Spymon

Introduction


India Map v2 by Spymon26, on Flickr

This planning for this trip started just over three years ago towards the end of our first trip to India. We vowed to go back and see the South and at last we made it. You can read about the original trip on my blog here and what happens to your holiday plans after three years of Flyertalk and putting me in charge of planning and budgets.

Initially we wanted to book a small group tour, there were plenty and all had their pros and cons, from price to places visited, travel methods and cost. After comparing them all we decided to go it alone and steal the best bits from all of them that were to our liking. We had also saved up quite a few avios and with some clever planning and a sign up bonus from the BA Premium Plus AMEX and Platinum Card we'd have enough points to fly in First on BA which despite some of negative reports looks a million times better than an economy seat on any airline which is where we would have been otherwise. We decided to start our trip in Mumbai because at time of booking there were 777 flights meaning guaranteed New First, this has now changed to the Mid J 747 so we are 50/50 for New First now. If we had more avios to spend it might have been fun to try Qatar on the way back, but not to worry, if we do get the older first class cabin we should be nicely compensated.

Over the last three months I've had fun booking hotels, planes and trains of all types and classes to build a trip and itinerary unlike one from any sane travel agent that promises to be a lot of fun!

In short the trip report will look something like this. There will be plenty of food pictures, ramblings and other such fun. All comments are much appreciated as I'm sure they will help anyone else planning a similar trip. The trip has been completed and the text elements already written so hopefully I can format the posts and upload the pictures nice and fast.

Part 1: LHR-BOM on BA First including the Concorde Room and Elemis Spa
Part 2: The Oberoi Mumbai
Part 3: Touring Mumbai, Markets, The Legacy of the British and an Amazing Dinner
Part 4: BOM – CJB on IndiGo, and an amazing surprise
Part 5: Ooty – An Old English Retreat
Part 6: The Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway Part 1
Part 7: The Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway Part 2
Part 8: Aloft Coimbatore
Part 9: Coimbatore to Kochi on the Indian Railways
Part 10: Fort Cochin, Tissa's Inn, Some Fishing Nets and Dal Roti
Part 11: Mattencherry and the Back Streets of Kochi
Part 12: Ourland Resort, Alleppey
Part 13: The Backwaters of Alleppey by Canoe
Part 14: Birdwatching and Breakfast
Part 15: A Trip to the Village, Food and Farewells
Part 16: COK – MAA on Jet Konnect
Part 17: Radission Blu and Mamallapuram
Part 18: MAA – IXP on Spice Jet
Part 19: Madurai by Night
Part 20: Markets and Temples in Madurai
Part 21: Madurai's Ghandi Museum and Back to Mumbai on Jet Airways
Part 22: Mumbai, Street Food and Farewells Part 1
Part 23: Mumbai, Street Food and Farewells Part 2
Part 24: BOM-LHR on BA F including the Concorde Breakfast Room
Part 25: Final Thoughts

Spymon

Getting up at 5:30 is always hard, especially after a full week of work, or a full weekend in bed! We struggled our way into the bathroom to get ready and about 15 minutes before we left used the Uber app to book our car to Paddington. Normally we are not the kind to waste money on taxis at home when the bus or tube will do, but with the excellent referral offers on right now, then why not start the trip in style from the off.

Our confirmation text comes through straight away and 10 minutes later we get a call and text confirming our car would be with us shortly. We take our stuff downstairs and just as we open the door, a clean, black Audi A8 is sat waiting for us. Our driver loads our cases into the boot and we slip off in the early morning darkness through the back streets avoiding the pot holed bus routes. Not long after we arrive at Paddington, unload and say goodbye. Within a minute our Uber receipt comes through and I realise why their service is growing so quickly, no need for cash, tipping, or any kind of fuss, it's all taken care of through the app.


DSC_0004 by Spymon26, on Flickr

We miss the 6:55 HEX by a matter on minutes and jump straight on to the already waiting 7:10 departure. Gone is the Sky News of old, replaced by some images from the Sony World Photography Awards, which are calming and inspiring as you are about to embark on a trip.


DSC04941 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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As we turn on to the Heathrow spur, the sky is a beautiful pinkish blue colour, setting a peaceful and extra terrestrial tone

We Arrive at T5 at 07:30 and walk up to first class check in, where I start things off with a warm good morning which is reciprocated by both the greeter and our check in agent. Our bags are tagged with the orange priority tags rather than the yellow first class one. Our boarding passes are printed, lounge directions offered and away we go. On observation I think we had the worst luggage and were the youngest guests at F Check In by some distance other than the Australian children with their mother that appeared to have followed us from the HEX at T 1-3


DSC_0005 by Spymon26, on Flickr


DSC_0006 by Spymon26, on Flickr

We then head straight ahead to the fast track, there is no line and we are through in minutes. Almost immediately on exit we arrive at the famous white doors just in time to see someone asking politely if they can access the lounge through here. They are politely rebuffed and we're next up. Another warm good morning and flash of the BPs and we are through to reception where again we are politely welcomed in.

Our first impressions are that the lounge is busy, and smaller than I expected. In one quick glance it is possible to take in everything from the dining room, boardroom, bar, fireplace and terrace. We head to the terrace and find a quiet spot near the horse. Shortly after settling in a member of staff comes to take our orders, and knowing we had our first Elemis appointment in 15 minutes I ask if it is enough time for a glass of champagne. Apparently it was just enough and two cool glasses arrived about 10 minutes later. Ms Spymon had time for a few sips before heading off to get her nails done and I had to polish off just shy of two glasses of champagne in the next 20 minutes. I really like the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, it is quite dry with lots of different flavours coming through. A very enjoyable and subtly good glass.


DSC04944 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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I head off to the Elemis Spa at 8:15, it is not as welcoming as the other staff we have encountered as I have to get things going. I am handed a disclaimer to fill in, whilst watching Ms Spymon getting the finishing touches on her nails done. She finds the whole thing hilarious. I head off with my Elemis lady to one of the rooms, take off my shoes and settle into the chair whilst she makes some slightly bored small talk. I don't think working in the spa is the most fun in the world judging from the expressions and tone of the employees in action that morning.

I found the whole thing a little odd, between the 'relaxing' music, mood lighting and the whirring of the chair it was a little surreal for me to say the least. The chair moved up and down, kicking and squeezing between pleasure and pain. Hot towels, cold towels, scrubs, creams, cleaners and so on and so forth. My face was clean, refreshed, smelling good and hydrated enough for 9 hours in a plane. I returned to the CCR feeling rather proud to meet Ms Spymon back on the terrace, where she had been waiting, with no service for 15 minutes. Within a minute of me turning up service begins and we are asked for food/drinks, we decline and head to the dining room instead.

We wait for a minute or two for a free table and we are taken to one on the back right of the dining room. The majority of pictures I have seen make the dining area look vast and fairly private, in truth it's the opposite, but it still looks a lot nicer than most breakfast spots. Service is prompt and I go for full English and a glass of champagne, this time a glass of the pink bubbles. Ms Spymon has smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, some fruit juice and LGPS. The food is good and is prompt in arrival. The bacon is a little cool, the rest is perfect. We are having a great time and almost forget we have a flight to catch.


DSC04948 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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We make a brief bathroom stop and walk over transit for the B gates. Just missing one we realise we're cutting it quite close to boarding time. Normally I'm one of the first to arrive.

We arrive at the gate and see no queue at all and we are here just at gate closing time and board straight away. I Saw the blanked out windows at the front of then plane, for new first. Looks like the cot in row 5 beat the 74I code for the plane.

Flight British Airways BA139 LHR to BOM departs 10:10, Boeing 747-400, Seats 2A and 2K

We were shown to our seats and warmly welcomed aboard. First impressions were good, plenty of space but close enough together to share a glance or come and say hello. We were given Champagne to start. A Sleeper suit and amenities kit were handed out shortly after. There was a short delay in take off while our wings were de-iced.


DSC04957 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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This was the first time on a long flight where I didn’t worry about cramming in as many films as possible to kill time and discomfort. The seat was really comfortable, even upright which I don’t recall the Club World seat being that comfortable. After a short taxi and smooth take off we were airborne. It was soon obvious how quiet it is up front and how comfortable it can be. Time for some in-flight reading.


DSC_0059 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Food Service started on K side and it was soon my turn, the attendant set the tone early on as Sir soon gave way to Mr Spymon. The flight began with champagne and warm nuts. The champagne was as good in the air as it was on the ground. Whilst I was enjoying these lunch orders were taken.


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The Menu was as follows:


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My choices below:

An amuse bouche of quails breast with salad, with another glass of champagne.


DSC04974 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Samosas to start


DSC04975 by Spymon26, on Flickr

The samosas were lovely and the Burgundy washed them down well as it did with the salad


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Lamb for main.


DSC04979 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Unsurprisingly the lamb was well cooked and a little tough. It tasted nice and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. The Bordeaux was delicious. I had cheese to follow and finish my red with thinking I could take a glass of the Riesling with dessert…


DSC04980 by Spymon26, on Flickr


DSC04982 by Spymon26, on Flickr

I was stuffed. Ms Spymon had the chocolate dessert which she said was the best part of the meal. Whilst the service I got was impeccable the whole flight Ms Spymon was less lucky as on one occasion her wine order was forgotten and later on there was confusion with her tea order.

After lunch I watched the Nikki Lauda film, Rush with a nice cup of coffee, whilst BA fail at coffee elsewhere on the plane there's no such issue in First. We then both watched, Behind the Candelabra as did the lady in 1A. As the film came to an end afternoon tea was served. I had the non veg items. A nice slice of quiche Lorraine and two not so nice cheese things. I had a coffee and the 3 delicious cakes to finish off. I was a bit disappointed not to have tried the dessert earlier, or the port or dessert wine, but I'd had more than enough drink for one day.


DSC04989 by Spymon26, on Flickr


DSC04991 by Spymon26, on Flickr

It was soon 20 minutes to landing and the nose wheel dropping was quite a shock to the senses. I got a nice goodbye on leaving what was an excellent end to a fantastic first, First. We landed about 20 minutes late and ended up with steps to the bus. We were not crammed like sardines but with the bugs and heat it was a shock to the senses.

We joined the Business and First Class immigration line which took an age to move but once it got going was pretty quick. We then joined another queue to have the stamp that had been put in our passports checked. We had truly knew we had arrived in Mumbai when we saw that people had glued themselves to the baggage belt and we had to peel them away to get close to our bags. I think the priority tags worked but by this time, time made no sense. We queued again to have our bags scanned, then another brief stop to have customs forms collected.

We found a Travelex and got some cash. Two people, more forms. Ah travellers cheques are fun. We finally finished our walk past the prepaid taxi queue and out in to the warm night air. We quickly found our driver and departed to the car park.

HangukStyle

Nice start, i'd like to see more of this trip

stevie

So far so good, looked like a nice F flight.

Spymon

Thanks Stevie, it was very relaxing indeed, until getting off at BOM that is!

Thanks, HangukStyle. I will try and get the next part up shortly, but flickr seems to have other ideas...

enviroian

Nice report! Lamb on a plane? Did the entire cabin stink?

ppgstf

Better than Snakes on da Plane!!

Great start, look forward to the rest of this TR.

Spymon

Our trip to the Oberoi starts with a second ride in an Audi A8 in 24 hours. Living the high life is incredibly spacious and comfortable! Our lady driver seemed a little under the weather as we calmly trundled along at 50 km/h. Around an hour or so later we arrived at the hotel. It was surprising how many people were out in the streets at 2:30 in the morning.

We arrive at the Oberoi around 03:00 and we are warmly greeted on arrival as our bags are taken and we were security scanned. A nice lady takes us to our room for check in, and we were greeted again at the lobby where our rate and benefits were explained. We completed check in in our room which had been upgraded to an Executive Ocean View Suite on the 20th floor. Arriving at night the view was misleadingly underwhelming.

Check in complete it was time to settle in and get some sleep. It was nice to see such high standards from the start of our stay which were repeated until we said good bye at the airport. First impressions of the suite were as expected, low key, modern etc. however the details were good. Fresh flowers, plenty of bottled water, art work, lots of power points, switches, privacy blinds. The suite was very well designed, comfortable and everything was in easy reach at all times. Having double sinks made it easy to get ready in the morning, as did the rest of a well laid out bathroom.

We were exhausted at this point, time to put the sleeper suit to use and cram in a few hours sleep. Tomorrow would be busy!!

A few pictures of the suite below, these were taken the following day.

The Living Room





The Bedroom





The Bathroom







The View







We struggled out of bed around 8:30 so we could make the most of breakfast. The large bathroom didn't disappoint, the shower was hot and powerful and really worked well. We also had the hotel's infamous "executive" wake up call from a marching band as there was a military parade practising outside along Marine Drive.

We headed down for breakfast where we were guided to Etro rather than Fenix which was full. Staff lined the way to make sure we were welcome and comfortable. We were shown to our table and offered fresh juice and pressed coffee. We had buffet plus made to order from menu. I had fresh fruit and pastries and we both had masala dosas. Breakfast was delicious and I was so excited I forgot to take pictures. I had been dreaming of those dosas for far too long.

Spymon

Snacks (Snakes) on the plane coming up in the IndiGo part of the report! All the food on the BA flight smelt good.

asadliv

I think you mean IXM and not MXP.

Great TR so far btw!

Spymon

We planned to spend the day doing two tours, the first we organised through the hotel after finding it difficult to book what we wanted through some of the other tour companies. We got ready and then went downstairs to begin our Chor Bazaar tour. We were met in the lobby by our friendly guide and escorted down to our car. As is the way at Oberoi Mumbai, it took little introduction with any hotel staff and they soon knew who we were and what we had been up to.

Our guide asked what we wanted to see and we said markets. So she made suggestions and we went with the flow. What was valuable was not so much her expertise, but planning our time and route and taking the stress out of the crowds, roads, traffic and making us feel comfortable and at home. We started with the craft village (Touristy) and fashion street. We then did Crawford market for cloth, fresh food and spices, avoiding the meat and pet market areas. Today was also special in that it was raining in Mumbai, with the average rainfall in January showing at 0 mm on some websites this even took the locals by surprise.


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We then saw the paper goods and electrical items in the surrounding area.


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After that was Chor Bazaar, choc full of car parts and curios. Cars are stripped down in the street and parts sold or scrapped. There was also furniture restoration and reproduction. We also saw plenty of goats, cows, cats and dogs.


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On our return we stopped briefly at the Gateway to India and Taj Palace, before returning to the hotel to rest.


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Our Raconteur Walks Apollo Gate Tour started at 4PM and we set out to CST aka Victoria Terminus which was the meeting point. It was 45 minutes in the heat with the unseasonal rain now cleared. We met our guide by what remains of Mumbai's oldest cinema, which is still in use but for films of the blue variety. Our, young guide, a post graduate geologist was conducting his first solo tour. It was clear he had been trained well as he fended off our tour mate when she tried to put him on the spot. We stopped off at a few key points and we'd hear stories of the buildings from British inception to current usage. We finished our tour on Marine Drive to enjoy a brief but beautiful sunset. We saw CST, Churchgate, Oval Maiden, The High Court, Asiatic building, Army and Navy and the Sasoon Library. We also got a hat, drink and cereal bar. It was a good contrast to our morning tour. We took the short walk down Marine Drive back to the hotel for a short rest. We had a dinner to look forward to!


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Before our dinner, we made use of our free drinks vouchers for two cocktails at the bar. We sat listening to the band which sounded like something from the scene in the film Lost in Translation, but without the view. We had some spicy crisps served with our drinks which were well worth the wait. It was interesting to watch the bar tender smell all the ingredients that went into each drink. I had a gin based drink and Ms Spymon had rum, apple and honey drink. As we were late we asked one of the serving staff to let the restaurant know we'd be late, which was duly noted on our reservation time.


DSC_0062 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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We then headed up a floor to Ziya. As per usual we had a typical Oberoi welcome and were shown to our seats. As part of our FHR rate, all food was complementary, only drinks were chargeable. We started with a delicious mix of popadoms and yoghurt based dips (mint, garlic and beetroot).


DSC_0064 by Spymon26, on Flickr

To start I had the plate of three chaats and Ms Spymon had paneer and spinach. The chaats were good, particularly the first and last. I had a small taste of the paneer, which was crisp and firm on the outside and soft in the middle.


DSC_0066 by Spymon26, on Flickr


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We had a spiced buttermilk palate cleanser after the starters, which worked a treat.


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For my main I had tandoori lamb chops, saffron mash potato and onion rings. Ms Spymon had fish curry.


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DSC_0069 by Spymon26, on Flickr

My lamb was tender and not too fatty and the spice marinade used was complex and delicious, the onion rings added some crunch and the saffron mash some calm from the heat of the lamb. Ms Spymon said her fish curry was one of the best she had and even managed to convince me to take a bite.


DSC_0070 by Spymon26, on Flickr

For dessert I had the Choco Palette and Ms Spymon had the Indian flavoured ice cream. When there is a chocolate option on the menu there is usually only one winner in my book and this dessert didn’t let me down. From the delicate white chocolate and rose panna cotta to the rich and heavy chocolate pudding, it was divine from first bite till last.


DSC_0071 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Ms Spymon enjoyed her rose and vanilla, banana and cumin, cardamom and mango flavour ice creams, with rose winning out.


DSC_0072 by Spymon26, on Flickr

Ziya provided great food and service and we left full to bursting. All this was washed down with a glass each of a pleasant, fruity Indian Merlot. It was the perfect way to round off our day and we knew from a hotel perspective this would be a tough act to follow.

Spymon

This morning we were a little earlier and made it down to Fenix for breakfast. Like the day before we had the same great buffet with the same great service. We thought we'd try some different items. I had the bahji puri, one of my favourite dishes from our North Indian trip three years ago. Ms Spymon had Indian scrambled eggs. Both were delicious, but Ms Spymon's food was quite spicy!


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It was sad to say goodbye, after an amazing stay. Check out was easy with our charges all correct. We were not charged for our airport pick up as it was included in our rate (perhaps due to the room upgrade?) though AMEX didn't tell us at time of booking. All in all one of our best hotel stays ever up with The Balmoral in Edinburgh and Park Hyatt Hamburg, if only life could be so effortless everyday.

We got a much faster driver than on our way to hotel. We really got to feel the benefits of the A8. It's amazing how the car effortlessly gathers speed, with no increase in noise. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our flight to Coimbatore and our second time trying IndiGo.

Flight: IndiGo 6E283 BOM to CJB departs 11:45, Airbus A320 Seats 27E and 27F

The domestic terminal was quite nice and modern, busy without being crowded. It was the total opposite to arriving in Mumbai, its amazing how much a bit of space and organisation can do when it comes to improving the airport experience. Check in was fine, there was one long queue which was well policed, and post office style you are directed to an empty desk. I got confused as our flight was going from gate A1 in terminal 1C, but gates 1-8 were not the same as the A gates over in 1C… The Flight was late, our gate was changed and then changed back again to the original one two minutes later. I also found out after the fact that the lounge near our gate was available to Priority Pass after all despite no sign around the entrance, whoops!

Boarding was a free for all but very fast. On our way down the airbridge a gentleman travelling to Coimbatore for work struck up some conversation, it turned out he travelled regularly to the UK for work as his company owned a factory producing clothes for Primark. We were soon on board and I cant remember the last time we sat so far back on an aircraft. Pitch was tight, recline small. The plane looked brand new and immaculate at first glance, but it appeared that the cleaning had not been done well as there was a bit of litter from the previous passengers stuffed in the seat back pocket.


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We had a quick safety demonstration, but no brace position, the crew and fellow passengers were not bothered by the lady in front of us taking a phone call just as we were turning on to the runway for take off. We were soon smoothly up in the air and on our way.

At times we had great views of mountains and valleys, with the lush greens, sorely missing from Mumbai. The cabin announcements were friendly and informal, trying to go for that Virgin style humour. However, there was no apology for the late departure. The inflight magazine called 'Hello 6E' (Hello Sexy) after their IATA code, with the menu named 'Snacks on a Plane'. We stupidly pre-ordered food not realising we'd be fairly full from breakfast. A sandwich and a can of coke ended up being £2.50 each.


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The food was okay, a chicken sandwich, but the packing was quite funny.


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The flight soon came to an end with the 20 minutes to landing call. The pilot came in very fast, certainly the fastest I can recall. We really felt the G force as we hit the runway after a big banked turn just before the final approach. The airport was empty, so I'm not sure why we had a landing like this.

On arrival we exited via a ramp from the rear door and on to a bus taking us a few yards to the terminal. The front door was connected to an air-bridge and those at the front disembarked that way. In true Indian fashion it was survival of the fittest trying to get out of our row.

On exiting the terminal we had a huge surprise. N & G had travelled down from the north via Delhi, spending 3 days on a train to catch up with us on our way to Ooty. You may remember them from a few of my other trip reports. This was a huge and unexpected surprise and they were waiting outside with a handmade sign. N is Ms Spymon's sister and her and her partner G had spent the last 6 months travelling on a tandem bike from France with a small hop on a plane from Azerbaijan to Kathmandu being their only time not on the bike or hitching a lift. If ever there was a trip that contrasted with ours, this was it. No 5 star hotels, just camping, befriending and under £10 a night for a room had seen them through. You can read their adventures here, though if you don't understand French you might need a little help from google translate. They are running a little behind, so you have time to catch up with them before they catch up with this TR.

We had kept our driver waiting a while and at this point I wished we had the ordered the larger vehicle. With the luggage tied to the top, we squeezed into the Indica and headed off towards Ooty. It was a nice drive with plenty of photo opportunities from the side of the road. There are many sweeping valleys filled with tea and you may be lucky, or unlucky enough to bump in to an elephant or tiger en route. The drive was just short of three hours. We started off on the flats through to Mettupalayam, then up the hill weaving past traffic on every corner to reach Ooty and shortly after the hotel. Thankfully we arrived in one piece!


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Spymon

We arrived at our hotel, Kings Cliff around 5 PM. Our first impressions were not great from a service point of view. There was not much of a handover from driver to the front desk. The hotel services and practicalities were sped through and were hard to understand. We were then given the wrong room and shortly after asked what time we were checking out tomorrow (we weren't), it was the wrong room again. When he finally got the right room, Othello, it was nice and spacious and in an old British style as promised. The room was in good but not amazing shape. There was some nice artwork and it was largely peaceful at the hotel. I took some pictures and had a walk around the small grounds and came back. N&G went into town to find a place to stay and We agreed to meet tomorrow at the tourist office.


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We had dinner at 7:30 at the hotel restaurant, Earl's Secret. The restaurant had an extensive Indian, Western European or Chinese menu. We went Indian, deciding to share our food. To start we had tandoori chicken and vegetable kebabs which were more like potato skins filled with vegetables.


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I liked the kebabs but the chicken was pretty average at best. The kebabs were pretty spicy but good. For our mains we had a chicken and fenugreek curry and an aloo gobi (cauliflower and potato curry).


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The portions were big and we were full without the aid of a dessert.

We went back to our room and it had really turned cold. In Ooty, the temperature goes from high 20s at peak down to as low as freezing at night. We snuggled under the blankets with a book and I did a little work on this report.

We were called at 9 AM to say our breakfast was ready. We headed over a few minutes later to take breakfast in the beautiful greenhouse. There was a buffet selection of Indian and western items plus omelettes. The buffet items were only just about warm and a little dry. The omelette, however, did the trick. We ordered black coffee but ended up with black tea. This was a pleasant surprise as this locally made tea was delicious.


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Around 11 AM we left to meet N & G in town. We walked down into town in about 30 minutes or so past St. Stephen's church and some rather fancy houses.


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We got to town early so we walked around for a bit. There were some pretty old English style school buildings and lots of kids in English style uniforms. In town by the main Charing Cross area it is clean and not busy in the morning. We did a loop around and back up to the tourist office.


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We saw a lady at the tourist office and had a brief chat with her on things to do and got a map. She gave some helpful ideas but was no help on costs and availability of cars and guides. We met N & G while we waited outside the office and decided against visiting the nearby town of Coonor as we saw the nice views on way up and knew we'd see more on train tomorrow. We decided instead to do the Botanical Gardens and Ooty Lake. But first it was time for lunch.

We took lunch at the Garden Restaurant. We found this place in our guide book and it was also recommended to N & G by two girls in their hotel. We all went for Indian food. Some bhaji, dosas and me a mixed vegetable uttapam. The food was cheap and good.


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It was a shortish walk to gardens. The Trip Advisor reviews were very mixed, so I had very low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. The gardens were a mix of open space, themed areas and green houses. There were some nice flowers, birds and views. It was not spectacular but a good way to kill a few hours. There were lots of couples out, all looking for a private spot to embrace as well as a few children once they left school.


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We felt like a coffee and some internet so we stopped at India's answer to Starbucks, Café, Coffee, Day which had the amusingly named fruit drink, 'W T F', 'What Te Fruit' (I think). Coffee was like a Starbucks one, and there was no WIFI despite our guidebook suggesting otherwise.


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We then walked to Ooty lake, it took a few minutes and we passed through the busier part of town where the bus and train station are located. We walked past a derelict theme park type of thing and then to the lake.


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First impressions of the lake were not great as it was also used as a dumping ground. We then walked round to the Boat House which you have to enter to get to the lake. We arrived at 17:30 but didn't bother with the small admission charge as we would be kicked out again in half an hour. They had food stalls, go karts, rides and horse riding and landscaped areas as well as the boating. We walked along the road past the bike track and wax museum, following the lake the whole way round.


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Tired after our walk, we squeezed ourselves into a tuktuk back to Charing Cross.

We had dinner at Kebab Korner. Our guide book was right when it said this place didn't look like much, it didn't, a little grubby and worse for wear. The menu was the usual mix of Indian, Chinese and European. Food was OK, not as good as lunch, but I'm sure some of the meat dishes were better than the veg ones. I had chicken malai tikka, half was delicious and well marinated, other half a little burnt.


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The others ate vegetarian and G possibly got sick from the food, the rest of us were fine.

We said our good byes and took the tuktuk up the hill to the hotel. We sat in bed to read and rest like the boring young people we are. After all, tomorrow was the real reason we came to Ooty, we would be taking the oldest regular steam train service in the world on the Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway. I couldn't wait!

themapelligroup

Very interesting report!
Lovely to read and the pictures are great. Looking forward to next installments.

FlyerTalker7654

What a great TR. I went to India for 2 weeks back in 2008 with some friends and what an adventure. We roughed it up and looking back it was one of those places that will always stay with me. I remember we booked Qatar airlines and for some silly low price like £310 all in....

One thing I do remember though which annoyed me: Every time I went to a restaurant I would ask for a hot and spicy food, and every time it came out it was mild....seems from your TR you are getting some spice in your food!

Cheers for sharing!