ootacamund

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we decided in all our madness to drive down to ooty, indeed its what everyone did from bangalore. mcdonalds on the mysore highway is always a convenient stop for us. past mandya and mysore we read the signs to follow the road out of mysore until we had reached bandipur. there is a jungle lodges and resort at bandipur as im sure there are others which give you reasonable accommodation while you go searching for tigers. once we entered the bandipur forest the greens and coconuts gave way for forest shrubs and bushes. we craned our necks for wildlife sightings and saw some monkeys and i think some deer on the way back. they have now stopped night time movement through the forest after several animals died. the same forest continues into tamil nadu and is called the mudumalai forest. we had now left behind the boundaries of karnataka and were almost near the hairpin bends, 36 in all which would take us to ooty. the bends started within a short time and offer the most amazing views on either side of the road.

was it our illusion or were the hills appearing to be blue. we reached ooty and found the town to be neat and clean, there were small shops, less crowds and pollution and none of the hustle and bustle that usually accompany any hillsation in india

we checked into the taj savoy and lunch comprising of fish and chips followed soon after. in the evening we took our customary stroll through the streets of ooty just outside the hotel gates, snooping at local houses and guest houses and bought some chocolates. it was cold and the hotel had lit a bonfire and we decided to stay indoors for dinner.

the next morning we left for the botanical gardens and then went to see the dodabetta peak. it was now that we encountered the hordes of tourist buses. our agenda included an interesting trip to the tea museum where we sampled tea, saw how it was all made and bought some souveniors and next we drove past the ooty lake to visit the itc hotel. the erstwhile maharaja of mysores hunting lodge was now a deluxe hotel.

our trip was short and completely action packed, we had driven really long distances the previous day and would have to do the same today. on the way some more ooty chocolates, home made and very tasty and we were on our way back to bangalore. somehow we had managed to find a hotel room for one night only, the entire nilgiris was sold out. it was the weekend of 26th january after all. a short stop at ccd on our way back and we were home.

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