Nagarhole

Date of Travel: 31-Dec-2011 - 1-Jan-2012
Team: Around 30 people from Bangalore Mountaineering Group.
Mode of Travel: TT arranged by BMC

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Vani Vilas Sagar Dam and Chitradurga Fort

Date of Travel: 24-Dec-2011 - 25-Dec-2011
Team: Dimple and Paresh
Mode of Travel: Self Driven Ford Figo
Places Visited: Vani Vilas Sagar Dam and Chitradurga Fort

Ooty

 

We decided to go to Ooty on our first Wedding anniversary.

Itinerary

From Bangalore to Ooty
1. Leave Bangalore on 30th June night by Train no. 12257 from Banaswadi Railway Station to Coimbatore.
2. Take train no. 12671 (NilGiri Express) from Coimbatore to Mettupalayam.
3. Take train no. 56136 from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam.

From Ooty to Bangalore also we booked via train. But after reaching Ooty we cancelled train bookings and booked KSRTC Volvo direct from Ooty to Bangalore. Reason? Train takes too much of time (around 6 hours by Nilgiri Mountain Railway, 1 hour from Mettupalayam to Coimbatore, 5 hours from Coimbatore to Bangalore). Bus took 8 hours from Ooty to Bangalore.

Starting from Bangalore

We boarded the train from Banaswadi Railway Station. It was a Garib Rath express. I was travelling in it for the first time. The train condition was exactly as the reviews being given from my friends and relatives. There was almost no space inside. Even on sides, there were three births. It is really hard to find a place where you want to look inside the train without looking at somebody else. The bedding was also a big pain. There was a long queue with a charge of Rs 25/- each. Everybody wanted to go to sleep before others. Many of the passengers were proud to break the queue and come in front. Somehow I got hold of two bedding and we got some sleep.

We reached Coimbatore around 0330 hours. The next train was around 0430 hours. Generally, it is not hard to kill time at Indian Railway Stations. One observation that we had about the Coimbatore Railway station is that it is probably the cleanest Railway station that I have seen in India.

Moving on, the Nilgiri Express arrived on time and we reached Mettupalayam on time.

Review of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway

One side of the platform has broad gauge line for the Nilgiri Express. On the other side, Nilgiri Mountain Railway was greeting us on the narrow gauge. There were just four coaches in it. Some of them were unreserved, which I would say is not a great place to travel. The journey is around 7 hours and one needs enough place to sit and relax. In the second class coaches 6 or 7 people were sitting on the seat which was meant for just 4. I accept that the ticket just cost Rs 25/- which is very less as compared to Rs 130/- for first class ticket. But if you want to enjoy this journey, go only via first class. Not only seating, the first class cabin is the very beginning of the train. We got some extra scenic views. Also, it is farthest from the engine. That means less noise, less heat and less smoke.

The train truly gives a feeling of very old times. The steam engine looks mesmerizing and we spent lot of time looking at it closely. It is hard to find such thing in working condition these days. The engine was at the rear and instead of pulling, it was pushing the train. The engine works on rack and pinion system which is not very comfortable to travel with. But this journey is not for comfort but to travel in a century old railway system which is now a UNESCO world heritage site. 

The engine stops at each station to re-fill its water tanks. After all, steam is what propels it further.



The train takes much longer to reach ooty as compared to a car or a bus. For us, it started at 0715 hours and reached ooty at 1500 hours. The steam engine is really slow. At Connor, steam engine is replaced by a diesel engine, which is fast. Also, remain seated for this long time is uncomfortable. However, these minor problems are out shadowed by the other factors:

1. Travelling with a steam engine propelled train is definitely a rare thing and a good experience.
2. The scenic valley views are amazing. Specially the tea gardens. Most of the tea garden are before Connon. Most of the people travel in the train between Ooty and Connon just for the sake of it. The hills between these two places is filled with concrete and people think that the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is over hyped. I would say that it is under hyped but you need to be on train between Mettupalayam and Connor. The most scenic tea gardens that we saw were from this train. The Railway stations itself were very scenic. The whole train signaling system, the rail change system, the braking system, etc is a must watch.
3. The tunnel experience is wonderful.
4. At one point the train goes under a cliff which looks as if it is about to fall. 

Bike hire at Ooty

 
We got down at Udhagamandalam and planned to hire a motor cycle. There is shop near alankar theatre, called RCM rentals, which rents out bikes. We hired a Hiro Honda Hunk for Rs 400 per day. The bike was not available at the time. So the owner offered us to deliver the bike at the hotel. The name of the owner is Saravanan and his contact number is +91-9942932030.

Stay at Ooty
We stayed at i-India. The reason for choosing this place was the tripadvisor rating and the reasonable cost. The place is good but not great. Why am I saying that? Lets check out:

Whats good

1. The amazing view of the Ketti Valley. One can spend hours looking at the valley and the distant mountains.


2. Cleanliness


3. Friendly staff and the owner (Sabi Raj)


4. The interiors. There are so many beautiful pictures around. The choice of furniture in the living place is also good.



What not so good
1. For all three days, there was shortage of hot water. They have a solar water heater. But during Monsoon, there was not enough sun light.
2. There is no TV in side rooms. There is a just one TV in the living room.
3. One has to pre-order breakfast/lunch/dinner. If not, you may have to starve. We reached there around 5 in the evening and asked for some soup but there was nothing available. We even got denial if we purchase some knor soup and cook on our own.
4. The rooms are good but I expect to have a open window towards valley. The windows were opening inside some other common room. So we had to keep them close all the time.
5. The rooms were little bit suffocating. There was no opening for air ventilation.

Places we visited
The Dodabetta peak 

A good uphill ride was needed to reach this place. It gave a nice view of the complete regions. However, there was too much of crowd and we spent hardly 10 minutes here.

Pykara  

A nice lake and boating point. Nothing special as such but makes sense for a visit if you are in ooty. They have speed boats available with them just to have some adventure kind of experience.

The emerald dam

Now this was the place. The route to reach here itself was amazing and no less than those shooting locations of Switzerland. The road to this place hardly has any traffic. It was very peaceful. Looks like this is one of those undiscovered places by the tourists. We spotted the Emerald dam from the road but we wanted to go to the dam. We had no idea od the router. We had GPS with us but google maps does not even has this lake. Moreover, we were not able to understand local language. Just was guessing, we took a mud road thinking that this would take us to dam but soon we hit a dead end. Anyways, this gave us good chance to walk through the hilly farms to reach the lake. There is access to go the bank also. Overall, this was the best of all placed that we visited at ooty.


The market  
The market is ooty is just like any other small town. However, it is worth a walk for shopping of Ooty chocolates, Nilgiri tea, honey, etc. We heard lot about ooty chocolates. We went to King’s star, which is known to be good. Frankly, better chocolates are available at Bangalore.

The Taj Savoy Hotel
We went to The Taj Savoy hotel for candle lit dinner. The arranged a private sit out place, along with camp fire, music, lighting and decoration. The overall arrangement was apt. The food was delicious.