Ooty, Rider's paradise unexplored

Next destination was gundlupet which is some what big city and it was a main junction for soo many major roads. From there we can travel to Kozhikode (Kerala) by taking a diversion from the junction. We went towards the road which goes to Bandipur national forest. In between we had planned to visit gopalaswamy hills before reaching Bandipur. We expected lush greenery and beautiful sunflower fields at the both sides of the road, but it was the starting of summer season so all we saw was empty fields which made us little sad. When we reach below gopalaswamy hills there was a check post and recently they have prohibited private vehicles to enter the hill. So there is a bus which will take visitors and go up, the next trip was by 9 am. So we have to wait almost an hour to go up. So we decided to cancel the trip to hill top, it made us bit sad. The first destination itself become a sad experience. We came back to the main road towards Bandipur national forest. The checkpost will be open from 8AM to 8 PM. So when we reached there the gates were wide open welcoming us.

But the views inside the reserved forest area was not that refreshing as it is summer, trees without leaves were looking like Skelton. There was not that much greenery there but we saw too many deers, monkeys and some peacocks on the way. We felt bit sad as we couldn't spot any elephants or tigers inside forest. One thing we noted is till Karnataka border they have made humps in regular interval so that vehicles shouldn't go through the jungle in high speed. They have marked the bumps very clearly but after crossing border in Tamilnadu side there was no markings to show the humps, and it give us so much difficulty during the ride, may be the road is newly made. Even if over speed is restricted in forest area, we spotted so many vehicles going in high speed.

From Theppekadu the road is divided into two, one goes towards Masinagudi and other towards Mudumalai national park. While going towards ooty I suggest you guys to take Masinagudi route, there are 2 reasons for that. One it is the shortest path available, second there lies the scenic 36 hairpin turns which shows a trailer of what we gonna see from now onwards when we reach ooty. This continues 36 hairpin turns as it goes up it make the surroundings more beautiful and we can feel the chill and freshness in the air. While coming back even if this way is the shortest I won't suggest it, I prefer the other long route which comes through Mudumalai national park. Reasons are one is while coming down this steep 36 hairpin bends are little dangerous and brake pad of our vehicles is gonna get almost damaged once you reach the bottom, next is you have much more beautiful spots to see if you choose the other way (longest one). And finally we reached ooty around 11:30, but there comes the next problem, we have to book a room.

In a sudden we didn't book the room, we just asked the localities help. We finally found out a cheap and good stay, they charged 800 per day. We kept all our stuff there and fresh up then got ready to see the beauty of ooty. Our first destination was nilgiris railways, which is famous for the narrow gauge and it's scenic beauties. We have to reach the station before 12, there was a train from udegamandalam(old name of ooty) to konnur. The fun part was we were asking to the Manager about how to reach the station, he just pointed his fingers outside and says just a five minutes distance!!! Yes the hotel Where we stayed was right in front of the udegamandalam railway station. That was any ways an advantage.

We took the first class ticket, it looks more like a toy train, and the driver seat also looks so different from the normal trains, it was totally a different experience. The views were breathtaking. Wherever we look we can see the beauty of hills, tea gardens etc. In between train goes straight towards a big rock mountain. Yaa..!! We took some time to figure out that there is a small man made way to pass through that rock, that was one of the beautiful and amazing moment we experienced with nilgiri railway. We took ticket till konnur, there was another route to metupalayam but it will be too long and time consuming so we decided to go tiil konnur. Had some snacks at kunnur railway station and visited the old steam model of engine government used before the arrival of diesel engine. Still nature activists and local people wants the steam engine back, as it won't pollutes the environment like diesel engines.

We headed back to udagamandalam via local bus which was the cheapest transportation available. It was fun to travel with localities and we met some other tourists also on the way. After having lunch from near by we headed back to our hotel, wear our riding jackets, started our bullet and went to the next destination we planned on that day. Emerald and avalanche lakes that was our next destination. For time management we took a route which goes straight through the middle of two lakes. so we can enjoy the view of avalanche as well as emerald in the both sides of the road. There is a small bridge from where we can enjoy the view of both the lakes and yes it gives us an amazing view of nilgiri and the surrounding tea gardens. we spend some time roaming around clicking pics and all. Then we went back to udagamandalam where we stay.

At evening the first thing noted was the chillness in the climate. Jackets we had was not enough to defend the climate of ooty. We went out for small shopping. After enquiring a lot to localities we found out one of the best shops for the famous ooty chocolates and ya that chocolates are worth for that search.King star that is the shop name, we brought almost 2 kg chocolates from there. And just roamed around the ooty lake in our bullet. Finally we went back to our hotel as the atmosphere was becoming too cold.We slept sound that night as we both were tired because of the long bike journey and we need to take enough rest as next day we had so much places to cover up in and around ooty.

We both wake up early in the morning, got ready fast and had breakfast from a near by hotel. Then we headed to the highest point in Ooty hill station called “Doddabetta”. We were the first visitors to reach there that day, and we had enough time to grasp all the mesmerizing view of sunrise without much public rush. From there we can get the view of almost entire Ooty and it was worth for that early morning ride. On the way back we visited the famous tea factories of ooty. We saw the manufacturing process of various type of teas and tasted some. The elachi tea tasted from there was really cool and it made us buy some tea packets from there. After having breakfast we went back to our room and packed or staff.

On the way local people are selling fresh fruits and vegetables produced in their farmlands. We brought some even if we don't cook much at home. The smile at their faces are worth for buying that. It is a small encouragement we can give to our farmers. Then we had a small horse ride also when we stop in front of some lake where we saw a beautiful white horse. But the guy who owns it said that horse is still not that friendly to ride so we just had a ride with a black and brown coloured horse. From there our next stop was in famous pine gardens in ooty which is filmed in countless movies.

We took the long route through Mudimalai national park as we planned because there are more spots to see on the way. On the way we saw the beautiful pykara lake and pykara falls. There was speed boat service in pykara lake which is really worth for adrenaline rush. Sad thing is we couldn't do it because we don't had enough cash in our wallets and they don't have any system to do card payment. It is some what in the middle of the jungle so you won't get any alternate option. So make sure to keep enough money before leavening ooty town or else you will miss these all fun like us. We just took a normal boating service to have a closer look of the lake. If you are lucky enough you can see elephants too. After that we went to see the pykara falls. From road we have to walk a bit through a muddy path to reach the pykara falls. It is also a visual treat.

After spending some time there we went forward and we wanted to visit Mukurti Peak & Mukurti National park. But the route which was showing in google map was not that correct and we missed the actual way to the Mukurti National park on the way. Then we decided to cancel that plan and move forward because if we go back we may waste more time.

There was tea gardens everywhere we look on the way back, tempting us to take pit stop very frequently to click pictures. In between temperature also was rising as we are coming down from the hill station. At done point of time temperature was making us tired too as it was some what noon time. We reached our final destination of our ooty trip during this time “needle rock view point”. Entrance looks like a small gate to a private estate, there 5rs ticket we have to take. A long walk way is going towards a hill top we had second thoughts at first whether to go or skip it. Frankly telling it was not looking that great from there. But when we reach the viewpoint even if it was not that crowded it was a visual treat for the eyes. Western ghats covering 3/4th of the entire surrounding and the view was really magical. Even the sun was right above us, temperature was too high we spend almost 1 hour there taking selfies and videos. It was almost 1:30 pm while we leave that place and was feeling soo hungry. Due to expose to sun for long time i got sunburn, i got it only when I felt the burning sensation in my lips and forehead during the ride back home.

We finished our lunch from gudalur and then started our return trip towards bangalore via Bandipur where we once again got a chance to explore the beauty of that forest. We had 2 challenges while coming back one is we should reach Bangalore before 9pm so that we shouldn't pay fine for our rented bike as they still charge extra if we give the bike late. Second thing is my mobile was running on low battery and we were using an alternate road through kanaka pura from Mysore which is less rushy and peaceful comparing to the normal road. So I don't have any idea about the road till we reach Bangalore, still we managed to reach on time before my mobile get off.

The entire journey was really amazing with lush greenery and nice weather and yes my wanderlust heart was filled with joy atleast for some weeks. Even if I know I have to recharge it always planning new journeys.

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