Marayoor April 2012

In April 2012 the best hotel in Marayoor was the newly opened Paradise Valley, which accomodated me very well for 2 weeks.

Here's the Thenkasinathan temple next to the river Pambar at Kovilkadavu again.

There's lots of these trees around at this time of year with huge blossom.

This is at Karimutty Falls near Marayoor, but as it was prior to the monsoon the falls weren't flowing much.

Looking west across the valley from Marayoor at evening time.

I like to go walking around the fields in the valley floor using the water channels as paths.  One day I encountered Ramesh and his friends gathering fish in a well in the middle of a sugar cane field.

My friend Santosh ho works in the Marayoor toddy bar is married to Sisila, and she works in the sugar cane fields of Marayoor.  One day I met Santosh and Sisila plus their two daughters at the factory where the cane is processed into jaggery.

I can't remember who the boy in the photos is  The jaggery factory is below.

Burning sugar cane in the evening.

Suresh with his wife and daughter above, and his and my friend Mani below.

Looking west over the valley floor again.

Big geese at Nachiyal.

The children of Nachiyal.

Looking south through the valley at sunset.

My friend Murugan (left) the rickshaw driver, with his namesake Lord Murugan behind him.

Marayoor high street in the evening.

Anoop worked at Hotel Variath in Marayoor.  Shortly after I returned home Anoop passed away.  I saw him every time I visited Marayoor and last time we socialsed together.  His family are from Sulthan Battery in the hills of north Kerala.  He was a great guy, and it was a tragedy that his life ended at a very young age.

Allahuddin works at Hotel Variath when he's not busy "eating all items".

Marayoor high street in the day time.

Some good signage for the Spices Board Field Office in Marayoor.

Lakkom falls on a busy day.

There's usually a sunset every evening, and this one ended with a pink sky after the sunbeams did their thing.

At the cinema in Udumalpet in Tamil nadu with Sarath and his friends.

Having a joke (probably with me as the subject) with the police sargeant on Marayoor high street at 3am after the cinema.

It's not easy walking along the water channels after the rain.

Looking west over the valley with rain coming from Kanthalloor.

A brick furnace in Marayoor.

On top of the small hill in the background of the above photo is a watchtower used by the guards of the sandalwood forest.  I climbed the watchtower on my last evening, photos are below.

The six photos below are taken from the watchtower, with rain coming across the valley from Kanthalloor.

Inside Hotel Variath with my friend Sarath, who is the youngest of eleven siblings that operate the hotel.

Kumar also works at Hotel Variath, as a waiter not a security guard.

You will have seen many photos looking along the valley from Marayoor with more mountains in the distance.  This is what the other end of the valley looks like near Munnar.  The mountain top to the left of the above photo is Anamudi, the highest mountain in India outside of the Himalayas.