Queen of Hill-Stations. Review on Ooty

Ooty is popularly referred to as the Queen of hill stations though the roads in this town are in pretty bad shape which's the only hitch. We came from Mysore through the Bandipur Sanctuary and were able to catch glimpses of some deer but weren't lucky enough to view tigers.

As one navigates throuth the numerous hair pin bends on the ghats to reach Ooty, the smell of the Eucalyptus trees leaves you wanting for more, so fresh and at an altitude of over 2000m it seems like one can only breath fresh air at Ooty/Ootacmund, short for Udhagamandalam. While passing through the ghat road, one gets to see the "Plastic free Nilgiris" sign, seems like they definitely follow this cuz when I bought some tea at a local supermarket, it was packed in a paper bag which seems like a good idea. Nevertheless, one may forget about the roads by looking at the panoramic views from the ghat roads. This place has quite a few international schools and hospitality schools cuz of the wonderful climate.

Our first stop was the Ooty Lake which used to be a popular spot for numerous film songs during the 70's and the 80's, boating can be done at this lake and a good number of shopping stalls near the lake. The next halt was the second most popular spot there called the Botanical Gardens. There's a fossil of a tree believed to be 20million years old and plenty of species of plants and trees. This also used to be a fave spot of filmmakers to shoot their songs but not now cuz most of the movies are being shot abroad.

The following day was to Conoor which is the second most popular hill station in the Nilgiris at about 16kms from Ooty. Conoor has also been host to a lot of film shootings, notable among them have been Roja, Karma etc. Infact most part of "Roja" which is passed off as Kashmir in the movie has been shot here which's surprising. Our first halt at Conoor was the tea plantations followed by the Dolphins Nose where one gets a good view of the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, that day was so misty that we were hardly able to see anything.

We headed back to the Conoor railway station for the best part of the tour. The train from Conoor to Ooty, the track which has been laid on the ghats and through the tunnels, it takes about an hour and one gets to see breathtaking view of Ooty. When we halted at Ooty the platform was filled with people who were fighting to get the best seats in the train.

After lunch we had a couple of stops, the first one at Doddabetta peak which is the second highest peak in South India. The view from the peak is really beautiful. The last stop was at the Tea factory which was using the CTC method - cut, turn, tear method of making tea.

Ooty-Conoor are defintely must see on the list, although the best time to visit may be in the summer.......maybe the near perfect weather when the sun's around.