Now for some good stuff. Not more laboriously detailed wittering about a bus being late.
So, we tittered around the Kaziranga Complex for the day. Snoozing, Showering. Eating. Organising transport through the most helpful person in the world. India is full of these gems. Fantastically generous, lovely people who know someone in every field of work. Also organised our Rhino Experience for the following day (much delight was taken due to the fact that the Rhino Man pronounced it 'rhino-saurus'. I think this will stick in our vocab for the foreseeable future) Saw our first real life tea. A touch disappointing. But it wasn't officially the season, and there was a drought of sorts. And the bushes had just been pruned.
But, Exciting Nonetheless.
Went to bed early, ready for our 5 am pick up.
Day 6.
Woke up at 3. Annoyingly. Chai delivery at 4. Nothing like a nice sugar hit of a morning. Then made our way to the gates to await the pick up. Sleepy monkeys joined us. My lord they are entertaining. Nonchalant bonky bonky was the order of the day. Along with enthusiastic branch shaking, so twigs would fall on our heads. Driven to the Elephant Mounting Station, where we mounted elephants.
And off we silently plodded into the thick grasses as the sun rose and the mist cleared. We saw some swamp deer (the rarest deer in the world, oh yes. The rhinos steal all of their thunder though. Poor chaps. Just because they dont weigh 2 tons, have a horn and armour, and look WIKID), wild boar, a roasted turtle, and of course the much talked about rhinos. It takes about half an hour of appreciating the serenity atop your Trunked Beast before you hit Rhino Zone. And then suddenly there it is. About 2 metres away. Staring at you. Probably thinking-
'hmmm, what on earth is that? It kind of looks like an elephant. But there are funny things on its back. Maybe he's deformed. Yes, bizarre warty growth things. Poor chap. I shan't bring it up.'
They are incredible animals. Such power. 2-3 tons of muscular nails-ness, that can run nearly 50 km/h apparently. Though i don't quite believe it. And so gentle, docile and friendly looking (presumably when sex/baby protecting isn't involved).
We saw oodles more of those horny mammals in the apres-breakfast jeep safari. Probably our tally was at 30-40 by the end of the day, and you get to the point where your thought process goes 'oo, what's that? A Buffalo? A Boar? A wild elephant? oh. it's just another rhino.' Upsetting how quickly one starts taking things for granted. There are around 3000 Asiatic one horned rhinos left in the world. And 2 thirds of them are in and around Kaziranga. This is a 'Conservation Success Story!'. As a century ago there were only 100 left in the world. The fact that only 3000 of these wonderful things exist all under the watchful eye's of the same animals that nearly completely destroyed them is a 'success story' seems to just be horribly depressing. Almost as depressing as McDonalds Kiddy Parties. Not a reason to pat ourselves on our evil, evil backs.
We also saw some kingfishers. Kingfishers are my favourite living things on the planet. Just your common kingfisher.
Give me a common kingfisher, and i'll be happy as larry. Sam and Pat are more Pied Kingfisher-ly inclined. Because of their hovering skills, and tuftiness. The kingfishers hovering skills and tuftiness. Not Pat and Sams. But we all agree in giving kudos to the Vulture, Indian Roller, Bee Eater, various birds of prey, Hoopoe, and Tree Pie, along with the other fantastic Indian birds that we witnessed.
Saw no tigers. Rats.
Or Rats. Tigers.
As soon as we returned we got picked up by the Welfare Manager from Behora Tea Estate. Finally, TEA! Took our sweet time about it, but we got there in the end. Behora is one of the most reputable Assamese tea estates. It has worked hard to get rainforest alliance certification, and it's quality is renowned worldwide. So, after a 10 minute, repetitive argument with the hotel manager over whether or not we should pay full price for our 4 hour use of the dorm, we jumped in the wheels and shot off in an easterly direction. Behora Bound.
For those interested click here for a elevated look down upon the Behora Tea Estate. You can even make out the name on the factory roof.
It was the building next to the factory that we entered first, after being welcomed by numerous armed guards. There we met the acting manager Mr Diganto Rajkhowa. He welcomed us sincerely, and we discussed tea related whotsits for a long period of time. Not going to lie, there were moments of awkwardness. He is a thoroughly nice chap. We had a cup of tea during this chat, which was sweet and milky, malty and generally very nice. After the chat we jumped in a jeep, regimentally joined by 2 more armed guards, and were whisked off to the Managers Bungalow. Armed guards were fantastically suited to their guns. Like owners that start to look like their dogs, thus-
So. Tea estates in Assam are still running pretty much as the British started them. Hierarchy plays an important roll in the smooth running of things. There is so much respect shown towards the Estate Manager, and indeed any senior member of staff. This results in a seemingly very well organised, harmonious, operation.
Production hadn't started on sight for the season, as they weren't picking enough to warrant cranking up the factory. So they sent it to their neighbouring tea estate for processing. Williamson Magor is the largest tea company in the world. They own 25 gardens in Assam and numerous others in other parts of India, Ceylon and now Africa.
Behora Tea Estate produces mainly CTC tea. CTC stands for crush, tear, curl, which refers to the action of the CTC machines. As said before, CTC tea is the kind of tea you would use in Chai makering, and it also makes up the majority of your tea bag tea. If you ever have enough curiosity to rip open a tea bag, you will see little balls of tea. That is CTC tea. The production method makes brewing quicker and cheaper, makes bagging the tea possible, and gives a deeper colour, but the flavour of the tea is sacrificed. Of course it still tasted wonderful, but nothing compared to loose leaf Orthodox tea (we will look in to Orthodox tea when we get to Darjeeling, in 2 days time)
Most tea processing begins with withering. This reduces the amount of water in the leaf, so when cut/rolled it doesnt just turn into a slushy mush, or a mushy slush. So here, they reduce the moisture content by 30ish% by blowing hot and cold air through the leaves in long trays, before a conveyor takes it to the CTC machines. After it is crushed, torn and curled, it is emptied in to the fermentation trays (misuse of the word fermentation, it is actually oxidation, but fermentation stuck), and you will witness a colour transformation from green to reddy brown. In the space of 45 minutes, there-abouts. Just as a bruised apple slowly turns brown. This is the chemical reaction of the chlorophyll breaking down and tannins being released and develops the flavour and forms the caffeine. From there the tea gets loaded into dryers which stops the oxidation and leaves you with tea. Unorganised tea. But tea. Finally it is sorted in to various grades using juddery sorting machines.
So, the managers bungalow.
We were greeted by the beautifully kept grounds of the bungalow, and all the wonderful smells and noises that are attracted by ridiculously lush gardenage.
Escorted into the building. The reception area is a roomy room that takes up the majority of the house, with mozzie netted windows, but no glass. This gives a wonderful breeze, and the feeling of being not entirely outside, not entirely in. Lovely furniture, with nik naks everywhere. It was there that we were introduced to Laura the wife. She was a sweet, chatty lady, who had grown up deep in the Eastern states. It was clear from the beginning that there was a definite role to play as a managers wife. Hosting. Tea estates are constantly having guests. From tea estates, tea companies world wide and various other tea enthusiasts. And keeping these people entertained is a full time job. She was lovely, and easy to natter with, and never stopped the flow of liquid/solid treats. Some of them great, some of them questionable. For example, little nibbley samosas - great, parsley ice tea - questionable. There were 2 servants and a child minder on all the time, and a chef when cheffy things needed to be done. Cheffy things needed to be done for our afternoon meal. Which was 'British Food', learnt after Chubs awkwardly questioned what we were eating. Awkward. Also awkward was our apparent ignorance on topics such as politics and generally anything vaguely intellectual. Pat carried the torch as much as he could. But they are SO fascinated with the government, schooling, employment opportunities, health care etc etc, that our knowledge was sapped dry pretty speedily, and we were left, spot light on, shriveled, shrugging. Oh, to then have moved on to topics that we knew a lot about. Like ermmmm, ermmmmm, ermmm, ah -commies, Mr Rubiks and poker.
After eating or British fare we jumped in the jeep once more, and drove around the tea estate. We saw the tea in various stages of maturity, which was very interesting. We saw sectors under nutrient regeneration, where they plant grasses to make the soil fertile once more. We saw irrigation in progress. We saw the nursery, where they are constantly bringing up clones of Tea Board sanctioned bushes, the air strip where tea tasters are hastily flown in, and generally had a lovely drive, getting out every now and again to inspect/discuss things like pest infested bushes and planting techniques. Tea estates are wonderfully kept, satisfying places. When there is a sector of fully flushed (dense, uniform new growth) bushes, it looks spectacular. Just wonderful. The glossy green leaves glistening in the sun appear like some fantastic blanket with the occasional shepherding shade tree poking through.
We then took a tour of the not working factory,
and had some tea tasting.
I had only previously properly tasted teas in Darjeeling, where the tea is lighter, and not mixed with milk. So tasting here was very different. You get a very, very brewed tea (6 minutes is how long they brew all teas for tasting in the official world) without milk. The astringent tannins were too much to bear, and ones lips started resembling a sphincter pretty quickly. Tasting from then on was not an option. There was no taste, only shriveled mouths. But we soldiered on, making pseudo knowledgeable comments. Learning a bit. Not much. But a bit. Tasting is an area that we really need to spend some time getting a tad better at. Separating flavours, then assessing each of those flavours. We not so good nope.
So we headed back to the luxurious bungalow, were greeted with Indian nibbles, and shown our ridiculous rooms. Massive, beautiful.
Chai. More chai. Sam and Pat in one room, Tom in the other. Had snooze. Woke up confused. Then remembered. Had a smile. Then evening meal. More Brit Classics. Conversation flowed a little easier - there were witticisms exchanged, and everything was just more relaxed. I guess that happens whenever you're getting to know people.
We retired after food. And the day ended like this:
I went into the guys' room to say good night. And in popped a kind servant, who spoke only Assamese. He said something, and grinned expectantly, wide eyed. We said every variation of pardon, what, excuse me, could you repeat yourself etc, and he just stood there for a good 6-7 minutes, still grinning expectantly, wide eyed. It got a little strange. As we were attempting to communicate, but he just wasnt comprehending that we were trying to get him to try again. It went from being funny to just plain weird. As we smiled at each other sheepishly. Eventually he gave up on whatever task he was meant to complete, and hastily retreated. Strange. We shall never know what his goal was. But i expect he was asking if we wanted a cup of tea.
Night night.
