Photos XXII: Far Trek: The Wrath of Pan

As in Pan, the faun-God of forests and trees and nature and stuff and some cheap gag at the expense of the second Star Trek movie? No? Well, bugger.
It's actually a little bit relevant too, would you believe
*tumbleweed*
Sooo........

Yay! Finally, the trek in the Kodavu (Coorg) hills, near Madikeri. This is where we saw a bunch of cool plants and spices, a few spectacular views, one particularly awesome panorama of the whole valley, I practised a little self-mutilation, and we all had some general good-clean fun.
Excpet the bits where we fell down in the mud, obviously.

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To start, or somewhere near it, let me introduce Stefan (or Stephan spelt in German) the guy I was on the trek with, along with our guide who was first Kumar, then another chap who's name I completely forget.
Kumar seemed a better sort anyway, he was with us for the first 2 days and the other bloke took us just for the third, and down the mountain back to the town.
A little bridge to start with (no Grandma, put the cards down, this sort of bridge actually has a point ) complete with an itinerant German fella; it looks slightly narrower than I remember:

I wasn't joking about the pineapples in that other post, by the way. Here's one just starting off in life:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4552.jpg

A lovely scenic nature shot, I forgot to rotate it beofre uploading, sorry:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4551.jpg

And another:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4550.jpg

Just a mile or so in we spotted loads of these red bugs around the forest floor. It must have been the bug rutting season, or whatever they call it, because looking at them it seemed they were doing something quite alien but unmistakeably frisky:

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Some more lovely scenic pictures:

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This one is rather good, needs rotating:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4546.jpg

These white blooms are all coffee blossom, and thioser be coffee plants, a tiny, tiny part of a tiny plantation:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4545.jpg

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The first coffee plantation owner's house we saw, these are just the daily harvesting (from the day before) drying in the sun in a large layer, the size of which varies according the size of plantation - this chap's place was pretty large, hence he has a large-ish front yard in which to spread his beans, see? :

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We came at first to Abbi Falls where I immediately concocted a ridiculous story for your entertainment. I'm good to you. The falls looked absolutely lovely and, despite being fairly modest, I was chuffed to bits because I rather like waterfalls, and I hadn't seen one for years before this. Not a proper one anyway:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4541.jpg

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Scenery:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4538.jpg

Another bridge - looks fun eh? :

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4537.jpg

At least they provide that rope/cord to guide you - and it ain't as big as it even looks there, it's just tiny thing in reality:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4536.jpg

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Someone please tell me what the hell these growing tree things are, for I have no clue:

This is just Tamarind, mind you. Not sure it even deserves the capital letter to be honest :

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4533.jpg

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We seem to have jumped to the end of the trek - there should be something inbetween but the order is confuddled confuckled all confused and muddled.
The sight on the 3rd day, when we reached the ridge we had been trying for after nearly 40 kilometres of hard slog up hills, down hills, up and down hills, through little patches of jungle and miles of plantations and forested mountain tracks, was totally worth it.
Right at the tall, lipped edge of a huge green valley, only dotted with small outposts of humanity here and there, we saw that it was good:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4649.jpg

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I think Stefan got some better photos (which I have in a seperate folder) so I should have something more all-encompasing in a bit, too.

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We stayed in a a plantationer's hosue each night, both very modest affairs by most people's standards but homely in the extreme. Features included free coffee - wonderful coffee - from the moment of arrival until right before bedtime (a concept not known for a good many years but happily obeyed in these places); the gloriously sweet, fragrant smell of coffee blossom wafting over the house at all times; a bedtime enforced strictly around 8pm; comfy blanket beds softer than any budget Indian hotel; no electricity at all; paraffin lamps for light until nighty-night-tim; and best of all, hot showers consisting of a giant iron boiling pot of water, a smaller tub of cold water, a jug for mixing and pouring and a 3-sided rough stone enclosure in which to shower, right next to the post they tie the hogs to.

It was actually truly wonderful, even if the biggest porker did keep sniffing round the corner while you wash. There is something wonderfully simplistic and natural - the vast, blackened, cast-iron cauldron of hot water fresh off the indoor fire, the earthenware jug of cold water to temper your shower and the closeness to the facts of the farm, the pigs, one side of your washing space open to the elements, and the whole rustic construction and unfailing politeness and helpfulness of the plantations owners, almost-elderly couples always ready with fresh coffee, simple, delicious food, blankets and warm smiles.

Spot on, I say. Around the little houses (bungalows, of course) we both took photos of anything and everything we could.
These seem to be in reverse order, so this is the place from the second night:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4635.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4634.jpg

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Including the scene at night and the fire made by the few Israeli guys who shared the same little huddle of cottages and buildings that made up that farm:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4624.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4621.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4623.jpg

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This might actually be inteersting, however, if you share my point of view. At night just before sleepy-time was decreed, I swiped a long-exposure shot (something like 6 seconds without a tripod, hence the lack of clarity) of the inside of the house. It comprised maybe 4 rooms, the bedroom/storeroom/workroom, a dining room/kitchen storage room, a cooking and living room - with the indoor, unchimneyed open fire in the middle - and another place where the owners slept and must have been at least partly used for storage as well.
This is what I saw, more or less, from my bed looking into the eating & storage area - I thought it was atmospheric, but then, I was fatigued and had something approaching near-terminal blood-caffeine levels :

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4618.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4617.jpg

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Insert your own "My, what an impressive..." joke here :

This little guy was cute as hell though - yay! Puppies! :

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4614.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4612.jpg

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The view on the way to that farm was occasionally (through breaks in the trees, which weren't all that common) rather glorious:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4607.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4606.jpg

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Okay, here comes the best bit. No, I don't have video of me sticking the knife in my finger, you'll just have to fantasise about that yourself. Here is, apart from the final view, the best bit of the trek. The second waterfall, more modest than the first, but not in public view and with no barriers - we could walk into it if we liked.
As it happened we let the local kid, recruited by our guide from a schoolhouse we passed some miles down the track, to fill our waterbottles straight from the cascading falls, and catch a fish or two with his hands which our guide suggested we cook, and I suggetsed we might not have any fish left if we did. It was only about 5" long, after all.

The falls, where I rested on the wings of much painkillers & whisky, nursing my mangled digit and attempting to coax more medication out of Stefan, would have looked lovely in any light. Not just to those who didn't much care about anything in the world and thought it all looked astoundingly pretty regardless of it being water, stone or mud :

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4601.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4600.jpg

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http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4597.jpg

I quite like this one myself:

And for some reason the msot important thing to a partially sedated Englishman Abroad is to remember Eric & Ernie (Morecambe and Wise). Innaccurately, as it turned out:

This is a lot easier on the eyes, as you can see:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4593.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4590.jpg

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http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4583.jpg

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Right that is it for this lot - the final scenes from the trek, indeed the final scenes from India are coming up right in a minute right now in a second or twenty.
Just let me finish my sandwich, and leave you with a couple of odd snippets left erroneously in the middle of the trek pictures, just of somewhere back in Kannur, some more odd statuary and an exotic-looking bush.

Ta-ta for now:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/evilhippy/Worldwide%202/inde4694.jpg