Ooty - Good destination in winter. Review on Ooty

I spent thelast week of 2007 and the first week of 2008 in Avalanche and Ooty.  Having spent the first few days in pristine Avalanche which is heaven on earth, Ooty was suddenly very grotty, compared to our visit in Jan 07 but that is because we are nature lovers and prefer jungles to cities any day.  Since we were in Avalanche first, we went from Coimbatore airport to Karamadai and then scenic Geddai Manjur Edakadu to Avalanche.  From Avalanche we went to Ooty via Emerald.

I can thoroughly recommend Mr Jagadeesan [09442370007] our taxi driver owner from Coimbatore, we used him before, he is absolutely honest and a safe driver who knows the Nilgiri Coimbatore Erode Kodaikanal Palani Munnar circuit very well.  We stayed at Hotel Tamil Nadu run by TTDC as they give a very big deluxe room for Rs 700 off season rate and its best located close to Charing Cross but very quiet. Last year the same room was Rs 500 but they have renovated since.  Other than breakfast, eat all your meals elsewhere as the food here is tasteless.  Plenty of options at all budgets just 5 min away at C' Cross and Commercial St.  We drove to Pykara the next day.  Road works are in progress so this stretch is really dusty and awful, it will be completed by April.  As we had been before, we knew what to avoid and what to see.  Tips:  Avoid the litter strewn "Pine Forest" - go 1 km further down the road, stop and walk through the eucalyptus, wattle woods to the Kamaraj Sagar lake shore - it is very clean here with no other tourists.  Similarly, dont spend much time at 9th mile shooting Meadow, go 1 km ahead, ramble through the pine forests and you will have a vast expanse of beautiful clean meadows all to yourself with fantastic views of Mukurthi peak and other ranges.  You can spend a lot of time here so pack your lunch.  There is a small stretch of shola forest along this road which is not so dense and you can easily enter and explore which is really nice for nature lovers.  You can see Nilgiri langurs here and maybe even a giant malabar squirrel or two.  Pykara waterfalls at the moment is devoid of much water however it is still a pleasant spot and you can walk along the river banks as far as you feel like.  Pykara Lake is fantastic now, the tourist dept has really cleaned it up and you can easily spend a day here.  For those who want to go to Mudumalai WLS, you have to take the turn off at Thalaikundah, its a lovely road downhill with scenic views.  We spent another day at the Botanical Gardens and the Ooty Lake which is also cleaned up since last year.  The toy train ride at the lake is quite nice.

The botanical gardens are also a nice place to relax on the vast lawns.  A must do is a train ride between Ooty and Coonoor which gives views from a different perspective.  You can get seats easily in II class if you go half hour before the 1215 train.  You can visit Syms Park in Coonoor and take the 1630 train back or hop onto any bus.   Do make a trip to Dodabetta the highest Peak, you can also walk from D'betta junction which is quite pleasant. Good buys in Ooty are aromatic oils, spices, excellent fudge from King Star, ubiquitous home made chocolates, good quality cheese and jams, superlative bakery products - puffs, biscuits, cakes;  overpriced but pretty Toda shawls and jewellery.  Winter clothing is also cheap.  Jagadeesan came to pick us up for our return to Coimbatore and insisted on taking us via Kotagiri Mettupalayam route.

This was an excellent road with hardly any traffic and stunning views of tea estates.  There was a partial mist due to light sleet and the air was laden with the fragrance of eucalyptus.  Lots of monkeys lined the road to bid us good bye and we were privileged to see a malabar giant squirrel upto his antics in the evergreen forests lower down.  From Mettupalayam, we went to the airport via Annur, bypassing the Coimbatore city traffic.  All in all a good  winter holiday, we will return next year for sure.