Down South: Part 1: Wellington, Ooty & Coonoor

I was in the South of India this month with my side of the family and what I saw leaves me in awe of the beauty down South.

We visited the following places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala -
1. Wellington – I have stayed here for about a yr when quite young since my father was doing a course at the prestigious Defence Services Staff college. But I was so young that my being there was of no consequence.
2. Ooty
3. Coonoor
4. Kodaikanal – Elephant Valley Eco Farm
5. Munnar

Day 1:
Coimbatore to Wellington





We caught a flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore and from there took a taxi to Wellington. 








The route is just so scenic. The roads are a dream, especially after the nightmare we suffer driving on Bombay roads. BMC take a cue please. 









Once you cross the plains and the hills start towards Coonoor, it all gets even more pretty - misty hills, tea estates and flowers blooming on both sides of the road.

Coonoor is such a hidden gem. I was expecting a touristy bustling city but this was such a clean-green small town.

It has these really old buildings that do a rather good job of transporting you to an era bygone.
















































I could not really explore Coonoor much since we were staying at Wellington. We did come to Coonoor to visit family friends twice on the trip though.

So, I have to plan something separately for Coonoor.
















Wellington, DSSC

We had booked 3 rooms in the Madras Regimental Centre Officer’s Mess in the Wellington Cantt. Since all army areas are green, and extremely clean, we were happy campers, not to mention I was experiencing hard nostalgia.

Bombay roughens you on the outside and you carry frizzy personality feathers. The Wellington stay took me back to my childhood, where everything happened in record timing & with precision, and good evening and such like courtesies were highly important (they are otherwise too but here it is all a tad formal) & your stature was well spinier. Well....nostalgia

 We had a large garden right in front of our rooms, that was blooming with flowers and there were birds all around. 

I will be posting a separate post on the birds of South India. I have caught some true gems...least me thinks so.













































There were many many many hydrangeas - I love them. It's a flower made up of multiple flowers and makes me think of a perfect nature-made bouquet.






















We weren't up to doing much since we were tired after the travel and so just planned to chilled here. My mother though had other plans.

My father was a student at DSSC (Defence Staff Services Collage), Wellingtone, when he was a captain and my parents had stayed at the 'Circle Quarters' for about a year.

My mum was really keen & excited to go see the 'Circle Quarters'. So we started at about 7 PM and the guards told us that it is about 2 kms away. We walked and walked, crossed the market, crossed some more shops, went by this hill and that hill, knocked on a door and asked where the Circle Quarters were, BUT, to no avail. It was dark, we were tired and kinda bummed.

Ultimately, and luckily we caught the lone rickshaw that just happened to pass by and went back to the Mess. No Circle Quarters :(

DAY 2: 
Ooty & Around

Day 2 we left for Ooty and visited some Patel Points, something me and the hubby would probably not have done. We usually stay off places that are tourist heavy.

Since the family was there this was unavoidable.  

Dodabetta:

So we first went to Doddabetta, which is the highest point in the Nilgiri Hills and the 4th highest in Southern India (at 8,650 feet, it lies at an elevation higher than Shimla - I was surprised at this).

Around it is a reserved forest and you can see Ooty and Coonoor from here.

The route to go here is quite nice – a winding road going uphill in the jungle, but since it was a Sunday, there were tourists and how. It was a mad house.

There is an observatory deck here and also shops shops selling snacks.


The narrow pathway leading from the parking area to the peak is lined with merchants selling knickknacks. What I was interested in were the juicy red firm carrots that many were selling.

The views though were really something. How I wished it was not a Sunday.

Doddabetta, by the way, means Big Mountain.

The Tea Factory

The Tea Factory at the top of the hill

We spent around 40 mins at Doddabetta and headed to the Tea Factory from there.

Ooty City from the Tea Factory

Whats the name of this tea factory. Well, it had no name other than Tea Factory.

This loo outside the factory charges men 2 Rs and women 3 Rs. Da Faq!

I assume that this is the most popular tea factory to go to, since I saw quite a few people here whom I had seen at Dodabetta.

I guess the tourist trail is this – Dodabetta, Tea Factory, Botanical Gardens , Ooty Lake, etc.













































These old machines were placed at the entrance.





Anyhow, barring the marring by tourists, I really liked the Tea Factory and I would have most certainly done this even if the family had not been there, but maybe I would have chosen one of the lesser known tea factories.  The tour starts from the top, where a staircase takes you up. 






We saw the whole process of tea making post plucking of leaves. There is no one to guide you. 

The factory is in the centre of a large warehouse, where multiple processes are set up on 2 levels.











There is a glass partition all across and you see the process chain through it. 

The aroma of the tea is just crazy and cannot be missed (even though I had a blocked nose and could not smell anything, I could smell this). 

The same factory has a misleading sign saying Chocolate Factory. BUT once you climb the stairs, it is just some counters selling chocolates, spices and touristy stuff. 

We quickly finished this round and from here our driver suggested Botanical Gardens, which got my family excited but me and the hubby put our collective feet down and said that we will go only to one more touristy place and that’s that. 

Ooty Lake:

So, the vote went to Ooty Lake. We weren’t too keen on boating. The lake was choc-o-bloc with boats.

Hey, did I mention that it was a Sunday.

We walked a bit and from here went to see some silk sarees and cloth materials. 

So the driver took us to the Government retail shop in Ooty which is Tax and VAT free. 

After blowing a decent amount on the sarees, I felt good and tired. 

From here we headed back to the Officer’s Mess.

We headed to dinner at the home of one of my father’s friend, who belongs to the same parent unit as my father – 3 Bihar. The couple have been friends of my parents since my dad just a lieutenant in the army. That’s over 30 years of friendship. They had a lovely picture-book home and we had a great evening with fine whisky and good conversation. BTW the whisky I had was Bow More, which we had not had before.

DAY 3:
Kotagiri - Kodanad Viewpoint

The next morning, we headed towards Kotagiri which is a picturesque tea estate area, about 1 and a half hour out of Wellington. We were going to see the Kodanad Viewpoint. 

The route to Kotagiri is just picture perfect. Tea gardens all around, fog on the horizon, stunning colorful pristine villages, there were these purple flower shrubs on both sides of the road, which made the journey especially surreal.



I know I have used these same words to describe the beauty of Coonoor right at the start of the post, but just multiple that by ten and you arrive at the figure that justifies Kotagiri's beauty.



Hey, did I mention that my clogged nose could make out the aroma of tea!

We reached and parked and walked down towards the point.

There were just 4 people around and so this was just perfect. 

 But first we had tea at the small shop there. selling tea and some snacks.

As you walk down the stairs, the first thing you see is the observation deck that gives stunning views of the expanse ahead.

The view is of stunning vistas all around. Just hills and plains and waterfalls and lakes all the way across to the horizon. Such expanse. Sure, in Himachal you never get to see such a large expanse.

We reached the viewpoint and promptly fell in love with the point of view! No, really! 

Sure, we have felt minuscule and no good in Himachal as well, but hey the feeling was re-lived here as well. There is something about feeling inconsequential…it brings something alive in you!  

So what do you see at Kodanad? Well, you see the Moyar river way down below. You can also spot the state border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and also see the confluence of the Eastern and Western Ghats. Did I spot these? No siree. I did not know where the heck to look. There were no pointers/markers.





I only know that you can spot these because I researched. No sweat! What you can see is the overall topography of the region, which is good enough. What good are borders anyways?! We did see the Rangaswamy Peak, which is a conical peak and is considered sacred by Hindus.

Rangaswamy Peak, Kodanad, Kotagiri

Rangaswamy Peak, Kodanad, Kotagiri

 So, while the family sat sunning themselves and me and the hubby crossed over the spiked boundary wire and went to see the edge that was not sealed off with a boundary railing.

I have to say this was not right and we should have refrained from breaking across boundaries, especially since we weren’t even catching elusive Pokemons. So, once I got to the open edge, I felt wobbly footed and also felt like peeing for some reason. Yes, the drop was that high. 

We sat there for a while, clicked tons of pics and headed out from there. 

What you can also do in Kotagiri is visit the Catherine Falls. You have to park somewhere and walk for about 2 kms to the falls. The family wasn’t up for this, though. 

Can I say again how beautiful the route was!?


 

Had lunch on route at Orange Pekoe, which is a decent restaurant with a nice view. The driver was taking us to a restaurant in Kotagiri but I told him that I wanted something nice with a view and did not want to be in the city. I did not travel all the way from Bombay city to eat at another city. No Sir No! 

Me and the hubby went to the Officer’s Mess and the family went ahead to see more Patel Points in Coonoor – Dolphin’s nose and hey Catherine Falls, which can be seen from here too.

De Rock, Lambs Rock, Coonoor
In the night we went to have dinner at De Rock. The place was chosen by our family friends that i mentioned above in Coonoor. The owner of De Rock is a close friend of theirs.

We started from Coonoor at about 7:15 and by the time we got on the road to De Rock it was pitch dark. De Rock is located near the popular tourist spot - Lamb's Rock. I heard that the road was frequented by leopards and bisons in the night.


De Rock is perched at the edge of a hill and offers stunning views of the Hulical ravine below, Lamb's Rock viewpoint and rain forest behind and around it.

One can see the plains of Coimbatore and the Coonoor stream way down below also from here.

Oh, and of course tea gardens.

Since we got here quite late, we did not see much of all this.






There are 3 gazebos of varied sizes in the garden and also a wooden platform. We sat in one of the gazebos and started the evening with some scrumptious starters and good whisky.

Sure, knowing the owner had it's perks and we were personally served by Charles.

He set up a small barbeque on the side and we were served grilled cottage cheese, potatoes, bananas and chicken.

 But this wasn't all. There was also canapes, a great crunchy salald topped with feta cheese. The sauces on the side were to die for - Mustard, Mint, and a Date sauce, which was delectable.

 I had imagined the date sauce to be sweet but it was tangy and very flavourful, with the sweet only lightly coming through.

For dinner, yes we were fed dinner after all this, we headed inside to the restaurant area, which was done up in a colourful kitschy way.

We started out with a soup and had these:
1. Pepper Spiced Chicken - Oh man, yes yes yes, good real pepper does make a BIG FAT difference.
2. Crispy Baked Roti Rolls with Cheese
3. Veggies in a white sauce
4. Biryani - The biryani was to die for. Very different from our family recipe but it was one of the rare times that i loved a biryani not from home.

With this dinner, we marked the end of the first leg our journey. We were to leave for Kodaikanal at 5:30 in the morning.

Next stop:
Elephant Valley Eco Farm, Perumalmalai, Palani Hills
Skambha Cheese
Munnar, Kerala