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Day 14/15 Varanasi and travelling
Wake up with another bout of Delhi belly feeling awful. Go out a couple of times but had enough of V now so spend most of the day in hotel and then down to the ghats again in the afternoon for a final time. In the light of day its an incredibly dirty noisy and overcrowded place, we've all had enough and ready to move on!
Overnight train to Delhi leaves at 5.30 and due to arrive 7.30 but is delayed an hour.
Get back to Pooja Palace hotel for a quick and much needed shower and then off again for flight to Kochin. Difficult saying bye to travel companions you have got to know quite well over 2 weeks. It's now just me and Yin, a 24 yr old Chinese girl from Holland going on the 2nd phase of the trip. She's very poorly (yes worse than me!) having been to doctor and on a drip for 2 hrs prior to leaving V.
We arrive 5.30 pm and meet up with new tour leader, Ravi. A nice hotel in a former colonial mansion.
Day 16 Kochin
Meet rest of party - only one other a woman from Bolton called Karen, who now works/lives in Madrid. The other person due failed to arrive (did she know something?).
We do a walk tour around the town, a former Portuguese and then Dutch colony before British. I'm unimpressed as still poorly and Yin has to leave to go back to the hotel. We see the Dutch cemetery, Jew Town ( now only 6 jews left, the rest apparently went to Israel!) Nice shops and the place is much more civilised than the north albeit still 3rd world. Still the wandering cows everywhere but not the beggars and hawkers. We view the "palace" built for the maharajah by the Dutch as a peace offering after ransacking one of his temples.
We go out again in the early evening to a Kathakali dance show. Performers are putting on make up on the stage, vivid colours of green red white black made from stones mixed with coconut oil. Takes half hour but fascinating to watch. Then we are addressed by a cast member who explains all the movements of the eyes, head, hands and arms that convey the story without a word spoken. The show starts and its a tale of a demon who sends his sister to Heaven to steal 15 beautiful women for him. Sher fulfils her mission but falls for the son of the God whilst transformed herself into a beautiful woman. Her advances are rejected by the Prince so she reverts to her real identity ( imagine the 3 ugly sisters combined then multiply by 10!). The prince gets fed up with her antics and cuts off her breasts, nose and ears! Bizarre story I know but heh, this is India! The costumes and the dance movements are amazing and the whole show is done by just 5 men.
Day 17 Travelling Kochin to Coonoor.
Off at 8 by bus to Nilgiri Hills. A former British Raj hill station that was a quiet retreat for the poor souls from dear old Blighty. It's 7000 ft up so nice and cool.
Amazing mountain views on way up, very slow on a narrow wifing road, built of course by us Brits. If you partly close your eyes you could almost be in the French Alps, if it wasn't for:
1. Monkeys lining the road picking up scraps
2. Palm trees on the way up, not pines, then tea plantations everywhere
3. Constant fear of death as we overtake not just on the short straight sections but on blind hairpin bends too.
4. Drivers hurtling down doing the same thing but at breakneck speed
5. Being run off the road by a bus that pulls out to overtake as we are overtaking it. The first time we see anything approaching emotion from our driver.
6. Fantastic colours of flowering trees and lush vegetation.
7. Indian people everywhere with occasional wandering cow of course.
So to sum up , nothing like the French Alps at all really!
After checking into hotel, a nice one with a great view down the valley, we walk 2 km down the road of terror to the town. Nothing much new so we head back to eat. Then the tuk tuk ride from hell. First I am nearly knocked over by a glancing blow from another passing tt as we negotiate a price. We then screech off at Mach 2 through crowds, other vehicles onto the main road, passing through impossible gaps, overtaking everything and at one point forcing trucks in both directions to stop to allow us to squeeze back into lane through the eye of the needle.
Even Disneyworld never invented a white knuckle ride like this and all for just 30 rupees!
At the end of this day, I'm convinced there's a God and I'm happy to say a thank you prayer with genuine sincerity. Further thanks Oh Lord for us not taking this tuk tuk down the hill; truly divine intervention.
Day 18 Coonoor to Mudumalai National Park
We take a narrow guage mountain railway this morning to Udhagamandalam ( Ooty for short I wonder why?) Another British innovation but the loco we supplied didn't work so they replaced it with a Swiss one. Lovely fresh morning with fab views along the way.
Then to a Tea factory still in use to make tea and to act as a museum on the history and making of the stuff. More Indian papparazzi want our photos taken with them.
We then drive to to Mudumalai to go on another tiger hunt. We see monkeys and a shy elephant hiding in the bush, Mum unseen but ominously close by, but no tigers, again. We are told there are 84 in this park, I don't believe it!
Thankfully a more peaceful day today!
Day 19 Mysore - 30 April today!
Bus to Mysore about 3 hrs drive so we arrive in time for lunch. Then to Somnathpur to see the Hindu Kesava temple built 13th C. Different from the ones we saw in the north but quite amazing carvings on every millimetre of the inside and outside, stunning work. The idea apparently was to tell stories of the religion to the illiterate masses through the art on the temples. Again scenes from the Kama Sutra to make sure the faithful are taught properly about how to make the next generation!
Overall impression of the south so far is that it is much cleaner, better organised and maintained and with some impressive scenery and cities. Mysore seems quite grand in Indian terms but then it is the capital of the state of Karnataka where we now are. We are off on a walking tour to see the city tomorrow. I'm back to full fitness again and being even more paranoid than before about water, food, keeping everything clean et al!!
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