India is steamy, dusty, noisy and busy. A few days in the mountains, and Ooty, came at just the right time for me. I wanted slightly cooler temparatures, a bit of chill time, and the opportunity to meet some fellow travellers - and I got them all.
On my second, and last, full day in the hill station I took an organised trek up into the mountains. There were about 20 of us on the trip - some Brits, a few Swiss, a couple of Germans, some Aussies. A good crowd.
We were taken by jeep 10 km down windy roads and began our day's walk. The morning route took us through small villages, eucalyptus forests and amazing tea plantations. I'd seen pictures of the tea plantations before - as most of us have (even if just on the packet of PG Tips) but to see them up close was something else. For as far as you could see there was what looked like thousands of green pin cushions bunched together on hillsides:
After 10km or so we stopped at a village for lunch. The village probably had ten or so buildings, and we were escorted to what was basically just a glorified shack. Appearances can deceive though, and the fantastic thali that the owner served up was one of the best feeds I've had so far in India. Lovely curry, spicy beetroot, a pakoda and moreish fluffy rice, accompanied by popadums and a good glass of chai. And all for about 60p. We got a nice little spot outside in the sunshine:
Lunch done, and we set out to tackle a mountain. A leisurely pace was set and we took a fun climb through bush and on rock to the summit, where the views were outstanding. A few dogs kept us company all the way up (including one with only three usable legs!) and became quite attached to me...
We chilled up there for a while before taking a slow walk back through more villages and plantations to our vehicles. Back in Ooty we arranged to meet up for beers in the evening, and I consumed my first drop of alcohol for about 2.5 weeks. Needless to say, it didn't take much to get a bit squiffy and we all had a good party in the garden of my guesthouse:
Yesterday was Mega Travel Day. I still had a waitlisted ticket for the Blue Mountain Railway and, fearing the worst (ie, it not turning into a confirmed ticket) I got to the station at midday to queue for an unreserved ticket. Two and a half hours later they opened the ticket counter and I was told my waitlisted ticket had become a confirmed ticket and I had a designated seat in First Class. Phew!
The route down through the mountains to Mettapuluyam was one of the few 'must do' plans I've had on this trip, and it didn't disappoint. Breathtaking scenery everywhere you looked, sheer drops below as we passed over rickety bridges and the chug-chug-chug of the steam engine up front made for one of the best train journeys I've ever been on.
There were farcical scenes at the end though. As darkness closed in, and the mozzies started to enter the carriages en masse, the steam engine conked out. We were 1km from our destination. It took another three aborted attempts to kick-start it before we finally crawled into Mettupuluyam about an hour late.
No harm done though, as we had plenty of time to hop across the tracks, buy a train ticket to Coimbatore and get the second train of the day. We bunched up nice and tight in cattle class for a thankfully speedy 45 minute journey south.
At Coimbatore, myself, a couple of gap year guys from Lincoln and a couple of Swedes went across the road from the station and had some dinner while we waited for the next train. One of the very few things I'll remember about Coimbatore was an incredibly insistent man selling those glow-in-the-dark magic stars that you put on bedroom ceilings. After the 15th time of saying 'no, I don't need a set of magic stars to decorate my guesthouse/train berth ceiling as I backpack through India', he gave up.
At 11pm my sleeper train to Trivandrum pulled in. I had a narrow 'bed' up by the ceiling with a flourescent light above my head and freezing A/C blasting in my face for 8 hours. Probably not the best night's sleep I've ever had.
Once in Trivandrum - in southern Kerala - I scuttled across the tracks again to (just) make my fourth and final train north to Varkala. The train was packed so I took a spot up in the luggage-rack-cum-bed thing:
By the time I got to Varkala I'd been on the go for 21 hours and was beginning to resemble Tom Hanks in Castaway. My white T-shirt had turned into a mixture of grey/orange and the rest of me wasn't faring much better! So the cold shower I had once I got to my guesthouse - a pleasant building tucked back away from the beach - was heavenly.
Varkala is absolutely steaming. I've been here a few hours and have probably lost half my body weight in sweat (he exaggerated), it's that hot. Because I plan to spend a few days here I wanted to find somewhere cheaper than my guesthouse I'm staying in tonight. I had a wander through the North Cliff area this afternoon and found a decent, if very basic, room for about 6 quid a night. I'll move there tomorrow. First impressions of the town are really good:
Tonight I'm going to have a long sleep and plan the next few days. The plan will probably consist of sitting on the beach, drinking coconut juice, reading and relaxing. It's a hard life!
There are more pics on Flickr (link in right-hand column).
On my second, and last, full day in the hill station I took an organised trek up into the mountains. There were about 20 of us on the trip - some Brits, a few Swiss, a couple of Germans, some Aussies. A good crowd.
We were taken by jeep 10 km down windy roads and began our day's walk. The morning route took us through small villages, eucalyptus forests and amazing tea plantations. I'd seen pictures of the tea plantations before - as most of us have (even if just on the packet of PG Tips) but to see them up close was something else. For as far as you could see there was what looked like thousands of green pin cushions bunched together on hillsides:
After 10km or so we stopped at a village for lunch. The village probably had ten or so buildings, and we were escorted to what was basically just a glorified shack. Appearances can deceive though, and the fantastic thali that the owner served up was one of the best feeds I've had so far in India. Lovely curry, spicy beetroot, a pakoda and moreish fluffy rice, accompanied by popadums and a good glass of chai. And all for about 60p. We got a nice little spot outside in the sunshine:
Lunch done, and we set out to tackle a mountain. A leisurely pace was set and we took a fun climb through bush and on rock to the summit, where the views were outstanding. A few dogs kept us company all the way up (including one with only three usable legs!) and became quite attached to me...
We chilled up there for a while before taking a slow walk back through more villages and plantations to our vehicles. Back in Ooty we arranged to meet up for beers in the evening, and I consumed my first drop of alcohol for about 2.5 weeks. Needless to say, it didn't take much to get a bit squiffy and we all had a good party in the garden of my guesthouse:
Yesterday was Mega Travel Day. I still had a waitlisted ticket for the Blue Mountain Railway and, fearing the worst (ie, it not turning into a confirmed ticket) I got to the station at midday to queue for an unreserved ticket. Two and a half hours later they opened the ticket counter and I was told my waitlisted ticket had become a confirmed ticket and I had a designated seat in First Class. Phew!
The route down through the mountains to Mettapuluyam was one of the few 'must do' plans I've had on this trip, and it didn't disappoint. Breathtaking scenery everywhere you looked, sheer drops below as we passed over rickety bridges and the chug-chug-chug of the steam engine up front made for one of the best train journeys I've ever been on.
There were farcical scenes at the end though. As darkness closed in, and the mozzies started to enter the carriages en masse, the steam engine conked out. We were 1km from our destination. It took another three aborted attempts to kick-start it before we finally crawled into Mettupuluyam about an hour late.
No harm done though, as we had plenty of time to hop across the tracks, buy a train ticket to Coimbatore and get the second train of the day. We bunched up nice and tight in cattle class for a thankfully speedy 45 minute journey south.
At Coimbatore, myself, a couple of gap year guys from Lincoln and a couple of Swedes went across the road from the station and had some dinner while we waited for the next train. One of the very few things I'll remember about Coimbatore was an incredibly insistent man selling those glow-in-the-dark magic stars that you put on bedroom ceilings. After the 15th time of saying 'no, I don't need a set of magic stars to decorate my guesthouse/train berth ceiling as I backpack through India', he gave up.
At 11pm my sleeper train to Trivandrum pulled in. I had a narrow 'bed' up by the ceiling with a flourescent light above my head and freezing A/C blasting in my face for 8 hours. Probably not the best night's sleep I've ever had.
Once in Trivandrum - in southern Kerala - I scuttled across the tracks again to (just) make my fourth and final train north to Varkala. The train was packed so I took a spot up in the luggage-rack-cum-bed thing:
By the time I got to Varkala I'd been on the go for 21 hours and was beginning to resemble Tom Hanks in Castaway. My white T-shirt had turned into a mixture of grey/orange and the rest of me wasn't faring much better! So the cold shower I had once I got to my guesthouse - a pleasant building tucked back away from the beach - was heavenly.
Varkala is absolutely steaming. I've been here a few hours and have probably lost half my body weight in sweat (he exaggerated), it's that hot. Because I plan to spend a few days here I wanted to find somewhere cheaper than my guesthouse I'm staying in tonight. I had a wander through the North Cliff area this afternoon and found a decent, if very basic, room for about 6 quid a night. I'll move there tomorrow. First impressions of the town are really good:
Tonight I'm going to have a long sleep and plan the next few days. The plan will probably consist of sitting on the beach, drinking coconut juice, reading and relaxing. It's a hard life!
There are more pics on Flickr (link in right-hand column).