Nilgiri hills and Ooty

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So as I said last time have moved on to Ooty. Passed through two Tiger reserves on the way here, didn't see any tigers, not that I expected to as we were on the main road through the middle of it, but did see a few deer, a few dozen eagles and about four million monkeys. I also saw a jackal but that was in the car park of the guest house not in the park. There was sign at the entrance to the park telling drivers not to blow thier horns so as not to scare the animals. That was one big waste of a sign. Horn blowing while driving is like some form of tourettes here and no amount of signs is going to change that.

Ooty's nice and warm in the day but can get very chilly even cold at night. Despite this nowhere seems to have any heating so in the restaurants at night everyone is sat there in thier hats and coats. Ooty town itself is ok but nothing special. Like most places Iv'e seen in India there seems to have been very little thought put into town planning/building. So Ooty sits like some grubby little scar of concreate boxes and open sewers surrounded by fantastic countryside. All rolling hills, tea plantations and mist cloaked forest. Its a shame really you just have the feeling it could be so much better.

I spent most of my time there out of town and up in the hills which was fantastic except i need a better set of legs.

Apparently it used to be called "snooty Ooty" back durring the days of British rule as all the rich colonials used to decamp up here when it got to hot down on the plains.

It was the festival of Pongal while I was there which from what I could gather is a sort of harvest festival. All the cows were spruced up to look their best with a quick wash and painted horns. Sugar cane seemed to be big on the menu with everyone taking bags of it home and some places hanging it outside. The cleaning ladies at the guest house all drew designs outside the door which I took a rather rubbish picture of. Out of Ooty I saw a few elephants also all done up in their finery which would have made a nice picture but I was tearing by at break neck speed on a bus at the time.

So all in all Ooty town I could take or leave but the surrounding countryside is great for walking and if you've got a wooly hat the climate is perfect. And if you do make it here kabab korner is great for tandoori of any kind.

Said at the begining that i was now in Ooty which I was when I started writing this but have now moved on again and arrived yesterday in Fort Cochin in Kerala which at first look is just my sort of place. More about that next time.

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