Kochi - MysoreAfter the Malabar coast, he headed inland, first to the foot of the Nilgiri hills, to Mettupalayam. On the way there, we stopped by a banana market and a rubber plantation: Flower market After arriving to our lodge, some of us went for a walk, but we did not get too far as we found a tree nursery. The owner was really friendly and proud of his nursery and showed us around. The selection was quite different than in my favorite garden shop in Budapest. We saw mango, cardamon, coriander, lime, etc. Then next day we had to get up at
5.30 and go to the train station. The train ride from Mettupalayam and Ooty
was one of the best train ride I ever had, if not the best. This is listed
as a UNESCO world heritage site, in a group called "mountain railways of
India". The ride is only 46 km, but it took as 6 hours! We climbed from 400
to 2240 m (the steepest rail in the continent) with a steam engine pushing
us up (i.e. it was at the end of the train). We had to stop every 20 minutes
to refill the water. I really loved the whole ride, especially the tunnels
where all passengers screamed as in an amusement park. In Ooty, the weather was a bit chilly, especially after the sunset. We took a bus to the top of the Nilgiri Hill, then walked in the arboretum. Next day we descended the hill and drove to Mysore. On our way, we passed a national park. The guide told us, every once in a while they see deer, and rarely some elephants in the distance, so it was not promising. But we were a lucky group as we saw all sorts of animals, such as various types of monkeys, boar, spotted deer, giant squirrel, and a lovely elephant family very close to us. They were just tearing off the bark from the tree, I have never seen that before. We also saw large bamboo and African sausage trees. In Mysore, we visited the large palace, built in 1912. It
is absolutely awesome with its blue, dark red and gold painted
columns, painted windows, chandeliers, rosewood doors, etc. I got a bit
bored of the palaces in Europe, but this was surely something different. After the dinner, the younger part of the group (including me) visited a cinema. No trip to India can be complete without a Bollywood movie, so we went to see one, called Rocky. There was a bad boy, a hero, a beautiful girl, an ugly girl, lots of music, fight, etc. It took over 3 hours, but I could only handle about 40 minutes and it was way too loud and flashy for me (like a music video clip). At Chamundi hill: Today we visited the rest of the sights in town, such as summer palace, mausoleum and had some free time, when I headed to the vegetable market. Next part of India Back to the Big Picture Guide Book Back to the frontpage India következő része Vissza a A Nagy Képes Útikönyv oldalra Vissza a nyitóoldalra |