the daily shock

After the monkey-business in Jungle Bells (see previous post) we decided to go to Aruku Valley and spend at least one day there. The bus brought us across the peaks of the East-Ghats, up to 1.200 m and down again to the valley.

The villagers were all staring at us. Seemed they have not seen people from abroad for a long time, maybe it was the first time at all. We grabbed a lot of attention but there was no hassle. After some time waiting, three of us decided to check out the village for some interesting things to see. Since the waterfall ran dry, we went to the "botanical garden" where we found a treehouse to live in. Then we took a nap - again.

Later, I found out that right behind the barbed-wire fence of the garden, the rice pads began. And I could see a hill on the other side of the pads, about 2 km away. From there you can have the perfect view across the valley, I was thinking. I called Martin and Alek and we decided to march towards Hamburger Hill the next morning.

After a night in the tree-house, Martin and I were looking for breakfast but could only find a Chai and so we started the adventure on an empty stomach. First, we had a good path leading us through the pads towards waypoint 1, an old tree at the bottom of the hill. There we wanted to meet Alek, who was taking another route, because of a different location of his base-camp. After 45 minutes through the fields, our shoes were soaked and dirty, our faces were burnt from the reflecting sunlight and our bellies were making strange noises, crying for food. We stopped for a minute and spotted Alek, waving at us and still stuck in the fields. He had some problems to cross a little river. But after he found the little waterfall where he could pass, it was only a matter of five minutes until we had the breakfast at waypoint 1, under the tree. Some cakes and a smoke later, we decided to attack from the western slope since all the other ways were too steep.

With each step upwards, more and more of the amazing, peaceful valley unrevealed to our eyes. When we reached the top after 20 more minutes, without any encounters, we found Shanti. Everywhere green hills, rice-pads, little villages and absolutely no noise. It was the perfect place to stay and so we did...

Later that day, on the way back to Jungle Bells, we got stuck in a terrible jungle rain. Within one minute, we were soaked to the skin and the whole world seemed to be washed away in the floods. But we reached the cottages, had a warm shower and then we were waiting for the monkeys again - equipped with deo-spray...

This was our vehicle on the way back. Please pay attention to the decoration of the Jeep. It was National Holiday...