The planner that I am …throughout the year I ‘plan’ for and keep some data ready on places we have not visited till now… but always… at the last minute it turns out to be some place, totally un-planned! Murphy’s law I say...but that’s how its been!!
Since both me and my husband had already been to Ooty individually this was the last option for me …more so because I had already been to the picturesque Avalanche and thought that Ooty was nothing compared to that !!
So for the long weekend for Ugadi, I planned for Belur Halebid and there-my husband suggests a trip to Ooty..that too on the Ugadi morning!
After a bit of speculation we decided to go ahead…all thanks to the outlook traveler’s guide- It has a detailed section on the Nilgiris and we decided on Coonor and Ooty, in that order!
Browsing through some reviews on travelmike.com and the likes, we quickly took down some numbers of places to stay…not for once realizing what was in store for us!!
So we started by 9ish, Till Bandipur- its Blore-Mysore-Nanjagud- Gundlupet route. From there onwards, we decided to take the Bandipur-Mudumalai-Masinagudi ghat road to Ooty and not the one via Gudalur as that is a shorter route even though the ghats are really steep!
Considering that, we even booked a place in Masinagudi fearing that by the time we reach there it might get dark and not safe to go on the treacherous Ghat road!!
Believe me, the Outlook traveller’s guide comes very handy specially for people like us- as it has all the necessary information you need to plan your trip, plus it’s not too detailed like the information on the net!! So while one person is driving, the other can plan, check out things to do and do the bookings as well…that too, on the way to destination!!
The road after Mysore is not a two way road but decent enough to drive till Gundlupet. There is also a coffee day somewhere near Gundlupet- in case someone wants a short break. Don’t smile, because while coming back from Ooty this coffee day is a welcome break after hours of driving on the ghat road!
The road after Gundlupet till Nanjagud is really horrible and gives you a feeling that the Karnataka government wants to discourage people from going to Bandipur or Ooty ..!
Finally, when this bad stretch was over we entered Bandipur forest area and voila! What greets us is a herd of deer just after the Bandipur entrance gate!!
Keep your eyes open as there is high possibility of tracking another such herd of cheetals or even elephants on the way- We were lucky enough to find another such herd peacefully grazing in the forest…!!
You get a diversion when you reach Theppakadu and this is where you have to make the crucial decision of either taking the steep ghat road which is on the left or going via not so treacherous ghat road via Gudalur, which is one the right hand side.
We decided to take the one on the left for the simple reason we started late and wanted to reach Ooty before evening…!
Even after traveling for some half an hour, the ghats were nowhere to be seen and all we had before us was a serene, beautiful forest on both sides, a scenic way ahead, cool breeze and a very clear blue sky- something you hardly get to experience these days in Bangalore..!
It is only after the scenic road ends is that you realize the ghat road is about to begin- Hair raising experience of traversing the 36 hair pin bends starts!!
The ghat road is extremely steep and that’s why you have this feeling of achievement as the number of hair pin bends come down and a feeling of a winner when the board shows 0/36!!
And that’s when you enter the road to the queen of hill stations- Ooty!! Its an amazingly overwhelming at the same time relaxing feeling from the over stressed life of Bangalore, as you enter Ooty, through the sky touching Eucalyptus cover on both sides of the road!
It seemed that even god shared our feeling so he decides to greet us with some lovely showers from the top and what this leads to is a wonderful view of a rainbow covering the valley… a spectacular sight by all standards and we are on our way to Coonor by 4 p.m. in the evening!!
After checking a few places- by some luck we managed to get a home stay owned by a retired air-force officer… Assuming it to be some place owned by someone we anyways decide to go ahead as we had not done any bookings earlier… plus we wanted to get off our asses and relax…but the road that led us there was that of any normal over crowded town with lots of big, small shops scattered here and there, traffic and a lot of people everywhere..!
Anyways, totally cribbing we went ahead, asking for directions with passers-by and checking the route on phone… But as we gradually made our way through these populated slopes we discovered that we had entered an amazingly clean, well kempt, utterly beautiful place somewhere between the same slopes. A place that is populated by extremely beautiful bungalows, some that remind you of the Raj era and some completely new! This is the army area of Coonor, also known as Wellington…
Our home stay turned out to be a very beautiful house on the immensely beautiful slopes of Coonor overlooking the Dodda Betta peak and tea plantations!!
We had a very relaxing time there – we even had our dinner with them talking and chatting, and that’s how the time went by. Breakfast was part of the package and we were served with litchi juice, cornflakes and milk, aloo paranthas and dahi!
Basically Coonor is not so crowded as Ooty and is a colorful and relaxed town as compared to Ooty (see pics).
We spent the day sight seeing and started with Sim’s park where we spent not more than 5-10 minutes! It had loads of beautiful flowers and various tree but we expected the same at the Botanical garden so postponed it for later.
Next, we went to the Tea factory which was quite an interesting experience! We even bought a few teas from there and they do taste the same even in Bangalore as they did there!
After that we had our lunch at ‘Quality’ restaurant…you can go by the name as they served a buffet at 80/- rs. per head and that included Roti, Daal, Rasam, Sabzi (2), Plain Rice, Jeera Rice, Salad, Papad, Chowmein, Mushroom Manchurian (very tasty) and Seviyan Kheer (ok)….
From there we then headed towards Ooty. In between, I think we spent sometime buying some plants from a nursery. But we reached Ooty in max half hour! As it was a long weekend as expected most of the known hotels were already booked by then. We checked a few places like the Ooty gate, Oak vile etc etc – some were either full or not so good.
Finally we found a good place to stay which was close to the main market but situated away from the hustle and bustle. This was an extension of Darshan hotel and was newly constructed- the rooms had a beautiful décor and bathrooms were sparkling clean. It seemed that this place was newly built and we got a good room with a balcony over looking some farming area in the slopes..! On our way to this place we also passed the much talked about lake in Ooty, which had a lot activity beyond expectation!
We spent the entire evening at Charring cross and at Ooty’s commercial street. As the legend goes – the king star chocolates are really worth every penny. We also bought chocolates from elsewhere but they weren’t as good! Any time of the day you pass this shop and you will find it as crowded as a mithai shop in festival seasons!
We were specially recommended a place where you can buy good leather stuff at genuine prices, so we got ourselves a ‘few’ things there! Then we had our dinner at the Nahar restaurant...It gets really really chilly in the evening, so please carry your shawls, jackets and sweaters! After that we spent sometime strolling here and there and then headed back to our hotel..!
Next day we went to the botanical garden, just to lazy around a bit and get some more fresh air and sunlight. This was followed by some more shopping as per the orders we received from home, over the phone! The spices you get there are really genuine quality and at a very good rate…!
We had our lunch again in one of the restaurants in commercial street of Ooty and were speculating on whether to stay another day and head towards the beautiful Avalanche and the Red hills. That place is really to die for and you would NOT find another place easily in India like and I wanted my hubby to visit that once at least…! But as it was one way 30-37 kms in the slopes we decided to postpone that for our next trip to Ooty and decided to say goodbye for now..!
This time we took the not so treacherous route via Pykara-Gudlur to Theppakadu.
On our way to Pykara lake, in the middle of nowhere we found a lot of vehicles parked at a place overlooking a hilly pasture. The reason was this was the place where films like Raja Hindustani, Raaz, etc etc were shot ! (basically imagine any jungle scene or a scene which demands a lot of sprawling empty green land and it was shot here ! )
No prize for guessing, we also got down there and spent sometime just basking in the sun, enjoying such huge open space below the clear sky!
On our way further we stopped at the Pykara lake. From there we headed further- this road turned out to be more picturesque and beautiful. It seemed the road was newly built and was in excellent condition and we passed a few lakes, green pastures, tea gardens, then huge eucalyptus tree belts on both sides till we reached Gudalur!
Though this was more scenic it took us really double the time to reach Theppakadu! :-(
As I would like end this on a happy note , I would skip the details after Bandipur…! On our way to Bandipur, we were lucky to spot some deer, an elephant who appeared out of nowhere and peackocks dancing and that made up for our trip- so much so, that for a few minutes we even wanted go on a safari!! But as we had to cover a distance of around 230+ kms, and it was already 5 in the evening,we postponed this for later and headed further to our known land!!