Monday, May 23, 2011

A train ride to remember

The highlight this week was definitely the travelling to and fro via railway to Ooty. We arrived at the railway station on Thursday at 10pm to catch our 7-hour train ride to Mettupalayam. Throngs of local families laid all around the station waiting for their trains to arrive. We were fortunate to get tickets for our trip having been on the waiting list right up to the moment we left the hostel for the railway station.



After an uneventful train ride through the night, we arrived at our destination the next morning.


Ooty was a 3-hour bus ride up from Mettupalayam and the further we went up, the cooler it became. What a refuge from the heat wave back in Vellore!


We spent most of our time in Ooty sightseeing and enjoying the weather.


Chocolate shop


115th Flower Festival


'New Zealand' looking place


Check out the litter on the ground!


Meditation gives you wings...


My Havaianas snapped but I got it fixed with some rafia =]


Rose Garden

Before long, we are on our way back to Vellore. This time, only 2 tickets were confirmed and having no choice but to return for posting the next day, we bought 4 general class tickets. Travelling in general class is strongly discouraged by many online websites and travel books, and we are about to find out why.

At the second stop, the 2 girls went over to the guys who had the 2 tickets in third class, leaving the 2 of us to rough it out for the next 6-hours. It is really amazing to see how the locals manage to find even the tiniest of spaces to sit or lie down. Some even improvised a hammock from their saris to coo their babies to sleep. It was really an eye-opening experience =]


Public humiliation at its best


Time seems to fly by and soon we arrived at our destination; we survived the train ride and are proud of it!

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