had to turn around and tell him that we were only taking pictures of the image - so we were being actively watched and came to the conclusion that the security guy only knew to come looking for us because someone had snitched up there. Interestingly, while walking through the estate, we also came across the onsite tea factory, which had huge fences and lots of security around - and they were pumping Kerosene (?!??!?!), i.e. jet fuel, from a fuel truck into containers. If I was a paranoid person I'd say something sinister was going on up there - after all, it's just a bloody tea plantation and not a military complex (or is it....?!)
When we got out of the Dunsandle Estate we hit the town of Sholur, which seemed largely Muslim. But they did have a Hindu mini-temple there and the locals seemed friendly enough, despite the fact that Claire wasn't really appropriately dressed - we didn't realise we going to walk through villages - in a top that didn't properly cover here shoulders. But lesson learned...
After about another hour's walk through the mountainous scenery we spotted a very nice building on a hill out in the horizon, which I said looked like a guest house. About 20 minutes later we actually came to the place with our guide and it turned out that this is where the Swiss couple and their daughter (Shazia) stayed as they came out to say hello - this was Wild Haven 2. Now, the really interesting bit here is that two nights ago Claire and I had a conversation, after meeting them all, where I said that I bet that the Swiss couple had been part funding Wild Haven 2 together with John from Wild Haven and that the daughter was managing the place. Turns out I was right - this was exactly the case.
Anyway, they invited us in, while our guide was outside drinking coffee, to see the place and gave us coffee, Ooty & Swiss chocolate as well as red (!!!) bananas - they were really nice and hospitable there and we spent nearly 1.5 hours talking to them and seeing the place, which looks really nice and luxurious - but about 7 months behind schedule so far, which doesn't surprise me one bit here.
Afterwards we went off again with our guide only to find that 5 minutes down the road our jeep was waiting for us for the pickup. So we made it back down for about 17:30. We then sat on the veranda of the main building and spoke to John for a bit - and he gave us a beer and Claire a glass of Irish Whiskey for Valentine's - very nice of him.
After sitting there for a couple of hours with a couple of beers we were finally fed and then went back to the room where we watched a bit of Family Guy before going to bed after an eventful and very social day.