This gallery contains 16 photos.
This morning saw us making the (about) one hour drive (plus an ATM stop) from Mysore to Somanathapura and the Keshava Temple. The temple – dating back to the 13th century – today is not active anymore and remains as … Continue reading
This gallery contains 8 photos.
After an active morning, a nice breakfast and an about three hours drive (with a coffee stop in the middle of nowhere) we made it into Mysore. On the way in we stopped at the Chamundi Temple on a hill … Continue reading
This gallery contains 11 photos.
We stayed one night at the jungle retreat; for the morning – after a night with some animal in our dormitory (could have been anything from a cat to a snake) – most of us joined for a morning village … Continue reading
This gallery contains 8 photos.
A long drive later we arrived at the jungle retreat … a simple kind of resort with dormitory style accommodation (at least for us), a restaurant and a pool (which doubles as watering hole for the animals around – wild … Continue reading
We left Ooty, now continuing to our jungle retreat near Mudumalai National Park.
With Ooty well beyond 2000 meters above sea level, the drive was downhill most of the time – following a dangerous ghat road with plenty of serpentines and switchbacks – and dramatic views.
This gallery contains 8 photos.
We had a major lunch after we made it back to Ooty … a lunch, that turned out to be one of the better (if not THE best) thali for the whole four weeks. Following that major meal a major … Continue reading
This gallery contains 12 photos.
We had a quick transfer from the tea garden to the train station to take the Nilgiri Mountain railway back to Ooty. The railway was originally built during British reign back in 1908 connecting Coimbatore with Ooty, which it continues … Continue reading
I full day in and around Ooty was ahead of us.
We started with a visit to a nearby tea garden and processing facility in the morning. We enjoyed a guided tour around the tea garden, after which we were given an introduction to the processing steps … from the individual leaf to the final tea bag.
The majority of the tea produced here is black tea for the domestic market, most of it ending up tea-bagged. Very limited production of higher quality of white tea also takes place.
We got into Ooty after a long travel day; after some time to freshen up, we met again for a walk around town, a visit to the local market, serious shopping (with spice boxes in high demand) and – finally – dinner.
After dinner – on special request – we had a stop at the local wine store – a dodgy hole in the wall, that made many of us reconsider the need for alcohol. 😉
We left Kochi and headed inland towards the Nilgiris, first by train to Coimbatore and then continuing by private vehicles up to Ooty (at 2240 meters above sea level).
