More Pictures... :)

Lady Canning's Seat



Lamb's Rock From Lady Canning's Seat



Down in Coonoor Market











Saree shopping.



Time for Tea..





To get back, you just have to take a Tuk-tuk.



Coonoor Bus Station.



Coonoor Rail Station.

More Pictures

Steps in the Rock Fort



Some of the many pillars in the Rock Fort



Cows, cows they are everywhere.



The view point on Doda Betta, the highest point in the Nilgris



The Steps into Sims Park, Coonoor



Sims Park, Coonoor



Team photo, Dolphins Nose, Coonoor




Monkey, Dolphins Nose, Coonoor



Mist In the valley at 08:00 this morning, Dolphins Nose, Coonoor



Emily, Lambs Rock, Coonoor



Hebron School gate, Coonoor



Hebron School Buildings, Coonoor



Tea as far as the eye can see.. oh yes.. :) Just watch out for the herd of Bison

More catching up..

Time is flying by but we have been in Coonoor since the 23rd Dec. We are settled in at the Gateway Hotel which was Lady Canning's house. It's rather nice.. I could get used to this.. :)

As you will have seen from the first set of pictures, while at Pondicherry we did find the Port Bungalow which is right next to Fort St David. Everything is looking a little worse for wear but you can see what a lovely house it was. Pondicherry was a French enclave which was only passed back to India in 1954. Not unsupprisingly it looks and feels very French, with tree lined avenues and a French flavour to the cusine.

From Pondicherry we moved to Tiruchirappalli for an overnight stop. While there we visited the Rock Fort which is a temple built into and on the top of a large hill. Did anyone say steps?? 400+ to get to the top. Then to cap it all once you came back down you could be blessed by an elephant if you popped a coin in it's trunk.

From Tiruchirappalli we went to Mettupalayam where we were booked into a resort with a water park nextdoor for the kids to play in. We were supposed to get the Toy Train up to Coonoor, however due to heavy rains causing landslides it was not running which was a shame. Still next time maybe..

From Mettupalayam we drove up to Coonoor. Everywhere you look round here are tea plantations, as you all know there is always time for tea.. so I am in hog heaven.

So far we have seen Dolphins Nose, Lambs Rock, Sims Park, a school which the young Balmforths went to. I'll pop some pictures up for you all to see.

4:30, must be time for tea..

Back in a bit

Some pictures to be going on with :)

Chinese Fishing Nets, Cochin



A Tuk-tuk, Cochin



Commercial ironing, Indian style, Cochin



Indian Dancer, Cochin



Anyone for a banana chip..? (Somewhere on the road to Madurai)



Temple, Madurai



Emily at a palace in Madurai



The Dutch Church where the grand parents got married, Pomban



Mum and Dad, Pomban



Emily, with the children from the school next door to the church, Pomban



Port Office sign, Pomban



Port Office, Pomban



Snack stop on the way to Pondicherry, Roasted Cashew nuts



Port Bungalow, Cuddalore



Bus travel, Not comfortable, but cheap.. :)



Most places we go the paparazzi want to take pictures of us.. well Emily, Caitlin, Lauren and Sophia anyway..



Anyone for a little spice..?



And lastly, there is always time for Tiffin

Made it to India and got an Internet connection...

Well I finally go round to starting the trip blog... :)

To bring you all up to date;

We flew into Cochin and managed to have a bit of a look round. One of the first things to hit you is the noise, everything that rides or drives on the roads beeps it's horn... all the time... road rules are, shall we say, interesting. Picture if you will, a single carrageway road with cars, trucks, buses all driving on the left, that is unless they are overtaking, which they do alot and not often when there is nothing coming the otherway, so now we have things on both sides of the road weaving in and out of the oncomming traffic. Add to this pedestrians and pushbikes, then there is livestock, goats, chickens and the like oh, and cows which pretty much have the right of way over everything, I have to say this is the first time I have seen a cow sitting in the road on a roundabout and everyone just drives round it..

Following Cochin we had a long drive to Madurai, which has some really beautiful areas and again is hugely busy. From Madurai we day tripped to Pomban where the grand parents got married, we found the church and visited the port office and bungalow where they lived and worked for a while.

From Madurai we travelled to Pondicherry with a plan to look at the port bungalow another place the young family Balmforth lived, we missed it when we looked today, but we have found it on a map and will visit tomorrow.

I have taken many pictures, I'll post some when I have a little time to resize them etc.

Right, time for bed..

I will update tomorrow hopefully on finding the house at Fort St David