Ok
Sakaleshpur
Running short of options for a weekend getaway is not so unusual and the situation was quite similar when we planned for one. A lot of googling led us to Sakleshpur , a small town in southern Karnataka , famous for coffee and pepper plantations. 20 kms away from this place lies a small home stay by the name Coffee Valley. A train journey from Bengaluru landed us at the deserted Sakleshpur railway station at 4 am. That was indeed a spooky stay of almost half an hour before our pick up car came. With absolutely no trace of human beings around we found it to be quite adventurous.
Ooty , Coonoor
Ooty aka Udagaai aka Udakamandalam aka Ootachamund is a very well known place in South India. It is a very famous hill station which is always covered in clouds. Coonoor is another famous location very near to ooty. Also famous for mindblowing viewpoints. Our journey started from Bangalore in June at 3 am in the morning. 4 of us started to travel in 2 bikes. One pulsar 200 and one pulsar 220. We had to travel in the Mysore road towards Mysore. By 4.30 in the morning, we had reached a Barista lavazza cafe near Channapatna which is around 60 kms from Bangalore. We were so hungry and ate and drank very well there itself and left at around 5.15 to Mysore. We rode continuously till Mysore and reached there by 6.50. There is a small hotel called Hotel Mylari in nazarbad in Mysore.
With piety for the Deity
In an earlier life, repetitive tourism (in whatever guise:temples, tirth yatra or just a getaway) would be good cause for loud and insistent protests, to my parents lasting aggravation. Post marriage has resulted in a surprising complacency and tolerance that I would not have believed myself of conjuring (though there might be differing opinions on this!). Ergo, we found ourselves cruising along on Mysore road for the second time in as many months. Though its been a couple of years now, we cannot get over our luck at being blessed with this highway:shiny clean and even enough to eat off. As battered as we were by our road trips to South Kanara, we treated this one with the normal emotions Indians reserve when treated to a motorable highway:unselfconscious delight and surprise. This trip was hastily planned with frantic calls to resorts and plenty of second guessing and rethinking to boot. With a friend’s recommendation, we settled on the Royal Orchid otel Hotel ckhoHotel at Brindavan Garden KRS. Brindavan gardens that provided the colour to a hundred tacky wet-sari songs in all possible vernacular tongues.
Backwaters of Kerala
I was bit skeptical about this in the beginning when S had this idea of spending couple of days in the back waters of Kerala @ Alleppey. Nevertheless, we made up our mind and decided to go ahead. It was really a memorable and a wonderful experience. After getting the details from our family friend, who had been there last year we dialled to Mr Alex from Seasons Cruise. Nice gentleman he is... he took care of A-Z of our travel. As soon as we alighted from the train, a cab was waiting to pick us up and he dropped us to a homestay where in we could refresh ourselves. Houseboat -stand (If I may call so) was at the walking distance from homestay and we started our journey in the morning.
Savandurga
Savandurga is near about 60 Km from Bangalore is the largest monolith in the world. Famous for trekking , Narasimmah swami temple and the hill itself. What I noticed were the trees. As this is a very big monolith, trees have adapted to grow on rocks like one in the above picture, there were many like this. This is the natural Bonsai tree, growing on the limited soil and water supply. We climbed on to the hill in the sun, it was very hot but I enjoyed clickinig these trees.
Makalidurga
Don't get alarmed by the title, I just had a small accident on the trek :D. Unlike my previous trekking posts, I promise to stick to the main details ;) It was Saturday, June the 12th of 2010, that 20 enthusiasts and two guides from BMC embarked to climb Makalidurga, around 70km from Bangalore. Four of them I knew from the trek to Madhugiri. A cloudy and windy day, most of us were prepared for rain (some like me wished for downpour:D). After an awesome ride via new airport road and beautiful country-side we reached the scarcely populated village of Makalidurga. We chattered away for most of the ride and my customary penchant for enjoying the window-view noted just the one odd - a resort named something like 'Ramaswamy - California' Resort!
Kiliyur Falls
o here comes a post esp. dedicated to the most beautiful breathtaking place in Yercaud as I said in my previous post. Killiyur Falls - An amazing place ! No, simply a breathtaking place !!! Fantastically mind-blowing place !!!!!The car had to be stopped a km away from the place. A walk in the ghat road for half a km took us to a small hotel, rather a cafeteria. From the cafeteria a vertical drop for half a km. Ok, you need not drop down from there, it’s a walk, rather a trek for about a km with the several twists and turns. I loved it and it’s the best trek I’ve had so far , for sure!!!
Munnar To Kodai
This had been one of our dream treks and got lucky that one of our Bangalore based trekking club got permission for the route. Obtaining permission is quite difficult owing to the fact that the trek ranges along restriced areas of both Kerala and Tamilnadu and most the trek route would be along the border of the states.The plan was to cover the trek with in 2 days which would be difficult to squeeze since the ideal time to cover the trek would be 3 days. So we had to cover a distance of 35 (15Km on first day and 20Km on the next) within two days. We had started towards Munnar Friday night and got to reach Chinnar at 7 am the next day, where we first encountered the Kerala border check post. The guide joined us there and we went along the picturesque road towards Munnar. We had a great breakfast (Appam and Puttu-kadala curry) at a place called Marayur inside the Kerala border on way towards Munnar. The highway route was amazing with beautiful tea estates and gorgeous valleys.
Athirappilly
My last visit to Athirappilly waterfalls was more than 20 years ago and my memories of the famous waterfalls were faint. Off late the urge to visit them have been on the rise and to fulfill it we started our drive from Cochin to Athirappilly on a lovely bright morning. After taking the deviation at Chalakkudi, lovely winding roads took us through a lot of greenery to one of the hotspots of Kerala . Enroute we passed numerous plantations and small creeks before reaching the waterfalls. A long queue of kiosks, which sold various items awaited us at the parking area. The falls is located amidst the thick Sholayar forests near Tamil Nadu border.
Gokarna
Predictably my favorite beaches are located in my home state of Karnataka , though I like Goan beaches , they are too crowded for my comfort. I haven't been to Kerala 's beaches and the beaches in Tamil Nadu (at least the ones I have been to) were very dirty and full of dead fish. I have been to Mumbai's beaches but they were dirtier than the TN ones. In Andhra Pradesh and Orissa the beaches were so hot that I couldn't enjoy being there and to my bad luck I visited these states in the peak of summer so I don't have particularly fond memories of these locations. Anyway now cutting the chatter here are some of my most favorite beaches in Karnataka . The holy beach behind the main temple in Gokarna , crowded but it is so long that one can find some secluded place...
Kollimalai
This Independence Day came on a Sunday and I was at Karur. Obviously we planned for an outing. After thinking about a couple of genres we decided on mountains. A couple of options and we finalized on Kollimalai. 2 bikes, 4 friends, 1 destination. I was excited coz this was one trip with a decently bigger number of people. But then, next day morning, with one person with a bad hangover, we ended up with just 2 of us... Kollimalai is a precious herbal spot. Even the wind seemed the carry a medicated herbal essence. The hill range has been spoken of in several Tamil Literatures. I remember once in school days, I read a poem ‘ Kollimalai enakkilaya Chellimalai Amme…’. Well. I forgot who wrote it and in which literary work was it!!! Does it ring a bell to any of you guys?..
Kuduremukha
After another long gap we got an opportunity, in the form of a 4 day Christmas holiday, to go on an outing. It was late by the time we started planning and getting accommodation was getting difficult. After evaluating different options, we closed in on to either Coonoor or Kudremukh. We got a booking in a small hotel in Coonoor. But Kudremukh was more tempting as we had read quite a bit about it and it appeared more beautiful and pristine. Kudremukh or "Kudere Mukha"literaly means "Horse Face". It gets this name from the highest peak in that region which resembles the face of a horse. It belongs to the Western Ghats mountain ranges of India and has 600 sq. km. of protected forests. There was a large open pit iron ore mine by KIOCL ( Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd.) which has ceased operations now owing to environmental pressures.
Wayanad
The very title here is an indication of what this post is going to be about. Yes it was my first ever bike trip. Another enduring, animated, serene and blissful experience to the wish list.60..65..70..engines stroking 3000 rpm...the bikes roaring on the dark roads;zooming past the wide paths me, Shreyas and Anuj set off on our bike trip to Wayanad. Dinner on the way on Mysore road at Kamat's and a night halt at Hotel Mayura in Srirangapatana , just enough to accommodate three of us in a room but at 450 bucks was worth, considering the time for which we had to halt. We freshned up in the morning, a cup of tea and we started off at 6 am to Wayanad , Via Nanjangud , Gundulpet, Bandipur. It took us no less than 3 hours to reach Wayanad.
Yercaud
Until I researched about Yercaud in Wikitravel &Google, it was a boring destination for me. I never felt the urge to go there. However everything changed ever since I planned my 2 day visit to the Poor Man’s Ooty (That’s how Yercaud is known as). Its jus 230kms from Bengaluru and my pulsar was more than willing to be vroomed. Sky Roca with an amazing view from its rooms is the most recommended place to stay in Yercaud. Even though it was a long weekend, I somehow managed to get a room there.Wanted to leave at 5 ‘o’ clock in the morning, but a slight drizzle delayed my start by 45 minutes. It was indeed a very light drizzle and I didn’t want to delay my start any further. With the hope that it would stop drizzling once the sun is out, I kick started my pulsar. For a change nature had different plans. It kept on drizzling till I touched Krishnagiri.
Kokkare Bellur
Visited Kokkare Bellur again, 15 months after my first visit. There were not many birds this time. Painted Storks were around 20-25 in number.Pelicans were very less in number. I counted 7 or 8 pelicans. I tried to get a decent shot of these big birds, but in vain. That pelican was hiding behind the tree branches as if its being guilty of something:P Few of the sun-bathing Storks posed for the camera without hesitation. And so was this squatting one Bellur, became famous &got the prefix ‘Kokkare’ (Storks) because of these beautiful birds &is home for hundreds of storks &pelicans.
Kumara Parvata
Next morning we hit the trail again by around 8 AM. Now the task of getting down the hill was becoming more tedious as we also had our luggage to carry while we tried to balance ourselves. We slipped, we fell, but we made it to Kukke Subramanya in one piece by 12-1 PM! We met a couple of childern playing cricket at the foot and joined them for a game. We were back in the same hotel where we started this wonderful sojourn - two momentous and joyous days in the woods. We were planning to eat at the Subramanya temple which is known to serve the tastiest food but it was too crowded and we had to start soon for B'lore.
Mekedatu
It was a single day trip, to Makedatu which is located about 80km from Bangalore. We hired a cab for the journey to be undertaken by 3 people including 2 of my friends.It took us about 2 hours to reach the first destination of the journey called Sangam. We started early from our houses reaching comfortably by 9:30 am. ‘Sangam’ is a Hindi language word meaning meeting place for rivers. It is a place where Cauvery and another river merge. Makedatu is about 5 km from this place. Makedatu is a Kannada language term comprising of “Make” meaning ’sheep’ and “Datu” meaning ‘gorge’. Thus the saying that the gorge was separated so close that even a sheep could cross it.
Thekkady
Thekday was calling loud and clear on the Ugadi weekend. I reached Kumily , which is the town nearest to Thekady by bus from Bangalore on the morning of 28th March. It is at the Tamil Nadu / Kerala border and very close to Kodaikanal and Munnar. The plan was for the old Reflections (a collegiate magazine team of ours during Engg college days) to meet and have a look around. Sujith, Rahul and Thomas ettan apart from me were the participants for this trip. Sujith had booked an Inspection Bungalow (IB) at Kumily , which is where the stay for the next 2 days had been planned for. Kumily being just 4 kms away from Thekady, this was the perfect place to halt.
Hampi
Day 1:We took the Rajhamsa from Bangalore to Hampi. This is a direct bus but a better choice would have been a Volvo to Hospet and local transport to Hampi which is 12 km from Hospet. As soon as we set foot in Hampi , guides and rickshaw drivers stalked us like any typical tourist spot. We walked past them to figure our way to Padma Guest house (try this number if you want to book 08394 241331) which is just around the corner of the street, haggled with the landlady Padma (as Chetan had hinted me to bargain prices), checked in for Rs.350. But I feel the price was not a bad option considering I am not the foreigner who would take a room for Rs.50 and soak in the culture.
Bheemeshwari
Bheemeshwari was on my agenda for quite some time, especially since I had gone there in 2007 and I wanted to make it this year too. The time was right and we set out for a day trip to the Cauvery Fishing Camp at Bheemeshwari. Bheemeshwari is a small town that lies between the Shivanasamudra falls and Mekedatu falls, on the Cauvery river in Mandya district of Karnataka in India. The weather was good (though a bit sunny) and I got some good shots.About Bheemeshwari : Bheemeshwari is a small town that lies between the Shivanasamudra falls and Mekedatu falls, on the Cauvery river in Mandya district of Karnataka in India. It is nestled amidst the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
Gopalaswamy Betta
Location:Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, is a hill (betta in Kannada) located in the state of Karnataka ,India and is extensively wooded. It is also the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park. Getting there:It is approximately 220 km from Bangalore and 75 km from Mysore. From Mysore take the Ooty route via Nanjangud and Gundlupet(60 km from Mysore ). The road gets worse from now on for another 15 km till you reach a small village called Hangala. Slow down here and watch out for a sign board that says take right to the Hill. There is a motorable road all the way to the top of the hill. Entry fee is collected at the forest depeartment checkpost at foot of the hill.
Brahmagiri
A thoroughly enjoyable trip, this one. One, thanks to Vyshant's meticulous preparation and two, the trip was more than just trekking... We cooked our own food in style!. We were 13 in all. Maybe it was not just a co-incidence that we chose to be 13 in total. How does it even matter?! We left late on a Friday night from Bangalore 's Satellite Bus station on Mysore Road by the 11:45pm bus to Gonikoppa. We reached before the break of dawn, at 4:45am the next day, after touching Mysore at 2:15am. Pretty fast for a Karnataka sarige, you must admit. The details of the journey aren't all too entertaining. So I'll just tell you what you'd need to know when planning your own trek.
Wayanad
On Thursday evening 6:30 four of us left from Bangalore to Wayanad. The roads were good however the traffic was bad it took us 1 half hour to reach Mysore Road, in just about 2 hrs to reach Mysore. Well it is a wrong choice to have Pizza from Pizza Corner a horrible service was offered. Then about 11:30 we left Mysore to and reached the bad section of roads from Gundelpet to Bandipur forest well u need to take a diversion to your right from Gundelpett to reach Wayanad. Well it’s quit a scary drive as it dark, silent and elephants are known to cross the road at night.
Stop littering and save environment.