Flanked by the mountainous Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, the slender state descends from tea plantation-cloaked slopes to golden beaches that edge into vivid blue seas.

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These include chewing the leaves to mitigate the rigours of Bolivia's bleak Altiplano, 4, 000 metres (13, 100 feet) above sea level, as well as the coca tea given to tourists on arrival in La Paz.

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She would be in the car with a flask of tea, reading a book, while he was in the sea all day.

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In the 1840s Australian and American traders flocked in search of sandalwood, sea cucumbers and other Pacific delicacies to trade for tea in China.

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Americans are today where Tea Party supporters were a year ago: They want and demand a sea-change in how Washington spends our money.

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Plants fight for space: ponga (silver tree fern), cabbage trees, manuka (tea tree), and pohutukawa (a coastal evergreen tree), which cling to the land at the sea's edge.

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