August 20, 2003-Mountain Walk in Kodaikanal
August 20th (I think...Wednesday)
Well, I made it! Was really beginning to think I would not get here...let me explain. I left for my first walk in the woods this morning (by the way..correction from last e-mail...the eucalyptus trees were planted here as well! but they are draining too much moisture from the soil and they realize it was a mistake and trying to figure out what to do about it...they want the natural everygreen forest to grow back)
So, on my way up to the woods this morning assuming that a few minutes out and I would be alone in nature..but I was walking on a fully paved road most of the way with fancy private homes with names like: Pearl Rose, The Haven, Charles Mont, Fern Hill, on either side of the road-lined by brick walls-When the road finally became a stone path- I was walking inside the woods, but not IN them...as one side of the road had barbed wire fencing all along and the other a cyclone fence keeping me out. Very frustrating, almost criminal...being so close to nature and still looking in from the outside. I am now sitting by a little stream whose sound I wish you could hear...with pear trees all around (the woods here are a combo of evergreen and eucalyptus as I suspected from my vantage point at the Guesthouse)...but there is still a stone wall all around and above me a barbed wire fence...beautiful blood red dahlias growing on it by the chai shop where I got chai. Believe it or not, I am drinking here and eating Edna's cookies from home (!) which are still fresh and delicious! It is starting to drizzle and will have to leave but I wish I could just sit here and inhale the beauty of this lovely spot before continuing up to a village called Vattakanal.
One note from along the way: The monkeys again! Those of you who remember the monkeys in my first journal will remember the one who attacked me and scared the hell out of me while I was trying to take his picture in the woods near McLeod 2 years ago. Well, as I came around the bend in the stone path, a whole group of monkeys were on the road and coming out of the trees (seeing a monkey climb out of a eucalyptus tree is quite disorienting to say the least)...and I had to decide what to do. I was afraid to continue walking as there were many of them, but wanted to take pictures but afraid of the last time...so , I VERY slowly opened my camera, and VERY slowly opened the zoom and began taking pictures...and then VERY slowly began walking along one side of the path as far from them as possible hoping they wouldn't pay attention...all seemed OK as I got just past them, when all of a sudden the 2 largest monkeys..I guess the males in charge...started stalking me at very very close range and at the same time making a kind of growling sound in their throats...it didn't sound pleasant and scared the shit out of me! I knew better than to run, but walking slowly and casually took every ounce of control I could muster, and finally, after about 2 agonizing minutes, they retreated leaving me breathless and heart pounding and cold sweat dripping off me mixing with the cold drizzle....then the road continued off to the left onto what was once, as Ravin remembered, a small dirt path, but it was just being completed as a paved road which jeeps could go over...and of course, just as I remember from my last trip, women were doing the heavy roadwork...interesting.
anyway, back to the stream and the rest of my walk....This in no way compares to the himalayas but is certainly a beautiful place to feel God. It is dark and forboding above but there is a still and peacefulness here...also several tour busses which I guess park here and disembark passengers who make the rest of the way by foot...I realized afterwards , while winding my way down yesterday evening back to the train to leave Kodai, what makes this area different than the Himalayas...the trip up from the train for 3 hours through the winding snakelike road which begins at 300 meters and ends at over 2000 meters -is beautiful...surprisingly deceptive however...as the ride is actually more reminiscent of the ride up the himalayan foothills towards manali as I remember it...but when you get to the end of the ride..there are no himalayas!....McLeod, Bhagsu and Dharamkot are villages NESTLED in the mountains - Kodaikanal is PERCHED on a mountain...so whereas sitting in McLeod you look out at the mountains surrounding you, here, you are ON the mountain and you look down at the lower peaks and valleys below...it is a whole different thing...a different experience in nature..
Well, getting wet as is the book from the drizzle and my camera is as well so I will close and continue later.
Notes as I climb: sound of a meandering stream below me is music to my ears, and I have finally gotten IN the woods on the path to Vattakanal. Also, Dolphin's NOse is down here but will not do that today...Rain is too threatening...UGH! A big snake just slithered across the path right in front of me. Monkeys' further up the path and they look like they still don't like me...maybe there is a conspiracy all over India to keep me in my place in THEIR territory!
Finally found a place to pee- and now just strolling along and finally finding my peace with nature.
Only Indians walking here. Much like Israelis walking around the Galil or Carmel or Judean Desert...Except the guys are dress in sneakers and sports clothes and carrying cameras and videos and the women still (generally) in saris or sharlwar kameeze and regular city walking sandals or things. Don't know how they manage, especially with the shoes.
Nice 6 km. walk down and back up but no option to eat, or spend a couple of hours anywhere once you get there...just go, see, and come back. Won't be doing it again-will eat lite now, rest and then go into town for real food...I will definitely loose weight here as I am eating hardly anything but that's OK as it will be easier to gain in Mcleod and not feel so guilty.
Made an effort this afternoon to meet people...checked out the dorm-empty! upstairs-empty! down the hill-Walla! found some people and sat and talked until the rain got too bad..everyone I meet here is disappointed with what they've found-something energy wise is missing-aside from the sun of cours.e Can imagine why the British must have loved this place-must remind them of home.
Cheeky guy here asked me to move rooms for 1 day so they could do repairs on my room. it's the only one they haven't done. It is the time they renovate before high season apparently. I said if I have to pack up and move, I will go someplace else! so he gave me a nasty look but said very sweetly "Well, madam, if you don't want to , you don't have to".
Well, I will end this entry...now I just have to finish the entry from the ride down the mountain yesterday...
It is actually Sunday and I am back at Ravin's house in Chennai but am feeling uncomfortable. Coming back so soon was not the plan and I definitely feel like I am intruding this time...If I didn't have to wait for the glasses, I would take off in a day or so, but must wait...no choice....so will take the train out on September 5th and be up in McLeod hopefully on the 8th.
Well, I made it! Was really beginning to think I would not get here...let me explain. I left for my first walk in the woods this morning (by the way..correction from last e-mail...the eucalyptus trees were planted here as well! but they are draining too much moisture from the soil and they realize it was a mistake and trying to figure out what to do about it...they want the natural everygreen forest to grow back)
So, on my way up to the woods this morning assuming that a few minutes out and I would be alone in nature..but I was walking on a fully paved road most of the way with fancy private homes with names like: Pearl Rose, The Haven, Charles Mont, Fern Hill, on either side of the road-lined by brick walls-When the road finally became a stone path- I was walking inside the woods, but not IN them...as one side of the road had barbed wire fencing all along and the other a cyclone fence keeping me out. Very frustrating, almost criminal...being so close to nature and still looking in from the outside. I am now sitting by a little stream whose sound I wish you could hear...with pear trees all around (the woods here are a combo of evergreen and eucalyptus as I suspected from my vantage point at the Guesthouse)...but there is still a stone wall all around and above me a barbed wire fence...beautiful blood red dahlias growing on it by the chai shop where I got chai. Believe it or not, I am drinking here and eating Edna's cookies from home (!) which are still fresh and delicious! It is starting to drizzle and will have to leave but I wish I could just sit here and inhale the beauty of this lovely spot before continuing up to a village called Vattakanal.
One note from along the way: The monkeys again! Those of you who remember the monkeys in my first journal will remember the one who attacked me and scared the hell out of me while I was trying to take his picture in the woods near McLeod 2 years ago. Well, as I came around the bend in the stone path, a whole group of monkeys were on the road and coming out of the trees (seeing a monkey climb out of a eucalyptus tree is quite disorienting to say the least)...and I had to decide what to do. I was afraid to continue walking as there were many of them, but wanted to take pictures but afraid of the last time...so , I VERY slowly opened my camera, and VERY slowly opened the zoom and began taking pictures...and then VERY slowly began walking along one side of the path as far from them as possible hoping they wouldn't pay attention...all seemed OK as I got just past them, when all of a sudden the 2 largest monkeys..I guess the males in charge...started stalking me at very very close range and at the same time making a kind of growling sound in their throats...it didn't sound pleasant and scared the shit out of me! I knew better than to run, but walking slowly and casually took every ounce of control I could muster, and finally, after about 2 agonizing minutes, they retreated leaving me breathless and heart pounding and cold sweat dripping off me mixing with the cold drizzle....then the road continued off to the left onto what was once, as Ravin remembered, a small dirt path, but it was just being completed as a paved road which jeeps could go over...and of course, just as I remember from my last trip, women were doing the heavy roadwork...interesting.
anyway, back to the stream and the rest of my walk....This in no way compares to the himalayas but is certainly a beautiful place to feel God. It is dark and forboding above but there is a still and peacefulness here...also several tour busses which I guess park here and disembark passengers who make the rest of the way by foot...I realized afterwards , while winding my way down yesterday evening back to the train to leave Kodai, what makes this area different than the Himalayas...the trip up from the train for 3 hours through the winding snakelike road which begins at 300 meters and ends at over 2000 meters -is beautiful...surprisingly deceptive however...as the ride is actually more reminiscent of the ride up the himalayan foothills towards manali as I remember it...but when you get to the end of the ride..there are no himalayas!....McLeod, Bhagsu and Dharamkot are villages NESTLED in the mountains - Kodaikanal is PERCHED on a mountain...so whereas sitting in McLeod you look out at the mountains surrounding you, here, you are ON the mountain and you look down at the lower peaks and valleys below...it is a whole different thing...a different experience in nature..
Well, getting wet as is the book from the drizzle and my camera is as well so I will close and continue later.
Notes as I climb: sound of a meandering stream below me is music to my ears, and I have finally gotten IN the woods on the path to Vattakanal. Also, Dolphin's NOse is down here but will not do that today...Rain is too threatening...UGH! A big snake just slithered across the path right in front of me. Monkeys' further up the path and they look like they still don't like me...maybe there is a conspiracy all over India to keep me in my place in THEIR territory!
Finally found a place to pee- and now just strolling along and finally finding my peace with nature.
Only Indians walking here. Much like Israelis walking around the Galil or Carmel or Judean Desert...Except the guys are dress in sneakers and sports clothes and carrying cameras and videos and the women still (generally) in saris or sharlwar kameeze and regular city walking sandals or things. Don't know how they manage, especially with the shoes.
Nice 6 km. walk down and back up but no option to eat, or spend a couple of hours anywhere once you get there...just go, see, and come back. Won't be doing it again-will eat lite now, rest and then go into town for real food...I will definitely loose weight here as I am eating hardly anything but that's OK as it will be easier to gain in Mcleod and not feel so guilty.
Made an effort this afternoon to meet people...checked out the dorm-empty! upstairs-empty! down the hill-Walla! found some people and sat and talked until the rain got too bad..everyone I meet here is disappointed with what they've found-something energy wise is missing-aside from the sun of cours.e Can imagine why the British must have loved this place-must remind them of home.
Cheeky guy here asked me to move rooms for 1 day so they could do repairs on my room. it's the only one they haven't done. It is the time they renovate before high season apparently. I said if I have to pack up and move, I will go someplace else! so he gave me a nasty look but said very sweetly "Well, madam, if you don't want to , you don't have to".
Well, I will end this entry...now I just have to finish the entry from the ride down the mountain yesterday...
It is actually Sunday and I am back at Ravin's house in Chennai but am feeling uncomfortable. Coming back so soon was not the plan and I definitely feel like I am intruding this time...If I didn't have to wait for the glasses, I would take off in a day or so, but must wait...no choice....so will take the train out on September 5th and be up in McLeod hopefully on the 8th.
posted by Jane @ 10:56 PM
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