Day of Bussing
We woke up, packed our bags and drank coffee with our hosts. It was then time to say goodbyes and head to catch the no. 1 bus to take us to Central bus station. The bus was crowded most of the way and we crammed ourselves in amongst the locals. We arrived at Central and headed to find a bus to Kodaikanal. The direct buseft at 11.30 and it was only 9.30. We were directed to another bus ro Dindigul. From here we could catch a 2nd bus to Kodi.
The bus ride was quite comfortable and we tried using Google translate in Tamil to chat with the lady next to us. It was a little complicated and when we wanted her to speak, she listened. When we wanted her to listen she spoke!
In Dindigul we transferred buses and it wasn't long before we were off again. An older gentleman sat next to us. He fell asleep and his head kept ending up resting on Darryl's shoulder.
Christine's heavy bag somehow fell down from the high luggage rack. We don't think anyone was hurt but we are not 100% sure as we both fell asleep!
The scenery got better and better as we wound our way up the mountain. We passed terraces and a pretty waterfall. The driver drove quite carefully most of the time but all Indian bus drivers seem to overtake on blind bends! However, we lived to tell the tale and pulled in to the Kodi bus station. Our next job was to find a hotel.
We searched and visited a few. Some where down a really sttep slope and wanted to much money for average rooms. A local man said he knew of a good but cheap hotel and we had a look. The price started at 2000 but eventually dropped to 1000. Bored with haggling we tried elsewhere. The next hotel owner seemed a little more efficient. He showed us to rooms. A small one for 700 and a bigger one for 1000. The small room was fine was fine so we stayed. We have a leaky tap, a bucket shower and hot water in the mornings only...
We were now pretty hungry so headed out to find food. After viewing several expensive restaurants we settled for a meal in a small local joint. The owner was attentive with refills to our rice, sambal and veggie dish. We ordered tea to finish off.
After eating we got our warm clothes on as the temperature had started to fall. We haven't really got any warm clothes with us other than a fleece! We did a little Internet searching for tomorrow before venturing out again. We found a little cafe where we sat and drank coffee. When they kicked us out we came back to the hotel to sleep. That was the hard part. It was freezing. During the night we added later upon layer of clothes. We even filled our metal water bottles with hot water to keep us warm.