Hyderabad-Bengaluru-Mysore-Ooty RED SWIFT'06 me and wife!

nandans2005 · 2nd January 2010, 16:04

i wonder how you could enter the forest(bandipur) area, since i understand that this particular road is closed for traffic during nights or is it been relaxed now, i wonder.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by nandans2005

i wonder how you could enter the forest(bandipur) area, since i understand that this particular road is closed for traffic during nights or is it been relaxed now, i wonder.

we entered the forest area in the evening , it was daylight and we had no problems. the area is closed from 9pm - 6am as i already mentioned in my posts i guess. thanks.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 16:44

A couple of negotiations later with the hotel owners, we landed at jayasudha lodge. The rates were reasonable 500-600 rupees and the rooms were warm enough. Best thing was that they provided parking for our car. Good! We checked in at around 9-9.30 pm and went to Muneer bhai’s kebab corner near the hotel. Good tandoori chicken awaited us there and we made short work of that. My wife who is a veggie had some fried rice. Nice! After a cup of hot ooty road side tea we went for a walk and saw that except for the eating joints everything was closed. Hmmmm..! Went back to the hotel and slept.

Next day early morning after having deliciously soft idlis in a tamil hotel we went straight to the botanical garden. Felt like we were in Kashmir, it was really beautiful! The air was cold and the light sunshine kept us warm enough. Spent a good deal of time at the park, kept clicking away at everything we saw and by the time we got to the Italian garden section our camera’s battery had given up! We forgot to charge the battery! Rushed back to the hotel, spent a few moments charging the battery and also cleaning our stomachs because of the infamous home made chocolates we had. Must have had at least half a kilo in the morning itself! Also did some shopping near the park, my wife picked some nice cheap stuff and really small apples, which we later fed to the monkeys!!!

Headed straight to Doddabetta peak (highest south Indian peak) from the hotel and the road wasn’t so smooth. The view was spectacular even with the fog and mist. The telescope tower was closed because of the fog and the person there said we’ll open the scopes when the weather clears up, I asked when would that happen?? He said “SUMMER”, I simply climbed down and we had a couple of ice creams! Brrrrrr!
Also went to the lower view point and we were tired after all the walking in the botanical gardens and here! Headed back downhill and stopped for some shopping and veg puffs at a store in the mountains. Bought a bottle of “PURE NILGIRI HONEY” and I’m pretty sure it wasnt pure!

Next was the Tea Factory! It is south india’s highest elevation tea factory and we had a good time there learning and stuff! We also played with the leaves in the big blow dryers!!
After buying a kilo of cardamom tea headed back downhill. It was time for my begum’s most favorite thing in the world!! SHOPPING!

Went to the charring cross, parked our car and went our separate ways.. shopping and internet café! You can guess who went where! An hour later we met and she had her hands full of bags!! Emptied them in the car and went for a walk around the charring cross and searched for some more chocolates!!! Hmmm….

She did some more shopping and I bought chocolates, more than 2 kilos of chocolates of all kinds! Phew! The chocolates we bought at King’s bakery a 5 min. walk from charring cross.

It was evening then and we went for some food, she had Rajma roti and I got my hands on some more grilled chicken! After that we went to sleep. Had to get up early as bandipur was on my mind and the early morning safari!

Next… return journey – Bandipur safari, Mysore again and more shopping at Bangalore! Hehe..

please bear with me.. pics would follow soon.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 18:03

guys i forgot to write about this..

our car was parked on the road in the morning in ooty ready to go sight-seeing. A couple of minutes later i see this on my car written by some local girls "Beautiful place is only ooty"

and then a while later i saw this written below.. "yes, u r right" the last pic displays this!!

an hour or so later.. someone cleaned it all up!

straightdrive · 2nd January 2010, 18:38

Good write-up and pics, Unoczar.

What was the driving time between Mysore and Ooty?

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by straightdrive

Good write-up and pics, Unoczar.

What was the driving time between Mysore and Ooty?

thanks sd,

i'm sorry cant tell you exact times, but we left mysore at around 3-4pm and reached ooty at around 9pm. distance is just 130KM if you take the 36 hair pin route which we did, but driving is quite a lot if you consider the small distance with its terrain through the jungle and climb up the mountains. we also stopped a few times in between at coffee day and bandipur etc.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 22:20

Pictures from ooty! Hope you like them.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 22:41

Some more ooty pictures, have fun. comments welcome.

unoczar · 2nd January 2010, 22:46

last few ooty pics.. clicked a lot, posting only a few! hehe..

Fordmanchau · 4th January 2010, 23:11

Hi Unoczar,
sorry for the delayed response. let me share my pics of the mysore palace in night. Here are they!!!
Hope you like it.
Hey that cow's snap has come out good. The cow is real glad that you are clicking her.All the photos have come out well.

unoczar · 5th January 2010, 00:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Hi Unoczar,
sorry for the delayed response. let me share my pics of the mysore palace in night. Here are they!!!
Hope you like it.
Hey that cow's snap has come out good. The cow is real glad that you are clicking her.All the photos have come out well.

hello ford,

thanks for the pics.. they are awesome, especially the last two. i'm sorry too about delaying my thread... will complete tomorrow if possible, more stuff to share. I really hope you guys like my thread, i know its not up to the TBHP standards

hehe...

PS: i copied one of your pics to my desktop.. i hope u dont mind. thanks

unoczar · 5th January 2010, 10:02

It is almost freezing at 5am, but we still get up and prepare to leave ooty. Not a soul is awake at that time and in that cold. We pack our stuff and climb down to the lobby and everybody’s asleep. I put our stuff in the car and check to see if the cold has affected its engine. One twitch at the ignition and the engine comes to life, Great!

I go back and wake up one of the boys at the hotel and hand over the keys to our room and said goodbye! Begum is unhappy to leave ooty because of its beauty but also happy to leave because of the cold. Let me tell you, she was not able to bear it! I switch ON the AC!! And she screams and almost involuntarily I twist it to heater mode and then she settles down.

Soon, we start the descend of the Nilgiris and in no time we are at the small check post near the waterfall (forgot the name). The fellow at the post says he wont open until its 6AM!! I argue with him saying that its soon going to be 6 and we have to hurry to Bandipur which is quite far, OPEN the gates! He says NO! I come back to the car and decide to wait! We could hear the waterfall but could not see anything, it was dark and cloudy and cold!

After waiting for about 15 minutes, a blue maruti van with TN registration comes up to the check post waves at the guard and he opens the post for him!!!! I was like, what is this all about?? I wave my hand at him through the window of my car and he also allows me to go through! Non-sense fellow!

Without a word I floored my swift but had to brake soon as steep descend had started! Soon we were going down the hair pins one by one. We stopped at a view point on the way and clicked a couple of photos as it was daybreak by now. After some time we had said good bye to ooty (not for the last time i hope) and entered the jungle area. This time around we were here in day time and lots of deers greeted us! We saw hundreds of deers, all kinds! With horns, without horns, fighting, running… deers doing all kinds of stuff!

At about 7.30 we were at Bandipur wildlife sanctuary and got 2 tickets for the safari. I was excited, my wife scared but we waited for more people to join us because they would probably run when the bus is full. Soon, it was time for it and it was anything but exciting for me! No tigers in the tiger reserve, we only saw one pug mark! We just saw deers and more deers. A couple of peacocks and monkeys and the safari was over. Driver said that you should come in the evening 4-6pm, that’s when you’ll see tigers. X-(

Disappointed, we started for mysore.. again! I wanted to visit Tipu’s city! YAY! That would be some saving grace. Suddenly there was change in plans and we decided to stay a day in Mysore to visit the KRS dam and brindavan gardens today and Tipu tomorrow on our way to Bangalore. After a bit of a struggle to find KRS route, we were there and I must say the place was well maintained by the authorities. It was day time now and the sun was belting down! From ooty’s freezing temperatures to Mysore’s hot sun at about noon, we were sweating and the heat was unbearable! We saw KRS from outside and the big fountain and decided to stay nearby and got a good clean place for about 700rs.

Well rested, we went to the gardens before sunset and it was nice and beautiful. First we visited the fish museum, saw some wonderful fishes and some usual ones. Went through the bridge on the river and into the gardens. Enjoyed the famous musical fountain show and then came to our lodge and slept. Tipu tomorrow!

Fordmanchau · 5th January 2010, 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by unoczar

hello ford,

thanks for the pics.. they are awesome, especially the last two. i'm sorry too about delaying my thread... will complete tomorrow if possible, more stuff to share. I really hope you guys like my thread, i know its not up to the TBHP standards

hehe...
PS: i copied one of your pics to my desktop.. i hope u dont mind. thanks

Didn't mind at all , otherwise wouldn't have shared it, hehe..

.
And don't worry about the standards, it's more about sharing.

straightdrive · 5th January 2010, 13:27

That pic of the cow is fantastic - the expression on its face is almost human!

unoczar · 5th January 2010, 14:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by straightdrive

That pic of the cow is fantastic - the expression on its face is almost human!

funny, how animals can be sometimes, i just noticed her teeth myself after reading your reply...

2nd January 2010, 16:04	#16
nandans2005 BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore. Posts: 640 Thanked: 42 Times	i wonder how you could enter the forest(bandipur) area, since i understand that this particular road is closed for traffic during nights or is it been relaxed now, i wonder.
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 16:44	#18
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	In OOTY! A couple of negotiations later with the hotel owners, we landed at jayasudha lodge. The rates were reasonable 500-600 rupees and the rooms were warm enough. Best thing was that they provided parking for our car. Good! We checked in at around 9-9.30 pm and went to Muneer bhai’s kebab corner near the hotel. Good tandoori chicken awaited us there and we made short work of that. My wife who is a veggie had some fried rice. Nice! After a cup of hot ooty road side tea we went for a walk and saw that except for the eating joints everything was closed. Hmmmm..! Went back to the hotel and slept. Next day early morning after having deliciously soft idlis in a tamil hotel we went straight to the botanical garden. Felt like we were in Kashmir, it was really beautiful! The air was cold and the light sunshine kept us warm enough. Spent a good deal of time at the park, kept clicking away at everything we saw and by the time we got to the Italian garden section our camera’s battery had given up! We forgot to charge the battery! Rushed back to the hotel, spent a few moments charging the battery and also cleaning our stomachs because of the infamous home made chocolates we had. Must have had at least half a kilo in the morning itself! Also did some shopping near the park, my wife picked some nice cheap stuff and really small apples, which we later fed to the monkeys!!! Headed straight to Doddabetta peak (highest south Indian peak) from the hotel and the road wasn’t so smooth. The view was spectacular even with the fog and mist. The telescope tower was closed because of the fog and the person there said we’ll open the scopes when the weather clears up, I asked when would that happen?? He said “SUMMER”, I simply climbed down and we had a couple of ice creams! Brrrrrr! Also went to the lower view point and we were tired after all the walking in the botanical gardens and here! Headed back downhill and stopped for some shopping and veg puffs at a store in the mountains. Bought a bottle of “PURE NILGIRI HONEY” and I’m pretty sure it wasnt pure! Next was the Tea Factory! It is south india’s highest elevation tea factory and we had a good time there learning and stuff! We also played with the leaves in the big blow dryers!! After buying a kilo of cardamom tea headed back downhill. It was time for my begum’s most favorite thing in the world!! SHOPPING! Went to the charring cross, parked our car and went our separate ways.. shopping and internet café! You can guess who went where! An hour later we met and she had her hands full of bags!! Emptied them in the car and went for a walk around the charring cross and searched for some more chocolates!!! Hmmm…. She did some more shopping and I bought chocolates, more than 2 kilos of chocolates of all kinds! Phew! The chocolates we bought at King’s bakery a 5 min. walk from charring cross. It was evening then and we went for some food, she had Rajma roti and I got my hands on some more grilled chicken! After that we went to sleep. Had to get up early as bandipur was on my mind and the early morning safari! Next… return journey – Bandipur safari, Mysore again and more shopping at Bangalore! Hehe.. please bear with me.. pics would follow soon.
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 18:03	#19
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	beautiful place is only ooty! guys i forgot to write about this.. our car was parked on the road in the morning in ooty ready to go sight-seeing. A couple of minutes later i see this on my car written by some local girls "Beautiful place is only ooty" and then a while later i saw this written below.. "yes, u r right" the last pic displays this!! an hour or so later.. someone cleaned it all up!
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 18:38	#20
straightdrive BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 259 Thanked: 5 Times	Good write-up and pics, Unoczar. What was the driving time between Mysore and Ooty?
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 22:20	#22
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	Ooty Pictures! Pictures from ooty! Hope you like them. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 22:41	#23
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	more ooty pictures! Some more ooty pictures, have fun. comments welcome. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images
	() Thanks

2nd January 2010, 22:46	#24
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	some more ooty pics.. last few ooty pics.. clicked a lot, posting only a few! hehe.. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images
	() Thanks

4th January 2010, 23:11	#25
Fordmanchau Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 1,666 Thanked: 340 Times	sorry for the delayed reply Hi Unoczar, sorry for the delayed response. let me share my pics of the mysore palace in night. Here are they!!! Hope you like it. Hey that cow's snap has come out good. The cow is real glad that you are clicking her.All the photos have come out well. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Fordmanchau : 4th January 2010 at 23:22.
	() Thanks

5th January 2010, 10:02	#27
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	Return trip - OOTY TO MYSORE It is almost freezing at 5am, but we still get up and prepare to leave ooty. Not a soul is awake at that time and in that cold. We pack our stuff and climb down to the lobby and everybody’s asleep. I put our stuff in the car and check to see if the cold has affected its engine. One twitch at the ignition and the engine comes to life, Great! I go back and wake up one of the boys at the hotel and hand over the keys to our room and said goodbye! Begum is unhappy to leave ooty because of its beauty but also happy to leave because of the cold. Let me tell you, she was not able to bear it! I switch ON the AC!! And she screams and almost involuntarily I twist it to heater mode and then she settles down. Soon, we start the descend of the Nilgiris and in no time we are at the small check post near the waterfall (forgot the name). The fellow at the post says he wont open until its 6AM!! I argue with him saying that its soon going to be 6 and we have to hurry to Bandipur which is quite far, OPEN the gates! He says NO! I come back to the car and decide to wait! We could hear the waterfall but could not see anything, it was dark and cloudy and cold! After waiting for about 15 minutes, a blue maruti van with TN registration comes up to the check post waves at the guard and he opens the post for him!!!! I was like, what is this all about?? I wave my hand at him through the window of my car and he also allows me to go through! Non-sense fellow! Without a word I floored my swift but had to brake soon as steep descend had started! Soon we were going down the hair pins one by one. We stopped at a view point on the way and clicked a couple of photos as it was daybreak by now. After some time we had said good bye to ooty (not for the last time i hope) and entered the jungle area. This time around we were here in day time and lots of deers greeted us! We saw hundreds of deers, all kinds! With horns, without horns, fighting, running… deers doing all kinds of stuff! At about 7.30 we were at Bandipur wildlife sanctuary and got 2 tickets for the safari. I was excited, my wife scared but we waited for more people to join us because they would probably run when the bus is full. Soon, it was time for it and it was anything but exciting for me! No tigers in the tiger reserve, we only saw one pug mark! We just saw deers and more deers. A couple of peacocks and monkeys and the safari was over. Driver said that you should come in the evening 4-6pm, that’s when you’ll see tigers. X-( Disappointed, we started for mysore.. again! I wanted to visit Tipu’s city! YAY! That would be some saving grace. Suddenly there was change in plans and we decided to stay a day in Mysore to visit the KRS dam and brindavan gardens today and Tipu tomorrow on our way to Bangalore. After a bit of a struggle to find KRS route, we were there and I must say the place was well maintained by the authorities. It was day time now and the sun was belting down! From ooty’s freezing temperatures to Mysore’s hot sun at about noon, we were sweating and the heat was unbearable! We saw KRS from outside and the big fountain and decided to stay nearby and got a good clean place for about 700rs. Well rested, we went to the gardens before sunset and it was nice and beautiful. First we visited the fish museum, saw some wonderful fishes and some usual ones. Went through the bridge on the river and into the gardens. Enjoyed the famous musical fountain show and then came to our lodge and slept. Tipu tomorrow! Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

5th January 2010, 13:27	#29
straightdrive BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 259 Thanked: 5 Times	That pic of the cow is fantastic - the expression on its face is almost human!
	() Thanks