Staying in Ooty has been lovely. We spent a bit more and are staying at an old English-style bed and breakfast on one of the hill sides of the city. The views of the surrounding hills and valleys are amazing and we can only hear the occasional horn from below, but mostly we hear the cawing crows and the buzz of nature around us. It's strange to be in such a place because we were getting quite used to the hussle and bustle of the cities and their over abundance of people. On day one I found myself feeling a little antsy about taking a break here for a few days, but I realize we needed it and will be better for it when we hit the road again tomorrow. Ooty's at an elevation of approx. 2200 metres so it's quite cool here at night and during the day. There were tea plantations as far as the eye could see as we drove up and up and up the hills to Ooty. The distance from Mysore to Ooty is about 150km, yet it took us the better part of the day to get from there to here. In Mysore, we weren't allowed to put our backpacks in the under carriage of the bus despite the fact that there were many other people shoving their parcels in. So I asked the bus driver as he was filling the under carriage "Is there any room for our bags below?". I was expecting him to just say no and carry on stuffing it, but he looked at me and in a sturdy voice said "One forty five." I looked at Anil to make sure that I hadn't missed anything and he was equally as puzzled by the driver's response so I turned back around and asked again, "No, is there room for our baggage below the bus?" "One, four, five" was the man's resonse (as if saying the numbers individually it was making it clearer for me). So, pretending to be satisfied with that response, we proceeded to stuff one backpack under the seat and the other at our feet. There's a lot of that kind of communication here. It's quite funny in hindsight, but frustrating at the moment it's happening. On the way, we drove through Mudumalai National Park which was beautifully lush and rich and we saw some spotted dear and a bunch of wild elephants. There are also tigers and other animals in the park, but we weren't so lucky to see them.