South India - October 2019 - Part 2

Tuesday 22 October

• A day in Ooty - also known as Udhagamandalam. You can see why they call it Ooty.
• Our rather silent guide first took us to the botanic garden, where the damp, but never very hot or cold, climate allows plants from all over the world to grow. As a result the garden is full of trees and shrubs from Australia, Europe, and the Far East. Oddly, though the garden was full of colorful flowers, few of them are growing in the ground. Everything is in pots artfully arranged. There was an army of workers unloading a truck full of fresh pots — more like a flower show than a botanic garden. A crew was shooting photos for a fashion catalog
• Our next stop after a steep drive was the top of the highest mountain in the area. We felt a little breathless at over 10,000 feet, but the views of the blue, cloud-shrouded Nilgiri hills were breathtaking.
• An exciting sight on the way down was a pack of “dhole” — very rare and beautiful wild dogs of which only a few thousand still exist. They quietly watched us for a few moments then padded off into the undergrowth.

• Ooty was founded by the Brits as a convalescent retreat for sick soldiers and for people escaping the heat of the lowlands. As a result there are signs of the British everywhere, including an English public (=private) school, and an Anglican church that would not be out of place in an English village. There were many graves and memorial plaques of long-forgotten Brits, including one plaque commemorating the death of a young British officer who drowned in a local river while out fox hunting.
• After our morning’s sight-seeing we retired to our cavernous suites in the hotel — now thankfully free of 200 school kids — and watched the rain pour down.

Wednesday 23 October

The big excitement today was to have been a ride on the famous (UN World Heritage Site) toy train from Ooty to Coonoor. Regrettably, with all the heavy rain there had been  landslides and the railway was closed for 4 days. So...we drove to Coonoor instead. However, we did stop at the Victorian station in Coonoor and saw the 70-year-old steam engine starting off up the long hill to check out the track.

Macaque with stolen banana

• Coonoor is another British “hill station”, and again full of reminders of India’s colonial past. Our hotel was a bizarre unplanned conglomeration of rooms, courtyards, passageways and staircases and our four room suite was built on 4 levels with awkward steps and angles between the rooms. There was a fireplace full of dryish firewood that we were informed someone would light in the evening on request.
• The botanic garden in Coonoor was huge and beautiful, and full of birds. We got our first glimpse of a Malabar giant squirrel — the size of a small dog with shiny red, black and orange fur— eating in a tree.
• We ate lunch in the garden of the hotel and watched monkeys — Nilgiri macaques — eyeing our food. The staff warned us to makes sure we kept the doors and windows closed as they like exploring guest rooms and snatching anything that takes their fancy.

Thursday 24 October

• On Thursday, we drove from Coonoor, in Tamil Nadu state, where they speak Tamil, to Wayanad in Kerala state, where they speak Malayalam — two mutually incomprehensible languages.
• On the way out of Coonoor we were stopped by the “plastic police”, who searched the car for plastic water bottles and bags, and fined our driver 50 rupees (about 80 cents) for one of each. The hill stations of Tamil Nadu are vigilant in their efforts to decrease the use of — and pollution from — plastic.
• After a long and twisty ride we arrived in the small town of Lakkidi, where we transferred to a Jeep for a 20-minute hair raising journey up a rough dirt track to a remarkable and beautiful nature resort in the hills. The rooms were comfortable and modern with no TV or A/C, the staff very friendly, and the food excellent.
• The hotel ran interesting programs — bird walks in the morning, Kerala cooking demonstrations in the afternoon and nature lectures by professional naturalists in the evenings. 
• There was also plentiful tasty food, from European/British (porridge, boiled eggs) to curries, pickles and other Indian dishes. The first night we were the only guests in the hotel and had about 15 staff looking after us, but it filled up over the next couple of days, as Diwali brought guests enjoying a long weekend break from work.
• The dining room was open on two sides to the elements — and to the monkeys. One of the staff stood guard with a heavy bamboo stick to keep them at bay during lunch.
• There was one unpleasant downside to walking around in the cool damp climate — leeches! They are 1 inch long threadlike black animals that loop along quite speedily and insinuate themselves over your shoes and up your trouser legs. When they reach bare flesh, they attach themselves and quietly suck blood until they are fat little blobs, when they drop off. Anthony and Sandy both got “leeched” a couple of times and didn’t feel a thing. They use an anesthetic and an anticoagulant to do their work, leave little trace, and luckily do not spread any diseases. Lin and Brenda escaped — maybe attributable to wearing tight leggings and socks.

 

• The trees around the resort were filled with birds new to us — woodpeckers, hornbills, nuthatches and others. Also several Malabar giant squirrels.

Friday 25 October

• Today was a bit of a bust, for two reasons. There was a huge cyclone parked off the west coast of India that brought regular and frequent downpours. Secondly, we were signed up for some less than successful visits to various local ”attractions”.
• A wildlife safari sounded exciting and interesting with promises of a guide who would show us the local wildlife. However, it involved getting up very early (5:00 AM), driving for an hour to the Nature Reserve, then charging noisily along a narrow bumpy dirt road in the forest in an uncomfortable Jeep with no views and no animal or bird sightings...and the guide spoke not a word of English. Not recommended. 
• Next stop was the Eddakal caves. A long walk up a steep road then an even steeper set of metal steps to a huge cave with interesting Neolithic carvings on the walls. Lin and Sandy were the first of the day to visit the caves so we had a quiet time to look at the carvings, some of which are over 8000 years old. Brenda and Anthony came up a little behind and encountered busloads of Indian children with cell phones who were fascinated to see old white people and wanted to take selfies. One even tugged Lin’s hair (to see if it was real??). Still, it was an interesting place to visit.
• On the road we stopped in a town to buy some beer for Sandy and Anthony. Alcohol sale and consumption is strictly regulated in India, and especially in Kerala, as many Hindus and all Muslims are anti-alcohol. Our driver, Kumar, took us to a Government Brandy Shop, which was divided into three sections. Each had a wire cattle chute only wide enough for one person at a time to approach the sales window, where you gave a verbal order and a few minutes later your order was delivered — payment in cash only. Many of the other clients were impatiently waiting and appeared to have serious alcohol problems. The strict regulation is reminiscent of Pennsylvania State Stores.
• Our final stop of the day came after a long twisty drive to see the largest earth dam in India (!) We were planning to hike up to the top of the dam to see the huge lake, but the heavy rain turned torrential. So, we turned around and got back to the hotel for some much needed lunch.

Saturday 26 October 

• A day of rest — no driving, no sightseeing, no stress, but more intense rainstorms. Sandy went out for a bird watching walk, but mostly we stayed indoors and took part in the various organized activities.
• Afternoon tea at Wayanad Wild consisted of the ever-present masala chai (milky tea with spices) and banana slices dipped in millet batter and deep fried — delicious.
• The evening nature talks were all fascinating. One on butterflies and their complex co-evolution with plants and parasitic wasps; one on snakes and strange local superstitions concerning them; one on local indigenous tribes that still exist in some of the remote mountainous areas of India. Interestingly, all the local tribes are matriarchies ruled by some pretty strong-looking women.

Sunday 27 October - Diwali

• Diwali is one of the most important Hindu festivals, but less important in Kerala so we did not see much in the way of celebrations.
• We started the day with a visit to a shrine that is very important to local people. One of the leaders of an indigenous tribe had shown the British the best route to build a road from the mountains down to the coast, but for obscure reasons the British had killed him. So, his ghost started haunting the road and causing accidents. A priest then exorcized the road and chained the ghost to a tree, and now the road has no accidents (according to local beliefs). Every day people visit the tree with the chain and leave offerings so that the ghost will remain chained. The chain, the tree and the offerings, and presumably the ghost are still there.
• After this we had an interminably long and tedious journey of over 8 hours and 160 miles through town after town, many with diversions for unknown reasons into the countryside along narrow back roads, until we reached the outskirts of Kochi, formerly known as Cochin. We drove through a delta area with many fish farms — prawns, crabs and cuttlefish, and the attendant fish-eating birds. Our final step on this arduous journey was a ferry across the wide river into the old town of Kochi, a fascinating place with old buildings dating back to the Portuguese and Vasco da Gama, who “discovered” Kochi in 1497. 
• Our hotel, the “Secret Garden” was a gem of a building on a back street off a back street. Beautiful old wooden balconies, elegant rooms, charming staff.
• The Diwali celebration in Kochi was a muted affair with only a few loud fire crackers, but no big parade and celebrations.

Monday 28 October

• We daringly told Kumar, our driver, that we did not want to be driven around Kochi, but preferred to walk. A guide had been arranged for us but we also told him we were going solo.
• We set off to walk round the old city which is compact and easily navigated (with Google). First stop — the St Francis Church — the oldest church in India — where Vasco da Gama was first buried. (He’s now back in Lisbon)
• It was initially a Catholic church then the Dutch arrived. They kicked out the Portuguese and converted it to Protestanism. The church still had many grave stones with difficult-to-read Dutch inscriptions. Then the English arrived, kicked out the Dutch and converted the church to Anglicanism, as it remains today. It seemed to be well patronized but needs some serious repair work.
• Next stop: the Chinese fishing nets. The Chinese explored this coast in the 14th century and left behind a style of fishing that involves huge square nets being lowered into the sea by a wooden crane-like structure, counter-weighted with huge boulders and controlled by four strong men. After a while they raise the nets, to find the catch and sell the fish at stalls along the wharf. We watched them operating these primitive but effective structures for quite some time, and catching many small fish.
• A long walk took us round the coast where the rice merchants and spice merchants sell their goods wholesale — their businesses seem to be thriving, with huge sacks being loaded onto trucks for delivery, barrows moving up and down the street, and steely eyed men with large stacks of cash at the entrances to the warehouses. 
• We also spotted a film crew shooting street scenes for a Malayalam film — great excitement. Also many small families of cute goats.
• We stopped on the way to buy a few things in various stores, before ending up at the Cochin synagogue, built in 1568, and still serving a small Jewish community. There have been Jews in Cochin for centuries and they were under the protection of the local Rajah when the prejudiced Portuguese arrived.
• We stopped in a cool arcade for a delicious honey lassi (drink of thin yogurt mixed with local honey) then walked for many more miles through streets bustling with commerce back to our hotel for a refreshing swim in the pool.
• In the evening we went to a performance of Kathakali dance and were awed by the extraordinary physical control and gestures of the dancers in their extravagant costumes. Every gesture and facial expression is formalized and meaningful and each dance tells a complex story. Our performance lasted only one hour compared with the usual religious festival where they can last 12 or more, telling the stories of the Hindu scriptures.

Part 3             Photos

South India - October 2019 - Part 1

Here is part one of a diary of our South India holiday. We are traveling with Brenda and Anthony Atkinson on a trip arranged by Trinetra Tours — the wonderful company we traveled with in north India in 2012.

Tuesday 15

• 9:15 PM take-off from Philadelphia for a 12 hour flight to Doha, Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Very full plane with people going everywhere in Africa, India and the Far East.
• Meals on the plane are chicken or vegetarian – no pork (Muslims) or beef (Hindus).
• Video screens show various reminders including “Please stay in your seat when praying”
• Flight info maps always show the direction to Mecca, so you know what direction to face when you are praying in your seat.

Wednesday 16

• Arrived in Doha at 4:15 PM after 12 hour flight plus 7 hour time difference.
• When flying over the Turkish-Syrian border the plane took a big detour to avoid the zone of conflict between the Kurds and the Turks.
• Doha Airport is huge and modern with really interesting design and artwork, including a giant yellow teddy bear that is a major landmark. We were lucky to have access to a very comfortable premium lounge. 
• Took off from Doha at 7:30 for Bangalore. It was already dark. Where did Wednesday go?
• The plane had to make another detour to avoid United Arab Emirates airspace, as they are in a dispute with Qatar at present. 

Thursday 17

• Arrived in Bangalore at 2:30 AM, found our driver, who was holding up a “Mr and Mrs Atkinson” sign, and got to our swanky hotel a bit before 4:00 AM….crashed out immediately
• Got up half an hour before the end of breakfast at 10 AM and met up with Brenda and Anthony, who had arrived at 6:00 AM. 
• Spent the rest of the day loafing around.
• The hotel was modern and zealously guarded. They examined the underside of the car for bombs with a mirror, and put all our bags through a scanner. They want to avoid a recurrence of the Bombay hotel attacks in 2008.
• Sandy went out to find an ATM. Bangalore has the worst imaginable traffic, with drivers turning two or three lane roads into 10 or 12 lanes of honking cars, scooters, bikes and tuk-tuks. Sidewalks are almost impassable with broken concrete, trash, low hanging trees, and dangling electric wires. This made any expedition on foot somewhat hazardous and noisy. 
• We had to enter the local mall through a metal detector and each submit to a wand scanner, females in a curtained off area. The McDonald’s has veggie burgers and spicy burgers on its menu — no beef.

Friday 18

• After a splendid breakfast of western and Indian food, we started our tour of the city. We were surprised that our tour company had provided two cars, each with its own driver and guide, but we went along with it.
• Bangalore is a city of over 10 million, and displays all the contrasts you would expect in a huge city, with both glistening high-rises and grinding poverty.
• We visited several of the main sights, including the extensive and beautiful Botanic Gardens with impressive trees, sculptured tree trunks, beautiful flowers and birds…and monkeys!
• We are re-acquainting ourselves with Indian food, though South India has many of its own specialities including a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and fish. They have a delicious crispy crepe called a dosa, which comes with various fillings, and is accompanied by spicy chutneys and a small bowl of a fiery soup called sambar.
• One really nice feature of Bangalore is the large number of trees, which are encouraged by the mild climate and the regular rainfall, including huge rain-trees from Brazil. 
• The weather is pleasant — mild and not too hot, with occasional heavy showers. We are at the end of the rainy season.

Saturday 19

• Today we drove from Bangalore to Mysore – still in two cars. Hours of driving out of the sprawling city through new suburbs and navigating past interminable construction sites for a new metro-rail system which will mainly be above-ground on raised pillars. Bangalore will have to improve its roads and railways soon or it will choke on its own success.
• After the city, the road took us past fields of rice, sugar cane, and other unidentifiable crops. At one point the road was so congested with trucks (over)loaded with sugar cane that the police directed us along a narrow single-lane country road that soon degenerated into a gravel track.
• In the big city all the signs were in English and the local language, Kannada, plus sometimes Hindi. Out in the country everything is in the strange complex loopy script of Kannada only.

 

• We stopped at a shack in the countryside where they process sugar cane into jaggery - unrefined sugar blocks used in Indian cooking. They squeeze the sugar cane to release the juice, which is then boiled down in a huge vat until it is semi-solid. The fire is stoked with dried sugar cane fiber from the squeezing process, and the ash from the fire is used as fertilizer — nothing is wasted. It Is hard, back-breaking work, especially on a hot day. The semi-solid boiled sugar is dyed orange and poured into wooden molds to create square blocks of jaggery that are sold in the market.
• There are many ponds and muddy patches with water birds – ibises, herons, cormorants and kingfishers.
• On the way we also visited an extraordinary ancient temple of Kesava made of intricately carved soapstone with wonderfully expressive statues of gods, goddesses, people, animals and birds, all telling traditional stories for people who could not read.
• We eventually reached the well-ordered city of Mysore, once the home of a dynasty of Maharajas who were some of the richest people in the world. They owned a local goldmine, and a silk factory built specially for the Maharani. Our hotel was over 100 years old and modestly restored, which means early 20^thcentury “luxury”, a slightly damp feeling, antiquated plumbing, WiFi, antique furniture and many, many uniformed flunkies. It was charming, if a little in need of further updating.
• Problem solved — our tour company had made a mistake and had confused Brenda and Anthony Atkinson with another family called Atkinson who are doing a tour of South India at about the same time as us. Somehow their driver and car had been assigned to us — hence the two vehicles. From now on we will have only one car and driver.
• At 6 PM we met our delightful and educated guide for an evening walk round the city, where she introduced us to some of the complex history, the Maharaja’s palace, and a very old coffee house with delicious coffee made with added chicory and sweetened milk. Our enthusiastic guide was a young Muslim woman who has a degree in engineering, has started her own fashion business, but is, in the opinion of her mother, already on the shelf at 23 years old. Her mother is anxious to find her a suitable husband, but has a divergent view of suitable characteristics from her daughter. We had a long and interesting conversation over our coffee and masala chai.
• When trying to cross the chaotic and crowded streets safely we are advised to “walk like a cow”, oblivious to the risks.
• We were pleasantly surprised by the hotel restaurant where we had dinner: the food was excellent with many imaginative vegetarian dishes, and the prices were ridiculously low — $22 for two with drinks and tips.
• Sunday 20
• A day for the sights of Mysore, with an interesting guide.   
• First, up the local mountain to visit a huge granite statue of Nandi —the bull ridden by the god Shiva and very popular with Hindus. The statue is in immaculate condition and looks almost new, although it is over 350 years old. There was a great view over the city.
• Next, to the Mysore Palace, which is apparently the most visited monument in India. The $1.00 entrance fee helps. The palace is a bizarre and gigantic structure that has a lot in common with a Victorian railway station. Not surprising as it was designed by a British architect in the 1890’s. The palace was full of art depicting a famous annual parade held in Mysore with thousands of participants including the Maharajah sitting on an elephant in a 350 kilo pure gold howdah, also on display. There was a portrait gallery of many of the well-fed Maharajahs and their consorts — they were a miserable looking lot, despite their unimaginable wealth.

• There are still active elephant stables at the palace, and we could see several of the female elephants at a distance.
• Next, we drove out of town to see the fort where the British fought and killed Tipu Sultan in 1799. He was an upstart who had ousted the Maharajah for a while and had formed an alliance with Napoleon. Our guide gave us a detailed account of the complex history of alliances, betrayals, kidnappings, murder and battles — too many names, dates, and facts to remember.
• Our last stop of the day was at the grave of Tipu Sultan, who is still a hero to local Muslims. His grave is quite impressive with a miniature replica of the Taj Mahal built over his tomb.
• It was a long day, but not over yet. In the evening we went on a guided walk round the well-organized market which had sections devoted to beautifully arranged fruit of many varieties and  a separate section devoted to bananas, which come in many shapes, sizes and flavors. Also eco-friendly banana leaf plates and cups. There are also sections for flower garlands, and for vegetables. The final stop of the night was back at the palace, which is lit up every Sunday night with 68,000 old-style light bulbs. It is an astounding sight — Disney on steroids.

Monday 21

• We drove from Mysore to the old British hill station of Ooty. The name is an anglicized abbreviation of a long and complicated Tamil name.    
• The journey there was wonderful as much of it was in a large national park completely protected from hunting or forestry. We saw many lovely birds, large herds of spotted deer, and, best of all, a beautiful brown elephant munching contentedly a few yards from the road. Tigers also inhabit the forest, preying on the deer, but we saw no sign of them.
• The final approach to Ooty was up a steep twisting road with 36 hairpin bends, thoughtfully numbered so you can keep track of your progress. Unfortunately it started to rain heavily so we could not see much, though we did spot quite a lot of elephant droppings on the road.
• Ooty is a typically chaotic Indian town, but with brightly colored houses, and small fields of vegetables everywhere. One of the main industries is growing vegetables, especially carrots, cabbages and other cool weather crops.
• Our hotel is at the top of the town, with impressive views. We were slightly perturbed to see several large buses of school children arrive soon after we did. It is a holiday week here, with Diwali next Sunday, and the 200 children were on a school trip and staying one night at the hotel — 4 to a room. However, we were upgraded to two huge suites on the top floor of the hotel, well separated from the other rooms. Our suites have a large bedroom, an even larger living room with fireplace, tables and chairs, a walk-in closet, 2 TV sets, and a large bathroom. We rattle around.
• The downpour stopped at about 4 PM and we went for a walk to a famous award-winning government rose garden run by the Indian Department of Agriculture, with over 3000 varieties of roses. The roses were a bit sad looking after the beating they had taken from the rain, but it is nevertheless worth a visit with well laid out terraces on the steep hillside.

Part 2             Photos