Yesterday I said 'good-bye' to Ooty and traveled South from Ooty to Kodaikanal. WHAT ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL SCENERY I encountered.
Going North from Kodaikanal to Ooty it was an all-night bus ride. Yesterday it was 85% during the daylight hours so I was able to see-all-I-missed during the night on the same road.
BECAUSE in previous posts I have shown you many photos of the scenery between Ooty and Coonoor .. in this Post I am going to show you new scenery SOUTH of Coonoor.
I KNEW that we were on a trip in India when we immediately stopped to get fuel!
I guess that it takes three (3) Indians to fuel a tour bus! Sixty Five (65) litres of diesel fuel cost Thirty Four Hundred (3,400 Rs) Indian Rupees at 52 Rs per litre.
Here we go. I tend to get 'very close' to the bus that I am traveling in. Below was 'our' bus yesterday.
Below we are at the southernmost terminus of Coonoor.
A photo of the above rest-stop.
INTO EACH LIFE A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL.
I was very SOLEMNLY PROMISED a front seat because of my height and the need for some 'leg-room' on a ten (10) hour trip.
On the trip North from Kodaikanal to Ooty this promise was kept. Not so on the return.
On the right in the below photo is the seat directly-in-front of me. I could NOT get my knees to fit straight-in-front of me. So I had to sit with them to the left as you see below.
I finally just sat with my legs and feet 'sticking-out' into the aisleway of the bus. The three-year-old little girl across-the-aisle from me wanted to play-footsie with me and my size 14 shoes!
IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE. As you can see .. I had two seats all-to-myself. I don't know what I would have done had there been someone next to me. Maybe sit on the aisle and miss snapping all of the photos you see below.
Our bus was 'due' to leave at 9AM. We actually got-on-the-road about 11:30AM and into Kodaikanal about 9PM. So my day in the above seating position was about 9-1/2 hours including rest stops.
Finally .. below you can see that there are always some challenges when traveling on the roads here in the moutains.
Notice the 'gap' between the two buses passing at 'highway speed' ahead of us! You do NOT hang-out your window too long while taking the below photograph.
I still do NOT know how we managed this situation! Both buses were stopped trying to figure-it-out themselves.
Below you have an automobile on the right. Our bus is on the left. There is an extremely 'TINY gap' between us! We were standing still and the car was 'creeping-past-us'. The drivers are on the left side of the vehicles.
OK .. the time has come for mountain scenery!
We stopped for the below water falls!
In the above photos .. I did NOT .. repeat .. in the above photos I did NOT show each and every 180 degree 'hairpin' we encountered. Many were to the left and on the opposite side of the bus so I could not photograph them! I added a hairpin after every three photos because we encountered MANY of them! And I have to admit that .. YES! .. after awhile it does get a tad tiring.
Below you will see what we saw after we reached the flatland plains of South India. The temperature was in-the 90s.
Then we encountered a more 'tropical' looking landscape!
If I took the time and if I went to the effort to carefully analyze each of the above photos .. FEW would make it off-the-cutting-room-floor. So I posted what I shot.
I hope you have a good idea of what 'we' saw yesterday on the road from Ooty (actually from Coonoor) driving south to Kodaikanal!
Much Joy .. Cap
Be sure to see the post below following this post that shows my Internet Cafe here in Kodaikanal.
