Ooty is all about Weather and Outskirts

The first day of my trip, as usual, turned out to be a big disappointment. I didn't come here with many expectations, but still everything felt below standard, except the WEATHER. Even that was extremely hot during the days. After travelling to several parts of India, I think I can now conclude that tourist places famous in a city, especially in India, often disappoint and the places that you find by chance turn out to be more interesting. May be mainly because these famous places attract a lot of crowd, which spoils the fun or may be due to a number of other factors. I don't want to analyze it in detail here, but do try this tip next time and let me know if you also experience something similar.

Below is a brief summary for those who are not interested in reading the details about all the places and my travel story. A detailed description of my experience with each place follows the summary.

Detailed Description of my experience

On our first day we decided to take a walk around the city and see the most famous places in Ooty. First one on the list was

Ooty lake and Boat House
First few things which caught my attention were muddy water and a lot of crowd, poor quality boats and dirty safety jackets. Not very encouraging! However, if you just want to experience the breeze in the midst of the lake, it could be a decent option. But whatever you do, you can't get romantic in that setting. It's actually good only for children and people who haven't been on boat before. They might have some fun here. There was one more thing that left my mouth open! There were no safety jackets for children as if their safety wasn't important at all. 

After a half an hour boat ride we went to the very famous Botanical garden.

Botanical  Garden 
This was even a bigger disappointment. I would say the Lalbagh of Bangalore is much better and even many gardens of Ganhinagar Gujarat. There was no proper description of any plants, trees, etc, as you would expect in a botanical garden. Neither did the flowers or garden as a whole, looked as beautiful as it should have been in view of garden's much hyped repute.

Botanical Garden

Rose Garden

The garden was OK but there were no roses. Do keep this in mind, if you are going in the month of April. Do not try to walk up to the rose garden. Locals say it is just one km from market, however, it was quite a long walk and that too uphill.

Rose Garden

After walking so much we had no energy left and hence we decided to call it end of the day. However, at 9:30 pm we came to know that restaurant at our hotel isn't going to serve a la carte and hence we had to go out again.

Chandan Hotel - Nahar Group's
The food was really good and was of the quality that many had recommended, however the attiude of the waiters was bad and even the service quality. Neverthless we ate well and slept tight.

I booked a cab for the next day to take us to Pykara lake and several other sight seeing spots on the route. We started with Doddabetta Peak.

Day 2

Doddabetta Peak
It is said that Doddabetta is the highest peak of southern India. However, after googling I found that it is second highest peak of Nilgiris. Any which way, the place was Crap! It is famous for the beautiful scenic views that it offers, but I couldn't see anything clearly from there and the place is not maintained at all. I could see disappointment on the faces of many people, but all were trying to enjoy the moment and hide the disappointment. Don't be deceived by the beautiful pictures that I am putting here, that's just my photography talent.

View from Doddabetta Peak

There was a telescopic tower at Doddabetta peak, which was the most crowded point at the peak. I was curious to see what they had to show, but after standing for hours that guy showed me only a rickety bus stand.  I will have to count the number of  times 'disappointment' has been used in each paragraph to quantify  my disappointment.

'Telescopic View ' Tower

Tea Factory and Museum
While coming down from Dodabetta peak we also visited tea factory and museum. In the name of Museum there are only some posters briefing about the history of tea. I don't know when did Museums become only a bunch of posters.

The process of tea making was something worth knowing and was really well explained by the staff there. This is definitely worth experiencing. Again the place isn't maintained well.

Chocolate factory
There was a place jnside the tea factory campus which was called Chocolate factory. A variety of chocolates were kept on display. My wife is very curious and hence she asked the lady at the counter about the process they use for chocolate making. She replied, we get chocolate bars couriered from Mumbai, melt the bars and mix the dry fruits. Thats all we do. Surprised, she asked again, so this means u don't make the complete chocolate here and she accted without any hesitation.

My wife was reluctant to visit the only place that we had missed in the city, i.e., Wax Museum.

Wax Museum
I am sure the guy who has done all the work and manages the museum would have put a lot of effort, but that alone is just not enough. The statues are far from real-looking wax statues. May be the museum has not been able to evolve with time as the museum is not funded by government. However, it is of very little concern to tourists. They want something that excites them, appalls them or makes them really happy.

That was the last spot in the city before we left for outskirts.

Pine Forest

On the way to Pykara, there was a place called Pine forest. I guess there wasn't any mention of the place in any of the tourist destination lists, but the drivers use to stop their vehicles at that place. That was the first beautiful spot I saw after coming to Ooty. We went down by the side of the road through the pine trees  forest; the  trees had the ground completely covered. There was a water body about 300 meters down the slope which made the view even more scenic. That marked the beginning of a good day.

We decided to skip the sixth mile as it was very hot during the day, and there didn't seem to be any restriction on timing. So we decided to see that in return.

We didn't want to go even to 9th mile in the afternoon, but the driver insisted saying it might get closed by the time we return. So we went in.

Ninth Mile
This should have been called Green Mile. It was a green hill offering a beautiful view than Doddabetta had to offer. I think it is also called shooting point. This is worth going and if the weather is good you might like to sit there for few minutes.

Next on our list was Pykara lake, but the driver suggested to take a detour and go to GLENMORGAN. He said it offers beautiful natural sights and has a very old british construction Rope way which is worth traveling 10 kms. We agreed to give him Rs 250 for police permission and 150 for diesel as he had asked. Though I knew he was lying about 250 for police permission, I pretended to genuinely believe in what he said. This was only because he has been making our tour interesting and didn't crib about anything at all. On top of it, he was providing us extra information whih was really interesting.

GlenMorgan Tea Estate and Power Plant
Glenmorgan power plant had an interesting steep ride which was about 104 years old; was designed and constructed by Britishers as the driver told us. I haven't bothered to check the exact history. The ride was used for transfering the staff only. The quality of their work still reflects in these equopments. The place also offered a good sight.

The Tea state was the most interesting part. The driver said, sir uiu can go and take few pica. We went in and found ouselves to be the only two in the plantations, surrounded by uniformly colored tea plants. The plantations were beautiful, with narrow walkways between.  We walked in up to about 500 meters. This was a perfect place for sightseeing and photography. The best we had seen so far.

 Pykara Lake & Fall

Pykara Lake

The other best, which I think would weigh equal to GlenMorgan Tea estate in its beauty, was Pykara Lake and Falls. This is picturesque lake spread over a very wide area, which also had a boat house. Though the rides were costly, the motor boat ride filled us with pleasure. I think the time between 5 to 6 pm was a really good time to go for such a ride. The sun was about to set and the whether had become really pleasant.

Sky @ Pykara Lake

Experiencing breeze on you face, especially in a serene and beautiful lake, when you are riding at high speed is an amazing experience. Must try!

Pykara Fall

Though we were a bit late for the Pykara Falls, but a little request to the gatekeeper worked. He allowed us on the condition that we will return in 10 minutes. The fall was as beautiful as lake, however due to safety reasons we were not allowed to go into the water. 

Sixth Mile and Way to Raju Chacha's Set

Sixth Mile Shooting Spot

That was not the end of the day. During our return the driver pulled over the car near the sixth mile shooting point. It was a good sight and was enjoyable in the evening.There was a narrow road opposite to the Sixth mile. 

Way to Raju Chacha's Set

On one side of the road were pine trees and on the other side the Eucalyptus.

All Eucalyptus trees were arranged in straight lines with approximately equal space between the rows. 

Walking along the road up to the point where Ajay Devgan had put set for his movie Raju Chacha was a walk to remember. 

Day 3

We were not very sure where should we go on the third day. Coonoor which is just 20 kms from Ooty didn't sound like a good option. However, in view of our indecisiveness with regards to other options, we chose to go to Coonoor. One important motivation was to travel in Toy Train. We had already tried one toy train from Kalka to Simla and wanted to cover another world heritage site in the toy train. We got a bit late because of the restaurant's food service. It was 8:35 am and we were told that train leaves around 9:00 am. We were yet to reach station, stand in long queue, buy tickets and board the train. Didn't seem to be feasible. This wasn't enough, so it turned out that Rickshavalas were on strike that day. Phew! The gatekeeper of hotel showed really sincere concern and managed to get a car to drop us at railway station and requested us to pay just 70 Rs. 

Toy Train from Ooty to Coonoor

We managed to buy the ticket and board the train in good time. The good part was for first class ticket you don't have to line up to board the train. That was the only privilege I found by spending 80 Rs. more over the 5 Rs. second class ticket. Otherwise the second class compartments looked much better than the first class ones. The entire route was green and had a number of tree plantations on the way which made the route scenic. It's worth going once, but don't buy first class ticket if you can stand up in queue for 10 minutes.

Coonoor

We had planned to go to two falls in Coonoor but the tourist guides said that one could be seen from very far and other has become a gutter. So we decided to not go at both these places and instead to Sims park. What a stupid park it was for the hype that was created about it in the market. Though we had bought a 4:30 ticket, we found it so disappointing that we decided to leave at 12:30 itself. I booked a cab for Avalanche lake from Ooty. We took the return toy train to Ooty and headed for Avalanche Lake.

The driver seemed to be stupid in comparison to the Day 2 driver who was really intelligent and had a really pleasing personality. Anyway, he took us to Avalanche which was about 28 kms. 

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

As we reached near the lake, we were stopped at the check post. The driver and the check post guy had some conversation in local language. The driver translated and said, to go inside you have to hire a 1200 Rs. vehicle and then they will take you for a Forrest Safari. I was shocked that why this wasn't told to us by the tour manager in the beginning itself. I said, we never wanted to go for a Forrest safari. We just want to go to lake. However, he took a stand that we can't go. I somehow explained to the check post guy and he agreed and said you can go up to the lake, but return soon. Language becomes a big barrier when you go to the interiors of Tamilnadu. Now the stupid driver said, you can't go near the lake and asked us to see the lake from approx. 300 ft height. This was getting really bad. Now my frustration started coming out. I was really angry at the driver, but had no other option but to see lake from that far and return. It looked very big and beautiful but the fact that we can't go close to it and there is no route to reach close to it ruined all the pleasure. 

We stopped a passing by forest vehicle and asked the driver directly if we can go near the lake. He said, yes of course. That was a relief. It was now confirmed that driver was an as_ h_l_ and was trying to fool us as he wanted to return home quickly. However, now I had decided that I am not going to leave him till 10 at night, until I board the bus. 

Avalanche Lake

The route was covered with trees and was not easily visible. We went down the hill and reached near the lake. The nearer we went the more beautiful it became. Now this is a place that gave me feeling of an exotic tourist destination. We spent about an hour there and took some pics and sat in silence experiencing the serenity and beauty of nature.

Next we went to Emerald Dam and Avalanche Dam. They both are on the way back and just 1-2 kms apart. Again the driver was reluctant to take us to Avalanche Dam and gave us a number of excuses. However, I pushed him and we visited both the places. They were both worth visiting. Photography wasn't allowed at these sites and hence I respected their privac

Had dinner at Nahar's again and then the driver dropped us to Bus stand around 9:00 pm. 

KSRTC bus is really good and we could make it to Bangalore in just 7 hours. While going to Ooty I went by Greenline travels bus; the service is good, however I liked the KSRTC bus more because it was a Volvo, semi-sleeper, took 3 hours lesser than Greenline and I had to pay 300 Rs. less, per ticket.