ooty, cold, cold, ooty

after mysore we headed to the mountains to ooty,  great name, but cooold!   it ended up being a much bigger, dirtier town than we expected, but it still had its charm.  we stopped at the market and bought yummy banana chips.

they have tons of handmade chocolates here in ooty, and they are good!  we made it to the rose garden yesterday where we took a break from checking out the flowers to enjoy a yummy treat.

today we did the tourist thing, rented a car and a bit of a tour.  we stopped at a tea factory,  where eijla enjoyed a cup of cardomon tea.  it was so yummy we had to buy some ourselves,  only problem is now we have to carry it around!

it is insanely stressful for me riding in cars with the girls here,  makes me really appreciate their carseats back home.  but here they almost never even have seatbelts in the backseats.  i managed to catch a moment when they were both sitting down and calm.  

we went to the lake and rode on a tiny train.  stopped at the botanical gardens.  and even visited the highest point in southern india, but there was so much fog the views were hidden.  but we did find some other viewpoints out by some tea plantations that were beautiful.  the girls even found some flowers to pick.

then we took the scenic train ride from conoor back up to ooty.  it is a little mini train that takes more than an hour to wind up the mountain for about 25 kms.  the girls loved that they could stick their heads out the windows.  

 zoe and eijla even made a friend on the train.  they played the whole way.

 yeah for the mini train!

splish, splash in mysore

it just so happens that mysore has a combined amusement and water park,  grs fantasy park.  here are thomas and the girls enjoying the lazy river...

then there was the wave pool with its very own stone chariot.

i found this too be just too amusing.  there was no smoking allowed, except for here.  yes,  right next to the jungle jim.  go figure.

there were a few rides even.  eijla rode on the merry go round.  and the girls even rode on crazy fast swings and something called the catepillar, among others.

then we went on the "wild river" again, and again.  it was a splash fest.

and a bit of waterfall fun.  there were slides and big water pools.  we played until zoe was shivering and blue around the mouth.  it was really a great family day.

a little bit more mysore

spent the day exploring the city.  stopped at the market place for a bit of foto opps (i swear i will update my fotoblog one of these days!). 

the girls bought bananas and flowers...

then it was india´s republic day, so they lit all the lights on the palace and we stopped by to enjoy the view.

the mysore zoo

after our quick stop in bangalore, we headed to mysore.  where they have a surprisingly nice zoo.  none of the animals were taken from the wild, and they seem to have very enviromental perspective.

 

some of the signs were rather amusing.

 

then we had horse and cart ride back to our hotel.  the girls loved it  of course.

bangalore or bengaluru, you choose

there were two main reasons we stopped in bangalore.  first, to drop off my camera lens for repair, which we managed to do after being given wrong directions and faulty addressess for half a day.  and second, to take zoe to the flower show.  there were lots and lots of flowers. even a bucket of flowers...

 zoe took some great pics, which i am sure she will post on her blog.

 there was even a small bonsai garden there.

 then we stopped at the park and the girls got to go horse back riding.  it even gallopped for zoe!

not being big city folk, and well, banglore not really catching our fancies, we are heading out again,  tomorrow it is off to mysore.

last day in hampi...

zoe walked eijla to breakfast.

then it was all kinds of cuteness from her before we took the night bus to bangalore, which by the was much more comfortable than our last night bus.

zoe learned to draw stars today,  she became an expert at it in five minutes flat!

 

today we rented bike and rode out to the "waterfall", though, i think we might have missed the "waterfall", as it was more a part of the river that had a bit of rapids and a swimmig area. 

thomas finally became enlightened and learned to float on water.

zoe rode the bike the last little bit into hampi.

exploring hampi...

yesterday we took the boat across the river and did a bit of exploring.  we found a little school where the girls played on the playground with all the school kids. 

thomas and the girls even went swimming in the river. 

 then today we did the big tour of the hampi temples.  started off with ganesh...

 then headed onto the others...

two little monkeys hanging out..

and of course the famous stone chariot.