OOTY - UDAGAMANDALAM

It is a hill station in the South of India in Tamil Nadu. It is about 150 kms from Mysore and approximately 300 kms from Bangalore.
The road way from Mysore side takes one through the wonderful Bandipur and Mudumalai forests where one can easily spot some wildlife.
This was my fourth visit to Ooty and I decided I can write something useful

Best time to visit - mostly all year round. the winter and rainy seasons can be more charming.
Places to see - Unless one wants to get frustrated with the crowd there is no point in going to the sightseeing places. These are highly crowded and commercialized.
- Coonoor ( Sim's Park) -> the journey by Toy train is nice if you are able to get tickets
- Dolphin's Nose
- Lamb's Rock view Point
- Ooty Botanical gardens
- Ooty Lake
- Ooty Rose Garden
- Dodabetta Peak
- the trip from Mysore to Ooty is through the Mudumalai forest.
- The Tea Gardens

There is a second side which I want to visit in future
- Avalanchi
- Muturthi Peak
- Upper Bhavani

Places to STAY - The whole town has a few hundred hotels. Its always crowded so if you want good hotels book ahead.
We stayed at a hotel called Ganapati hotel which turned out to be very bad. At the end of the stay they cut a 12% service tax for which they did not even give a receipt.

Places to Eat - There are a lot of places to eat around. The local cuisine is quite exotic but unfortunately the cooking standards are not as good as in Chennai or several other places in Tamil Nadu. As a popular tourist destination it fails to offer much like it did even about a decade back.


Things to check
- Ooty chocolates ( although you will get it at any of the nearby towns in S. India at good prices but these are still a treat)
- Tea ( I always drink tea at the gardens , the elaichi //chocolate etc flavour prepared by the locals are excellent)
- raw Mango ( try out the raw Mango with black salt + chilli powder , its a real treat )

GOA THIRD TIME

This was my third time to Goa and this time I went in proper season during the Christmas weekend. I decided to put in some info about the best beaches in GOA. Refer to my earlier post for a complete listing of coco huts and their contact numbers.

- Palolem -> Undoubtedly the best beach. The sea is calm and the sand is soft. The crowd is less and the food is excellent. Coco huts (shacks) available.
- Agonda -> Just beside Palolem but all of it is not very safe for swimming. The beach is almost empty with hardly a few persons even in top season
Coco huts available here too.
- Colva -> A largely commercialized beach. There are lots of hotels and restaurants. The beach is good and safe and water sports is quite popular here. Not sure if the sea is safe for swimming.
- Majorda -> An exquisite beach. The best hotels in the country have set shop here. Its clean and silvery and very less crowded. One of the best places for families. Swimming is safe and water sports is also available. Coast guards are active and so safety standards are high.
- Dona Paola -> Hugely commercialized. Largely known for water sports, but that is available everywhere now. The water sports side is not fit for swimming. Not sure if this beach has a swimming area or not.
- Calangute -> Its the most commercialized beach of Goa. The crowd is too much and during season its like a fair. Water sports available here too. Swimming is also quite safe.
- Baga -> Baga beach is just adjacent to Calangute and one can simply walk across. Baga beach also has same features as Calangute.
There are a few hundred hotels ,home stays, huts ,restaurants etc at this place.
- Candolim -> Nice beach. But more known for the music party that goes on at top season with some of the best players from different places joining in. Not sure if swimming is very safe here.
- Anjuna -> A beautiful rocky beach. Not for swimming or water sports but just for the feeling of sea and a Wednesday night market place nearby with some excitement.
- Vagator -> This is also a partially rocky beach. People do swim but its not very safe. This is mainly for its beauty.
- Morjim -> A wonderful beach which is seen from top of Chapora Fort at the mouth of the Chapora river. It is the visiting place of migratory birds and the endangered Olive Ridley turtles lay eggs here. It is a totally non-commercialized beach and is open only at day. At night a few restaurants may be open. Swimming is not very safe because it is near the mouth of a river and so water currents are erratic and tides can be dangerous.