Holiday!

Hi lovely blog peep!
Sorry it’s been a while. Work got very busy, and then I went on holiday for a week. I think I’ll fill you in about my holiday first, then go back and catch up with work stuff. You know, prioritise :0)
I decided to go to Ooty for my week off, a hill station in Tamil Nadu (the same state as Pondicherry). I was explaining to my mum that I’d decided not to travel far, as I needed to rest. I estimated it would take me around 12 hours on a bus to get there. “12 hours?! That sounds far to me!” said mum. And I agree in England, it does. But as I’d recently completed a 50 hour train journey, it sounded like a piece of cake to me.

So off I went. I fell asleep on the bus a couple of hours into the journey, and apart from being rudely awaken to check my ticket at midnight, I slept all the way.

Hill stations were created by the British as an escape during the very hot season. So all the sensitive Brits would head up to the top of mountains, live there for a few months (until the heat became bearable in the cities), then go back. I was surprised to feel how cool it was. I needed my hoody during the day, and a thick blanket at night. But it was a really nice change to snuggle under a blanket, rather than sweating it out in Pondicherry.

In Ooty I read in the big colonial style YWCA lounge, ate homemade Indian chocolate (which was surprisingly nice!) and went site seeing. This included walking round the lake and race course, wandering in the rose and botanical gardens and a little shopping.

After a few days I travelled to Mysore. A supposedly 4 hour bus journey turned into about 5 and a half, and swerving round mountain roads didn’t make the journey any more enjoyable! The views were pretty amazing though.

Once in Mysore, I had a look around then headed over to the palace for the weekly ‘lighting’. Every Sunday the palace is lit up by thousands of light bulbs. Doesn’t sound like much, but as you will hopefully see from the photos, it was pretty special.

Over the next couple of days, I went to the steam railway museum (most engines were made in England around 1900s), had a tour around the inside of the palace, went to the top of Chamundi hill, and visited the famously colourful market. As you can see below, there was no end to the bright and eye catching sites there!

I was sad to leave Mysore, as there were many other things I would like to have seen. However I needed to catch the bus to Mudumali National Park, where I would be staying the night. On the way through the park I caught something black in the corner of my eye. I sat up just as the bus driver started to point in the same direction. It was a cuddly black bear. I say cuddly because I was inside the bus. Otherwise it would be a ferocious, mean bear, lol. Anyway, it headed quite quickly into the bush and disappeared. I was later to find out how rare an occurrence that was!
That evening I went to the elephant sanctuary, although as far as I could tell most of the animals had been captured and tamed for no other reason but tourism, which was a shame. A few of the babies had lost parents and so had to be taken in though.

The next day, after a rare silent night, I went on an hour tour of the park. I saw a peacock, lots of deer and a pack of wild elephants. Pretty cool. I told the rangers how I’d seen a bear and they were shocked, but said a few do live in the park.

No time for lolling about, as I needed to go back to Ooty. I wanted to get back reasonably early, so I could get an early night in preparation for a trip on a steam train the following day. The mountains railway was given World Heritage status in 2005 and it did not disappoint. I can’t do it justice by my words, or even the few photos below. All I can say was that it was breath taking. I mean the real kind of breath taking, not just an expression. I could barely contain my amazement at the scenery.

I took the train to Coonor, an hour away from Ooty. It passed all too quickly, but I knew I’d be returning on the train later. I was at a bit of a loss as what to do in Coonor, as I wasn’t sure what was worth seeing. So I looked in my guide book and went to the first thing I saw. A view point called the Dolphin’s nose. It said a taxi should be hired for around Rs 400, as buses are infrequent. Thankfully I was just in time for a bus, so it cost me Rs4. Nice little saving there!
I wasn’t expecting much, so I was completely surprised when I arrive to see a waterfall in the distance, rolling hills, and a spectacular view over the surrounding area.

While I was chilling looking at the view, I ate a bag of crisps. I noticed a monkey come over, so I put my crisps in my hand bag. They look cute, but don’t even try giving them food. They will get aggressive and one bag of crisps just won’t be enough! Thinking I was suitably protected with my crisps stowed away, I took some photos. But the monkeys decided to let me know they weren’t stupid. They walked over to me, glancing at my face and at my bag, and then tapped on my bag. I love this photo, but I do look a bit apprehensive!

I asked a guy working at the view point when the bus back into town would be. He said 14:00. He also said he was going into town, so would call me when we needed to start walking to the bus stand. So at about 13:30 we started walking and reached the ‘bus stand’ (a corner of a path with a rock on it to sit) at about 13:45. He then said goodbye and walked in another direction. I was a bit confused, as I thought he was going into town too, but ok. 10 mins late he comes back with a motorbike and says something to me. I said “pardon?”. He said “To Coonor, come on”. I didn’t need asking twice.

I got on and we drove through the mountains and tea plantations towards Coonor. It was brilliant. The amazing view, the cool wind rushing around and the surprised stares of onlookers. It took 25 mins of winding country roads to get to the town centre, but it passed far too quickly. I got off and asked how much money I could give him, and he looked at me confussed. Then he realised what I said and smiled, and said "no charge". To most people that sounds like an nice thing of him to do. But to any Westerner whose stayed in India, they will know that's a bit of a miracle. People are more often than not out to get money from you. It's sad to say, but often true. So I was astounded he wouldn't take anything.

It was my best day in India so far. The whole holiday was brilliant. Saw lots and relaxed a bit too. Brill.