David India blog - Tourtag 2 Ooty

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Tourtag 2 Ooty
10th Feb

Today, the tour should continue another 100km. But we're planning to do it in 8 hours. Before it beings, we want to try to get apples and maybe some croissants. The hotel is in the middle of the town and I don't have words to describe the traffic, noise and chaos. It's 9:30, the sun is shining and the heavy air from all the gas is cca 25°C. On our side of the street is between the street and it's road-site is a canal, in the side lanes are being sold melons, used children's shoes, and roasted chilis? and the co. On the other side of the street are all sorts of shops next to each other, each maybe 4m wide, if it's a teashop, a shop with cell phones, candy or jewelry. Yesterday we were in a pharmacy-shop (I am not saying drug-store on purpose, because it wasn't one - it was someone in possession of medicine, selling it) to buy something for the coughing. First, he had to dust off the dust from the bottle. It was supposed to be kept in dark and in a room with under 25°C.
Both was neglected. We were worried, but the hard coughing I got in-between needed to go away. What we were looking for in the morning we didn't find, so we went back to the car.

The road leads us cca 20km into the mountains. We get through the serpentines higher and higher. The air becomes cleaner, the side of the road too. Momentarily we're going through Nilgirim, well-known tee plantation. Wherever a person looks is tea. Anywhere a person's eye can see. It looks like these mountains are enough for all the inhabitants.

Shortly before lunch we get to Doddabetta. We're in a 2600m height and that means on the highest place in South India. The air is thin and we're trying to avoid uneasiness. Also in this height are growing trees, everything is green and it blooms colorfully. It's wonderful.

We continue on our way to Oota, the metropolis of this district. An old tram goes from there as a tourist attraction through the tea plantations, but it's booked for weeks, so we went on a similar tour with a car. We stopped in one tea manufacture and a tea museum, so we learned how tea is made.
When we get to Oota, we stop to eat in an European Bistro (similar to Subway), where we find bagels, baguettes and sandwiches. Around 18:00 we get to our guesthouse, which is in a 1000m height and right next to a wildwood, so there's a high electric fence around it to protect people from elephants and tigers. It's really nice here.

(photos will come)
Translation by http://panik-musik.blog.cz
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