This Diwali we wanted to celebrate it quite differently, hence we planned for a long weekend at Ooty.
Journey was comfortable, in other words we were stuck to our seats:) till Mysore, then the roller-coster ride started from Gudalur- enter the Ghat Section, it was one of the horrible experience, Road from Gudalur to Ooty is so worst, wonder why the TN Govt is not interested in repairing these roads, and to add to this heavy rains in past few days had contributed in damaging the roads further.
SO BE READY FOR A BUMPY RIDE -AFTER MYSORE-ESPECIALLY GUDALUR TO OOTY
Alas! we reached Ooty, happy that we reached, we reached our hotel - Hotel Lakeview, and there was the rude behaving crowd(reception), who were not bothered to even say a good morning, instead we were told that Check-in time is 12 noon, though we reached the hotel as early by 07:30 AM in morning and also the hotel people were well informed that we would be reaching much early.still it was the worst experience, to wait in lobby for 2-3 hours, finally we were allotted the cottages.This is just a beginning.
Our another nightmare started when we learnt that you need to keep the Geyser ON for more than a Hour for the water to get HOT, but quite surprising it took 1hours 20 minutes to bring the water from cold to warm:( and the response from house keeping was the Geyser will work and you need to have patience.How long? for the entire day.but if you have a habit of bathing daily then please avoid Hotel Lakeview.
KINDLY AVOID THIS HOTEL IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A NICE STAY WHICH YOU WANT RELISH FOR A LONG TIME- THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS HOTELS IS IT’S LOCALITY, REST ALL IS CRAP.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT MANY HOTELS IN OOTY ARE HAVING 12 NOON CHECKOUT, HENCE ENSURE THAT YOU REACH OOTY ONLY BY 10-11 OR 12 AND NOT BEFORE THAT, ELSE YOU MIGHT END UP WAITING IN HOTEL LOBBY FOR CHECKIN TO ROOM.
FOOD IN OOTY:
There are lots of places where you are served multicusine, kindly visit Hot Breads for delicious pasteries and Pizza.
Sullivan Court - Welcom group has a buffet lunch and dinner, we had dinner and found it tasty and only paid 700 Rs. for two at a three star hotel.(on the outskirts - Next to Rose Garden)
Hotel Preethi Classic Towers - Good place but too crowded.
Ooty Saravanans - Good place for South Indians(Near Upper Bazaar)
Quality Resturant - Ooty Conoor Road - Nice place for Ala-carte as well as Buffet Lunch.
*TRAVEL IN OOTY:
The best thing about Ooty is fixed fares from point to point, so that no Auto or Cabbies will demand more, every hotel and every prominent spot has the tariff board displayed, and you need to pay as per that.
There are lots of local cabs in Ooty who offer you a sight seeing and they charge you 750/- per day( I was lucky to get a nice CAB - Maruti 800 with a decent driver cum owner, who was very kind and helpful), also lot of hotels have a package sight seeing trips organised daily who would charge something between 100-200 Rs. per day, but this will be in a mini-van, if you wanna some personal space, then local cabs are best for you.
Kindly dont miss on*
Dolphin’s nose - **The shape of this rock resembles Dolphins nose, hence the name, very good view nice place.
Lambs Rock- Lambs Rock got its name from the British Colonel Mr. Lamb, who had his military troop on a rock and they used to do to the Rock Climbing and other military exercise on this rock, hence the name Lambs Rock.
7th Mile- Beautiful place, this place is exactly 7 miles from Ooty city, hence the name- very famous shooting spot, the mountains near the 7th mile during summer resembles Afghanishtan.
9th Mile- Very scenic place, lots of movies are shooted here, you need to climb a bit to reach the peak, but it’s worth the pain, u feel like floating in heaven here.
Pine Forest-This is one of the costliest tress in Ooty, Nice place to take photos.
Nilgiris(Ecualyptus) Forest- Wonderful Place, most interesting point is the blind curve near this forest, where it is called as Peyi(Ghost) corner, the reason being, you can see total darkness as well as immediate light(sun).
Kamaraj Sagar Dam- This Dam generates around 20MW of Electricity, nice place to visit, you will recall movie ROJA when you visit this place.
Pykara Dam, Pykara Falls- folks I will bet that boating in Pykara Lake will be much more memorable compared to that of Ooty lake, where Ooty lake is man made and the water stinks.but here in Pykara this is a valley and even a 20 minutes of ride is very much enjoying - Kindly dont miss boating in Pykara Lake, and about Pykara Falls it’s called Niagara of South. U need to treak atleast 2 km to reach Pykara Falls
The Chai(TEA) Garden and Factory is also a beautiful spot to visit, we were taken to a tea estate which is owned by(I forgot the name) but he is husband of famous bollywood heroine Mumtaz.the estate was a huge one spreading across 2500 acres and was a treat to watch.
Botanical Gardens - no questions asked, one of the most scenic place, but you need to be energetic to roam around the entire park, as this is spread across 50 acres.
Rose Garden was a disappointment as there we no roses(not many) due to heavy rain, but this is the biggest Rose Garden in ASIA.
Train journey from Conoor to Ooty or vice versa.WOW simply superb, never miss this.*
Doddabetta** - the highest peak in South India- a treat to watch, enjoy some fine Carrot and Red Raddish which is sold there.
Cantonment Area(Conoor): Ask your tour operator to take you through the Cantonement Area in Conoor, one of the most tidy and well built area in this sorrounding.
Back from Lambs Rock, kindly demand your tour operator to show Canning Lady Mountain, its simply superb where more than five mountains make a picture of sleeping lady.WOW
SIMS Park- Sims Park is another small botanical garden with beautiful landscapes and lovely flowers, ensure that you reach this place before 6 pm, as the park closes by 6 PM.
Avalanche- One of the most beautiful place, but unfortunately no one is permitted to this place, due to some restriction by Govt authorities.
Mukurthi Peak - Another mountain in ooty-we were not lucky enough to go there, as this area is also restricted for tourists(I dont know the truth, we were told so by our cab guy)