The Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Trip Start Aug 03, 2010

Trip End Sep 06, 2010

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Flag of India Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Saturday, August 21, 2010

After a cold and disturbed night, we packed up our stuff and took Alex to see the highlights of Ooty. With our train at 3pm and the witlist queue beginning at 1pm we had plenty of time to kill. So we headed up the main street towards Charing Cross, found the most western looking Coffee Shop and sat for two hours eating cake, drinking Chai Latte and Espresso. Something that potentially could've been done when we arrived home, but it was more than necessary! They had real mineral water, the kind that contains good things and does not acquire a sweet taste after and hour of opening. My-oh-my I am looking forward to a glass of Maidstone tap water!

We then approached the taxi rank to come up with a back-up plan for the senario: "What to do when we get to the station, queue for two hours and still not get on the toy train?" We were offered a taxi at a ridiculously high cost but at least we knew that we would be stuck in Ooty the Indian Tourist Hotspot for any longer than we had to.

Next stop was the train station. A television series not so long ago inspired me to suggest coming to Ooty to go on its romantic toy railway. Such a geeky program, it recorded the many many job roles in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and showed the hard work and long hours that have gone into allowing the oldest mountain railway in India to run. The railway has been given World Heritage status and all for the right reasons.

The view that you get from your seat is fantastic. If you get the chance either travel first class or when boarding the train head to the far side of the carriage and sit by the window. Unfortunately we were at the the other side of the carriage and the rather smug french woman had the views to die for. The journey for me made the whole Ooty experience worth it. The feeling of sticking your head out of the window, feeling the fresh Nilgiri breeze, smelling the delicious herbs and spices that were being grown in the plantations. Breathtaking. This journey was one of the highlights my trip. As we descended the mountain we slowly began taking off articles of clothing, layer by layer. By the time we reached the bottom, the air was thick again, we could breathe easily and pack our hoodies to the bottom of our bags. We had an hours wait when we arrived in Mettupalayam for our connecting train to Coimbatore. Stuffing our faces with cashewnuts and biscuits (standard railway journey food), we waited patiently, trying to shoo away the dogs that were after our wares. We then got on the shortest length train we have been on, 45 minutes flies by when you are used to 9 hours minimum of dead time to kill.

We arrived in Coimbatore, had trouble trying to find anywhere that had availability. If anyone goes our best advice is to book ahead. We tried about 10 hotels and guest houses before we found one that was affordable and had a room.

Coimbatore hotels

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