12th March 2010, 09:40
| #16 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Ooty Walked around Doddabetta (Translates to 'Big mountain' in Kannada) for a while...  People were just clambering up and down wherever there was a pathway and we followed suit :-)  Deciding that we were done with the place, we started walking back towards the car. Came across this row of pedal boats near the ticket counter. I was curious to see if there was a lake of some sort on top of Doddabetta! Asked the ticket counter guy about the boats and he mentioned that someone had dragged all these defunct boats up here as show pieces. They look quite colorful!  Stopped near some wooded area on the way down for a short walk and pics...  Next stop was the 'Tea Factory & Museum' on the way back towards Ooty. The place offers a good view of the entire Ooty town spread out below...  In most of our trips we invariably run into a bus load of school kids!  The Tea factory offers a snapshot of how tea is manufactured, from freshly cut leaves to the brown stuff we buy in boxes...     There was even a mention of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the part it played in the development of the tea industry in the Nilgiris...  The souvenir shops were doing brisk business...  And we bought some samples too...  By the way, they had a shop selling the famous 'Ooty Chocolates' too. Bought samples of a few varieties for taste.  Next we headed down towards Ooty town, towards our next stop... the botanical gardens.  Stopped at a hotel enroute for lunch. Saw this cute little horse catching a quick nap.  A picturesque church...  A soccer match in progress...  A scene from the footpath close to the Botanical gardens...  Parked the car and headed to the gardens. (Atrocious parking fees!)  Some pics from inside the Botanical Gardens...         There is a model 'Toda hut' near the entrance. The Toda tribe were one of the original inhabitants of the Nilgiri hills.  These pics from the late 1800s show a Toda family and a Toda mund (village)...  (Pic Courtesy: British Library) Contd... |
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12th March 2010, 10:04
| #17 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Ooty & Coonoor By the time we were out of the Botanical gardens it was around 5.00pm. Our next stop was to be the 'Rose Garden', we asked a auto-driver for directions to the place and he informed us that this was not the season and there were no roses to be see. Ok, so what next? asked Sangeetha... Hmmm... let us go towards the Ooty lake boat-house then, we can see the 'thread garden' and a quick look at the Ooty lake before calling it a day. Took a quick pic of this sign-board at the taxi stand, to give us an idea of the standard rates for hiring a cab; since we were planning to book one for the next day at Coonoor.  The 'thread garden' is an exhibition of artificial flowers and plants, made with colored thread - wrapped around stiff canvas cloth. Steel or copper wires have been used for the stems and other parts. Apparently the entire garden took a team of artisans around 12 years to complete. The models were made somewhere in Kerala and brought to Ooty as a permanent exhibition. A good amount of effort has gone into making these and the place is definitely worth a quick visit. Especially since it right across the entrance to the Ooty boat house...   Last stop for the day was the Ooty boat house. We had no intentions of going anywhere near the water though!. The lake actually stinks due to the raw sewage from Ooty that flows into the lake. Nevertheless, it is still a popular tourist spot.   There is a mini toy train that runs on a track about 200 meters long, we hopped onto the train for a small joyride alongside the lake!   A group of college kids doing an impromptu dance...  The time was around 6.30pm and we were quite tired. It was time to find our hotel. Lo behold! our hotel was just about a 100 meters away :-)  Drove up to the hotel, checked in, called room service to order a simple dinner and settled down to watch 'Paa' on the telly.  The hotel is located almost right across the road from the Ooty lake boat-house and we had specifically asked for a room on the topmost floor since it offers a good view of the lake area.  By around 10.00pm we decided to call it a night and shut down. Woke up by around 6.00am the next morning to catch a beautiful sunrise on the hills behind the lake.   Got ready, packed a small bag to carry along and set out towards Ooty railway station. Today we'll take the slow train to Coonoor baby! Walked past this 'Hercules Mountain bike park' near the lake road...  One of the highlights of our trip was going to be the ride on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. As the plaque in the Coonoor railway station says, this railway system has been declared as a World heritage site by UNESCO since 2005.  Pic courtesy: Wikipedia More info: Nilgiri Mountain Railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Though the original stretch is from Mettupalyam to Ooty, the train is currently running only between Ooty & Coonoor - after last years landslides disrupted parts of the rail track. Full services are scheduled to start again from sometime in April 2010. Nevertheless, the Ooty-Coonoor section is good enough to give a flavor of the train ride, without actually requiring the 4+ hours that is required for the full stretch. (Ooty to Coonoor is around 18kms and the ride is for around 1.5 hours.) I had read somewhere that the best seats on the train are in the first-class compartment (True!). That is the one that is at the end of the train, away from the engine. From here, you get so see out of the side windows and also the rear windows. The tickets cost me around Rs.125 each and having blocked the tickets a couple of weeks in advance, we had seat numbers 1 & 2. Breakfast for the day was at the Ooty railway canteen...  Settled down to wait for our ride to arrive...  A set of pics found in the mens waiting room...  Finally the train chugged into station...  One by one a number of passengers made a beeline for pics from the guard's station...  Settled down in our seats and waited for the train to move. Took some pics from around the station. Nice uniforms, probably inspired by the Kurinji flowers that bloom once in twelve years on these hills...  At 9.15am sharp, we moved out of the station. The train would take us from Ooty through Lovedale, Ketti, Aruvankadu, Wellington and to Coonoor.  The tracks pass through some really scenic areas...  And a couple of small tunnels along the route...    Lovedale...    Contd... |
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12th March 2010, 10:22
| #18 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| To Coonoor, by Nilgiri Mountain Railway - NMR ! The section from Ooty to Coonoor does not have any inclines, so you don't get to see the cog-gear system on this track...   Ketti...  What is a "Combined fruit and vegetarian tea stall???" I asked Sangeetha.  Aravankadu...   Wellington...  Finally we reached Coonoor!   Passengers waiting for the train :-)  As soon as we exited the station, we were mobbed by a small crowd of taxi-drivers offering to take us around Coonoor. We struck a deal with a Sumo guy for Rs.900/- to cover the main sight-seeing points in Coonoor and drop us back to Ooty by evening. Indicabs are cheaper and if you are visiting on a weekday, you can bargain for a discount on the standard rates. Nevertheless, I prefer paying a 100 or two extra to ensure that we have an enthusiastic cabby and not a grumpy one  If you head towards 'Dolphins nose' view point, most of the important tourist spots are almost along this route. Stopped at a tea-garden for a couple of pics...   A typical touristy thing to do... dress up like tea plantation folks and take get a 'in action' photo clicked.  Walked up to the Lambs rock view point...       Then proceeded towards the 'Dolphin's nose' view point, stopping at Lady Canning's seat(?)   The Catherine falls, as seen from Dolphin's nose view point...    Drove back into Coonoor to visit the 'Sims park' - which is a smaller version of the Ooty botanical gardens.      Contd... |
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12th March 2010, 10:37
| #19 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Coonoor, Ooty , Mudumalai , Bandipur & Bangalore ! Since it was a Monday, the weekend crowds had disappeared and the park was quite empty...  Though the driver was insisting on taking us to a restaurant with 'excellent' meals, we politely refused and instead proceeded towards the 'Mahalakshmi Bhojanalaya', which is just about a 100 mtrs from the park entrance. SImple, but decent food @ Rs.60 per meals...  Post lunch we headed back to Ooty, hanging on to dear life as the driver threw the Sumo around every curve in the road from Coonoor to Ooty. Settled our hotel bill, started the Xing and started our drive back towards Bangalore. Stopped for a couple of pics at the St.Stephen's church. The oldest church in Ooty. A painting of the church from 1851...  Pic courtesy: British Library. St.Stephen's church in 2010...  Stopped at the Govt Museum, only to be told that it was closed for renovation...   The HPF (Hindustan Photo Films) factory, which was once famous for their 'Indu' brand of BW films and X-ray films. I think they still manufacture X-ray films and some specialized photo-films.  Remember, the Bandipur road is shut for night traffic from around 9.00pm, so you need to aim at reaching the check-post by at least 8.00pm if it is a weekend. (Since there can be a long queue of vehicles at the check post.). The shorter Kalhatti ghat road is shut for downward traffic, so we took the longer Gudalur road, which adds around 30kms to the total distance. The Gudalur road is certainly more scenic and easier drive. The road has been newly laid all the way till Gudalur. Some sections of the Gudalur route remind you of a mountain route in the UK or Europe...  Stopped at the 'Shooting Medu' for a few pics. I could faintly see the Mukurthi peak, almost covered by clouds...     From there I stepped on the gas, planning to drive through Mudumalai & Bandipur before sunset.   The 'needle rock' view point near Gudalur (?)   Mudumalai!   More Elephants. A guy in a passing Swift warned us of some elephants that were chasing cars ahead of us. So we stopped for a couple of minutes and proceeded cautiously. Came across a herd that had a small calf in their midst, which explained their aggressive behavior. Did not linger around, just kept moving on...  A peacock waiting to cross the road...  And an Elephant crossing the road...  Sunset in Mudumalai...   More birds...   Since most drivers are busy trying to spot wildlife alongside the road, he/she might not be looking straight ahead at all times. For a moment we thought this peacock was going to get hit... luckily the driver noticed it in time and avoided it.  More spotted deer...  Soon it was too dark to spot anything; so pedal to the metal we crossed Mysore and reached Lokaruchi for a light dinner. Drove nonstop to BLR to reach home by 11.00pm. Spotted this double decker Ace along the way  Overall a nice trip and a great drive! |
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12th March 2010, 11:33
| #20 | ||||||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thanks ! Quote:
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One more option (distances are almost similar.) would be to a trip to Kabini? (Not a hill drive though.) This seems to be the best time for some amazing wildlife spotting. Check out @vinay.pillai's Tlog : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...nd-kabini.html You can also consider a drive towards Coorg (Madikeri & nearby places.). Hill driving will be included and good scenery too. A small suggestion - see if you can get a friend or relative to drive on the way back for hire a driver / cab for your trip from BLR, so that you are fresh and relaxed for your almost 10 hour drive back to Hyd. Quote:
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BTW The Blue Valley resort has a Country Club affiliation and Casa Deep Woods (Not mentioned on the pole with the sign boards) is a Club Mahindra property, so you can try for any good deals through someone who is a member. Last edited by hotstuff : 12th March 2010 at 11:37. | ||||||||||
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12th March 2010, 11:40
| #21 |
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12th March 2010, 11:59
| #22 |
| Senior - BHPian  | very nice coverage. The train ride is really awesome. Its still in my list and could not do the previous 2 times. Both the times, it was stopped when I went  Pictures of those tunnels are stunning. So, seems you had a real blast. And belated wishes for your anniversary |
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12th March 2010, 12:07
| #23 |
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12th March 2010, 12:08
| #24 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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12th March 2010, 12:26
| #25 |
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12th March 2010, 13:03
| #26 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Pune
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12th March 2010, 14:48
| #27 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hyderabad
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| Quote:
And forgot to mention, have been enjoying your pictures since morning. Damn good pictures alongwith wonderful narration  Probably , if not ooty, we will tilt towards yercaud. lets see. BTW what date was your anniversary ? Last edited by Fordmanchau : 12th March 2010 at 14:49. | |
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12th March 2010, 15:35
| #28 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
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12th March 2010, 17:30
| #29 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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12th March 2010, 23:21
| #30 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bangalore
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