Sonia Seelinger
May 6th, 2013
Logbook
Title: The Ooty Carnival
Abstract:
Over the weekend I traveled to Ooty on the Western edge of the state of Tamil Nadu. Famous for being a popular hill station the town is connected to the rest of India by road and rail, and its historic sites and natural beauty attract tourists. While there, we discovered the strangest carnival where we rode a rickety Ferris wheel and some horses as well.
Travel News
Local Time: 7:00am
Time Zone: India
Location: Ooty, Tamil Nadu
How far did I travel this week: 165 miles
What was the most interesting place I traveled this week: Ooty Carnival & Lake
Short story:
We had arrived by sleeper bus to the town of Ooty from Bangalore and immediately after getting off of the bus I felt the change in weather. From 90 degrees to 70 degrees, it felt so much cooler—as it should be, considering it’s about 7,350 feet above sea level. We found our hotel and slept off the afternoon with the exhaustion we had been feeling. In the evening we walked into town, not realizing that there was a carnival in the smack center of town! We walked through the vendors selling carnival snacks, clothes even, and finally reached a huge ferris wheel that was manually run by a man sitting in a lawn chair. Needless to say, I thought it was a very precarious ride to get on but we did and it happened to be the most fun ferris wheel I’d ever seen. The next day there were men offering us horseback rides around the local lake and we took up the offer. Each one of us got onto a horse, learned how to gallop, and eventually became great riders in the matter of two hours! Going to Ooty was definitely unlike any city I have ever been to, a great adventure indeed.
Nature News
Sunny: 1
Cloudy: 0
Partly Cloudy: 1
Rainy: 0
Snowy: 0
What is the air temperature right now: 73 degrees
How was the weather this week: Sunny with a few clouds
What animals did I see this week: horses
What was the coolest thing I saw in nature this week: the horses walking around the lake and grazing on the grass near the lakebed
Our News
What languages are spoken here: Hindi
What type of money is used here: Rupee
How much does a bottle of water cost: 20 rupees
What was the best meal this week: Tandoori chicken
What music did I listen to this week: jazz and rock
What activity was the most fun this week: riding horses
What did I read this week: the newspaper
Carnival Photo
Ferris Wheel Fun
Getting on Horses
View from the Ferris Wheel Cart
View Atop a Horse
The Ferris Wheel
On a Horse
My friend, Rebecca, and the Horse
Hesitantly Waiting in Line
