Pykara the Paradise!



Continuing our journey from Gudalur (If you haven’t read my previous article on sustainable tourism please read it here: Travel with Responsibility) we reached Ooty once again. Ooty is full of gardens, and since we were not very keen on seeing gardens, we decided to wander around Pykara. We hired a local taxi to take us around. The taxis charge a fair amount. We had to pay 1300 for him to take us to 6 places in Pykara within 4 hrs.  And so we began touring at 11:30 a.m. 

First we stopped at “Golf Course”. Of course they did not take us in, but just showed the course from outside. We were disappointed as we could not go in. Next we halted at Pine forest. This is place is exactly like you see in movies (I think scenes from the song “Main kya karun” form Barfi and a few scenes from the Abhishek Bacchan starer “Raavan” were shot here). Straight and tall trees, evenly spaced, down on a slope leading to a picturesque lake, it looked like a painting taken out of an artist’s book.😍

The Pine trees

The lake at Pine forest, in the rain.

Me! 😛
Since Ooty is the main tourist hub, places in and around Pykara were not as much crowded. There is nothing much to do at Pine forest except for letting the calmness of the surroundings sink into you and of course, do let the photographer inside you experiment with numerous Photographs.

At the entrance, there were a number of vendors selling snacks like, corn cobs, fruit salad, mango, pineapple, fruit salad and many more things. Something you must eat to beat the chilling weather of Ooty is the hot and steamed sweet corn cobs with chili powder and salt. It really helps you warm up.
 
Next was -Kamraj Sagar Dam. The dam has nothing special to offer, it’s a rather small dam with just 2 gates. As, even here there is nothing to do, we just sat beside the lake and refreshed our minds from the monotony of the corporate life. 

The 2 gated dam!
The visit to Kamaraj Sagar Dam was followed by a visit to School Mund. School Mund is a small hill that you must trek and get to the top to see the spectacular view it offers. The peace of the hills, the wind whistling, feet and fingers freezing and to top all this the greenery! It was perfect. There is a tree there on which nearly hundreds of plastic bottles are tied. I don’t know the reason why they did that, but I’m assuming it is to promote Sustainable and Eco tourism and also to make people aware of Environmental concerns. We sat there for almost half an hour as we loved the weather and the view. 

A Small hut atop School Mund!

The plastic covered tree, promoting eco tourism.
I had heard about the beauty of Pykara falls from relatives and friends. I was very excited as our next stop was going to be it. Pykara falls is approximately one kilometer away from the main road. Vehicles are not allowed inside so you are forced to walk. There was absolutely no water in the falls, which was extremely disappointing. It was just a tiny stream flowing and did not make any impact on the viewers. We left disheartened.😐

Pykara falls!
Since it was lunch time, we were quite hungry and to our luck there were many small shack like restaurants which served maggi. We had a plate of hot appetizing Maggi each and headed to our taxi. The Taxi Driver told us that next we were to go to Pykara Boat House. Since we had already visited it the previous day and the boat ride is quite expensive, we dropped the plans of going there.  We returned to Ooty, the time was around 2:30 p.m. 

Being a travel enthusiast, I do my research of the place I’m about to visit. Places to visit, places to eat at and things to do. I visited all the places in my list, and now it was time to explore the places to eat. We first went to Cocoapods. Tiny, cozy chococlate café, amazing food and chocolates. We ordered Pizza( I don’t remember the name) , coffee cookie shake and sizzling brownie. The pizza was very palatable, the base was very soft and would just melt in your mouth.😋

Pizza at Cocoapods
The shake was heavenly, chocolate lovers must and should try it. 👍

Coffe and cookie shake!
If you have visited Café coffe day (Which is present in almost every nook and corner of India) you will know the standard set by their sizzle dizzle brownie. Cocoapods’ sizzling brownie is similar but their brownie and chocolate sauce is much more tasty. And now this is the standard of an amazing sizzling brownie (which is tough to beat!).  
 
Sizzling Brownie
 

And now coming to the things to do in Ooty- Buying home made chocolates. Do not leave Ooty without buying chocolates and ofcourse a small souvenir. I bought assorted chocolates from cocoapods and peanut butter filled chocolates with salted caramel chocolates. 

Our final stop in Ooty was at Place to Bee! I love the ambience of this place. Small yet comfortable, the lighting is romantic, and makes you fall in love with the atmosphere there.
Place to Bee!
Their food however I would say, is Okay-ish. I had read about their customized woodfired pizza and decided to try it. Honestly, coming from Bangalore, I have had much better Pizzas.

Customized pizza at Place to bee!
My friend however played safe and ordered Butter garlic rice with Natu Kohzu curry i.e., country chicken curry. It had a homely flavour which enhanced the taste of it. 
Butter garlic rice with Natu Kozhu curry!

But the one dish that stole the show was their Banoffee pie. It’s hard to describe the taste, but believe me, I would love to go back to Ooty just to have that banoffee pie. 
I just cannot get that out of my head. I loved it. Place to Bee is the place to be! 😊
Banoffee Pie! 😋
And on that sweet note, we left Ooty and headed back to Coimbatore from where I had to catch my flight back to monotony. 


Some Suggestions: 
  • Always wear shoes in Ooty as there are a lot of places where you have to trek or rather mini trek.
  • Again wear shoes as it will keep you warm. Wear jackets as well.
  • Pine forest is a MUST VISIT. 
  • Do buy chocolates at local stores.
  • Dine at Cocoapods,  Place to bee, Quality Restaurant or Shinkows(of Kapoor and sons fame 😛 ).
  • Carry umbrella, as the weather is very unpredictable.
  • If you have time, take the train ride from Ooty to Mettupalyam.  
  • All places of interest have an entry fee of minimum 5 rs per head, so keep change with you.
  • DO NOT LITTER.😟
I hope Pykara remains same and does not become another dump yard like Ooty is becoming. Pykara is nothing less of paradise and I hope it remains so. 💕

Liberated!



Neantha Vaz

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