Travel Notes .....

Travel Postcards - Krishnagiri and Pondicherry

2014-01-01T00:29:00.001-08:00

Beautiful views from KRP Dam, Krishnagiri and Beach Road in Pondicherry during sunset.

KRP Reservoir - KRP Dam

Beach Road - Pondicherry

KRP Dam at Krishnagiri [ Kelavarapalli Reservoir Project ]

2014-01-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

After seeing Mettur dam was not expecting much of this place but was pleasantly surprised that we could walk on dam where we could view the reservoir on one side and the park on the other. The park seems modelled on Brindavan gardens although the water works are not many. There are many safe areas here that one can use to play in the water.

The park itself was a big one and a busy one since there were many families here. There is a child play area and some hawkers with basic food / items outside the park.

All in all - a nice place to go with family for a day's outing.

Tips : Do enjoy walking on the dam and checking out the views of the reservoir. I am not sure how long such a thing will last. At KRS dam this is no longer allowed.

Can eat in Saravana Bhavan which is close to Krishnagiri. We found the food good there and the service also was very nice.

Dam at KRP

View of the garden from the dam

Reservoir at KRP

KRP Dam

Good place to eat near Krishnagiri - it is on the highway before the turn to KRP

Pondicherry

2014-01-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

Since we camped in Salem for the end of year holidays ( we planned so late that we were not able to get reservations anywhere else ) we would each day - identify one place to go and venture out.

We did Yercaud, Hogenakkal, Mettur dam and then we wondered what to do .. we still had 2 more days to go ! We did not want to go too far - so finally decided on Pondicherry which was about 3.5 hours from Salem.

So off we went. I must say the roads in Tamil Nadu seem better maintained than the roads in Maharashtra. Even the main golden quadrilateral in Maharashtra seems to be perpetually in a state of construction !! Here the roads - even small roads were in reasonably good shape. Was nice driving.

Matrimandir at Auroville :

The drive to Pondicherry was uneventful. We wanted to see the Matrimandir but found out we had to purchase the tickets a day or two in advance. One person said online but when we enquired at Auroville they said no online ticket exists ! Well .. confusing. Anyway we went to Auroville and saw Matrimandir from outside and enjoyed the walk. Browsed the boutiques and then later on went to beach road.

Beach Road :

There is no beach here mainly rocks on which one can sit and enjoy the spray from the high tide. The sea side promenade walk is a crowded place ( may be 'cos we went there during the weekend ) and there are plenty of hawkers who ply you for food / balloons / small toys / ice creams etc.

This area does not allow vehicles so you can walk down this road at a leisurely pace. There is a war memorial at one end and a Gandhi statue after a kilometer or so.

Tips :

Do ask how to get back to the highway rather than use google maps here. I think the google maps uses information mostly from bike riders and we found we were stuck in one place !!! Luckily one person helped us find a better way to the high way.

Matrimandir

Enroute Matrimandir

Flowers in front of the visual room

Beach road - rocks only and no beach

Travel Postcard - Salem

2013-12-31T08:02:00.003-08:00

On our way back from the 1008 Lingam Temple in Ariyanoor we found this field. Thought it was really beautiful so click went the camera.

Near Ariyanoor - 1008 Lingam Temple

1008 Lingam Temple

2013-12-31T07:59:00.000-08:00

This 1008 Lingam Temple is located at Ariyanoor near Salem. At first I could not believe there could be that many lingams in one place.

The main temple is surrounded by 107 lingams ( they are numbered ) and I presume the main linga is the 108th one amidst all these at the main temple, It is a huge linga !!! Really big.

I found the temple beautiful and the colors on the lingam gopurams vibrant. The people at the temple guided us too. At first we are asked to enter the temple area and give our names and money for the archana. After that a very small puja and aarthi are done and we get to see the main big lingam. Then we take the aarti ( buy the red cord if we want ) and come out. Then we are free to see the entire temple at our leisure.

There are 1008 Shiva Lingams present in the temple with the holy cow Nandi in front of them all over the hill on which the temple has been built. There is an enormous Ganesha statue at the foothill too.

Another old lady showed us the temple at the top where we took another darshan and then explored the temple. We found the temple peaceful. May be b'cos it is a big one or there were not too many devotees - I don't know. We sat near the main temple for quite sometime soaking up the calm serene atmosphere. From the area around the temple one has a view of fields and coconut groves - so can linger there for a while too.

Main temple gopuram

Lingams at the top of the hill

More lingams

Mettur Dam

2013-12-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

Mettur Dam was not as developed as I expected it to be. The main highlight was being able to walk on the dam itself and see the gates. The reservoir itself was far and the area for bathing was behind the dam. Did not look inviting so we skipped it.

Mettur Reservoir

We can walk on the dam that can be seen from this vantage

Place where people bathe

Hogenakkal Falls

2013-12-31T06:59:00.001-08:00

I had seen the circular boats that are used in this place eons back in some travel mag. Ever since I had been keen to experience the same !! These round boats are made from bamboo and are carried by the boatmen.

In monsoon Hogenakkal is not open to the public because it seems all the rocky areas are covered with water. We went in December and we could enjoy the boat ride.

We were lucky in that - we did not meet obnoxious touts. In fact I was beginning to wonder if we were in the wrong place for a while before I saw the boats ! :) It took just one talk and we got a boat.

Similar to Dubare - the first stop by the boat can actually be reached by a small bridge and as expected the boatmen are to be found before that. If you do go in further - you can find the bridge that can take you to the first hop where you can get fish fry / chips / drinks etc and a boatman too if you have not already booked one.

You will find masseurs and a place where you can stand so the water comes on you with some force to wash away the oil - if that is your interest.

The boat man will then take you to the actual Hogenakkal falls area - "Hoge" in kannada means smoke and "kal" means rock - so literally smoking rocks. There is a lot of spray from the falls.

The boat man will do the following

Take you beneath / very close a fall so you can get drenched in the water and enjoy the spray
Do a very fast spin that makes the boat go round in circles !
Take the actual boat ride between the rocky outcroppings
An area where you can play in the water and have your food / picnic

We enjoyed the boat ride. This is not well known but there is a way to this water way from the Karnataka side too. However this not developed and I am not sure boats ply in the opposite direction. They mention that the entire ride takes about 1 hour.

You can get fish fry on the boat to eat too ! :) There are boats which sells items like soft drinks / chips etc too :)

Tips :

Our boatman did not hurry us up - but we did reassure him that we would pay for any extra time we took and I think this made the difference.

I found the people in general friendly and not obnoxious so not sure of the truth of touts in this region.

Round boats

Round boats being carried by the boat men

Hogenakkal falls

The boat ride goes beneath the falls

Hawker selling snacks and soft drinks

The water way between rocks

View from boat

View from the Karnataka side

Boats propped against trees

Yercaud

2013-12-31T05:59:00.000-08:00

I had been to Yercaud long time back. It had been an office trip for a day. I remember it being very green. Perhaps it is my hazy recollection that caused me to be disappointed this time but I did not find Yercaud green or a charming cosy hill station.

In any case Yercaud has the regular things to do - a lake, boating [ pedal / rowing / motor ], horse riding, view points for sunset, a falls [ that has about 100 - 150 steps to go down to !!! ]. There is small deer park next to the boating area which is a nice walk. There are 3 - 4 deers here and a few birds.

The view from the points also were not that great. Could see urban buildings so did not appreciate it. Had expected the drive also be to be nice but - even that was not good.

So all in all - I did not consider this a great place to go to. May be it was the time of the year - December !

The deer park has plenty of swings and they don't mind adults using them either so I liked that !

Yercaud Lake - Boating

Yercaud Lake

Deer at the deer park

View

Travel Postcards - Orange flowers on the road Pune to Bangalore

2013-12-23T21:30:00.001-08:00

We were travelling from Pune to Bangalore in the month of October 2013 - fourth week of the month. And I was amazed at seeing the orange aster flowers that were so abundant on the sides of the roads. There were many places where the entire hillside would be this vibrant color due to these bountiful flowers.

I did not stop the first few kilometers thinking it would get over soon enough and we were in a hurry so just enjoyed the view until finally I could no longer stop myself. We stopped at one point and would you know it ? Ofcourse it was the place where the flowers were not that abundant !!! :)

Anyway took a couple of snaps and thought to post them here. And as the way life happens - just at the next bend when the car had started to move fast - I found a huge hill full of the flowers ! :)

Orange Aster covering hills

Just rows and rows of these flowers

Travel Postcards - Road

2013-10-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

I take a lot of snaps and I belong strictly to the "point and shoot" variety ! :) Sometimes some of the pictures come out really well so I thought to start adding them to my blog posts. While most of the posts in this blog have pictures in them, some pictures may fall out of the category and I can post them under some other general section.

There will be multiple such posts of course since this is an ongoing collection of snaps. So with a new label "Snapshots" I will be adding them to my blog. Details of each shot will be below each picture.

Golden Quadrilateral - Near Kolhapur

Golden Quadrilateral - Near Kolhapur - Sugar cane fields - Love this pic !!!!

Enroute Mangalore - State Highway after Dharwad

Fields on State Highway towards Mangalore

Travel Postcards - Maravanthe Beach

2013-10-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

We keep passing Maravanthe Beach when we drive from Pune to Mangalore. This time we saw the beach on a rainy day and passed it on our way back during sunset so took some shots.

Rainy day dues at Maravanthe Beach

Sunset at Maravanthe Beach

Sunset at Maravanthe Beach - I liked the footsteps in the sand, the lone figure walking to the water and the sun :)

Sunset at Maravanthe Beach

Siddhivinayak Temple Visit

2013-10-22T20:47:00.001-07:00

Siddhivinayak at Prabhadevi

We went to Siddhivinayak Temple last weekend. A Saturday. Left Pune around 11:30 am and reached Mumbai around 2:00 pm.

I had been wanting to go to this temple for about 6 years or so. I had always thought I would be able to tag along with someone who was planning to go there but it did not work out and finally I went with my hubby .. an atheist ! :)

The drive itself was uneventful - we used google maps and reached the temple. The police have blocked the road that leads to the temple for security reasons I guess. On asking, a policeman told us to park anywhere in the road perpendicular to the approach road and go to the temple. The irony - that road had more "No Parking" signs that parking places.

We were then approached by a tout who said that he would find us a parking space provided we got the pooja items from his stall. Well, we went with it.

He found a place close to the temple alright - the other approach road and with "No Parking" signs ! We asked him if it was okay to park there but he said it would be fine.

Then he was dismayed to find that we planned to eat before we went inside the temple. Hey we had driven from Pune and our child was hungry. He asked us to give him our car keys !!! Well ... ! We did not give them of course !

After coming back from lunch which took about 30 min he complained saying we took too long. In any case we took the pooja items from him - for 150/-. Then he asked us not to take too long in the temple. Really ! Isn't it dependent on how long the queue would be ?

When we went inside there were lot more shops asking us to buy pooja items. We already had them so did not bother to check how much that would cost.

The queue seemed long but after the first batch - we were let in. And we got the darshan pretty fast. Yet that tout said we were late. Finally we realized he was just as anxious as we were about the "No Parking" rule. No wonder he kept on saying we were late. He could have had about 4 people come and go by now it seems instead of just guarding our car !!! It so happened that when my hubby was putting on his shoes a policeman stopped next to our car !! Good we were ready to leave and he could see us putting on shoes.

So out we drove and we got caught by a policeman who warned us about the tint on our car. We had had that checked here in Pune and we had been told it was not a cause for concern since it was light colored and not too dark that one could not see inside. Anyway after we finished paying the fine I had this bright idea to go to that Worli link bridge !!!

Paid the toll ; I was not much impressed by the bridge ! I mean perhaps I expected it to be longer or more spectacular - the half girders after the full length girders did not look good I thought. The view is good and if we could stop on the bridge it would be better ! It would also be good to have a vantage point to view the complete bridge - there must be one. Since we did this last minute we could not go to it.

Came to the exit from the bridge and then .... again another policeman caught us for the same reason !! Phew !!! Anyway we showed him that we had already been penalized for the same item and he let us go !

After that, the route that we had to take to come back to Pune went around Siddhivinayak again ... LOL .. ha ha it was funny ... we did not get a chance to go around the idol inside the temple - it would have broken the incoming line ... so God ensured we were forced to do it ... albeit a bigger round.

We took the route suggested by google and again saw the same first policeman !!! Jeez !!! However we were not stopped and my hubby's phone lasted long enough for us to reach the express way and then it went dead due to no battery ! :)

Still a wish fulfilled and another too - had wanted to see the Worli link ! :)

Tips :

1. The touts near the mandir may say they will get a parking place but this is just a place on the other road to the temple and it has "No Parking" signs. It is your choice if you want to give you car keys but we did not !

2. The line at this temple is not as efficient as the line at Tirupati. Here once we enter the sanctum area it is like a free for all !!! In Tirupati due to the dividing line each person gets to go in front of the diety even if it is for just a glimpse. Here you can be in the sanctum and people push you out of the way and it is difficult to get back once you are pushed out.

Added to it - the line suddenly splits into two at a couple of places and one is suspicious if that will make us get the darshan faster or slower !!!

Road Trip 2013 - Someshwar Beach, Mangalore

2013-10-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

Someshwar Beach was not a part of our itenary but when we were in Mangalore we wanted to see an uncle's tota ( plantation ) and this beach was close to his tota so we went there after seeing the coconut plantation.

The beach is divided into two areas by a rock and the there is a path to climb onto the rock. One can view the sunset here provided the horizon also agrees to be non-hazy ! :)

The sands are fine and clean. Did not get into the water but enjoyed the sunset views.

Tips :

1. Sunset looks beautiful from this point. So you may want to plan accordingly.

2. Do have churmura upkari at this place. It is a local bhel which is made from murmura, grated carrot, tomatoes, beetroot, mangoes ( you can opt out of any veggies ! ), onions and lime juice and masala. Yummy ! :)

Chikoo

Just flowers

Typical Coconut Grove

Jackfruit tree

This is called the "Rath" flower since it is shaped like a temple rath

Someshwar Beach Rock and way to it

View from the rock

One side of the beach

Deepening hue of blue as the sun set

Blue

High tide and lovely hue

Road Trip 2013 - Madikere

2013-10-22T08:39:00.001-07:00

During our stay in Coorg we went to Madikere Town and saw a few tourist spots there.

Abbey Falls
Raja's seat
Cauvery Nisaragadhama

Abbey Falls : I found this a nice place to visit. There was plenty of water and a hanging bridge from where we could view the waterfall easily. Nothing really stood out for me - it was pleasant.

Raja's seat : This is a great point in Madikere. Lovely views from here ! So I would put it as a must visit if you visit Madikere. See pics below ! :)

Cauvery Nisargadhama : This was a fun place ! We enjoyed boating here and the walk around the the entire area. There are stops on the walking route so you can catch a breath. Log huts on trees give a differenct view. We ended up spending about half an hour in one since it started raining heavily. So with the dripping roof on top of a tree and the rain ... hmmm it was a very nice time. Just needed some hot tea ! :)

There was a swing beneath the tree - so we spent some time there too. Elephant rides can also be availed from near the Deer Park area.

Outside of the nature resort there is horse riding ( they charge a lot !!! ) and a play area for kids. All in all perfect for a family outing !!

For us the main attraction was the deer feeding ! :) The deer turned up their noses when we tried to feed them leaves ! :) They wanted cabbage and cucumber instead ! :)

Cousin's plantation : We were able to go to my hubby's cousin's plantation in Madikeri so have added some general pics of that place for a feel of the hinterland. We also got to see cocoa tree, a rubber plantation and pepper of course ! :)

Tips :

1. Do go to Raja's seat. Wonderful panoramic views from this point. There is supposed to be water show too but we did not get to see it since it was closed.

2. Cauvery Nisargadhama is also a lovely place for families. Do feed the deer - cucumber and cabbage ! Climb on the log huts too.

Abbey Falls

Snail ... we waited for this to cross the road .. since it looked like the traffic on the foot trail to Abbey would quash it !

View from Raja's seat

Boating at Cauvery Nisargadhama

Deers

They turned up their noses at leaves but liked cabbage

Just another view of the deers

Cucumbers were fine too !

Elephant riding start

Halt on the walking route inside the Nisargadhama

A very high up view area still under construction

Rubber Sap

Rubber plantation

Cocoa ! :)

Brinjals

River in the back area of cousin's plantation

Bamboo hanging bridge

Still waters ...

The road to his cousin's plantation ... very very green

Road Trip 2013 - Coorg / Madikere - Homestay

2013-10-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

We had opted for a home stay in Coorg. See the idea was to have a lazy lazy lazy holiday and we wanted to be amidst a coffee plantation. I wanted all the modern amenities while being surrounded by nature ! We also wanted to watch the IPL too ! :) The proprietor of HoneyPot homes said that we were the first customers to ask if IPL was telecast in his area and if he had backup for the TV !!! Anywayz ...... :)

It was not difficult to find this place - it is just off the highway about 8kms before Madikere if we are approaching from Mysore Road. After our stay the owner gave us a coffee cup with the Honey Pot homes logo - it was cute - ivory and orange but sadly it ended up chipped once I reached home !! Ironic ! I managed to keep it safe all along the 7 day journey after our stay and .... :(

Following is the transcript of the review that I had posted on tripadvisor about this place and the link is also mentioned. This about sums up how we enjoyed our stay here. On one of the days we went to Madikere and checked out the tourist spots but I am chronicling them in another post. :)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g641714-d1178670-r163234273-Honey_Pot_Homes-Madikeri_Kodagu_District_Karnataka.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Trip Advisor review

We have been wanting to have a relaxed homestay in Coorg for a long time and this was a wonderful stay.

First it really is amidst a big coffee plantation ! :) So plan for nice long walks surrounded by the coffee shrubs. Or just laze on the patio while looking at the tranquil misty atmosphere ( esp after a drizzle :) ).

The plantation tour is good. We got to see coffee ( 2 varieties ), cardamom, oranges, jackfruit, avocado and vanilla

The food is home made so it is always fresh. Our kid who had started to go off hotel food ( after 8 days of travel ) got her appetite back here.

The cottage is really nice and our child enjoyed having her own space in the 'loft' area as she called it. I found the entire cottage area very pretty.

I do like holidays which are away from everything but in Coorg I wanted my comforts while having a relaxed holiday - so hot water / electricity / backup generator and TV ( to watch the IPL
matches ) was my requirement and I got all of them ! :)

We were taken on a "flying squirrel" ( Civet ) night trek by the host. While we only got to see the glowing eyes of the animal and not the gliding, it was still fun !

The staff was friendly and very courteous. All in all - a place I would want to come to again - perhaps when the coffee flowers bloom .... :)

Room tip : “Cottages are good for families with kids. They have a loft type of area where the kids ( older ) can sleep and / or just play.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Trip Advisor review

Tips :

1. Do stay in the cottage if you can. The mezzanine area is fun for kids and the patio has a great view too. We stayed for one day in the bigger suite but while the suite is big and comfortable - I preferred the cottage.

2. While the food is made from fresh ingredients be aware that eating at the homestay is expensive.

Road from Mysore to Coorg

Now a little cloudy

Treehouse ..

Cottages at HoneyPot Homes

Cottage where we stayed

Taking a walk

Lovely nature's trail

Coffee shrubs on either side

Road to the Home Stay

Coffee Beans - only single one was red at the time we visited

The sprawling coffee estate and pepper plants

Coffee beans again

Drying area

Silky cotton gourd

The baby coffee plant is almost smothered in care ! :)

Elaichi / Cardamom

Elaichi / Cardamom Tunnel ! :)

Pepper

Road Trip 2013 : Dubare Elephant Camp

2013-10-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

We had heard about elephant washing / feeding from a friend who said she had done this activity with her kid when she had been to Coorg. Needless to say it sounded exciting and a must-do !

We did not have to venture far - about 20 kms from our homestay. And it was an easy drive. From the main road - there is a junction from where it is straight to the Camp.

So off we went. We were told to reach the camp by 9 am max. The entire area is disorganized. In fact it almost looked like we had reached late ! Luckily we found the counter where we took tickets for the boats to the other side. Did some basic rowing and reached.

There we had to take tickets to bathe the elephant. Once this ticket is shown to the mahout - we can scrub the elephant's skin and get a picture of oneself sitting on top of the elephant ! :)

We were not keen on taking a ride on the elephant so skipped that part. Went to feeding the elephant.

The feed that is given to the elephant is a bundle of hay which has unhusked rice inside it. One has to pay for each bundle and we can insert it in the elephant's mouth ! :)

Our daughter was a bit scared initially but the mahouts were friendly and helped her get over her trepidation. After that there was no stopping. She fed the elephant and we took snaps while touching the elephant's tusks ! :)

Tips :

1. Do go early. The washing finished by 11 am.
2. The mahouts are very friendly. In case you reach late if you pay the mahout he may still give you the experience of washing the elephant.
3. It is not very well organized - so first look for the rafts to take you to the other side - you need to pay at a counter. Everything else will be done on the other side of the river.
4. There is a path to reach the other side without going via the boats. About a km I think but some of the route is water logged. We preferred to just take the shallow rafts.

Rafts to the Elephant Washing Area

Mahout bringing an elephant for washing

Washing area - the elephant is prone here .. at other times - can sit on the elephant after washing it and click a snap

Elephants eat the hay and unhusked rice

Feeding the elephant ... a bit scared initially ! :)

Locals washing their clothes

End of washing time - the mahout now busy .. see the tourists returning in the rafts

The route to Dubare Elephant Cave was very scenic ....

Road Trip 2013 : Mysore

2013-08-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

The road from Bangalore and Mysore is excellent. We liked it and we reached Mysore in a couple of hours I think.

We had initially planned to come to Mysore and then go back to Bangalore for a couple more days and then to go Coorg. After looking at the map we realized it did not make sense to backtrack. So we stayed 5 days in Bangalore and then came here. Mysore was closer to our next stop - Coorg.

It occurred later that we could have added Nandi Hills to our itenary. We thought we could do it if we started early but our entire trip was supposed to be a lazy lazy holiday so we started late.

Mysore Brindavan Gardens :
Being late - we thought to stop at the Mysore Gardens first. For some reason it was like deja vu. Perhaps it is just the number of times I have seen it in old movies ... No idea. Seeing it now however made me realize it had lost its charm for me.

I could not help comparing it with the gardens I have visited abroad and I felt it had so much unrealized potential ! Yes the flowers beds , the trimmed shrubs were good. Yet it seemed so much lesser than what it could be. Disappointing.

At the entrance they encourage you to go to an aquarium but it is not much to write about. The gardens have a nice big layout and the fountains are nice. There are however many of the small fountains that either do not spout water or do not have enough pressure. We walked up - the gulmohar lined path from where we could see the gardens give a lovely view.

Disappointing again - we could not view the dam. I am guessing this is due to security reasons but it was sad nonetheless. I had been looking forward to seeing the huge expanse of water but this was not to be.

At 7 pm we slowly made our way to the musical fountains area. The fountains do look good with lights.
Needless to say the entire crowd was there but we deliberately decided to miss the first show. And we landed in the area around 7:30 pm. Each show lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. The hordes had lessened and we got seats around the fountain. We really enjoyed the show.

Tips:
1. Do sit on the high seats around the dancing fountains. The view is better.
2. Skip the first rendition of the evening's musical fountains. There is less crowd in the second / third round and you get to see without any jostling.
3. There is a hotel inside the gardens - if you want to see the gardens in the mornings without any crowd to disturb you - then this is the place to be. While we did not stay there - our friends did and they said they liked it.

Mysore Zoo:

We really enjoyed Mysore Zoo. We started in the afternoon next day and we got to see all the animals. We thought we would check the cart but there was a big queue and the last cart was supposed to be at 4pm I think. So we walked. And realized this was a better option. I had taken the cart in Katraj Zoo and when I compare with this - I think walking is the better option.

First you come across the giraffes ! No matter how much you have read about this animal's height - seeing it in first person is amazing ! :) They are so tall and their legs are not as slender as they appear in the National Geographic channel. They are muscular and you can understand how one well aimed kick can stun or even kill !!!

Birds, Animals, Snakes :) It is a big zoo - and we saw plenty and it was fun ! :)

Tips:
1. Consider going around 2:30 - 3 pm. Less crowd and you can still see all the animals.
2. Crowd for the cart tends to be higher and ends at 3 I think - but walking is still the best way to see all the animals.
3. It is a big zoo so plan for plenty of walking.

Mysore Palace:

We had wanted to see the palace with the lighting only. We were not so keen on seeing the inside of the palace at least not as of now. So we thought we had missed that opportunity when we were told the palace was only lit up on certain days between 7 to 10 pm or something like that.

However there was a light show at 7pm daily and we could do that. We were a bit late but that was not a problem. We got the see the palace in all its different lighting :)

Tips:
1. There is a daily light show in Kannada and you will get to see the palace lit up - softly as well as in the famous bright lights.

Small fountains in the centre of Mysore Garden

Panoramic View of Mysore Gardens

The white building is the hotel inside the garden

Another look

Fountains

Pools of light in the evening ... beautiful

The white peafowl looked more beautiful than the peacock :)

See the peacock feathers are not clearly seen with the green leaves :)

Communicating across the fence :)

Majestic walk

The gorilla did not move from this thinking position for 20 minutes !

If it interests anyone

Deer

I felt bad - there were 6 cheetahs in this tiny place !

The lion looks sad na ?

Crocs - Same color as the rocks !

Hippo - Really huge and ungainly

The curious giraffe

Mysore Palace - Different lights

Road Trip 2013 - Bangalore Times

2013-07-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

The road from Chitradurga to Bangalore was smooth. We stopped for tea at Kamath Tourist I think. The place was good although service was slow.

After that as we entered Bangalore - it started pouring ! We missed the turning to Outer Ring road and ended up going around in circles just getting to Jayanagar 3rd block ! Phew ! We were to meet friends but we postponed it to the next day which was a good thing since we finally ended up at the hotel around 8:30 pm. Ordered room service - and started to watch the IPL match. :)

Our stay in Bangalore was interspersed with visits to friends and relatives so most of the time we were rushing from one place to another or making people rush to us ! :) Couple of them came from office and one friend drove from Chennai to meet us. All in all - it was fun !

We did not have much expectations of doing sightseeing in Bangalore so we thought that on working days - we could do some sightseeing and meet friends in the evening. As it turned out - we ended up meeting relatives instead. So minimal touristy activities - we went to the Nehru Planetarium, Cubbon Park, Rode on the metro, saw Vidhana Soudha from outside, which surprised me .. I remember the days when we used to sit on its steps !!! How times change ! :)

Nehru Planetarium : This was a fun outing. The science park outside the planetarium was good. We went to the Solar System show and I felt it could have been better. The show needs to be updated and made more attractive.

The show is not expensive and parking in the planetarium is available. The watchmen do need to watch themselves. They come across as obnoxious whereas the actual people who answered my call and were in the office were very polite and interested in talking about the topic !

All the devices in the science park were functional and our kid had a wonderful time with them. She was especially fascinated by the parabolic dish - where she could whisper and we could hear it across the park while standing near a similar blue dish ... :) Fun .....

Tips : Go the the dancing fountains just opposite the planetarium. Since that starts in the evening , can plan a show here and then move on to the fountains.

Metro : Riding the metro was fun. We entered the metro from MG Road - went all the way to Byappanahalli, purchased return tickets there and came back. The stations are clean - no spit of tobacco thank goodness ! The guards do urge you to move faster ! For now - this is the single route in Bangalore. Other routes are being built for the metro.

Cubbon Park : What is there to say of this place ? :) It is a good place to chill out. Verdant when we went there since there had been rains. Take a picnic basket ( which our friends got for us ), couple of frisbees, cricket bat or football and have fun. We also enjoyed making bubbles - typical picnic activity. After food and some games - we headed to the toy train area. Sat in the toy train and then my kid went on the other rides. There is park there for kids. Luckily met no beggars. I remember the last time I had been here and the place seemed filled with beggars and hawkers. Not that hawkers were not there but they were not intrusive.

Vidhana Soudha

Verdant Cubbon Park

Cherry blossoms :)

Cubbon park ride

Science park outside Nehru Planetarium

One of the experiments

Road Trip 2013 - Chitradurga Fort

2013-06-30T01:51:00.001-07:00

On NH4 driving down from Pune to Bangalore - we had stayed the previous night in Haveri. As such we were close to Chitradurga, about 140 kms away. We started after a late breakfast and reached Chitradurga by 1pm. The roads were good - we had to take an exit off the highway to go to the fort.

About the fort : The fort itself is beautiful - a rocky landscape with green shrubs decorating the area here and there. The walls of the fort are made with huge stones and they look majestic. The fort is very well maintained and we found it very clean.

Be prepared to walk quite a bit since the fort is not small and it has many steps.

Fame : Chitradurga fort is famous for Onake Obavva who defended the fort single-handedly with a pestle when her husband was at lunch and she realized English soldiers were making their way into the fort - via a small crevice. She stood at the entrance of the crevice and killed each soldier as he emerged and quietly dragged the body aside.

Strangely enough - there are colleges just outside the fort - for me it looked kind of incongruous ! :)

I think we can spend about half a day in the fort and it is good idea to have a hat and sunscreen on ; when exploring the area. Additionally should have water !! :)

Facilities : There are water fountains inside the fort and I was pleased to find they have good toilet facilities too. There is a small snack shop inside where you can buy buttermilk, cold drinks, ice cream and other snacks.

Pune to Haveri - Roads are good

Roads near Chitradurga Fort

About the fort

Inside Chitradurga Fort

About Onake Obavva

Rocky steps ....

One wall of the fort

Rocky rocky ....

The road to Bangalore

Road Trip 2013 - Bangalore - Mysore - Coorg - Mangalore

2013-06-30T00:43:00.002-07:00

We undertook a lazy road trip to Bangalore, Mysore, Coorg, Mangalore and then back home.

The drive from was uneventful although we decided to check just how much toll we were paying for this road. I think we averaged about 1 Rs per km. Almost every 60 - 70 kms there was a toll booth. We got tired of this. Wish they would come up with a more efficient system.

We stayed in Haveri for the night - there was a big jam on the road and we were lucky we found a place to stay and food to eat !!!

There are still many diversions on the road from Pune to Bangalore - either due to new construction or patching up old construction. So be on the lookout. Typical to Indian roads - you will come across bullock carts on the fast lane travelling in the opposite direction and crazy people who seem to hug the center of the road - they seem incapable of moving to either lane for some reason ! :)

This was the route map of our drive .... a total of about 1800 kms over 18 days .... Our longest stay was in Bangalore where we managed to meet a few friends although not all of them.

Stops enroute : We took tea break about 60 kms ( or 30 ? ) from Dharward at a place called Sai Food Court which is within the premises for the hotel as well as a marriage hall. The reason I am mentioning this place ? The restrooms were well kept, clean and did not stink at all !!!

Bangalore : It does take time in Bangalore to go from one place to another and we found it strange that the outer ring road had so many signals. We kind of expected it to have no signals ! Sometime like a smooth corridor with exits at specific points ! :)

Way home : On our way back we did go to Gokarna and saw the main Gokarna beach but missed Om beach. It was late by then and was getting dark. If we had started a couple of hours early from Mangalore perhaps but then this was a lazy lazy holiday ... :) It was pouring buckets when we left Mangalore!

The road trip route

Itenary - although we stayed in Haveri instead of Dharward the first day

Fireflies festival at Purushwadi

2013-06-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

So ... I came across a lonely planet snippet on the million fireflies at Purushwadi sometime in January ( or was it February ? ) when I visited my dentist ... :) I surreptitiously took quick notes in my handy Evernote ( did I tell you I love this app ?? ) .... so I would not lose any info since I was browsing through many issues and I did not want to miss anything just b'cos I forgot the issue date ! :)

Got many many ideas for future travel and have now started to buy the mag regularly too ... :) For some reason in spite of my interest in travel; I initially disliked the mag. Somehow the places they mentioned seemed out of reach for my budget. However the issues I saw at the dentist made me revise my opinion .. :)

Back to my trip ...... I was fascinated by the idea of seeing so many fireflies. After talking with Grassroutes - the people who organized the trip to this place - we decided to go for it. Booked early since they said they tend to get filled up pretty quickly for the relevant weeks. The prime season is May end and June 2-3 weeks.

The journey to Purushwadi was uneventful. We took snaps on the ghat just before Rajur. Although we were to reach the place by 12 noon we took a more relaxed approach and reached by 4 I think. The traffic from Pune to Narayangaon was full of trucks and we did not expect that many else we would have reached by 2 pm I think.

From Rajur to Purushwadi a local guide from the village will help get to the site. Since there are no markers to the village this is good !! We found this route also very scenic. We took snaps on the way back though. It was rainy and misty and I thought the golden grass with the misty clouds was perfect ! :)

Place : We missed lunch but had tea. It was tea without milk. Seems there is not much milk in this place. They also give murmura with farsan as a snack. We found the tea predictably too sweet ! :) Anyway .. after that we went on a sunset trek. This was really good. We were not too keen on the dam walk; that is for people who want a gentle walk which is not too strenuous. :)

We passed fields of bajra, saw flint stone and tried to get sparks from it ( no luck ) and climbed up and up. I personally did not think it was too bad ... slightly less than moderate in terms of difficulty I would say. Just had to be careful of the slippery slopes where loose mud was present.

The view at the top was really good ... :) Although the clouds played spoilsport with the sunset honestly I did not mind. It was beautiful anyway ....

Came back and had a mango feast ... the mangoes were really sweet and very juicy ... :) We could have as much as we wanted. Then settled down for the amazing evening firefly show ....

The fireflies : I cannot say just how beautiful the area was once dusk settled in ..... we did try our level best but could not capture the fireflies on camera ... we definitely need a tripod for this .... So anyway took videos ... :) They have come out well but do not capture the awesome show ... it is just too too good !!! The entire area is blanketed in these tiny tiny lit insects.

It is all around ... no need to take a walk but if you do - you can see the valley covered with fireflies .. just beautiful !!! When you walk down the road you feel surrounded by tiny Christmas lights. That is the best comparison I can think of ! :)

Other activities : I liked the other activities we did the next day - chopping wood, sowing paddy, grinding wheat and the guides were very helpful and very very eager to show all the activities. I do not think I can give an unbiased opinion of these since .. I used to spend 2 months of summer vacation in both my grandparent's villages - so nothing was new to me ! :)

They bring back memories of ... grinding wheat / dal / sometimes rice with my grandmother or mami. Milking the cow ( once was enough ) and drinking fresh milk .. it really has a different taste. Pounding wheat for that kheer with jaggery [ yummy ... :) ], taking sugarcane from the fields and eating them till our tongues were raw with those minor cuts ... plucking mangoes and eating them .. and seeing rooms full of mangoes to be sent to bigger towns and selling some of them in the local village market ....

Making those patchwork quilts with grandmom with old sarees, taking lunch to the fields and eating with our uncles .. food just used to taste great there in the middle of the field .. bhakri with simple subji .. again .. just heavenly ... Kite flying , sleeping on the terrace under the stars ( no electricity then ), sometimes being allowed to go to the field with my uncle to "guard" it ... and ending up learning devotional songs while we stared at the moon while lying in the middle of the field ..... :) Being careful of snakes .. considering I almost stepped on a cobra .. I should mention it ! :)

Swimming in the well with that "bhopla" kind of thing attached with a jute rope , eating green green imli plucked from tree ... walking behind bullock carts from village to village for weddings ( I hated sitting in them ... so slow I used to think ) ... and the best part .... using catapults to down mangoes en route .. and confirm that our mangoes were the sweetest ... !!! Ha ha ha .....

Anywayz ... too many things to list now but yes I have had the pleasure of simple village life and know just how tough life in a village is ..... it always made me admire my grandmother. She was about 60 at that time and had enough energy to put me to shame ! :) Diwali time was another feast altogether ! :)

For all that I had fun - I consider myself an urban city gal ! :)

So nothing new for me there really ... but for my child it was interesting. We have made couple of other agro-tourism type of trips before but this was different. I don't foresee my child having the kind of joys I had [ nor do I see a reason to 'make' her enjoy them ... ] but an exposure to the way rural life is ; was our idea and it was fulfilled.

Food : The food is made in the village homes and I found it fresh and good. My child also had it with no problems. Even though I hate "sheera" I could admit it was well made ! :) They should not offer tea though .. it is too too too sweet !!!!! Phew ! :)

Directions : The directions from Pune seem wrong. There is a left to be taken after the ST bus stop and not right before the bus stop as mentioned in the directions pdf they sent across. We checked in with the local people and they said the same. So this into needs to be updated.

Organizers : I was very annoyed with the organizers. I had made my booking way back and yet I felt like I was treated like a 2nd class citizen.

Before thinking that I am fussy .. consider that I have taken umpteen treks where the only sanitation has been taking a "lota" , going to a specific place and getting the business done !!! Hell even in my grandpa's place I had to do that first couple of years before they installed toilets ....

We have gone to camping trips with our child, where there was no toilet as such ...we all managed b'cos everybody had the same conveniences.

What I did not like about this trip was that I was treated one way and another set of travelers got better sanitation benefits for no reason at all. If I had stayed in the dormitory - okay ... but .. not otherwise.

When I booked I saw in the brochure it was mentioned that western toilets and I was pleased. The ground reality was that our tent was pitched near the school grounds far from the main tent area.

The main tents region had clean bathrooms (health faucet, soap too !!! ), step out of the tents and you get a view of the valley, dustbins outside the tents, there is a big tree under which you can sit and watch the fireflies in the night and led lights for the night so you can see where you are going.

We were instead ..... shunted off to a place where I got to see the school grounds ( seriously ?? ) away from the main camp, the toilet was unclean when I came ( there was not much water either ) and there was a set of Indian toilets that if I wanted I could share with the people from the dormitory which stank from 10 feet away !!!

To be sure - I was told there could be two reasons for this - that I booked last minute ( which was not correct ) and that the villagers did not get the instructions correct.

And yes they apologized and said they would make up for it and we could go to another one of their village programs elsewhere. I was wary though. Why ? Mistakes can happen of course but correcting it is important.

You cannot tell me on one hand that the villagers do not always get the instructions right and then after telling you twice that there is no water in the bathroom - you do not ensure it is taken care of !!!! You know very well .. telling them is not enough then why did you not ensure it was taken care of ?? All I can say is - I am glad they at least cleaned the toilet !!!! We managed to scrape the bottom of the barrel of water in the toilet allotted to us the next day !!!

I am not even going to mention that I had asked for hot water for bathing even before I landed in the camp as a special instruction !!! :)

I would give them credit for working with the villages / villagers and that this is a commendable pursuit.

Villagers : Very very friendly people and very nice. I felt they did a great job in welcoming us, showing us all the activities. In fact they seemed disappointed that I was not ready to dunk myself in the river ! :) Very courteous. Full marks for their behavior. They also ensured we got solar lamps for the night and when it started raining a little more they came and told us that they were nearby and if water came in to call them. Like I said - very very nice people.

Tips :

1. Take a tripod if you want to be able to take snaps ! :)
2. Stay in the main tent area ( 5-6 tents are pitched here ) especially if you are with a child. Make sure you ask about that specifically and cross check once you reach there.

For more information : www.grassroutes.co.in

Freshly washed by the rains

Rural charm

Tent - really spacious - could accommodate 5 people

Main tent area

Flint Stone

Cloudy day so no sunset view but loved the views anyway

Lovely Bajra fields

Our desperate attempts to capture the thousands of fireflies ....

Sowing paddy

Rural charm

River where you can have a swim

The narrow bridge to Purushwadi

See the numerous weaver birds nests ???

Way back .... :)

Maravanthe Beach ( Murudeshwar ) Beach

2013-06-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

On the way to Mangalore - we pass Murudeshwar. Now Murudeshwar can refer to both the temple
itself as well as the beach. The temple is beautiful and the statue of Murudeshwar is very big and serene. At the back of the temple one can see a water body with boats in it. The gopuram is lovely.

Strangely the beach is not very close to the temple. It is few kms away from the temple.

The beach is lovely - pristine sand and clean waters. One can see a lovely curved stretch. There is tender coconut to be had or tea from the small beach stalls.

What makes Murudeshwar unique though is that the road passing this area has the beach on one side and a river on the other. Simply wonderful.

Murudeshwar Statue

Back of the temple - can see the beach from here

Another view of the water body

Murudeshwar Beach

Murudeshwar Beach and the river on the other side - separated only by a road

Tide on the rocks at Murudeshwar

Starfish

Velas - Turtle Mania

2013-03-29T09:08:00.004-07:00

We went to Velas last weekend - March 16th 2013. Basically we went to see the turtles. This is the season the eggs laid by the turtles hatch and they enter the sea.

We were expecting to be disappointed. It was close to new moon and we thought there would be no turtles without the moon. Luckily we got to see the turtles. Guess it is some other species that needs the moon.

Velas is hardly 200 kms from Pune and we have to use the ferry from near Harihareshwar to get to the side of Velas. This was my first time on a ferry which could take vehicles so I was very excited ! :) The journey itself was uneventful.

Best time to go : March - April

Getting there : http://snmcpn.in/velas-logistics.html

Stay :

Velas has no hotels or resorts. We stayed in a separate room within the cozy home of Mr. Omkar Nijasure. [ On his card it says Nitsure although website says Nijasure ]. The stay was very nice. Good food [ Home made food - Solkadi and the green mirchi pickle was yummy ! ], hot water at all times, the beach for the turtles close by and in the night we took a short walk to the end of the village and got to see many many stars !! Very polite hosts who made our stay very comfortable. There are dormitories for people who are willing to share facilities.

Activities : Turtles, Fort in Velas / Baankot

a. Turtles : The turtles are normally checked at 6am and 6pm. There is an enclosure where the turtle nests are kept covered with baskets so no predators could attack. The teeny tiny turtles are then taken in a basket and released near the sea. The turtles crawl to the sea - they look very cute ! :) And they are fast for baby turtles ! :)

There were lots of people when we were at the beach. We.wondered if we would get to see any turtles in the rush . Two chains of people is formed with space in between for the turtles. The conservation people stand near the sea so people do not inadvertently step on the turtle going into the sea.

The worst part of the entire episode was that - one member of the conservation group crossed the space in between senselessly and almost crushed a baby turtle under his foot ! Crazy !!! If the people involved are so careless how can they expect support in their venture ???

Luckily the other members were not so irresponsible and were more aware of their actions ! All in all - it takes about 30 - 45 min to see the entire sequence and then you can watch sunset at the beautiful beach. :)

A very nice experience.

People from the NGO may ask you to buy a ticket near the entrance to the beach so they can show you a movie on the turtle conservation. We declined. We said we just wanted to see the turtles. So we did not have to buy any ticket. The others were shown videos and given details about the NGO / turtle conservation etc.

b. Fort in Velas / Baankot - We can go to see the turtles in the morning too. Generally speaking the number of turtles in the morning are higher.

We purchased cute souvenirs of decorated turtles are at exorbitant prices ( but of course ! ). We left next day after breakfast. We wanted to check out the fort at Baankot which is about 1.5 kms from Velas. One person misdirected us - we had to come back about 6 kms. There is a fork where one route leads down to Velas and the other ascending road to the fort.

The views from the fort are lovely. Definitely worth a visit. The interior of the fort is just like any other tumbledown and overgrown fort.

We spent about 1.5 hours there - just going around the perimeter and taking many snaps. On the way back - hardly a couple of minutes from the fort - at a turn - we stopped to buy mangoes. We got 50 mangoes which were to ripen in 10 days for 1200/-. Hubby drove a hard bargain. I thought we would not get any mangoes ! :)

Incidentally on the main road when we were looking for the fort one guy quoted Rs. 4500/- for 50 mangoes! Phew ! We declined.

Other details :

For more information on turtles, their conservation and the NGO's involved you can look at the following links ---

1. The brochure - http://snmcpn.in/pdf/SNM-brochure-English.pdf
2. The main website - http://snmcpn.in/
3. The local NGO - Kasav Mitra Mandal ( At least this is what we were told ! )

Okay I know I went overboard with the snaps ... :)

The water body we crossed in the ferry

The mini jetty just before the bigger jetty

Vehicles should reverse into the ferry

Full load

The beach enroute Velas - the sand has lots of black particles

Jackfruit in the area behind our home stay - there are areca nut trees, coconut trees and many others

Areca nuts drying on the roof of our homestay

TCS involvement in Save the turtles campaign

More details on turtles

Turtle eggs are inside this enclosure and under the baskets for safety from predators

Aah luckily - 5 turtles have hatched ....

Separated into 2 baskets

Placing them gently on the beach

Race .. race !! :)

And it has begun ! :) One is way eager to reach ! :)

This guy does not want to go anywhere !

That teeny bump between the 2 guys near the sea is the turtle being washed into the sea .....

Beach ...

Sunset time ....

My baby's message ....

View from the fort

Mangalore Snippets

2012-11-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

A park in Gandhinagar and beach that we can reach via boat. I don't remember the name though.

Gandhinagar Park

Boat to the beach

Trees on the beach

Beach

Kas Valley Satara - Valley of flowers

2012-11-20T01:23:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to go to Kas for almost 1.5 years now. Finally the D-day came in the 2nd week of October 2012. In this time after the monsoons - this valley is supposed to be full of flowers. Having seen some pics of the valley on the net - I was all for it.

The drive to Kas was very very scenic. While officially monsoons were over - we had not come out of the rains it seemed. So the route was green and verdant. We stopped at quite a few places to take many snaps.

When we reached Kas - we had to pay ticket fee of Rs 10/-. While they have said that one needs to book online - we found that many were like us - impromptu visitors. We were however annoyed to find that we had to park the car really far away from the entrance to the flowering area.

The car park area has many small tea shops and a walk to the back waters of the lake. No idea which lake this is though. After that - we did not think we would be able to walk all the way back in the light rain - so instead we drove the car back - parked out of the area of control and walked a short distance to the flowering area.

The day was foggy - so there were times we could not see more than 2 feet in front of us but still it was a different kind of scenery. We were disappointed that the flowers were not taller - especially after seeing the other snaps on the net but for all that - it was beautiful ! :)

A shepherdess on the steep side of the hill with her umbrella

Enroute Kas Valley

Kas Valley

Kas Valley flowers and the fog

Kas Valley flowers