OK, I am back with WordPress – a long and difficult journey, but hopefully normal service is now resumed!
8th January, 2019 – Into the hills and far away.
We left Mysore and headed due south towards Tamil Nadu and the hill station of Udhagamandalam, also known as Ootacamund or, thankfully, Ooty for short. In its day, it was also known as Snooty Ooty, after John Sullivan clambered up there to ‘discover’ this corner of the Nilgiris (literally ‘Blue Hills’) in the early 19th Century. It was occupied then by the pastoralist Toda hill tribe, who had lived pretty much in total isolation until then. Sullivan realised the agricultural potential, bought tracts of land at 1 rupee an acre and proceeded to plant vegetables, fruit, flax, barley, hemp and especially tea. It then seemed a good place for a hill station which saw it thrive still further.
We drove up and up and up through two National Wildlife (Tiger) Reserves sadly only seeing what presumably is the tiger’s lunch, ie deer and only a distant sighting of what looked like a tame elephant.
This trip has been two deer!
Don’t monkey with these guys!!
The rather tame elephant.
We did stop for a break and spotted this interesting sign!
No caption needed, I feel.
It was a longish and very windy road to the top, but you did get to countdown the number of hairpin bends, as each one was numbered out of 36. We arrived about lunchtime and checked into our hotel, the Fortune Sullivan Hotel, a bright modern affair where everything seemed to work ok, if not as inspiring as some we have stayed in in India.
Our comfortable room at the Fortune Sullivan Court Hotel, Ooty.
The unusual foyer of the Fortune Sullivan Court Hotel, Ooty.
After a bit of a rest, it was off again, though we were a little hesitant after all the twists and turns of our ascent. Still, reasonably undaunted, we set off with our new guide, Jon (spelling?) and drove off to the Dolphin’s Nose, a viewpoint where you can look at the plains of Tamil Nadu (well a bit – it is very hazy). We had not appreciated the amount of time it would take to go not very far due to the road’s width and surface as well as the traffic, but it gave us a chance to see some of the vegetable and tea growing as well as to experience pollution at about 7,000 feet! My cold had now turned into a really impressive and irritating (to Val especially – ‘how can I sleep through that?) cough, exacerbated, I think, by the altitude and the pollution. As it is nice and cool up there (18C), you don’t need the aircon in the car, so all the fumes came in instead.
I would add that Ooty and the neighbouring towns like Coonoor are not the leafy suburbs of Surrey and hills of Scotland they used to be, but are now the usual cacophony of cars, buses, tuktuks and people all jostling for space. The town is popular with local tourists who come up to savour being cold. It can get down to near zero at night.
The Nilgiris – or Blue Mountains
One of the many tea plantations – a very tidy crop, I always feel.
The view from Dolphin’s Nose, near Ooty.
The Ooty Scout Troop on the march!
We then agreed to visit Doddabetta, Nilgiris’ second highest mountain at 2623 metres, which was a bit of a mistake as it seems the Forestry Dept purposely keeps the road up to it in a dreadful state to discourage visitors, presumably to preserve the forest, so it was very slow, painful progress to the summit and to see the rather hazy view.
The view from Doddabetta Mountain.
From here it was back into the car and what turned out to be our final stop (we declined to drive to the lake), the Botanical Gardens, laid out in 1847 by gardeners from, you guessed it, Kew (they certainly got about!). Lots of varieties of trees and plants imported from around the world and LOTS of locals out for an evening perambulation.
Lots of locals out for an evening stroll in the Ooty Botanical Gardens.
The original greenhouse!
Some serious posing!!
Not sure what this is!
Or this – some sort of daisy?
Looks like heuchera – but I don’t think it is….
A small heron?
OK, we know who these guys are! Val looks like she is meditating!
And so, after a long day (at altitude) with my cough sounding more and more impressive, we sank back into our hotel for a well-earned night of rest (and coughing).
John & Val's World Travels 
Thanks John, much better ring able to see photos again. Enjoy yourselves and have lots of fun.
LikeLike
Well, as to the plants, I think the green one might be part of the crassulaceae family – as in House Leek or, also I think Jade Tree. The daisy like plant is a strawflower, I think. Certainly an everlasting flower anyway – and that is the extent of my knowledge. Ooty looks wonderful and I especially enjoyed the loo sign – right of course!! As you can see, pictures and text are coming through fine. Where next, I wonder … L xx
LikeLike
PS: I’m not sure where the group of guys are taking a selfie or peering over the hedge! he camera looks quite high! L
LikeLike
Photos are fine now! I agree with Lala about the plants
LikeLike