Tea anyone?

I full day in and around Ooty was ahead of us.

We started with a visit to a nearby tea garden and processing facility in the morning. We enjoyed a guided tour around the tea garden, after which we were given an introduction to the processing steps … from the individual leaf to the final tea bag.

The majority of the tea produced here is black tea for the domestic market, most of it ending up tea-bagged. Very limited production of higher quality of white tea also takes place.

Ooty – Evening Walk

We got into Ooty after a long travel day; after some time to freshen up, we met again for a walk around town, a visit to the local market, serious shopping (with spice boxes in high demand) and – finally – dinner.

After dinner – on special request – we had a stop at the local wine store – a dodgy hole in the wall, that made many of us reconsider the need for alcohol. 😉

Into the Nilgiris

We left Kochi and headed inland towards the Nilgiris, first by train to Coimbatore and then continuing by private vehicles up to Ooty (at 2240 meters above sea level).