After our dawn trekking it was time to hit the road again. We took the 'Jungle Train' from Ooty to Mettapalayam. This was a really amazing 4 hour journey on a steam train through mountainous jungle. Unfortunately we only just made our train connection and had no time for lunch. So, as it happens sometimes we grabbed a bag of crisps each to keep us til our next meal. Fortunately, we were befriended by a lovely family who was sat in our carriage, and mum wanted to ...

Mudumalai After our time in Ooty we took the crazy road (36 hairpin bends) back down to the national park areas and stayed in a resort which was a private enclosure in the middle of the jungle of Bokkapurum (just outside Mudumalai). This was a little taste of paradise, it really was amazingly beautiful. Walking around the grounds and seeing the surrounding mountains and jungle made us feel serene and blissful. Our cottage had its own little garden complete with ...

Well, you all told me that we'd suffer in the heat over here in India. Well, let me tell you, we definitely suffered in the Bloody cold in Ooty! Dean and I would sleep under three blankets, with a heater and wearing about four layers of clothes each. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe just to see me through. Ooty itself proved to be an amazing place with lots to do including horse riding, boating, treks and my personal favourite, eating locally made chocolate. On...

We are currently in Ooty, which is an incredibly attractive area (think the Lake district with Tea plantations and hill tribes). We travelled down here from a place called Mysore which was also pretty awesome. For the journey we decided to take a private minibus "22 seater", clearly designed for Ewoks, Umpalumpas or some other small fictious characters, not lanky Westerners like me and Claire. As usual in India, some of the other passengers were late an...

Quick update (well, you know me) Flew into Bangalore about five days ago, where we stayed for one night. Bangalore is the place with all the call centres, so if you rang up to complain about you BT bill or such like, you probably got diverted to Peter (aka Abdul) in Bangalore. After Bangalore we headed to Mysore which was certainly not an eyesore (just made that up!). Took in all the local sites; museums, churches, zoos, you know the ones. From Mysore we took...