Vistas of Nilgiri Hills

Today, me and my friend Naquib (other guy overslept) woke up early morning and started towards Kodanadu viewpoint. The roads leading to Kodanadu was so refreshing with plantations and hill side houses on both sides of the road. Midway through our journey, Arun called us and asked to pick him up from hotel. We had to go back to the hotel, but we managed to get few beautiful images of the hill side houses and green pastures. After having breakfast, we started for Catherin falls only to get disappointed as the roads to the falls were closed. After that till evening, we just drove aimlessly around stopping at whatever we see interesting. We could have done this all day for the Nilgiris is amazingly beautiful own its own. Later in the evening we intend the attend to some unfinished business. We reached Kodanadu to witness an beautiful sunset. We returned to our hotel to watch an important football match and took the rest of the day off at the comfy of hotel.

The day started with vacating our hotel and driving to Doddabetta Peak (another view point)to watch the sunrise, but to our disappointment it opens only around 7 - 8am. We waited there for an hour or so and reached the peak, but if you ask me was it worth the wait, I would say no. We felt it was same as Kodanadu from the previous day but a bit bigger. If we could have watched the sunrise from the peak my opinion might have been different. Enroute Avalanche lake, one would come across the famout Good Sheperd Internation School, one of the famous ones in India. It was quite a sight. I had heard a lot about this institution. The lake itself is surrounded with pine trees and lush green pastures. We spent few hours near the lake watching how people enjoy themselves leaving all their worries behind. When one is visiting Avalanche lake, then the next obvious destination would be the Emerald lake which only few kilometers away. After spending few more hours near both the lakes, we visited the famous Ooty botanical gardens. The gardens is quite different from what I have been to before. There were so many exotic flowers, there were people coming just to spend some quality time with their loved ones, there were children playing around. One could see a variety of people doing a variety of stuffs. That was all this is about, gardens is not only about exotic flowers but also about the other activities happening around. It was already late night by the time we got back to our hotel. After having a heavy dinner we all had a good night sleep.

During the Gandhi Jayanthi holidays last year, me along with two of my friends (Naquib and Arun) planned for a trip to the Nilgiris. We took a self drive car from Bangalore. It was bit of scary for me at first, as it was my first time driving such a long distance and that too to a hill station. We started around 12pm from Bangalore, only to reach our hotel in Kotagiri around 9pm. The journey itself was so rejuvenating once you cross Gundelpet and reach Bandipur. The tiger reserve is one of the famous ones in India. We were fortunate enough to spot few deers and elephants along the way. After Bandipur reserve, starts the climb to the Nilgiri hills. There are around 20 - 30 if not less hair pin curves along the way. This was my first time riding through such roads and I couldn't stop enjoying it. After driving for 9 hours continuously, we reached our hotel in Kotagiri and embrace the comfort of hotel beds.

This day was entirely dedicated to our journey back to Bangalore. We ended the trip on a high note and I boarded my train back to Hyderabad thinking of how amazing the last few days have been.