Tea country

Unfortunately our farewell tour of India was marred by one unwelcome presence, monsoon season. Once up in the hills, it rained almost incessantly. We had moments now and then of clear skies, but these moments were few and far between. Our first stay was at a charming resort hill station. We were not able to use many of the resort's facilities because it rained almost the whole day and all night.

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We were in tea country. Pictures 3 and 4 show some fields planted with tea. Tea plantations stretch for miles in this area. Just about every hilltop is covered by neatly-planted and groomed tea bushes. Most of the plantations are owned by the Tata conglomerate.

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Corn is a popular snack in India (we saw no corn fields, so the story I was told that most corn in India comes from the US or Australia is possible).