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Date of journey: 12/07/2008

Starting from: Bangalore

Destination: Ooty

Crew: Maneesh and Lucky.

On Monday 7th I was feeling like “Hmm… It has been about a month since the Mysore trip, lets plan another trip”. The best place that came to my mind was Ooty. I inquired with Lucky and she agreed. I logged in to the KSRTC site for bus tickets. Well, I wanted tickets for Airavath as I have traveled in that and its quite good. But I was getting the tickets only for Rajahamsa Executive so I booked a couple of tickets for 12th and return tickets for 13th. Now, for the hotel I asked with Azam, a travel consultant working in our company. He suggested a nice hotel Nalapad Residency. I got the number from him and booked a comfort suite for one day. The charge was Rs. 700 + 10% tax as it was off-season otherwise the charge will be Rs. 1200 + 10% tax. On Saturday 9.30 am we started the trip from Bangalore. As soon as the bus started I was asleep and got up at Mysore at 12.30 am. The route from Bangalore to Ooty goes like this:

Bangalore–135–> Mysore–22–> Nanjangud–36–> Gundlupet–20–> Bandipur–11–> Mudumalai–16–> Gudalur–51–> Ooty

So, the total distance from Bangalore to Ooty would be 291 kms. We got down at Kamath restaurant at Mysore for lunch and again I had a nap till we reached Bandipur. As a wild life enthusiast, instinctively I got up at the border of Bandipur National Park. Lucky took this video from her Nokia N73:

This time also we spotted some elephants but we can’t stop, as it was not a private vehicle. Just after Gudalur the environment was changing, it was all green. Lucky took some nice shots of the tall trees from the bus:

She also took a video:

For more photos, click here.

At 5 o clock the bus was stopped for coffee at a nice place. It was beautiful, the place was all green and the sky was violet with patches of blue. This time I took out my camera and clicked:

We had some coffee and vada and the bus again moved. This shot was taken by Lucky from the bus:

Well, Gudalur from Ooty is just 51 kms but it was taking alot of time because of the hilly route. Finally at 7.30 pm we reached Ooty. I asked an auto driver for Nalapad Residency and he asked for Rs. 50. Nalapad residency is just a couple of kilometers from the bus stand but still I agreed as it was a tourist place and the prices are generally high. We reached the hotel and got the keys from the reception. I inquired about the auto charges and the person on the reception said that it was okay. It was the minimum charge for the auto. I asked him for touring and all if I take an auto the charges will be too much as minimum was Rs. 50. He told that they have a package tour and gave me a handout. There were many trips like Trip 1: Ooty and Coonoor, Trip 2: Pykara dam, etc. Each trip’s cost was Rs. 130 per head and it requires one whole day. That was quite cheap I booked 2 tickets for Trip 1: Ooty and Coonoor. I thought the rest of the trips could be done on the next tour of Ooty since we were having only one day i.e. Sunday. After that I ordered Butter chicken, paratha and Chicken Biryani for dinner. After a nice dinner Lucky took some nice shots of the city from the balcony:

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