My onsite trip to Big APPLE - NY

I opened my eyes and saw the time, it was morning 6 (I had reset my clock in Dubai only, before take-off) and the sun was up. I saw down and found condense clouds which gave me the feel of iceberg. I realized that I was very close to New York. I was having the strange feeling of happiness which people get while reaching their dream place: America. It wasn't very cold as I heard about it and was hoping it to be. Some how I reached my quarters with those heavy luggage but after looking at my quarter I forgot all my pain. The club quarters, New Jersey was an amazing place to live and was just next to station.

The walking tour

There I met Ketan (Mamtora; my colleague at Irevna) and planned to utilize Sunday. We first went to the icon of NY: Empire state building, without which the trip would not have been successful. From here, the view of the city is simply awesome. You can see all those skyscrapers very clearly; planning of the city and the best is you feel high as you are on top of the world. There are two levels for visitors: 86th floor and 102nd floor observation deck. We went to the only 86th floor because for 102nd there was a separate ticket. I heard from people that top of the rock (rock-e-feller center) is a better view point.

Then our biggest fight started: finding Vegetarian food. I had last eaten in the flight and then its was already late for lunch. We entered in a McDonald but there was nothing veg food and this we came to know after standing in queue for 10 minutes and analyzing their menu. We kept searching in every kind of restaurant but all in vain. We walked through midtown and visited Grand Central Terminal and Rock-e-feller center. There I saw the most famous ice-skating rink and thought of doing it. But it was a bit expensive so postponed the idea. The place was very beautiful. Whole area was very nice. It was a good idea to walk in NY. Most of the travel guides suggest that NY should be visited on foot. After all these hours of futile efforts we decided to grab a bite on a thadi / dhakaile, so we stopped for a veg Falafal sandwich which was a lifesaver for us. In the evening we went to Museum of Modern Arts (MOMA) and after spending a few minutes there we headed back to our place. On the way back we returned via shining Times Square. Here we can see the true night life of America with big crowd running all around. We were not feeling like leaving that place but we were putting up in NJ so didn't want to get stuck in the problem of night conveyance.

Then came the week with long hours of works. I was always thinking about only one thing, one dream which I wanted to fulfill: seeing snowfall. But came to know that there was no hope of snowfall in the coming time. During the week Ketan and I planned for the weekend and did the required bookings to avoid last moment rush. We had lots of things to do in a very less time since the following week he was going back to India. We decided to cover as many things as possible without wasting time.

Bus tour

We woke up early in the morning and first went to Liberty park, NJ for catching the Statue Cruise to Liberty island. We had booked the ticket from Liberty park because it was near the quarters but then realized it was a good decision. We saw nice row of houses and parks in the morning and there was not much crowd on the cruise too. Secondly we could see the skyline of Manhattan which is great.

The route of cruise was from Liberty park to immigration island and then to the Statue of Liberty at Liberty island and back to Liberty park. Due to lack of time we saw immigration island only from the cruise and went directly to Liberty island to visit the lady. It was freezing cold on the roof of the cruise but Ketan insisted to sit on the top and now I am thankful that he did so. The size of statue is so huge that good pics are not possible from the small island. We took some good pics from that cruise. We had booked the ticket in advance and took it early morning so that we could get a chance to go up to the start of copper statue. Out of approx. 15,000 visitors daily, only first 3,000 get a chance to go to the top.

From there we had a choice to take the cruise either to Liberty park (NJ) or Battery park (NY). We headed towards NY to start our bus tour which we had booked online. There are two bus tours available in NY: red bus of Greyline and blue bus of CitySightseeing. We took All loop Hope-on Hope-off tour of the Greyline company. Since it was a winter time we got a decent discount for booking online. This tour has four loops: Midtown, Downtown, Night tour and Brooklyn to be covered in 48 hours. We had less time than that. All the tours started only from the visitor center of the company near Times square. On the way we took some pics with NYSE bull. Without wasting much time we ran to the visitor center and got a few useful discount coupons. We used one of them at Madam Tussuad's Wax Museum. We first took the downtown tour which took us again to the area we just came from. But the tour guide told a lots of things we could never know while watching them walking all around. Due to lack of time and wish to complete all the tours we didn't get down during any of the tours.

After we completed downtown it was late and cold too. First we thought of dropping the idea of doing second tour (night tour), but we decided to go to wax museum and then see what was the condition. Wax museum was one of a kind in itself. We were stunned by looking at those people standing around claiming they are made of wax.

Thanks to the powerful heaters of the museum; we forgot the cold and got on the bus of night tour. Again with the josh of having a good sight of the city we sat on the top of the bus but thankfully it was covered with a fibre sheet so we didn't freeze that much. Although we had to compromise with the clarity of the pics. They took us to Brooklyn so that we can see the night skyline of Manhattan which is no less than the day skyline. The guide also told about a bakery of Brooklyn famous for its cheese cakes: Juniors bakery. Finally I got something famous, something I could look forward to eat. I was eagerly waiting for the moment when I can taste that cheese cake.

Sunday was a fun day but with lack of time so I got up early (not earlier than the daily timing) and took a long hot water bath, rather long nap in hot water. I also washed some cloths with the machine. Then we left for the bus of midtown tour. In the train from NJ to NY we saw all kinds of people. There it actually feels like we are in a global village. After the midtown bus dropped us we got on the Brooklyn tour and hopped-off first time at South sea port to see the Brooklyn bridge. There in the Pierre mall we had nice Mexican lunch in the food court. We finished the last tour of Brooklyn by the evening and the bus dropped us at the starting point near Times Square. Almost all our evenings were spent at Times square. It was a place which looked different and new whenever we went there.

I was loving New York but still one thing was missing: my snowfall. I was again stuck in my busy schedule of work but one day I decided and finished the work soon and left early. After doing all my research I came to know about a ice-skating rink in NJ. I reached there and for three foot-freezing hours I did ice-skating holding the boundary. Luckily in that week one day it snowed when I was in office. I could not see from my desk so I jumped out and went on the road to feel the snow fall. I could feel the happiness and coolness in myself with that snow falling slowly over me. Even in that winter I was not wearing a jacket so that i could feel that snow and its coolness. Thank god I saw snowfall in my trip.

Museum weekend

Then the day came when Ketan had to leave. I was not feeling good since he was (is) a good companion on a tour like this. Secondly I would have to ask (in Indian accent) others for taking my photo. His flight was in the evening so we went to visit Mecca of financial professionals: the Wall Street. Though we were going there daily but rushing to office didn't make us realize that feeling which we realized then in free time, when we took pics in front of NYSE. After it, Ketan departed from there. Then I met Saubeer (Mann; another colleague from Irevna) who had come from Connecticut to visit NY. I came to know about a ice sports event happening in Central park so we went there to see it but unluckily could not find it. After walking half of the park length we saw one live band playing and a small castle in the park. We walked a lot because of my wish to see that ice sport but Saubeer's laziness stopped us there. Then we entered a museum on the eastern part of the park, The Metropolitan Museum. People were standing in the queue for the ticket but suddenly I saw something which any Indian would love to see. I saw a man going inside the museum without showing the ticket. I told Saubeer and went in. No security stopped me so he also came. we saw that half of the museum and came out thinking if there was a ticket for the other half then it would be useless to pay since we had seen most of it and it was already late. So we walked towards Times square. Later I saw online that there is no ticket of the museum but only donation which is not compulsory.

I read a few (read many) articles on NY and 'what to do in NY'. One article said NY is famous for its parades. I checked the schedule of all the parades happening in the city during my stay there and found that I was lucky to get a chance to see Chinese New Year parade. On Sunday I got ready and rushed towards China town. To my amazement, on the way I realized I had finished the 2 GB camera memory card and had to buy another. (In this tour of half day at Dubai and 6 days at NY, I clicked approx 1000 pics). It was a nice parade where we can see a small china, Chinese culture, shops, food and lion dance. After Chinese parade I had nothing in my plan but I had half day in my hand. I turned north and went to see the other museum on the west side of the Central Park: American Museum of Natural History. I went there and got happy to know that it also had donation system but they were clever to keep the minimum donation amount, a kind of ticket you can say. I took a ticket and went in. When I saw the floor plan I realized that even if I had a full day in hand I could not have completed that four-floored museum. While roaming around there I got a paper with the details of items shown in the movie 'Night at the Museum', which was based on this museum. I had already seen the movie so I went on hunting for the items written in the paper and tried to recall the movie. That was an interesting method to cover the full museum because the items on the paper were spread over all the floors. When I came out of the museum then it started snowing. I could not believe my eyes. I was taking pics of snow like a mad and passersby were giving that kind of look when they saw me taking pic of snow on the road and cars.

Like all days, I passed by Times Square and stopped to have the famous cheese cake. I had two amazing experiences, first the cheese cake and second the ice storm which was freezing me to the bones. This was a the last weekend I had in NY, but not the last day. I was flying on the following Saturday evening so I had half of the day in hand which I could not waste. I thought of everything to utilize that time but nothing great came to my mind.

On the final day I did the packing and left for ice-skating. Then I went to the Newport mall in NJ which is supposed to be good. I spent my last few hours there and in the Path train of NJ spending my last penny in the travel card. The path train ride to the last station Newark was good because it goes underground and over the ground too showing you nice city and lake. On the way back I could not forget a single moment of my trip. One proof of it is that I am writing this blog after 7 months of my travel.

My onsite trip to Big APPLE - Dubai stopover

I came to know that my onsite visit to New York (NY) should be happening in October 2007 but didn’t happen because of budget constraints. It got postponed for next calendar year. When the November came I was so excited about New Year that without any plans and approval from analyst I applied for visa and luckily got the visa too. Then one fine day my travel date got finalized and since it was in January so I was hoping that the travel freeze would not stop my travel this time again.

My planning of a perfect visit started. I was dreaming of my trip to NY since the first time I came to know about my onsite and had accumulated lots of ideas about it. Google maps and travel sites were like my home of planning. There I came to know that NY is also called The Big Apple and I had almost visited the whole of NY virtually before landing in there. My colleagues felt that I was planning a bomb attack on NY. I prepared a list of places I must see and decided to take a hop on hop off bus tour so that I may cover as many places as possible in limited time and cost. From one of my colleagues I came to know about the Dubai dessert safari so thought of taking that too but for that I had to get my flights rescheduled to keep a sufficient stop over at Dubai in the after noon. I checked online that the tour starts at 3 pm and ends at around 9 pm which is almost a day. With this planning I was missing one important item for a perfect trip: a camera. I think my trip was destined to be perfect that I found somebody coming from US who could buy a camera for me. I bought Canon Powershot S5 IS only because of its longgg zoom and rotating screen. And I tell you it helped me sometimes to have those features on my NY trip.

Dubai stopover

I started from Chennai in the morning and reached Dubai at 12.30. I rushed towards the exit of the airport where I should be getting the desert safari trip but I missed by half an hour. They accept the booking till 12 noon and no other operator was there. Then at the government tourism counter I could get one desert safari tour for $45. They had to pick me up at 3 so I grabbed so food at the coffee shop at the airport. Dubai is such a nice place and clean too. The roads I saw were all 8 lane with nice looking cars running at 100+. I got an Indian companion for this trip: Gyani (Gyaneshwar; a hydrabadi architect working in phoenix).The name of the tour guide was Ali who was from Karachi and was speaking a good Hindi. He took us in Toyota Land Rover to a small superstore, 150 Km out of Dubai city. Our desert safari was to start from there. I saw a group of buggies coming from desert and stopping at the supermarket. That was a group of young boys of the age of about 15 to 20 years, looked like offspring of Oil sheikhs to me. I asked them and got a pic of mine on the buggy but missed the ride of that small monster. Then started my one and a half hour roller coaster ride called Dune bashing. The Landrover was running on the dunes in almost all the defined angles and some times there was all sand over the front windshield. It was breathtaking ride but was too long that my body could not bear it. Luckily during the whole ride I could stop my self but I puked just before stopping.

After this roller-coaster ride we stopped in the desert to see the sunset. That was the best moment in the desert. The weather, the sun, the sky everything was looking so beautiful which is out of my explanation. We then headed to a small camp where they had arranged for belly dancing and Arabic dinner.Out of the camp there a small camel ride which was the first ride of my life. Despite staying in Rajasthan I had not sit on the camel earlier. We sat there for about an hour and enjoyed belly dancing on Arabic music. The food was very good but I missed the barbeque food because they didn’t have anything in vegetarian. Then I while coming back to airport Ali took us to a souvenir shop. He dropped me at 9 pm but my flight was at 3 am. For those six hours I saw one of the best airports of the world. The airport itself is very nice and full of duty free shops. It is a heaven for any shopping lover or say freak. :-)

A break from work, the Kodaikanal trip

It had been so many days and we hadn't done any travelling. 2007 Year end went in studies for Dada (as introduced in the last blog) and me. In Feb'08 I went to US whereas Dada and Vikas went home thus got a small break only. So we hadn't gone out for long and Chennai started being HOTTER again. In April, we decided to have a trip to some hill station nearby.

This time it were Dada, Vikas and me who wanted to go and decided to go to Kodaikanal. We got two more companions: Anshul and Abhimanyu (Dua, GIM batch-mate working in Chennai, we call him Abhi). We were not getting the train bookings so we hired a taxi: Tavera. We all left our houses and got on the car by 9.30 pm, fully packed with all the required items. In addition to that our Abhi added a big packet when we stopped at the petrol pump. Our journey began.

It took us approximately 3 hours to cross Chennai city because of the traffic even at that time of the night. At 6 in the morning we reached a village and stopped for about an hour for tea and water (for the car). There we came to know that we were late and it would take 3/4 hours more to reach Kodai. Vikas heard that the scene of sunrise in Kodai is very beautiful but when we were standing there that time only the sun was up so we missed on that chance.

The hill starts just 43 km before Kodai where we stopped for नारियल पानी and got energy for the hilly ride. On the way in the hills there was a small point from where we get a nice view of lake. Dada, Vikas and I took our cameras so we stopped there and did first lot of photography.

We reached Kodai at around 1 pm and checked into a cottage at J's Heritage Resort, which was booked by Dada. It was a nice cottage with bed capacity for 6 and a kitchen. We got ready and went for lunch towards the market. Near the famous Kurinji Andavar temple we found a small coffee shop who was serving snacks too. The food we ate there was best of all the food we had in Kodai. The cheese omelette was amazing at that shop.

The manager of the hotel guided us about the sightseeing in Kodai and gave us a card. The card listed 14 places in such manner that we could cover all in one big round of kodai. We got on to our taxi and started the sightseeing. The first place we all wanted to visit was Kodai lake so we went there but could come back the whole day.

The lake is situated in the center of the town and has a circumference of approx. 6 km. We first went for row boating then we took cycles on rent. There was a nice system of cycles on rent for 1 hour in only Rs. 10 and go for cycling around the lake. Cycling was one of the best experience because its scenic route and it took us to old school days. Anshul and I took a limousine cycle which both of us were riding the first time. Then we went for skating and tried our balancing skills at the skating rink. I fell off once while racing against Vikas.

For the evening Dada had arranged for a campfire at the resort along with a buffet dinner. We were only five and were very tired too so could not sit at the campfire for long so we went for sleep quickly.

Second day we thought of covering most of the places listed in the small card given by resort manager. We came to know about the Brijam lake which is the most beautiful place in Kodai but we need a pass from the governement to go there. So we dropped it and moved ahead. We had hard time making the driver understand what we wanted and he didn't know the place too well. The first point given in the card was Coaker's walk and we kept asking for it. We saw Bryant park but was looking so crowded that we left it and went ahead. On the way to next point we saw so many vehicles on the way so we also stopped and came to know that it was pine forest, famous for its valley.

We then went to pillar's rock where a long rock is standing without any support and looks like a pillar. Vikas was looking for suicide point which nobody knew at that place. We kept going on that route. All places were very far from each other. On the way we saw golf course and Green Valley View. We got down there and came to know that it was the point which Vikas was looking for so eagerly: Suicide point.

We had covered almost all the sights except Coaker's walk which we went at the last. I felt it to be the best place in Kodai. It was a platform on a side of mountain overlooking the valley. One can have a amazing view of the Nilgiri range and towns far off. Smaller hills with shadows of small designer clouds were looking looking simply awsome.

After finishing all the points in the list we went for lunch. The driver took us to the main circle in the city, in front of Kodaikanal Inter'l School, a 100 year old school with students from different countries. We went a nice looking restaurant opposite the school. The food was soooooo bad that we could not even figure out what was served on the plate. It was about 4 pm and we thought of leaving by 5.30 from there so that we could reach home early morning on Monday and could reach offices well in time. We bought pastries and pizza from the famous burger shop: Pastry Corner.

We packed and picked our luggage from the cottage and checked out. We left the town right away so that we could spend some time at the waterfall on the way back. In approximately one hour we reached the waterfall - Silver Cascade. It was a nice small waterfall. We spent around half an hour taking lots of photos of that. By the time we left the moon appeared and we enjoyed few hours of moon light drive in the hills.

The unplanned travel - The Ooty-Coonoor trip on May 01, 2008

People are afraid of the unknown; they want everything under control। Is it that they are afraid of facing the unknown or not ready to face the unknown?

The Planning

Monday April 21, 2008. Dada (Manas Kishore Sarkar, GIM batch-mate and now my flat-mate and colleague) comes and asks “what is the plan of the May 1^st? Are we going anywhere or not? If not then I will better go home rather than to stay here.” May first is on Thursday and if we take Friday off then we can have a long weekend of four days. We are not only suffering from work but also the heat so can't miss even a single chance. Till now Only Dada and I are there for the travel and places thought of are Munnar, Ooty and Coorg.

Vikas (Sharma, my second batch-mate, flat-mate and colleague) doesn't like outings very frequently and Gadia (Anshul Gadia, a TAPMI pass-out and my colleague and sector mate) can join us only on the weekend but only if we are going to Munnar since he had been to other two places.

I ask Ankur (Jaiswal, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore, likes to be called Viper and people say so but with W ) if he is free on the weekend of May third and he can take leave on second May. He says, "Ya, its a good plan but will come only when there is a group of atleast 6 ppl."

Dada and i decide that since Munnar is not that big place to visit in 4 days so we should go to Ooty because there is one more place to visit nearby - Coonoor. First two days in Ooty and rest two in Coonoor.

Tuesday April 22, 2008. I check for the bookings of the train and buses to and from Ooty but no room. Everything is full; I check the Tatkal booking for the Nilgiri express from Chennai to Coimbatore. Dada takes the job of advance bookings of the hotel but is very busy so agrees to do it on Friday. He wants to travel in the Nilgiri hill train by any means. I check that also but long waitlist there too. My plan is to take the Nilgiri express from Chennai (MAS) to Metupalayam (MTP) and then take the Nilgiri passenger hill train from MTP to Udhagamandalam (UAM). and back the same way. No jhanjat of bus।

Friday April 25, 2008. I check the tatkal of Nilgiri express and all the night trains from Chennai to Coimbatore, but all are waitlisted. I had no companion other than Dada. No bookings and planning of four days. I get an idea that I have four days of holiday so can also go home. I check the prices of direct flight to Jaipur and these are cheaper than before: only 4800+ now. But मेरे अन्दर का यात्री कहीं ना कहीं कुल्बुल्ली कर रहा था। Secondly I can not say to Dada that i want to go home since when he asked me on Monday then i said that we two could go to visit together thinking that we would get some booking. Am I afraid of unknown???

We decide to check the returning Tatkal booking on Sunday. I am up till 4 in the night of Saturday but could not find any timings of Tatkal booking online. The website says online booking opens at 5 am without specifying the Tatkal booking. I sleep thinking it would be useless to stay awake if Tatkal opens at 8 am.

Its Sunday morning and i wake up at 11 am and when i check the website of IRCTC, I find out that the Nilgiri express is full. Means no booking at all. Luckily i see the Tatkal of Nilgiri passenger from UAM to Coonoor for our travel from Ooty to Coonoor. I booked it for Dada and myself. A start of our Ooty trip has been made.

Monday I get a call from Ankur saying there is holiday in GMR so Anshika (Khaitan, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore) and Shriram (Karthik, GIM batch-mate, now working at Bangalore) can also join us. And if they do then he will also come.

The Doomsday

Wednesday April 30, 2008. Till now Dada have tried atleast 20 hotels but all are full during this weekend which really is scaring us. we get a feel how Ooty is going to look with crowd. I tell Ankur that we have no booking and are going unplanned. He says it will be his first travel without any planning and proper bookings. I hear from Ankur that he tried for bus bookings but didn't get any so will be coming by car. He will leave in the early morning and will reach by afternoon.

In the office I decide to leave by 6.30 and try my luck again for buses. Everyday i had been going to KPN travels in the hope that they start the special bus (as the counter guy said they do sometimes) or they release the VIP booking (which they keep in every bus) so that we get the seat in that. Finally I leave the office at 7 and reach the KPN office opposite my office.

The guy says it will be released by 7.30 and i wait for it. Now i get a hope that finally we will have booking in hand so that we don't have to worry. I wait till 8 to hear that only 1 seat out of 8 odd seats are released and rest are still blocked from head office. B#@$%& H@$$.

Then Dada and i decide to leave KPN and go to Koyambedu bus stand to check out the running buses. We pack our luggage and leave home by 9 pm. When we reach the main road we think of going to KPN the last time and check the seats but all in vain. As we are coming out of KPN travels we see a Fast track taxi dropping some people. I don't know how I get the idea but i ask Dada if he wants to go in that. We ask that guy about the charge for Koyambedu bus stand. He says it will be according to meter. In Chennai we have forgotten what is meter in a taxi. We say OK to the guy and get in.

When we are sitting inside and he got on the driving seat he starts the meter which shows Rs.150.00. The guy says minimum 150 for 6 km and then Rs.14 per km. Dada and I are looking at each other. I ask the driver how far is the bus stand but he says doesn't know. What an amazing taxi driver he is.

We go ahead crossing the traffic jam. One time I am looking at the meter other time I am looking at my watch which is racing with the meter. Approx. 9.40 we reach the Koyembedu bus stand with meter showing 175. We think its ok since we came in an AC vehicle. but the guy says 200. there are small numbers blinking and showing 30 which driver says is for waiting in the traffic jam.

We reach the bus stand and look for the buses. Some brokers standing there give the prices for the Coimbatore bus as 570 and 650 for the semi-sleeper bus. I have seen the price of non AC bus in KPN as 380 so don't accept and start bargaining. We go ahead inside the bus stand and ask almost all the counters but half of the counters don't serve Coimbatore. we only found a guying who takes us to a bus starting for Coim. He also quotes 570 and says its the last bus to Coim. We drop him too and went other side asking for the bus. No bus there too. but suddenly Dada collides with the same guy so we just decide to take the bus. He insists on 570 but we finally end up paying 550 and are happy to do the bargain successfully despite the language barrier.

Our journey starts now.

Thursday May 01, 2008. We reach Coimbatore at 9.00 in the morning. The driver of the bus tells us that we can get the bus to Ooty from the bus stand which is just 10 steps away. We go there and find that thats a local bus stand. Suddenly we see an add of volvo bus to Chennai at 9 pm. We ask for the returning bus of forth May but no seat in that. We drop the tension of returning and continue our journey.

We enter the other bus stand and our eyes widen seeing the longgggg queue for the Ooty bus. It looks as if the whole Tamil Nadu is going to Ooty this time. We have no option so we go and stand in the queue. There comes a taxi provider who says 400 per person for Ooty by Indica. We say 200 per person but he says no so we go ahead in the line. after 10 min another person comes and he directly says 200 per person. Dada and I look at each other with happiness but the guy makes a mistake. He said something 300 hundred which i didn't understand because of Tamil but we understood it as 200 for 1 and 300 for 2. We catch the point and started bargaining but he doesn't accept. We stay in the line. We are really sick of the line and the heat there. Suddenly the guy comes and says 300 is ok and we happily jump out of the line and go towards the Omni.

Ooty

The traffic is too much on the way so it is taking long time to go only 83 km. We cross Metupalayam then the hills start. The breeze becomes cooler but the feel is not like Kodaikanal. I see one waterfall and start taking the photos. I tried all the angles but could not take a proper photo of it. It took us 3 hours and when we reached Ooty it was 1 pm.

The taxi wala drops us at the station and now the fight for hotel starts. We take an auto and start looking for hotels. We go to many places but all are full. Then we find a hotel which is ok looking but have balcony too with not very high prices: Hotel Raguram. We instantly took it. We go in the rooms and see all over and realize it was not a good decision to take it. but no turning back now. Money has been paid. In one bathroom the WC is broken and in the other the wash basin is not working. one room doesn't have the TV then other room doesn't have the bulb in the bathroom. परवाह इल्लय atleast we have a place to stay in Ooty.

We get ready and go out to have lunch and then head towards Botanical garden. It is sooo crowded that i can't see the garden anymore. We get in and find a side which is closed for Janta so took a few snaps that side.

................

I get a call from Ankur saying they have just reached Ooty and taking the snaps somewhere on the way. I just lie down on the grass waiting for him to reach. They reach the garden by 6.30 and we head towards Hotel Monarch to have a coffee at The Willow Hill, the best place in Ooty for coffee and i love it. We have coffee and starters there and then leave for the market outside Botanical Garden. There is a fountain at the circle on the road which is very beautiful. We think of having dinner there first and then of taking snaps but when we finish our dinner and come out the fountain is off. We get back to hotel when Ankur, Anshika and Shriram get a shock after looking at the hotel. Ankur decides to go and find the another hotel in the morning to stay on second day.

Friday May 02, 2008. Ankur wakes up at 7.30 for finding the hotel but nobody else can make it so only Ankur and Anshika go out to find the hotel. When they come back we finally decide to stay back since most of the good places are full and those which have rooms are very expensive. We wake up and get ready to go out to Doddabetta the highest point in Nilgiris. The road to Doddabetta is totally jam packed. A driver of vehicle returning from there tells us that the traffic clearance will take atleast 2 hours. We park our vehicle and start walking. Some how we reach Doddabetta and have a amazing view of Ooty and Mettupalayam. I read in the print out I took of all the places to visit that you can see plains of Coimbatore and Mysore on a clear day and we are lucky that when we are here it is a sunny day. Then we head to wax museum which is really good, a bit small though.

On the way back we stop for lunch at Dhaba Express. Ankur tells that he has seen a hotel near that which is very nice and reasonable too: Hotel Ooty Gate. After getting the energy we move towards the lake. Dada and shriram go for boating. Later Dada, Ankur and I go for kart racing there. By the time we do the kart racing shriram and Anshika go for checking the ticket of hill train in station.

We finish all this by 6.30 so thought of going for a coffee again at some place like willow hill so Ankur gives an idea of Holiday Inn. We all are cursing him but agree without saying a word. We go there and order a coffee. It took late so everybody took something to eat too.

When we come out of the hotel it is 9.30 so we miss photos of that fountain today too. We then go to market and do some shopping. The bangalorians decide to visit Mysore on the last day which is sunday. So we think of leaving on the saturday night. It is of no use for two of us to stay back. Secondly if we can cover coonoor in one day then its better to have sunday for relaxing so that we reach office fully charged up.

Coonoor

Saturday May 03, 2008. Shriram gets up and goes to check general ticket of hill train for himself. Dada and I get ready and go for catching the train of 9.15 to coonoor. Ankur and Anshika will come in car. Shriram gets a second sitting ticket but the line of people for getting on the train is so long that he can only get to stand in the train. The train ride is simply awesome. something for which there are not appropriate words. We reach there in just one hour. Next we have breakfast there and go out to SIMS park. that is a nice park on hill with a pond inside.

We then ask for Lamb's rock and Dolphin Nose. Both the places are on the same road so we go to these places one by one. Lamb's rock is more of tracking path of 500 meters. But Dolphin Nose is the most memorable moment of our trip. the whole way is through nice tea gardens and there is a small waterfall on the way where we took photos.

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When we reach there the sun hides behind clouds and and the weather becomes very nice. We have a नारीअल पानी there and then go inside a tea garden. When we are coming out of it and think of leaving a bunch of cloud comes out of the valley and start rising. It goes past the nearby hill. It is looking really beautiful. We then start back for coonoor since its late and we have to catch the bus for chennai from coimbatore.

We reach coonoor bus stand at 6.30 and the bangalore people go to find a place to stay at night. Dada and i waited for one and a half hours for the bus. There is a broker shouting in Tamil on us and not letting us talk to any taxi person. So many taxis came and accommodated many people there who could speak tamil with that broker. I really felt like killing that guy there. !@#$%*^&

At 8.15 we get a taxi on which again that broker jumps to and starts shouting. but luckily we jump in. We then urges the driver to just drive and he leaves from there. Unluckily the driver takes the route via kotagiri. We reach coimbatore at 10.45 and went to the private bus operators. We get a semi sleeper in 380 but the last seats. Dada says whats there just take it and don't think. Its the time of the bus so the vendor says to stay back. But i give my mobile number and rush for dinner.

The bus ride

I have traveled in every kind of bus and in every kind of seats. But this bus driver is unbelievable. In my last trip to Kodaikanal I could not sleep because the taxi driver was dozing while driving. Today the driver is not letting us sleep. I think he is a fan of Speed Movie. He not only drove the bus like a crazy but also did all kinds of action with the bus. I was in air most of the times upto 6 inches. He was driving the bus in the style that he could manage to throw all the passengers in the air. Thanks to god we safely reach chennai on Sunday morning 9.30. At 10 we are back at home with good memories, nice experiences, new energy, body breaking exhaustion and what not...

Photographs by: Ankur, Manas and myself.

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