My friendly British traveling companion Ian, anxious for the stationary and sweltering bus to get moving!
My other road buddy: Brad from Canada, optimistic about the excitement to come in our epic 6-hour bus journey through winding mountain roads and sheer cliff drop offs on the way to Kumily!
A shot of the traffic from my bus window as we snake our way out of Cochi
A man performs some kind of questionably-legitimate maintenance on a telephone pole
Beautiful mountain views on the way to Kumily
Arrived in Kumily, enjoying some hot tea at 5am before our jungle trek
The tea master
This is what a long exposure picture looks like when you're in a jeep barreling down a jungle dirt road before sunrise
Entering the Periyar Tiger Reserve (no we didn't actually see any tigers...)
We took the top off the jeep as the sun came up, and were greeted with a beautiful mist enshrouding the jungle
A red flowered tree dots the silhouettes and milky air
A group of Swedish girls we trekked with in the Jungle
Look! A tree!
Monkey
A hornbill, a GIANT bird that reminded me of a dinosaur
Hornbill perched majestically. It hopped around like a tiny bird, but caused the whole tree to shake.
When the hornbill took off, it sounded like a helicopter. Props to Brett for snapping this shot, which our guide said was the best he'd ever seen in his career!
Mani, our friendly jungle guide who was quite capable of driving through the jungle at high speeds, and posing for pictures at the same time.
Stopping to enjoy the view
Trekking through exposed bluffs and dense jungle
Jungle squirrel
Water strider (aka Jesus bug)
Apparently this guy is some Indian movie star whose face is on everything. His sellout status notwithstanding, I did rather enjoy my Sunfeast Glucose Biscuit.
Mani, demonstrating again his ability to drive without actually being in the jeep.
Once we grew comfortable with Mani's driving, we found it rather nice to sit up here
Brad asserting his alpha male status as all jungle creatures cowered in fear
Fake deep thought pose
Tea plantations in the hills
The Kerala area where we spent most of our time
The friendly transit police helping us figure out the chaotic bus system
I grew surprisingly comfortable with both the speed and proximity at which oncoming traffic passed us
Sun setting over the mountains as we return to Kochi for the beginning of my long trip back home
Pro: Plenty of leg room. Cons: Thinking about the physics of what would happen if the driver of that oncoming bus wasn't paying enough attention
