Ooty… a quick trip you can make from Masinagudi

continuation to last post on Masinagudi… We took a share cab which charged us Rs.50 per person to drop us till Ooty bus stand. From there we hired a cab to roam around the town. Ooty had pleasant weather and we went first to Doddabetta, which is the highest point in Ooty and is the highest peak in South India. One can have a panoramic view of the city from this point. The entry fee to Doddabetta peak is Rs 5 per person and you need to shell out another Rs.10 in case you are carrying a camera. I would recommend the fee as it is a nice place to do some photography.

Our next stop was at the tea factory where will you get to see how tea dust is manufactured. They also have a small museum inside which tells you about how the origin and history of tea in India. They also serve you a cup of tea (free of cost :)) which was a treat in the cold weather. There is a shop inside the factory where they sell a variety of tea leaves.

Just behind the tea factory there is a chocolate factory as well; wherein you will get different variety of homemade chocolates. I decided to get a batch of assorted chocolates, so as to taste each one of them (any excuse is fair to get as many chocolates;-)).

From the tea factory our cab driver took us to the Botanical garden which is one of the famous tourist attractions in Ooty. Laid out in 1848, the garden is currently maintained by the Horticulture department of Tamil Nadu.It has a beautiful green lawn for you to relax with your family and friends.

In the garden there are scores of trees which one would have never seen before and a walk along the pathway made for exploring them will take at least half a day to complete, if one decides to be serious about it!

In the garden several shrubs and hedges are cut to resemble animals, which looks spectacular. The entry fee to botanical garden is Rs 15 per person and an extra Rs 10 is the fee for the camera.

Nearby, there is a private wax museum which has wax statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Mother Teresa, Abdul Kalam and many more. Not many people are aware of this museum as it is run by a private organization without much marketing hype. The organization has similar wax museums in few more other cities. One could definitely plan a visit to this museum, just to get a feel of it. Entry fee to the wax museum is at Rs 25 per person. In the end we went to the 2 kms long Ooty Lake which is yet another spot of tourist attraction. One can go for boating (both pedal and motor boats are available) or just outside the lake there are ponies available for a ride. It took us around 3 to 4 hours to cover all these places. Capturing all the memories in our mind and a few in my camera, we took a cab back to Mettupalayam where we had our train waiting to take us back to Chennai. Hope you found the post informative. Do leave your feedback. Till next time…happy traveling!