Ooty Travel Diary

New glasses...new shoes...new clothes...new back pack...any guesses? Of course it’s gonna be another travel post. Well this time it didn’t begin as an idea but rather a never ending desire to run away from office and later proudly come back and say, “Hey people you know what the journey was so good that I forgot my machine password!”

So let us travel 2 weeks back in time to recite one of the best memories captured in this year.

Morning took a kick start with lots of selfies and a promise to visit more places than before. (14th August 2016) A day before Independence Day was in itself a perfect theme resounding an urge to live life like it will be never again. The hotel caretaker had arranged for a traveler ride which started at 9:30 am. However since we got up early so we had enough time. So before the actual journey began, we opted to experience a small teaser. Ooty was in its entire vibes when we reached the first stop, The Stone House. I would say the uphill walk was rather worthy because the first ever Bungalow of Ooty looked breathtakingly beautiful. Surrounded by Sullivan’s oak and a far reaching playing ground, the Kal Bangala needed no extra toppings to enhance its beauty. After a handful of pictures we decided to return as it was already 9 am. By 9:30 am we officially began the journey by heading first to Boat House and Thread Garden. We paddled for some 20 minutes at the Boat House; of course I was just sitting and enjoying the scenery while Ankit and Sourav worked on paddles. Thread Garden was quite a unique experience as one could see every kind of stuff from a twig to an entire garden build artificially with the help of threads. After this, the journey began for Coonoor. On the way we stopped at Divine Point and Valley view. The place was the best spot to view the entire valley. Train passing by tunnels, Raaz movie shooting spots (as told by the travel guide) and of course the swiftly moving clouds were few out of many beauties that eyes could reach. Some selfies later we moved ahead towards the road to Coonoor. The next wonder that came on the way was Wellington. Photography is strictly prohibited in the area so there was no chance of selfies.  Being brought up in a place where a beautiful military camp is nearby, I would say that this place was ten folds better. Home of the oldest regiment of India (Madras Regiments) and Staff College, Wellington is a perfect example of human-nature settlement.

We reached Coonoor at around 12 noon. Alike Ooty, Coonoor welcomes one with a beautiful weather surrounded by cloud filled hills and beautiful human settlements. The first page of Coonoor was the mesmerising Tea Estate. I bet the slopes were steeper than the ones seen in Assam. Within no time, the area was filled with clouds and the feeling was awestrucking. I had no desire to leave that place but as time was in a hurry so we had to go ahead to explore more.  However the raging adrenaline in us was poisoned because of the unending traffic (the curse of Bangalore follows), we covered some 1-2 kms in 2 hours, so we had to opt out few spots from the bucket. Finally we reached the much awaited point called the Lamb’s rock view point. I have no words just pictures to describe it. One could actually see spots of sunlight and darkness falling on the plains. The journey for the day was completed at Dolphin’s nose with an enchanting view of Catherine falls.

Daylight curtains were on the verge of closure when we returned Ooty. We had no mood to retire back to hotel so we opted to try food in and around. The first milestone was embarked at Ooty Coffee Shop, the best coffee shop in the area. I would highly recommend all to visit this shop if you are ever in Ooty.  From there it was a turn of Virtue Bakery, again one of the most famous bakeries in town. Mousse and chocolate balls were on the menu. But we were still hungry so Junior Kupanna came to our rescue with an enriching pack of chicken biriyani. With this we winded up the day and went back to hotel .

(15th August 2016) Next day would be called a day of ‘Filmy Chakkar’ as the places that we went to were all shooting spots. The journey began with view of some of the best golf fields on the way to Pykara from Ooty.  This was followed by a visit to Kamraj Dam. It had begun raining by the time we reached there, due to which the entire place looked more enchanting. Surrounded by the small slopes of Wenlock Downs this place is a perfect place to go out on a picnic. The next stop was the Tree Park. It resembled a perfect ecosystem of different species of plants and birds surrounded by an open field, full of sheeps gazing around. We couldn’t stop taking pictures because there was so much to cover in the area. Every picture had something missing in it; such was the beauty of the entire place. Finally we arrived at Pykara lake. Well the area was a ‘phytoplankton’ inhabited scenery. It reminded me of Hogwarts’ Great Lake. The best part of the journey is always kept for the end. And so it happened!! It was pouring heavily by the time we reached Devil’s down. Heart was pounding high with an urge to ignore rain and go out while mind was busy in calculations. Well it was too late for the inquisitive mind, heart led us on the way. Nothing is comparable to the captivating beauty of Devil’s down. Slopes after slopes, greenery everywhere, clouds coming nearer at each instant, muddy spiral roads and of course the unending rain made our day.

We returned to Ooty by 4 and by next hour Sourav left us to board bus back to Chennai. We were left with few hours in town, which was utilised in going back to coffee shop again plus buying chocolates, varkeys and marsh mellows plus searching for boarding point. Finally the journey came to a hault with a promise to visit again.

Oh wait a second....how did we reach Ooty in the first place?

No journeys can ever be easy or I would say no journeys can ever be easy for me. Plan was to meet at Coimbatore because Sourav was coming from Chennai and he got no direct transport to Ooty so I and Ankit decided to reach Coimbatore from Bangalore. (12^th August 2016) Sharma Travels had already ditched us by running late. The bus which had to reach at 9 pm, arrived at 10 pm after 10-20 SOS calls. Well despair took a new shape when we came to know that it was just a pick up bus and something else was waiting for us. Finally we managed to board the actual bus at 11:15 pm. We had booked for a non AC sleeper coach so the entire journey went in dozing off. (13^th August 2016) On reaching Coimbatore we were taken by surprise to know that there were 3 bus stations in the area. Besides this, Sourav’s mobile was switched off due to no charge (Buddy get a power bank soon) so it took us another 3 hours to finally locate each other. From Coimbatore’s Gandheepuram Bus Stand we travelled to New Bus Station to get into one of the SETC buses to Ooty. To my surprise the fare was just 53 rupees per head, all thanks to the tranport system of Tamil Nadu. I remembered reaching Ankit’s place in Bangalore paying 75 bucks from my place the previous day. After 2.5 hours of pleasant journey we reached Ooty and booked a hotel. It was already 4 pm in the evening but we were active enough to cover one place. And so the first spot ever recorded by Akash and team was the Botanical Garden. Filled with old greenhouse canopies and well maintained gardens were some of the things worth to be scene. It was 7 pm by the time we left the Garden post which we roamed in the town and ended the day hoping for adventurous days to come!