Ooty

Tuesday 18th January

Didnt get a great nights sleep as the only other guy in the hostel, an Indian guy, was chatting to his wife at 1:20am. Got some snacks and went to the tour agents at the arranged time of 9:15am. By the time we left town to start the tour it was after 10:30.

The old minibus was mainly Indian tourists but I was ushered to sit next to the only white person, Steve the Liverpool fan from Bournemouth. The tour was of the surrounding countryside and the animal Sanctuary. The area is heavily forested has lots of hairpin bends and great lookouts so we stopped a few times to walk around. The driver soon said that we might like to give him a $5 or $10 tip at the end, yet the tour only costs $5. Anyway we stopped in a few scenic points where many movies are filmed and then at Pykara Waterfall which was beautiful, the river flowing over the rocks. After the driver had changed the tyre we had a couple more stops then stopped for lunch (pretty sure the driver gets commission for stopping there every day).

The we entered Mudumalai National Park. There are tigers there but only a slim chance of seeing one. But we saw some big and baby elephants and lots of deer. We got back to Ooty after dark and when we got off the bus we were a bit lost so had to get a tuk-tuk. We got some grog and went back to Steve's and chatted about music (he's the same generation as me) and he was trying to show me how to play piano, on his ipad (he's in a band). Walked back through the near-deserted streets, Ooty goes to sleep at 10am (except there was some kind of show going on in a marquee, i think something to do with a new temple).

At midnight I swigged some bad whiskey to celebrate my 40th birthday.


Wednesday 19th January

So I woke up on my 40th birthday in a big empty dorm room. Got a tuk-tuk to the more luxurious Reflections hotel, at the other end of town, overlooking the lake. Had a vegie puff for breakfast, got some snacks and went for one hour walk around the lake, along the country lanes. Omelette sandwich. Got the bus 10kms uphill to Doddabetta. Its then a steep 2km walk upto the lookout, which was tiring given the altitude. But the views of the Nilgiris and Ooty are amazing. What a beautiful place to have a birthday!

I walked back down via a shortcut track that a couple of local ladies showed me. The path took me through small villages with people going about their business and an older guy stopped me for a chat and shook my hand. Back in town had a look around the shoes shops for some trekking boots for Nepal, and ate deep fried spicy soya balls and spaghetti off the street - delicious.

There were some processions in town to mark the opening of the new Jain Temple which is made of marble and is very white. Jain is a branch of Hinduism, I am told. Nothing black is allowed inside the temple so I had to leave my small backpack ouitside. The inside was all white and beautiful; intricate hand-carved statues and icons on along the walls.

There are christians, muslims and hindus all living happily together, here in Ooty.