Jan 23, 2008 12:30 PM
8231 Views
(Updated Jan 23, 2008 06:02 PM)
The first thing I would like to say about Orange County is that one needs to decide is what his or her priorities are. In other words, do you want to have a completely relaxed vacation, as they say far from the maddening crowd, even if its a tad expensive or just another vacation where you wanted to explore places in & around Coorg.
Orange County is a very beautiful and very very quiet resort which is best suited for the former. You would enjoy this resort the most only if you had no plans in mind and just laze around for 3 days, enjoying the varied food and the serene ambience.
Orange County is exactly 240kms southwest of Bangalore(okay, it depends on where you are in BLR but for me it was 240 on the dot). It usually takes about 5.5 to 6 hours to get there. 75% of the roads are good(as of January 2008). From Bangalore, one needs to take Mysore road all the way upto Srirangapatna and about 2kms after crossing the historical town on the highway, there is huge board for Orange County where we need to take sharp right. This one striaght road leads all the way upto Kushalnagar and Madikeri(a deviation before Kushalnagar towards Siddapur needs to be taken). There will additional signs for Orange County resort all the way and it is very unlikely to get lost.
The moment you enter the resort, you will know that it is going to be a different experience. Resort staff request you to leave the car in front of lobby and as you sink into the sofaset, you are offered fresh juice and face towels to freshen up. You need to fill in a simple form and you are taken to your room by an electric car(like the ones that are available in Disneyworld and other resorts). All the luggage is tagged with room numbers, car parked and car keys tagged with room number again and handed over to us.
Now, the actual resort can be rated on three basic parameters: stay comfort, food and activities. Talking about stay comfort, the rooms are decently spacious with balconies or sit outs as referred by a few. The rooms are made mostly out of wood giving a rustic look but yet looking very elegant. Beds are not extra comfortable but extra blankets are available. As far as food is concerned, there are 3 restaurants(Granary, Plaintain Leaf & Pepper corn). Granary is a multi-cuisine restaurant where all types of food(north, south including coorg specials & continental) are available. The meals are more elaborate than the legendary seven course meal options ranging from soups, starters, varied side dishes to expansive range of desserts. If at all, I need pick on something, it probably is that there is no option other than roti or plain kulcha. Although the variety is great and most of the items are very good, you might have to be careful with tandoor food items where too much of chilli powder being used causes a little discomfort(at least in our case). For puritans of the veggie clan, Plantain leaf is a great option. The restaurant is set in a typical south indian styled house, where there is a large open area for ventillation and light right in the middle of the house. Here, primarily thalis(north & south indian) are served for main meals of the day(lunch & dinner). Authentic south indian food is served for those who have craving for it or would like to experiment. It would be advisable to make a reservation before you walk in. Pepper corn is a fine dining restaurant that requires advance reservation and primarily serves sizzlers and kababs. Candle lit dinners are offered here. In all, there is no dearth of food in this place.
Coming to activities, the following are offered in-house: shuttle/badminton, boating(in the artificial lake within the resort), bicycling, coracle ride(in cauvery river). All of these come at a cost, sometimes a steep one(like 531 for a couple in coracle for 1 hour). There is also a coffee lounge with good coffee table books and magazines who also server very good cappuccino(at least this one is for free). Joggers path is available for jogging enthusiasts. Nylon nets hung between trees are available is many places for people to sleep and enjoy the birds chirp. Most packages include forest trek and spice tour, but both use same route and are sometimes overlapping(the guide in forest trek explains quite a bit about spices).
So, is it a dreamland where everything goes right? Not quite. OC charges exhorbitant charges for service. For example, to serve coffee /tea at your room, they charge 50% extra. If you would like to replenish the fruits or snacks in your room, you would be charged a hefty bill. This one will stump you, have coffee poolside and wish to have samosa? Sure, how about a bill for 125?
People who wish to go around might be slightly disappointed since there are only a few options and even they might not be really worthwhile. Dubare Elephant Camp, Nisargadhama, Tibetan Monastries, Hirangi Dam and Thalacauvery are those few options. The name elephant camp is quite misleading and ironical since only ahdnful elephants are "brought" there for bathing & feeding and you could watch that for about 30 minutes. Kids might enjoy this a lot, since tickets can be bought to scrub elephants. Nisargadhama was another major disappointment. We were informed that it was a natural island and hence we went there. After being there, we were wondering where is the island? And to our surprise we were not alone. This place was encircled/encompassed by river cauvery on all sides and could be theoritically could be termed an "island". There is an elephant ride option available here. Elephant camp, Nisargadhama and Tibetan Monastries are less than 45 mins drive from OC. Drive yourself rather than take the package from the resort to those places. Thalacauvery is about 2 hours drive through Madikeri for people curious to see the origin of river Cauvery. Roads are bad if they have to described politely.
To summarise, OC is a fantastic place to laze around and spend 3 or 4 days doing absolutely nothing other than eating and enjoying nature(no internet, no mails and quality time with family).
