Ooty, the first word/thought for a malayalee when he thinks about a tour,is situated in Tamil Nadu, Southern part of India is a good destination, regardless of age, specifically for Keralites as it is geographically easily accesible to malayalees. Since I am residing at Palakkad, which is hottest place in Kerala, and being encircled with holidays,Ooty was an escape route for me to get out of the Palakkadan fiery heat.
The very first thought that came to my mind was to travel by the Nilgiri Toy Train which crawls up through the Nilgiris (Blue Mountain) and takes 5.5 hrs to reach Udagamandalam(Ooty). Eventhough it is a toy train, all big Jumbo kids occupy the train. Since it is a slow train and going through mountains,it is a good opportunity to feel and enjoy the beauty of Ooty.
I was not preplanned about the tour and one evening while playing badminton with my brother, I felt an immediate urge to pack up.I asked my brother to join me,we packed up and left home for Ooty. My plan was to take the toy train from Mettupppalayam,which is around 3 hrs from Palakkad.We reached Mettuppalayam by around 9.10 pm.By that time the station was closed, otherwise we could have got the station accomodation which is just Rs 300/- for a double bed and Yes,, we could see the toy train halted there for the morning tour. Searching near and around Metttuppalayam station, we finally got in to a Kauvery lodge which charged us Rs 600/-, the lowest we could find. The funny part was when the receptionist explained to me how the water is hot as it is coming from diverted river water in kerala..now that is the reason why we don't have water here...LOL.
My intention was to get into the early train from Mettuppalayam,the tickets of which is supposed to be issued by around 5.00 am. I woke up by 3.15 am and both of us got ready by 4.20 am. We walked around 10 minutes to mettuppalayam Station.There we could see a big queue of some 20 people considering the train occupancy. Appending ourselves to the queue, we waited there looking at the Toy train getting ready. By around 5.45, officials came and announced that those who are waiting for open tickets can leave as there are already 70 people already waitlisted for the 30 General tickets available and the total seats being 90 with remaining 60 on reservations.Oh that was a damn cool moment.. We stayed and waited all time to hear this?? without making any comments,we rushed to the Bus Stand nearby, there was one waiting to push. When the bus started, it was around 5.55 am. After some 20 mintues, it started going up the ghat,we opened the window and Vow,,the cool breeze and the smell of freshness. I could feel it entering my nose, eyes, the whole body freshened and it reaches the mind and soul,,such a soothing experience,,Awesome feeling. Meanwhile I got a company in the bus who asked me about the nature cure treatment at Palakkad and told me about the politics in Tamil Nadu and how it is so hot at ooty nowadays..excetra..
We reached Coonoor by around 7.00 am, it was a chilling climate just in opposite to our Palakkad climate. Eventhough everybody was wearing sweaters and woolen jackets, I could hold myself not to as I am there for feeling this and it was definitely not an irritating one like in the North India ,instead was very soft one. Immediately finishing the breakfast, we started walking towards the Botanical garden.I hate Signboard sometimes, one of which said 1 Km to Garden and we walked around 30 minutes to reach the garden. I could see a lot of fellow malayalees roaming around even though the climate of Ooty has changed a lot,but it is still reasonable to be there rather than elsewhere. After spending sufficient time at the garden, we moved to the next place for boating 'The Boat House'. Pedal boats, row boats and motor ones are available. We took a pedal one and spent 30 minutes heatbathing, Sun was very co-operative, gave us plenty. Finishing it lead us to bicycle riding. After some 10 years, I was riding a bicycle and that too on a designed track..hehe
The Kid comes out when I got through the track which had some bumps and at the end of the track,I noticed that its brake doesn't work properly. I had to ram into a tree to somehow stop it.
The next destination in my plan was Pyakara which has some checkpoints like waterfalls,dam etc.Since the rickshaw walas asked for money not less than Rs 700 I had to drop the plan and then the next in line was Doddabetta peak which I could convince myself easily by saying it is just a suicide point..We will do it later. so wrapping up from there, we took a bus to Coonoor and I had some plans for Coonoor- lamb's rock, Dolphin Nose, some Tea factory etc. After reaching Coonoor, we understood that it is better to cover all these points with a private vehicle since all are random clustered. The auto rickshaws are charging Rs 500-700 for Lamb's Rock and Dolphin Nose is a dead end. I thought it is not a big deal,I would come back and have all these done..With this assurance to myself, we spend some time at SIMS Park which was a total wastage of time and ticket money of Rs 30/-.By around 2.30 pm, we left coonoor for Metuppalayam and reached there by 4.10 pm. The very next bus from Mettupalayam took us to coimbatore within an hour.To our surprise it was raining slightly at Mettupalayam..Thanks to no proper drainage systems,we felt like a heavy rain and flooding.From Coimbatore , we took another bus to Palakkad which broke down on the way and somehow we reached home by 9.30 pm. That day started for me by 3.15 am and almost ended by 10.00 pm- really a long day when we have lot of activities.
I have already planned for my next trip to Ooty which would definitely be by a private vehicle and hope I can get reservations for the toy train from Udagamandalam to Coonoor. Hope I wont miss Lamb's rock, Dolphin Nose, etc lot of things unlisted which I am not even aware of.One thing I understood is that wherever I go, I miss out something and would plan to go back each time I leave a place. About this blog,I try to make it more informative and reflective of my real life experiences. Thanks for reading it.
The Kid comes out when I got through the track which had some bumps and at the end of the track,I noticed that its brake doesn't work properly. I had to ram into a tree to somehow stop it.
The next destination in my plan was Pyakara which has some checkpoints like waterfalls,dam etc.Since the rickshaw walas asked for money not less than Rs 700 I had to drop the plan and then the next in line was Doddabetta peak which I could convince myself easily by saying it is just a suicide point..We will do it later. so wrapping up from there, we took a bus to Coonoor and I had some plans for Coonoor- lamb's rock, Dolphin Nose, some Tea factory etc. After reaching Coonoor, we understood that it is better to cover all these points with a private vehicle since all are random clustered. The auto rickshaws are charging Rs 500-700 for Lamb's Rock and Dolphin Nose is a dead end. I thought it is not a big deal,I would come back and have all these done..With this assurance to myself, we spend some time at SIMS Park which was a total wastage of time and ticket money of Rs 30/-.By around 2.30 pm, we left coonoor for Metuppalayam and reached there by 4.10 pm. The very next bus from Mettupalayam took us to coimbatore within an hour.To our surprise it was raining slightly at Mettupalayam..Thanks to no proper drainage systems,we felt like a heavy rain and flooding.From Coimbatore , we took another bus to Palakkad which broke down on the way and somehow we reached home by 9.30 pm. That day started for me by 3.15 am and almost ended by 10.00 pm- really a long day when we have lot of activities.
I have already planned for my next trip to Ooty which would definitely be by a private vehicle and hope I can get reservations for the toy train from Udagamandalam to Coonoor. Hope I wont miss Lamb's rock, Dolphin Nose, etc lot of things unlisted which I am not even aware of.One thing I understood is that wherever I go, I miss out something and would plan to go back each time I leave a place. About this blog,I try to make it more informative and reflective of my real life experiences. Thanks for reading it.
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