Chapter 4: Special stuff to do in and around Coonoor

This chapter is a kind-of footnote. If you've finished touring the previously mentioned spots, then this chapter might help you with something extra to do.
Well, if you have enough patience, energy and time to do some other stuff after going to all these places…there are a few things left to do. Coonoor is essentially a place where people don’t bother with means of transport. Any distance, whether long or short, is covered by foot. So, we took walks around the place. The roads are in good condition and always look inviting because of the green cover around them, the trees, creepers and bushes…it was quite a treat to go walking.

While travelling around Coonoor in our taxi, we noticed a few signboards announcing a place called “Needlecraft”, Erin Villa, Singara Estate. The board said it sold hand embroidered linen. That was enough for my mom and I. We made our way through the winding, at some point even precarious, road (in the taxi, of course!) and came upon an extremely beautiful old-style villa. The garden too was adorable, overlooking a tea garden. We immediately whipped out our cameras and got down to it. And of course, we made a few purchases as well (!)

Another thing we did was to go exploring the marketplace. Having been told over and over by my mother that the bakeries in Coonoor were excellent thanks to their British baking heritage, we just had to sample some of it. Let me tell you, it totally lived up to its expectations! The buns, rolls, bread…all of them were very good. The neighboring shop too caught our interest for the fact that it sold Toda jewellery. Now, this pure silver decorative jewellery is available, I think, in most of the shops there. So, if you’re the jewellery fan, you should definitely do some shopping here.
Well, obviously, I don’t need to mention tea or eucalyptus oil at this point. Because that would be obvious. :-)

Essentially, the trip to Coonoor is what you decide it to be. We took walks and long drives just to look at the sights and scenes. And that was what made the trip memorable. The tourist places will always be the ones to visit, and there will be a lot of people there. The local tourist spots are only expected to be crowded, slightly messy and noisy. So, if you decide to chalk out your own new thing to do, it will be all the more enjoyable!