FALLS

From the British graveyard we went to the home of some Americans who have been living in India for several years. They are friends of our host which is why we visited.

A picture of our gracious hosts on July 2nd.

The husband of this couple is a linguist currently learning his sixth Indian language so that he can translate official documents and other materials into that language. This language is spoken by about 50,000 people in a tribe in southern India.

A view looking south and down in the direction of where we came. From their balcony you can kind of get a feel of the steepness of the slope that this house and pretty much all the houses here seem to precariously sit.

The apartment house, sits on the edge of a steep drop off and was build in the late 1800’s for a British officer. It is a large building that is now a four level apartment with an orphanage on the top level. I guess the British officers lived pretty well. Their balcony has quite the view.

Up the road a little bit from their home was another impressive vista. In the post "Graveyard" I mentioned that the cows are everywhere, the even walk the streets like pedestrians. In the photo to the right, you not looking at mountain goats... those are cows.

After our visit and our lunch we went to a popular tourist area (though we were the only white people there) to see a huge waterfall tucked away in a ravine between mountain slopes… It is not a tourist trap in the sense that mostly westerners are there. It is a beautiful waterfall close to 100 feet high though main cascade is about 40 feet high. Kempty Falls, as it is called, is a place for people to find some fun and relaxation. Think of some of the naturally formed sites in New Hampshire or elsewhere. At some point someone saw this spectacular waterfall and then saw an opportunity to make some money.

The traffic was so bad and the roads are so narrow, that we were stopped about a mile from the falls to wait for the traffic to get going again, and even then it moved really slow. We took the opportunity to get in a few pics.

That being said, the people enjoying the water did not seem to mind at all. What we all observed was that the men when into the water in basically their underwear. The women however, wore their full traditional Salwar suit. There were a couple women who were progressive enough to wear shorts and a T-shirt, but nothing like the guys.

You can barely see that the bottom of this picture but there are people swimming and splashing in a small pool that has been built up at the base of the falls. This picture was taken on a bridge which crosses over the water as it flows into other pools further down the mountain side. This, as you can see, was a pretty popular spot.

The falls have been an attraction for people for more than 150 years dating back to the time when the British controlled the area. In fact even the name "Kempty Falls" comes from the British name for the place, "Camp tea." There is one road that goes through as you can see from the wide shot above. So traffic moves very slowly. Most people simply park by the side of the road and walk, which is what we ended up doing.

Here is part of the small market area that you have to walk through to get to the base of the falls. It's a good spot to do some shopping if you want to purchase some over priced souvenirs.

The long windy drive back down the steep mountain roads was quieter. The monkeys and cows and random pedestrians were things we had all seen before, so there were much few pictures being taken. We had a good dinner and slept very well that night...