We leave the hot roads and impressive temples of Madurai and set off for Kerala. The drive will be long, over 10 hours, many of them at a slant, as we must cross a mighty mountain range to get there. 

The lush viridian jungle swallows us as we climb a winding switchback, sandwiched by drop offs and vertical cliffs. We’ve entered a wild world, shimmering with insect sounds and bird songs. A great display of white and pink trumpet flowers line the road and in the next moment we are surrounded by an abundance of cardamum crops. We climb higher, taking care not to go too far right to smash into speeding vehicles or too far left to tumble to our deaths.

We pass hills over rolling hills of tea plants, something I’ve never seen before, there are trails between all of them that the harvesters have made and they stretch on as far as the eye can see.

We spot a tiny town far ahead on the mountain and muse that they must have a tea stand, and that it must be the best around.

Bodies sore from hours of snaky turns, a bit nauseous with motion sickness and thirsty for tea, we finally reach the top of the mountain and what is there to welcome us, but a chai stand! But before we can get out we’re confronted by a man in a brown uniform. “50 rupees! You must pay the toll.” We give him the cash. "Whats this?” He sniffs in an authoritative voice, pointing at our roof rack. “We are working with kids at orphanages, doing painting workshops and we built this for decoration.”  His stern look softens a bit and he taps on the car, “Ok, Proceed.” he orders.

We drive forward, relieved to be off the hook and we look for another tea stand. Again we are stopped by a similar man in a brown uniform, who asks the exact same thing, to which we give the same reply. “Oh I see, orphanage work, ok, "you may go.” We travel 20 more feet and are stopped again! And another 30 feet and stopped again! “What is this on the top of your car?” The fourth officer questions. After no less than four stops on the top of this mountain town we manage to get through with the same explanation. Relieved, we drive forward; determined to find the delicious jungle chai of the highest town on the mountain. And then, the incline begins to drops into a downhill slope. What?!  In a blink, the tiny town is behind us and so is the tea… not a drop to drink.