Tags
Coonoor, India, Kerala, photography, photos, Tamil Nadu, travel
Nous quittons la chaleur humide de Kochi pour aller vers la fraîcheur des montagnes de Nilgiri. Pour nous rendre, nous avons renoué avec les trains indiens. Ils partent toujours de gares situées au milieu de nulle part, ils sont très vieux mais bien rafistolés, ils doivent faire un kilomètre de long, et ils sont peuplés de gens qui sont hypnotisés par leur téléphone… comme partout ailleurs dans le monde!
Nous allons dans les montagnes de Nilgiri pour y découvrir les plantations de thé dans la région de Coonoor. Au soleil couchant, nous sommes allés nous balader au travers des plantations pour apprécier la beauté des paysages et profiter de quelque chose de rare en Inde : le silence! Nous sommes retournés le lendemain matin pour visiter l’usine de transformation des feuilles de thé et en apprendre plus sur la vie des travailleurs. Ceux-ci vivent dans des maison fournies par l’employeur et ont même accès à leur propre temple situé au milieu des plantations. Une étape très relaxante dans un pays toujours en effervescence.
We leave the humid heat of Kochi to go towards the coolness of the Nilgiri mountains. To get there, we reconnected with Indian trains. They always depart from stations in the middle of nowhere, they are very old but well patched up, they must be a kilometre long, and they are populated by people who are hypnotized by their phones… like everywhere else in the world!
We went to the Nilgiri mountains to discover the tea plantations in the Coonoor region. At sunset, we went for a walk through the plantations to appreciate the beauty of the landscapes and enjoy something rare in India: silence! We returned the next morning to tour the tea leaves processing factory and learn more about the lives of the workers. They live in houses provided by their employer and even have access to their own temple located in the middle of the plantations. A very relaxing stopover in a otherwise frenetic country.
Kochi: Notre moyen de transport pour se rendre à la gare / Our transport to get to the train station
Ernakulam Junction: La station de train / The train station
Coonoor: Plantations de thé / Tea plantations
Usine de transformation des feuilles de thé / Tea factory
Les villages des travailleurs / The workers’ villages
Le temple hindou pour les travailleurs / The Hindu temple for the workers
Coucher de soleil sur les plantations / Sunset on the plantations 
[Auteur/Author: Pierre & Suzanne]
Les voyages de Suzanne & Pierre 
Superbes photos. C’est mon rêve de visiter un plantation de thé.
Merci Mélodie. Cette visite était notre deuxième plantation de thé; notre première était au Darjeeling lors de notre premier voyage en Inde en 2019. Nous avons été tout aussi fascinés par la beauté des plantations que la première fois. Nous aimons beaucoup ces vastes étendues de plants de thé d’un beau vert.
So much to say about this post. I was surprised by the village. I expected “cookie” cutter houses but they all seem different. The colours in the temple were exceptional. Love the photo of people on the train. That could be any train, any where in the world – our phones are our constant companions. I can appreciate the silence in the evening – it must have been a relief.
What an adventure!
Thanks Kongo. We do enjoy discovering different environment in India. Such an interesting country.
Thanks Jacqui. Hindu Temples in Tamil Nadu are extremely colourful and they repaint them every 12 years. As for the houses, I think there are some similarities but every worker probably put their own touch to his/her own house. Phones are indeed way too present in the life of people these days; no one seems to be able to observe their surrounding unless it is through a screen. The silence was indeed quite relaxing…
The mountains, being cooler and quieter, seem like the place to be!
Thanks Eliza. It was quite a nice place to be for a few days…
Les plantations sont superbes et photographiées dans une belle atmosphère.
Merci Marie. Nous avons beaucoup aimé ces vastes étendues de plants de thé et ses couleurs.
It would be interesting to visit a tea plantation. Love the sunset photo at the end with the buildings on the hill.
Thanks Anabel. It is indeed fun to visit a tea plantation; this was our second time as we had visited one in Darjeeling in 2019. The sunset was quite beautiful that night…
beautiful scenery…
Thanks Julia. Glad you enjoyed the tour of the tea plantations…
I’ve always been fascinated by tea plantations. Tea is such an amazing plant. Is there a fragrance in the air?
Thanks Mel. Good question about the fragrance; I guess there is a bit of it and obviously if you get your nose closer to the leaves you will smell it. The tea plantations are quite beautiful with the various gradient of green and the way they are planted to follow the side of the mountains…it is quite photogenic.