Our last days drive!
An early start, with breakfast from 0600 and, after a short briefing, a 7.45 departure.
Today we are back to following the map and navigating for ourselves: a 240km drive. There are to be several regroups to ensure that we arrive at the finnish line together.
For the first part of our journey we once again descend a series of hairpin bends through the tea plantations: it is often misty and even so the views are magnificent. We descend through a wildlife park - nothing to see - and through jungle to descend into a number of small towns, stopping for chai at Pappona. It is raining and still cool. Some of our number eat a second breakfast of egg curry - declared the best curry yet! I make do with coffee, hot and sweet!
Onward, we pass through a village where a large number of pilgrims, including nuns, queue, first on one side of the road and then the other, to visit the locl temple on what is an auspicious day for them. This causes really bad traffic congestion, with cars parked randomly, and traffic stopped at regular intervals to allow the pilgrims to cross the road.
Another chai and regroup just before passing over a massive damm - no photographs, armed gaurds! - and we afix a few decorations to the car in the form of silk/plastic flower garlands - and continue descending on to the main Ghat Road. Now it is very busy, with the usual honking of horns, pedestrians jaywalking and most traffic trying to overtake the vehicle in front - on both sides of the road! Another regroup to allow the stragglers to catch up - guilty! - (and give us time to attach the two flags of St. George that we had carried out from England) - until finally we are driving into the last 5km stretch. The final regroup is at a petrol station forcourt, and from here, in convoy, we traverse rutted flooded roads until we reach the LakeSong hotel car park, and one by one we complete the journey with headlights and flashers on, horns blaring, into our allocated parking space, twenty Ambassadors sweeping in and parking in quick succession.
To greet us there are native musicians and a large bull elephant, dressed in a ceremonial headpiece - for luck.
Over 2000km in 10 driving days, in heat and cold, dry and wet, good roads and bad (and very very bad) with navigational aids and without! And with good company.
In the words of Felix Dennis - "DONE, BROTHER, DONE".
A hot shower, the last group dinner, and a day off at the resort before heading back to Mumbai and on to London, arriving home on December 6th. But not before we are told the cost of the damages we must pay on the car - one broken indicator glass at 160 Rupees - about 2 pounds and 30 pence!!
We hope to add more photographs and our thoughts on the event when we return to the UK - so please do keep visiting us until the end of the year.
Thank you all for looking in!
Barbara and Mike
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Thursday December 2nd
Our penultimate day's driving!
A late start with briefing at 9.30, but unfortunately little time to look around the town.
Again, bad news. Another landslide meant another diversion, again missing out much of the detail in the map. Again, we were given the names of the principal towns, and the locations of important junctions, which would hopefully be marked. In all, an easier day, 175km.
After descending the hairpins, not nearly so scary in the daylight and the dry, we stopped for chai after 55km (taking almost an hour and three quarters). From there on it was a pleasant drive through the towns and countryside, stopping to look around. In one town, were again invited to take photographs of people, and one lady with a baby invited us into her home, where there were a number of other adults (one covered in feathers and stuffing a mattress), as well as a young girl. The house was small, cramped and dark, with hardly any furniture, but clean and pleasant: leaning against the wall was a new looking mattress: our hostess proudly pointed to it and said "this is my bed". She made it clear that we could stay for food if we wanted, but we thanked her and left.
Finally we turned towards our destination, Munnar, again ascending through a large number of hairpins: at times, the road had decayed at the edge (landslides) and was being worked upon by an army of road repair men and women, but with the most primitive tools possible.
At the summit we dropped a little into a valley and through vast numbers of tea plantations, the ordered bushes standing out along the hillsides, and into Munnar and the hotel by 6pm, at an elevation of 6500 feet above sea level.
Tomorrow is our last days drive!
A late start with briefing at 9.30, but unfortunately little time to look around the town.
Again, bad news. Another landslide meant another diversion, again missing out much of the detail in the map. Again, we were given the names of the principal towns, and the locations of important junctions, which would hopefully be marked. In all, an easier day, 175km.
After descending the hairpins, not nearly so scary in the daylight and the dry, we stopped for chai after 55km (taking almost an hour and three quarters). From there on it was a pleasant drive through the towns and countryside, stopping to look around. In one town, were again invited to take photographs of people, and one lady with a baby invited us into her home, where there were a number of other adults (one covered in feathers and stuffing a mattress), as well as a young girl. The house was small, cramped and dark, with hardly any furniture, but clean and pleasant: leaning against the wall was a new looking mattress: our hostess proudly pointed to it and said "this is my bed". She made it clear that we could stay for food if we wanted, but we thanked her and left.
Finally we turned towards our destination, Munnar, again ascending through a large number of hairpins: at times, the road had decayed at the edge (landslides) and was being worked upon by an army of road repair men and women, but with the most primitive tools possible.
At the summit we dropped a little into a valley and through vast numbers of tea plantations, the ordered bushes standing out along the hillsides, and into Munnar and the hotel by 6pm, at an elevation of 6500 feet above sea level.
Tomorrow is our last days drive!
Wednesday December 1st
A 5am alarm clock (the cock crowed at 4.15!), an early breakfast and briefing.
Disaster!
our day should have been a 295km run, starting with an ascent to the hill station at Ooty, famous as the British decamped to during the stifling heat of the summer, and for the narrow guage railway that took them there. However, there was a land slide blocking the road and we were told that we would have to divert, missing out many of the places we planned to pass through, that we had no prepared maps for the trip and that it would be 470km to the hill station at Kodaikanal.
We left at 7.15, the weather deteriorating all of the time, and spent most of the drive in pouring rain. We made a brief stop for chai and the leaders made a mistake in one small town, causing us too make TWO three point turns, blocking all of the traffic with twenty white Ambis and support vehicles!
The roads were fast - speeds of 100km/h for a lot of the time - and traffic manic, and just before 6pm we turned for the ascent of 18km of hairpin bends (36 of them ) - we had descended 17 in the morning, to the smell of brakes overheating!) - most of which was completed in darkness and rain, with the road surface deteriorating as we ascended and other traffic desperate to overtake us.
Finally, after seemingly climbing for ever, we reached the hill station, 7500 feet above sea level - passing on the way a billboard with some form of religious message: presumably you are so close to God up here that you have to take him seriously!
We pulled into the beautiful Carlton Hotel at 8pm, 470km in 12 hours.
Disaster!
our day should have been a 295km run, starting with an ascent to the hill station at Ooty, famous as the British decamped to during the stifling heat of the summer, and for the narrow guage railway that took them there. However, there was a land slide blocking the road and we were told that we would have to divert, missing out many of the places we planned to pass through, that we had no prepared maps for the trip and that it would be 470km to the hill station at Kodaikanal.
We left at 7.15, the weather deteriorating all of the time, and spent most of the drive in pouring rain. We made a brief stop for chai and the leaders made a mistake in one small town, causing us too make TWO three point turns, blocking all of the traffic with twenty white Ambis and support vehicles!
The roads were fast - speeds of 100km/h for a lot of the time - and traffic manic, and just before 6pm we turned for the ascent of 18km of hairpin bends (36 of them ) - we had descended 17 in the morning, to the smell of brakes overheating!) - most of which was completed in darkness and rain, with the road surface deteriorating as we ascended and other traffic desperate to overtake us.
Finally, after seemingly climbing for ever, we reached the hill station, 7500 feet above sea level - passing on the way a billboard with some form of religious message: presumably you are so close to God up here that you have to take him seriously!
We pulled into the beautiful Carlton Hotel at 8pm, 470km in 12 hours.
Tuesday November 30th
At last! A day off from driving!
Various activities were made available to us at Jungle Lodge and we opted for a trip out through the tiger and elephant reserve to the elephant sanctuary, which cares for sick and abandoned elephants. We were shown, amongst others, an elephant that had been shot, and a number of orphaned youngster. The elephants were all brought into the compound for feeding. We were also shown a 4-month old calf whose mother had been sick and died. It was being cared for in a small house by the feeding station, the baby had one room, its human mother next door. The baby's trunk constantly sniffed the air through the open window - it was so small that it couldn't see out when close to the window. We are sure that we saw a tear in its eye!
Behind this house was another youngster, somewhat bigger, and we were invited to reach out for it, upon which it wrapped its trunk around our hands - and such a strong grip! - leaving us with hands that smelt of wet grass!
We arrived back for a late breakfast, having also seen monkeys, peacocks and other birds.
One party, on a late safari, did actually see two tigers - lucky so and so's!
The afternoon was a blur due to having to hang around for a delivery from a local tailor (don't ask!) and me taking an hour and a half to type the blog - but on the wrong site - and having to delete it and do it again!
An early dinner and bed in our canvas sided bungalow!
Various activities were made available to us at Jungle Lodge and we opted for a trip out through the tiger and elephant reserve to the elephant sanctuary, which cares for sick and abandoned elephants. We were shown, amongst others, an elephant that had been shot, and a number of orphaned youngster. The elephants were all brought into the compound for feeding. We were also shown a 4-month old calf whose mother had been sick and died. It was being cared for in a small house by the feeding station, the baby had one room, its human mother next door. The baby's trunk constantly sniffed the air through the open window - it was so small that it couldn't see out when close to the window. We are sure that we saw a tear in its eye!
Behind this house was another youngster, somewhat bigger, and we were invited to reach out for it, upon which it wrapped its trunk around our hands - and such a strong grip! - leaving us with hands that smelt of wet grass!
We arrived back for a late breakfast, having also seen monkeys, peacocks and other birds.
One party, on a late safari, did actually see two tigers - lucky so and so's!
The afternoon was a blur due to having to hang around for a delivery from a local tailor (don't ask!) and me taking an hour and a half to type the blog - but on the wrong site - and having to delete it and do it again!
An early dinner and bed in our canvas sided bungalow!
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Monday 29th November
A short drive of only 117km, and a late start.
During the morning we explore the nearest part of the City - by 10.00 the City is coming alive with small shops opening, market traders selling their produce, and cars, taxis, tuc-tucs, buses and trucks competing with people, ox-carts and cows!
We are away by lunchtime, out of the City via the busy Mysore Road and the bypass until we reach a point where we can relax, but not until after a bus that overtook me and cut in, causing me to brake, is seen later with its windscreen shattered on the road after it rear ended a truck. Justice!
We pass from Karnatika into Tamil Nadu and into the Bandipur National Park, tiger and elephant reserve. We drive slowly, stopping to photograph monkeys at the roadside - until one looks as though it is about to leap through the open car window, and we are off smartish!
A little later we see two separate parties of wild elephants, one with up to seven in the group, and both with babies, on the roadside and crossing the road. We slowly stop and photograph them, but one of our colleagues is not so lucky. We hear later that one of the mother elephants is upset by their camera and kicks the car, leaving a dent!
Soon we are into Jungle Hut: the group is in two separate locations: we are close to reception and the restaurant in a canvas sided steel framed building.
For dinner we are taken by jeep to the other site - after dark, there is NO walking outside the hut: indeed, on our return, the night watchman escorts us back to our front door.
As we return to the compound in the jeep, a large herd of spotted deer are grazing all over the compound: we are told that they come into the compound to escape the leopards, but that the leopards have now found a way to get in.
We DO NOT go out of the room until daybreak!
During the morning we explore the nearest part of the City - by 10.00 the City is coming alive with small shops opening, market traders selling their produce, and cars, taxis, tuc-tucs, buses and trucks competing with people, ox-carts and cows!
We are away by lunchtime, out of the City via the busy Mysore Road and the bypass until we reach a point where we can relax, but not until after a bus that overtook me and cut in, causing me to brake, is seen later with its windscreen shattered on the road after it rear ended a truck. Justice!
We pass from Karnatika into Tamil Nadu and into the Bandipur National Park, tiger and elephant reserve. We drive slowly, stopping to photograph monkeys at the roadside - until one looks as though it is about to leap through the open car window, and we are off smartish!
A little later we see two separate parties of wild elephants, one with up to seven in the group, and both with babies, on the roadside and crossing the road. We slowly stop and photograph them, but one of our colleagues is not so lucky. We hear later that one of the mother elephants is upset by their camera and kicks the car, leaving a dent!
Soon we are into Jungle Hut: the group is in two separate locations: we are close to reception and the restaurant in a canvas sided steel framed building.
For dinner we are taken by jeep to the other site - after dark, there is NO walking outside the hut: indeed, on our return, the night watchman escorts us back to our front door.
As we return to the compound in the jeep, a large herd of spotted deer are grazing all over the compound: we are told that they come into the compound to escape the leopards, but that the leopards have now found a way to get in.
We DO NOT go out of the room until daybreak!
Sunday November 28th
A 175km drive to Mysore City - with all that driving it is also my sore.....
After a warm up of 20km we are rewarded with the site of a working elephant at a roadside logging station. The Mahout stops the beast working and brings him (her) to us, turning through 360 degrees, before going back to work: the foreman proudly says to us "This is our elephant". Magical.
Only a little further on we - and others - stop to investigate bunting, music and dancing. We go in and are told that this is a celebration for the 50th year of the local school: the celebration will go on 3 days and we are invited to stay for all 3! If you go into a school in the UK they call the police!
We are invited into an ante room and served coffee and donoughts, accompanied by much hand shaking: finally making our excuses, we try to leave, but run the gauntlet of the pupils, many of whom want us to take their photos just so that they can see the results.
After 50km we arrive at The Golden Temple - the Indian State of Karnatika offered a home to all Tibetan refugees, and the Golden Temple is the Indian home of their monks. It is magnificent. In the courtyard we are called over by an Indian family who want to include us in their family photograph - with arms around each other. Again, much hand shaking and we are able to get away.
We took our time for the next 70km aling country roads and through villages, constantly being waved at by the locals.
Soon we are on the highway and the last 50km into Mysore is fast - until we get to the jams at the suburbs. However, through one 30km/h limit, I am overtaken by a bius running at at least 80 km/h!
Finally we are at the Regalis hotel - 5 star and magnificent. Aftyer a wash and brush up we are in a taxi (an Ambassador, although sat in the back this time!) to the wonderful Mysore Palace - illuminated by over 100,000 lightbulbs! And then shopping for the farewell party on the last but one day.
After dinner we are shown a video on the work of the Ashram Charity who are re-locating a number of families from their dangerous Jungle homes to more sustainable klifestyles, a move that will give them a better life and also help conserve wildlife. There is then a magician and fire eater - magic!
After a warm up of 20km we are rewarded with the site of a working elephant at a roadside logging station. The Mahout stops the beast working and brings him (her) to us, turning through 360 degrees, before going back to work: the foreman proudly says to us "This is our elephant". Magical.
Only a little further on we - and others - stop to investigate bunting, music and dancing. We go in and are told that this is a celebration for the 50th year of the local school: the celebration will go on 3 days and we are invited to stay for all 3! If you go into a school in the UK they call the police!
We are invited into an ante room and served coffee and donoughts, accompanied by much hand shaking: finally making our excuses, we try to leave, but run the gauntlet of the pupils, many of whom want us to take their photos just so that they can see the results.
After 50km we arrive at The Golden Temple - the Indian State of Karnatika offered a home to all Tibetan refugees, and the Golden Temple is the Indian home of their monks. It is magnificent. In the courtyard we are called over by an Indian family who want to include us in their family photograph - with arms around each other. Again, much hand shaking and we are able to get away.
We took our time for the next 70km aling country roads and through villages, constantly being waved at by the locals.
Soon we are on the highway and the last 50km into Mysore is fast - until we get to the jams at the suburbs. However, through one 30km/h limit, I am overtaken by a bius running at at least 80 km/h!
Finally we are at the Regalis hotel - 5 star and magnificent. Aftyer a wash and brush up we are in a taxi (an Ambassador, although sat in the back this time!) to the wonderful Mysore Palace - illuminated by over 100,000 lightbulbs! And then shopping for the farewell party on the last but one day.
After dinner we are shown a video on the work of the Ashram Charity who are re-locating a number of families from their dangerous Jungle homes to more sustainable klifestyles, a move that will give them a better life and also help conserve wildlife. There is then a magician and fire eater - magic!
Saturday November 27th
Couldn't get away quick enough from Silent Valley - but we had to wait for everyone else! Despite the unpleasantness of the room, the setting of the resort is magnificent with jungle all around. Awake at 4am, you could hear the jungle come awake with all different sounds, and a cock crowed at 4.45 - despite sunrise not being until 6am.
Our drive today, 230km. Early on we fuelled, as we do every day, being carefuul not to fill completely because diesel would then seep down the crack between boot and side, getting on the luggage. All cars have a black diesel film over the rear offside.
30km in our first chai stop, 20 Ambassadors on both sides of the road in a small village! Many have decorated their cars with garlands, and other bright things, one group having covered their entire car, a baloon duck on the roof (which became an elephant later) and to this was added a toy tiger on the bonnet a few days later. Ours, of course, is pristeen!
The route from here is a mixture of not to be missed left and right turns, many marked by the team, and much concentration is needed by the navigator and driver - the odometer reading on the car is not acurate, adding to the confusion!
60km in and another chai stop, outside a tea plantation. The afternoon driving is equally challenging but we are now relaxing, taking in the sites, and stopping for photos. Barbara asked an old lady if she could photograph her, and the lady insisted on 3 seperate poses, and being rewarded with 5 rupees before we could escape. At other villages, children want their photo taken just so that they can see the result in the camera, and then run away shrieking and giggling: they all smile and say thank you when given a chocolate or sweet.
We arrive at Kadkini Resort late afternoon, long before dark: another Jungle Retreat, but less than a year old, and the cottages are very nice - if a little damp. The whole complex is set around a peaceful lake with ducks. Lovely!
As we park up one of the mechanics points out that I have a broken front indicator glass - not me guv, must have been a stone thrown up by a lorry! Still, I will have to pay for it.
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