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Published: December 29th 2006
Welcome cow and sign
Seems to be more concern about garbage here, which is niceMerry Christmas and happy new year!
Headed out of so-so and crowded Mysore by bus towards the hill station of Ooty. We passed through Ranthambore wildlife park and spotted some spotted deer, a bison, elephants and 'something small and striped hiding under a bush'. Not bad for out the bus window we thought. (No tigers.)
After a while we reached the hills and started winding up, then through steeper and steeper switchbacks. Around one corner in the wilderness, past a sign to manor, we saw the huge sloped lawn covered with very neatly trimmed hedges covering the whole. Tea bushes of course! Following that a stand of very tall pale trees with peeling bark; Eucalyptus? And then more tea and various pines. The air became noticably cool and woodsy-fragrant. Excellent views of the surrounding hills down the steep slope, and when the sun finally set it lit up the sky with the most intensely glowing red sunset I've ever witnessed. The road became so steep, winding and rutted that despite the scenery we began to pray for the end. It would take the bus several minutes to go a couple of kilometers; road signs slowly counted down
the remaining distance and finally we arrived at dusk.
We arrived at 'Glyngarth Heritage' hotel and went through the usual song and dance to get a room, and settled in, putting on some extra layers against the surprising cold - the elevation of Ooty is something above 2000 metres and most of the Indians have toques on. It was an old British era manor home with lots of wood panelling, fireplaces and a long dining table. Tremendous! Many hotels are cement block affairs where the extend of charm is the relative cleanliness and the presence of a hot water heater. It gave you a real taste of life at the time, for one because there wasn't any heating! Farah longed for a Jane Austen novel. We huddled around the small fireplace and had tea and fierce backgammon games. When the fire died down later on, sleeping reminded me of winter camping. Odd low-latitude, high-altitude combination - the sun is strong and the day heats up quickly, so you need to be ready to put on or peel off layers here. It never gets below zero however, and the plants are still quite tropical.
First day we saw the
small lake and very nice botanical gardens. This area seems to get regular rain, and the landscape is noticably green and lush; elsewhere in India has seemed a bit dry and brown. The next day we hiked up to the Dodabetta peak, the highest peak in the area. Looking for some hiking, we elected to walk up the few kilometers - we ate dust and exhaust as a constant stream of buses blew past us, the tourist passengers staring out in wonder at us. I guess we should have taken the ride! The view was quite good, you could see a layer of cloud in the distance, with some other peaks poking out. Next we hit the tea museum and factory. The museum portion was an informative series of pictures and associated paragraphs explaining the history of tea. (With 'Museum' I expect artifacts in display cases somehow). Anyway, the machinery was interesting - the tea is dried somewhat, then chopped, rolled, fermented, heat-dried and shaken through screens into various grades.
Next morning we were up at dawn and took the little train down to Coonoor, about an hours ride in the historic train. Unfortunately a landslide had affected the
Nice botanical gardens
Lots of unfamiliar foliage. Note the purple tree species featured in 'The Lorax' line further down past Coonoor - it still has an historic steam locomotive, but we got a peek at the engine sitting in the Coonoor rail yard. Coonoor is supposed to be a more tranquil setting than Ooty, also lower elevation somewhat, so we'll see if it's not so cold at night!
We'll stay in Coonoor a couple of days and then head down to Kerala. Two or three more weeks and we'll be saying goodbye to India and off to Thailand.
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Sergei
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Happy New Year!
Farah and John, we wish you the happiest New Year! Thanks a lot for bringing closer to us such a wonderful world. Looking forward for your future posts! Cheers.