11th March 2010, 10:31
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| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| 'Xing'ing around ! - Masinagudi, Ooty and Coonoor.  Map Source: Google maps. Just Google around and you'll find 1000s of travelogues about Ooty. If you are in the southern part of India, Ooty is considered as one of the 'must see' places on the tourist circuit. Now, is Ooty actually worth visiting? Does it live up to all the hype?? These are questions I would rather not delve into... since the answer depends on your individual perspective, your expectations and your own experiences... and also the time of the year when you land up in Ooty. While doing my pre-trip research on Ooty, I came across a small but excellent thread on a popular travel forum called 'Indiamike.com'. Here is a link to the thread: Is Ooty really worth a visit? - India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com Coming back to my Tlog, this was a trip done over last weekend; i.e. 6th, 7th & 8th March 2010. The occasion was our wedding anniversary. Given that we had three days, we considered a couple of other options too, but somehow Ooty it would be this time! Total distance driven was 674kms. In all these years of traveling around, both of us have been close to, touched or even passed through Ooty, but never actually did a 'proper' Ooty trip. Most recently, I passed through Ooty town in December 09, while going towards Mukurthi. ( http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...near-ooty.html ) After a little bit of research, we planned our itinerary as follows:
A Govt tourist map that is quite useful in understanding the general layout of the Nilgiris district:  Source: TOURIST To be continued with pics and details... By the way, any guesses on what is this ?  Spotted this somewhere between Mysore and Nanjangud. Last edited by hotstuff : 11th March 2010 at 10:42. |
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11th March 2010, 10:53
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hyderabad
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11th March 2010, 12:07
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| Senior - BHPian  | Is it a picture of the Narrow gauge/Meter gauge rail coach which has been left on the old bridge of the Kapila river? I heard sometime back that this would be converted into a restaurant. So, by the looks of it, you did not go trekking this time, eh??  |
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11th March 2010, 15:46
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| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thanks! Quote:
If Ooty and Yercaud are your primary choices, I would prefer Yercaud. Either place is doable in the time you have, but it may be a little hectic. Also, are you driving down to Blr? Masinagudi - I will provide the details in the next couple of posts; basically there are quite a few resorts adjacent to the Mudumalai sanctuary, so there are safaris, jungle walks etc. But this being summer, you'll find the play quite hot and dry. Quote:
 Close, very close! I am posting the details in a few minutes in my next post.Quote:
Last edited by hotstuff : 11th March 2010 at 15:49. | |||
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11th March 2010, 16:34
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Drive to Masinagudi. Saturday, the 6th of March 2010, 5.00am. 'Beep-beep' 'beep-beep'...The alarm started to ring incessantly. To prevent myself from hitting snooze every five minutes, I had placed the mobile well beyond my reach. Got out of bed, freshened up and we were ready to drive after a quick cuppa tea. At 5.55am sharp, we were out of the gate. Went through the Sirsi Circle flyover onto Mysore road and we reached Lokaruchi at 7.00am, just as the buffet breakfast counter was opening up for the day.   At Rs.70 per person, you get to try a variety of breakfast delicacies, with a juice to start and tea/coffee to end.  From there we drove through to Mysore, took the ring-road to bypass the city and drove through past the Chamundi hills...  Stopped to take a pic of these abandoned rail coaches on top of a bridge and spotted something interesting...  It looked like a pair of buses, but on rails? Was this a tram?? Did mysore have a tram service at some point??? Took a pic and thought of looking it up later...  Back in Bangalore, I looked up for info on the strange vehicle and it turns out to be an interesting aspect from our railway history. This is the so called meter-gauge 'Rail-Bus'. It was running between Shimoga & Talaguppa till a few years ago, but has been taken out of service after the gauge conversion. Looks like it was decorated as part of some Dasara celebrations and low lies abandoned near a bridge between Mysore and Nanjangud. Here is a pic of the rail-bus while it was in service.  (Pic courtesy Wikipedia) More info on the Rail-bus: Shimoga-Talaguppa railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We found that the road condition is quite good all the way up to Ooty, just a couple of Kms of bad tarmac near Masinagudi and some bad roads in Coonoor, else all other roads were satisfactory.  Nearing Bandipur, were we on the right road to Ooty? Any doubts we may have had were quickly dispelled by this row of boards advertising a shop called 'Mohans' in Ooty! and were still a 100 odd kms away  Reached Bandipur and slowed down to less than the official 40kmph speed limit, trying to spot any wildlife alongside the road. Deer are aplenty all through...  The road is a lot more scenic and heavenly after the rains, right now there is a lot of brownery with the onset of summer...  But some parts of the route are very colorful and pleasant!  Crossed Bandipur and entered Tamilnadu...  More jungle roads...  We came across a few Elephants quite close to the road. As a lady in the resort later told us, the Elephant population is growing at a very healthy pace in this area and the number of Elephant-human encounters is also on the rise...  There are a number of birds in and around these areas, truly a bird watcher's paradise. Note to self : Time to pick up a Salim Ali book to be able to put a name to these birds.  More spotted Deer... this time we spotted a whole herd of them!  Crossed a small river just before the turn-off towards the resort. I guess this must be the 'Moyar'?  Masinagudi has plenty of resorts available. Just pick a name from the pole and Google up for details and pricing before you head up there  Turned into the road towards the resorts area, we could see the Nilgiri mountains up ahead of us...  You'll see splashes of bright colors in several places alongside the road...  Reached the resort at around 11.45am and checked in after a brief 'orientation' speech from a lady at the front desk. I had booked the 'Bamboo cottage' option, which is the cheapest in the place at Rs.1969 per night. + 3 meals @ Rs.1200 per person + any additional food & beverages extra. We zeroed in on 'Jungle Retreat' since Sangeetha had stayed at the resort a couple of years ago on an office trip. Our opinion about the resort after our visit: Their location is excellent and will look really great after the rains. Looks like the Bamboo cottages are getting a little too old are not being maintained properly these days since I could find some nails sticking out of the walls + window latches that are coming off etc. Food was good, but at 1200/- per person, is a little on the expensive side. If you are visiting during the rainy season or winter, avoid the Bamboo cottage option and choose one of the other options since the 'super ventilation' of the cottages means that there will be very little difference between the temperatures outside and inside... and it does get quite cold in these areas during winters. All other facilities and options are in line with what you would expect from any decent resort in these areas; i.e. organized safaris, a few outdoor games, a good pool, courteous staff etc. On a scale of 10, I would rate the place a 7.0 for the 'Bamboo cottage' option. Main improvement areas I could see were: * The bamboo cottages need to be maintained better, else the rusting nails are a tetanus hazard. * Though the staff were courteous, the lady at the front desk just gave us a brief orientation speech about not wandering around after dark etc. Would have been good if they can also take a couple of minutes to explain what are the activities that are available for visitors. * Like many other places which are frequented by foreign tourists, there seems to be a tendency to kind of ignore Indian visitors, while going overboard in fawning over foreigners. (I was also comparing this resort with the last one we stayed in, i.e. the Barefoot Resort on Havelock Island during our Andaman trip. The staff were a lot more efficient and made sure that visitors were not left to figure out things on their own... a person from the front office was assigned to specifically take care of the arrangements and they made sure that our day was packed with activities from dawn to dusk. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...tamilnadu.html )    They have a small herd of tame wild-goats (an oxymoron?) on their campus, they are quite gigantic!  The pool at the place is really lovely!  A typical 'English scene' with a British lady, in a pink dress, with a proper hat, sitting in the shade and painting a mountain scene...  They also have a dormitory option if you are in a group...  The resort is contagious with the forest corridor and has a wide variety of birds...   Contd... Last edited by hotstuff : 11th March 2010 at 16:43. |
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11th March 2010, 17:23
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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11th March 2010, 17:55
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| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 1,666
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I would by all probability be driving down to blr from hyd. And belated Happy Anniversary to you!! | |
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11th March 2010, 18:26
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| Senior - BHPian  | Hey "xinging" is back I like the effort you put in getting information. Wheather it is map, or history or anything. Hats off. After missing those "Lets go" Tlogs[yes, abhi!!!], seems Xing is in full swing. Lol. |
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11th March 2010, 18:51
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11th March 2010, 19:09
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11th March 2010, 20:26
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11th March 2010, 20:37
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12th March 2010, 00:43
| #13 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Chennai
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12th March 2010, 01:19
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| BHPian  | Nice write up. Was planning for something like this but we was not able to decide the place... Now the place is fixed I am adding the resorts name pic in the other thread. Quote:
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12th March 2010, 09:26
| #15 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Masinagudi & Ooty. Since buffet lunch would be served only at around 1.30pm, we freshened up and went over to the restaurant / lobby area to relax for a while with a book. Post lunch we spent some time lazing around and eventually the sun had gone down enough to consider hitting the pool. Unfortunately the pool is a little small and can get crowded if there are more than 5 or 6 people in it. When we went there, there were already quite a few people in the water and we decided to come back later and just wandered around on the property. Lantana - found almost all over India, nice & colorful flowers, but the plant is actually an imported weed, like Parthenium. Here is an article that talks about how Lantana is harming our forests: India Together: Scourge of the alien invasive species - 27 July 2006  ANother inquisitive bird that walked up to take a close look at us...  We walked around for a while and eventually decided to take another look at the pool...   By this time, it was getting a little dark and the pool was empty! So we had it all to ourselves...  By the time we were done with the pool, went back to our room to change etc. it was close to 8.00pm and we headed back to the restaurant for dinner. Though it was not so cold, a camp-fire had been lit. Sat near the fire for a while with a soft drink, watching the flames.  Went inside for dinner at around 8.30pm...  Robin, who works there in the management, was showing some pics and videos of wild animals caught roaming in the resort area by the Camera-traps. (They have some 5 - 6 camera traps on the resort grounds.)  A motion sensitive infrared camera trap...  By around 10.30pm we were ready to retire and dozed off with the alarm set to 7.00am the next morning. Woke up on the dot, freshened up and opened the windows to see a number of wild deer walking around on the campus. (The lady at the reception had spoken about an electric fence around the resort, looks like the fence ain't working  ).This guy was probably thinking that he is a tiger and was stalking the deer...   Breakfast would be served only at around 8.30am, so we went around for another walk through the property...      After a light breakfast, we checked out and hit the road towards Ooty!  Some sections of the road is a single track, but most of it is a decent dual carriageway...  Reached the foot of the Nilgiris, from where the famous 36 hairpin bends begin...  Stopped in a couple of places along the way to take a few pics...   Finally we reached the end of the ghat section and entered Ooty. By the way, we almost took the diversion to Kalhatty waterfalls on our way up; but a shopkeeper at the corner of that cross mentioned that there is no water, so we continued on towards Ooty.   Ooty town was quite messy, with lots of weekend traffic and a lot of KA & KL cars!  Our first stop was going to be Doddabetta peak, which is the highest point in South India. Asked for directions and we were on our way. Enroute, you can see a few spot which give us a glimpse of what Ooty once was...  Any yes, there are a few cheerful looking tea gardens alongside...  Reached Doddabetta, found a parking place and walked up.   Looks like Doddabetta has been a popular place from the 18th century! This painting titled 'Dodabeta picnic' dated Jan 21st 1852 shows that an observatory existed at that site even then and it was a picnic spot for the Britishers.  On a clear day, you can see some panoramic views of Ooty and the surrounding area...  Contd... |
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