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Just below the summit of the Western Ghats on the western side, lies Ooty. Hilly, red soils, lush and sprawling over rolling hills, the Raj era bungalows, churches and clubs co-exist with modern day India. Apart from its altitude, it doesn’t have much going for it these days. The major sights are St Stephen’s Cathedral, done, tick, next. The racecourse, done, tick, next. The boating lake (see later) and la piece de resistance, the Thread Garden.
The (self proclaimed) world wonder, the Thread Garden is a rather tired tent full of a garden and its plants made entirely of embroidery thread – dull, dusty and in need of a damn good clean. This really was as interesting as it sounds. We didn’t stay long.
The boating lake is straight from 1950’s England with pedallos and Mickey Mouse rowing boats and is obviously a big pull. We were reluctant visitors, but in a temporary lapse of good taste, we went anyway. The crowds were all sporting warm beanies (see photo) with their saris and kurta pyjamas. This sunny, but winter afternoon was merely fresh for us but freezing for them. We were mobbed (we felt like Posh and Becks but in reality are more like Charles and Camilla). This has happened several times on this trip and may be explained by the total lack of any other Westerners. We just never see them. This time we attracted a bunch of students from Kerala in exuberant mood (obviously stone cold sober – see many comments about this alcohol free zone) and after all the usual interogatory questions (where are you from, what do you do, do you like cricket) we were serenaded by the song you can see in the attached video. They were insistent that we return the favour. Inspired by the boating lake and the Scottishness of the environment the only song that we could come up with was a painful duet of “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”. Luckily this was not captured on video, but yet another of those really memorable moments.
We experienced some of the Raj era hotels with drinks on the lawn and dinner at the Savoy, and dinner at the Kings Cliffe.
The (self proclaimed) world wonder, the Thread Garden is a rather tired tent full of a garden and its plants made entirely of embroidery thread – dull, dusty and in need of a damn good clean. This really was as interesting as it sounds. We didn’t stay long.
The boating lake is straight from 1950’s England with pedallos and Mickey Mouse rowing boats and is obviously a big pull. We were reluctant visitors, but in a temporary lapse of good taste, we went anyway. The crowds were all sporting warm beanies (see photo) with their saris and kurta pyjamas. This sunny, but winter afternoon was merely fresh for us but freezing for them. We were mobbed (we felt like Posh and Becks but in reality are more like Charles and Camilla). This has happened several times on this trip and may be explained by the total lack of any other Westerners. We just never see them. This time we attracted a bunch of students from Kerala in exuberant mood (obviously stone cold sober – see many comments about this alcohol free zone) and after all the usual interogatory questions (where are you from, what do you do, do you like cricket) we were serenaded by the song you can see in the attached video. They were insistent that we return the favour. Inspired by the boating lake and the Scottishness of the environment the only song that we could come up with was a painful duet of “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”. Luckily this was not captured on video, but yet another of those really memorable moments.
We experienced some of the Raj era hotels with drinks on the lawn and dinner at the Savoy, and dinner at the Kings Cliffe.
