Heading north!

Our desire is to be in the Himalayas by March 7th just as the central part of the continent begins to heat up. We've decided to visit several places along the way, beginning with the oldest hill station established by the Brit's known as Ooty, in the eastern Ghats in Tamilnadu, Kerala's southernly neighbour state.

   This one is for my daughter Hilary and Steve, Paramedics in Toronto.

Once again we are amazed at the diversity in geography we witness en route to Ooty via Coimbatore, a city which is a junction point, in the Ghats (mountains). The coastal areas of Kerala are stuffed with coconut, palm and banana trees. As you head inland the vegetation alters as more deciduous trees enter the mix. Agriculture is abound, with many small farms growing a wide array of fruits and vegetables. Rubber trees and many hard wood trees are harvested. 

This park is like Edwards Gardens in Don Mills except with monkeys instead of squirrels.

The buses we are travelling on are local buses with no glass windows, which required us to wear sunglasses as dust shields. Revenues must be low as these buses operate with minimum amount of maintenance conducted, but you can travel for 5 hours for half a buck.

It's all worth while as you begin the switchback accent to 7500', the elevation at which Ooty exists. Once again we witness the spender of Cardomom, tea and coffee plantations, manicured as they are.

Ooty or Udhagamandalam, is exceptional for tourists, with so much to see and do. We found it difficult to breath when excerting ourselves so we layed low. Rob had the more difficult time as there was no chance to acclimatize. The nights here in the southern part of India was quite cool at 12C in the night, can you believe this?

After a couple of days we ventured back into Kerala, northwest to Wayanard. This region is densely forested with bird and animal reserves along with tea, cardomom and coffee plantations. We decided to attempt to negotiate a severely reduced rate at a Best Western Plus by laying a sob story on them explaining our backs were sore and we needed great beds and lots of hot water to shower in at the mid point of our 6 month journey. They bought into it so we chilled for a few days. Great view and pool all to ourselves. The chef was also amazing and prepared us a special meal for dinner.

After a few days of rest and relaxation, we boarded a bus to Mysore to see the Palaces and that we did!  Mysore in Karnataka state north of Kerala is known as the city of Palaces. The kings Mysore Palace is second only to Agra's Taj Mahal as the second most visited sight in India. 

A new King was being adopted in order to take the throne . The previous ruler had no children, so had to adopt a relatives' grandson to ensure the continuation of the ruling families bloodline. We were there when he was being adopted. His coronation will be at the end of April after he finishes his exams in the USA.

  

This was one of the many temples in the Palace grounds. We were permitted into this one.