Northern wind is itching me to travel. With all the pressures of work and loneliness, I just couldn’t resist it. I am going to a resort near Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. I read about this place in a travel magazine and since then, I am obssesed with the idea of going there. With a holiday on Tuesday, I decided it is right time to go. So I got a day off on Monday. Tonight, I am leaving there.

I am doing such a trip for the first time in India. When I said about the trip to few of my collegues, they were asking, what the hell are you doing? Why are you going alone? Why cannot you just go home and stay with parents? Why are you wasting money? So on and so forth.

But I am excited about the trip. Waiting to see how it is going to turn out to be. If it is good, well. Even otherwise, I am not going to live there, it will be over in two days. I am all thrilled like being on a first date!

After days of being with nature, homely YWCA and piercing cold, time has come to bid farewell. We enjoyed being here and found a part of India we never knew before. We take with us sweet memories to cherish and lot of photos to revist.

We planned to visit Mudumalai, a wild life sanctuary. We booked our trip with Sri Murugan Travels. We booked the trip a day prior and promptly the guy came and collected the money. The van was supposed to pick us by 14h00. But around 15h00, he called us to say that there is seat only for 2 persons and would we be willing to postpone our trip. What a customer service!

As we didn’t have another day, we couldn’t make it to Mudumalai.

We went on with walking around the city, watching TV, and talking to a German couple staying in YWCA.

For a change we decided to use the public transport to go around. So we took a bus to Kotagiri, a near-by hill station. There is another reason as well, we were told there is not much to see in Kotagiri except the Kodanadu view point.

Kotagiri is 30 kms from Ooty and it takes one and half hour by bus and from Kotagiri we had to catch another bus to reach the viewpoint, which is another half hour by bus.

From this view point one can see, Moyar river formimg a natural boundary between Tamilnadu and Karnataka. It takes curves and bends and beautifully enriches the land for vegetation. Together with the river, other peaks of the western ghats presents an idyllic view. The stylic ‘M’ shaped Ramaswamy peak is a unique sighting.

After around an hour enjoying the scenic beauty, we left back to Ooty.

After a full day of walking and enjoying the nature, today we decided to take it easy. We took rest in the morning and in the afternoon we visited Rose Garden, the name tells what it is. But we were not in season, so couldn’t see the roses in full blosom. Still, we came to know that there exists so many types of roses, not just in color but even in the structure.

Afterwards, we wandered around the commerical road, mostly window shopping. We bought some herbal oils.

At 20h00, there is a special New year buffet at YWCA (where we are staying). Going to go for it.

After enjoying the well trodden tourist path, we decided to go where others don’t go usually. The whole day we were passing through woods and being with unspoilt nature. Each of us were saying, “Wow! we never knew such places exist in our region”. All of these places became known to public after series of Tamil movie shootings here.

To start we walked down a pine forest region to reach a lake. There is no boating, no shops, no crowd, just the lake surrounded by green mountain ranges and some cows. We thought we found a great place. The driver told us to wait for the next.

Ofcourse to find something great you need to exert sweat, even in the cold climate. We did so when we walked up to a place called 9th mile. I don’t know the reason behind the name. But it is worth walking up. There is nothing but lush vegetation everywhere you see. The mountain range at the background makes it even more romantic.

When we got to Pykara waterfalls, we learnt that there is not much water there. Actually my sister was very much eager to see the ‘Nilgris Niagara’. But still we wanted to walk there to see how it looks without water. Good that we walked there. There was no waterfalls, but it wasn’t disappointing. It looked like we were in a canyon. We took lots and lots of pictures.

The only disappointing trip was to Pykara boat house. It wasn’t worth walking for an hour. Still, we were walking through the forest and so we did enjoy the walk, up and down.
Wasn’t it time to return? No, we still had Glenmorgan. There is a power station which lies between the mountains and a winch to get there, but we should have gotten the permission and we didn’t. But no worry, even without the winch it was a gorgeous view. We were surrounded by layers of mountain ranges and beneth us stood the thick, dense forest. We couldn’t have asked for more.

With a complete satisfaction, we drove back to Ooty. Still we cannot believe what we saw. We are still bewildered.

Our legs need rest, off we go for rest. Goodnight.

We started out after a breakfast at the hotel. We headed straight to Dodapetta peak, which at 2623 mts is the highest peak in Tamil Nadu. From here there is a wonderful panoramic view of the city.

On the way to Coonoor, we stopped in a Tea estate. We had an explanation of how tea is prepared from the leaves and tasted three different types of tea. The first three quality of tea is exported abroad and only the last quality comes into India.

Then we went to Sim’s park, a botanical garden which containts various varieties of plants. One such tree was planted way back in 1850. Sim’s park has a better view than the botanical garden at Ooty.

Next stop was Dolphin Nose, named for the shape of the rock. From here one can view St. Catherine falls. We also stopped by Lamb’s rock, named after an Englishman. One can have a good view of Coimbatore plains, Mettupalayam, Mountain train tracks.

After lunch, we came back to Ooty for a boat ride. The artificial lake was constructed in 1824 by Mr. John Sullivan, the then Collector of Coimbatore, who located and constructed the early settlements of British Raj in Ooty.

Ooty was the only tourist place known to us when we grew up. From School trips to Honeymoon trips every one goes to Ooty. For such a place which has been in the attention for decades, it is very tourist-unfriendly. The public transport does not connect all the attractions well. It is better to hire a taxi or go via a tour package. Roads are poorly maintained, but everywhere there is a charge, either as entrance fee or as parking fee. Probably it is true to say that the British Raj was ousted after they laid the infrastructure and the current Indian officials and politicians are enjoying the benefits.

We decided to spend our New year at Ooty, a well-known hill station in my region which is located at 2250 kms above the sea level. After arriving at Coimbatore in the early morning, I decided to catch the famous mountain train which starts at Mettupalayam at 7.10. I was there at 6.30 and even by that time, people got into the train and took hold of seats. Somehow I got a window seat only to realize that the sceneries are well seen on the other side. The train takes a break every hour thus making the total travel time to 5 hours (from Mettupalayam), whereas by bus it is only 2 hours.

I could picture an India inside the train – overcrowded, yet keep loading, people getting in want a piece of the place by pushing people already in, people already in loathe any new-comer, never minding of all the chaos we all get to the destination.

We didn’t want to do so much on the first day itself. So we just went to Botanical garden, which hosts species from many parts of the globe. I was surprised to know that the garden work started at 1848. It was a relaxed stroll, bullying each other, taking pictures and eating maze.

Now my sister and brother-in-law are working out tomorrow’s plan. We are hiring a car and going to see the highest point in the Nilgri’s mountain range, few gardens and lakes. We expect it to be pretty exciting.

I wrote about the disappointment and the subsequent fun I had at Malaga during one of the Christmas season. I submitted the article in one of the travel website. When I get enough time, I will include this in my website as well. Hope to write much more like this. You can read the article here.