Irreplacable Memories Day 3

Day3
Morning dawned with good sunshine and it was a great time to take off. We decided that we would visit the Tungabhadra Dam on the way. So off we went while the bikers were still getting ready. Heinrich, Indira and Jangs also took off early. While Jangs and his group took off straight we went to the dam walked up the hill and enjoyed the beautiful old construction of the dam.



After that we were on our way.. cruising through the way .. we had Jangs and his group for company. Our Jeep was loaded with the saddle bags of the bulleters ... but it was less this time... since they were taking off late...

We ripped across the highway. Jangs and the group were obviously faster. We came across many overturned trucks on the highway. It was a pathetic sight. But we carried on.. Reached the outskirts of Chittradurg and stopped at a ncie house like hotel by the highway.. which had a garden restaurant and everything... and we ordered our meals.. Lunch was good but it made us have a big hole in our pocket. We were slammed with a bill of 700 plus for 3 fish thali meals, one vegeterian meal and a starter. When we asked for the menu the manager refused to show us the menu saying that it was outside the menu and they had extra charge... and all that.. and to top it all they were mixing the orders from one table to another..

This was the same with Jangs and his group and after warning the bikers, we took off. It was a bad experience and we learnt a valuable lesson...
If you are lunching in Chitradurg, please do not forget to ask the price of the orders that come to you..



Funnily the food on the whole trip did not cost us that much as we paid for that one lunch fiasco... Still gets my goat whenever I think of it ... One the way we filled gas at a bunk which had this nicely carved statue..


Anyways, back on the highway, we came across heavy showers of rains which kept us company for a long time till we reached Bangalore... and finally we reached home replete with good memories of Hampi.

Hampi is a photographers paradise for both amatuer and professional. Make sure you take enough rolls with you if you are like taking pictures !!

Some important information about Hampi.

Map to Hampi



Map to go about in Hampi.. Actually its easy to go about in Hampi. You will get local maps and local guide books and the sign posts are vey user friendly to follow.




When to Visit

The ideal time to visit Hampi, is from October to March.

How To Get There

By Air : The nearest airport is Bellary (74 km). Other convenient airports are Belgaum (190 km) and Bangalore (353 km).

By Rail : Hospet (13 km) is the nearest railhead. Hospet is linked by rail with Bangalore, Bijapur and Hubli.

By Road : Hampi is 353 km from Bangalore, and 13 km from Hospet. Buses ply regularly to Hospet from Bangalore.


Where To Stay

Hotel Mayura Vijayanagar, Thungabadhra Dam Hospet, Tel:08394-48270

Hotel Priyadarshini, Station Road, Hospet, Tel: 08394-48838.

Hotel Malligi, Hospet-Bellary road.

Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneswri, Kamalapur, Hampi. Tel:08394-51374 ( we stayed here... and we recommend this highly)

KSTDC Cottages.Tel:08394-8108

Useful Links

http://www.meadev.nic.in/tourism/exotic/hampi.htm
http://www.indiatravelog.com/factfile/kar6-hampi.html
http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/

Exploring Hampi Day 2

Day2:



We were supposed to get up and catch the sunrise at Hampi but it was not to be.
here is pic of what the sunrise looked like... absolutely glorious!!! This picture is courtesy one of the RTMC members.(I forget the name I am sorry)

While the others went ahead before 6:00 in the morning, we slept it out and started off after a lazy breakfast. The weather was just great... rain clouds were present but besides some drizzle the day was clear... thus started our exploration... here is pic of what the sunrise looked like... absolutely glorious!!!

Queens Bath:
A old bathing place which the Queen used. It had its own changing rooms and great viewpoints. This bath was open to the sky and surrounded with a moat. Though the building looks quite simple from outside one can only imagine the granduer inside the building.



Mahanavami Dibba:
This is an enomous area where kings once sat on gem-studded golden thrones and watched processions pass by. The platform sports densely carved bands of horses, soldiers and depictions of the various aspects of courtly life. There is a pyramid like structure which has nice carvings on it.. The irrigation system runs through it..



There is a beautiful tank called Pushkarani which looks like an optical Illusion with its so many steps there... the whole Tank looks like it was built with black granite...

I explored further and found another amphitheatre like area and a seat where the kings must have sat..and watched some show or the other... or maybe it was another tank for the kings and queens to enjoy the beautiful man made lake...



This place has lot of other small ruins which you can explore with leisure... I wish I had more time...

Hazara Rama: a typical Dravidian temple... and this has lot of sculptures depicting the story of Ramayana in three tiers describing the whole story till after the birth of his twins Lav and Kush.. The sculpting is the wall is worth spending time. There is a hanuman sculpture here.. Hampi was previously also the capital of the Monkey People... and it was known and Kishkinta... thats why the stress on Ramayana

Lotus Mahal : A small enclosure inside huge grounds. the walls which protect this enclosure is still there.. and one needs to see how uniquely the walls have been placed ..One would imagine royalty coming here and relaxing... the mahal itself is a small place surrounded by huge grounds.

You need to buy a ticket to enter this place which is valid for the Vittala temple too.

Elephant Stables: - As you walk through the green lawns in Lotus Mahal... you come across the elephant stables which seem like huge... rooms .. one can imagine how much care they were given ... this being an important mode of transpot there


Guards House - To one side of the tables there was another huge building which many ignored and went off.. We went ahead .. i was pretty curious what this building was meant for. It had one elephant statue resting at the gateway One of the natives, dangling his legs ... and with a nonchalant attitude told us that it was the guard's house... It was a huge building... with lot of artifacts and a nice garden... the building was at a height... I guess so that the guards could survey what was going on......

Nobelman's Quarters: This was a little further from the Lotus Mahal.. and we went ahead to explore the Nobleman's Quarters... a huge space of land with collapsed building blocks... gives the impression of a huge chunk of population might have existed in this area.. you can go up the steps to have a panoramic view of the area... the guards might have stood at that very point to surveyed all the nobleman... or soldiers...

Sister Rocks
this is a marvel to see,.. imagine two cards inclined and balancing each other by touching it at the top.. now imagine two huge round stones doing the same thing and touching each other just at a point and standing like that... Awesome.. According to a myth, these stones are two sisters who have been turned into stone.


Lakshmi Narasimha - A huge monolith statue which is sometimes mistaken for Ugra Narasimha.. A huge piece of architecture which is difficult to imagine that it has survived all the years to be a witness to all of the wacky specimens... like us.... People mistake it for Ugra Narasimha but it has been specifally mentioned that this is Lakshmi narasimha..


Badavilinga : Next to the Narasimha.. there is this amazing 12 ft Shivalinga known as the Badavi Linga.. this has always water around it since a canal passes through it..

Krishna Temple: This is an old temple built by Krishnadevraya in 1523. We found a young boy dressed as hanuman and willing to dance if we gave him money... we shooed him away and took some photographs... of the nice pillars.. what struck me was the eerie silence in these temples... but I could imagine devotees thronging here for their pujas... There are many small temples inside this temple.

This is on the way to Krishna Temple.. thought that the gates with the Jeep looked really cool..

Mustard Ganesha:
This is a huge monolith of Ganesha which you can go and see... we did not wait around this statue as we had a lot of things to cover. This is also one of a kind statue very well made. This statue is 12 ft tall and is placed in the open with a mantapa.

Virupaksha Temple:
This is one of the main temples in Hampi. We did not spend much time inside this temple as there was a huge crowd singing and dancing there... The road in front of this temple is flanked by shops and restaurants.

Here we halted for lunch... in one of the small restaurants which had boldly written captions " Recommended by Lonely Planet" . This place caters more to foreigners so if you are ordering toast and omlete you will get it faster. There is a unique thali known as " African Thali, which we did not have the stomach to try. I ordered some pineapple pancakes, lassi and sandwiches which came pretty fast rather than the indian thalis which my friends ordered.

We called in the gang who by this time were scattered. Some tried to take a short cut and got duped by auto.
DO NOT try taking shortcuts. All of the things can be seen one after the other so you can chill out and take your bike around and park and walk where you wanted to see stuff.

So while the gang was having lunch, we walked by the side of the river Tungabhadra...

Suddenly for some reason I remembered the song...

By the rivers of Babylon..
There we at down
there we wept
when we remembered the bygones... ( ok i made that up instead of Zion)

Pondering at the ruins and the huge area of what might have been I felt somewhat sad and melancholic.
Market Place:
The market place is just opposite the Virupaksha Temple .. This is a huge area and once upon a time it used to be the market area for the people living in that kingdom. At present this place is used as an amphitheatre during dance festivals and all that.

Vittala Temple:
This is one of the most beautiful places in Hampi. This contains the essence of Hampi, I must say. It contains a huge area of monuments. The river Tungabhadra flows by its side... Inside the grounds you have the Vijaya Vittala temple containing musical pillars... a guide can show you how it sounds by beating it with the help of the knuckles... clicked some shots here too... This temple is full of beautifully sculpted works of lotus, swans, etc...

Just in front of this temple is the stone Chariot which is like a work of art. Its reminiscent of the Sun Temple in Konark. It was raining that day.. and though it ws not the right moment for photography.. i could not resist taking some shots

Kings Balance:
Outside the Vijaya Vittala Temple complex to your right, a few yards away you will find the Kings Balance where the king used to weigh himself with golds and diamonds and that weight used to be distributed among the poor.

Then to chill out we relaxed by the river banks of Tungabhadra drinking tea from a small shack... it was that time of the day when the birds go home and farmers come back from the fields... bliss...

We came to back to the Hotel. The gang decided to go to the Tungabhadra Dam where there would be some musical fountain display and all that. Some from the gang relaxed. We did the same... chilled out .. had dinner and waited for the guys to come back..

The guys were back and they decided that they would light a campfire and have a great time. While I was busy with our friends, the rest of the guys chilled out by the fire with some good drinks...


Day 3

On the way to Hampi ... Day 1

Day 1 ... 10th September, 2004

It was a Friday that I was looking forward to... I have been wanting to visit Hampi and dreaming about it from the moment that we decided that we would be going riding to Hampi.



Started early in the morning along with the Bullets. We decided to take our Jeep since we had friends with their 2 year old, visiting us and we wanted to share the fun of motorcycle riding with them. The Jeep became a storage section for the saddle bags.


Hitting the Tumkur highway close to 7:30, we carried on and decided to take a break near the toll gates. After sometime we hear that Vikas one of the riders has had an accident while avoiding a stray dog.

And well luckily he escaped with nothing but a few scrathes and a broken light bulb.He was pretty sporting about it. Reminded me of Bumboo and our Wayanad trip when he attracted all animals to hit him.. we called it animal magnetism...

On the way Sagarika who was riding for the first time had a tough time hanging on .. without a back support and a tiny seat... for the pillion. She opted to come in the jeep.



Anyways, carrying on towards Tumkur, we had breakfast of soft Thatte Idlis and Vadas and hot coffee in our usual place in Catsandra...which left us feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Continuing along the road which was pretty good and had few bumps... the scenery that opened itself before us was spectacular to say the least. The whole landscape which is usually dry... was lit up with a carpet of green grasses and yellow sunflowers... it was a beautiful feeling to drive along the highway...


Passing by Mangalore Highway, we took a version to Kudiligi, and then on to Hospet. Took lot of breaks of hot tea and then finally reached Kamalapuram, Hampi where we rested ourselves at Hotel Mayura. I highly recommend this hotel. You can book in advance and you can also go and get a room during off season..


Rates start from 400 to some 1000/- and the facilities are very useful. They have a good canteen which also caters their version of European food along with South Indian Thalis, veg and non veg. Rooms are clean and water is also good.If you want to destress yourself you could also go in for the ayurvedic massages which the hotel provides... ( they might make a tiny hole in your pocket, but it is worth it.) The hotel itself is situated among huge land area which has a long driveway and lots of green grasses growing.. or maybe it was because it was monsoon time.



This picture is just the driveway to this hotel... If this is off season for Hampi, I tell everybody to go and visit the place only at this time. You can benefit from the greenery and also from the cool breeze blowing which according to the natives is a rarity since temperature rises up to 44 degrees C.

Had a decent meal and lazed around in the evening with the kid, and with friends.. You could hear crickets "cricking" away along with frogs coming out of their hideouts... and jumping here and there.. the hotel sports a small tank of fish and two tortoises too which was good entertainment for the kid.

Weather was just perfect and we were ready to face the next day... we fell asleep to the anticipation of what we would visit the next day...

Day 2
Day 3

Tamarind Highway Day 2

Day 2

Morning dawned with the realisation that the day was getting to be very hot. We freshened up as the rest were still dozing. A couple of us who were up and about decided to go get some breakfast. We had not arranged with the resort to provide us with food. We found a joint very near the resort and had some tea and biscuits and some nice discussion with the Madras Bulls guys... Some of the madras bulls had already left Pondi in the night.

I guess it was a good ride to and back since it was not too far from Chennai. Since most of the guys were still sleeping when we were back, we decided to strike out to by ourselves to the town. We would not be coming back this side so we said our good byes to the Madras Bulls, Dodo, Brijesh, and all of them who were so cool to sponsor this stay in Pondi. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the guys and left for the main town. The sun was already beating down pretty harshly and it was not even 9:00 am.



We were familiar with the town so wanted to just "surf" the town, lets say !! We went down to the Beach Road where we had breakfast by the beach cafe and chilled out by the sea and then decided to cruise around the colonial area of Pondicherry and in that process did some shopping...

There is a good market for handmade goods which are pretty cheap and useful ... which become painfully expensive the moment they reach Bangalore...




Do not forget to rest a while by the shades of the big trees in the park near the Beach Raod. We relaxed for sometime there. of all places this is my favourite place to be in Pondicherry.. by the beach road in the evenings and walking through the park in the daytime.. the wonder of it was that while it was burning hot in the sun... the moment you stood under the trees, it was like you had reached natural airconditioning zone.

I have not experienced this difference in temperature in bangalore when in the shade....that makes you appreciate the summer all the more... Since it was a Sunday many had come down to spend the day in the park and all the sitting areas were full of kids and families just enjoying their Sunday... once side I could see two sisters playing hide and seek, on the other hand I could see a group of elderly people playing cards... and then some women sitting in a circle talking... I guess they were taking stock of the week's work ha ha !!

But this moment, seeing everybody busy being happy in their own relaxing without the hurrying made me appreciate the quality of life there... Yes I would like to do that someday .. live in that area and go to the ashram, sit by the sea or the park and then just reflect... and then go back... maybe to Auroville... ah yes time to reflect...

By this time we were having tiny hunger pangs and then mulled over where to go for lunch.. Of all the places Rendezvos was the nearest and the best. So decided to head there... I have become a die hard fan of this place by the way... LOL. By this time the rest of the group also flocked in. Praveen, Mahindra and JFK. Tiwana had decided to go via Chennai. Keerthi and Soup decided to stay back for one more day and enjoy the place...

We had another amazing lunch here and then headed out to the highway by 3:00 after the guys did some shopping for themselves... courtesy yours truly... I was the only woman in the group and urged them that if they did not take home such nice gifts for their family it would be a sin... hahaha !!!

Anyways, on and on we went. We had to reduce speed since Praveen and JFK's bikes were running in so we kept a steady but medium speed. We stopped after every hour or so and then carried on..



On reaching Gingee, we stopped again for some photographs... JFK did some cool and freaky posing ... and I obliged him by capturing the Alpha male moments .. with a profile and then both the man and the profile... and he was mighty thrilled with the portraits... of him and his new baby... ( he had just bought the STD 500 you see and had got it with him to Pondi for a spin) and you thought that women were narcissistic... LOLOL !!

Reached TV Malai at dusk and had some snacks at one of the hotels...

My ordeal started when it was dark.. firstly I could not see anything but the stars and then I was so inspired by the feeling of riding under the starry sky that I thought out a poem... well a sham of a poem which went like


Under the starry sky as we ride
without a care or a sigh
the cresent moon is shining shy
watching us head home cocooned in its soft light....

Well guys that was one of the rarest occasions when I could come out with something resembling a poem... I was feeling raelly romantic riding through the wilderness with only the mountains and the stars as witnessess... its a heady feeling...

Mahendra ( I just got that his name was Mahendra and not Mahindra ... sorry about that Mahendra !!! ) was riding pillion with JFK since he had packed his bike to bangalore. He then took turns in riding Praveen's and JFK's bike.

Now this guy had the tenacity not to doze off while riding. And I was amazed at that...since he said that no matter what he could never sleep while riding. JFK who was by this time very tired and sleepy just wanted to reach home. He also gave the bike up to Mahindra while he dozed as pillion.

Mahendra then started to play with him ... just when JFK would go off to sleep he would accelarate and JFK would hit his helmet ..* tak* on Mahendra's and wake up.. Mahendra continued this till JFK came up with a defense policy even in his sleep LOL... mahendra gleefully recounted the phase when we were taking a break... haha to the utmost consternation of JFK.

Now where yours truly was concerned, she was fighting a losing battle with the sandman and was trying her level best to keep her eyes wide open...but it was a constant struggle...

The whole time I would try to concentrate on the inky blackness and *tap* I would go off to sleep. And I was also * tak taking Rocks helmet with mine.. Once I almost

Believe you me !!!! Its no fun sitting pillion at night and the road being so smooth...

My endless struggle with my sandman and my dream catcher was making Rocks very edgy and he was shit scared that I would fall off and I was trying my best not to fall off.. Little did he know how I was trying to battle the onslaught of sleep...even though every time we would stop and I would wash my eyes with precious water.... nothing was working

Beat this... you are travelling on a smooth straight road in the inky darkness and the speed is some 50 to 60 kmph and add to it the constant thump of the machine...and cool breeze swhishing by..... even a crazed incomniac would have fallen asleep. And I am a person who appreciates sleep so it was touch and ZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZz for me !!



Anyway this time luck was on our side so we reached the end of the Tamarind Highway pretty fast. Here we took a break and the night and the hour inspired us to think about ghost stories.. JFK told us an almost-ghost story... well my imagination was fired up anyway.. so Mahendra ( the great strory teller ) tempted us with a tantalising ghost story which we were eager to listen .. we breaked for tea somewhere insignificant near the highway and Mahendra started his storytelling which turned out to be a welcome break from the sleepy ride and had us splitting in laughter.... By now I was wide awake... and we had reached the outskirts of Bangalore... soon after we reached home feeling fulfilled and exhausted... yet another journey finished and yet another day ends.... but with warm memories of percolating Pondicherry.....

Percolating Pondicherry ..Cruising the Tamarind Highway

Day 1, Arpril 24th 04

This trip write up was long due and was thinking when I would have the time to put it up .. anyway... this trip was being planned for a long time and we had just done our Coorg trip. We were thinking of giving it a miss. The trip was about Madras Bulls celebrating their annversary and they had invited us for a ride to Pondicherry. It would also be a ride when we would be also remembering Varun, our dear departed friend.

We were eager to make it but then decided against it. I think both our consciences were not agreeing to that. So after a late party at a friend's place we decided inpromtu that no matter what we would make it and it was about 12:30 in the night and we had not done any packing.. so after rushing in with the packing we crashed at almost 2:00 and after 2 hours of sleep we were up and about putting the stuff in our bikes and off we went to meet the other bikers..

Mahindra
Tiwana
Sijan ( JFK)


JFK had brought in his bike with a towing rope fixed on his handle. I teased him about it and he was telling me that it was style... and later on this rope was the one which saved our day.. Kudos to JFK's sense of bike fashion.

In the meantime some of the riders had already gone ahead the previous day to Chennai and they would reach Pondicherry by the same day from Chennai.

We met up with the bikers at the Hosur flyover and continued on to Krishnagiri where had a cup of tea and continued on our way.



After a while, we took a left deviation to the road which connected to the highway leading us to Pondicherry. This is the best road to ride while riding from Bangalore to Pondicherry. This road is trimmed with tamarind trees on both sides and its a ride worth the while if you just want to cruise. On the other hand it could get somewhat boring.. for the rider and one had the risk of falling asleep if one was not used to riding long roads...

It was almost noon and we were tremendously hungry. I had got some sweets from home and some oranges. We munched on that. This highway is devoid of any dhabas. We were hoping to make good time and then have some breakfast somewhere but there was no scope of that. We were kind of getting real hungry.



Finally we spotted a small town where we had some dosas and then continued down the highway. The weather was getting warm but as long as we were on the road it was pretty cool . We took short stops and relaxed our behinds beneath Tamarind tree shades.

The highway is a cool one without the disturbing onslaughts of truck and bus drivers. Nice scenic view.. a little too nice for my tastes... a ride is not a ride without winding roads and some rough roads... :)



We went through Tiruvanamalai. TV Malai was a crowded town but moving traffic. This place is known for its temples and we crossed quite a few of them. Nestled at the foot of the mountains, this place was a buzz of activity and very soon we left the town behind. Then it was about 3:00 and we entered Gingee. This appreared to be a historical place with Rajgiri and krishnagiri fort on both sides.



It was a majestic climb and I could imagine how it was to have lived in those forts with a spectacular view of the state. We promised ourselves that we could explore the fort some other time but now our main objective was to reach Pondicherry which was hardly some 50 odd kilometres away.


Hardly had we ridden 20 kms, we saw Mahindra stopping by the side of the road. He was telling us that he was having engine problems. We could not figure out the problem since it was inside the engine and no one was stupid enough to open the engine in the middle of the highway. So I just prayed that somehow that baby would run.. We were just 40 kms from Pondicherry. We decided to let the engine cool down a bit and then start again.. So mahindra would ride some 2 to 3 kms and then it would stop... and doing this we were losing time and Mahindra was also getting pissed off. All of us tried to cheer him up... He is a guy who can make your journey very interesting. He has so many stories to tell. He was quiet and brooding since his baby was not functioning well.

Finally 20 kms away from Pondicherry, JFK decided that he would tow the bike. His stylish towing rope then came into use... the same rope about which we were teasing him. Mahindra was in two minds. Since he was not used to being towed, he did not take to the idea very well. But we including mahindra thought that he could give it a try. We were nearing the town now and it would be getting dark in few hours... so mahindra's bike was tied to JFK's bike and he led him. In the beginning it was like dicey with Mahindra getting pulled and trying to keep balance without his engine working .. Tiwana and our bike kept a close distance. After sometime both of them got used to the towing and they were moving quite fast, to the extent that they manged to overtake a bus in the town... and we were like GAWK with our mouth open.... and just hoping that both of them would make it..and they did quite triumphantly .. haha


The public in Pondi was looking at us wierdly.. imagine... us in the lead and then the two of them in the midle and Tiwana at the rear. That being the situation it did not stop the public from butting in trying to cross between the bikes despite the road but we reached the destination after sometime..Eden resorts ..where we were wecomed warmly by the Brijesh and Harish and others from the Madras Bulls. While Mahindra and JFK went to fix the bike we went ahead to have some foodsince we were starving and I had heard so much about Rendezvous that we decided to try our luck there... Rocks was by this time almost dying of hunger and so was I . Among the three of us , Tiwana, Rocks and Myself, we polished off I Omlette, Shrimp Cocktail, a plate of big chicken sausages, a plate of fish fingers, a plate of mixed grill steak, a plate of hamburger, Butter Chicken and Roti and two scoops of Icecream and the quantity was huge...



After hogging like pigs we went back and could not find the rest of the crowd. Seems that they had gone for dinner and would be returning in sometime. There was some miscommunication and we missed meeting them on the way.. anyways we crashed off in our shacks while waiting for them.. the resort was just next to the sea and our tired senses were lulled to the land of our dreams. As I was closing my eyes I could see the velvety sky of stars slowly fading.

Suddenly after midnight we get up to murmur of voices. It was a little after 12:00 and the crowd had returned. Part of the gang with Tiwana, Mahindra, Dodo, Solomon, JFK, us, Praveen, KJ and a cuople of others sat around a circle with the background of sea waves talked and talked... as usual we exchanged stories. We were too touchy to talk about Varun but we remembered him every moment and we knew he would have been there in spirit with us. Mahindra entertained us with stories of how it was like riding in Leh and Solo and Dodo ( Daniel) entertained us with their own stories. Solo is the only member of Madras Bulls who rode with 60 kph which was another bullet club and they have ridden to many a places. Dodo was telling us about his plans to do Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Solo was one of the members who had gone to the Pakistan peace ride from Chennai. Dodo never got enough of teasing Solo about his fascination with Fair and Lovely. LOLOL . It was pretty funny And with that note we all crashed off... I was thinking that though this was the most impulsive ride we had done.. it was worth it.. meeting everyone and how the Madras Bulls had arranged such a nice place for us...

Walking among clouds... and coming back to reality...

Day 3

This was our last day in Coorg and we decided to make most of it. Harini would be coming with us as a guide today and then we would head to Bangalore. That day we planned to visit Talacauvery and then Madekeri and then head back to Bangalore. We wanted to start early but we got slightly delayed since it took some time for Anjali and Mini to reach Harini?s estate. Harini again took them to Orange county for a brief visit since they missed it the first evening. After saying our goodbyes, made our way from Siddapur where we picked up some coffee for friends and family.

After that we drove on to Talacauvery. The drive to this place is also very scenic through the winding roads of the ghats. The jeep ambled along pretty sturdily without giving us any hassles. Our ears started popping as we climbed higher and higher and finally we reached the place.
We took a brief stop at Bhagamandala where the three rivers Kanike, Kauvery and Sujyothi met and carried on to Talacauvery. This is the place where the Cauvery river originated. We went higher up climbing some 360 steps to the top of the mountain where the actual source of the river was. Imagine having the source of the river at the source of the mountain. Harini told me that no one knew what path it took to reach the tank where the water actually bubbled up.



17th October is an auspicious day when the Cauvery river bubbles up at this place. The top of the mountain is left bare and nothing has been constructed since they were afraid to disrupt the flow of the water which was quite mysterious. The steps that led to the mountain was also very carefully constructed so as to not disturb the flow of water in any way. According to a myth the little pool of water at the top of the mountain should not overflow or else the river would dry up so whenever there was excessive rain? and there was overflowing of water, the people would be going there and lessen the water flow by taking out the excess water by buckets?



The top of the mountain is beautiful viewpoint and on a clear day one can see the Arabian sea on the other side of the mountain range. When we went it was somewhat cold and there was a little mist but as a whole we had good weather. The clouds were floating by and we felt like we were in movie... where there is a song and dance is going and there is smoke around the actors... he he !! jokes apart it was nice to be standing there and just observing.



As we came down the ghats, we stopped to buy honey. It is advisable to buy your honey from these little shops which are located in strategic points as you come down the ghats. If you know Kannada you can also bargain to give you a good price. You will get processed and non processed honey. Processed honey will be bottled by Honey Society while the non processed ones will be in normal bottles.



After you come down the ghats you will get flat land where you will see some guys selling some cucumbers. Harini made us stop and have those cucumbers which were really out of this world. They were fresh and succulent and if you are a cucumber freak do not forget to stop by and check it out.

Well we were quite hungry by that time given the amount of climbing up and down we had to do and we were keen on having Pandi Curry (Coorgi pork curry) and rice.



It was almost 3:00 and we were running late. Harini guided us to Madekeri and then to Hotel East End which was famous for Pandi Curry. Unfortunately, it was late and we were informed that they no longer made that and suggested that we try Hotel West End. By now we were all famished but we thought that it would be an insult to leave Coorg and not have Pandi Curry. We were quite hungry and decided we would go anywhere to taste the food which coorg was famous for.

So we drove down to West End Bar and Restaurant and had a late lunch there along with pork fry, pandi curry rice and vegetarians had some roti and alu mutter. We also sipped a few beers to go with the delicious lunch. Well friends, as far as this place goes, it was ok but I would not advise you to try this if you are a bunch of girls or if you are with family. If you are a sizeable group who is not fussy about the ambience you can try this place. Despite its shabby look and feel, the food served to us was good. Hotel East End is a decent hotel to try in Madekeri and they also provide lodging along with good food.

That day was a Sunday and another thing to remember when you are driving around Coorg on a Sunday is to drive carefully since Sunday is shandy day, a day when most of the estate workers after getting their come out to town to make merry with lots of liquor and they walk all over the road . So small town or big Sunday is a day when you have to drive carefully to avoid hitting any drunken person going about his way. The crowd is aggressive and in a mood to party and be wild.

On finishing a sumptuous lunch we started our drive to Bangalore. It was 4:45 pm. We took a different route via Kushalnagar, Hunsur, Yelave ( take a left there) to Srirangapatna and then Bangalore, thereby avoiding Bangalore. It was a scenic route where the roads were flanked by banyan and eucalyptus trees. The road was good with and we did a good speed.

After taking a break at Shivali Restaurant somewhere in the highway to Bangalore, Harini decided to ride pillion on the bullet too and before we could say anything, Ambar was off assuming that we were behind them as usual. Just at Hunsur junction, we took a ride and as we were chit chatting, I realized that the bike was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly we doubted that the bike went some other way and we would be lost? because our guide Harini knew the way and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would be going via Mysore. Just when we thought that the drive was going so well, we all fell silent hoping that we would meet up with Ambar and Harini. We were supposed to take a deviation at Yelave junction to Srirangapatna? iI was praying hard that we see them because one, it was dark and two Harini did not have a helmet. And surprise of surprise we were on the right road and they were waiting for us. Seems that they speeded down the smooth road at more than 100kmph with Harini praying for her life but not getting scared at all (thats what she says). Anyway we all heaved a sigh of relief as we met them and continued on our way. And the conversation was back at full speed... ha ha !!

Lesson learnt : If driving in a group please wait at all the major turns for the rest of the drivers/riders. We thought we missed our group since we did not see them turn at the junction and that almost made the end of the trip somewhat uncomfortable. But I guess lady luck with us that day. From the cool mountains, we were back to the familiar highway and we all were very exhausted cutlets by and wanted to just crash off..

Reached Bangalore by 10:00 and then after dropping everybody off (which included Mini not being to find her home at night and us driving round and round and then losing the bullets .. but now we were in familar ground so we did not bother much and decided to meet the bike at a common point) we reached home at 12:00pm and crashed off taking with us very fun memories of this beautiful place filled with nature and very kind people.

We could not thank Harini enough for being such a lovely and informative guide about her place and also Anjali, Mini, Gokul, Ambar for being such a great and cool company. They kept the group entertained and made the trip a memorable trip. Learnt a lot from the travellers and on the whole it was a very interesting trip.

Tip: Its good if you are travelling with native friends but if you are a first timer... you could go though

Travel Coorg
You can book your lodging through this site which is very efficient

Karnataka Tourism

And if you google you will find lots of links to Coorg.

Now it is back to banging on the keyboard and going nuts !!! he he !!

Us all "Enthu Cutlets" exploring the diversity of nature that is Coorg and Kerela

Day 2

The term enthu cutlets was coined by Anjali who along with Mini and Harini who kept us all entertained with their witty and humorous chatter. And I thought that this term defined us to the T and had a good ring to it and thus added it to the title...

Day 2 started very early since we had plans to visit a lot of places which included a forest Safari at Wayanad Forest, Irppu falls, Dubare Elephant training camp and Valnoor Fishing camp. We were originally planning for Nagerhole but we were informed that Nagerhole recently fell prey to a forest fire and the forest was closed to outsiders. But their was hope since we were told that we could visit The Wayanad forest in Kerela. The drive to Wayanad was amazing through the winding roads and lots and lots of coffee plantation and lots of colourful flowers.

Wayanad forest was a 20 kms stretch and it was part of the same forest but the name and the state was different. We started at 6:30 and met Ambar and Gokul on their bikes. We rode on through Gonnikoppai, Ponnampet, Hudekeri, and then reached High Falls Holiday Homes where Anjali and Mini had made reservations. This place is a beautiful place to stay. A night there costs about 800 for three beds and food is extra, veg plate is 70/- while non veg plates are 125/- each. Irppu falls is very near to this place and you can do a short trek there from this guest house. It?s a home stay again which is typical of Coorg and you will get home cooked food and home treatment too. The people are generally very friendly. If you are interested you could be taken around a tour of the estate. They also have a basketball court where you can amuse yourself with when you are not trekking around that area.

Wayanad forest is just ten odd minutes from here and once you reach the forest, you have the option of taking your own jeep along with a guide which is economical and cost you some 150/- bucks or go in a rented jeep which will cost you 450/-. Mini took up this opportunity to ride on the bullet. We wanted to let the girls feel what it was like riding through natural beauty... its addictive.. Bikes are not allowed inside the forest so we took Ambar and Gokul along with the guide and as we drove deep in to the forest we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the wild. Everytime we would comment on something or the other, the guide would shhh.. at us and suddenly we would stop and he would show us the animals . It is a definite advantage if you know Malayalam. Gokul was a Malayali and he would translate what we would be informed by the guide.



Anjali had this dream of meeting with her favourite reptile, the crocodile and the whole time she was hoping against hope that we would come across this beautiful creature and when she was informed that there were no crocs anywhere she was very disappointed but that did not stop her from craving for a crocodile. Everybody whom we came across knew about her fascination for crocodiles and did not hesitate to tease her but she was vehemently for crocs and I was having thought bubbles with the pic of Anjali spending the rest of her life with her fav crocs and that was not a pretty picture though that Australian guy makes crocs look so sweet. BRRRRR again.. I personally have no dislike against this reptile but I certainly have a heavy dose of respect for creatures-who-can-snap-your-bone-just-like-that-however-friendly-you-are, no matter what... but as I believe opinions and likes differ from person to person and I respect that too....

The guide told us some stories about how an elephant almost destroyed one jeep and how there was one jeep full of Python babies and showed us a dead bison which the tiger had killed but could not drag it due to its size. As we went deeper and deeper into the forest about 17 kms into the forest we saw a broken down Aiyappan Temple and I was wondering to myself who would take the trouble of coming so deep into the forest and build a temple where it was fraught with danger from wild animals? We stopped at a watering hole took some pics and then continued on round the forest and came out to the main road. The whole drive was an experience but if you really want to see wild animals you have to reach there really early in the morning like say 6:00 am or stay there till dusk when the tigers come out. The guide told us that spotting wild animals is better on weekdays since there are few jeeps moving around and weekends are not a good idea since there are lots of people coming in and going out and the animals stay in their own safe place and do not venture out much because of so much noise. My advice is to stay somewhere near by for a night do the safari and then carry on to other parts of Coorg. You can book yourself into Nagerhole Resort if you wish or a High Falls Holiday Homes where you can get a cab arranged for yourself to take you to the forest.

As we came back from Wayanad, we stopped at Irrupu Falls which was flanked on both sides by the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats. One can also go for an hour trek to this range if one is interested in trekking. The falls is a nice one but when we went the water was moderate but yet there was a good amount of crowd flowing in to take bath at the base of the falls. That motivated our specially Anjali and Ambar to go and stand and take a shower despite the fact that they would be dripping wet. Though Rocky was dying to dive in, he was cooly enjoying the view as he forgot his get-wet-in-the-falls shorts... as for me ... i was content splashing around in the cool water at a much more sedate part of the falls...

Mini struck a conversation with a toddler as we were leaving as to what was that thing floating near on of the stones in the water where we were all enjoying the cool stream of water passing over our feet. Mini very maturely pondered that it could be a spider but then pat came the answer from the toddler that according to the books spiders have 8 legs and this creature had 6 legs... and that set Mini thinking on what could the creature be..... maybe some alien or maybe a spider who lost two legs ... LOLOL..



While returning from the falls, Anjali decided to bike it out with Ambar. Both of them were wet and they thought that the open air would dry them up. We decided to go to Kutta to have lunch since that was the nearest town on the way back from Nagarhole and Wayanad. While coming down from Kutta, we bought a quarter bottle of gin and mixed it with half a litre of mountain dew and six of us freaked out with that for the heck of it by the side of the forest. We dropped the girls at their guest houses and I am sure they enjoyed their rides through the cool route. As for Ambar he was one content man for reasons only a man-who-got-the-chance-to-give-a-ride-to-babe(s) knows. LOLOL. ( Our biker friends were very envious of Ambar when they got to know about this ha hah a !! ) Anyways, the gals decided to stay back since the guest house was out of the way from where we were going.

We carried on to Dubare Elephant Training Camp. We had to cross the river by the boat to reach the camp. From afar as we were softly being rowed across the river, I saw elephants enjoying their bath in the river with the mahouts scrubbing them to glory... what bliss... one wonders !!! I was tremendously thrilled to see that we could enjoy elephant rides after all and guess what !! we were just in time for the ride. It was going to be my first ride and I was very excited. The last riding session lasted from 4:00 to 5:00pm and when we reached it was exactly 4:00 pm.



We met Dr Shivaram ( member of the Coorg Wildlife Society), the manager of this camp, who explained to us a few facts about elephants as I enquired about this and that. He was kind enough to talk to us and we got to know that this place was the oldest training camp and now they had some 6 elephants along with two baby elephants that they were training. The life span of the elephants in captivity is longer and lasts to 80 years rather than the life span of the wild elephants who lived approximately to 60 years. An elephant?s molars are very important in contributing to its life span. As soon as the molars break, the life span of the animal comes down since it cannot eat much. If you are there in the morning by 8:45 for the ride, you will get a detailed information about elephants from this knowledgable man. Its a part of the morning ride.

It was time for our ride and we paid 50/- for the tickets and sat on Vijaya who would be taking us around. In Dubare, there was this guest house which was 107 years old and it is now rented out to visitors. You need to bring your own food if you want to stay at Dubare but the whole ambience of staying in such an old cottage must be cool.

As we ambled along with Vijaya we were lead by a baby elephant who was 6 years old and very frisky. His name was Ganesha. Ganesha, a cute little thing, was more interested in grazing and playing with the other big elephants but he had a job to learn and came with us reluctantly leading Vijaya. He was also being trained to give visitors a ride you see. The elephant ride was the highlight of my trip. They are such gentle animals and so mistreated sometimes.

Dr Shivaraman told us that it was difficult to capture elephants nowadays and they would capture it only to leave them in the wild. It was too much of an effort to train them and I got to know from Harini that elephants roamed that area of Coorg quite liberally not being scared of humans. Harini?s estate was also raided by elephants and they are attracted highly by jackfruits so the estate owners do away with this tree if there is a risk of visiting elephants.

Anyway as we finished our ride, we got introduced to this elephant who was taking her bath when we came in. She was all clean and was going back to her place. As she came up the river bank, DR Shivaraman stopped her and told us to take a photograph with her. Her name was Durgaparmeshwari. She was a 55 years old and in advanced state of pregnancy. She was very friendly and raised her trunk when the camera went CLICK?

We also met Mr Geoffrey Muthanna who was a member of the Coorg Wildlife Society and he oversaw the Valnoor Fishing Camp. We had anyway planned to go there and it was good to meet the manager in person. He was again a friendly man who invited us to his house. We crossed the river with the help of the old boatman who rowed the boat with a long stick and made our way to Valnoor.But not before taking some nice pics as we watched the sun making its descent down the horizon.



Valnoor is very near Dubare. Ideal fishing time is from morning to 11am. You must get your own fishing gear but Mr Muthanna provides you with a pair of fishing equipments if you have not gone prepared. We met him and his family who were very hospitable. They arranged for a guy to take us to the river where we saw a family angling and trying to get a fresh catch. It seems they were fishing for the whole day without much luck.

We watched the sunset from Valnoor over the Kaveri river and headed back to Siddapur where we crashed off early after having dinner at Harini?s house. One more day to go and I was dreaming of Talacauvery and Madekeri and Pandi Curry... yum yum yum... SNOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ......

Us "enthu cutlets" were conserving energy for day 3 which we were hoping would be fun...

For more Photos you can click here. Have updated my photo blog with a couple of the snaps.

Among Coffee beans and The Western Ghats

Day 1

A long weekend and it was time to plan another trip. This time we had a choice between riding to our destination or driving there. We opted for driving. This would be our first driving trip. We were more familiar with riding across the country. I wanted to visit Kodagu better known as Coorg since I had heard so much about this place and I was dying to see this place famous for beautiful people and coffee estates.

I read up Outlook traveler journals and did a lot of research on the net and finally decided that we would do Coorg no matter what. Luckily we had my husband?s colleagues coming along with us, one of whom belonged to this beautiful place. We had two guys on a Machismo. They decided to ride with us all the way. So we were seven of us , Myself , Rakesh (my hubby), Ambar, Gokul, Anjali , Mrinalini a.k.a Mini and Harini.

Harini was a native from Siddapur and she was also coming along for the weekend to visit her place and she very kindly invited us to stay with her. We were glad to have her with us since it would be easier traveling around this place with her guiding us around some part of the trip.

We started at 7:00 from Bangalore and went via Chanrayapatna, Hassan and then took a deviation from Gorur to Kushalnagar. This route is easy to follow but you must look out for the Gorur sign board towards your left to take the deviation. We almost missed it but we were back on track as soon as we realized that.

There are a couple of junctions which might confuse you while you are driving but its easy if you ask the native people the way to Kushalnagar. While driving through Gorur, we passed by the Gorur Dam which also boasted of a lake blue as the sky. It was a scenic drive as soon as we entered Kushalnagar. The temperature was quite warm and Harini told us that Kushalnagar can get very hot since it was near Mysore.

Anyways, driving past Kushalnagar, we came upon Bylekuppe where we went to visit the Namdroling monastery. It was noon by this time. This place was famous for Tibetian settlements and all you could see were monks dressed in their maroon and yellow garbs going about their daily business as usual.

The monastery is an experience by itself. The whole of the place was a kaleidescope of bright colours, warm and welcoming. It is very peaceful and I felt like sitting there and just contemplating. There were three Buddha statues made of Copper plated with gold. Inside the statues there were some holy inscriptions and other religious things pertaining to Buddhism. The main statue of Buddha was about 50ft and it was flanked by two other statues 48 ft of gurus who attained Buddhahood.

It was pretty crowded with visitors mostly from Bangalore that day since many were off on a holiday trip to Coorg. There was a new monastery being built in the compound and whole monastery was surrounded by the hostels for young monks. It was a pleasure seeing young kids in their monk's garbs running around.

The whole place was full of colourful paintings which talked about their culture and their way of life. We would have liked it better if there was someone to explain to us the meaning of the paintings. It would have given the visitors a better insight to their culture but I guess they were a closed community and were not interested in spreading the good word unless you were a Tibetian.

Anyway as we came out of the monastery we realized that we were very hungry and I was keen on having Tibetian food specially momo. We looked around and spied a small lazy restaurant known as Dhege Restaurant run by Tsiring ( meaning long life) . The day was hot and the place was not that hygenic... we literally had to wake the owner up to cook us food... LOLOL... . She was good enough to cook us some delicious beef curry and rice and momos. For the vegetarian she had some nice noodles for them. In this pic you see a group full of a good meal LOLOL. Sitting there having our food, one could not help admire the scenery outside...

Not satisfied with the food, Anjali decided to buy some chocolates and gorge on them .. she was obviously a chocoholic and the three girls went ga ga and chomp chomp on the chocs..

After having our fill we made our way to Nisargadhama where we crossed the hanging bridge and explored the forest area. This place is not very well maintained but it's a nice place for picnic . You have the option to stay at the cottages in this place too but I guess you have to book in advance. We tried our luck but could not find anything available.


You can go boating too through the meandering river. The forest was full of bamboo groves and it was a pleasure walking through them. We suddenly spotted a tree house and all seven of us decided to climb on it and it was nice to sit there and have a looky at what was going on below. I was not comfortable with the swaying house and was relieved to have come down to rest my feet at solid ground. Getting up was easy but coming down the steps was pretty scary and scared the shit out of me.. I just had to bite and smile as if I was doing the most natural thing climbing down stairs with gaping holes from so many feet above ground level.. BRRRRRR..



Then I saw kids and families alike taking elephant rides which costed some 10/- but we saw that it was a very short ride and though I was very keen on riding the elephant, I was not encouraged by Rocks and we were running out of time too. I made my way with a long face and on we continued to Siddapur passing through Harangi Reservoir and Veerabhoomi village. If you are in that area you must stay there for a night to experience the rich cultural heritage of Karnataka. We decided to try this the next time we visit this place. Harangi reservoir also is a beautiful place to visit when there is enough water.

As we were traveling to Siddapur, we were passing by the river Cauvery every now and then and the river appeared to be flowing well but the water level was low inspite of daily rains in that area. Two of our travel mates had made reservations in High Falls Holiday Home near Irupu Falls and we had to put them in a cab. Siddapur being a small town, Harini and her family was well known. At Siddapur she found a known cabbie and we bid our friends Anjali and Mini goodbye promising to meet them up the next day. Meanwhile we went back to Harini's house where we got to know her family and refreshed ourselves. It was 5:00 in the evening and there was still light. Harini wanted to take us to Orange County which was just two minutes away from her estate.

Harini knew the estate managers well since one couple were staying in their house. One of them was the General Manager and the lady was the Accounts Manager. They welcomed us with their kind hospitality greeting. The resort was 100 percent booked for Easter. We were really impressed with the resort. The place was very well maintained. We enjoyed the green surrounding us and the Tudor styled cottages were out of the world.

We visited the Antharium garden where they had the largest number of Anthariums growing there in that green house. Anthariums had export value and it was doing great business there. Just as we came out of the garden we came face to face with a flock of white geese who loved all the great attention given to them by the guests.

A few distances away we saw a preening turkey. Well I do not know what else to call the proud turkey spreading its wings and standing there as if it was the king of the world. The whole place was a coffee estate shared by seven brothers from Kerela. The Ramapuram Holiday Resorts Ltd, are traditional estate owners, who are originally from a small town called Palai in Kottayam district of Kerala. The Ramapuram family, after establishing itself in plantations, has now diversified into leisure services. The whole estate was made into a resort. Most of the coffee stems and buds which were uprooted to make way for building the layout of Orange County was used for furniture inside the cottages. That way they have utilized their crop in a very economic way.

We also visited the Ayurveda Village inside the County where the staff showed us around the different methods of workings of the Vaidyashala. The entrance was very grand and influence of Kerela Architecture. I guess its worth all the money that people pay for to spend time at this place. It?s a good place to distress yourself the expensive way. A night there in the cottages would cost you from 6500/- and above.

Made friends with the dogs which was there in Harini's home and it was a pleasure connecting with them. Knowing myself I could have spent hours and hours with Ricky and Sonu. Had a nice homely dinner which Harini's mom so kindly prepared and crashed off.

Day 1 ended with dreams of Buddha and the beautiful monastery.