Trip to Coorg

Finally I manage to visit a place other than Chennai / Bangalore. After much deliberation I and my friends decided on a trip to Coorg and a stay at Orange County. Train tickets were booked till Mysore, bus tickets from Mysore to Coorg and the resort was booked too a week before the trip.

March 27th:

It was a very early start after the usual tough day at work previous day. I had to get up at 03:30 AM, packed my bags got into the cab at 4 and reached the station 20 minutes later. Train was at 5:00 to Mysore (Chennai – Mysore) with my friends already boarded it from Chennai. We reached Mysore at 08:00, got into a local restaurant for breakfast which was horrible. Our bus to Coorg was at 10, little did we know that a 100 KM journey would actually take us 3 hours and bit because of the hilly area. After a tired journey of 6 hours already, the cab outside the bus stand gave us a shocker. The time to Orange County from the bus stand took us another hour and 15 mins. Finally, after a long and strenuous journey we reached our resort.

The welcome to the resort reminded me of pictures I had seen on tv when cricketers were greeted with a aarathi, followed by a warm towel and a yummy juice. We were hungry like mad dogs, fearing that the restaurant might close as it was close to 3PM, we informed the receptionist that we would check in to the room later and we just needed food to survive the immediate minutes. The food at the restaurant was staggering if only I had such food on a daily basis I would gain a kilo every day.

After the heavy lunch we didn’t really plan anything for the evening, we just wanted to relax and spend some time within the resort. So, after a nap, we started strolling within the resort. The resort was beautiful, one would wish to be there forever. The coffee shop, swimming pool, great restaurants, activities centre, boating, fishing, birds, spices, lovely staff, and one cannot really ask for more. After a few games of table tennis, we had nice time besides the pool chit chatting. Later, we had dinner and made our plans for the next day.




March 28th:

We started off with a heavy breakfast and a trip to the elephant camp. The journey to the camp was long but once we got there, every minute was fun. We took a boat ride to start off to get to the other end of the river where the elephants were. Once, we were at the other end, we saw couple of elephants lying on the river while the mahout and few visitors were cleaning them. It was such an incredible sight to see such a giant creature lying down while we were washing them. After a trip around the camp, we decided to head back to our cab. We chose to walk along the river and didn’t take the boat to go back. It was one of the best experiences ever as we had to be very careful with river water flowing and the rocks being very slippery. However, at the end of it, we made it without any injuries, although everyone slipped a few times. Our next destination was the Tibetan settlement which everyone suggested. It was another hour drive and honestly it was time wasted. I really didn’t enjoy the time there neither did my friends. In fact, there is nothing much to be written about. We hardly spent a few minutes and headed back to the resort. At the resort, we decided to go for fishing. I never knew catching a fish is next to impossible. While our entire gang of 5 managed to catch only one fish with close to a 100 attempts, it was really frustrating at the end of it. Then the usual TT games at the resort, followed by coffee and other in house activities. The dinner on that day needs a special mention here. It was a different restaurant (peppercorn) and had to be booked prior since there are limited seats available. We had one of the most delicious food that one could ever imagine. The taste of every item we had is still felt in my tongue. While I am typing this my tummy is longing for that food again.

March 29th:

The day we had to check out to head back to Chennai. We spent a good time swimming and took the steam bath. Later, the usual heavy breakfast and a final bid to the resort we headed back to Mysore via bus in the afternoon. The train was at 8 PM to Chennai.

Looking back, the stay was fabulous but the trip was tiring with long rides resulting in tired minds.