Ooty DAY 5

The 5th Day in Ooty, TamilNadu

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011.

Today, we woke up early morning, and, instead of eating breakfast at our hotel, we headed over to the Taj hotel for breakfast. The hotel, Taj Savoy Hotel, was a mere 2 kms away from ours. They too had a buffet breakfast, but I think their's was considerably better. The hotel was set up like an old British colony, beautiful. Breakfast was delicious. The most mindboggling part was, at the live counter, the chef, Joseph, made the most amazing dosas! They were crispy from the outside, while soft and doughy from the inside. I don't think anyone could EVER get sick of those! They had homemade jam, fresh fruit smoothies, and amazing hospitality. Our hotel has amazing hospitality too though, which is awesome. :D 

The Taj hotel also had the cutest rabbits on their gardens! They were all busy eating broccoli while carrots lay on the side, and we enjoyed staring at them for 30 mins or so. 

After breakfast, we headed over to the Tea Gardens once again, but different ones this time. They were gorgeous too, and this time was different not only because the place was different but because this time, we were not met with thick layers of mist and fog. Papa and I walked around in the tea gardens, and we saw people plucking the tea leaves and packing them up for the factories. 

On the way back, from the road, we picked up an overwhelming scent of tea. Upon exploration, we discovered an operational tea factory, and they were nice enough to give us a tour. This tea factory was a co-operative; owned by around 900 farmers and run by the government of TamilNadu. Everyday, they processed around 15000 kg of tea leaves, producing around 3000 or 4000 kilos. They made different types of teas, and we saw all of the machines and workers in operation, unlike when we had gone to the other tea factory as that day was a Sunday, so it was a national holiday. The man at the factory told us that the farmers get paid 12 rupees per kg of green leaf they give the factory, and the end product of the factory gets sold in an wholesale auction for about 75 rupees a kg of processed tea. He also told us that for every 4kg of green leaf, 1kg of tea gets produced, the rest going to waste. It was a very interesting visit! 

We then returned to the hotel, and are currently watching the cricket match. India versus Pakistan. Its the match of the century! :p

More later..

The rabbits at Taj and Mummy and Papa! 

In the tea gardens. :D

Ooty DAY 4

Day 4 in Ooty
Tuesday, 29th March 2011

Today, as usual, we awoke in the morning and went for breakfast. After stuffing our faces *not literally...* with idlis and dosas, Papa and I went to the activity room to play carrom. Now, since I was playing after so many years, my loosing was apparent. I did get some pretty good shots in though! We then got into the car and began our drive to the Pykara lake and boathouse. On the way, we passed by a few shooting points, where popular bollywood movies had been shot. We reached Pykara in a little over an hour. It was a damn with a lake and a boathouse. We went on the boat ride down the damn, which was gorgeous! It was very interesting: the damn consisted of drinking water, and thus, the boats were not allowed *by the Tamilnadu government* to be petrol or diesel. The boats were powered by LPG gas. The water was a clear blueish-greenish color, and it was nice and windy. On our way back to the car, we saw a lady eating ice creastm. Behind her stood a monkey, who was standing on two feet, begging for some food. She eventually had to give it to him, and he sat happily on the side, savoring his ice cream. Mega awesome.

We then went to see Ooty lake, which was not even remotely as nice as Pykara. After doing so, we went shopping at Charring Cross, Ooty's local market area.

The monkey with his icecream... :p

Shooting Point.

Black monkeys

Pykara Dam

The boat.... powered by LPG

On the boat..

Ducks! 

Boats like the one we went on.

Ooty DAY 3

Day 3 in Ooty
Monday 28th March 2011

Today, we woke up in the morning and went to breakfast. After breakfast, we set off for a place called Doddabetta, the highest peak in South India. There, we got a birds-eye view of Ooty and the nearby towns, the mountains, and the allround scenery. It was truly amazing. The weather was chilly - perfect for walking around. Later, we went to visit a tea factory. After running through the process of tea manufacture, we tried types of tea and bought some of our own. Next to the tea factory was the chocolate factory, so we stopped by to buy some homemade chocolate. The chocolate was absolutely delicious and tasted soo amazing!

We then went to the botanical gardens. They were very well kept, and very nice and peaceful. The hedges were all cut in different shapes, like tea pots, animals, and even words! It was truly an amazing sight. We then went shopping for some Todas handicrafts - the local tribal people's art. Their clothwork is embroidery on white cloth with red and black string, and their designs are block. The intricate handwork was very nice to see, and it took quite a bit of searching to find a shop selling the rare craft.

It rained while we were at dinner, and this made the weather very very cold!

The sign at the Toda shop

Doddabetta information sign

Tea Manufacture Process

View from the tea factory

View from the tea factory

Toda hut