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Dec 7, 2007

Travel to Ooty (Info on Ooty and budget hotels and accomodation in Ooty)

This is the place where I have been planning to go since long time, since I have been in Delhi. Yes, I am talking about the queen of hill stations-Ooty. It is also known as Udhagai or Udhagamandalam.

Location: Ooty is located in Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

The word Nil (pronounced as Neel) means Blue and Giri means mountain. As the name suggests Ooty is full of mountains, valleys, Tea plantations and gardens.

How to reach:

By Air:

The nearest airport to Ooty is at a distance of about 88kms and is located in Coimbatore. There one can take Indian Airline flights to Coimbatore, Bangalore, Cochin and Chennai.

By Rail:

Ooty railway station is very much near to the main city. One can come upto Mettupalayam and then pick up the world heritage train - The Mettupalayam -Ooty Nilgiris passenger.

This toy train that connects Ooty with Mettupalayam and Coonoor, another famous hill station. The train is not really fast. But tourists can enjoy natural beauty all along the way.

By Road:

Traveling by road is a not a bad idea as Tamil Nadu has a very good road network. The state has many highways that connect distant places and make traveling much easier. But I do have a feeling that you will miss out all the charm and view of nature that you can have in the Narrow gauge Ooty train.

So, that's the best option I would consider.

Accommodation: Sterling Holiday Resorts, Fern Hill.

It was a very short weekend trip with some friends. I couldn't see many places that I really wanted to. It got out of my mind to take my camera. It's criminal not to take it when you are travelling to such a beautiful place.

But I am surely determined to visit them soon and then will be writing and posting photos. Here I am about whatever I could visit.

Botanical Garden:

It was built in the nineteenth century by the Marquis of Tweedale, the Indian civil servant during the british rule. It was full of trees and plants. In fact the most striking thing about it was the "beauties that blossomed". I would describe this garden as a repository of a wide variety of beautiful flowers (that's what I meant). This is indeed very big and a must to visit place for any tourist.

Doddabetta peak:

It is the highest peak in Ooty. The fragrance of Eucalyptus trees left me spell bound so much, that I didn't even bother much about the bumpy road climbing uphill leading to the peak.

There was a telescopic tower used to view the natural sceneries.

You can also find lot of vendors selling hats, caps and various other items there.

Kart racing:

I preferred not to go to Ooty lake as I had done enough boating in Nainital. When one of the group members suggested about going kart, I was really enthused. We went to the kart racing club of Tamil Nadu Tourism. Cant recall its name. It was a circular race course with rubber tyres spread all around to prevent people getting hurt when they hit corners. We had a small race amongst ourselves.

It was only few minutes after it started that I went out of control and hit the kart of one of my fellow group members. Then I saw him pressing the accelerator and turning the steering but to no avail. His kart was entirely above the set of tyres and wheels in the air.

I again hit another person, but this time I also went fully out of control. I think I am amongst the luckier ones. The wheels on the left side of the kart was over the rubber tyres and those on the right side were still on the road. So, I was able to accelerate. Then I turned the steering to the right side to bring my kart back to the road. The earliest to complete seven rounds was the first (not me).

I couldn't gauge the extent to which Ooty has got commercialized, but I believe it has still got the scenic beauty left in it to be called "The queen of Hill stations".