Trip #1: Mysore - Ooty - Coonoor

12/02/2010 - 14/02/2010 (map/plan)
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Our first weekend trip was a success! We had a wonderful time and got a lot of nice pictures!

Day 1: Bangalore - Mysore

We decided to get an early start to the day to avoid the holiday traffic and headed out at 8:30. Our first stop was in a place that is famous for it's wooden toys, We stopped in a handicraft store and saw all the handmade wooden crafts: rocking horses, bowls and cutlery and many, many other wooden objects. We arrived in Mysore early afternoon and had a lunch of their famous dosas which are delicious. We then visited the famous Mysore Palace and spent a large portion of the afternoon there - the place is huge! What a beautiful palace, check out the link for some history. Afterwards we went to find a hotel and relax a bit. Our evening started off with a nice surprise - normally the palace is only lit up on Sunday nights but we were lucky enough to be there on a holiday and see the palace all it up, what an incredible sight! We learnt that for a half an hour of lights the electricity bill is over 8000 rupees ($180 Canadian!!) A beautiful sight. Bedtime included a couple of cockroach scares, but they were only in the bathroom and Jenny managed to get over her fear (after a couple of minutes of freaking out of course) and get some sleep.

Day 2: Mysore - Ooty (Udhagamandalam)

We drove through the Bandipur National Park and spotted a few elephants, some peacocks and some deer. The drive from Mysore to Ooty was beautiful with a lot of greenery and as we started the climb up to Ooty, we went through a section of highway that had 36 "hairpin bends" which were quite entertaining! When we finally reached Ooty we got out of the car and noticed that the air was distinctly cooler than what we were used to. Our driver assured Jenny that this meant the cockroaches would not make their nightly appearnace, much to her relief! We explored the city with all it's many shops and got a fair amount of their famous handmade chocolate, which we hope will last us some time, but we're not making any promises. We made a detour to go to the Ooty lake and decided to take out a paddle boat which turned out to be more work that we thought, but a nice little ride. We also visited a nice botanical garden where many people asked to take pictures with us (we're famous here!) and went to a viewpoint called Dodda Betta which is the highest point near Ooty. Excellent views of the many tea fields that surround Ooty. We spent the evening with our driver, and even managed to get him to come out with us to the one place we could have a beer in Ooty which turned out to also be a club, much to Jenny's delight and Steph's dismay. Yes, some dancing was done, I'll let you guess who did that! Closing time at 11pm then the race to find dinner before everything closed. We managed to find one place that was open and then decided to head to bed as we had a train to catch the next morning!

Day 3: Ooty - Coonoor - Bangalore

We took the Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway from Ooty to Coonoor for a nice little trip of 19km (1 hour). Had some more great views of the tea fields on the charming little "toy train" and enjoyed ourselves thouroughly. Once in Coonoor we wanted to visit a tea factory, as the Blue Mountain area is very famous for it's tea even supplying such companies as Lipton and Red Label with tea, but to our dismay the factory was closed on Sundays. We bought some nice tea at the "factory outlet" anyway (masala tea, chocolate tea, ginger tea and green tea) and have yet to try it at home, but we have high hopes! We went to another viewpont, this time with a "guide" and he was less interested in explaining things to us and much more interested in making us pose in MANY different places and making us "stand like this, stand like that, put your hand in your pocket, put your hand on the shoulder, turn your head this way, that way, don't forget to smile!" - just like a professional! We ended up with many forced poses while we are dying of laughter! A memorable moment. Then the rest of the day was pretty much spent in the car heading back to the hustle and bustle of Bangalore. We arrived around 10:30 pm and were quite ready to head for bed!

All in all we had a great weekend away from the city and are looking forward to our next trip with Jenny's aunt next weekend - Goa! Stay tuned...

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Notre premier voyage s'est super bien passe ! On a pleins de photos a partager...

1er jour: Bangalore - Mysore

On a decide de partir assez tot (8h30) pour eviter les bouchons du long week-end. Notre premiere etape s'est faite dans un village repute pour ces jouets en bois ; on s'est arrete dans un magasin qui vendait plein de jouets fait a la main: chevaux basculants, bols & couverts et plein d'autres accessoires en bois. On est arrive a Mysore en debut d'apres-midi pour le dejeuner : delicieux dosas au menu. On a ensuite visite le celebre Mysore Palace pendant un bon bout de temps ; ce palais est immense ! C'est un tres beau palais, cliquez sur le lien pour plus d'infos. Ensuite, on est alle chercher un hotel (650 roupies la chambre, pour info). Notre soiree a demarre avec une jolie surprise : normalement, le palais s'illumine uniquement le dimanche soir mais on avait de la chance car vendredi etait un jour ferie et le palais etait completement eclaire, superbe ! On a appris que le cout d'une demi-heure d'eclairage s'elevait a 8000 roupies d'electricite (120 euros!). Avant de se coucher, on a du se battre avec deux, trois cafards mais etant donne qu'ils etaient coinces dans la salle de bain, Jenny a reussi a surmonter sa peur (apres quelques minutes de cris) et a se reposer avant d'affronter le deuxieme jour...

2e jour: Mysore - Ooty 

Le trajet en voiture passe par le Parc National de Bandipur dans lequel on a vu des elephants, des paons et quelques biches. La route se situe en plein milieu de la nature parsemee d'espaces verts et de forets. Lors de la montee vers Ooty, on a traverse une section a 36 virages en epingle a cheveux... plutot marrant ! Quand on est finalement arrive a Ooty (2250 metres d'altitude), on a remarque que l'air etait bien plus frais qu'au pied de la montagne. Notre chauffeur a rassure Jenny en lui disant que les cafards ne se montrent pas a ces temperatures la. On a explore la ville et ses magasins et avons goute les fameux chocolats d'Ooty, il nous en reste un peu, alors faites vite si vous voulez y goutter... On est egalement aller voir le lac d'Ooty et on y a meme fait du pedalos, comme les touristes qui viennent passer leur week-end a Ooty. On a aussi visite un parc botanique ou plusieurs personnes nous on demande a etre pris en photos avec eux (on est connus ici !). Ensuite, on est vers un point de vue touristique, Dodda Betta, qui est le plus haut point vers Ooty. Superbe vue sur les nombreuses plantations de the autour d'Ooty. On a invite notre chauffeur a passer la soiree avec nous et on a meme reussi a l'embarquer dans un bar pour boire une biere... ce bar s'est alors rapidement transforme en "boite de nuit" a la grande joie de Jenny, et au grand desespoir de Steph. Et oui, il y a eu de la danse du coup... Le club a ferme ses portes a 23h et apres c'etait la course pour trouver un resto qui servait encore a manger. On a reussi a s'infiltrer dans un petit resto pour manger un bout et apres ca, direction hotel parcequ'on avait un train a attraper le lendemain matin!

3e jour : Ooty - Coonoor - Bangalore

On a pris Train Nilgiri Blue Mountain depuis Ooty jusqu'a Coonoor pour un trajet d'une heure (19km). La vue etait spectaculaire dpuis le "train-jouet". Une fois arrives a Coonoor, on voulait visiter une usine de the; La region Blue Mountain est en effet tres reputee pour ses plantations de the, elle fournit Lipton, Red Label, Taj Mahal, etc.. . Malheureusement l'usine de fabrication est fermee le dimanche. On a achete plusieurs the directement importe d'usine (the parfum masala, chocolat, gingembre et du the vert). On a ensuite visite un autre point de vue, cette fois-ci avec un "guide" qui etait moins interresse de nous faire decouvrir la region que de nous prendre en photos dans des positions plus extravagantes les unes que les autres. Ils nous a pris en photos dans tous les endroits possible du point de vue en nous demandant de nous placer comme ceci, comme cela, "mets ta main dans ta poche", "mets ta main sur son epaule", "penche une peu la tete", "n'oubliez pas de sourire", etc... un vrai pro ! On etait mort de rire mais et on se retrouve avec plein de photos avec des poses un peu forcees. Un moment memorable ! Enfin, le reste de la journée s'est fait en voiture en direction de Bangalore, la mouvementée. On est arrivé vers 22h30, prêt à aller se coucher !!

En fin de compte, on a passé un super week-end, loin de la ville et on attend avec impatience notre prochain voyage avec la tante de Jenny - Goa !  Revenez bientôt lire nos nouvelles...

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