Coimbatore and Ooty

After a very tumultuous couple of weeks including politics at the hospital, difficult situations in our staff house, and some sad news from home, I decided to join Anandani and her Auntie from Malaysia on a trip to Coimbatore, Ooty, and returning to Coimbatore for a wedding next weekend. The Auntie went for a week of Ayurvedic treatment there, so she sent us off exploring with her sort-of-nephew as a chaparone ( he's 19, but he is just supposed to make sure no scary men bother us...Indian women aren't really allowed to travel alone, we felt comfortable doing it since personal safety is really not a problem, but anyway...we have a non-English speaking chaparone).

We left from Namakkal to Salem to meet Auntie Victoria last weekend by bus, stayed overnight, then took a rented car at 5am the next morning about 4hrs to Coimbatore. The driver was supposed to take us everywhere this week, but we hated the way he drove and swore at other drivers, so we let him go and decided to just wing it. In Coimbatore we stayed with a family friend of Aunty's where we've been experiencing some famous Indian hospitality. Just to be clear- Auntie Victoria is in no way related to Anandani- their families have been friends for about the last 20 years. And the people we stayed with in Coimbatore met Auntie's family on a train many years ago and have kept in touch and she stays with them whenever she comes to Tamilnadu. AND this family is the family whose son is getting married Sunday. And they insisted we stay with them and have been amazing to us...and oh, only 5,000 people are expected at the wedding. I think they're insane for having total strangers in the house the week before, but I guess they also wanted to show us all around....and also give us very expensive sarees to wear for another wedding and want me to keep mine as a wedding present....yeah....and the mother rubbed oil on my tummy when I got a stomach ache...this is hospitality!

So, now we've escaped to Ooty (which is short for Udhagandamanadamandnan or something like that). This is the most famous British hill station in south India and is a favorite honeymoon spot. We hired a car to take us up the mountain- which is about a 3hr ride up a nearly single lane, switch back, through beautiful eucalyptus trees and finally reaching the tea estates with miles of terraced fields full of tea. We stopped along the way at a tea estate/factory and watched people picking tea, toured though the roasting process and got to sample masal tea, chocolate tea, green tea, etc...and bought some for home. Then we detoured for several hours through small roads impossibly switchbacking between the terraces and went to really picturesque viewpoints, saw some monkeys, visited the hillstation of Coonoor, and finally ended in Ooty late in the afternoon. We're staying at the YWCA bungalows here- after a great experience in Chennai- and they are very nice with beautiful flower garden. However, it is really cold here- which is refreshing, but still a little chilly without heat- maybe close to 30 last night (which is a big change from highs of 110, lows 80)...

Today, we toured around Ooty- took a peddleboat out in the lake, visited the botanical gardens, and went up to the highest peak in the Nilgiri hills (part of the western Ghats that run from Maharastra down through here and Kerala...we're just a few miles from Kerala and Karnataka states here). Sadly, there was not so much view at 8,800 feet because of dense fog, but it was still nice...bought some fresh mango, carrots, custard apples.... actually the climate and flora is kind of like coastal Oregon or Northern Cali except the Eucalpytus trees and tea. They are growing a lot more root veggies and cabbage, sqashes and things because it is cold here, though warmer in the summer. They also have lots of conifers and deer, which is amusing because pinecones are really exotic things to bring home here.... and it is so beautiful. The tea trees are kept pruned to about 2 feet high and are in neat clumps that form rows that are on terraces down impossibly steep terrain. And each section is a different shade depending on how long it's been since it's been plucked. The newest leaves are very light, bright green, and after plucking, those rows become darker and less yellow, so they look sort of like a baseball field that is mowed in different directions. And there are beautiful tall trees planted in perfect intervals between them to provide shade and also regulate the water in the ground, so this provides another level of gracefulness of the fields. And the land just falls away for thousands of feet below with fields stretching as far as one can see.

We wanted to go to Mudamalai Nat'l park tomorrow, except during dry season, I guess only deer are out. Usually there are elephants, tigers, wild boars, and buffalo etc. We've been wondering where they go. Maybe on vacation to Bombay during the off season? We're sad we can't see them.

Maybe the best part of the day today was having a pizza for lunch. I haven't seen any kind of food besides very good, but monotonous south Indian food, with occasional breaks of Tandoori and Indian "chinese fried rice", so the pizza today was amazing. I haven't seen cheese in 7 weeks!

Looking forward to a few days of lots of tea, gardens, yoga, and reading before heading back to what I assume will be an insane wedding, followed by a return to hospital work next week.