Valparai

This weekend I made a journey to the small town of Valparai, located about 100 miles south of Coimbatore. We started our trip at about 9 on Saturday night, and didn’t arrive there until about three AM. It was quite an adventure getting there, since Valparai is located high up in the Western Ghats and most of the ride is on dicey mountain roads.

One of my favorite things about a roadtrip at night is that you arrive to your destination but really don’t know what your surroundings are. The next morning becomes like opening a present- there’s an anticipation about what you are going to see for the first time. Waking up in Valparai on Sunday morning, I wasn’t disappointed. The town is nestled high in the mountains and is literally surrounded by glowing green tea plantations. After starting the day with several cups of chai straight from the source, we started out exploring.

First, we wandered through some of the local tea plantations, taking in the sights. The tea plants (or bushes really) are arranged in clumps so that workers can walk in between and pick the leaves from them. It’s only the top leaves, that are young and extra green, that are picked to make tea. Apparently, they have the most flavor and also are what gives tea plantations their neon green color.

We then took a drive through tons more tea and coffee plantations to a huge dam on the border of the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It’s called the Solayar dam and is of the biggest and tallest dams in India and the view from there was spectacular. After wandering for a while there, we headed back to Valparai for a late lunch in town and then out of the mountains back home.

I’d highly recommend a visit to Valparai to anyone touring around South India. It has all of the charm of bigger hill stations, like Ooty, but none of the crowds and kitchy, touristy feel. Because of this, there is not much of a tourist infrastructure in Valparai though, so you’ll need to ask around with the locals to find the good spots to go. Here are some pics from my Sunday… enjoy!

This monkey wanted to steal my shiny camera.

The deer here cling to the mountain like mountain goats!

The fog on the Western Ghats with delicious, delicious tea below.

The Ghats and the Aliyar Dam.

Green stairs on the dam

I couldn'ta seen all the AWESOME sights of Valparai if it wasn't for my good friends. Having localite homies in India makes the place 10 times better!!! They all tell me thanks is a bad word in Tamil but who cares, நன்றி, R., V., & A. P.!!!