Nilgiri's Nest Coimbatore

... rental companies in coimbatore and found very good reviews about them too. So we decided to email them on the mail id provided in their website and got a response pronto. They were reasonable and sounded very professional so we decided to hire the minivan from them and they suggested that we be put up in the jenny club and do a local sightseeing trip for a day. Jenny club again was such revelation. It is one of the best clubs that i have ...

... walk from the station to the hotel we had booked (New Vijaya, named and shamed), and we were 15 minutes ahead of schedule. This did not stop them telling us we had to pay twice the price as all the cheap rooms were full. I pointed out that there was a piece of paper recording my reservation under the glass of the desk, but this made no difference, and we left in high dudgeon to try another hotel over the road ...

... well - we couldn´t say no to the kids, especially when they express an interest in books! So Rajiv had more wheelchairs to fix and after that Rajiv, myself and other volunteers who were available wheeled as many kids as we could at 4:00pm everyday to the library for about an hour. There are about 10 kids so they had to take turns and they were pretty good sports about it. In the evenings, it was typing lessons for the different grades ...

... o) My sore throat has gone and I feel fine about everything else. Slight tummy ache at bed time but otherwise a great day. Day 4 Morning yoga was good ...my lower back is quite tight so I need to do more to loosen that up but otherwise a great class. Today is the sandpapering and the pounding treatments...joy! I am also taking a trip out of the retreat to a temple and market...I see shopping in my future. Yep there was shopping ...not much as it is only a small town but I managed ...

... going for miles and miles. Apparently Tetley owns most of the plantations around here. We kept climbing along the switch back roads, playing chicken with on coming traffic and then we made it to the Reserve. We pay the entrance fee for the car and drive in for a few kilometres and come to the main reception area for the park. There we go into the hotel to tell them that we have a reservation at the Lake Palace and they tell us to go down to the dock. So we go down to the dock and pay the ...

... grow tea, drink tea, race horses, make lakes and invent snooker (invented by Nevile chamberlain in Ooty). we ascended the 2240m to Ooty partly by train and mainly by bus. there's a famous train that goes all the way to the top but recent monsoon rains have caused a series of landslides to wipe out large sections of the track (not a massively comforting thought). the bus ride was incredible anyway. there are stacks of little villages ...

... and peeling, so I can't say it was a site worth seeing. Once you leave, you have to run the gauntlet of "Get your official Mysore Palace souvenir" stores. Mostly sandalwood ****. Soaps, oils, incense, bleh. It's all the same and none too interesting. Sandalwood is very precious in India and very expensive, in fact so much so that the government has forbidden it to be harvested anymore and issues ration cards to storeowners to limit what they can procure. This stuff is just ...

We are doing a little "oh boy it's so cool here dance" inside. It must be in the 60's here. What relief. Up here the flora reminds me a little of San Francisco. Eucalyptus trees, large agave plants, intense wildflowers. And the tea plantations. Not quite so Californian. The part of Ooty we're in is a little run down. Was expecting Colonial architecture. I'm sure it's here somewhere, but haven't seen it. We got up a little earlier than we have been and ...

... walls with figurines of certain gods in them. The Gods are always clothed, with real fabric wrapped into elaborate patterns in these vivid colours. They generally have garlands of fresh jasmine draped around their necks as well. There were several arches over this walkway as well, all draped with fresh mango leaves pinned into a garland with small thorns (a la Andy Goldsworthy); Chaya explained to us that mango leaves are very auspicious and are almost always hung over doors into homes ...

... mischievous demeanour, who lived with her father in a grand house in a nice part of town. He owned a gas station franchise in Ooty which Goshni helped with, and obviously saw them both very comfortably. "So will you be coming to visit us in Coimbatore?" Suchee asked her. "I was going to come, but then I heard you'd be there", she said slyly. Despite this apparent insult, it was obvious that the two were very close. Their fathers had known each other for many ...