Ooty-A Nilgiri Spell
The more thee astonish me with thy spell,
The more curious i be to see out of shell,
The more thee hide to exhibit mystery ,
The more i seek to peep beyond misty,
The more thee pour colors on sparrows and flies,
The more i run behind to capture image of sky,
The more thee scare with thy sounds ,
The more tempted i be and feels spell bound.....
And
my journey continues from the Palani hills to yet another popular
hilly terrain Ooty (Udhagamandlam), nestled in Nilgiris , also known
as blue mountains, some 250 km away from Kodaikanal via
Palani-Coimbatore-Mettopalyam.
The
journey encompassed glimpses of holy
"Arulmigu
Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple",, also known Murugan temple
situated in the foothills of Palani, a compose place to
worship.......
Source:Google map
On
the way from Palani to Coimbatore,crossed countless wind turbines
lined-up both sides on the Palani-Coimbatore highway and some
tomato processing factories with piles of red balls spreading across
the stretch .
The idea was to reach the Coimbatore city by lunch time as it takes more than 3-4 hours(175km) to reach from the point we began. Got down at Annpurna to satisfy tongue craving, a popular gourmet among localities with lovely ambience .Ordered meals (thalis) that came with some 10 little bowls carrying curds, vegetable korma, curries, rasam, sambhar, applam, puries and rice..... a must try place..
From here, headed towards SH-66, which will take us to our destination (85 km). After 45 minutes, hit a place called Mettupalayam, situated just beneath the Nilgiri hills famous for "Black thunder theme park and Nilgiri Rail's origin point; ready to take one on the ride of 46 km through charming hilly stretches and misty slopes,declared heritage site by UNESCO,started in 1899. One can opt for this popular toy train from this point which departs @7:10 am from Mettupalaym and arrives Ooty @12pm with five halts, total time taken:4:50 minutes.
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Toy train near Ooty station
Train
on Lovedale station
Certainly
an experience, must do at least once.
In
fact the whole Nilgiri district is divided into 6
talukaas:Ooty,Coonoor,Kotagiri,Gudalur,Pandalur and Kundah,all are
strikingly beautiful in themselves.
Coming
back to my road trip, from this point(Metupallayam) road
bifurcates-one via Coonoor and other via Kotagiri. Though both
stretches are splendid with nature's grace and man-made
concretes, nonetheless i vouch for one via Kotagiri. So this time again
opted for Kotagiri's.
Besides, Ooty
has been highly commercialized over a period of time, its no more the
same which we used to watch in 80's movies.So true nature lovers may
not rejoice and appreciate much for being like yet another city with
hustle-bustle;thus better choice to stay is either Kotagiri or
Coonoor; peaceful,serene places away from deafening sound of
horns.Moreover, these town offers cheaper,better and newer options
for a comfortable stay unlike Ooty where most of the hotels if
decent, either will do holes in your pocket or if pocket- friendly
,then not decent enough.
So we zeroed in on 2 accommodations for our 4 days trip
www.velanhotels.com/tcoonoor-index.php(Coonoor)
www.hotelselvaganapathysnest.in/about.html(on
Coonoor- Kattabetu road)
(Though
another good hotel orangepekoe was not available, an expensive
hotel but unique location,each room opens into a tea garden )
It
took some half an hour time to locate the Velan resort as it
falls on a deviated steep narrow alley.But worth every penny and
search.....
Day
1. Velen's offers buffet breakfast (both South Indian and
American,with amazing aromatic tea/coffee),so enjoyed our morning
thoroughly sitting leisurely in the garden next to dinning
hall,sipping hot tea, viewing panoramic mist-wrapped blue hills .....
After
this, we moved to Sims Garden which is just a stone's throw
away from the hotel.Fortunately annual fruit show was going on
for two days,where the entire garden was decorated with the jaw
dropping shapes and structures of various animals using different
fruits. (See the pic)
Velen's Garden
.
Having
spent almost an hour here,it was time to move ahead towards Dolphin
nose point.The road passes through some magnificent tea gardens and
colonial bungalows.The place is known for enormous rock formation
giving view of Catharine falls(Beware of monkeys)Spent half an
hour,clicking pics and watching spectacular spot. And hollow
tummy gave its siren:).Went back to town and ordered meal at Sri
Ramachandra lunch home,fairly good food....must try.BTW,getting
delicious food in Ooty town is another project.Barring one or
two(Nahar hotel)better not to eat there,but try places like Coonoor
or Kotagiri.
Spent
rest of the time in local market of Coonoor buying local tea and
other stuff.
A little stream of Catharine falls
Dolphin Nose Point
Day
2.Today our plan was to cover Ooty's famous spots.Began with
popular Botanical garden,could not stop appreciating its wide variety
of flora and indigenous plants and gigantic trees. I must say that a
trip to Ooty would be certainly incomplete without visiting this
garden....After this headed to a man made Ooty lake,reminded many
Bollywood blockbusters like Karz,Shehanshah,Dewaana mujh sa nahi and
many more.One can avail facilities of peddle boats,row boats
and motor boats to enjoy the place more.Also another attraction
adjacent to this is a deer park.Drove to the main market and bought
some hand-made chocolates,spices and couple of souvenirs. Decided to
have lunch here in Nahar Retreat, one descent place in
Ooty that offers a variety of food with a Victorian style
interior.Reached back hotel and called the day.
Day
3:Shifted to another hotel Selva Ganapathy Nest ,offering all
basic amenities including a restaurant downstairs and an
elevator, situated in a picturesque location surrounded by rolling
hills and vast tea estates appearing like green carpets,close to
Kotagiri .The highest point of Tamilnadu:Doddabetta(8650 feet) is
quite close to this hotel,so the day began from there only.
Watching
vehicles paving ways through foggy, dense forest, a five
minutes of walk to reach Doddapoint,is an exciting experience in
itself. An observatory is made at the top of Doddabetta with two
telescopes available for the public to watch vast mountains giving
tiny looking view of hamlets down from up there.Stood there few
minutes watching the divine scenery of nature.Drove towards ooty town and stopped briefly at rose garden,though not very impressive,however can be visited for a great landscape.Tried Nahar's Side walk Cafe for its fresh pizza.....not bad. In Evening hotel manager took us to the tea factory,just behind the hotel.Narrated the complete process of tea manufacturing and showing impressive and vast tea gardens.
Walking over clouds in Doddapetta
Fascinating backdrop of rose garden
Day
4:woke up bit early as the idea was to reach Pykara lake(35 km)
before lunch covering couple of shooting points:Kamraj Dam,Pine
forest enroute to the lake.Took NH-67 Ooty-Mysore,the other route to
reach Ooty- Mysore and Bangalore,undoubtedly more scenic.
First
got down at a shooting point,packed with youngsters.Beautiful
place!!! Instantly reminded me valley of Kashmir,a plethora of fresh
oxygen with vast meadows.Clicked few snaps and moved ahead.Did not
get down at Kamraj Dam, only got glimpses from the car and
moved on.We were really enjoying the route full of fern tress and mesmerizing mysterious beauty of nature with cloudy weather.
And finally reached our destination Pykara,a heavenly place with blue green water surrounded by lush green forest, almost with no human population around.First few minutes just kept gazing nature's artwork and felt cool breeze blowing filling lungs with fresh air,then contemplated to take a motor boat ride to feel nature more closely.Well....It was half an hour expensive ride,but worth doing .
By the way,there is no eatery or food joint around,so either carry packed food or wait till you reach the town
Divine Pykara Lake
Nature's paintings
Day
5: It was time to say bye to this paradise. I though wished
we could have covered few more charming spots viz.Ketty
park,Madhumalai national park,Emerald lake,Avalanche lake ,St.Stephen
church ...At the same time chuckled,thinking that it serves the
purpose of coming back here:).
