Nostalgic India 5 - Cameron Highlands in India? 印度的金马伦？

Nov 2010 - Ooty & Mysore

While burying our heads in the books the entire day, we decided to take a breather to somewhere breezy and chilly. Ooty is such a place with panoramic hilly views and features the pleasant climate around 10-16°C all year long. So, yeah that's why I say it resembles the Cameron Highlands. 

这次又要说说我的印度之旅啦。每天窝在宿舍里头啃书，我和朋友们就决定要到凉快的地方透一透气。今天主题是印度的金马伦高原- Ooty。

Ooty, the east from Salem (my hostel) is another district in Tamil Nadu. We travelled almost 5 hours to reach the destination and that included an one-hour drive up the 18km hilly hairpin bends. 

Refer to the pic below if you do not know what a hairpin bend is.  

这地方位于高山上，离我的宿舍有五个小时的旅程，包括了一个十八公里的发夹弯。看一下照片吧。

The image is from google.com

The image is from google.com

As you can see, there are 36 dreadful hairpin bends to surge to the top. Another burden added to the trip was our transportation, a 10-seater tempo/ van. 

要上山，就要经过三十六个转弯。更惨的是，我们租的十人轿车很。。。看一下照片吧。

lol pardon my self-edited human figures. As you can see, the backseats people have to face each other and the van actually moves sideways which is extremely backbreaking for a five-hour journey. (practically a 5 hours side-to-side pirate ship ride.) Just a piece of advice, don't rent this kinda van for any trip or else you gonna gobble up all your antiemetics (motion sickness medicine). 这是我自己拼图的，哈哈。由于车的后排四个人是面对面的，当车行走时，我们是左右左右的摇摆。很晕～～所以呢，下次真的别租这种车了，否则你可能要吞多几粒晕车药。

This was taken at the foothills and yeah we had to pass through this dense mist to reach the peak. 

山下拍的，我们要冲进这浓浓大雾上山啦！

Colourful residency along the way, yeah we're getting there soon. 快到山顶了，可以看见很多五颜六色的房屋。

Tiny little donkeys everywhere 小驴子

FINALLY! We stopped by somewhere for a lunch and a break from the %#$%#%^$%& hairpin bends. 

终于抵达了！晕车晕到呕三遍了。（我朋友啦）

Prawn manchurian - a popular Indian dish with garlic, ginger, chilli and with Chinese soya sauce. 

满洲虾子（我自己翻译的啦)是由姜葱辣椒炒黑酱油。所以是印度和中华合并的口味。

Can't remember what was this, anyways it looked like some Chop Suey, an American Chinese dish with vege, meat in corn starch sauce. (The only non-spicy food you could find in India.) 
这叫杂碎（又是我个人翻译）是有鸡肉，蔬菜，蘑菇等呈现在浓浓的薯粉酱汁。很有华人味道的一道菜式。

I think this should be Chicken Masala that the chicken pieces would be immersed in the spicy, buttery red chilli sauce. lol 这应该是印度有名的Masala，就是由各种味道的食材熬成这又红又香的酱汁。味道偏呛和辣的咯。。哈哈

The typical tomato rice 普遍的番茄饭

Indian fried noodle. Oh well, I gotta say that India has very limited choices of noodle! This type is commonly seen in all the restaurants but I just don't like it personally, I prefer having bihun/ vermicelli. 要说一说印度的炒面真的很少选择。这是其中一样，我本身不喜欢这种粗粗滑滑又白白的面条。因为我比较喜欢吃米粉啦。可是他们的米粉又很不一样的。。所以没办法咯，还是得吃。

Visited this place for some shopping 逛街啦～

Oh yeah~ Chocolates are in the must-buy list when you visit Ooty. The price is quite reasonable with all sorts of flavours~ I'm a dark choc fan btw. =D 来到这儿，一定要买的就是巧克力啦～ 各种选择任君选。价钱也很公道。

Another shop selling home made choc!

Hi babes!! Chilling @ Coffee Day Cafe which is a popular coffee house franchise just like Starbucks. Indian coffee is pretty good & cheap according to my friends (fyi, I don't drink coffee) 

逛了半天，我们到了印度的星巴克，Coffee Day 休息一下。话说这连锁咖啡厅是整个印度的招牌。（印度很少星巴克）

Chicken Burger 鸡肉汉堡，味道还不错。

Well actually we just wanted a sweet escape out of hostel, we travelled around Ooty but honestly there was quite few tourist spots eg Botanical garden, rose garden & tea factory. We had a night stay at a hotel indulging in the comfy weather but everyone was shivering in the midnight. lol 
其实在这边没什么东西看，再加上下雨天，我们只好呆在酒店，享受着凉快的天气。不过半夜大家都冷到发抖～


Mysore
Last min plan: The driver diverted the route to Mysore while we were on the way back to Salem. Well, we were contented about the schedule change eventually because we got to visit many eye opening and mesmerizing places. Mysore is definitely one of the beautiful cities in Karnataka state. 
下一站，导游临时提议说到Mysore去，虽然路途有点远，不过我们也很满意这提议。老实说，喜欢看古迹文化的朋友，你们就应该去那儿看看。

Our van broke down during the journey to Mysore but our experienced driver had managed it well to send us to the destination safely. 天不作美，车子在路途中抛锚了。幸好我们的司机还是安全把我们送到目的地去。

Wild natures everywhere... and this is not the zoo yet. 到处都有动物闲逛 lol，还有这不是动物园

Heading to the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens. 这才是真正的动物园啦～

Well, this zoo is spacious and well maintained with many amazing collection of animals. It would be a great place for a family outing. but not for me or maybe I'm too old for this. =S  此动物园地方宽敞，里边的动物都很齐全，很适合一家大小来观光和学习。而对我们来说，就有点闷啦。可能小时候我会很兴奋，现在。。难道我老了？ =S

Spot the colourful ice cream cones? 那冰淇淋的饼漂亮吧

Ok, no comment. haha 无言。。

Lunch time~ Local fried chicken. 午餐又是印度炸鸡。（很难不增肥）

Chicken briyani which I missed the most.. omg 最爱的Briyani饭～

Next, we headed to the beautiful Mysore Palace, one of the historical alcazars with preserves the royal residence of Mysore. The palace of Mysore, aka Amba Vilas possesses this spectacular and grandeur architecture. The uniques can't be expressed by words nor pictures, you would have to capture it with your own eyes. Now, I shall let the pictures do all the talking. 接下来我们来到了著名的Mysore皇宫。里面的建筑物是还保留的很完善，漂亮壮观但又浮现了一种神秘感。你真的要亲眼目睹这历史文化，现在先看照片吧。

Hopped onto the hump of camel. ps: Camels aren't friendly sometimes. 

有机会坐上骆驼的背，其实它们很有脾气的。所以我们在上面也是挺怕的。

After visiting the historical palace, we had to get back to our hostel as it was just a short 2D1N holiday. In fact, we enjoyed the trip pretty much despite the awful ride up to Ooty.  
就这样，两天一夜的旅程就结束了。如果你有兴趣，这两个地方是不错的旅游景点。虽然路途崎岖，但其实印度的马路都是这样的。。。我也习惯了。哈哈

So, here's the souvenirs from Ooty! My all time fav choc~ 这是手信啦。好吃美味的巧克力。

ta-daaaa!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my next Nostalgic India trip - Kerala.

谢啦！下一篇我会说另一个漂亮景点，Kerala。别错过咯!