Nilgiri Mountain Train journey it was a dream journey heard about this lot after lot of web search, blogs finally decided to go on this train.....
Cast : Jaimey, Jasmine, Aldrin, Aagon, Judson, Jancy, Anu, Achi, Me, Roopa n Akkash
Driver : Rajesh mode of Transport : Tata Sumo
time : 16.1.09 to 18.1.09
After a discussion with Jaimey, Judan and also had a word with Rajesh because he is the key perosn to this trip ,booked the ticket for 17.1.09 booking was done on 19.11.08 almost 2 months before because this train has only 4 coaches so if you book early you will get tickets are else you will have to plan for a different date. 2 months passed fast I was busy browsing all web pages about Ooty and made some maps and keys places to see. January 1st week was very busee with Ayyapankavu Temple festival so we didnt get much time to discuss about the trip and menus for the trip. We all meet at Jaimeys house on 15.1.09 a day before the journey and charted out things to be made and things to carry with us. Jaimey was assigned to buy Vella Appams, and they will make Pal Appams Pal Appam is for breakfast in the train. I was assigned to make chicken curry and chappathi and Judson was assigned to bring drinking water and he also bought some snacks, chips and hot n cold beverages for the trip.
16.1.09 ( Friday )
So the D day 16.1.09 i was busy in the morning went to buy chicken and flour and groceries for the chicken and chappathy went to office managed to sneak out at 5pm so that I can go home and take a shower and be ready for Rajesh who will be coming by about 5.30pm. As our bag was kept ready not much problems of packing we were ready by about 5.30 then Rajesh came and we went to Jaimeys house, Jaimey was not he was gone to buy the Vella Appams and Jasmine was busy packing the bags, Aldrin was watering plants on the terrace we have to call him down and tell him to get ready. Meanwhile Rajesh and me was busy packing all things in order all food items were packed in a thermocool box so it will as fresh at the same time I was calling Judan to be ready it was around 7pm we left Jaimeys house. At Judans house it was the final packing all bags were neatly kept and tied with with polythene covers and two 20 ltrs of drinking water cans also were above the Sumo and the remaining items food stuffs, stove were kept securely in all nooks of the Sumo under the seat and we left from there at about 7.20 pm. Informed Chandran ( courtesy Ani he was his colleague ) who will be taking to us in and around and made arrangments for our stay at Hill View, Kotagiri
Our first stop was at Edapally church to put kanikka and a prayer for a safe journey, and the next stop was on Angamaly for buying some medicine was bit confusing searching for a drug shop first we stopped at a book shop and finally we got a shop with medicines and after that we had a nice road but some major works was going on Angamaly, Chalakudy junction some flyovers are coming up and we told that Rajesh we will take our food, he told that we will take it at Vadakancherry there is a nice place. We reached a nice and neat place its a shop with some stairs with glazed tiles but its a scary down side because under the stairs its a deep trench so we were little careful to keep a watch of our kids. The food for Friday was taken by the respective family so we had vegetable pulav, Jaimey & Judson rice... with lot of curries beef roast, prawns fry and prawns dry fry, koorka upperi Aldrin didnt like rice so we give our extra pack of vegetable pulav to Aldrin he was happy.
Our next stop was Mettupalayam no on slept reached all kids had a nice sleep, Akaash woke up when we stopped at Mettupalayam our hotel Kaveri was very near to the bus stand Jaimey & Judan went up and woke up the receptionist and me to went to and enquired about the rates he offered 2 double rooms at Rs.600 Judan was reluctant for this and they went up and saw the rooms and they came up with a single 3 bedded room costing Rs.450 it was good offer but I was not okay for that because 11 people sharing one toilet to catch the 7.10 Mettupalayam - Ooctamund passenger will be little difficult. So all kids and their mother took the bed me and Judan and Akaash on the floor all mobiles were put on alarm at 5.30 am so that we can comfortly get ready. Kaveri hotels is very nice and clean
17.1.09, Saturday ( Mettupalayam )
At 5.30 am hell broke loose Jaimey is reliance phone had a nice alarm almost every one woke up next was Judans not so impressing and mine is the rooster call every had a laugh on that. So every one was busy doing the chores and getting ready and almost every was ready by 7am and we reached they Metupalayam station at 7.05 am its about 1km ride from the hotel we were in a hurry to catch the train we saw black smoke from the Nilgiri Mountain Train and we reached our compartment FS1 and searched for our seats but we were surprised to see that all our seats are alloted to some other passengers luckily the ticket examiner was near the compartment. I showed him the Electronic Reservation Slip and he checked with his reservation chart and told the passengers who were sitting there to vacate, and politely told them that the people who have booked the seats have come and he cannot do anything, we felt sorry for them but they were alloted some seats later. Two UK citizens was also seating in our booked seat but we didnt moved them showing courtesy to our visitors. At the scheduled departure time ie. 7.10 am the train started moving it was going back memory I have seen old steam engines through the railway tracks near my home so not new to me but all the kids enjoyed the ride it was just going back and front and after that we had a different noise it was the gear it was large pulley which will be enabling the train to climb the hills some times it will be engaged for the uphill climb and some times it will be not be used for the level grounds.
Breakfast was being served on the train every 1 was hungy it was pal appam with stuffed cherry Akaash was searching for the cherry and he found some our co passengers she is Carmel King she is a freelance photographer and her husband a teacher we had nice time chatting with them shared our food. The train will stop frequently to fill water because steam engine lot of water make steam so we had a break to free our legs because the wooden compartment is a cramped one and some photo snaping opportunity because the tracks are going through the mountains and valley. After a brief stop the train chugs agains moving through the tunnels and viaducts not so impressive because I had expected more about this all along the hills were dried up and not much greenery. All of them were not enjoying the ride, we have already planned to get off at Coonoor station, there Rajesh will be waiting and Chandran will be waiting for us so we reached there at about 11.30pm nice weather. Jaimey bought some hot samosas was very nice from the railway station and we were moving to our Sumo parked in the railway station. Suddenly a railway police man came and stood near our Sumo and was talking to Judan then Chandran as he was local man he talked to the policeman and enquired about the problem then he told that he smoke cigarette which was not allowed and told the pay a fine of Rs.200 and Chandran had a chit chat and waxed the hands of the policeman with a Rs.50 note we had a big laugh about this during the whole trip.
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Our next planned stop was Pykara Dam, Lake and Pykara on the way we stopped for a place Valley View a impressive view of the valley and we can see the Nilgiri Railway Tracks and some beautiful hills. And on the way we planned to stop at the Botanical garden I was not interested because it was a time killer but inside kids had a great time rollling down the lawns Akaash was not very interested to leave that place. On the way to Pykara it was almost lunch time we was searching for a nice place to have our lunch after a lot of twisting turns on the roads we found a bus stop it was a nice place . Inside the bus stop we put some old news paper on the seats and kept all our food items and Judson and Jaimey was struggling to start the kerosene stove and last it started burning, first we heated chicken roast and rice was ready in the ricer cooker and made some hot water for drinking all had a nice lunch and someone invited some monkeys and they came one by one and there was lot of them when we are about to leave. After that we stopped at the Pykara dam way as we walked inside our friend Chandran told that we cant go to the dam due to the recent bomb blast and tightening of security so we proceeded to Pykara falls I had and a lot of expectations seeing the pics of this place the place was about 5-10 minutes downhill and Jaimey & Jasmine was not interested in this place saying that they have seen this place. Me, Judan with all others went down for a look for the falls but the place was dried up and we can see only small pools of water and some small water falling down but cant say its a wate fall Aldrin had a nice time, Akaash along with Anu with the help of Jancy and Judan cooled their heels on the cold water after some time we went back. One the way up we saw Aagon having a cold shower in one of the pool and we all sat on the green lawns and kids had a nice time rolling down the lawns. After this we had a cup of hot tea near the Pykara falls we had also some raw groundnuts me n roopa had that but nobody else took it because they are afraid that it may cause stomach upsets.
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The next stop was near the lake the boat house all counters were closed because it was about 6.30pm so Chandran our Kotagiri friend enquired the security whether we can go inside then they said it was free and we can go in we saw some rides all kids were happy to have the ride but we couldnt because they are closing. We had family snaps near the lake and Jaimey & Judan even sat on one of the empty boats it was bit cool there so we had some woolen caps that cover our ears and kids all had some gloves to keep the cool away. On the way to our lodge hill view
Chandran told that we can hav a look around the tea factory but when we reached there nothing was happening and they told that tomorrow will be a working day so that we can have a look around tomorrow. So on the way back we went to Chandran's sisters house, he has made arrangments to make some rice for us and they also gave some vessels to steam our readymade food i.e vellaappams and iddlis t make it fresh. Jasmine & Jancy was busy with heating the food and we had our food and I went to bed early, dont know when others went to bed, the room was very chilly and we had a nice blanket from the hotel and we also put our socks we dont feel the cool.
18.1.09 ( Sunday)
Breakfast was with appam and potato masala they steamed all the vella appams and iddlis it was fresh as it was made not much taste difference had a nice breakfast and tea after that we was off to Kodanad view point it was about 25 kms from Kotagiri nice views on the way lot of tea estates stopped at one estate and all ventured to the estate and we had a nice photo stop at this place lot of pics and after that we moved to Kodanad one more stop with a beautiful view of the hills and finally we reached the Kodanadu view point its place we can see beautiful view of the hills and a water falls very far and river winding down through the valley. On the way back we saw a Toda house and someone told that it was burial place so no one came near the house I went and took some pictures of the Toda house.
Back from Kodanad our next stop was the flower nursery which was run by Chandrans sister we expected some bloomed flowers but dissappointed becaue flowers were packed when they are not bloomed then only they get the value for that we had a short walk in the nursery and moved out and our next stop was at the tea factory and its the first time most of us seen how the tea is made so I was very curious as Chandran was working there we were taken to every places and had a detailed view and explained all the process of making of the tea.
It was almost lunch time we went back to our hotel had lunch again Vellappam and potato masala and some non veg dishes ( meenthali ) its beef cooked with red chilly we can keep this stuff for weeks after lunch we packed all our bags on our Sumo as we dont anymore stops everything was tied up on the carrier and secured and we was off to sea waters falls it was bit late and it visibilty was low and a steep climb we reached a place surrounded by tea estate and the road ended there. Chandran asked the locals where we can see the falls then they told that there is a view point its safe to go there and not safe to go through the jungle where we can go near the top of the falls as its late we will find some wild bulls on our way. So we walked our way to the view point nice steps to this place between the tea plants and reached there and saw the falls as water was very less we can see the silver streak of water on the top of the hill and down below the valley it was a nice place which we should have a little earlier to see the spectacular place around its deep valley around 300 feet deep. As the place was little dangerous with steep cliff for our safety we moved from that place quickly. And our back home was journey was about to begin we came through the Kotagiri - Mettuplayam route it is a route with less traffic compared to the usual Ooty - Mettupalayam route and down hill we had some nice view of mettupalayam and we had our dinner at Kovai ( Comibatore ) at about 10.45 pm after that it was non stop upto Cochin. reached home at about 2.45 pm had a shower and went to bed.......
16.1.09 ( Friday )
So the D day 16.1.09 i was busy in the morning went to buy chicken and flour and groceries for the chicken and chappathy went to office managed to sneak out at 5pm so that I can go home and take a shower and be ready for Rajesh who will be coming by about 5.30pm. As our bag was kept ready not much problems of packing we were ready by about 5.30 then Rajesh came and we went to Jaimeys house, Jaimey was not he was gone to buy the Vella Appams and Jasmine was busy packing the bags, Aldrin was watering plants on the terrace we have to call him down and tell him to get ready. Meanwhile Rajesh and me was busy packing all things in order all food items were packed in a thermocool box so it will as fresh at the same time I was calling Judan to be ready it was around 7pm we left Jaimeys house. At Judans house it was the final packing all bags were neatly kept and tied with with polythene covers and two 20 ltrs of drinking water cans also were above the Sumo and the remaining items food stuffs, stove were kept securely in all nooks of the Sumo under the seat and we left from there at about 7.20 pm. Informed Chandran ( courtesy Ani he was his colleague ) who will be taking to us in and around and made arrangments for our stay at Hill View, Kotagiri
Our first stop was at Edapally church to put kanikka and a prayer for a safe journey, and the next stop was on Angamaly for buying some medicine was bit confusing searching for a drug shop first we stopped at a book shop and finally we got a shop with medicines and after that we had a nice road but some major works was going on Angamaly, Chalakudy junction some flyovers are coming up and we told that Rajesh we will take our food, he told that we will take it at Vadakancherry there is a nice place. We reached a nice and neat place its a shop with some stairs with glazed tiles but its a scary down side because under the stairs its a deep trench so we were little careful to keep a watch of our kids. The food for Friday was taken by the respective family so we had vegetable pulav, Jaimey & Judson rice... with lot of curries beef roast, prawns fry and prawns dry fry, koorka upperi Aldrin didnt like rice so we give our extra pack of vegetable pulav to Aldrin he was happy.
Our next stop was Mettupalayam no on slept reached all kids had a nice sleep, Akaash woke up when we stopped at Mettupalayam our hotel Kaveri was very near to the bus stand Jaimey & Judan went up and woke up the receptionist and me to went to and enquired about the rates he offered 2 double rooms at Rs.600 Judan was reluctant for this and they went up and saw the rooms and they came up with a single 3 bedded room costing Rs.450 it was good offer but I was not okay for that because 11 people sharing one toilet to catch the 7.10 Mettupalayam - Ooctamund passenger will be little difficult. So all kids and their mother took the bed me and Judan and Akaash on the floor all mobiles were put on alarm at 5.30 am so that we can comfortly get ready. Kaveri hotels is very nice and clean
17.1.09, Saturday ( Mettupalayam )
At 5.30 am hell broke loose Jaimey is reliance phone had a nice alarm almost every one woke up next was Judans not so impressing and mine is the rooster call every had a laugh on that. So every one was busy doing the chores and getting ready and almost every was ready by 7am and we reached they Metupalayam station at 7.05 am its about 1km ride from the hotel we were in a hurry to catch the train we saw black smoke from the Nilgiri Mountain Train and we reached our compartment FS1 and searched for our seats but we were surprised to see that all our seats are alloted to some other passengers luckily the ticket examiner was near the compartment. I showed him the Electronic Reservation Slip and he checked with his reservation chart and told the passengers who were sitting there to vacate, and politely told them that the people who have booked the seats have come and he cannot do anything, we felt sorry for them but they were alloted some seats later. Two UK citizens was also seating in our booked seat but we didnt moved them showing courtesy to our visitors. At the scheduled departure time ie. 7.10 am the train started moving it was going back memory I have seen old steam engines through the railway tracks near my home so not new to me but all the kids enjoyed the ride it was just going back and front and after that we had a different noise it was the gear it was large pulley which will be enabling the train to climb the hills some times it will be engaged for the uphill climb and some times it will be not be used for the level grounds.
Breakfast was being served on the train every 1 was hungy it was pal appam with stuffed cherry Akaash was searching for the cherry and he found some our co passengers she is Carmel King she is a freelance photographer and her husband a teacher we had nice time chatting with them shared our food. The train will stop frequently to fill water because steam engine lot of water make steam so we had a break to free our legs because the wooden compartment is a cramped one and some photo snaping opportunity because the tracks are going through the mountains and valley. After a brief stop the train chugs agains moving through the tunnels and viaducts not so impressive because I had expected more about this all along the hills were dried up and not much greenery. All of them were not enjoying the ride, we have already planned to get off at Coonoor station, there Rajesh will be waiting and Chandran will be waiting for us so we reached there at about 11.30pm nice weather. Jaimey bought some hot samosas was very nice from the railway station and we were moving to our Sumo parked in the railway station. Suddenly a railway police man came and stood near our Sumo and was talking to Judan then Chandran as he was local man he talked to the policeman and enquired about the problem then he told that he smoke cigarette which was not allowed and told the pay a fine of Rs.200 and Chandran had a chit chat and waxed the hands of the policeman with a Rs.50 note we had a big laugh about this during the whole trip.
.JPG)
Our next planned stop was Pykara Dam, Lake and Pykara on the way we stopped for a place Valley View a impressive view of the valley and we can see the Nilgiri Railway Tracks and some beautiful hills. And on the way we planned to stop at the Botanical garden I was not interested because it was a time killer but inside kids had a great time rollling down the lawns Akaash was not very interested to leave that place. On the way to Pykara it was almost lunch time we was searching for a nice place to have our lunch after a lot of twisting turns on the roads we found a bus stop it was a nice place . Inside the bus stop we put some old news paper on the seats and kept all our food items and Judson and Jaimey was struggling to start the kerosene stove and last it started burning, first we heated chicken roast and rice was ready in the ricer cooker and made some hot water for drinking all had a nice lunch and someone invited some monkeys and they came one by one and there was lot of them when we are about to leave. After that we stopped at the Pykara dam way as we walked inside our friend Chandran told that we cant go to the dam due to the recent bomb blast and tightening of security so we proceeded to Pykara falls I had and a lot of expectations seeing the pics of this place the place was about 5-10 minutes downhill and Jaimey & Jasmine was not interested in this place saying that they have seen this place. Me, Judan with all others went down for a look for the falls but the place was dried up and we can see only small pools of water and some small water falling down but cant say its a wate fall Aldrin had a nice time, Akaash along with Anu with the help of Jancy and Judan cooled their heels on the cold water after some time we went back. One the way up we saw Aagon having a cold shower in one of the pool and we all sat on the green lawns and kids had a nice time rolling down the lawns. After this we had a cup of hot tea near the Pykara falls we had also some raw groundnuts me n roopa had that but nobody else took it because they are afraid that it may cause stomach upsets.
.JPG)
.JPG)
The next stop was near the lake the boat house all counters were closed because it was about 6.30pm so Chandran our Kotagiri friend enquired the security whether we can go inside then they said it was free and we can go in we saw some rides all kids were happy to have the ride but we couldnt because they are closing. We had family snaps near the lake and Jaimey & Judan even sat on one of the empty boats it was bit cool there so we had some woolen caps that cover our ears and kids all had some gloves to keep the cool away. On the way to our lodge hill view
Chandran told that we can hav a look around the tea factory but when we reached there nothing was happening and they told that tomorrow will be a working day so that we can have a look around tomorrow. So on the way back we went to Chandran's sisters house, he has made arrangments to make some rice for us and they also gave some vessels to steam our readymade food i.e vellaappams and iddlis t make it fresh. Jasmine & Jancy was busy with heating the food and we had our food and I went to bed early, dont know when others went to bed, the room was very chilly and we had a nice blanket from the hotel and we also put our socks we dont feel the cool.
18.1.09 ( Sunday)
Breakfast was with appam and potato masala they steamed all the vella appams and iddlis it was fresh as it was made not much taste difference had a nice breakfast and tea after that we was off to Kodanad view point it was about 25 kms from Kotagiri nice views on the way lot of tea estates stopped at one estate and all ventured to the estate and we had a nice photo stop at this place lot of pics and after that we moved to Kodanad one more stop with a beautiful view of the hills and finally we reached the Kodanadu view point its place we can see beautiful view of the hills and a water falls very far and river winding down through the valley. On the way back we saw a Toda house and someone told that it was burial place so no one came near the house I went and took some pictures of the Toda house.
Back from Kodanad our next stop was the flower nursery which was run by Chandrans sister we expected some bloomed flowers but dissappointed becaue flowers were packed when they are not bloomed then only they get the value for that we had a short walk in the nursery and moved out and our next stop was at the tea factory and its the first time most of us seen how the tea is made so I was very curious as Chandran was working there we were taken to every places and had a detailed view and explained all the process of making of the tea.
It was almost lunch time we went back to our hotel had lunch again Vellappam and potato masala and some non veg dishes ( meenthali ) its beef cooked with red chilly we can keep this stuff for weeks after lunch we packed all our bags on our Sumo as we dont anymore stops everything was tied up on the carrier and secured and we was off to sea waters falls it was bit late and it visibilty was low and a steep climb we reached a place surrounded by tea estate and the road ended there. Chandran asked the locals where we can see the falls then they told that there is a view point its safe to go there and not safe to go through the jungle where we can go near the top of the falls as its late we will find some wild bulls on our way. So we walked our way to the view point nice steps to this place between the tea plants and reached there and saw the falls as water was very less we can see the silver streak of water on the top of the hill and down below the valley it was a nice place which we should have a little earlier to see the spectacular place around its deep valley around 300 feet deep. As the place was little dangerous with steep cliff for our safety we moved from that place quickly. And our back home was journey was about to begin we came through the Kotagiri - Mettuplayam route it is a route with less traffic compared to the usual Ooty - Mettupalayam route and down hill we had some nice view of mettupalayam and we had our dinner at Kovai ( Comibatore ) at about 10.45 pm after that it was non stop upto Cochin. reached home at about 2.45 pm had a shower and went to bed.......
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