The same intersection looks very different now. In the 60s a few vehicles each day labored up from the surrounding plains. Now wheeled traffic is almost nonstop, much of it bearing day-tripping tourists from Coimbatore, Madurai, and other nearby cities.
Kodai now has countless hotels and restaurants. Here's my favorite spot for breakfast; the wandering cow seems to agree.
The Astoria serves excellent morning idli and vadai. My favorite Astoria breakfast is poori --- hot, puffy tortilla-like bread with potato curry. These cheerful Tamilian gents seemed to be enjoying the food.
Food familiar to American visitors is available, too. The Tamil characters say doh-mee-nose. The pizza can be delivered by motor scooter.
Long ago my Western-focused Kodai boarding school was populated largely by North Americans and Europeans. The place is still (or even more) Western-oriented now, but the population is much more diverse:
Kodai has always offered many diversions. I spent a lot of time on this golf course as a kid.
One can now finish a links outing with refreshment --- and a warning (it's mandatory in Tamilnadu bars, we were told).
The once-quiet Kodai lake is now ringed with shops and stalls:
Boating is a popular pastime. The classic varnished lapstrake rowboats of yore have given way to more unusual craft.
"Eve teasing" --- sexual harassment --- is right out, as signs in English, Tamil, and Malayalam announce. Don't drink the water, either.
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