Day 8 - Mysore Adventure

Today we traveled to Mysore, the second largest city in Karnataka. It's big. Much bigger than I had imagined. We're staying at the President Hotel, which is much like any "normal" hotel one may have experienced in any big city ion the world. You know, the type with a nice reception area, chaps in nice uniforms to open the door for you, a dining room, lots of big comfy chair, conference rooms and a lift! We all though the driver had come to the wrong hotel. It was really central to the main things one would want to see in Mysore.

After we checked-in and dropped our bags we were back on the bus to visit the the Sri Chamundeshware Temple on a peak overlooking the city. It was from up here one got the best feel for how big the city is. The temple is an active temple. That is, it is still used for worship. Of course surrounding the temple were the ever-present little shops and "mobile" sellers of all sorts of merchandise from fruit to postcards to trinkets of all sorts. Kerry, and most of the girls, had a cotton band wrapped around their wrist bya chap doing a roaring trade. I'm not sure of it's significance. The visit inside the temple was under-whelming. The "icon" to whom all the Hindu were making offerings was way down the end of a narrow passage was, which could not be traversed by the visitors, only viewed from a distance. We saw that, got out of the way of the worshipers and that was that. Back down the hill we went to the hotel to rest for a short while before heading to the nearby Mysore Palace.

Kerry and Greg didn't get there! For the last couple of days my anxiety levels were through the roof. A lump near my sternum had appeared a few months back, a late impact of my fall from the ladder back in August 2021, I suspected. It hadn't ever giver me any grief at all until the last few days. Now I was feeling a constant uncomfortable pressure in that area. Being abroad and a long way from home my brain started to invent a whole bunch of really bad outcomes for me, including the lump putting undue pressure in my heart and dying of a heart attack over here! So, as the other were heading to the Palace, at Kerry's call she, Pooja and I hopped in a tuk-tuk and went to a nearby hospital for a check-up. Driven by Pooja's comment to the reception desk, "this man has chest pains", were immediately ushered into Emergency and attended to without delay. The Registrar did the usual preliminary tests – Pulse OK,  Blood pressure OK. Soon after came the on-duty doctor, who examined me and sent me off for a chest X-Ray. Back to Emergency and in came an ECG cart, That test was done promptly and the doctor came back to talk to me. All was fine in the vital signs front and with the ECG results. The X-ray showed that the lump was no where near my heart so there was no risk there. That was a real relief. Almost immediately my anxiety dissipated and my pulse was down from high eighties to low 70's where it normally is. All up, we were done in about an hour. My thanks to Kerry, Pooja and the Indian health care system for ensuring this holiday can be the best it can be.

I spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up on the blog while Kerry went for a visit to Saree store with some of the girls. They all tried on a saree and took plenty lots of photos to remember the fun afternoon they had. That evening we all visited the ope-air, rooftop restaurant of a nearby hotel for a lovely meal on a warm night. On the way back to the hotel we stopped to be amazed by a cow that was just standing in the middle of the road as if it were in the middle of a field, completely unfazed by the cars, scooters and buses whizzing by. Quintessential India!

Day 7 - Safari Adventure

Up early today to drive into the next state, Karnakata, to the north of Tamil Nadu. Breakfast was plentiful, as it was yesterday. On the menu were pancakes, fresh fruit, jam, honey and toast amongst a range of other Indian breakfast foods. I couldn't resist buttering a couple of pancakes, slicing up a banana and drizzling honey over it all. A couple of of our American friends thought it was quite a strange thing to do, tried it themselves and loved it. Soon they all partook of this "new" breakfast delight and a trend was started. One of them described me as a breakfast "influencer". LOL!

Clement took "the road less traveled" once we passed through Ooty, along a winding forest road that was relatively devoid of traffic. A few little towns popped up here and there and the road in between them was relatively free of litter. The eucalypt forests were more dense than ever as we descended to the plain below. By the bottom of the descent the landscape had changed to become quite dry and scrubby. After an hour or so we stopped at the entrance to the Mudumalai National Park for a coffee and to stretch the legs for 20 minutes. We didn't stop in the National Park as our objective was it neighbor – Bundipur National Park. This park has the largest population of wild tigers in India (so, therefore, the world). We crossed the Park and arrived at our accommodation in time to unload our luggage and prepare for our safari.

At 3:30pm we boarded a 20-people, open air troop carrier and headed deep in the park on rough and winding dirt tracks. What a jolting, jarring and bouncing ride that was but it was great fun. Over the next three hours we saw water buffalo, monkeys of different species by the score, spotted dear, sambar deer, peacocks, mongeese, wild boar, squirrels, sloth bears and elephants. The driver essentially took a path from one water hole to the next. There was not much action at most of them but the sloth bears at one of them was a rare sighting as was the squirrel. 

We thought we'd done pretty well when the driver got a call on his two-way radio from a colleague elsewhere, but nearby, in the park. He sped past some sambar deer, refused to stop for a photo and then cut his engine and rolled to a stop. There, lying just 20 metres from the track, hidden behind some tall grass was a magnificent female tiger. The cameras where buzzing and whirring and clicking ten to the dozen with photographers jostling for the best position to get the best shot.

She got bored with all of this, gave a big yawn, got to here feet and began to saunter down the track. To see her in the clear and in motion was a sight to behold. The driver followed her down the track, keeping a respectful distance and she remained unperturbed all the time. The cameras just kept on clicking. After 15 minutes she turned left and disappeared into the scrub. None of us had expected to actually see a tiger on this safari. How lucky were we! The day was getting on and a magnificent, dusty sunset told us it was time to head home when a call cam of another sighting so of we sped down another track. By the time we got to the location three other smaller 4WD vehicles were there. I just caught a brief glimpse of another tiger 100m further down the track. Too many trees were in the way to get a good camera shot. Two tigers in one day! Wow! And I never thought I would ever see one in the wild.

It was dark by the time we got back to the "resort", checked out our very comfortable digs, had a beer with our traveling companions under a little rotunda and then enjoyed another Indian feast.

Day 6 - Tea Gardens and Ootacamund

This region of the Western Ghats is famous for the growing if tea, As described earlier, the British East India company wanted to break the monopoly the China held in the tea market so they targeted India as a suitable place to start to grow and produce their own tea. They already "owned" India so there were no problems acquiring the necessary land. Coonoor and Ootacamund started as "hill stations" built to manage the tea production and grew into proper towns and cities as time went by.

Coonoor stands at 1600m above sea level while Ootacamund is a further 800m higher at about 2400m. Planting started in the 1830'S with the first profitable crop being sent to England in the mid-1850s. 

The day started with a tour of a tea plantation and its processing facility. All tea come from just a single variety of plant. What sort of tea one gets depends on which part of the leaf is picked and when in the production cycle it is packed. I noticed, scattered across the hillsides in amongst the tea trees, a familiar looking tree. The guide confirmed it was indeed grevillia robusta (aka Silky Oak), a plant native to our homeland. I'm not sure why they chose to plant them there but I do know that they cut the branches off for firewood from time to time. 

After the tour Kerry bought some tea and we headed off to Ootacamund, about an hour away. But we didn't go in any normal way. Our driver took us to the Coonoor station and we caught the old narrow- gauge railway. The train steadily climbed all the way up to Ootacamund (known locally as Ooty) through  forest, past farmland and tea gardens. I've gotta comment about the forest. The forest was mostly of eucalypt – stringy-bark and/or maintain ash, I think. Without a word of a lie, we could have been on Puffing Billy! Eucalypt forests were grown here to allow the addition eucalyptus oil to the large range of other oils manufacture;d in India. Over time they broke loose from their plantations and are now extremely prevalent across the whole of the landscape. Indeed, they extend for hundreds of kilometres beyond this region. BTW, the Coonoor railway station platform garden sported a nice little row of callistamens (bottle brush).

Clement picked us up at the station and drove us a short distance into the centre of town. From here some of the girls, including Kerry, went to wander the streets and lanes. I headed for the Ooty Botanical Gardens. It was nice to get some relief from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Today was a special day of some sort in this area. The main lawn of the gardens was teeming with excited school children and proud parents. On the stage was a constant steam of award presentation. The children were all wearing their respective school uniforms and beaming smiles as they showed of their awards to friend and family. It was a very happy place.

We finished the day with a drive back to Ootacamund via the large military base at Wellington. The contrast between this well-ordered place and the haphazard towns was quite marked. We finished the day with a lovely banquet provided by the hotel.