A six banana hike

wooooow

warming up with some (really good) red wine



up the tree root steps we go
terraced hills with the pretty little cottages






Day two in Kodai started off with another hike on the Dolphin's Nose trail. Compared to the trail on Friday, it was far more crowded, and well, more worn. The trail wound through a little town dotted with vendors along the way. Which was nice because I bought and ate six perfect bananas en route (the bananas here are sold really ripe...so I was pumped to have some greenish ones. So pumped, I had six, I guess. India sized bananas though. Still an accomplishment that no monkeys stole them...they were sneaking around all over the place).

More importantly, the trail ended with another stunning view. It was also a sunny day, so the views were super clear. A different tone from the dark mist yesterday...probably more fitting for the feel of this more popular trek.

We broke for lunch at the Hotel Punjab...really really good North Indian food. I had the special Punjabi Paneer Kadai with vegetable stuffed bread, kulcha. So good. And spicy--mouth was definitely on fire, but it was totally worth it.

After exploring the town for a while (check out the whole fish on display), a few of us found our way down to the lake to enjoy the sunset from the patio of one the snazzy hotels in town. It was interesting to watch the other tourists and how they were spending their vacations. I mean no differently from how I did growing up--seeing, shopping, eating. At nice places. Also made me think about who was vacationing in Kodai. Surprise, surprise, these folks seemed pretty upper class. And even if this place is the Vail of Southern India, the disparities between Vail and Kodai are, again not surprisingly, super obvious.

For example, like most of India and like most developing countries, the infrastructure to maintain a trash collection system is just not there. So at least a few of these trails have lots of trash on them. Which brings up some questions for me about where public works priorities should be and who decides those priorities. Like is it similar to the US where a huge campaign about protecting nature and "taking only pictures and leaving only footprints" was effective (of course paired with a system that had the needed infrastructure)? And is it like the Beyond Housing idea where if you made neighborhoods aesthetically pleasing it has profound effects on the collective mood of the neighborhood. And, in turn that encourages people to do even more to maintain and upgrade, as possible? Related to all this, how do you take advantage of the extra tax revenue generated from all this tourism? Seems like it was going to good use in that all the roads were in pretty good shape...but who makes those decisions? So there is my privileged self musing about disparities, on a fancy patio drinking expensive wine...eh?

On an unrelated note, AVOCADO has made its way back into my life. Definitely an important moment. They're a different type than in the US, so I didn't recognize them at first. They are AMAZING. And now they I know what they look like and are called (butter fruit) I can hopefully find some back in Thanjavur. In the meantime I'll enjoy this one with some chili chips. MMMMMM.