Ooty

The Langur monkeys are hooting early in the morning, other than that there is absolute silence except for the birds. We are on our way to Ooty and will pass through a wildlife refuge on the way. In these Nilgiri mountains our journey has slowed down in a beautiful area. Besides the forests with the large trees there are many acres of beautiful tea plantations with flowering plants along the road. A long section today was lined with large poinsettia bushes. That reminds us of Christmas that we will miss at home this year. At Ooty (an old British hill station) we are staying in a nice guest house with a very attentive staff. Lalit and our driver are staying here also because we are so isolated, which is difficult for India.

From the guest house we took a jeep at 6:30 A.M. for a few kilometer and then started walking along an area on the edge of a Tiger's Territory, but we do not enter the cat's territory proper, but watch for the Tiger. We walk through the grass covered by heavy dew or slippery frost and climb a small ridge with a fantastic view of the surroundings. No tiger and just one Samber deer but the birds, Langur monkey calls, sun rise, big rock walls all around, and big trees work together to bring a peace to the start of our day. The local guide shows us some damaged plants ... The result of the elephant herd that ranges the area also and we are also alert to the possible Leopard.

Then regretfully back to the daily issues and the tourist things. First breakfast. " lemon tea please, a pot please.". "Tea?" Yes Tea .. A pot.. Lemon tea..... A Pot? Yes and we start the hand signs. The young man flees to the kitchen and another comes to see what strange thing we want. This may go through several interactions but finally .. A pot of lemon tea arrives. We should have learned more of the local language but that is impractical since even our guide who is from Delhi has to speak English here because the folks down south speak Tamil, but are mostly pretty good with English. By the time we get back to Delhi on the 26th we will have gone through areas speaking a total of 10 different languages and Lalit says Totally Different. No or few shared words etc. Amazing!

But I made a small effort to learn some small words in Tamil starting with buttermilk because I order it often..... Something like Mor. So you see the problem. I ask for Mor .. They are expecting English and all manner of problems start so I go back to English but it is southern US accented and I ask for "buttermilk please". The panic look and the trip to find someone else to take the order starts again .. Ditto when I stick with Mor but much more can go wrong with that one. Ha! I would hate to be a waiter here!

The tourist things ... We rode the Toy train built here in the 1800s for transport to the cooler hill stations and tea plantations. Narrow gauge track and small cars and engines. A fun ride through the countryside not following the roads and without the drama of driving on these roads. Very relaxing and scenic. Then we toured a tea plantation and saw the processing of teas, bought some and moved on. Then stopped to get some oils from a local producer and back to the nest. Oh one side trip to a beautiful Catholic church where Lalit's mom was born. The family had sought shelter in the church during the partition when the Hindus and Muslims were killing each other. We took photos and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.

Southern India has been great .. A real surprise to us and the central mountains are very nice and out of the heat and humidity.