Fri 15 Feb 2013
12:34PM
compton

Stuffs for India Trip

About 50 miles out of Vasco da Gama are Dudhsagar Falls. It's not far from the Supra Dam reservoir in Anshi National Park.

makemytrip.com's routeplanner is the best way to plan routes around india. It will give you journey options between any two places, using a combination of train, airplane, bus and car.

The Indian railway company has this static map of rail routes around the country - useful for getting an overview of where different places are.

Ooty Timetable

"In fact there is only one express train that extends to Mettupalayam , which is the Chennai to Mettupalayam Nilgiri Express (also called the Blue Mountain Express)."

"Mettupalayam to Ooty there is one train a day. It waits for the Chennai-Mettupalayam (Blue Mountain Express) to reach to collect the passengers (if the BM Exp is late). Most of the passengers for the MTP-Ooty arrive by this train.

There is a warning!!!! At times the train gets overcrowded due to the over booking and waitlisted passengers form the BM Exp. In that case they will not issue tickets at the local counter at MTP. There are only 3 or 4 small coaches.

There is way out!!! Catch a bus and reach Coonoor. This is a mid way station between MTP & Ooty. There are many trains from Coonoor to Ooty. You can buy tickets at station. I feel this is more practical if you are hard pressed with time. The mountain train from MTP actually reaches Ooty not earlier than 1PM. That is 4 hours for a 45Km journey. It’s very nice and fun if you have time. Else the 1Hrs+ journey from Coonoor to Ooty is also charming.

MTP-Coonoor-Ooty are well connected by bus (fast) also.

Catch the left-hand side seat towards Ooty from MTP(in bus or train) This will give you the fantastic view of the valley and the gorge. The right side window is most of the time against the mountain wall."


"There are some buses (private(pref) & state run) from Coimbatore as early as 4 AM to MTP (even to Ooty also!). Catch one. They'll take you to MTP at break neck speed for Rs10.
At 5.30 or 6.0 the ticket counter opens. The man's name is Raja (king). Take a ticket and catch the seat (unreserved) as early as possible before the Blue Mountain mob arrives

Then the snail rail starts.You can almost walk along with the running train. Stock enough food etc, if required for the 4 hours. It's mostly forest route with some small nice stations. You can see passengers screeming at the conductor to not to give the green flag ( someone has has gone to the toilet at the mid stations for a leak).There is no toilet attached with the train. Catch a bus from Ooty to Mysore. Book with a good private agency they'll pick you from the guesthouse.Your guest house can book. Usually from Rs80 to Rs120. In 4Hrs flat you'll be at Mysore."

/xkcd/ Greenland Size