Ooty to Mysore

Time to leave the refreshing mountain air and head back in the shake and bake bus. The first few hours were spent driving down hairpin turns going down the mountain. You could feel the temperatures rising with each turn. We took a brief “bush stop” (no facilities going down the mountain- so Carrie had some pre-defined bushes perfect for those needed breaks) and a stop for tea. The crows immediately descended on our tea break-and we shared our biscuits with them.

Our 150-km trip took us 8 hours in the bus. Once we hit flatter ground, we went through two animal preserves (Madumaiai National Park). The first three or four sightings of monkeys, elephants and deer were interesting…but we quickly realized that being in a bus filled with Brits can be a nightmare. (P.S. Don't photograph your first monkey!...)

We stopped for every animal sighting along the way and had to be very quiet while they watched the animals through their binoculars. We started to count the animals- final count: monkeys (langurs)-12, cows-4, elephants-7, spotted deer (chitals)-23, peacocks-3, plus one unidentified red thing.

We finally made it into Mysore (John’s favorite expression- “Boy am-I-sore”…). It was a long day!

After 8 hours with the group, we dropped our bags, sprayed on mosquito repellant and headed for the Shilpashri rooftop restaurant. This town is very “crunchy”. The rooftop was filled with Europeans and Westerners wearing Indian outfits and trying to look like natives. They probably spend their days meditating. It was very irritating. But food and beers, however, were great… The city was alive at night- street vendors selling all sorts of food, people milling around (cows, too).