From a Hill Station
I'm back in Tamil Nadu but in the western tip. I took a train from Cochin to Coimbatore where I spent the night before catching a bus to Ooty (Udhagamandalam). Ooty is at 2240m. 2 hours of the 3 hour bus trip was climbing through eucalyptus, tea and terraced vegetables. Our bus needed the entire 2 narrow lanes to make the hairpin turns. The bus in the picture is like the one I was on. And like it we ignored the "Do not pass on curves" signs...and the destroyed bus on the side of the road. Construction materials, stopped vehicles, and monkeys blocked our lane at times. Didn't matter. We went around. Sometimes traffic in the other lane needed to stop for us. I'm all the more convinced I should never drive here...my road expectations are so very different.


Ooty with its cooler temps, 40 -70, is where people come to get away from the 100 plus degrees of the plains. I'm ahead of the busy season by a few weeks. School will let out for April and May and then families will be free to vacation in this mountain town. Perhaps they too will find, tucked away in today's Ooty, the faded remains of the British who established this hill station in the 19th century.



Like me they may stay at the YWCA, maybe even in the same funky cottage. The YWCA has been here since the late 1800s. The main building with its lounges, fireplaces, reading room and dining room and the cottages like the one I stayed in (see the picture) are lodging from an earlier era.

The YWCA is located across from the racetrack. I saw the horses getting their morning workout as I ate my breakfast. Racing season begins next month. A racetrack at a British Hill Station

seems so right.

And there is the lake with its boathouse...an artificial lake created in 1824. The day I walked to the boathouse I was the only noticeably foreign person there. As sometimes happens a group of college students asked if they could have photos and so we had a photo session before they moved on to the next attraction.

Ooty also has a rose garden. Only a few newer varieties bloom at this time of the year. The garden will be lovely in another month or two. Now there is a good view of Ooty from the terraces. The afternoon I went there was a good view of the rain on its way.


The botanical garden was established in 1848. The sign said it began as a vegetable plot and went from there! I was surprised at the gigantic rhodies and azaleas - much bigger than mine will ever be. The jacaranda in bloom reminded me of my Seabury days. And, although the name is curious, I liked the dragon trees. They're the palm looking tree with multiple branches and reddish brown fronds. All in all the garden was a very pleasant place for a morning walk.

I've had 5 days in these cooler temps. Time for the heat again. I'm headed to Pondicherry(Puducherry) on the east coast of Tamil Nadu. It's south of Chennai(Madras).