Why not Waynad?* (August 12th - 13th) Ooty instead!

* To be pronounced with a thick Mallu accent

It had been quite some time, since I had exercised the bike. Plus, I was out of ideas at work, so I knew I had to unwind. And what better way than on the good ol' bike!

Prolouge
Paddy, of the "Gopalswamy Betta" trip fame, set the pace for this trip. A few weeks back, he suggested that we go on a ride some place. Kinimaam and Kets were all excited. Googendra decided to a Ladakh on us with some Kraut. We thought of all possible places, including Hampi, Yercaud and Coorg. But, a few weeks is a long time, so by the night of 11th, it was Kets, Satish, Vatsa and me, on two bikes, headed off to Yercaud.

Route map
Banglore - Mandya - Mysore - Gundulpet - Waynad (Kerala-Karnataka border) - Gundulpet - Bandipur - Mudumalai - Kotagiri - Ooty - Kotagiri - Gundulpet - Mysore - Kadamane Coffee shop



Vatsa, Kets and I at Doddabetta (2600+ meters above sea level) -->

Distance
700 kms

Time
36 hrs

How to?
Ooty is approximately 300 kms south-west from Bangalore.
To get there, take the Mysore-Bangalore State highway number 17. Mysore is 135 kms away. En-route I'd advice you to take a halt at either Kamat, Coffee Day, MTR or Maddur Tiffanies.

Mysore city has a good outer ring road and SH-17 joins it. There is a big Via - duct after which you need to take a left turn. At the end of the ring road (ironic, I know), take a right turn. This road will take you towards the Mysore Palace, ask someone for directions towards Ooty, and you'll be onto NH-212.


End of ring road!

NH-212 will take you through Nanjangud to Gundulpet. Just ahead of Gundulpet, there is fork in the road, one towards, Sultan Bateri and the other towards, Bandipur. There is also a huge board mentioning Ooty, but you'd be lucky for it not to be obscured by a big lorry standing in front of it! Anyways take the left fork (the same path towards Gopalswamy betta) and you are onto NH-66 (or is it NH-67, the map I have is conflicting!) A few villages ahead, you'll get a right turn towards Gopalswamy betta. You could go there, like we did in March.

Bandipur is 31 kms from Gundulpet. There should be no charge to enter this wildlife santuary. It is a straight road towards Mudumalai National Park, abutting Bandipur, in Tamilnad. At the border you'll need to pay up some. Perfectly legal, though!

At Mudumalai, there are two routes to Ooty, one 60 kms via Gudulur and the other, 39 kms via Kotagiri. Kotagiri is quite steep, and most cars take that route.

What to do?
* Doddabetta, from where you should get a panaromic view of the vallies (if weather permits)
* Botanical Garden, a treat to go with ones girlfriend/wife/kids.
* Train ride to Mettupalyam, the same route on which SRK danced on "Chaiya, Chaiya, Chaiya" in "Dil Se"
* Wellingdon Army Training center (if you've seen "Roja", you've seen Wellingdon!)
* Boating in the hycinth ridden, stinky, lake.

What to buy?
* Homemade chocolates (I suffed from an overdose!)
* Varieties of Tea, right from dust to leaves and from plain to flavoured!
* Eucalyptus Oil

Where to stay?
There are plenty of hotels in Ooty, but make sure you have confirmed bookings!
There are dingy places, there are 5 star places. We stayed at "Hotel Hill Palace" (which has a tie up with Manipal Sikkim University! Small world huh?). We were quite lucky to get a room, on a long weekend, with out booking in advance. And we got it only for the night! Had to vacate by 8 am!

What is the right season?
* Summer is best, if you want to sightsee.
* Monsoon is the best, if you want to see beasts in the National Parks.
* December is best for you know what :D

How the hell did we reach Waynad, and not Ooty? And how did we reach Ooty and not Yercaud in the first place?
More on this and pics later :-D

Why not Waynad?* (August 12th - 13th) Ooty instead!