Monday, May 22, 2006
Arrived at Jungle Hut
We've arrived and settled, and life is going well at Jungle Hut. The trip down was long but fairly pleasant - we took the semi-sleeper AC bus to Delhi, making the 12-hour ride much more pleasant. Our day in Delhi was... educational. First priority was booking train tickets, which we'd been unable to do from Manali (the system was down, and via phone all the trains were completely booked, leaving us to pin our hopes on the foreigner ticket quota, which we'd have to buy in person in Delhi). It turns out we're still not quite as savvy as we'd like to think we are. On our way to the foreigner ticket office in the train station, we were intercepted by a very nice man with train station ID who helpfully explained to us that the office was closed on Sunday, but we needed to go to the government tourist office where they could offer the same services. He showed us on the map, and even helped us get an autorickshaw. At said office, we were told there were no tickets (even foreigner quota) for the next four days. However, if we did a car tour to Agra they could arrange a train ticket from there.... wait a minute. After a quick consultation with the Lonely Planet, and comparison of the exact name of the office we were sitting in, we realized we'd been had. It was indeed not the government tourist office (which did exist, about six doors down, but was closed). After catching an auto back to the train station, we made our way up to the foreigner ticket office and by 10am we were able to get our tickets south to Bangalore the same night. We found some breakfast then decided to visit the Bahai temple (amazing building put up in the 80s shaped like an enormous lotus flower). Meanwhile, the temperatures were rising. The pleasant morning turned wicked hot, and we thought we'd burn the soles of our feet on the tile walkways around the temple (the collect up your shoes as you approach). By the time we met up with Bill and Daisy (who is almost 3), it was pushing 45 degrees Celsius (113F). We went and visited some of their other British friends living in the city, had some coffee at a place that felt like it could have been in downtown Seattle, and went back to their house for some ski movie viewing. Warren Miller went to Manali sometime back in the 80s, and did more of a special on the ski scene there than one of his full movies. We had a quick visit with Bill's wife Karen when she got home from work, and then it was time to head for the train station.
We had splurged a bit and bought 2-tier air-con tickets, and it was well worth the few extra rupees. The train ride was actually very pleasant, despite that fact we were on for over 40 hours. Each car is arranged into little compartments, and your ticket is actually for a bunk. With 2-tier, the bunks are only 2 deep, with both people sitting on the lower bunk during the day. This works out really well if you are 2 traveling together. They give you sheets, blankets, and a pillow, and you can be fed 3 meals a day fairly inexpensively. The whole trip was very comfortable.
In Bangalore we decided to stay overnight and catch the morning bus out, and we had a very nice evening out on the town. We found a nice outdoor restaraunt just in time to watch a spectacular evening thunder storm from the comfort of a covered deck, and had steak and red wine (!) for dinner. Our bus ride was a bit of a fiasco... we were at the station bright and early for the 7am bus the Tamil Nadu State bus window promised us, only to find there were no buses until 8:30. I got in line at the Karnataka State window, and barely managed to get us tickets on that one. We made it on and took off... and then the bus broke down. They got it going, but with no AC. The AC buses have no opening windows, so minus the AC turn into mobile ovens, so they eventually shuffled most passengers off onto another AC bus. We got off at the wildlife center as arranged, but very late, and found not a ride in sight, but plenty of monkeys to watch in the meantime. A driver did turn up to fetch us, and on the drive to Jungle Hut (where we're actually staying - owned by the same family as Jungle Retreat) we saw peacocks, a gaur (Indian bison) and an elephant charging one of the jeeps in front of us!
After spending 4 days getting here we were happy to find that the Jungle Hut is a very livable place, and think we'll really like it here. The resort has 12 rooms in 3 different blocks, set a little ways from the main building which has the dining room (a beautiful covered verandah with great mountain views), office, kitchens, and staff quarters, with a pool off to one side. There are tons of birds, bugs, and frogs, and the resident herd of spotted deer can usually be seen grazing on the other side of the clearing. Things are going well so far - they've started us out with some "hosting" duties, making sure rooms are ready for guests, greeting them, making sure they're comfortable and help arranging anything they need. We're pretty clueless so far, but learning and hopefully being somewhat helpful. We're in Ooty for the day, and taking advantage of a computer place as the internet isn't working at the resort right now. Posts/emails may be hit a miss until it is, but pictures and more to follow!
We had splurged a bit and bought 2-tier air-con tickets, and it was well worth the few extra rupees. The train ride was actually very pleasant, despite that fact we were on for over 40 hours. Each car is arranged into little compartments, and your ticket is actually for a bunk. With 2-tier, the bunks are only 2 deep, with both people sitting on the lower bunk during the day. This works out really well if you are 2 traveling together. They give you sheets, blankets, and a pillow, and you can be fed 3 meals a day fairly inexpensively. The whole trip was very comfortable.
In Bangalore we decided to stay overnight and catch the morning bus out, and we had a very nice evening out on the town. We found a nice outdoor restaraunt just in time to watch a spectacular evening thunder storm from the comfort of a covered deck, and had steak and red wine (!) for dinner. Our bus ride was a bit of a fiasco... we were at the station bright and early for the 7am bus the Tamil Nadu State bus window promised us, only to find there were no buses until 8:30. I got in line at the Karnataka State window, and barely managed to get us tickets on that one. We made it on and took off... and then the bus broke down. They got it going, but with no AC. The AC buses have no opening windows, so minus the AC turn into mobile ovens, so they eventually shuffled most passengers off onto another AC bus. We got off at the wildlife center as arranged, but very late, and found not a ride in sight, but plenty of monkeys to watch in the meantime. A driver did turn up to fetch us, and on the drive to Jungle Hut (where we're actually staying - owned by the same family as Jungle Retreat) we saw peacocks, a gaur (Indian bison) and an elephant charging one of the jeeps in front of us!
After spending 4 days getting here we were happy to find that the Jungle Hut is a very livable place, and think we'll really like it here. The resort has 12 rooms in 3 different blocks, set a little ways from the main building which has the dining room (a beautiful covered verandah with great mountain views), office, kitchens, and staff quarters, with a pool off to one side. There are tons of birds, bugs, and frogs, and the resident herd of spotted deer can usually be seen grazing on the other side of the clearing. Things are going well so far - they've started us out with some "hosting" duties, making sure rooms are ready for guests, greeting them, making sure they're comfortable and help arranging anything they need. We're pretty clueless so far, but learning and hopefully being somewhat helpful. We're in Ooty for the day, and taking advantage of a computer place as the internet isn't working at the resort right now. Posts/emails may be hit a miss until it is, but pictures and more to follow!
Labels: India
