Ooty - Here I come ... All alone ...to romance you !

My office will remain closed until January 2nd..... So, I have decided to take a vacation.  To add some thrill, I have decided to travel alone this time.  But where? Isn't that an obvious question?... Yes... The moment I thought of a solo vacation, the image of the famous "toy train" flashed my mind.  So, here IAM ...sitting in the nilgiris express.. S2 seat 9, heading to Mettupalayam.  My Day 1 of the Ooty expedition begins tomorrow 😀

Day 1 : can't ask for a better start 😀.  I got down @ Mettupalayam and got into the famous toy train and managed to occupy a window seat 😍

The toy train journey is no less than a fairytale.  Thoroughly enjoyed! With every metre of ascendency, it discloses the mountain's pristine beauty.

A shed for steam engines.

It all started here 😊

First bridge

There were plenty of water falls too on the way.

Train halted for a few mins to enjoy nature.

Water is getting pumped into the engine Everytime the train stops at a station.

End of the five hour long journey.  Thumbs up!!

In the evening I managed to visit one of the gardens and the boating spot.  

Day 2 : it was 6 o clock in the morning when I woke up.  Saw this white magic when I opened the door to take glimpse.  The temperature was 6 degrees while this picture was being taken.

 

8 45 am : Boarded the bus to pykara lake. Since it was early morning, the place was very silent and without much tourists.  When I reached there and enquired about the price for boating, they told me its 800 for 8 people.  I told him that I am a solo Traveller.  He responded that they don't have any specific package for solo Travellers and if needed, I should pay 800 rupees and proceed.  I waited annoyingly for another twenty minutes.  Finally, a North Indian family of five members arrived and asked me if I could join them.  Its a win - win situation for both of us and I happily agreed.

View from the ticket counter

Managed to sit on the best seat

Astonished!

The real beauty of the day started while returning to Ooty from pykara.  Don't know who irritated the bus driver !? He drove with such speed that it made me very giddy and felt like puking.  Courtesy : banana bajji @ pykara.  I made up my mind not to venture out any further for the day and returned to where I stayed.  Having booked rooms @zostel lovedale for the next two days, I packed my things and got ready to leave from Ooty station room.  I managed to buy train ticked to lovedale station and waited for the train.  The train arrived on time and I boarded it.  Lovedale is five minutes from ooty.  As soon as I got down at lovedale, had to walk for about five minutes to reach zostel. A couple helped me to locate zostel while I was walking.  Later I came to know that they are staying in the very next room of mine 😀.

     Zostel is a new age hostel specially for backpackers.  To be precise, its kind of a safe haven for solo Travellers to meet fellow travelers and get new friends. Zostel was the best thing happened to me during this short trip.  Though I stayed there only for a couple of days, it gave me plenty of positivity.

Played chess with a fellow Traveller

Played carrom too

Wayanad Trip - A nostalgic review!!

 Wayanad is a tourist spot in Kerala, south of India.  I visited this place sometime last year and i wish to share my travel experience with you all.  It was a team(dream) trip which was perfectly planned and well executed.  Ours was a group of 20 members from Chennai and had a great time in Wayanad during the month of April-2012.

     We boarded Mangalore mail from Chennai Central railway station and reached Kozhikode by 7:50 am.  It was a fun filled and comfortable journey.  On the way to kozhikode, one should never miss out to peek outside the train doors or windows to enjoy Kerala's unique beauty.  When it comes to beauty, Kerala can be compared to Venice. No wonder it is termed as "God's own country".  The beautiful landscapes, hilly terrain, unique architecture, people who still worship their ethnicity despite industrial developments amuses me.

     After reaching this place, we hired a mini bus and headed to our guest house.  On the way, we stopped near IIT Kozhikode to finish our breakfast.  It was Kerala's traditional food with Aapam and green peas masala.  It was a different but nice way to start the day.  Then, after a long travel, we finally reached our guest house.  Thanks to the organizers.  It was simply superb!!!  It gave us all a being at home like feeling.  This rest house is located at the area called Kalpetta.

Guest house where we all stayed

The travel though tiring, was really awesome.  We had a preview of the exotic forest locations even before we start to see the exotic locations.

On the way to Wayandu

Welcome to Wayanadu

Due to bad timing of the trip (April-may) season where most of the waterfalls will have no water, we have to cut short our trip to enjoy only 4 locations there.  Though it was little disappointing, we had a great time together.  Kuruva Island was the first place we visited in Wayanad.  We went there with nil expectations and came back with great happiness.  It was a small landscape surrounded by rivers.  You need a bamboo ferry to reach the other side.  It was like entering a forest without any preparations.  But, it was a biological park with exotic trees and shrubs.  Situated on the other side of the park is a little stream where the tourists took bath.  Maybe, this stream will turn wild during rainy season.

Entering Kuruva through a ferry

A stream in Kuruva island

little stream

After spending some quality time at Kuruva Island, we headed to Pookode lake.  Its a lake, a scenic beauty that is surrounded by mountains.  It was so beautiful, but we skipped boating for time constraints.  However, tourists can walk around the bank that encircles the lake.  The walking was also equally fun filled with lots of photo sessions and leeches.  

Pookode lake 

Beware of leeches

Nice shot

Finally, we came back to our guest house and packed our way back to Mysore to enjoy the second innings of our trip.  Though i write about a trip that happened a year before, the beauty of Wayanad still soothes my memory.  If you are planning to visit Wayanad, the best time is before Indian Summer.  Had i not planned for Mysore trip, i would have covered most of the places here.

HPCA stadium, Dharamshala Cricket Ground

     HPCA stadium is the Cricket stadium located in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.  This stadium is the home to Himachal Pradesh cricket team for the Ranji Trophy and a back up venue for the IPL team Kings XI Punjab.  Thanks to Kings XI team for choosing this as one of their home grounds, flood lights have been installed now.

      This venue is very unique as it is situated at the height of 1500 m(approx) above the sea level and has snow capped dauladhar mountains as its backdrop.  Pakistan was the first international team to play in this venue during a tour match against the Board President's XI in 2005.  The scenic beauty of this ground is almost in a different  zone.  The British MPs who played a friendly match here, described this as one of the most beautiful stadiums in the whole world.

This stadium can accommodate upto 23,000 spectators at a time.  Another astonishing feature of this stadium is the open and small stands which allows the winds to sweep across the ground, thus giving a great assistance to the fast and swing bowlers.  

This venue is the first in India to use winter rye grass, which prevents the grass from drying if the temperature dips beyond 10 degrees.  Having situated at hill top, it is not easily accessible.  The nearest international airport is Chandigarh which is 250 km away from this venue.  However there is a local airport at Gaggal which is barely 15 km from here.   Winters however takes its toll at this venue.  This stadium hosting its first ever international match between India and England on January 27th 2013.  

The above picture can tell you what a rough winter can do to this stadium.  The groundsmen and the Indian fans are praying to have a mild winter this time.  Looking forward to this cricket match ... :)

WATER THERAPY- A BOON OR BANE ?

Hello All!!  Wish to share with you all an essence for good health.  Its called Water therapy!!   Its a well known fact that Human body contains 24 liters of water of which 7lts are blood!!  So, a little balancing act to the water levels in the body can work wonders to our health.  below are the snippets from an article published by a Japanese in 1991.

Method of Practice:

• Every morning, as soon as one wakes up from bed, the person needs to drink 1 liter of water(approx)without even washing teeth, mouth, face or even eyes.
• for the next 45 minutes, do not take any of the food stuffs or beverages and indulge in some light exercises.
• Initially you may not be able to drink over 1 liter of water, so you have to do some balancing act say a few mins.
• It was initially practiced in Japan and later its adopted to Indian ways after understanding its health benefits.
• It has been believed(mentioned in many web sites) that this practice can cure diseases ranging from flu to cancer.  Having said that, a debate on this is unavoidable!! Though there are mixed responses, i would recommend you to consult your family physician if you are willing to start this practice.

My view:

Various articles on Water therapy suggests this as a simple remedy to a wide range of diseases(disorders, to be precise) or at least no adverse effects.  Advocates of water therapy claim that application of water therapy will cause increased bowel movements until the body adjusts to the excessive fluid levels.  While ingesting about a liter and a half of water is generally considered as harmless, excessive amount of water consumption can lead to intoxication, a dangerous medical condition.  So, lets give it a try!!

Will keep you all posted!! :)

Dosa or Dosé or Dosai = IRRESISTIBLE TASTE!!!!

Good day all!!

     I have mentioned about Banana stem juice in my earlier post. To be frank, it is surely not my favorite.  So, this post will be only about my favorite food(All time favorite!!).  Yup!! the first thing that comes to my mind when i think of my favorite food is "DOSAI".

• Dosa or Dose or Dosai  is a pancake made from rice batter and black lentils.  It is a staple dish in Southern India.
• While people call it either as Dosa or Dose or Dosai, it is commonly recognized across the globe as "Thosai".
• It has been believed that Dosai has been a staple food since 6th century A.D.
• There are over 30 known varieties of Dosas.  It is to be noted that Masala Dosa alone has more than 10 varieties!!!

I have managed to list out some of the popular dosas that i know... sorry if i have missed out any of your favorite dosas.

Open Masala Dosa

Quinoa Dosa

Ghee Roast!!

Spicy chilli-Dosa

Cone Dosa

Rava Dosa

70mm Family Dosa!!

Common Masala-Dosa

Moong Dal Dosa

Onion Dosa

Ragi Dosa

Butter Dosa

Set Dosa

Sweet jaggery Dosa

Wheat Dosa

Green Dosa

Friends, i hope i have tempted you all to taste your favorite dosa now!!  Enjoy the day with your favorite dosa!!   see you all with a different post.., bye for now!!!