Runaway To The Woods - Day 1

This trip was done in the last week of August  2014, and I started writing this blogpost in November. Finally it made out of my drafts in January 2015. 

Ooty is the backyard of Coimbatore. As a resident of Coimbatore, my visits to Ooty should have crossed a dozen by now. But unfortunately it hasn't happened yet. I should have gone there whenever I need some fresh air or a cup of fresh tea in the chilled weather or just when to kill my boredom in the weekends. But, till now every visit of my Ooty is just like a typical tourist who comes once in a year and just tries to cover most of the common places within a weekend. Unfortunately this time also I couldn't change this jinx. But every time Ooty looks new to me and the new addition of my Sony RX100 II to this trip made me feel like a first time visitor; so no complaints.

Why this sudden visit and the reason behind this title ? Last week I had an important test for my dream job. But in the last minute I got freaked out and felt like Short Term Memory 'Ghajini'. So I made a quick plan on Friday evening and told my parents that I want to go to Ooty. The one thing in my parents are more lazy than me is in making travel plans. So after a lot of (useless) discussion, around late morning, my father decided that we will take the bus to Ooty and not the car.  

So after a slow and steady climbing on a government bus, we reached Ooty around 2.30 pm. Since my father worked there for an year, he knew the city and some persons there. We got down in Charring Cross and booked a room in Meadows Residency. 

After a quick lunch in the Oven (the hotel's restaurant and aptly named for its space I think), our first place in the check list was Doddabetta. The light drizzle and the clouds made this, one of my best visits here.

On the way to Doddapetta peak lies the tea museum. The entrance fee is minimal and you can get hot tea as complimentary inside. Also you can see the tea manufacturing stages and get all kind of products manufactured in Ooty here.

From the factory, you can see the Government Arts and Science College of Ooty (Where my dad worked for an year) and Ooty Stone House, which was used as residential place for the principals and soon to be converted as a museum. The Stone house was the first bungalow to be built in Ooty and it was built by John Sullivan, the founder of Ooty. The tree in front of the bungalow is named as Sullivan's Oak in his remembrance.

Back View of Stone House from the Tea Factory

Our next stop was the most crowded tourist attraction of Ooty; the Ooty Botanical Garden. Since the main objective of this trip is to get most out of my new camera, I tried to take as many pictures I can with whatever I know with my camera. It was more like the rumination process of a cattle and somehow I got a few fair pictures in it.

When we came out of the Botanical Garden it was nearly 6 pm, and closing time for the Rose Garden. But using the influence of a former professor of local government college, we gained the permit to go inside (The security's sister studied in the same college). Since this was a off season we could only see a few Roses and most were just buds or already died. The really unique varieties here are Black Rose and Green Rose, which are placed just adjacent to the entrance. I forgot how many total varieties are in the garden but it was definitely more than a hundred. And they are planning to expand the garden further more.


After finishing the Rose Garden we went to the Ooty Lake just for a small walk and a foursquare checkin. With that, the first day of Usual Ooty visit came to an end. But I had high hopes for the second day since it has a place where I wanted to visit for a long time.

My First Safari: A Consolation Trip

Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore, Karnataka

Sometimes we do an exciting elaborative plan, but what happens is totally opposite to that. But if you are lucky, that will also turn out to be a good thing; Just like how I planeed to visit a friend's marriage in Ranchi and end up in Bannerghatta National Park!


Bannerghatta National Park is 22 km away from Bangalore and has three attractions: Safari, Zoo and the Butterfly Park(said to be India's First). After reading in wikitravel that getting tickets for safari in weekends after 2 PM would be very difficult, we tried our maximum to start as early as possible i.e. 11.30 AM and reached the park by exactly 2 PM.

While buying tickets, you have three options. The normal Non AC bus package ('Grand Safari Pack' I think) is Rs.260 per person and you can visit safari and zoo with it. For Butterfly Park, you have to pay Rs.30 separately. The bus/van looks like the one used by police to transfer prisoners except this is in green color. May be the driver of the prison bus would drive carefully to transfer the prisoners safely which you can't expect in this safari trip. I wonder why they haven't put an warning on the back side of the ticket that says 'If you stand up when the bus is on the move and loose some tooth by falling, the authority is not responsible' ! If you want to take pictures also during this safari, then this bus ride will test the agility of both your camera(autofocus) and yours(moving to the left and right side of the bus).  If you are a DSLR person I wouldn't recommend this option for you, unless you want to break your costly camera also with your tooth during this bumpy ride. Other than this silly reason, this mode is the cheapest and best.

Other than this, there is an AC bus package for Rs.500 which uses the bus/van similar to the ones used in IT companies. There is no fence on the windows in this bus, so you might be able to take better pictures, unless you are so unlucky that the glass window is very dirty outside and your camera automatically focus on that dirt instead of animals in autofocus mode. The another option is by jeep, which costs Rs. 2500 for 4 persons. I saw some Mahindra Bolero going inside while I was coming out, so I hope those are the jeeps used for safari. I think this would be the best option, if you want to take some good pictures without any hurry using your DSLR.

The safari consists the enclosures of deers, elephants, bears, lions and tigers (both bengal and white tigers). The authorities have created artificial water tanks and ponds along the safari road, so you can definitely see all the animals. I have seen so many animals along the road that I really got the doubt whether they really have 100 sq. km area in this national park. Especially the white tiger enclosure looked even smaller than an indoor stadium. But these should be the concerns of the animals and not ours. As a visitor, you are ensured to get what you paid for.



The Butterfly park is near the entry of safari and outside of the premises of safari and zoo. It is said to be the first of its kind in India. Even though, most of the butterflies looked same to me in black color, there are many inside (also outside) and you can find some interesting or big ones too.

Even though I have resided in Mysore for six months and Chennai (near Vandalur) for an year I didn't visit Zoos there. So this was my visit to zoo after a very long time.  Though we were unfortunate not to see the white peafowl dance and an awaken king cobra, we were fortunate enough to see some interesting activities of rat snakes, lizards and leopards. We also saw a lazy bear lying in supine position and got choked from a sugarcane which it was eating. It also has a large number of macaws. Many monkeys could be seen outside rather than inside of the cages. The other animals are fox, ostrich, owls, deer, porcupine, etc.



So, Finally, Is this place worth visiting or not ? Yes, Definitely it is. It might not be worth to plan a trip just to visit here, but if you are around Bangalore and free for a day, you can visit here and have a good time.

P.S: There's a Hillview Restaurant inside the premises. Since I haven't tried it, not sure about the quality and price of food available here.

A Blog for Travel

Whenever I am bored of my favourite hobby, i.e. 'Doing Nothing', I engage myself in other hobbies like Travel, Photography and Writing. So, On the line of my 'One Blog for One Hobby' policy, here is my latest blog.

Even though I have travelled to many places of Southern most of India (Tamilnadu and Kerala) during my childhood, I don't consider those as 'my travels' since the main aim of those travels were either a meeting my dad wants to attend or a temple where my mom wants to offer her prayers. But, Thanks to the great kings of Tamil Kingdom, our literature, culture, art and architecture are so intertwined with each other and only the old temples stand as the relics of these. So, with my parents interests of Tamil literature and religion, I also got the interests in History, Architecture and Travel.

Apart from my school tours and two IVs during college, I don't remember many trips of my student life. Then my internship at Infosys Mysore came; The golden days of my life! From here onward the trips were done in my own terms and I went on one of the most memorable trips with my friends to Somnathpur and Talakad in Karantaka, during this time.The next notable trip of mine was to Mahabalipuram after I got posted in Chennai; Then the solo trip to Pondicherry with an awesome early morning bike ride on East Coast Road, to visit my parents; Then to Kannur to attend my friend's marriage; and the rolling stone did not gather any moss after that.

But exactly on the same day of last year, Something changed in the way of my travels. For the first time, I took all the initiative and planned a family tour to Hampi, an unknown place with an unknown language. It was the first time I took the control in my hands from my parents for arranging everything and it was a proud moment to watch them enjoying the trip. Happy with the outcome of last year, this year also I planned and went on a trip to Aurangabad, which took me farther from my hometown and comfort zone. Even though there were some small hitches in these trips, over all these trips were very successful.

So, To commemorate the anniversary of my own travels and to write more about the travels I have done in the past and going to do in the future, I start this blog.