I skipped last week’s intense
summer heat by going on chill vacation to
Ooty and nature’s paradise
Valparai.
I was in need of a break from the routine, as well for a change (since a year I
traveled anywhere long) and as an alternate route to keep away the misery
haunted lifelong; the hot weather wants me to drive somewhere to keep sometime
cool enough. Ooty wasn’t so cold and surprisingly it had a best climate I ever
experienced there and the sun was shining so bright over the Blue Mountains,
enhances the spirit rather being laze inside the clouded atmosphere.
First time I took a night travel
to Ooty from Chennai and it is also the first time for me to take an overnight
travel to any other destination. I hesitated when my parents decided to take
night ride to avoid traveling in day hot weather and to adjust room rent, but
later convinced to take since it is first time for me, I decided to experience
it. I doesn't find any difficult during the journey and we traveled at limited
speed covering Vellor, Krishnagiri, Mettur and Mettupalayam and the dawn was
really enchanting with warm sunlight embracing the cold morning.
Even though it was comfort during
the night journey, I felt fainting and sleepiest the whole day getting down in
Ooty. Glad we haven’t planned anything that day, and stayed at the cottage and
had delicious Biriyani and watching TV and cherished the pleasant cold weather.
I was disappointed with few things anticipated over there and one among them was
the cottage we stayed in. I looked for cottages in Ooty at Olx.com and few
other websites related to Ooty and found a home which would be suitable for 12
of us to stay and esp. a ground floor for my convenience.
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| Avalanche Lake (click pic for enlarge) |
Being a peak season time, getting
a suite is also not easy and prices a lot. So we had no other option rather
booking the cottage and what I saw on the net weren't we stayed, but it was
another one somewhat compact and enough for only 8 members and others were
stayed at another place, which they used only for sleeping at night. The
cottage was little away from the city center, so it was calm to stay at somehow
peace and even it was a little home, looked pretty neat and painted in vibrant
yellow and green. Each room had a TV, which is nothing but the free TV sets
distributed by govt.
Another disappointment came in
different form and for that I can’t blame anybody rather myself, because I put
it into a casual mode since I heard or those conveyed me made certain that we
need no permission to visit Parson Valley. ‘Just making a note at the forest
check post before entering is enough.’ We
were close to the Parson Valley Lake or about 1.5 km from the site, the forest
officers stopped us denied permitting inside and also warned that coming such
long itself need permission. The road to the valley is quite rough and we
traveled in two cars, and our SUV has no issue with such roads, but uncle’s
Hyundai Accent with bad tyres made a great attempt surviving the road… it feels
sad taking such a path with nothing to hold back.
Making it as a more special
vacation, I met my dearest friend
Andrew who was also on a trip to Ooty while
we were. Couple of day before leaving, I casually asked him seeing his photos
taken in Ooty at Facebook and he told he’s boarding flight tomorrow to reach
there and I also conveyed my visit and we both felt happy and made sure meeting
each other. He was staying at his friend’s place that was very close to where
we accommodate, and he made a leisure walk to our cottage the next morning, making
it more refreshing and cheerful day. He
brought me warmth hug and sweet embrace making quite delight and I really
enjoyed the moment even it was brief.
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| Valparai (click pic for enlarge) |
We spent just two days in Ooty
and moved to Valparai. Since my uncle and aunt hadn’t been with us during our
last two trips to Valparai, we decided to give them a chance to visit. We
haven’t really planned to visit Valparai and it was a decision taken only after
reaching Ooty and it wasn't the best time of the year to visit Valparai (I always
want to be there only at post monsoon when the entire landscape shimmers in
green and full-fledged water bodies). Being a month of summer, Valparai was
little busy unlike ever, perhaps because both our early visits were during
winter.
I have covered almost places in
Valparai in my previous visits and this time just revisited few places where
people usually go as tourist reaching Valparai. I hear few tourists saying
there’s nothing to see in Valparai, but I only thought that they need to
develop their mind to grasp the beauty of nature dumped over everywhere there.
Valparai isn’t quite a tourist oriented place, but there’s a lot to perceive and
it is a place that geographically significant and everyone need to travel with consciousness
preserving the large biodiversity exhibits there.
Valparai is also an engineering marvel
with number of water bodies interconnected through tunnels and contour canal, setting
an example how rivers could be connected. We traveled to Sholayar Dam, Nirar
and Balaji Temple, but I wasn't content with the sights this time except for the
visible of wild elephants, Indian Gaurs, Lion-tailed macaque and barking deer. I
was excited to encounter these wild animals and riding thought the winding Ghats
of Valparai is quite another pleasure I enjoyed through the leisure drive this
time. I had a wonderful time with my
family at both the destinations, make quite lovely despite passing various phases
of frustrate and surprise.
