Exactly 2 years back, I had just finished my 2nd sem exams and I jokingly asked my friends whether we could go on a trip to some place. I have to say the reaction from them was amazing. July 21st, 2006 we gathered at 'The poms place' and started our discussions as to which place we have to go. Our group consisted of 13 people. Finally i strongly recommended OOTY and everyone agreed to it. Me, Poms, Jo and Adi took responsibility of arranging vehicle, route map, booking a dormitory for our stay, in short I can say we took responsibility of managing the A to Z of the trip. We started our hunt for the cheapest transport facility and ended booking a Tempo traveller and also decided that we will be leaving bangalore on July 26th, 2006(early morning 7am). The plan was to go to ooty via Bandipur, check out some animals and then reach ooty. Finally the day arrived and we all were ther at 'The poms place' by 7.30. One of my friend's dad performed pooja to the vehicle. Below is the snap of the vehicle.
So we left Bangalore at 8am. We had our breakfast at Maddur and reached Bandipur by 1pm. We could see only monkeys and so we left the place soon. On the way we found a place called Kalahasti falls which was dried up, but the place was pretty cool. It was around 3pm by then. finally we made it to ooty by 4pm and first thing we did was to fill our tummies. Then we found a dormitory at a cheap rate settled downby 5pm. Then we went to the famous botanical gardens. I should say its very very huge. We spent the entire evening in the garden until we got kicked out as it was the closing time. Had our dinner and played cards till 2am and then it was time for some pranks. Everyone got up by 8am on 27th and had bath and left for a place called Doddabetta peak. Temperature was around 4 degrees. Some of the snaps are below.
Kalahasti falls, Botanical garden
Way to Dodabetta Peak and the peak.
From there we went to the tea factory, loaded ourselves with flavoured tea powder, and then it was ooty lake where few of the group went for boating and few horse riding. The carrots there are too good. The next place from there was a shooting spot, its a beautiful hill. I had the most horrifying experience while descending the hill. I slipped, lost balance, started running down the hill, finally fell down and started rolling down. Thanks to the super-hero 'Deepan', he ran down and caught me after 5-6 rolls. Below are the snaps.
The path where i rolled down the hill.
After this horrifying stunt, we moved on to the best place called 'Pykara Falls', full of water. It was an awesome sight, the water was in full force. By the time we left this place it was around 7.30 pm. We started our journey towards mysore and reached the place by 10 in the night. Here our group got split, 5 guys in a friend's uncle's house and two guys in some other place, a guy in his mom's place and one guy left to Bangalore as he was busy with some project of his. I was staying in uncle's place along with 4 others, had great fun that night after having dinner in a nearby hotel. We got up in the morning by 8am(28th July) and got ready for the next place. the morning breakfast was amazing, thanks to aunty. The vehicle arrived with other friends and we went to Balmuri falls by 10am, had great fun there, the place was full of water and it was the only place where we got a chance to get into the water. After relaxing there we went to 'Bluff' that is 'Gaganachukki' and 'Bharachukki' also called 'Shivanasamudra', the most important power station of Karnataka. Its a place of scenic beauty. We had reached this place at 1pm and started our return journey by 2.30pm. We reached Bangalore by 9pm approximately and left to our homes with great memories and experience. We also discussed that we'll go to 'Goa' after our 3rd sem. Each and everyone spoke about how the entire trip was and thanked the 4 people responsible for it because we had managed it well. Will let you know people whether we were able to go to Goa or not.
Below are some random snaps.
Pykara falls, Pykara falls, Balmuri falls
Balmuri falls, Bluff, A lake on the way back
Labels: Semester Vacation
Balmuri falls, Bluff, A lake on the way back