Ooty - Coimbatore Mini Train

The best way to get to or away from Ooty is to take the mini train, which is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage built in 1908 - a century ago; and it runs with a steam loco!!! As we are stuck in Coimbatore for the transit to Kochin for a couple of hours we thought we share some more photos about the region we are leaving behind. If you decide to take the train to Ooty calculate with 5 to 7 hours ride, but we took it the other way around which took 3,5 hours. It all feels like being in a time machine: the train and all the stations on the way are restored in their authentic form with all its' old fashioned stylish signs about gents' and ladies' waiting rooms separately, about keeping the station clean and how to behave. It seems only the monkeys do not obey to these rules - at one of the stations' roof a whole monkey dynasty was waiting for the train well prepared for the usual cookie-feeding, photo posing and mocking performance attacking the platform and running after the wagon when departed. The scenery is awesome: descending about a 1500 meters we went through the transformation of the flora from tea plantations on the top through jungle forest in the middle till various palm tree plantations at the bottom. First we were disappointed for being seated against the train's direction, but only until we realized that instead of making turns the train descends in a zig-zag :).