Cycling in India stage 36 to Munnar

We were all glad to leave the MP hotel after a noisy and hot night, although the restaurant made a good effort of serving dinner and breakfast.
We had to ride in the vans for the first part, because the road went through a wildlife sanctuary. We drove through hilly forests, saw one herd of deer-like animals, but no other wildlife.
We were dropped off at the end of the park, after a climb of 600 meters. We rode into beautiful country; first coffee plantations where the bushes were flowering, then tea plantations, where women were trimming the bushes and collecting the leaves. We also rolled by "factories" that  were processing the tea, which smelled like freshly brewed tea.
The tea bushes look like they grow for many years, and the women use shears to collect the tea by trimming the top leaves, so the plantations look beautifully trimmed and laced  with irregular  narrow paths that the pickers walk on.  They can be planted on very steep slopes, and very high up the hills.  There are some trees within the plantings, but not the full cover of trees like coffee plantations.
There were various trees and bushes in bloom along the road, including poinsettias.
We climbed for some 30k from where we were dropped off, and finally reached a pass where there was a nice breeze blowing and it felt cool. Then we dropped down part of that altitude to the busy little town of Munnar, where it is still quite cool.  Although we only rode 45km, I feel quite tired from the climbing, but it was one of the most beautiful rides on this trip.