Here today...

In Ooty I've been hanging out at Sweekar Lodge, a Lonely Planet budget recommendation. Wonderful people come and go, and each morning the front porch is the scene of fond farewells in warm sunshine. Javier from Málaga, Liam from Oban and Naomi from Melbourne. Today it was goodbye to Arthur and Kate.
Last night we'd been sat - Stef and James, Kate and Arthur - huddled in blankets against the mountain night discussing Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein, and writers new to me.
I have come to treasure such moments.

(and I'll be gone tomorrow, as I set my sights on Kochi. About 10 hours on the road... Wish me luck.)

The tiger looked quite miserable...

and ever since I've been on the trail I've had =>THIS ear worm.

Yesterday spent the day at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, the elephants were out and about, a peacock or two, monkeys of course, but tigers were keeping a low profile.

Oh, and I can tick off crocodiles at Srirangapatnam.

It's smaller than you think...

Maybe I should explain...
Llangwm, mentioned in yesterday's blog, is about a mile from my caravan in Pembrokeshire! I have spent every summer bar one since 1980 in Llangwm - long before H was born!
He recognised these snaps, taken last September, and was as amazed as I was. (He rows, and the boats are kept in the adjoining field, taken down the lane and launched at the slipway.)
He'll be even more amazed when I turn up next summer - I know exactly where he lives - and suggest a drink at The Cottage Inn...
And look what's on the table in the 'van... A journey in preparation...

(The trek, by the way, was an absolute tonic. There was no hint of ageism from anyone, earned my spurs when I fell down a steep bank on my ARSE, and caught up in their high spirits, I felt at the '66 end of Route 66. This journey is pulling me in all directions.)

Talk about a small world, innit.

Went on a high-spirited six hour trek in the Nilgiri Hills today. Eucalyptus and tea plantations. And "hills".
The lad who photo bombed me after lunch is from Llangwm, and Sue taught him art at school!!!

You're never alone...

 ...with an iPad.

People stop, peer over my shoulder, are curious. Then comes the  embarrassing question, how much did it cost? I bring the calculator up onto the screen and type in a three digit price in sterling and multiply by the current exchange rate. The figure in rupees is eye-watering. Close on 44,000.
A fairly filling street food meal costs around 50. I cringe.

Out of their range it might be, but traders in the Old Market are still pleased to have their picture taken on it.

Hat trick

I thought wearing beige and earth colours I would blend in with the dust and be able to pass less noticed.
But naïvely I had not reckoned with a few other factors that mark me out as a constant curiosity.
I'm white, I'm old. I'm on my own...
...and then there's this faintly daft Quentin Crisp hat.

Stuck in a past I never knew...

Moving on from Mysore is proving difficult. I know that just a few bumpy hours away lie hills, mountains, The Western Ghats, coffee and spice plantations, and the remote possibility of seeing a tiger; but this city, with its crumbling mixture of Regency and Art Deco buildings, not out of place in Brighton, Cheltenham or on Margate sea front, is just the place for a prolonged flaner. So that's what it must be.

So why difficult? Nostalgia for a past I never experienced first hand. The 1920's and 30's, a time my own parents looked back on as Happy Days. I am caught up in something transmitted to me as a child by them... and unexpectedly, I'm having to work on it.

Right now the wifi at the Golden Rays Lodge has been out of action for 48 hours. If and when reconnected I'll add a few photos.

And here they are:

Buttons and Bows

The monkeys that live in the trees by the Kiran Guesthouse in Hampi leap onto the roof, shimmy down the iron access ladder, and make a nuisance of themselves with anything they can find on the residents' balcony. I was warned on arrival to keep my door closed. Which I did. And thought no more about it.

Before I left the UK I spent a small fortune on upmarket safari gear. Three identical pairs of lightest weight cotton trousers, ditto identical shirts, all said to be mosquito proof, the idea being one set on, one in the wash, and one in waiting either way, and never having to bother my head about what I shall wear today.

So the morning of my last day in Hampi I washed out one set of clothes, attached them to the balcony rails, then packed them dry that evening ready to be worn at The Gathering the following day in Bangalore.

Fast forward to putting on clean clothes for The Gathering... To discover several shirt buttons missing, and evidence of their being chewed off!

SODDING MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!

Bo's'n's carers assured me before I set off that "There is always a way", and "All will be well".
The way was to get as far as Mysore and look for a tailor. Once the problem was understood, all remaining buttons were removed, and a new set that almost matched the originals sewn on.
One and a half hours' work, inc buttons, for 100 rupees (a fraction over £1.) Shirt buttons!

There are monkeys in Mysore too. They scramble about the Royal Palace and tinker with the bulbs that light the building for an hour at dusk on a Sunday, while a band plays robust British military marches in the forecourt.

97,000 lightbulbs of the old fashioned sort are used - give or take a few.

For MJW

Mike Wilson's critical comment about palm trees and "other foliage"* growing out of people's heads (Avec mes remerciements, 11th January refers) did not go unnoticed and has not been forgotten!
*Dontcha know a banana leaf when you see one?

Well anyway, here is a photoshop challenge especially for you, Mike. Could this be what they mean by getting Bangalored?

KK & FF @ MTR

A Gatherin to Remember...

Tiffin, taken at a gallop, and as much as you can eat, at the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms in Bangalore.
Been going since 1924.

Blimey! I felt as though I'd run the Derby!

A very special Gathering

Déjeuner à trois à Bengalore.

If you're Hampi and you know it

It was love at first sight...

But I shall let =>Wordsworth do the talkin. Learnt by heart in the Juniors, I can still recite it as a party piece. And now it really has come in handy...
Photos? I'd need thousands, but worth a Goggle.

I've walked it, biked it, bused it, boated it. I have Bollywooded it, and was once brought back on a tractor. But now it's time to move on. Tomorrow I shall be gettin Bangalored