Our ultimate destination today was the Arapetta Tea Factory. Before setting out, we had another delicious and colourful breakfast!
We found a path that ascended quite high from our homestay to give us panoramic views of the mountains. On the opposite side of the valley, we saw the location of the 2024 landslide. Triggered by heavy rainfall, the landslide killed over 400 people.
Again, there were lots of flowers out. We met several people who were doing something around their homes. One family talked to us then insisted on us taking two mangoes from their mango tree!
Yesterday, I’d installed this app that identified birds from their birdsong. Today, we saw what looked like a little spiderhunter bird with its long beak.
When we joined the path we came up yesterday to the homestay, we paused. I saw lots of people waiting for a bus. I turned around and a bus was coming. It was going to the tea factory we were heading for! We joined the schoolchildren going home on the bus.
The people at the factory were very friendly. The person doing the admin was somewhat serious. We didn’t endear ourselves to him by trying to pay with cash the Rs200 fee for the factory tour. However, when I said I could pay using UPI, he brightened up with a broad grin. UPI means less paperwork since the transaction is automatically logged and processed for tax purposes.
At the factory, one person greeted us and handed us over to an old hand. He was a kindly looking man. We couldn’t always understand his English. He was, nonetheless, keen for us to understand all eight stages of the tea-making process. Occasionally, he checked with us that we had understood what he had said.
It was a long tour. Some parts of the factory were hot and noisy. The staff looked reasonably happy as they watched us and smiled. I admired how conscientious our guide was. I offered him a tip but he declined. I put it into his shirt pocket.
We walked into the village and had tea and coffee. We hailed an auto to return to the homestay. When we mentioned the name of the homestay, the driver didn’t recognise it at first. Then he said, “Rajesh’s place?”. Everyone seemed to know the homestay owner.
At the homestay, we read and sat at the viewpoint. We saw the red-winged eagle again.
Our dinner was delicious and filling, as usual. We’d given up asking them to moderate the portions.
Before going to sleep, I saw this baby frog on the bathroom soap dish half way up the wall. I had no idea how the little fella got there! In the morning, the frog was nowhere to be seen.
