So, after a lot of investigation it turns out Ooty is not that easy to get out of as it was getting in to. We booked a bus ticket on a private bus only for the bus to be delayed by a day by a state-wide strike. Eventually we caught our bus - a little 20 seater - at 8am in the morning.
The bus took 5 hours getting to Mysore (Ooty to Hampi: leg 1) down a winding mountain road covered with 36 hairpin bends (we know this as everyone has a signpost that counts them down.. quite silly if you ask me as you would want drivers to watch the road at these points and not the signs!). Anycase, we made it down safely and even took a shortcut thru one of the National Parks (to save time I presume) but only after the driver paid the guards a little bribe!
Eventually we arrived in Mysore and headed straight for the train station. We booked a ticket to Bangalore (Ooty to Hampi: leg 2) via train which was only 4 hours. We also tried to book the overnight train to Hampi from Bangalore from the same station but it was unfortunately full. We were now facing a stay over in Bangalore as the ticket office window closed in front of us.... it was 2pm on a Sunday of course.. "No more tickets.. come back tomorrow!"
So we've got a ticket to Bangalore and off we go. The train arrives at Mysore station and although it stops for over 20 minutes at the station, there is an almighty scrap, push and shove to get on to the train and secure your seat even before it comes to a halt! Bewildered and a little bit dazed by being pushed onto the train by sheer force of numbers, it turns out that our two reserved seats are taken by 7 people who are unwilling to move. Words exchanged, we find new ones.
Four hours later we arrive in Bangalore which is a large metropolis teaming with Indians ready to take your money! You can always guess how big a city is by either the amount of people sleeping in the train station and/or how long it takes you to exit the station. Bangalore is big....
Since the ticket office is closed (its Sunday!) we head off to the bus stand to investigate another route to out of Banglaore (Ooty to Hampi: leg 3). The bus stand turns out a stroke of luck as we book ourselves on sleeper bus (oxymoron!) to Hampi leaving at 10pm - its an 9 hr journey.
We have 2 hours to spare and we grab something to eat before finding your local air conditioned expensive hotel to use use as a waiting room and toilet facility before heading back to the bus station.
The sleeper bus is an experience not to be missed. It's a large Greyhound type bus but minus the aircon. It has a combination of seating (airline type seats which recline) and a top row of sleeper bunks which you can lie flat on. We had seats. A further hour and a half late leaving, we are on our way to Hampi.
We are not sure if we have mentioned this before about driving in India, but besides the roads being incredibly poor, the drivers use their hooter more often that they use the brakes. The hooter is used when
- passing another car/bike/truck/rickshaw/pedestrian ("Im coming past. move over"),
- going around corners ("Im coming around the corner, watch out!"),
- when feeling another car is coming in the opposite direction ("I know neither of us have our lights on so Im going to honk so you can hear me!") or
- generally just for fun or to say "hi" to your buddies as you drive past!
Our bus ride to say the least was uncomfortable, bumpy and noisy. The driver refused to stop hooting every two minutes. He also refused to slow down for speed bumps. Between the two of us we managed about half an hours sleep and Sim even managed to be bounced off her chair from one of the many bumps in the road!
Time passes (slowly!) and we arrived safely in Hampi at 7am. We have now been traveling for 23 hours and the two of us ready to bite anyone's head off due to lack of sleep and the constant feeling of being on a rocking for the last day.
Its 8am and 38 degrees ! A far cry from the cool, crisp mornings of Ooty - What were we thinking?? We find a hotel - it takes 3 attempts - and pass out.
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