ooty day 1

Our flight lands in Coimbatore and we have left cyclone laila far behind and the warm temperature greets us.Flying a low cost airline means that hunger is never very far away the moment we recline into the comfort of the Ambassador car (we have forgotten what this car feels like thanks to having used the more modern ones that are in the market now),we hunt out an eating place.Fussy as we have become we look for a place where we cant go very wrong with the food and after a lunch that makes us feel like beached wales we climb back into the car and set off on our journey to the hills.The food and the warmth makes us drowsy and we promptly fall asleep until the airconditioning is switched off.We wake up to a landscape that has changed.Barren fields have given way to high trees and lush green,the air is dense with the fragrance of flowers and other things that hit our unfamiliar noses.The temperature drops at a steady pace and the hills roll by with the fresh cool air hitting our faces and lifting our spirits.Our journey upwards is fought with some city like traffic jams but we climb steadily.Three hours later we have reached the queen of hill stations who is fast on the way to becoming a pauper at the rate at which construction and deforestation is striping the landscape of its beauty but as out of towners we have no complaints.Its now cool almost bordering on cold and we soak it in and are glad to have reached the hills.The climb up to the house is another matter altogether.Two years of constant working out is nothing compared to a hill climb in high altitude.My heart protests,my knees cry fowl but I soldier on knowing that a hot cup of tea awaits.....not disappointed the tea is fantastic,it burst in the mouth with the flavour of fresh tea gardens,mountain springs and the promise of more