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Friends, finally completed the trip (Pune to Banglore to Mysore to Ooty to Coonoor to Ooty to Bandipur to Banglore to Pune) It was full of fun, love, emotions, drama & off course Idalee, Dosa, Podi, karappa...
Day 1 : We, total six people, me, wifey, 2 kids & my parents reached Banglore airport at 8 am by spicejet plane. I had booked Zoomcar's self drive XUV 500. Unfortunately, airport pickup service of Zoomcar was not available for XUV on that day. So I had to pickup the car from their Banashankari Stage 1, PES College ,pick up point.
I had to rent a Akbar travels chauffer driven Innova @ 1750 INR from air port to PES College. We stopped at A2B food joint on the way, food was good. (I quickly learnt some kannada on Google and remarked "utaama ahara . It took 2 hrs to reach the PES College from air port. According to pin dropped by Zoomcar people on Google maps we reached PES university but Zoomcar office was missing, I called up them, they asked me to come to PES college located near Srinagar. Neighther Google nor the Innova driver or locals were knowing it exactly, we had to waste one hour finding it .
Finally, at 12MD, we got the XUV w6 keys .The car had few scratches and some dents. I pointed out them to the Zoomcar fellow ,he asked me to take pics so that quarrel doesn't occur at the time of dropping the car (pic 1).
I checked tires, engine bay, clutch, any unusal noise, pollution on hard acceleration, oil leakage in the engine bay. All seemed well. Car was equipped with basic music system, Aux wire and a charger. Car was averagely clean. On the way to Mysore I learnt that the IRVM is loose and the mirror is sagging down on its own and hence useless. Also the left rear power window button was not functioning, hence had to control it from driver door.
I set Google map on my phone for Brindawan garden. After about 100 km we had lunch at Kabab restaurant.
We reached Mysore Brindavan garden at 4pm. We had some coconut water first. It was delicious and quenching as compared to what we get in MH. The coconut water had its effect immediately, two of us had to answer nature's call. It is one of the disadvantage of getting up in the wee hours of the morning to board the flight, your bowel habits get disturbed. Conditions of the toilets at Brindawan garden is pathetic despite charges.
Kids & my parents enjoyed the fountains & the garden. (pic 2, 3)
In the evening, we attended the musical and light fountain show(pic 4). Sheer disappointing it was to hear the SQ of speakers, appeared to be borrowed from a transistor. Also the coloured lights are dim. Fountain show at Amnora Park town mall at Pune is 100 times better & one at Lawasa city is 1000 times better than this.
Parking facilities at the garden are good.
In the night, we checked in at Hotel Heritage Shelter, 5 km from the Brindawan garden @2350 /AC room. Dinner food at that hotel was good.
Day 2:
We checked out and headed towards Mysore palace at 10 am. We had breakfast at Aditya restaurant on the way. Place, ambience was not so good but everybody on the road recommended that only. Food quality was excellent (uttama ahara).
Mysore palace(pic 5, inside photography is not allowed, though every corner, wall, doors are picturesque ).
We spent 3 hours in side the palace for watching it & shopping(soaps, agarbattis & saree) in a government shop located inside it. Parking facility is excellent near the palace. We were interested in watching the night time enlightened palace, but read that the lights are switched on only on some particular days. Hence dropped the plan.
Then we went finding the famous Mahalaxmi sweets shop to purchase Mysore pak (my mom's favourite), Stupid Google maps wasted our one hour as the shop was located at walking distance from the palace but maps located it wrongly.
After having sea food lunch at a restaurant in the same area. we went to government silk factory showroom. Again Google wasted our half an hour. Finally I paid Rs 30 to a Auto driver to show us the way. It was again located at walking distance from the palace.![[evil]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Evil.gif "Evil [evil]")
Parking facility there was again good.
Finally at 5 pm, we left for OOTY via Bandipur forest. It was dark by the time we reached Bandipur forest. Within five minutes we were welcomed by dears & Stags on the road.kids were amused. There were numerous speed breakers on the way through forest. But XUV suspension & GC helped us move quickly. We were intercepted by few elephants too. The last time we came across the elephant(pic 6), it was standing on the edge of the road and the swift driver who was in front of our car started reversing car due to fear. I had hard time avoing him. Finally a local car came from opposite direction & told him not to worry and proceed. Overall roads are good, the extra lateral turn headlight beam was a boon on hair pin bends.
We reached ooty by 9 pm, during journey, I had kept AC ON @20 °c during journey, upon reaching the hotel we opened the doors & switched off the AC. Such was the weather in Ooty that all started shivering.
We checked in at khems hotel, it is located in main town near market. This time also neither the Google maps nor the locals were helpful finding it. We quickly got freshen up and headed towards the restaurant of the same hotel. To my horror, the manager of the hotel told us that restaurants got closed at 10 pm & we wouldn't get food outside also as everything gets closed by 10 at Ooty.
we scolded him for not informing us it on arrival at the hotel. Like a government employee he told me that it is mentioned on the white paper handed over to me at the time of arrival.
Finally the cook agreed to serve us. We had veg & non-veg north Indian food there. Food quality was satisfactory but not great.
The rooms at hotel were well maintained. The water provided at wash basin and bathroom was very hard. Throughout the trip we preffered packaged mineral water for drinking.
Day 3:
We had breakfast at Nahar garden restaurant in the market. Food, ambience was excellent.
At 10 :30 am we reached botanical garden,purchased some local fruits. Enjoyed the garden till 3 pm. Most of the trees, and thousands of flowers were seen by us for the first time(pic 7,8,9). Ideally one full day from 9 am to 6 pm should be devoted to watch everything at leasure.
We had south Indian thali & other south Indian recipes at A2B food joint situated in the market. Everything was mouth watering.
From 4 pm till sunset we enjoyed thousand varieties at Rose Garden. Plucking flowers was banned and the watchmen there were alert enough, . but taking advantage of the darkness @sunset, I managed to grab a couple of them and handed over them to my wife which made my better half very happy and later anxious (what if they check her bag at exit gate!! ) however, garden employees were typical government minded, all were in hurry to go home..
We went to khems hotel, and had dinner, this time before 10 pm but food was of so so quality and on the bill they charged separate 10 % service charge.
Day 4:
We decided to enjoy the Nilgiri mountain train from Ooty to Coonoor and then back to Ooty. The hotel manager told us to reach the Ooty station at 8 am so that we can get tickets of 9 am train. We checked out and reached the station at 8 30 am, the ticket window was not yet opened. The people in the que told us that the tickets for 9:30 am train are already sold out in the morning and the existing que was for the 12 :30 pm train and window would open at 9 30 am for the same. . We decided to wait, I sent all others to A2B food joint for breakfast and bring me parcel of the breakfast, till then I stood in the line.
The ticket window got opened at 9:30 and all (25 odd) tickets got sold out within five minutes. The ticket fellow told us that window will open at 12:30 pm for selling tickets for 2 pm train. And only 50 tickets were left. So he told only 15 people to stand in que as one person can get maximum 4 tickets. Mean while my breakfast arrived, my wife replaced me in the que.
At 12 :30 pm we got tickets for us for the train to be departed at 2 pm. Meanwhile we went to the Ooty lake which is situated 1 km from the station. , we have enjoyed boating @Mahabaleshwar lake umpteen times, so we just watched the seenery at the lake. Traffic on the lake road so congested that we feared missing the train but fortunately managed to reach the station 15 minutes before the time. To my surprise, there was a separate que for boarding the train, first come was going to get to sit and the last ones were going to travel standing.
We except the kids travelled standing, it was half an hour journey to Connor. Fortunately there are separate windows at eye level so that standing commuters can see outside without bending. But the window glasses are not that well maintenaned, so for taking pics one has to bend down and click the view from lower windows.
To be continued.....
Day 1 : We, total six people, me, wifey, 2 kids & my parents reached Banglore airport at 8 am by spicejet plane. I had booked Zoomcar's self drive XUV 500. Unfortunately, airport pickup service of Zoomcar was not available for XUV on that day. So I had to pickup the car from their Banashankari Stage 1, PES College ,pick up point.
I had to rent a Akbar travels chauffer driven Innova @ 1750 INR from air port to PES College. We stopped at A2B food joint on the way, food was good. (I quickly learnt some kannada on Google and remarked "utaama ahara . It took 2 hrs to reach the PES College from air port. According to pin dropped by Zoomcar people on Google maps we reached PES university but Zoomcar office was missing, I called up them, they asked me to come to PES college located near Srinagar. Neighther Google nor the Innova driver or locals were knowing it exactly, we had to waste one hour finding it .
Finally, at 12MD, we got the XUV w6 keys .The car had few scratches and some dents. I pointed out them to the Zoomcar fellow ,he asked me to take pics so that quarrel doesn't occur at the time of dropping the car (pic 1).
I checked tires, engine bay, clutch, any unusal noise, pollution on hard acceleration, oil leakage in the engine bay. All seemed well. Car was equipped with basic music system, Aux wire and a charger. Car was averagely clean. On the way to Mysore I learnt that the IRVM is loose and the mirror is sagging down on its own and hence useless. Also the left rear power window button was not functioning, hence had to control it from driver door.
I set Google map on my phone for Brindawan garden. After about 100 km we had lunch at Kabab restaurant.
We reached Mysore Brindavan garden at 4pm. We had some coconut water first. It was delicious and quenching as compared to what we get in MH. The coconut water had its effect immediately, two of us had to answer nature's call. It is one of the disadvantage of getting up in the wee hours of the morning to board the flight, your bowel habits get disturbed. Conditions of the toilets at Brindawan garden is pathetic despite charges.
Kids & my parents enjoyed the fountains & the garden. (pic 2, 3)
In the evening, we attended the musical and light fountain show(pic 4). Sheer disappointing it was to hear the SQ of speakers, appeared to be borrowed from a transistor. Also the coloured lights are dim. Fountain show at Amnora Park town mall at Pune is 100 times better & one at Lawasa city is 1000 times better than this.
Parking facilities at the garden are good.
In the night, we checked in at Hotel Heritage Shelter, 5 km from the Brindawan garden @2350 /AC room. Dinner food at that hotel was good.
Day 2:
We checked out and headed towards Mysore palace at 10 am. We had breakfast at Aditya restaurant on the way. Place, ambience was not so good but everybody on the road recommended that only. Food quality was excellent (uttama ahara).
Mysore palace(pic 5, inside photography is not allowed, though every corner, wall, doors are picturesque ).
We spent 3 hours in side the palace for watching it & shopping(soaps, agarbattis & saree) in a government shop located inside it. Parking facility is excellent near the palace. We were interested in watching the night time enlightened palace, but read that the lights are switched on only on some particular days. Hence dropped the plan.
Then we went finding the famous Mahalaxmi sweets shop to purchase Mysore pak (my mom's favourite), Stupid Google maps wasted our one hour as the shop was located at walking distance from the palace but maps located it wrongly.
After having sea food lunch at a restaurant in the same area. we went to government silk factory showroom. Again Google wasted our half an hour. Finally I paid Rs 30 to a Auto driver to show us the way. It was again located at walking distance from the palace.
Parking facility there was again good. Finally at 5 pm, we left for OOTY via Bandipur forest. It was dark by the time we reached Bandipur forest. Within five minutes we were welcomed by dears & Stags on the road.kids were amused. There were numerous speed breakers on the way through forest. But XUV suspension & GC helped us move quickly. We were intercepted by few elephants too. The last time we came across the elephant(pic 6), it was standing on the edge of the road and the swift driver who was in front of our car started reversing car due to fear. I had hard time avoing him. Finally a local car came from opposite direction & told him not to worry and proceed. Overall roads are good, the extra lateral turn headlight beam was a boon on hair pin bends.
We reached ooty by 9 pm, during journey, I had kept AC ON @20 °c during journey, upon reaching the hotel we opened the doors & switched off the AC. Such was the weather in Ooty that all started shivering.
We checked in at khems hotel, it is located in main town near market. This time also neither the Google maps nor the locals were helpful finding it. We quickly got freshen up and headed towards the restaurant of the same hotel. To my horror, the manager of the hotel told us that restaurants got closed at 10 pm & we wouldn't get food outside also as everything gets closed by 10 at Ooty.
we scolded him for not informing us it on arrival at the hotel. Like a government employee he told me that it is mentioned on the white paper handed over to me at the time of arrival. Finally the cook agreed to serve us. We had veg & non-veg north Indian food there. Food quality was satisfactory but not great.
The rooms at hotel were well maintained. The water provided at wash basin and bathroom was very hard. Throughout the trip we preffered packaged mineral water for drinking.
Day 3:
We had breakfast at Nahar garden restaurant in the market. Food, ambience was excellent.
At 10 :30 am we reached botanical garden,purchased some local fruits. Enjoyed the garden till 3 pm. Most of the trees, and thousands of flowers were seen by us for the first time(pic 7,8,9). Ideally one full day from 9 am to 6 pm should be devoted to watch everything at leasure.
We had south Indian thali & other south Indian recipes at A2B food joint situated in the market. Everything was mouth watering.
From 4 pm till sunset we enjoyed thousand varieties at Rose Garden. Plucking flowers was banned and the watchmen there were alert enough, . but taking advantage of the darkness @sunset, I managed to grab a couple of them and handed over them to my wife which made my better half very happy and later anxious (what if they check her bag at exit gate!! ) however, garden employees were typical government minded, all were in hurry to go home..
We went to khems hotel, and had dinner, this time before 10 pm but food was of so so quality and on the bill they charged separate 10 % service charge.
Day 4:
We decided to enjoy the Nilgiri mountain train from Ooty to Coonoor and then back to Ooty. The hotel manager told us to reach the Ooty station at 8 am so that we can get tickets of 9 am train. We checked out and reached the station at 8 30 am, the ticket window was not yet opened. The people in the que told us that the tickets for 9:30 am train are already sold out in the morning and the existing que was for the 12 :30 pm train and window would open at 9 30 am for the same. . We decided to wait, I sent all others to A2B food joint for breakfast and bring me parcel of the breakfast, till then I stood in the line.
The ticket window got opened at 9:30 and all (25 odd) tickets got sold out within five minutes. The ticket fellow told us that window will open at 12:30 pm for selling tickets for 2 pm train. And only 50 tickets were left. So he told only 15 people to stand in que as one person can get maximum 4 tickets. Mean while my breakfast arrived, my wife replaced me in the que.
At 12 :30 pm we got tickets for us for the train to be departed at 2 pm. Meanwhile we went to the Ooty lake which is situated 1 km from the station. , we have enjoyed boating @Mahabaleshwar lake umpteen times, so we just watched the seenery at the lake. Traffic on the lake road so congested that we feared missing the train but fortunately managed to reach the station 15 minutes before the time. To my surprise, there was a separate que for boarding the train, first come was going to get to sit and the last ones were going to travel standing.
We except the kids travelled standing, it was half an hour journey to Connor. Fortunately there are separate windows at eye level so that standing commuters can see outside without bending. But the window glasses are not that well maintenaned, so for taking pics one has to bend down and click the view from lower windows.
To be continued.....
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