Blogs from Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 2

Dear All Greetings from the Nilgiri Hills! “Nilgiri” means “Blue Mountain”, and is an upland area in the north-west corner of Tamil Nadu state. It is home to a number of ex-colonial British-founded hill stations, where the Brits of colonial Madras used to come to escape the heat of the Indian summer and spend time in the beautiful forested mountains and tea plantations. My trip here has taken a very different turn from Kerala, and feels quite unusual and off-the-beaten track to be honest. I am currently in a town called Ooty, the main tourist destination of the Nilgiri Hills, yet I am very much off the foreign tourist trail. Many Indian families seem to come here for holidays, presumably also away from the heat of the plains (it is deliciously cool up here, no need ... read more

We travelled hrs by car from Kodaikanal to Mettupalayum, the starting point for the "toy train". This was only an overnight stop, as there is nothing there. Had an early night as we had to be up at 3:30 AM to line up for tickets for the train. We had tried to make reservations two weeks before, but all reserved seats were sold, so we had to line up for two of the 25 standby seats. We were lucky we got there when we did, because some of the people that came behind us didn't get on. It was a very pleasant 5 hour journey up hill all the way to Ooty. The toy train is a small gauge train that was built by the British in the early 1900's to transport people out of the ... read more

HE SAID... We woke early at 5am, once again beating the 5.30am call to prayer. We had a long travel day (seven and a half hours) ahead, as we were leaving Kochi and travelling north to Ooty (or Ootacamund as it appears on most maps). We sat down to a plate of dosa (thin pancakes made from fermented rice and black lentils batter) with coconut chutney for breakfast at 7am. Bowls of fresh bananas and watermelon were on the table, and I had a pot of masala chai (spiced sweet milky tea) while Ren had a tea. It was a great start to the day. We left our Fort Kochi homestay (Kaliveedu Lodge) at 7.45am and headed to the Ernakulam train station for the first of our two travel legs to Ooty – a four hour ... read more

It is a long time ago I (Nina) was reading a book about an english lady who lived in the Nilgiris when the english settled into India. I do not remember the title of the book (it was actually not the best book I have ever read), but what I do remember is the beauty of the landscape that was described. Somehow I had the idea of going to Ooty despite a lot of people telling us, that it is a really dull place. From Mysore we took a private bus to Ooty. And I have to admit, never again a private bus in India! This SPN Travel & Tours tried to rip us off whenever they could. Well, they were not successful in the end, but it was a lot of hassle to make it ... read more

Jan 13 We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the balcony of our room. One of those where one is looking down on the mist and smog of the villages down below, and the air is crystal clear above that layer. The green shades of the tea plantations were lovely, and the patterns of the tea plots, interspersed with White Oak trees, symmetrical without being manufactured. We enjoyed a late western style breakfast: Omelettes, pancakes, toast and vegemite provided by Stephanie from the group. We piled into the minibus and took the somewhat serpentine route to Swamy & Swamy tea plantations and processors. Hairpin bends like never before. The guide took us for an uncomplicated but enjoyable walk through the plantation, the factory and of course the store. A simple and clean operation that harvests, cuts, dries, ... read more