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Old 9th September 2013, 17:42   #1
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Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

It was a long desire to go to Ooty with family and because of some or the other reason it was not happening. But this time we planned it well advance and thought of combining independence day and Ramzan Holidays.

First question was where to stay and how should be the itinerary. For that one of my friend and fellow bhp-ian Jacob Rajan helped me because he travels very frequently to Ooty. His suggestion was to stay in Theppakkadu Tamilnadu hotels on the way but there was no provision of online/phone reservation for that. But according to him the place is worth staying. It is not a porsche setup, but is decent and located in the middle of the jungle. Only thing to be noted that it is managed by Government. As Theppakadu govt hotels was not avialable, the next option was to book in Jungle Safari Lodges in bandipur. Booked a one night stay there. In this resort the rates are per person not per room. So it is little bit on a higher side. Now for ooty a good resort/hotel search started. My friend jacob also suggested me to stay near Avalanche as OOty is very much crowded and we will not enjoy the stay there. Our aim was to have a relaxed vacation. From tripadvisor initially thought of going for Sherlock, Savoy, Lakeview etc. Before booking thought of asking my friends circle as well. And a name bounces from all the angles .. "Red Hill Nature resort". ( http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Revi...amil_Nadu.html ) So without any doubt booked that as well. Here one good thing is that the rates are inclusive of food as well. This resort remains closed during the month of June and July on account of heavy rain and the condition of the roads leading to the resort. There is no online credit/debit card payment option avialable here. You need to do a fund transfer to owner's bank account for booking.(We booked the hotels in the month of May itself).
Here is what the itinerary we planned
Day1 --> Hyderabad to Banaglore
Day 2 --> Bangalore flower show in Lal Bagh
Day 3 --> Bangalore to Mysore , Roam around in Mangalore, go further stay in Bandipur.
Day 4 --> Jungle Safari in Badipur Forest. Start to Ooty in the noon. Reach Ooty in the evening.
Day 5 --> Explore Ooty.
Day 6 --> Stay in Resort.
Day 7 --> Drive Back to Bangalore
Day 8 --> Bangalore to Hyderabad.
Key takeaway’s from the trip
  • For cleaning the windshield use newspaper.
  • Jungle safari in the Jungle lodges opt for both Safari’s
  • If you are staying in Red hill resort in ooty and want to roam around in ooty, first take a hotel in Ooty for one day, then go to Redhill resort.
  • The Diesel from the shell make your engine more smoother.
  • In MasinaGudi Ooty route try to drive in the lowest gear as possible.
  • The low end torque of Fiesta Classic is very helpful in the hilly roads.
  • For Electronic city – Whitefiled route always take the varthur road.
Fuel-o-Meter for the trip
The car was Fiesta Classic 1.4 Sxi
Hyderabad --> Bangalore Mileage = 14.22 (660 KM)
Bangalore --> Ooty --> Bangalore Mileage = 15.56 (621 KM)
Bangalore --> Hyderabad Mileage = 15.52 (641 KM)
Total KM covered was 1921 (Except the roaming in Ooty, there we had the Bolero of the resort and we covered almost 170 KM )
Day 1
On the week, we were about to start from Hyderabad, the decision of Telengana bifurcation announced and that started creating issues in Seemandhra region. So initially we thought of starting on 9th Morning. But in Kurnool, Ananthapur and Penukonda the protestors were blocking the roads. So changed the plan and decided to start by 8th evening after the office hours. We know how difficult to drive in night because no one would be putting low beam on highway. As we didn’t have any other option, we started by 6:30 PM from Hyderabad. There was heavy traffic in the road, was not able to take speed at all. By 7:30 could able to reach Jadcherla only. Had dinner from a restaurant from there. Very good food. Started from there at 8:15. Till Kurnool the dividers had good plants and hence there were no issues of high beam of Vehicles coming from the other side. After Kurnool, there was no proper planting on the divider and it was very tough to drive because of high beam. After the dinner break we stopped in between just to clean the windscreen, because of the bugs that was falling on to the windscreen. For people who don’t know how to tackle this easily, carry enough newspaper to clean windscreen. Just apply a little water on to the glass and clean it with newspaper. The toll rate has skyrocketed to keep the inflation inline. There is at least 15-25% increase on average. As usual from Nandi hills junction took the Whitefield deviation and took the Hoskote road. Beware of very huge speed breaks on the way without proper marking also. If your car is not a SUV then take over the bump in criss-cross way. Reached my sister’s house at 1:30 AM.
Day 2
In Lalbagh there was a flower show going on so thought of seeing that. Started from whitefields at 12:00 noon and thought of having lunch from a Kerala restaurant in BTM. But when we reached at the place it was closed. So then had to go to Forum to have the food. Finished the food by 3:30 and started to Lalbagh. Welcome to the crowded city, it took more than one hour to reach Lalbagh. When we reached there, the next surprise, there is no parking area. I had to roam around nearby area to get a parking area. While going back to Whitefield the traffic was not that heavy, we could reach
whitefields in 1 hour.
Some Photographs from the Flower Show
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Day 3
Started from Whitefield at 10:45, took the route electronic city  nice road to get in to the Mysore road. As usual Mysore road was very much crowded. Stopped in KFC just before Mandya for lunch and a very professional service I ever had from a KFC restaurant. Spent almost 45 minutes in the restaurant and after the short break continued the journey towards Mysore. Reached Mysore at 3:00 PM. First visited St. Philomina’s church. Then went to Zoo. Kiddies are very much enthusiastic to see the animals. Wanted to get the battery operated cars, but there were huge rush because of Ramzan Holiday and we couldn’t get one. Just roamed around only for 1 hour in the Zoo and came out.
On the way back from Mysore to Gundulpet, we could spot some reckless truck drivers. (My dad used to say that truck drivers were reckless, but I never had any such experiences till this day). Very much fearsome. They overtake, when there are vehicles coming in the opposite side, and either the opposite vehicle has to go out of the road or the vehicle which they are overtaking has to go out of the road. Near to Gundulpet we could see a very well maintained sun flower garden and the guys are charging 30 rupees for taking snaps.
At 7:00 PM we reached in Jungle Safari Lodge. The staffs are really professional, the staffs started calling me from morning itself and informing us about the Jungle Safari that is happening in the evening 3:30. But we thought that anyway there would be another Safari in the morning. But in the evening we realized that it was a real miss, because the team in the evening could spot a big tiger. The hospitality was really nice. The cottage was very neat, nice, and have all the facilities except TV and Fridge. (A/C we don’t need in this climate, so not mentioning that). The other thing is that, there are lot of mosquitos in the night and our kids are allergic to mosquito repellents. The food was ok, not great. The best thing we liked was the banana they supplied it was really naturally ripen. The night temperature was around 20 degree celcius.
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Day 4
The Morning Safari starts at 6:15 AM so for that we have to get up at 5:00. Getting up at that early in a very cold morning is tough. The vehicles were ready by 6:15 itself and the vehicles started from the resort at sharp 6:30. The journey was really good spotted couple of animals including Elephants (Including a Tusker), Bison, Lot of Deer, A wild duck, lot of rare birds, Pea cocks, etc. The safari ended by 9:30. The breakfast was also good. The spread was good. We checked out from the resort by 10:30.
For Ooty, we have taken the Masinagudi route. The road was really crowded and when because of some people who are really driving slow, the drive was really testing patience. When we started cimbing up the hill from Masinagudi, that became even tougher. Seems like the drives who are not used to hilly driving were the culprits. There are 36 hairpin bends, in a very steep road. This is the first time I am driving through a way there these much hair bends in a steepy to add on to the recipe , the road is very narrow. In most the places, two cars also can’t give sides. On the way I could see that numerous cars were stopped because of the engines overheated and had seen two cars with radiators blasted and the coolant was flowing through the road. I think the reason could be people are riding only in first gear with higher RPM throughout the ride. People who are not used to hilly driving, here are my tips, if you can’t move to lower gears, then keep the RPM as low as possible else down shift the gears whenever possible. In this road, Fiesta (classic), has given me the best of the low end torque from the engine. I could able to overtake almost all the cars, because the turbo kicks in at 1200 RPM and could easily drive uphill in 2nd or 3rd gear. Kudos to Ford Engineers.
Reached Ooty at 12:45 noon. As the resort which we selected was away from Ooty and only SUV’s can go to that resort. So we have to keep our car in Ooty (It is a place of the resort people as well). So we have started waiting for resort people’s car. Their Bolero was broken down and we had to wait till 3:00 PM. This was the worst part in the trip. In the mean time we tried of other SUV’s that we could hire from Ooty and no one was ready to come to that area of resort, because of the condition of the road. To give you how bad is the condition of the road, the last 7 KM took almost 1 hour. So we reached resort only by 5:00 PM and kids were really tired. But the climate was really energizing. The temperature is about 4-5 degrees lower than Ooty urban temperature. And to our luck, there were no rains either on the way or at Ooty. The write up of resort is below.
It is placed in a locality which will give you whatever you expect from a hill station. It is placed in the midst of tea estate with the front view of dam. The climate is much better than what you get in the urban Ooty. When we visited the minimum temperature was almost 4-5 degree celcius than Ooty. People who loves trucking you have good options here. You can truck up to a hill which is just behind the resort. That will take almost 4+ hours. You can go down to the dam that is in front of the resort, that will be a 2+ hours trekking. They arrange a trip to Poruthi Mundu dam which is 15 Km from the resort. That is worth going. You can spot multiple animals on your way. This is going through a thick forest. In poruthi Mundu you can see a good pine forest as well. Poruthi mundu is much chiller than red hill resorts.

Now coming back to the downsides. If you have plans to roam around in Ooty, then better stay one day in ooty complete your roaming there, then go to red hill resorts. Two reasons for this. First , one way travel is around 2 hours and secondly, if you don't have a proper SUV, you will not able to take your car to the resort and one way trip, the resort charges you 1200 and for to and from you need to pay 2400. The other thing is the food is strictly average. Especially the snacks in the evening is just biscuits and a cup of tea.

Photos of Day 4
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Day 5.
Wanted to take Kids to boat ride, toy train ride and botanical garden. As I mentioned above to reach Otty it takes around 2 hours from the resort. So started from resort at 9:00 AM. The places we visited were in the order :-
Doddapet – Doesn’t feel anything new, for us the pine forest on the way felt better than the top.
Rose Garden – As the rains were pouring heavily no flowers were there. Didn’t even spend 10 minutes there.
Next plan was to go for toy train, but when we reached station at 1:30 for 2:00 o’ clock , train, the tickets were sold out.
Boat ride. – Here is the place where kiddies enjoyed a lot. But the water is really stinking.
Botanical garden – Here also the case was no different. The glass house was deserted with no flowers and overall amount of flowers were very less.
Toy train – For getting the toy train, we had to drive down to Coonoor and caught the toy train from there.
In the evening thought of having the snacks from the Aaryas vegetarian restaurant. The cleanliness was pathetic.
Reached back resort only by 8:45 PM.

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Day 6
Morning roamed around in the areas of the resort farm land itself. Around 11:00 clock, the resort people took us to the Emerald dam that is situated in front of the resort. It is almost like 2 KM from the resort. Kiddies were really thrilled to fishing for the first time. The trekking was really engaging. We had to cross multiple farm land areas of tea, carrot, cabbage, potato, etc. Spent almost 1 hour in the dam lake and to add on to the good experience, the drizzling started. As it was steep up-way on the way back. The drizzling added some interesting stuff to that, as the muddy walkways started slipping. We had to carry the kiddies as well. So tired when we reached back the resort.
After the lunch we started to a drive to PorthiMundu dam and the very dense forest. This was much better than Bandipur Jungle safari, just because that this drive is going through thick forest. The PorthiMundu dam is placed at a very high altitude than ooty and as a result the temperature is really freezing. When we went the temperature was around 8 degree Celsius. We reached PorthiMundu dam at around 5:00 PM. On the way we spotted a couple of Sambar deers, they are very big in size. We also went to the pine forest where in the older days lot of shooting used to happen. An example is Roja, where they shot it as Kashmir. On the way we learned another good thing about engineering. The water of PorthiMundu dam is being taken to a powerhouse which is located near Emerald dam. (This is possible because of the heavy altitude difference between these two dams and because of this the water is getting re-used for energy generation). The details of about multi-level hydro electric energy generation can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundah_...ic_power_house. For me this was the best event in the entire trip.

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Day 7
This was the check-out date from the resort. And our aim was to reach Bangalore at the earliest. So started from the resort at 9:00 AM. Wanted to take Ooty Varky and chocolates. (Chocolates we got from modern stores which is located very near to botanical garden. The bakery name I have forgotten.) We wanted to take the Masinagudi road on the way back, but police official stopped me in the turning saying that the vehicle movement in ooty - Masinagudi direction. After some time he asked for money for letting us to go in the same road. If you have TN registration vehicle, they will allow you. Only non-TN vehicles they were stopping. After giving them the demanded money, they allowed us to take that route. If else we had to take the Gudalur road that is 30 KM longer.
We wanted to avoid Msore and Nanajangode towns so we took the Kanakapura road. The route is this https://www.google.co.in/maps?saddr=...OzFAEkN2iWl6Kw . For all the drivers who are not familiar with this road, I seriously recommend a GPS device, because the road has lot of turnings that will miss if you don’t use a GPS navigation. The road is good with very narrow roads in small villages. (Narrow means, only one car can pass through those roads). The vehicle density is very less on this route. And another thing in this route could not able to find any food joints.
Reached Nice road exit at 4:45 PM and GMaps suggested me this alternate route to reach Whitefield, ( https://www.google.co.in/maps?saddr=...ra=ls&t=m&z=14 )but I thought of using the normall ORR through Marathahalli because I thought the traffic would be less in this time. But my assumptions were very incorrect, to go out from the Electronic city express way it took more than 1 hour. And we reached Whitefields only by 8:15 PM. The toughest lap in the entire trip.
Day 8
Had a very sound sleep till 9:00 AM. Because of the decision of Telengana bifurcation announced and that started creating issues in Seemandhra region decided to start from Bangalore by 4:00 PM. Had a good drive all the way. Only issue was throughout the drive it was drizzling and hadn’t taken any break as well. Reached Hyderabad at 10:30 PM .. And with this almost 2000 KM trip was ended with God’s grace.
Attached Thumbnails
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Old 9th September 2013, 22:38   #2
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re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Anumod, Very nice travelogue. Very much detailed and you have given so much useful information on the roads and the stay.

While returning to Hyd you took only 6.5 hrs to reach here. Is it generally the ususal time that it takes or is it you drove very fast?

Once again thank you for the wonderful travelogue and Photos.

- Sai
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Old 10th September 2013, 09:43   #3
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re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Thanks anumod for the account.
Really appreciate the feed back on Redhills resort.

How much did they charge you for the Porthimund trip. I believe the roads are in shambles that side. Did you see all that penstocks carrying water down to the powerhouse and the innumerable hairpins that way. Did you go from Avalanche to Porthimund or did you take some other route?
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Old 10th September 2013, 11:28   #4
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re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

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Originally Posted by Vihari View Post
Anumod, Very nice travelogue. Very much detailed and you have given so much useful information on the roads and the stay.

While returning to Hyd you took only 6.5 hrs to reach here. Is it generally the ususal time that it takes or is it you drove very fast?


- Sai
In this stretch, I haven't taken a break so 6.5 hours is kind of running time. So average speed was less than 100.

Quote:
Originally Posted by laluks View Post
Thanks anumod for the account.
Really appreciate the feed back on Redhills resort.

How much did they charge you for the Porthimund trip. I believe the roads are in shambles that side. Did you see all that penstocks carrying water down to the powerhouse and the innumerable hairpins that way. Did you go from Avalanche to Porthimund or did you take some other route?
We stayed in Emerald and we took the Emerald route. The road was not that bad and the charges were 900
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Old 10th September 2013, 12:07   #5
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re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

First of all congrats on your trip and thanks for the detailed travelogue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
First question was where to stay and how should be the itinerary. For that one of my friend and fellow bhp-ian Jacob Rajan helped me because he travels very frequently to Ooty. His suggestion was to stay in Theppakkadu Tamilnadu hotels on the way but there was no provision of online/phone reservation for that. But according to him the place is worth staying. It is not a porsche setup, but is decent and located in the middle of the jungle.

My friend jacob also suggested me to stay near Avalanche as OOty is very much crowded and we will not enjoy the stay there. Our aim was to have a relaxed vacation.
Most of my tips were from this prestigious forum itself and I take them handy every time. Hotel Tamilnadu is a value choice for hard core nature lovers as it has the benefit of being inside in a locked forest for a complete night with no other vehicles or disturbance .


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Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Key takeaway’s from the trip

Fuel-o-Meter for the trip
Thanks for the tips. And you got a 15Kmpl overall including the hill climbs and high-way sprints. Thanks to the TDCI engine, feeling happy about it after using my Fusion TDCI.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Some Photographs from the Flower Show
I used to roam around with my cam during my Bangalore stay. Please post more and more clicks, I miss this event badly.


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Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Wanted to get the battery operated cars, but there were huge rush because of Ramzan Holiday and we couldn’t get one. Just roamed around only for 1 hour in the Zoo and came out.
Mysore Zoo is quite large and roaming with kids on a sunny day is not so easy. Electric cart is worth it especially while travelling with parents and kids. Saves time with a capsule tour.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Near to Gundulpet we could see a very well maintained sun flower garden and the guys are charging 30 rupees for taking snaps.
Feast for eyes. Trying to include this in my upcoming Bangalore trip by taking Kanakpura - Chamrajnagar - Bandipur - Nilambur route for return. Hows the overall road condition?


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
But we thought that anyway there would be another Safari in the morning. But in the evening we realized that it was a real miss, because the team in the evening could spot a big tiger.
Oh! Thats no doubt a miss. But you can do a repeat trip next time while you drive home for longer vacation. That too on the new EcoSport .


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Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Day 4
The Morning Safari starts at 6:15 AM The journey was really good spotted couple of animals including Elephants (Including a Tusker), Bison, Lot of Deer, A wild duck, lot of rare birds, Pea cocks, etc.
Thats a good list for a safari. Fortunate ones spot some big cats though. Not seen that duck in any of my travel. And is that a wild cat in the pic?


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
The resort charges you 1200 and for to and from you need to pay 2400.
That looks an expensive affair for people intending to cover whole of Ooty during a trip. Better to opt for a easily reachable place of stay.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Next plan was to go for toy train, but when we reached station at 1:30 for 2:00 o’ clock , train, the tickets were sold out.
Boat ride. – Here is the place where kiddies enjoyed a lot. But the water is really stinking.
Botanical garden – Here also the case was no different. The glass house was deserted with no flowers and overall amount of flowers were very less.
Is there any provision for booking tickets in advance? Not sure if IRCTC offers reservation for Ooty train.

Pykara lake is anyday recommended over Ooty lake, I thought you would have taken the Gudalur route in return.

Sad to know that garden is no longer maintaned well. It was a charm during my childhood trips to Ooty. And flowershow was outstanding during those olden days.


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Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Toy train – For getting the toy train, we had to drive down to Coonoor and caught the toy train from there.
Not seen any clicks, please include them.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
Emerald dam that is situated in front of the resort. It is almost like 2 KM from the resort.
Awesome view of the dam from the resort. This view is the very good reason why the tariff looks worth it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
We wanted to take the Masinagudi road on the way back, but police official stopped me in the turning saying that the vehicle movement in ooty - Masinagudi direction. After some time he asked for money for letting us to go in the same road. If you have TN registration vehicle, they will allow you. Only non-TN vehicles they were stopping. After giving them the demanded money, they allowed us to take that route. If else we had to take the Gudalur road that is 30 KM longer.
Including Gudalur route in one way adds few more view points in the list. Pykara dam and boating is worth trying. And couple of small waterfalls, shooting locations etc. Also Pykara route is not steep like Masinagudi.

Last edited by jacs : 10th September 2013 at 12:11.
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Old 14th September 2013, 17:30   #6
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Re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post

Thanks for the tips. And you got a 15Kmpl overall including the hill climbs and high-way sprints. Thanks to the TDCI engine, feeling happy about it after using my Fusion TDCI.
The pickup in Fusion will be a little lower side just because of the Heavier nature of the car and on high speed the aerodynamic shape of Fiesta Gets an advantage over boxy design of Fusion.

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Originally Posted by jacs View Post
I used to roam around with my cam during my Bangalore stay. Please post more and more clicks, I miss this event badly.
Very little pictures were taken from the show.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Mysore Zoo is quite large and roaming with kids on a sunny day is not so easy. Electric cart is worth it especially while travelling with parents and kids. Saves time with a capsule tour.
True, but we were unlucky to get a vehicle because of the heavy rush of Ramzan

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Feast for eyes. Trying to include this in my upcoming Bangalore trip by taking Kanakpura - Chamrajnagar - Bandipur - Nilambur route for return. Hows the overall road condition?
Road condition is good. The only issue is that the village sections are very narrow and some places you have the width to drive only one Vehicle (even two cars are not possible)

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Oh! Thats no doubt a miss. But you can do a repeat trip next time while you drive home for longer vacation. That too on the new EcoSport .
Let's see

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Thats a good list for a safari. Fortunate ones spot some big cats though. Not seen that duck in any of my travel. And is that a wild cat in the pic?
This is the first time I am also seeing a wild duck. Looks like a wild cat, caught it behind the forest area in the resort itself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
That looks an expensive affair for people intending to cover whole of Ooty during a trip. Better to opt for a easily reachable place of stay.
Infact very expensive. The major attraction of that place is the location. Evn the rooms and services were not value for 7500 resort.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Is there any provision for booking tickets in advance? Not sure if IRCTC offers reservation for Ooty train.
I think it is not there. Searched a lot for that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Pykara lake is anyday recommended over Ooty lake, I thought you would have taken the Gudalur route in return.
The folks in Ooty recommended that Pykara lake is not at all maintained well and hence I was not looking for that option

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Sad to know that garden is no longer maintaned well. It was a charm during my childhood trips to Ooty. And flowershow was outstanding during those olden days.
I think it is just because of the incessant rain in the last 3 months. And they will bring it up in the next couple of months.


Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Not seen any clicks, please include them.
The Forum prevents adding more than 30 images per post , now adding in this post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Awesome view of the dam from the resort. This view is the very good reason why the tariff looks worth it.
Yes, that is just the reason. The movie Roajavan was completely shot in this resort.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Including Gudalur route in one way adds few more view points in the list. Pykara dam and boating is worth trying. And couple of small waterfalls, shooting locations etc. Also Pykara route is not steep like Masinagudi.
The reason I was not opting for Gudalur was that I have traveled through that route, when I went to Nilambur, Masinagudi route is more thrilling to drive compared to Gudalur.

Below are some of the other snaps that I could not post it in the first post
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Ooty Lake
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Botanical Garden
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Botanical Garden
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Train Starting from Conoor
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Train taking a sharp turn
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Coming out of a tunnel (Chayya Chayya Spot)
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A rare bird near the resort
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Family temple which is in the resort
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A view from back of the resort
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These are the kind of roads on the way to Porthimundu
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This is Booby, one of the dog in Resort. Very friendly and obedient
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Trying out some hands on Fishing
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A water stream origin behind the resort
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Paper boats are struggling to Sail
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Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau-power-house.jpg
This is the top view of Emerald Power House
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Roja movie was shot here in this pine forest
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Sign Board inside the forest area
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Last edited by anumod : 14th September 2013 at 17:59.
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Old 14th September 2013, 17:50   #7
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Re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Greatly enjoyed your travelogue with superb pics. I think the normal running time between Hyderabad to Bangalore and vice versa is about 6 to 7.5 hours, depending on the speed maintained.

Mod Note: Post edited. Team-BHP strongly discourages unsafe driving practices that put yourself and other road users at risk. Please do NOT post about illegally high speeds on public roads.

We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further.

Last edited by Rudra Sen : 15th September 2013 at 07:12.
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Old 19th September 2013, 14:46   #8
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Re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Thanks for the snaps. Looks like the resort is completely detached from crowd. How lovely will be to stay there for 2 nights just without doing anything else? But 7500 per night and 2400 for the trip to resort is exorbitant.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anumod View Post
The folks in Ooty recommended that Pykara lake is not at all maintained well and hence I was not looking for that option
Thats sad to know. I visited about 5 years back and it was untouched by the plastic waste and dirt.
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Old 19th September 2013, 15:00   #9
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Re: Exploring the Nilgiris - An escape from Deccan Plateau

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacs View Post
Thanks for the snaps. Looks like the resort is completely detached from crowd. How lovely will be to stay there for 2 nights just without doing anything else? But 7500 per night and 2400 for the trip to resort is exorbitant.
2 days you need in the resort. One day for trekking to dam and the next day for roaming around in Porthi mund etc.

But there are activities for the 3rd day also, if you like trekking. There is a mountain just behind the resort, the trekking to that takes around 6-8 hours.
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