Sunday 3^rd Nov

            The Air Lines Hotel suited us for a free nights parking and we

got away from there by 8 and took the road to Mysore, this road

was good and again we were able to keep up a decent speed all

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the time, we were doing abut 40 MPH.   Along this road

there were no Cattle problems but we saw quite a few Monkeys

some were even crossing the road in the High Street. We

reached Mysore quite easily and then went on towards Ottocamand¹

where we intended to spend a few days in the hills. Ottocamand

was 100 miles further along, except for a short stretch of road

that was under repair we had quite a comfortable run. We

also had Two diversions but no trouble, as we travelled

we picked up with the New Zealanders they had left Bangalore

about half an hour before us, they had stopped for a bit of

lunch, but they did not stop long and were away within

five minutes of our arrival.   We took a poor view of this action, but

after we had had a cup of Tea we went on.  We managed to stop

and take photos of a Colony of Monkeys it was quite a large Colony

as we went along further we saw more colonies of them. We

took the road that led through the Wild Life Park. It was quite

interesting and it was the first time in India we had seen plenty

of Park vegetation we reached the Elephant Nest where herds

could be seen across the fields.  The children have rides on

these Elephants across the Wild Life Parks, we continued and

found ourselves going up into the hills, it was a much better

road than we had experienced in going through the Passes of

Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, this was quite a long

climb and it went on for miles, at one time we could see

 

1                    Ottocamand – Ooty also known as Ootacamund.

 

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over the tops of the nearby Mountains and the view was really

marvelous. Almost at the Summit there was a Village and

we passed the gates of a Tea Factory. All down the Mountainside

was a vast Tea Plantation.   There was a Coach party of

Women evidently out on an afternoon tour.   We started the

descent & on the left of us were loads of Timber, Tree Trunks

sawn into four foot lengths, stripped of all bark and wired up

in bundles ready for Transport.   There were many women

carrying loads of grass and branches on their heads. This really

was quite a common sight.  We stopped on the Bridge to admire

the Waterfalls which we presume was generating the Power for

Electricity, reaching Otto we found the Savoy Hotel where

we “booked” in for Two days. We had travelled 189 miles

today, and this with yesterday travels has taken us almost

right across the Southern part of India, the one outstanding

feature of these parts in the hills is that it is really Chilly, in

fact the coldest we have experienced during the whole of the time

we have been in any part of India   The Milage now is 11538

 

Monday 4^th Nov

    Last night was very cold and because of this it took quite a while to

get any sleep, these Hills are 7500 ft up and that accounts for the

coolness of the place. People walk about well wrapped up. We had

breakfast but the Service was poor, it was the same at Lunch.

We walked down to the Village which is known as Chaing Cross

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and visited the Tourist Information Office but the staff were not

very interested and we received little help.  Elsie bought a map of the

South of India.  We then walked along to the Bank and changed £40

India has been very expensive. Although we have travelled many miles

it must be reckoned as the most expensive Country one can travel in.

On making our way back to the Hotel we passed a Demonstration that

was taking place at the Collectors Office, quite a crowd of people were

chanting, but it appeared to be getting out of hand, as we noticed that

near by shops were closing as the Police gathered and were ready to

move in. It was no concern to us so we got on towards the Hotel before

any violence started. We were back here by noon.