After our pleasant time in Coorg, we made our way to Ooty. A 7-hour road trip and we had a few spots to see in-between. First, was a pine forest. A place was full of monkeys, a lake in the bottom and of course pine trees.
Lakeside
Next stop was a monastery.
The best part of this road trip from Coorg to Ooty was the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. The thing is animals are free to roam around here and vehicles cannot really make a stop in between. So that we didn't get very good shots here but the experience was wonderful. I had never seen a baby elephant before. The air was so refreshing and cool here. It takes around 45 minutes to cross this part.
By the time we reached our hotel on the hilltop, the sun had already set and chilly winds had begun to take turns. At night, we asked our hotel to arrange a bonfire and the night was perfect to enjoy that.
After the bonfire, we had a warm dinner snuggled up in the blankets while watching some movie. After a while, we played cards and called it a night. What awaited us was a beautiful morning. Among the clouds resided our hotel, tea plantations on one side and view of the city on the other.
The first spot was the famous Botanical garden with a wide and distinct variety of flora.
I couldn't help but buy these seeds to plant at home.
Then we went to a tea and chocolate factory. Saw the entire tea making process live in the factory and tried some masala tea. The hot chocolate was quite amazing there. Then we went to local market, spices from the place are quite popular.
After this, we were done with the crowded spots. So we decided to go to the emerald lake. 25 km away from the city, this is a lessor known spot and the drive was worth it. Natural serenity it was. The picture doesn't justify its beauty. We sat there talking, watching the fisherman fishing. Roamed around the lake as much we could, it was pretty big.
The next morning we played badminton before making our way back to Bangalore.
One of these little colorful cottages was our hotel room.
After staying at Bangalore for a couple of days, we flew back to Raipur. While on this trip, I listened to an audiobook, 'Happy' by Derren Brown. It was quite interesting. I might share about that in my 'monthly read' post for October. Well, what do you think?
See you in the next post :)