TrAPC

Leh .. on Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:43:00 +0000

Leh.. It was dreams come true for 8 of us after days of adventurous riding, superb landscapes and most importantly, the AMS.

Day 1:

On 18^th June 2011 at 8 AM, 6 of us assembled near Coffee Day at BIAL to embark onto a journey of lifetime – to Leh. Off course the most prepared, expensive, discussed about, convinced about and planned journey. One more teammate was preparing to fly from Chennai at the same time and another was busy packing things at Delhi.

Landed in Delhi 11.30ish and Kitti from Chennai and Sudhi from Delhi joined us there. A Tempo Traveller was arranged for us and we requested the driver to take us to a hotel. Even after seeing us, he took us to a hotel which charged 80 rupees for a plain simple roti. So now you can imagine how much would have been the rate for other items. We googled on the price first and decided on the cheapest edible item J.

After lunch, we had to decide what to do till 6 PM. We zeroed on Akshar Dham temple. When we saw the crowd in the unbearable heat, we understood that our choice was wrong. But we had no options left and we decided to move along with the crowd. It took two hours for us to come out of the temple complex drenched in sweat. Requested the driver to take us to some place where we can eat Delhi chats, and he happily took us to Connaught Place and told that we can find everything there!!!!

After painfully killing a few hours there, we were dropped in the HPTDC office to catch the bus to Manali. After an hours’ wait, we boarded the bus and started rolling towards the starting point of our biking trip, MANALI.

It took a couple of hours to exit Delhi and finally we were on open roads. I don’t know when I fell asleep watching ‘Ready’. Woke up when the bus stopped for dinner at a good restaurant en route. Had plain north Indian thali and the journey continued. Was half asleep and could remember the bus passing through the narrow roads on the edge of deep gorges with lot of hairpin bends.

Day 2:

Woke up when the conductor shouted ‘Good morning! bus will stop here for 30 minutes’ . It was dawn and we were at a small roadside dhabha with still 150 more kms to Manali. After a quick fresh-up and a cup of coffee, our bus started again towards Manali.

We reached Manali around 8.30 AM. As soon as we got out of the bus, we were surrounded by the ‘helping hands’ for transport, accommodation, food, guidance and what not. Aravind had arranged transport to the hotel. We loaded the entire luggage on two vehicles with the help of drivers and moved towards our hotel in log hut area. The hotel was a 3 star property and was pretty neat and functional for a day’s stay.

Hotel staff was courteous and gave us early check in and not to forget, the much needed breakfast. The open space adjacent to the front desk facing the snow caped mountains was a big plus and it helped us to spend time till we got our rooms. Kitti and Prashant tried their hands on the basketball while the rest of team settled in the chairs facing mountains with a cup of coffee.

Freshened ourselves and we were ready for the local site seeing in Manali. We went to Hidimba Temple and Rorich Museum. Had lunch in the cafeteria at the Museum.

The ‘Real Trip’ began once we moved to collect our respective bikes. We were dropped at Anu Auto Works, who had a host of bullets at our disposal. We were asked to test the lot and select our bikes. After a lengthy test cycle, we selected 3 Bullet 500’s, 2 Bullet 350’s and a Pulsar 180. We tested them again and again and noted some minor repairs to be made. The mechanics there were very competent and they completed all the repairs by 6.30. It was dark and all of us left the garage. I was at the end of line and had Harsha as my pillion. It was the first time I was riding the BulletJ. Could not kick start the Bullet for 5 mins. I lost all my energy in the process of starting the bike and started panting. The mechanic came to rescue and taught me how to start a ‘Bullet’. After the advice, I started the vehicle and we moved. It was dark and I noticed one strange phenomenon in 50 meters. Whenever I pressed the rear brakes, the parking lights in the front used to come up and whenever I switched on the headlight, the break light used to glow. Called the mechanic again and he fixed the issue in 30 minutes. Now headlight was glowing when switched on and break light was glowing when breaks were pressed. In the meantime Aravind found that even his headlight doesn’t work. He came back to the garage and got it fixed.

On the way back to the hotel, entire Manali was chocked with return traffic from Rohtang pass. It gave us a good reason to why we should start early next morning. On the way back, we were getting charged with the imagination of next day and the thumping bullet. Initially it was a bit difficult for me to navigate my 500 through crowded Manali roads, but got used to in in minutes. Reached the hotel, had dinner and over dinner decided to leave at 6AM next morning. We were already tired with early morning flight and night journey of previous day. We all returned to our respective rooms and hit the bed dreaming about next morning. Next morning I came to know from Harsha that I started snoring immediately after hitting the bed.

Day 3: Most awaited day!

Alarm woke us up to a beautiful morning. After the morning routines, quickly finished the last minute packing. Everyone had two bags, one large baggage which goes to the support vehicle and one small day pack which comes with the bike. Hotel gave us packed breakfast. Our Guide, Mechanic and the Support vehicle with the driver were ready. Loaded all bags on to the support vehicle with the help of guide and the mechanic AND we were ready to roll. All of us assembled in a straight line with our bikes in front of the hotel for a group photograph.

Now, with the thumping heart, I kicked my Bullet. Nothing happened. Harsha asked to kick slowly with more torque. I thought ‘OK’ and then kicked it as per his suggestions. Yet again – Nothing Happened. I tried his technique again, then mine, then his, then mine and I could not kick anymore. By the time everyone except the support vehicle had left the hotel premises. Mechanic came running and tried again, bullet did not oblige. He did some minor changes to the air and petrol flow and the kicked the bull for life. I asked him if I can switch off and try again. And upon his ‘Yes’, I switched the Bullet off and kicked again, voila, it started contradicting Harsha’s expectations. Soon enough we joined the rest of the team. We reached the main road which would take us to Rohtang pass, our first high pass of the trip.

When we reached the bridge, Aravind and Ashwini suddenly remembered the day pack, which they had left in the hotel lobby. It took almost 20 mins for them to get that. We started our ride immediately after their return and it was a smooth road with snow gear renting shops on both sides. With occasional ‘black smoke vomiting’ tourist vehicles, the road was relatively traffic free for first 500 metersJ. After that it was a continuous line of tourist vehicles. My past experience of riding in Bangalore helped me a lot to navigate through the traffic and keep going. After about 90 minutes of riding, we stopped near a bifurcation for a short break. Spent about 20 minutes there and started again. All this while the roads were good and I was thinking about the blogs and the travelogues I had read during the preparation stage which told that he road and the traffic is unbearable till Rohtang Pass. During our last stop at the bifurcation, we had decided that we will assemble again in a small seasonal settlement Marhi for breakfast.

Guys leading the pack stopped at a dhaba which was slightly away from the road and we promptly missed them. We were still thinking that they were ahead of us and we kept on riding. Suddenly the roads switched over from good to bad and very bad roads. It all started with a crater like pothole which was one bullet deeper and 3 bullets wider. I stopped thinking what to do and took a couple of seconds to prepare myself to cross that crater. I was shaken by the shrill horn of a DL registered Scorpio behind me and I released the clutch. With a jerk, the bullet moved ahead and only after I got into that pothole I came to know that it was also filled with knee deep slush and loose mud. It was an icing on the cake. I did not have any option other than opening up the throttle and navigate through that slush. Bullet did not let me down, but I had to keep my legs down to balance the bike and the new pair of ankle length shoes from Decathlon were covered with thick black mud paste all over. After crossing the crater I noticed that little bit of ice cold water also seeped in. Few hundred meters later the traffic was standstill and the local taxi drivers were telling that there was a traffic jam ahead. We were still thinking that our leaders have gone ahead and kept riding through narrow gaps between stationary trucks and other vehicles. There were also other biking groups doing the same.

Entire stretch was slippery with ice cold water streams flowing across and slush. Some places the slush was ankle deep. After some distance I started feeling the power loss, even after opening full throttle the bike was hardly moving. After a few meters there was almost a feet deep loose mud and slush and the bike refused to move even an inch. I thought of using the same earlier technique and opened up the throttle and started releasing the clutch slowly. Defying my expectations, the bike did not respond even after realizing the clutch completely. Engine was running, bike was badly struck, wheels were not moving and it was the first mechanical glitch of the trip. I asked Harsha to get down and push, bike did not move even a mm. I got down and both of us pushed the bike to the side with great difficulty. We were almost 500 meters behind the broken bus, which caused the traffic jam. Our support vehicle was 2 kms behind us struck in the jam and started raining suddenly. All the while my Bullet was parked on the edge of the gorge and even a small touch would have sent the bike 500 meters below. After waiting for 30 minutes, we heard thumping noise and within no time we saw rest our team led by Kitti. Without bothering about water entering into his shoes, Kitti got down and helped us to push the bike to a safe place. It took a lot of effort and it was very tiring due to the altitude.

I was simply checking my mobile for any traces of signal and a line appeared. We tried calling our guide and voila, his phone started ringing. We explained him the situation and he said that he was just a kilometer behind us. By then Indian army troops started dozing off the slush and clearing the jam. There were a couple of trucks which got struck because of slush and overloading. Army dozers pushed them as if they were a bread box.

By now the guide and the mechanic reached us by walk. They did not have any tools and they returned in one of the bikes to get the tools. They came back with the tools and the problem was diagnosed as a slipped clutch cable. They fixed the issue and we were all set to roll. While the mechanic was fixing the bike, we were joined by another biker gang from Bangalore. They requested for some help to fix minor issues with some of their bikes and our Mechanic agreed to work on them till the support vehicle arrived.

We moved on, leaving them behind and soon enough we were in Rohtang pass. Our first high pass was achieved with a lot of drama. It was full of tourists and everybody was playing in ‘black’ snow. Temperature was sub 5 degree centigrade and our riding gear was holding good. We did not stop at the Rohtang point and we continued our ride another 500 meters. We first sighted pure white show, spread as far as we could see. It was very chilly and wind chill factor also was adding to the difficulties. We stopped there and played around for few minutes. After the group photo, we moved from there. It started raining and riding became difficult. To add to that the road conditions worsened as we advanced.

After a few photo shots on the way, we reached a fresh roadblock. A huge chunk of snow had settled on the road blocking the traffic. Excavators were at action when we reached there. After some time, road was cleared. It was very scary experience to ride on the ice. It was very slippery and sometimes loose. With great difficulty, we crossed that icy patch.

I looked into the watch for the first time in the day. It was showing 2.30 PM. After seeing the time, I started feeling hungry. Aravind said that there is a small settlement approximately 30 kms away and that will be our lunch stop. Slowly roads improved as we descended and riding a bullet through those winding curvy roads was fun. We reached a small village by name Khoksar and stopped at the first ‘restaurant’ for lunch. The hotel was a small warm tent with some broken wooden furniture inside. Menu options were chaomin, veg / chicken momos and Maggi. We ordered our respective dishes and the food was served shortly. It was nice and after a couple of plates we moved to the nearby government office for inner line permits. We got our permits without any delay and we proceeded towards our destination for the day, Jispa. The road towards Jispa was winding downwards along the side of River Chandra.

Our next stop was at Tandi, where rivers Chandra and Bhaga meet. And also this little town boasts of the last petrol bunk for next 365 kms. We re-fueled our bikes and filled 2 jerry cans of 40 L each with petrol, for our journey till Leh. After a group photograph, we moved towards Keylong, which is the last major township till Leh.

The next 30 kms ride to Jispa was an unforgettable one. Most of the road was well asphalted and almost zero traffic from opposite side. Road was winding through a green valley between sky scraping mountains with ice cap reflecting orange sunset hues. It is a biker’s delight. I, Krishna and Prashanth raced against each other for some time and it was a fun. In the meantime it was dark and Aravind’s headlight fused. Two of us moved in slow pace and he followed us with his parking lights on. We reached our destination of the day, Hotel Ibex, Jispa by 7ish in the evening. Parked our bikes and checked in to our rooms. Rooms were good considering the location. After a hot bath and nice food we slept for the day.

Surendar, our mechanic, serviced all bikes and fixed all issues we had reported.

Day 4: Toughest day, Most beautiful views, challenging terrains, AMS and many more!!!

When we woke up, we noticed how beautiful the surroundings were. Mountain peaks behind our room were shining with early morning sun rays and the Bhaga River in front was almost frozen. It was very cold and the hotel had no water. When asked, hotel staff told that locals cut the pipeline due to some disputes. We finished our breakfast and left the hotel at 7.00 AM (off course without bath!!) with packed lunch. We had to cover ~200 kms on second day.

After an hours ride, the road conditions deteriorated and Prashanth felt that his rear wheel is wobbling too much. Myself and Harsha were with Prashanth at the end of the convoy and we pulled aside to wait for the backup vehicle. Backup vehicle arrived in 10 minutes and Surendar started his work. He found that the rear bearing was the culprit and replaced that. The whole process took about 40 minutes and in the meantime a huge herd of sheep crossed us. It was covering the entire road and was at least 500 to 600 meters long. We moved ahead and we were on the way to Baralachala climb (16000 ft) The roads were good and some of us zoomed ahead, myself and Kitti lead the pack and were ahead by a few hairpin bends, somehow one of us noticed that the rest of the team was not following us. We stopped and noticed that all of them had taken a stop few curves behind us. Tried to exchange the information by few shouts, but nothing was clear. Finally they passed the message with some other biking team that Prashanth’s bike had the wobbling problem again and the rear bearing had to be replaced. This incident took another good hour from our schedule and needless to say, we were behind the schedule.

Few more kilometers and some more hairpin bends and we were riding in a narrow road with huge snow walls on both sides, few more meters and it was beautiful scenery unfolding in front of us. Suraj Tal. It was heavenly. Sorry, I do not have words to explain the beauty. The photos will do only 10% of the justice.

We spent about 30 minutes there for photo sessions and to have our packed lunch. We left the place with heavy hearts and everyone took an oath to themselves that they will come back for sure. We rode few kilometers downhill and reached a plateau and stopped. Now we realized the mistake we did, AMS had started taking its toll, Prashanth was the first one to feel nausea and giddiness. Prashanth chose to travel by backup vehicle and Surendar (Our mechanic) rode his bull. Kitti, Myself (and Harsha) and Surendar lead the pack and we reached Sarchu ahead of rest of the team. Had Maggie, Roti and Daal in a tent and we took rest there till rest of the pack arrived. The team took about an hour to reach the tent where we stopped. Later we came to know that they went to a resort en-route to have light refreshments.

We left Sarchu post lunch, and it was bright and sunny. None of us were in our best spirit. After riding hours through all sort of roads we reached another plateau at around 6 in the evening. Even this place had some tents. Again Kitti and us were leading the pack. We waited in the tent for 30 – 40 minutes and there were no signs of anyone from our team approaching us. Finally we heard the bikes and came to know that even Sudarshan is down with AMS. Since there was no one to ride the bike, it had to be loaded on to the jeep and that ordeal took them sometime. As per the suggestions from local people, we took Sudarshan to a nearby military camp for treatment. There he was given oxygen for an hour and some tablets. This was at ~13000 feet altitude and we were panting like dogs, but still could not get all the oxygen we need.

We should APPRICATTE THE HOSPITALITY SHOWN BY INDIAN MILITARY TOWARDS TOURISTS. They provide emergency treatment, stay and guidance to whomever in need. Salute to our friends in INDIAN MILITARY.

The story of the day is not yet over. Our destination of the day was about 40 more kilometers from this place. We bid adieu to Military Camp and stared our journey. The road ahead was taking us to higher altitude in loops. Soon we were in More Plains, the world famous plains. But none of us were in a condition to enjoy the scenery. Soon it became dark and al turns seemed to be the same and our guide was guiding us by his sixth sense and intuition.

Because of the thinner air and reduced oxygen levels, I was not even able to think properly and my reflexes were below zero. I was blindly following the red light of the bike in front of me. Road ahead of me had two different levels, I took the lower one and Kitti in front of me took the higher one. I tried to follow him by going to the higher level and bang, that was the first fall. Backup jeep behind of us took a screeching halt and I saw the driver and guide getting down and running to us. It too 20-30 seconds for me to realize what happened. Then I saw Harsha slowly getting up and checking himself. Fortunately no major damage, both of us and the bike was ok. Surendar started the bike for me and we continued.

The road disappeared in front of us. It was knee deep white sand. All of us were struggling to keep the bull in control. After searching for an hour, we found a board that read ‘Pasture Land’. We thought that our agonies are over, but were not. It was a couple of kilometers away from that board. Somehow we managed to reach the camp. Our energy meter was well below zero. As soon as we reached the camp, the caretaker refused entry for us, giving the reason that there was no communications from his superiors about our bookings. After a few minutes of arguments, he let us in with a condition that we will have to pay for the stay by cash next morning. It was around 9.45 – 10 when we reached the camp. Kitti, Aravind and the guide helped everyone with their luggage. They literally carried the bags into every tent. Kitti’ s energy starts when everyone is exhausted.

We agreed and the drama started. Caretaker refused to switch the generator on, giving the reason that the ‘Foreigners’ will wake up. Aravinda and Kitti gave him ‘full peace of mind’ and asked to switch on the lights, which he did after listening what he had to J. Dinner was nice with Rice, Chapati, Dal and Some vegetables. We had dinner and tried to sleep. It was cold, windy and everyone was feeling asthmatic because of oxygen levels. Don’t know when I slept.

Day 5 : Chalo Leh

Woke up to a beautiful morning. It was 5ish in the morning. Walked out of the tent and it was a sight to die for. Grey colored mountains all around with ice caps shining to the rays of morning sun. Spent some time in watching the scenery around and took some photographs.

Even this day started without water. Reason was frozen pipelines. The caretaker gave us rationed warm water for the morning chores. By the time everyone woke up, it was 7ish. Prashanth and Sudarshan were still not feeling well. Had our morning tea and settled down on a breakfast table which was kept outside. Camp in charge came again and asked us to vacate the table because ‘foreigners’ like to sit outside. And that’s it, with that he broke Kitti and Aravinda’ s happiness that morning. It took half an hour for all of us to calm down two angry young men who gave complete list of ‘mouthful’ blessings to the person in charge. Needless to say, he served us breakfast outside.

After breakfast we were ready to move and the third drama of the in charge unfolded. He said that we will have to pay in cash for our last night’s stay. When Aravind asked him to get the list of booking, there was the name of agency (Wilderness Experience) which booked the tents in our name. But this guy was adamant to agree and he wanted to talk to his manager. Finally Surendar took him to a nearby village / military camp (20 kms) so that the caretaker can call and confirm whatever he needs.

After completion of entire ordeal, we left that sick place forever. The place was really beautiful. After riding for a couple of kilometers on the white sand, we reached the main road which would take us to the destination of day, Leh. We continued our ride through More plains, descended to an altitude of 10000 feet. And it was Harsha’s turn now not to feel well and sit in the jeep. He joined Sudarsan and Prashanth, who were already in the jeep.

We reached a place which was still 40 kms away Leh. We had our Lunch (Maggie, Roti, Dal) , took some rest and started our ride. Now Harsha shifted back to the bike.

We reached Leh (Ladhak Sarai) be 5 in the evening. Walked in to the resort like ‘Ghost Riders’ with our helmets in hand. As soon as we reached we were treated be hot Chai and Pakoda. But it took some time for the thumping sound to go away from ears.

What an journey it was, 3 days, 500 kilometers and so many experiences. Would love to do this stretch again (and again) if time and budget permit. J .

We settled in our rooms and took rest. Had nice dinner. Leh being at 8000 feet, oxygen levels were ok for most of us.

Day 6 : Rest Day

We took rest on day 6. But Prashanth’s condition was not improving. He was admitted to a local hospital for treatment (to take Oxygen). Doctor said that it’s a common phenomenon and asked us not to worry.

Krishna left to meet one of his friends working in Army and said that he would return after two days. Even I planned to leave with him, but I had a second fall after a couple of kilometers, which broke the gear lever of my bike. Fortunately nothing happened to me. I was shaken by this and opted to return.

Went out to Leh town and got the bike fixed.

All inner line permits were arranged by Aravinda for our remaining part of the journey.

Day 7: Khardung La – The highest pass in the World.

After a nice breakfast, we left to the K Top, which is about 50 kilometers from Leh. Road was nice considering the altitude, though it was not smooth at some places. Bikes with a pillion (Mine and Aravind’s) bikes were struggling to pull the load due to lack of oxygen in the air. Also they were emitting thick black smoke. In a couple of hours we reached the K Top. It also hosts world’s highest cafeteria and souvenir shop. Took the customary photographs and bought the souvenirs. We spent approximately an hour on the top and returned to the resort for lunch.

In the evening some of us decided to roam around Leh Town. We visited the Hall of Fame and a couple of monasteries.

Day 8:

Went for a boring rafting in Zansar river for approximately 10 to 12 kms. It was more of a boating in Ulsoor lake than a rafting.

Returned to Ladhak Sarai by 2 PM and had lunch.

After some rest and a quick chat post lunch, we left for shopping in Leh town. Went to some shops and bought few items for people at home.

After the shopping we went to a local tea shop to have tea, samosas and hot jilebis. It was good and had different taste.

Prashanth had returned to the hotel by the time we returned and was raring to go to Pangong next day.

Came to know that our friendly manager at Ladhak Sarai had cancelled the booking at a resort nearby Pangong Lake by mistake and we had no accommodation for the next day. After a quick discussion we agreed on a plan B, which turned out to be far superior to plan A.

Plan B was to carry camping material and camp near Pangong Lake.

Day 9: 8 idiots to Pangong Lake.

All camping material was loaded to our support vehicle and two more people (a guide and a cook) joined us in the same vehicle.

We left in the morning after a good ‘South Indian’ breakfast. Pangong Lake was approximately 120 kms from Leh. We passed through some grass lands, dry planes and winding roads. Had our packed lunch en route and continued.

Prashanth was in full swing and Kitti gave him a good company. It was hard to catch them when roads were good. We had the first glimpse of Pangong Lake around 4 PM. It was a sight to see. It was looking like a mirage from distance. We rode further and arrived at the 3 – Idiots spot. It was heavenly. Our camping site was still ahead and as it was nearing sunset, we were hurried to move on and we started riding after few photographs. We started from the lake and road started disappearing slowly and at a stream it disappeared completely. From now on, we started riding on the tracks left by other vehicles. Even these tracks were full of boulders and it was very difficult to ride on them. After a couple of kms on such terrain and many stream crossings, we reached a small village and found a camping site. One of the home stays there let us camp in their courtyard for a small fee. That place was nice and more importantly, had a toilet.

Our guides, driver and the cook setup the base tent by the time we reached the camp and they were ready with hot tea and pakodas. We finished them to the last piece and started exploring the place. Area was still bright and sun was about to set. Lake was shining in front of us with the background of huge grey mountains. All of us took our Facebook profile pics and roamed around. Our guides were setting up the North Face tents and 4 tents were setup in total.

It was an electric environment, sunset painted the whole surroundings in different shades and Lake was promptly reflecting the entire drama. All of us returned by just before it was completely dark. Our cook had prepared hot soup with some paapad and all of us assembled in the main tent and settled in a corner. We spent time in chit chatting about the trip so far and pulling each other’s leg.

Had a nice dinner of roti, daal and vegetable curry. Spent some time in enjoying the nature around. Whole village had no electricity and it was pitch dark with few solar powered lights here and there.

Went into out tents and slid into our sleeping bags and it was a good night’s sleep. Sometime during night we felt huge water drops falling on the tent accompanied by strong currents of wind. But it did not stop us from enjoying the warmth of our sleeping bag.

Day 9: The last day!!!!

Woke up with the heavy heart as this day would be the last active day of our trip. Packed our things and had a breakfast of bread and fruits. Guides and the rest of the team folded the tents and packed everything into the backup vehicle.

Few photos and we were back on the same gravel filled track. We stopped near the lake and spent a couple of hours in photographing the scenery. Took some group photos and started back. Stopped near a green patch to have lunch. And rode back to Leh in one stretch.

Reached Leh by 4 PM and checked into Hotel Kaal. Surendar immediately started to dissemble the bikes to load into the pickup truck.

Had dinner in the same hotel and retired for the day.

Day 11 : B2B – Back to Bangalore

Normal non-exiting and gloomy day. Omni drops us to Leh airport. After a super heavy security check, we were inside the airport. Boarded the flight to Delhi. Landed in Delhi. Took a flight to Bangalore. Landed in Bangalore. Took a Meru cab. Dropped Harsha en-route and reached Whitefield.

So …. The trip is over, but the memories are so strong that I am able to pen down a travelogue even after 14 months.

Ooty - The Queen

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:49:00 +0000

It was a quick weekend trip on 26th and 27th of June.
Left Whitefield at 4 in the morning.Reached Mysore at 6.30 AM. Had a quick breakfast at Kamath Madhuban. After breakfast, drove towards Ooty via Nanjanagoodu, Bandipur, Masinagudi and Kalhatti. It was cloudy weather all the way. The road we took has 36 hairpin bends and steep climb.
We reached Ooty at 11 AM. Checked in to Hotel Ponmari Residency on Conoor Road. If you want a review about this hotel, it only 5 letters 'AVOID' !!!!!
Visited Botanical garden, Lake and rose garden on 26th. Botanical garden had some leftovers of Flower Show in May. Those leftovers left me wondering how beautiful they would be during the flower show!!!!!. Visited the Lake and skipped boating. A shop there serves steaming hot baked peanut chat. It has heavenly taste, may be because of the cold weather.
Rose garden was full of colourful roses. Spent most part of the afternoon here. Its huge and consumes more than 3 hours to see all parts of the garden. Took a lot of photographs and returned to hotel.
Now it was time to have dinner. Went to Hotel Saravana's for dinner. Great vegetarian food.
Purchased some homemade chocolates and returned to the hotel.

Second day started at 7 AM. Drove to 'Doddabetta' peak, which is towards Conoor and 6 kms from Ooty. reached the peak at 7.30 AM. It was foggy and chilly at the top. Spent some time there. Try hot tea, chilly bajjis, fresh carrot and peanut chat on the top.
On the way back to Ooty, we visited tea factory and museum.

After that, drove to Mysore. On the way, we visited 'Himavad Gopalaswami Betta'.
Reached Mysore at 4. Spent some time at relative’s house there and reached Bangalore at 10 PM.

Details:
Route : Bangalore -> Mysore -> Nanjanagoodu -> Bandipur -> Masinagudi -> Kalhatti -> Ooty
Distance : ~ 280 Kms one way

Note: If you are planning to drive down to Ooty and do sightseeing, best idea is to leave behind your car at hotel and take an auto to visit the tourist attractions. We did the same on Day 1 and it saved us from headaches like finding the correct route, finding parking place etc.

Ranganatittu and Kanva Dam

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:05:00 +0000

A Quick trip with lot of incidents and a few of my first “Bird in Flight” shots.

Left home at 6.30 with one bar in the fuel indicator and 450 rupees in the wallet. Thought of withdrawing some cash from SBI ATM, entered three different wrong PINs and successfully blocked the card. My only other card had Rs 200 Balance. Thought that we can fill fuel with the Credit Card and continued the journey. Stopped at Mysore road BP and asked him to fill diesel worth Rs 200 and started again. After Bidadi, I was driving at ~80 Kmph and a stone few like a bullet from tyres of car in front and chipped my front windshield. Wow!!! What a start.

Next stop was BP Petrol Bunk with Kamath Upchar in Chennapatna. Had a breakfast and went to fill the fuel. Before telling ‘Full Tank’ asked the attendant “Anna, card tagoLthira?” and he promptly replied “Card Illa saar!!!!!!! “. Low fuel warning was on! Asked him to fill for another 250 Rs and continued. Checked with wife, total cash we have now is 200 Rs + Some change + 200 Rs in my other account.

Saw and ATM, thought of withdrawing the last 200 Rs from the other bank account and pulled over. Entered the ATM, withdrew 200 Rs, feeling all time low collected the slip and walked out. While walking back towards the car, gave a casual look to the slip. Voila!!! It said, available balance is 1257 Rs instead of expected 57 Rs. Life is all blooming flowers again, could feel the beautiful fragrances. Walked back to the teller, took out Rs 1200 and drove straight to Ranganatittu,

Reached Ranganatittu at 10.30 AM. Entry Fees for car + 2 adults + camera was Rs 105. Went in, roamed around the sanctuary and hired an independent boat. One can opt for boat ride in two ways, 30 Rs per head in a large boat or 250 Rs for a small boat. We opted for a small boat. He took us for a beautiful boat ride of around 30 minutes and showed the birds available in the season. Some of them were open bill stork, painted stork, white ibis, night heron and some other birds. We also saw two baby crocodiles.

It was 1 PM when we left the sanctuary. We started driving back to Bangalore. En route we had lunch in Adiga’s after Maddur. Tasty and simple vegetarian lunch. After Adiga’s, when we were approaching Ramanagar, we saw a board on our left side indicating “Kanva Dam – 8 Kms”. Without thinking twice took that road and reached Kanva Dam in 20 minutes. There was nothing to see except a medium sized dam, which was almost empty. The place was very deserted.

It was a nonstop drive back from there and we reached Whitefield at 5.30 PM.

Route: Bangalore -> Ramnagar-> Mandya -> Srirangapattana -> Ranganatittu

Photos :

Wayanad

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:20:00 +0000

We were on three day trip to Wayanad last weekend (16th to 18th of April 2010). We stayed at “Rain Country” resorts at Lakkidi, which is the highest place in Kerala. Our stay was booked by Aravinda’s “Crimson Holidays”.

Day 1:

We left Whitefield at 5.45 AM on 16th. First stop was at Kamath on the left side of Mysore road for breakfast. After this I lost the the number of stops we had – for fruits, other essentials, fuel, tender coconuts and photographs. We reached the resort at 1 PM. Road conditions range between fantastic to good. The final 3.5 km leg of the journey to the resort is via steep, narrow and winding roads.

The resort is surrounded by tea plantations and thick roads. Approach road is not tarred and nothing to worry about. Almost all cars will be able to make it without any issues. It has some independent cottages and villas built in authentic Kerala architecture. Each and every cottage is well insulated from other cottages, which gives the great feeling of being in an isolated place. The restaurant servers Kerala Style food with some additional North and South Indian delicacies. Breakfast and the dinner are buffet. Snacks and coffee can be ordered at any time. Being Veggies, our options were reduced a little bit. But considering the fact that we were in Kerala, there were plenty of vegetarian food options.

The environment changed drastically after 6 PM on the first day. It started as a drizzle and was a full blown rain in 30 minutes. Slowly the clouds started descending and our cottage was surrounded by clouds within no time. We settled in the comfortable wooden ‘easy chairs’ and watched all this drama of nature from our verandah for a couple of hours. Sounds of the forest were at its best during the dusk.

Day 2:

Went to Pookoot Lake and Edakkal Caves on day 2. Pookoot Lake is nothing but an overcrowded holiday spot on holidays.

Edakkal caves have some drawings carved in the inner walls and these belong to the Stone Age. To reach this place, one has to park their vehicle in the designated parking lots and take the Jeep service to the top. Jeep will take you to a place from where you have to climb 200 meters to reach the caves. Even this place was crowded as we went there on a Saturday.

Returned to the resort by 7 PM and spent time again watching nature’s drama.

Day 3:

Left the resort at 11.30 after breakfast (Puttu & Kadala, Chana & Batoora, Bread Jam and Upma).

Had lunch a Kamath Madhuvan at Mysore at 2.45 PM. The restaurant was overcrowded and staff was least interested in serving people. After all possible chaos, we left the hotel at 4. Traffic conditions were worst and we reached Whitefield at 8 PM.

Route:

Bangalore -> Mysore -> Nanjanagud -> Gundlupet -> Sulthan Bathery -> Kalpeta -> Vythiri -> Lakkidi

Trip Meter: 730 Kms (Bangalore to Bangalore)

Photos:

Car: Ritz VDi. With this trip, car completed its first 10000 Kms within 4 months. Except the rattling sounds here and there, there are no major issues.

Wish list: Better Brakes, some solution for the thick A pillar which blocks the view, tilt steering, lumber support.

Sripuram - Vellore

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:55:00 +0000

Avi came on Saturday night to spend his semester holidays with us. Now the question was that how to kick start the season?
The answer was found in few minutes with the help of an old article in Taranga and some googling - SRIPURAM shrine. This is a temple near Vellore, TN which is completely covered in gold. Here is the Wiki link - SRIPURAM .

Trip log :
Started from Whitefield at 5.40 AM. First and the only stop over was AAB (Adyar Anand Bhavan) between Hosur and Krishnagiri at 7 Am for breakfast. Had delicious Pongal and Medu Vade with coffee. Reached Sripuram by 9.30 AM.

There was a huge crowd of devotees in the temple and a very long queue for Darshan. We opted for special darshan at the cost of Rs 100 per head and that saved us precious 2 hours. We were out of the temple premises after Darshan at 10.45 AM and out of the parking lot at 11 AM . Again we stopped at AA for a quick snack and we were back home at 2 PM.

Highlights : Fantastic Roads all the way, Beautiful Gold Shrine, PHOTOGRAPHY and Mobiles are NOT Allowed.

Route: Whitefield -> Varthur -> Srajapur Junction -> Anekal -> Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Ambur ->
Vaniyambadi(By-pass) -> Pallikonda Toll Booth -> ( after 1.5 ~2 Kms)Take right towards Sripuram -> Sripuram

Trip Meter : 420+ Kms up and Down
Mileage : 18 Kmpl
Mode of Transport : Ritz VDi
People : Myself and Avi

KT - Guess what???

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Last week I went to Puttur via a different route .
Wednesday evening at 7 PM, took a NWKSRTC bus from Majestic to Chitradurga.
Reached Chitradurga at 1 AM. Went to my cousin's house and slept well till next morning 5 AM.
We left Chitradurga at 6.30 AM and drove to Puttur via Shivamogga, Thirthahalli, Aagumbe, Karkala, Mudabidre, Buntwal, Mani and Puttur. The roads are in worst possible condition at most of the stretches.

KT – What’s in the name?
Just 8-10 kms before Mani is a place called Kalladka, and there is a hotel serving this famous beverage - The Kalladka Tea.
This is served in a glass cup and you can see the separate layers of milk and tea. Stir it up and take a sip...to feel the unique taste of KT. To add more flavour, you can also try biscuit rotti, sanjeera, goli baje and what not...!!
The tuppa dose (Ghee dosa) and masale dose are also quite famous here.
Finally, I forgot the name of the hotel. If I am not wrong, it’s Sri Lakshmi Vilasa, which is on the left hand side when you are coming from Mangalore towards Mani.

An Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:05:00 +0000

Myself and Shiva drove a 98 Maruti 800 from Puttur to Bangalore last Sunday (4th Oct). We left Puttur with a tankful at 1 PM and reached Whitefield at 11 PM. We stopped for Lunch (East End, Madikeri), evening coffee (On Hunsur by-pass) and Dinner(Kamath Lokaruchi). Car returned an amazing FE of 19 kmpl (The car has no AC).
Maximum speed we attained is 80 kmph, that too for few seconds :).
Now the main reason to call this journey as an adventure; the car was old, ill serviced, no AC, no music system, no wheel alignment and a slight smell of petrol in the cabin. But all went well and now I am driving this car to office every day. Good Enough for a city drive for some time.

Total Distance : 380 kms
Duration : 10 hours :)
Route : Puttur -> Sullya -> Madikeri -> Kushal Nagar -> Hunsur -> Yelval -> Shriranga Pattana -> Mandya -> Ramnagar -> Bangalore

Jogimatti

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Yesterday at 6 AM we started to drive towards Chitradurga. It took nearly 4 hours to cover the distance of 220+ kms. Had breakfast at my cousin's house and went straight to Jogimatti.

Jogimatti, a mini hill station with highest wind flow in Asia(people there say so !!!) is situated at 12 kms from Chitradurga. It’s nothing but a group of hills. There is a narrow winding road to the top of the hill which takes you through thick shrubs and nice vegetation. May be because of the fast winds, the trees and other plants are shorter than normal here.

There is a watch tower on top of the highest peak. Just climb that and you will have an awesome view on the surrounding valleys. The wind is so strong that you need to hold the railings to ensure that you are not blown away. The view is so good that one can spend 2-3 hours easily on top of the watch tower.

There is an IB (Inspection Bungalow) on the top and general public is allowed to stay there with proper permission and with a nominal charge. There is a check post at the beginning of hilly road and you need to take permission there to enter the area. If you are driving to the top, then you r vehicle needs to be registered.

There is a trekking route (12 kms) through the forest. Planning to do this before December 09. There are a lot of Leopards, peacocks and bears in this area and chances of sighting one are high compared to other places.

If you are ready to pack your bags, wait, the IB is under renovation and it will take some time for re-opening. And, now there are only few beer cans and very little plastic derby around, please do not add to that. This is one of the most clean and green places I have ever seen, let it be like that and enjoy the beauty.

Note: if you are looking for a park or a proper hill station, stay away. It’s not yet up to the mark. Mornings are quite misty and cloudy during September to January and I think it’s the best time to visit.

Photos : (From my 2 MP Sony Ericsson Mobile)

Nehru Zoological Park - Hyderabad

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:03:00 +0000

“Catch bus no95 from the Medical College bus stop near Women’s College, get down at Nehru park bus stop” , politely he guided us with a big smiling face at Koti bus stand. He, in pure white dress, aged around 50 years, is as usual at his best in service of the people. We had bought “Travel as You Like” pass costing Rs. 25, is a daily pass in all normal buses till midnight ! Perfectly we landed at the Nehru Zoological Park bus stop, on Bangalore-Hyderabad highway.

Arch kind of structure welcomes us at the entrance. Al mosts in every section of the park we can find the scripture like “Inaugurated by Sri, N.T Rama Rao” ! Pay a 25 rupees for the adult ticket, for camera pay another 25. Pay Rs. 500 if you wish to take your personal vehicle inside park, else park outside !! Visitor vehicles, run by CNG, are available at the entrance of the park to go around the 5 km circumference of the zoo park. I didn't try it as I walked around the park myself ! There is a train which circles around the park in slow motion, train ticket being Rs.15 for each adult.

A statue of Deer attracts us just inside the entrance. For me it was cafeteria situated in arms distance had more attractive power !!

I was searching for a map of the park which I could see after walking a little bit. Park is built on the sides of Mir Alam tank that provides water for the park. Park can never have water scarcity problem throughout the year. There is an outer ring road covering entire park, besides this train track is laid down. On the left side of this road, first we can meet our ancestors, then elephants and then lion, tiger, bear safari facility and so on as depicted pictorially by the layout map.

We paid Rs. 25 for lion-tiger safari. They took us in completely grilled Swaraz mazda vehicle for around 15 minutes. Don't get into the mood to imagine yourself in a African safari commonly shown in Animal Planet. It is no way comparable to that ! Around 3-4km area is divided for Lion, Tiger and Bear and these animals of the Zoo are allowed roam freely in this area in a cyclical order. Rest of the time they have to live in a small world, thats all !!!

Rest of the park has rest of the animals of animal kingdom!! I won't rate this zoo as the best zoo I ever seen, but 'ok' can be sufficient!!

There were people with lengthy Canon and Nikon camera hanging on their neck, always looking upwards with a hope that they can catch some flying action of bird! After an hour I found them in cafeteria having snacks. We too took some refreshments and left to other parts of the zoo, came back again to the same cafeteria after nearly an hour. The lengthy lens group consisting of young and old was still chewing samosas, finally landed up having several round of group photos! I chuckled myself, left immediately to see rest of the animal world !!

Now, don't ask me questions such as which camera you used, what is the mm of zoom lens etc. I have no answer to any of your queries. But let me tell you in short, a secret. I took all my photos in Hyderabad with Nokia 5130 Express music mobile having 2MP camera!!!

TrAPC New Look...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Yes....now we are more serious about TrAPC.

As a first step, i am giving a new look to TrAPC. You can subscribe to each post of the TrAPC, will be directly delivered to your email ID. You can read the blog in your favorite feed reader of your choice.

Recent traps (i don't call it as a 'trip'....its trap !!) are added at the top of the blog for easy navigation. Just click on it, respective trap will open in the same page.

TrAPC has become more interactive. Comment forms are easily accessible. One can directly email to the author of the trap post. You can share, you can bookmark, you can digg and what not????

Search form searches for the TrAP spot within TrAPC as well as member blogs. For example, just type "Kumara Hill" and check the result !!

Hope TrAPC looks beautiful with the header collage.

All TrAPC related activities, future plans, rules and regulations, events, membership requirements, member information will be published in this TrAPC blog.

I prefer to start everything by making of a T-shirt with TrAPC name etched on it !!!!!

So watch out this space !

Leave your feedback in the comment form..........

cheers
murali

Grand Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:27:00 +0000

Last one month I was in an official trip which helped me to realize one of my dreams - The Grand Canyon!!!!!!!!!!!! .

I visited Boston, Phoenix and Danbury as a part of this trip. But the Grand Canyon overrides all these places.

We drove around 250 miles from Tempe (a suburb of Phoenix, AZ) on a Saturday morning and reached the place by 12.30 PM. Spent nearly 4 hours there and reached the hotel back by 10 PM same day.
What a sight that was!!! pictures will not do the justice for the beauty of the place. There is a trekking path of 11~12 miles (not sure of this distance) which takes you from one side to another. We walked around 3~4 kms in this path and I want to complete this if I get a chance again. We walked on the ridge for a few kilometers and the view of the valley changes dramatically form point to point. Grand Canyon is at its best during sunrise and sunset. The day we went, it was a little cloudy and photos are not very clear. But the memories of this place will be there with me forever.

Tale of two weekends

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:27:00 +0000

Monday Again!!!
I drove to my hometown (a small village near Puttur, Dakshina Kannada) twice in last two weeks. Here is a summary of my experiences during both trips.

Week 1:
All of us wanted to go home to attend a function. Getting tickets booked in the bus or the only train was out of question because of opening of schools. So decided to drive from Bangalore.
It was 4.25 AM on 27th May when I brought the Innova to life. After 2 minutes of idling, slowly rolled out of our house at Whitefield. It was 5.30 AM when we reached Nelamangala cross. Crossed Kunigal, Chennarayapatna and we were at Kamath, Udayapura by 7.15 AM. Roads were fairly good, but the 4-laning work is in progress. Be careful about the monstrous Volvos coming from opposite direction with high beams. They will not bother to stop even if they see you frantically flashing lights. Best thing to do is pull over and stop if you see an oncoming bus in the wrong side from opposite direction.
Had chow-chow bhath and dosas for breakfast and left Kamath at 7.45 AM. Took the bypass to Hassan and drove via Sakaleshpur. Once we crossed Sakaleshpur, we were surprised to see the Shiradi ghat having fresh layer of tarmac. Las time when we travelled a year ago, it was like a good offloading experience. At 9.30, we were at Dharmashtala cross. Took a right and drove towards Dharmashtala (20 kms from NH 48) and reached at 10 AM. Took rest in my aunt’s house for nearly two hours and drove towards Puttur, a distance of 50 kms and two hours. At the end of the trip, trip meter A was showing 380+ kms.
Return Journey was by the same route. Left Puttur at 10 AM and reached Whitefield at 6 PM. With a lunch break at Kamath again.

Log:
Kms Travelled: ~800 kms
Vehicle: Innova G4 Diesel - which is 2 years and 25000 kms old.
Mileage in this trip was 11.5 kms. Dual AC on all the time.
Do I need to explain the good ride quality, reliability, car like handling and capable of moving more people with comfort. Overtaking extra large Gas tankers was a breeze. Tried cornering once or twice and found that it is not safe to do in a car like Innova.

Week 2:
Had to go home in the very next weekend.
Again we started at 4.25 AM on Saturday. Almost the same schedule till Sakaleshpur. This time we drove directly to Puttur. Reached Puttur at 10.30 AM.
Only difference this time was the vehicle we drove and heavy rain. After crossing the Shiradi Ghat, we encountered heavy rain for 30 – 40 minutes. Could not see anything other than tail lights of the truck which we were following. Felt good to see such rain after 2-3 years.
While coming back I took the wheel from Puttur. When I was squeezing myself in to the driver’s seat, I felt that there is some water in the foot well. Bent down to check, wow, it was almost half bucket of water. Failed to diagnose the source of water. Went to a nearby shop and bought a sponge to put the water out. Stopped at Uppinangady, wiped out water from foot wells and moved towards Shiradi Ghat. Again it started raining heavily, could feel cold water in the foot well again. I was not wrong; it was same amount of water. Again, stopped and wiped the water and moved. Fortunately, the rain stopped and there was no more water accumulation below driver’s seat.
On return drive, we left Puttur at 12 PM and reached Whitefield at 7.30 PM.

Log:
Kms Travelled: ~ 800 kms
Vehicle: Indica Turbo DLX – 3 years and 50000 kms old.
Mileage: 16.5 KMPL with 100% AC
Again, do I need to explain the pathetic in cabin noise, bad pickup, poor braking, vibration and finally, good economy. But I found out a way to overtake quickly, keep the car always in 2000 RPM, it will fly. But if you plan to overtake when you are doing below 2K RPM, it’s an attempt to suicide. So, whenever you want to overtake, shift to whatever gear required, keep the car in 2K+ RPM range.
When you bring the car to life in cold mornings, it sounds like a tractor and emits thick black smoke like a tile factory chimney. Only good word about this car is the economy and low cost of ownership (really??????).

Foot Notes:
Be very careful while overtaking in the ghat section. Do not overtake in curves.
Leave Bangalore early in the morning to beat the traffic till Nelamangala.
Careful about the oncoming bus traffic.
Do not try cornering if it rains.

Chitradurga

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:07:00 +0000

I visited the famous fort of Chitradurga this weekend.This is my 4th or 5th visit to the
fort, but first time with a camera.We started from Bangalore at 4 PM on Saturday and reached Chitradurga by 9 PM with a break of 30 mins. Sunday morning at 6 AM, went to the fort. It was a couldy day and the weather was awesome. Went to some parts of the fort which are not generally visited by the tourists.This being summer holiday time, crowd was bit more.

Needless to say, NH4 is beautiful as ever. Construction work is going on in some unfinished streatches.
Route : Bangalore -> Nelamangala -> Tumkur -> Sira - > Hiriyur -> Chitradurga (NH4)

Distance from Bangalore : 220+ Kms

Time : 4.5 Hours from Whitefield, 2.5 Hours from Nelamangala

Photos :

Horanadu, Sringeri and Dharmasthala

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:25:00 +0000

Holiday Session of 2008 December was celebrated with a drive to Native Place (Somewhere near Puttur in Daksina Kannada) via Horanadu, Shringeri and Dharmasthala from Bangalore.
We started on 25th Morning at 5.30 AM. It was foggy and visibility was very low. Drove towards Nelamangala and then towards Hassan. Stopped at Kamath, Udayapura for breakfast. This restaurant was serving good food once upon a time. Now the 'good food' part is history, but still it’s one of the best available hotels in that stretch. After reaching Hassan we drove straight towards Chikamagalur via Belur. You don’t have to enter Hassan city, take a bypass which joins Beluru road.
From Chikamagalur, Horanadu is around 96 kms. And the roads are not really in good shape. Reserve at least 2.5 hours for this journey. Ask for the directions whenever you have any doubt and then proceed as the roads are somewhat confusing. The roads take you through dense forests, curvy roads and Blue Mountains. It’s a wonderful drive.
We reached Horanadu temple at 2.20 PM after a drive of nearly 350 kms. This 'Annapoorneshwari' temple is famous for the 'prasada' available there - The stupendous and steaming hot lunch.
We took the 'darshana' and had lunch. It was the one among the tastiest lunch I ever had. After spending sometime there we started driving towards Sringeri. Sringeri is 66 kms from Horanadu. The roads have directions at some places. Take advice of locals on direction even at the slightest doubt. We reached Sringeri around 6 PM. One of our relative had booked a room for us. Washed ourselves and went to the 'Sharadamba' temple by 8 PM. The pooja gets over around 8.30 PM.
After the pooja is over, we had dinner in the temple and then proceeded towards 'Jagadguru's' residence on the other bank of river Tunga to see the pooja he offers to the goddess. This pooja will be continued till 10 PM. It’s a wonderful and peaceful sight to see, try not to miss this. Came back to the hotel and slept immediately.
Got up at 5.30 AM on 26th morning and went to the temple after freshening up. It’s a beautiful sight to see the temple shining to the early morning rays of sun. Had the darshana and went to 'Malahanikeshwara' temple which is located on top of a hill near the main temple.
We came back to the temple for the noon pooja, had lunch, packed our bags, loaded them in the car and left towards Dharmasthala at 3.30 PM. Dharmasthala is 105 kms from Sringeri. The road takes you through beautiful dense forests of 'Kuduremukha' range. The single road has sharp edges and huge potholes. To add to that the attitude of Bangalore registered vehicles coming from Dharmasthala was sad, they continued the same 'Bangalore attitude drive' and did not want to get down from the road to make way for other vehicles, if it is a Mangalore (KA 19) or Udupi (KA 20) registered vehicle, you will be amazed to see their road manners.
We reached Ujire (10 kms before Dharmasthala) by 6.30 PM and stayed at my Uncle's house nearby. Next (26th Dec) afternoon we went to the temple, stood in the queue for 4 hours, had darshana, had lunch and drove to our native place near Puttur at 5 PM.
It was 7.30 PM when we reached home.
We drove back to Bangalore on 4th Jan. Started from Sullya at 2 PM and reached Bangalore at 10 PM with 2 short breaks of 10 mins each and a 40 mins dinner break at Kamath, Ramanagara.
That’s all about travel now.
Some inputs on Indica Vista and I10 :
* Drove Indica Vista Quadrajet for 70 - 80 Kms. Vehicle is hardly 2 months and 2500 kms old. Observations : Rattles from somewhere behind the dashboard, Wiper not working, notchy gearshifts, wonderful engine, good pickup, great response, less cabin noise, road presence, space enough for a kabaddi court inside and a steering with good feedback.

* Drove I10 same day for 80 kms. Its 1.1 L fully loads with ABS, Airbags and even a sunroof. Observations: Need to take a lot of care in highways, with 4 people on board and AC on it needs proper planning to overtake even a bicycle, nice interiors, no rattling noises and a good City Car.

Route Taken:
Day 1:
Bangalore -> Hassan (190 Kms) -> Chikamagalur (140 kms) -> Horanadu (94 Kms) -> Sringeri (66 Kms)
Day 2:
Sringeri -> Ujire (105 Kms)
Day 3:
Dharmasthala -> Puttur (~50 kms) -> Native (~15 kms)

Drive Back to Bangalore:
Puttur -> Sullya -> Madikeri -> Kushala Nagara -> Ilavala -> Srirangapattana -> Mandya -> Bangalore

Vehicle: Innova

Photos:

Sringeri Temple : View 1

Sringeri Temple : View 2

A Crane at my home :

Spider Web :

Traveling into the past – Trip to Melukote, Hosaholalu, Govindanahalli and Kikkeri

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:56:00 +0000

I can call this one day trip as a journey in time machine towards 12th century. Last Saturday (20/12/2008) Murali, Chethan and I had been to some Hoysala temples around Mandya.
We stared from Koramangala at 7.30 AM and drove straight to Kamath for breakfast. After a filling breakfast we moved towards Mandya. We took a right turn towards Melukote after 1.5-2 kms from Mandya town. Melukote is around 35 kms from Mandya. In Melukote, we visited ‘Kalyani’ (huge man made pond, with steps on all sides and stone ‘mantapa’ built around that), Narasimha Swamy temple (an ancient temple, crowded and built on top of a hill), Cheluvanarayana swamy temple (ancient temple with lot of beautifully crafted stone pillars and sculptures) and ‘Raya Gopura’ (an uncompleted stone ‘Mantapa’ with beautiful carvings) in the same order. After visiting these places we went to ‘Sukha bhojana’ (‘Happy Meals’) which serves ‘Puliyogare’ and ‘Sakkare Pongal’ (sweet Pongal) . We immediately became fans of these dishes. Try not to miss this place.
After having lunch at Melukote, we drove towards Hosaholalu. From Melukote we need to go to K R Pete (25 kms) and Hosaholalu is 2-3 kms from K R Pete. There is a 12th century Hoysala temple (Lakshminanarayana), which is preserved well by ASI. There were no visitors when we reached there. This temple has beautiful carvings on the walls, similar to the carvings in Beluru and Halebidu. Took some photos and left to Govindanahalli (also called as Gavihalli).
Govindanahalli is 20 kms away from Hosaholalu. You have to come back to K R Pete and drive towards Kikkeri (ask locals for direction). Once you reach Kikkeri take left after the police station to go to Govindanahalli (5 Kms). Ask locals at Govindanahalli for the location of the temple. This Panchalingeshwara temple built in 12th century has five ‘Gopuras’. Even this place was free from visitors and we spent our own time in taking photographs of this time tested temple. Even this is well maintained by ASI. This temple has two beautiful Nandi idols.
After Govindanahalli, we came back to Kikkeri and asked locals for directions to the Brahmeshwara temple, amazingly none of them knew much about it. After multiple enquiries and a drive through narrow roads of the village we finally arrived at a temple on the banks of a river. It was around 5.30 PM and no one except us was around the temple. As we entered the compound, we were shocked to see the most beautiful and the most neglected temple we saw on that day. There is a Nandi Idol in front of this temple which is slightly smaller than its siblings in Beluru and Halebidu. This temple has beautiful carvings on its walls and there are a lot of stone pillars with various carvings.
It was around 6.30 PM when we left this place and drove towards Mandya (We could have drove to Chennaraya Pattana, but we wanted to skip the mad traffic after Peenya). At 8.15 we were in MacD waiting for our burgers. We reached Koramangala at 10 PM.
A beautiful day trip from Bangalore where we covered 4 ancient temples, drove nearly 400 kms, took a lot of photographs and had the experience of ‘travelling into the past’ in a time machine.
Lessons Learnt:
· All AA sized rechargeable batteries will not work for some cameras. MAh rating is important. (Chethan’s camera was sitting idle because of this)
· Adjusting shutter speed and aperture gives more DoF for landscapes.
· Sometimes Auto-Rickshaws drive on the right side at Melukote J
· Metering is important to get clear images (Thanks Murali)
Route taken:
Bangalore -> Mandya -> Melukote (~35 Kms. Take right towards Melukote after 2 kms from Mandya town. Watch for the sign boards.) -> K R Pete (25 Kms) -> Hosaholalu (3 Kms) -> K R Pete -> Kikkeri (20 Kms) -> Govindanahalli (5 kms) -> Kikkeri -> K R Pete -> Melukote -> Mandya -> Bangalore
Vehicle: Chethan’s Swift
Expenses: Approximately Rs 900 per head
Team: Myself, Chethan and Murali

Photos: [Click here for more photos]

Kalyani at Melukote

Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple at Melukote

Cheluvanarayanaswamy Temple at Melukote

Raya Gopura at Melukote

Lakshminarayana Temple at Hosaholalu

Panchalingeshwara temple at Govindanahalli

Brahmeshwara temple at Kikkeri
Brahmeshwara temple at Kikkeri

Ourselves @ Govindanahalli

Thirunelli and Tholpet Reserve Forest

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0000

During Deepavali (Oct 27th)long weekend I had been to Virajpet with Family. We visited Thirunelli , a temple located in Kerala, and Tholpet , a reserve forest on the border of Kerala and Karnataka. Thirunelli is an old temple in Wayanad district, approx 60~70 kms from Virajpet and 25 kms from Kutta. This is located on top of a hill and this hill is surrounded by mighty western ghats. Tholpet is a reserve forest on the way to Thirunelli from Virajpet, just after Kutta. Forest dept offers a 24km jungle safari. Unfortunately we went there on a long weekend and traffic on this safari trail was more than that on Kutta - Virajpet road. Guides say that on normal day chances of spotting a gang of elephants and bisons are very high. This safari is open from 7-10 Am and 3-5 PM. If you have your own jeep, you can drive it. Otherwise you have to rent a jeep, which will cost nearly 450 Rs.

Photos:

On the way to Thirunelli, after Kutta:

Thirunelli Temple:

Some shots from the Tholpet Reserve Forest :

Brahmagiri

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:42:00 +0000

This is my second trek with Kamesh's Group. Needless to say, another wonderful experience.

Friday night we boarded a TT near Kanteerava Stadium at 10 PM. After picking up few guys from Majestic we headed towards Sreemangala, Kodagu. By 5.30 in the morning we reached the IB at Sreemangala. You need to book your trekking well before the date at the range forest office at Sreemangala. They will arrange a Forest Guard as a guide and adviser throughout the trek.
Pavan, a friendly forest guard accompanied us from here onwards.

After having good breakfast at a house nearby the Irupu temple, we headed towards Narimale Forest Camp. This is a forest guest house in between the forest, 5 kms from Irupu Falls. This stretch is heavily infested by leeches. I have at least 10 scars on my feet even after 10 days.

[Leeches do not kill you, they just bite you and suck your blood till they want and then leave. They do all these activities without your knowledge. Bleeding will take some time to stop even after they leave you. Best medicine is to carry some powdered salt and put it on the leech when you see them sucking your blood. You can use Tobacco leaves or lime for the same purpose.]

We started the trek from Irupu Falls at 10 AM and reached the Guest House by 12.45 PM. We walked for ~5 Kms and the path ranges from moderate to difficult. Here we settled down for 30 minutes 'plucking' the leeches, rearranging the bags, having some chocolates etc. We started towards Brahmagiri Peak at 1.30 PM and reached the peak by 3.30 PM. Total distance walked was around 7~9 kms. The trail takes you through almost flat grasslands. Only the last km of the trek is enough to take the breath out of you. But this is the most beautiful part of the trek.
The peak was windy and we started back immediately and reached the IB at 6 PM.

During the entire trek of Day 1, rain was playing hide and seek with us. We had packed everything in plastic covers and that saved our clothes, food, cameras etc from getting wet.

After we returned, Kamesh started cooking food for us. It was rice and Sambar!!!!!!!!!. I cannot explain how delicious it was. Plate full of steaming rice and spicy sambar and pickle. Kamesh, Thanks, You made our day. After dinner, we slipped into the sleeping bags and what a sleep that was!!!!. There was solid background music of beetles and sound of lashing rain.

We got up at 7 AM. Had Maggi. Started walking towards Munikal Caves. This is around 5 kms from the IB and the terrain was same as previous day's. We took two hours to reach the caves. These caves were used by sages in the earlier days. This place can be used as camping site as this has a source of water. After this we returned to the IB at 11 AM. Packed our bags and started walking towards Irupu Falls. It took two hours. By 1.30 We were under the Irupu Falls, enjoying the 'water massage'.
At 2 we went to the same house (where we had breakfast previous day) for lunch, and again a stupendous lunch. At 3.30 we started towards Bangalore and reached home at 12 AM.
PHOTOS:

My Camera

Chethan's Camera

Irupu Falls:

Brahmagiri Peak: Data:
Team: 13
Vehicle: TT
Cost: 2500 per head, all Inclusive.
Distance Travelled: Bangalore to Irupu: 280 Kms Approx.
Distance Trekked: Two days and 38~40 Kms Approx.
Precautions and Preparations: Permission at Range Forest Office, No Littering, Possibility of wildlife sightings, LEECHES, No Alcohol / Smoking, Rain/ winter gear and lot more

Kuala Lumpur

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:42:00 +0000

I was in KL from 10th to 16th of Feb. I was there to attend the Unified Messaging Voive Ignite session by Microsoft.
Also, KL was rocking as Chinese new year celebration was going on. Diggerent shades and hues of red were everywhere. Chinese dance, music, food and lot more. Not to forget the unique Chinese Dragon Dance.
I visited Petronas Twin towers, Geting, Batu caves, Aquaria KLCC, China Town and a few malls. KL is not very costley city. I felt as if I am in a clean city of Tamil Nadu with a lot of foreinger tourists :).
Most of the taxi drivers are friendly and they usually do not demand too much. Also bargaining is open. One can catch the fast train from the airport to the city central and then catch the taxi to the hotel.
I stayed at hotel Mid Valley, which is a good business hotel. The cost was around 180 MYR for double bed with breakfast.
Click HERE for the photos.

Hampi, Mantralaya and Chitradurga.

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:03:00 +0000

Hampi... I was dreaming about this place from a long time. I visited Hampi two days before Christmas of 2007. That long weekend (22nd Dec to 25th Dec) we visited Chitradurga, Hampi, Mantralaya and Vani Vilasa Pura Dam.

The journey started with a wonderful drive from Bangalore to Chitradurga on 22nd. The distance is around 200 Kms and the 80% of the road is in fantastic condition. It takes around 3 hours from Nelamangala. Chitradurga is famous for the fort built by 'Madakari Nayaka', who used to rule that region. Also there is a place called Chandragiri Caves, which was the hiding place of kings during the wars and difficult times.

On 23rd Morning we drove towards Hampi. Hampi is nearly 140 Kms from Chitradurga. Needless to say, this is a UNESCO world heritage site. Ruins of Vijayanagara Empire are spread across few sq Kms. Where ever you see or go, there will be a ruined old temple or some broken idol or some age old stone 'mantapa'. All these structures are built by solid granite stone. They have wonderful carvings all around.
These wonderful monuments are not really maintained well. In most of the temples one can walk and touch the idol wearing sandals / shoes and no one is bothered. Most of the roads are in bad shape. People treat these places of historical importance as mere picnic spots.
Virupaksha Temple, Vittala Temple and Stone Chariot, Narasimha Idol, Kamala Mahal, Hazara Rama Temple, Summer Palace etc are the places to see.
We started our journey towards Mantralaya at 5.30 PM. Mantralaya is around 220+ Kms from Chitradurga.

On 24th, got up at 4.30 in the morning and visited Raghavendra Swami Temple. We also went to a nearby (25 Kms) temple called 'Pancha Mukhi'. After having lunch in Raghavendra Swami temple, we drove back to Chitradurga via Bellari. The journey of around 250 Kms took nearly 7 hours and we reached Chitradurga at 7.30 PM.

On 25th, while coming back to Bangalore, we visited Chandragiri Caves in Chitradurga and a beautiful dam built by Sir. M.Vishweshwaraiah at Vani Vilasa Pura.

Route we followed:
Bangalore -> Nelamangala -> Tumkur -> Chitradurga -> Hospet -> Hampi -> Raichur -> Mantralaya -> Bellari -> Chitradurga -> Vani Vilasa Pura -> Hiriyuru -> Tumkur -> Bangalore.

Total Distance Covered: 1500 Kms

Suggestions: Avoid Summer time. Better to make your own arrangements for food. Hire a proper guide. Book your accommodation in advance if planning to stay overnight.
Avoid LONG WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS.

PHOTOS:
Link to HAMPI photos.
Link to OTHER photos.

BhogaNandishwara, Nandi Hills.

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:34:00 +0000

This is my Nth visit to Nandi Hills.

While coming back, we visited 'Bhoga Nindishwara' temple on the base of Nandi Hills at a village called 'Nandi'. Bhoga Nandishwara Temple follows the Dravidian style of architecture.

This temple has a huge 'praakaara' (compound), a 'pushkarini' (pond) and a beautiful 'mantapa'. The main temple, 'pushkarini' and the 'mantapa' have their own enclosure within the temple compound.

Route: Best thing is to visit Nandi Hills first and then ask villagers for the route to Nandi village while coming back

Photos :

Link to BhogaNandishwara Album

Ranganatittu and Somanathapura

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:03:00 +0000

It’s been a long time since our 'Thomson' group went for a trip. We had been to Ranganatittu ( a bird sanctuary near Mysore) and Somanathapura Temple ( an old temple built by Hoysalas) two weeks ago (24th Nov 07). It is one day trip. We started from St. Marks Road at 7 AM, after waiting 30 mins for Maheshwar. Had nice breakfast at Kamath Lokruchi. It took nearly 2.5 hours to reach Ranganatittu. (One has to take a right turn towards Hunsur, 3~5 kms after Srirangapattana). Its was off season and we could see only 5/6 varieties of birds.

Two type of boat rides are offered here 1) Public (need to wait till boat gets full and 15 mins, 25 Rs per head) 2) Private (30 mins - 250 Rs). We opted for second and shared the cost with another group of two. The gurd who took us for the boad ride was very helpful and he showed us all birds in their natural habitat and helped us in photographing the birds. We had Lunch in the Canteen there, which was not bad.

We spent nearly 3 hours there and started towards Somanathapura. This is an old temple built by Hoysalas. Architecture is similar to Belur and Halebidu. One good thing is that this temple is not destroyed. Most of the sculptures are intact. Its took an hour and a half to reach Somanathapura. Spent an hour there clicking the photos.
Reached Bangalore by 7 PM .

Team: Myself, Chetan and Maheshwar
Date: 24 - November -2007
Route:
Ranganatittu: Bangalore -> Ramanagara -> Mandya -> Srirangapattana -> (3~5 Kms) Road towards Hunsur on the right side -> (500 mts) Ranganatittu Sanctuary.

Somanathapura : Ranganatittu -> Srirangapattana -> Srinivasa Agrahara (After 1~2 kms from Srirangapattana, need to take a right turn immediately after a bridge. Ask locals) -> Karighatta -> Banoor (Roads are BAD) -> Somanathapura (Very BAD roads)

Expense: 600 per head.

PHOTOS:
Link to Ranganatittu photos.
Link to Somanathapura photos.

Kumara Parvatha

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:46:00 +0000

I had been to Kumara Parvatha (KP) twice during my college days .
This is the travelouge of our second trek to KP and we experienced the best there.

Information:

Kukke is accessible only by bus for the time being. You have to catch a bus to Kukke/Subrahmanya form Bangalore or Mangalore. There are a lot of buses from Bangalore. But you need to book the tickets in advance if you are traveling on the weekends. The journey to Kukke takes nearly 10 hours from Bangalore and around 3.5 to 4 hours from Mangalore.
Ideal time for the trekking would be January to March. Its a good decision to carry a tent/large plastic sheet if you are planning to camp. [Now a days you need to obtain permission form range forest office if you are planning to camp on the peak. Please note that alcohol is prohibited and the gurds check the baggage sometimes.]

Dress: A pair of jeans, shorts, cotton t shirt, a warm pull-over and comfortable old walking shoes.
Food: Ready to eat/dry rotis/chapathis for two days, some chocolates, snacks, glucose/electral, and a lot of water.
List: A torch, camphor, 10 mts of strong rope , a strong knife, some old news papers, match box / lighter, plastic sheet / tent and misc items which you need.

Travelogue:
We decided to go for a weekend trekking to Kumara Parvatha. All of us were studying at Mangalore University then. But one week before the fixed date we came to know that the same Saturday would be our convocation day for graduation. So we started to think what to do, and which is important...finally the trekking won over Convocation...!
[This is one of the toughest Peaks in Western Ghats.]

Day One:
Friday afternoon 2.30, Five of us (Myself, Murali, Shyama, Anil,Ramesh,Harsha and Hari) were waiting for a bus to Puttur, in the waiting shed out side the campus. Had a fear that any of the profs might catch us...nothing happened. We boarded the private bus to Puttur.
Evening 5.15 we were at Puttur Bus Stand, form here we had to go to Subrahmanya (Also called as Kukke or Kukke Subrahmanya). Last bus was at 5.45. It started at 6 PM and we reached the destination at 8 in the night. On the way we observed that its drizzling outside.. some of us were tensed because if it rains we cant camp at night on the peak. Finally we reached Subrahmanya and took two rooms at Mayura Residency . Its a fairly good hotel. Had food and said good night to Subrahmanya.

Day Two:
Got up at 5.30 in the morning. It took an hour for all of us to get ready. At 6.30 we were in front of the hotel where we had ordered for 40 chapathis and solid chutney ('gatti chutney'). We also packed idlis for the breakfast on the way. We shared the load among ourselves.
Flash Back: For myself, Murali, Ramesh and Shyama this is a second time experience. When we came here for the fist time we had food at Girigadde Bhatta's house. This time we decided that we will carry food ourselves.
Girigadde Bhatta's house is situated around 6~8 kms from Subrahmanya town. His house is the only house in approximate 20~30 sq kms. There is no road approach to his house. You can reach there only by walking. He comes to Subrahmanys town everyday morning to sell milk to the co. operative milk society. If told in advance at Hotel Kumara Krupa in Subrahmanya, he cooks food for trekkers. But if you are planning to have food at his house, please carry some rice and vegetables and grocery along with you, because it will be helpful for him. Just remember that he has to carry all the grocery on his head up-hills, where its difficult for us to even walk. Off course he will charge for food but he will deduct whatever the amount of grocery you carry along with you.
At 7 we were on the way to Kumara Parvatha. [You can ask the direction with any shop keepers around. They will never misguide you.] You have to walk around 2 kms to reach the base. There is a small 'bus shelter' kind of thing and as I remember there was a small board indicating direction to Bhatta's House. Just catch that path and start walking up-hills. On the way you will meet a lot of leaches and I will assure you that at least 3-4 leaches will bite you if you do not cover yourself fully and rub tobacco on your shoes, pants and wherever possible ;)]
We finished all idlis we had brought for breakfast on the way. With a lot of breaks and lot of sweating and sighs, we reached Bhatta's house at around 11.30. [Near his house there is a forest check post and the guard over there will check your baggage and advice you with a lot of do's and dont's. Please cooperate with him] Had a long break of half an hour at his house, drank the natural mineral water. And we started off at 12.15. It took around an hour and a half to reach the stone shelter (called as 'Kallu Mantapa'). By 2 in the afternoon we were opening the packed chapathis and chutney ..and within no time we finished 15-16 chapathis and buckets of water. [Before the stone structure, there is a small pond from which you can re-fill your water resources]
Again after some rest and we were back on the path. After the stone structure there is a beautiful hill which is called 'Bhattada Raashi' which literally means a huge pile of rice grain. After this hill, we walked 2~3 kms on hilly area. Suddenly forest area starts...I don't know how there is a sharp line of differentiation between the grass lands and forests. It is so thick that you cant even see the sunlight. We reached here around 3.30 PM. From here the path/trail is little steep and sometimes you may need to crawl using both hands. Also its an edgy trail, a slip would end up in your end.
We reached the peak at around 5.30. Quickly we set up the tent. [Our tent was nothing but a huge 12X12 sheet of plastic sheet]. Before the tent was complete it started raining cats and dogs. Myself and Hari set it up and slipped inside and waited for the rain to stop. There was heavy lightning and thunder outside. Whenever there was a heavy lightning our tent used to get charged and all of us could feel it. Rain stopped after half an hour we started collecting fire wood. We were able to collect a few wet small logs and cut branches. We had a few old news papers and with the help of that a a little petrol which Murali carried we were able to lit a small fire.
It was a lovely experience sitting out and eating food in that cold whether. One of us was always awaken and we changed the duty of guard one by one.

Day Three:
I got up by 5 in the morning and saw that all were sleeping and also I remembered that I was the person who was supposed to do the guard duty. ;). Every one woke up and finished the daily chorus in a 'natural way'. Our journey back towards Subrahmanys took around 7 hours. That was a plain simple walk.
Had lunch at a hotel and took a bus back to Mangalore.

PHOTOS:

All Photos are taken by Murali on his Olympus OM2000 film SLR:

Few Shots.........

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:13:00 +0000

Yesterday I came home little early. Utilized time like this :

Link to my album 'Few Shots........'

Belur, Halebidu and Shravanabelagola

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:34:00 +0000

Last Saturday I had been to Beluru, Halebidu and Shravanabelagola. Left to Halebidu from Bangalore at 7 Am on 08/09/2007.
Halebidu is 230 kms from Bangalore. Which is an old star shaped temple built by 'Hoysalas'. It has amazing carvings on the walls.
Beluru is 17 kms from Halebidu. Again, this is another temple built by Hoysalas and comparatively less destroyed then Halebidu. Stories say that this temple was covered by sand during the destruction caused by 'Malik Kafur'.

Shravanabelagola is approx. 90 kms from Beluru and it is famous for a huge monolith of lord 'Gommateshwara'. The statue is located on a hill called Vindhyagiri,. We have to climb 500+ steps to reach the top.

Route : Bangalore -> Nelamangala -> Hassan -> Halebidu -> Belur -> Shravanabelagola -> Nelamangala -> Bangalore
Duration : One day
Trip Meter : 500+ Kms.

Photos:

Link to Beluru Photos.

Link to Halebidu Photos

Link to Shravanabelagola Photos

Beluru

Halebidu

Shravanabelagola

Mullaiyanagiri

noreply@blogger.com (Prasanna Sharma) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:48:00 +0000

This is the fastest trek ever I did. We, a group if 6, left Bangalore by 11.30 PM of last Friday (31/08/07) and were back at Majestic by 8.30 PM the next day. But the experience was wonderful.

We reached Chikkamagalur by 4.45 in the morning. It was amazing to see a hotel open in the bus stand at those morning hours. We had the breakfast of idli and uppittu at 5.30 AM. Asked the cashier about transport to the starting point of trek. He suggested us to hire a vehicle as the first bus in that route starts only after 7.30.

We came out and hired an old Ambassador to take us to 'Sarpadaari' (Sarpa Daari - Snake route), which is the starting point of the trek to Mullaiyanagiri. We started the trek at 6.15 in the morning. There was no rain, but the mist was so heavy that all of us got drenched within 15-20 mins of walk.

The climb is steep right from the beginning. There are multiple routes, but none of them are confusing. Just take the most used and clear path which takes you uphill. After 60 - 70 mins of trek we came across a huge monolithic rock and took rest there for a while. After the rock, there is a small statue of Nandi. These are the 'landmarks' to ensure that we are on the correct route. Visibility was limited to 10 mts. max due to heavy fog.

After climbing for an hour again we reached the twin caves just below the peak. Had our second breakfast there. The caves are located just below the peak. We reached the peak at 8.30 AM, after 2.15 hrs of trek.

The wind was blowing as if someone is spraying pressurized air mixed with water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. There is a temple at the top. Please remove your footwear before entering the compound. The family which is looking after the temple aslo provides breakfast and lunch on request. We spent nearly an hour on the top. It was chilling and the wind was blowing at high speed.

We were being pushed aside by the wind when we started descending towards Seethaiyana MaTha. We took another route where we had to descend through 200 +/- steps and walked around 3 kms to reach the Seethaiyana MaTha. This route opens you to a wonderful , greeting card image like valley.

We reached the MaTha by 11 AM. We had called the Ambassador guy from the peak and asked him to come to the MaTha by the same time. From here we went to Baba Budan Giri to visit the shrine of the saint, Manikyadhara falls and reached back to Chikkamagalur by 2 PM. Took the Volvo bus at 2.30 PM back to Bangalore.

Team size: 6
Expenses: 825 per head.
Summary : Bangalore -> Chikkamagalur (Bus, ~250 Kms / 6 Hrs) -> Sarpadaari (Car, 15 Kms) -> Mullaiyanagiri Peak (Walk, ~4 Kms) -> Seethaiyana MaTha (Walk, ~3 Kms) -> Baba Budan Giri (Car, ~20 Kms) -> Chikkamagalur (Car, ~ 35 Kms)

Photos:

Link to my picasa web album.