10.07.18 - 17.07.18 Hyderabad and Kodaikanal

In Hyderabad, we had planned to make a short culinary stopover, as we had eaten some of our best thalis there on our last trip. But once again, everything turned out differently. The journey from Koraput was already spectacular. Since we had to take two trains and we know that this is risky, we planned 3 hours to change trains and hoped to catch our connection. Our first train was already 1 1/2 hours late when we boarded, but since it was continuously moving, it didn't seem to be a problem, or so we thought. Because who could have known that the train would just stop for almost 2 hours, 10 km before the destination. Since there are no train announcements in India, our only interpretation is that our train, due to its existing delay, had no more space in the system and had to let others go first. Anyway, we had already given up on our connection and come up with an emergency plan when the train started moving again. Tense and ready to get off, we continued to worry as it was crawling and stopped twice. But since we noticed that no train was coming towards us that could have been ours, and it was already past the scheduled departure time, we had to act quickly upon our actual arrival. We sprinted up the stairs as quickly as possible with our backpacks and discovered our train two platforms away, just starting to move. So we hurried down as quickly as possible and luckily we are in India, where the train doors are open and they leave the station so slowly that we just managed to jump onto the moving train. Completely exhausted, but happy to have made it, as last-minute train tickets are not easy to come by in India, we settled in for a night on the train.

We did find the culinary highlights we were hoping for, unfortunately with fatal consequences. We also organized our onward journey, which once again presented challenges with the train system, and then Lea caught a food poisoning that was hard to beat, and we couldn't continue our planned journey. Since there was also no chance of getting a train ticket again in the near future, we had to resort to taking a bus, which should cost three times as much and also bring some inconveniences - comfort, inconvenient boarding points, etc. - but we wanted to continue to Kodaikanal. And in this way, we managed to make the journey in one night instead of the originally planned two.

So from Hyderabad, we first took the night bus to Dindigul, a city that is 980 km further south. From here, we could then take a bus to Kodai. In 3 hours, we not only traveled 90 km, but also climbed to an altitude of 2100 m, and at that speed and with so many curves, we felt like we were dying a thousand deaths. Kodaikanal was a so-called hill station during colonial times, a place where the British retreated from the heat and drank tea. This is more than understandable when you consider that the temperature here never exceeds 20 degrees. We were happy to be able to unpack our sweaters at this place and take nice long walks without having to sweat out our body weight every day. It even got so cold at night that Lea unpacked her thick sleeping bag and Mathias caught a slight cold. But it was worth it. Nowadays, Kodai is a small town with a lake in the center and a few viewpoints from which you can see into the valleys on clear days. And what a view you can enjoy there! It was also amusing to think that the places we were looking at were simply 20 degrees hotter. On Sunday, we discovered the beautiful weekly vegetable market where Lea treated herself to some kohlrabis to satisfy her cravings for fresh vegetables, which were mostly eaten by Mathias. Since we arrived on the weekend, the city was full of Indian tourists, but from Sunday evening onwards, the usually crowded restaurants seemed almost deserted. The price for our room also dropped by 200 rupees. This year, you can also see a flower that only blooms every 12 (!) years, which is rather unimpressive. How lucky we are :) So we enjoyed a few cool days before we should take the next night bus to Pondicherry.