Ooty call

Trip Start Sep 22, 2004
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Trip End Dec 13, 2004


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Monday, November 15, 2004

Mysore was quite a nice city. It was here I met Justin (Australia) and Lyndsay (Canadia) who were a cool couple who had met whilst teaching in Taiwan and are now touring around for a few months like myself. It was Justin's 27th birthday so we celebrated by buying some firecrackers and skyrockets (as it's also Diwali) and armed with some beer and chocolate went and had a picnic in the park in the evening. Went for a look at the palace in Mysore and although it's not particularly old (1914) it has a certain opulance with beautiful atrium style ballrooms and courtyards... the first thing that occurs is what an awesome party venue it could be (especially with cool lighting) although I'm sure it was home to many a celebration in its time.

Mysore zoo was also a nice excursion for a couple of hours. The animals are well kept and mostly in reasonable enclosures. A few of them looked a bit bored and frustrated, but I suppose you get that at any zoo.

Caught a bus to Ooty which travels through a national park. The driver stopped at a few places where we could watch a herd of spotted deer at one point, a group of five wild elephants grazing right next to the road, and a large group of black faced langurs (monkeys) which happily bounced right up to the bus and even climbed in through the driver's window and door. Very cool.

Ooty itself is a nice little town located on high (2500m) hills, which makes it a bit chilly, particularly at night. You know it's cold when you see Indian men wearing beanies and walking around with their hands in their pockets!

Next stop is probably Calicut, but there are some strikes happening and I couldn't get a bus today. If I can't get one tomorrow I'll probably try another bus to Coimbatore and then travel to Kochi from there.
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