Steam Train Ooty to Metupalaiyam

After our Tuk Tuk ride into town to check out the market this morning, we were collected by our driver Joshi and driven to the railway station to await the 'toy' train.    We had tickets in the 'soft seat' section of the train and were pleased to see that David and I had window seats either side of the door so we could push the windows up to get cool air and to see more/take photos. 

What we didn't bargain for is that each compartment is marked out to take 12 people, 6 each side.  Already there was a Taiwanese lady in the section next to David and an Indian couple (who turned out to live in Enfield) on the same side as me.    Then a further 3 Indian couples turned up with a young boy and a baby girl and mountains of luggage which had to be stowed under the seats and on their laps!     Seating 10 would have been a struggle but 13 was impossible.   Although there were spare seats in the neighbouring carriage the Indians wanted to travel together so one of the men stood in the narrow aisle between David and myself which made things very claustrophobic. 

The thought of spending nearly 4 hours travelling like that, packed like sardines, didn't appeal but thankfully at the first stop a guard turned up and made the standing male move next door and he took the young boy with him.   At the second stop one of the women moved into that carriage also so things became much better.

Unlike British trains were people just don't talk to each other, within a few minutes we were all chatting and the Indians, who all spoke perfect English, were sharing their snacks with us

We has spectacular scenery as we descended from the hills - much nicer than negotiating the bendy roads by car.    There were several short tunnels to pass through on the route and each time the train pitched into darkness the occupants of the adjoining carriages started howling and making ghostly noises which was very funny (you had to be there)!

some of our travelling companions - the Taiwanese lady was travelling on her own around India - mostly by train.   She spoke excellent English and was very nice ... and very brave I think

David and I were lucky to have allocated seats next to the windows

At several stations we were able to get off to stretch our legs and buy cardboard cups of steaming hot Chai (Indian tea) which cost just 10pence each

Had to laugh at all the selfies being taken - this was against a backdrop of cascading water down the hillside - but surely they noticed the barbed wire fence in the foreground??

at one of the stops I decided to stay on the train and was amused to see a group of monkeys appear alongside the train.   Obviously they know the train's timetable and they either beg or steal food from the passengers.   One intrepid monkey jumped into the adjoining carriage and stole a bag of fruit that had foolishly been left on the seat when the owner alighted to get a coffee.

This mum and baby sat directly outside my window but thankfully didn't decided to enter the carriage.  A few minutes later somebody threw her some Samosas which she seemed to enjoy. 

Like Hamsters, they store food in pouches at the side of their faces - you can see she's looking quite jowly here

at each stop we had 3 or 4 men with red and green flags waiting to start us on the next leg of the journey (very important job)

If you look closely at this man you can see how red his lips/teeth are.   That's a result of chewing betel nuts/leaves which is an addictive substance and causes this staining

The train journey took just under 4 hours.

We were met by Joshi who then drove us to our hotel for the night at Coimbature  (Tamil Nadu).   We knew that this was a large commercial town but the traffic was horrendous and the drive took 2 hours by which time it was dark.   We were very tired and very grubby, having spent several hours half-hanging out of the window and getting covered in steam/diesel fumes.

Before we lost the light I did manage to get a couple of photos through the car window on our drive to the hotel.

Ox carts are a common sight and I love the way the horns are painted in bright colours.    Sadly I have lots of photos of parts of ox/carts as we rarely see them at a point where we can stop the car safely to photograph them.    

and we followed this lovely group for about half a mile before they turned off for home at a village en route.   Lots of smiles and waves from them as they went

We are supposed to have the morning at leisure tomorrow and then catch an 'ordinary' train in the afternoon to our next stop which is Cochin.    But our driver, who hails from Cochin, suggested that he drives us to Cochin by car after breakfast as there's really nothing to do here in this location, being a business/commercial centre.

We've agreed this as it will get us to Cochin just after lunch so we can get an extra afternoon there - and its a really lovely place.  Joshi has given us some ideas about what to do whilst we are there.

We don't like our hotel, 'The Residency' much.    The room is OK but very impersonal (as many business hotels are).   After showering we thought we'd sit and have a drink in the bar before eating.   The disco music was so loud there we complained and walked out.   We went to the main restaurant to find they've got live music till 11pm which, again, was so loud we couldn't talk to each other so we tried their poolside restaurant which was so dimly lit we just couldn't read the drinks or food menus ... we didn't fancy eating in our room so we crossed the road to another hotel which had a very strange restaurant attached - vegetarian and I guess Halal, but it was at least very clean.     We were the only non Indian diners there but we've got used to that now.   3 very spicy curried veggie dishes and 2 naans later, plus 2 soft drinks, and we were charged the grand sum of 635 rupees (less than £6.50) so another cheap evening out.     

Just shared a beer from the mini bar in our room and about to get some sleep as we've got an early(ish) start tomorrow.