ooty trip in sept 2009

Awesome Ooty.. thats one thing which rang in 5 excited people's head on departure date 26th Sept, early Saturday morning. I was up at 4.15am sharp bright eyed and bushy tailed with excitement. After waiting for about an hour with a cup of tea for company, Rohan picked me up along with Vikram, another friend, and we headed towards Lavelle road to meet the other party.
It was me, Raman, Govind, Rohan and Vikram in this trip and we had decided a good one month in advance that we will take advantage of this long weekend and get out of town for a few days, Rohan, who's family hails from Ooty made the hotels/ motel bookings and of course knew most of the great places to check out for food and general sight-seeing. Travel was no problem, wth our own transport sans Raman's Innova. Govind and Vikram were the other two, and there was me :)
We're on the road in no time and heading towards Mysore which takes us towards Ooty, the journey is totally about 5-6 hours. Our first stop on the way was breakfirst in Mysore which had us eating dosa and khara bath with much gusto and washing down everything with hot coffee. After re-charging our systems with food we were on the road again towards the ghats where we were gonna be staying at Kalhatty Jungle Camp on the '20th Hairpin bend'.
After a rather treacherous journey a kilometre or so down this zigzagged path, (everyone's hanging on carefuly) which mind you was just off the hill, gives you an impresssion of going off the cliff any second, we find ourselves surrounded by the wild with four rooms to greet us. It was stifling hot which surprised us as we expected cool hill station weather, but after having a simple lunch which consisted of some delicious fried fish and simple dal, subzi, rice most of the group simply fell asleep with the exception of Rohan and Raman who enthusiastically went for a treck with a local guide.
Late evening comes and we happily find ourselves surrounded by mist, cold weather and ah- the good old bonfire which casts a spell on happy lazy people like us slowly getting lulled by the quiet surroundings and of course alcohol the driving force in our young systems. With a distant hoot of an owl heard nearby, and the crickets making their presence known to us, we settle comfortable on chairs around the fire and of course get louder and louder with passing time and finalling falling asleep in the wee hours.
Day no. 2 arrives the sun is shining a little too bright for our liking and a giant malabar squirrel greeting us in the morning. Gorgeous looking creature with its fiery red-brown tail and dark
body. I take a walk and end up falling into a stream much to the amusement of everyone after posing for a few snaps on a slippery rock. Late morning we head to Ooty leaving behind the '20th Hairpin bend'.
The drive to Ooty was spectacular, there's nothing like climbing the ghat section - hearing your ears popping and breathing in the refreshing air with the smell of eucalytus trees that drives away any sign of a runny nose or headache. The views from here are awesome with rolling hills filled with reserve forests and agriculture farming. At these times you stop and think for a moment why go somewhere out of the country when there is so much to see just in the south! We stop to take pictures, with Raman of course taking charge of his beloved camera and totally taken away with the view of hills, valleys and waterfalls all around. We remind him to take pictures of us too ;
So we reach your final destination - Ooty. The hill station of the south, the one getaway place for some piece of mind and great environment. After checking into Lawly Institute where we were staying, we enjoyed a lunch of wood fired oven pizza's at Sidewalk cafe at Nahar Hotel. Main Ooty unfortunately has become more of a noisy town, with traffic and honking and a traffic signal! We tucked into cutlets and samosas at 'Prabha Sweets' a famous sweet and nashta shop which seems quite popular in Ooty.
After walking around and enjoying the town, it was dinner time and we left for Fernhill Palace which belongs to the Chamarajendra Wadiyar X from Mysore. The palace was grand, built over 400 years ago, now a hotel now for guests and typical Anglo British style with the maharaja's forefathers and their family portraits on the walls, along with beautiful sketches portraying the British Rule years ago. We chose to sit outside in the cold as I was happily outnumbered against everyone else who seemed to enjoy the cold Ooty weather.
Typical backgarden type atmostphere this was, with our backsides freezing on the stone cold benches, we quickly place our orders. Raman our camera protege starts taking pictures of the palace and runs off in another direction, the rest of talk and enjoy ourselves. Once the food arrives much later, we happily tuck into Lemon Grass infused chicken and Lamb chops which are quite good and the vegetarians ordering veg fried rice and raita, cottage cheese quesadilla and pasta in white sauce. Sated and satisfied with a few pranks and jokes running up everyone's sleeves which involved literally knocking Govind off his feet by sneaking up behind him lol, we say goodbye to Fernhill and make our way back to Lawly for some good ol' whisky and rum.
Next day, we leave for 'Destiny's Farmstay' a gorgeous property near 'Emerald Property' , after getting lost for about half an hour and going round the ghats twice, we ask a passing car 'where's destiny?' and get 'What do you mean?' as our answer which had us in splits for the next hour or so. After finaling reaching, we hike up a hill for about half an hour and finally reach 'our' Destiny. Beautiful scenary right out of those postcards with a lake at the bottom and surrounded by hills on the either side, nother nature just took my breath away. After a good lunch of barbequed chicken and spaghetti we laze around on the grass and watch a couple of kids doing some fishing, with one over-enthusiastic kid falling into the pond, and, well you can say pretty much freezing his butt off, hehe ;
Once Destiny was done with, we head back to main Ooty and then left for dinner to Kings Cliff, since I had come there just a couple of weeks back with family the place was no surprise only this time there were a lot more people owing the long weekend. After some delcious Fench Onion soup and Grilled chicken, the pasta in white sauce which is a favourite amongst some of the guys was quite delicioustoo and after taking a brief walk around the Cliff we head back to our hotel for some 'chill' time.
Next day we leave Ooty and head back home stopping off ay Mysore 'Planet X' for some late lunch and mini golf. Its home for all now and office the next day for most , but a getwaway is nothing like making the most of a long weekend and slipping just a tad bit from reality. :)