Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sep 2009 South Karnataka Tour
6 days, five nights
Shimoga, Sringeri, Agumbe -> Jog Falls, Murudeshwara -> Gokarna, Kollur, Udupi -> Karkala, Dharmathsala -> Belur, Halebidu, Shravanabelagola
One museum, two waterfalls, three beaches, four monuments, five national highways, six temples,…
Day One, we drove from Bangalore via Tumkur, Tiptur and Shimoga to Mandagadde. We had booked home stay at Inchara. The stay was very homely and green. Inchara in Kannada means chirping of birds. The name was perfect.
Shimoga, Sringeri, Agumbe -> Jog Falls, Murudeshwara -> Gokarna, Kollur, Udupi -> Karkala, Dharmathsala -> Belur, Halebidu, Shravanabelagola
One museum, two waterfalls, three beaches, four monuments, five national highways, six temples,…
Day One, we drove from Bangalore via Tumkur, Tiptur and Shimoga to Mandagadde. We had booked home stay at Inchara. The stay was very homely and green. Inchara in Kannada means chirping of birds. The name was perfect.
Day Two, we visited the bird sanctuary in Mandagadde. There we only few birds, but it is right on the NH-13. We spotted 3 types of birds. Then we went to Mahishi beach which is clean and there were more pebbles than sand. After that we visited National Poet Kuvempu’s house in Kuppali. The house is converted in to a Museum. Apart from the pictures, articles and other collections the house itself is a masterpiece. We also climbed to the Hillock next to the museum where the Poet use to derive inspiration and was put to rest. It is a Beautiful place. We had tea in the stall outside the museum with Forest Ranger Mr. Jagadish. Then we drove to Sringeri. The parking lot in Sringeri was mess and from outside the place is nothing special. But once you enter inside, the antic temple stands magnificent. The river and the mutt in the background add to the beauty. The temple, verandas and dinner hall are all maintained very clean. After the bliss of serenity from Sringeri we drove to Agumbe. It was extremely cloudy and hence we could not get any view. But the drive to the spot itself was thrilling with visibility only for the next 12 feet or so. We got to definitely make a trip to Agumbe in the right season. We then drove back to Inchara, Mandagadde via Theerthahalli.
Day Three, we drove to Jog Falls. With so much cloud and mist, we were praying for some wind to clear the sky, and to get a glimpse of the water falls. And the prayers were answered. We could see the falls. It was beautiful, but we were told the water we saw was very less. This is an other place that is definitely to be visited again, and again, and my be again! We reached Murudeshwara via Honnavar and stayed in the RNS Residency, fifth floor. Had amazing time with wonderful view, lot of walking in the beach. We visited the temple and had darshan. We had specialty sea food dinner in the Hotel Naveen Beach Resort.
Day Four, we went to Gokarna. Bought lotus flowers, listened to the sthala puranam (history of the temple) and had darshan. We noticed that the Aadi Murti (interpret as Initial Idol or Original Idol) is now almost immersed in water. Pujas and all formalities are happening in a newer building with newer idol. Some native people were still praying the Aadi Murti. Then we moved on to the Om Beach. One of the finest beaches I had visited in my life. We walked almost 75% of the beach and headed back to the hotel to check out. We drove to Kollur. The place and temple was nowhere close to what I remember from my last visit that was roughly 20 years ago. Most of the forest is now seems to be replaced with civilization. After darshan we drove to Udupi and stayed in Hotel Kediyur.
Day Five, went to Udupi Sri Krishna temple and had darshan. From Udupi we went to Karkala, visited the Gomateshwara on hill top. It is a must to see place. The drive to the hill top and coming down was real fun. We then proceeded to Dharmathsala and had darshan after 3 hours of waiting in the queue. Biggest mistake in this tour was this. There is no good restaurant in this area. We drove to Belur for night stay.
Day Six, we visited Belur monument. I had visited it 20 years ago and hence I only had faded memories. This place is one among the ones that every human being can adore. The innovation, modularity, extensibility in the architecture is just amazing. Also we noticed idols of Lion on top of Elephant. This symbolizes Hinduism overtaking Buddhism around the time when the temple was built. After that we also visited the Halebidu monument. We then drove to Shravanabelagola, climbed hill top to have darshan of Gomateshwara. After that we reached Bangalore to our home.
This is our second long drive in our Scorpio Vlx. Lots of driving in rains, bad roads, real test to the Car. 1646 KMs, 37 hours drive, Average Mileage 12.4 kmpl, Average Speed 45 kmph. Highest speed we could get was in NH
Labels: Beach, Karnataka, Monuments, Travel
Saturday, May 23, 2009
May 2009 Kerala Trip
The trip was to take a break from hectic work life and totally relax. We chose Kerala and it did not let us down in spite of being May summer! Kerala is a beauty. The route we took was
Bangalore - Erode - Coimbatore - Malampuzha - Palakkad - Guruvayoor - Thrissur - Adirapally - Cochin - Munnar - Erode - Bangalore
Visiting Marudamalai and Bharathiar University campus was soothing... All of us who went were from Bharathiar University. And yes we did spot a Peacock in the campus. When we went the boys hostel was empty. Lot of new buildings but the forest feeling is still there (thank god).
I had seen Palakkad fort before but did not recognize it. So worth the visit. The fort had some amazing huge very old mango trees. It is great to realize how old the trees around that fort are standing time. Malampuzha dam was not that pleasing as it was I visited it before. May be due to summer. The dam staff sounded as rude as the ones in Bangalore Lalbagh.
Guruvayoor was crowded. I did not have patience to go through the queue so just prayed from outside. Thrissur was on the way. Somehow we did not plan well to make it to the Vadakkunnathan temple. We saw it just from outside.
Adirapally falls was amazing. When my Dad took us to Kerala tour, this is something we had to give up in our agenda. So I insisted on this in this tour. Going down to the foot of the falls and climbing back was a mini trekking.
We headed to Cochin, stayed there for 3 nights. We booked KTDC tour package to see the backwaters, village life, etc. We had wonderfull Kerala food. The ayurvedic massage was just ok. The ELA restaurant on Marine Drive was good food for reasonable price. Very decent service.
The back waters of Cochin was the key part of our tour. The green, waters, birds and fishes were pleasing to our eyes. I did not concentrate much on my photography. In fact I did not even use my SLR or Tripod. Rather I was just adoring the beauty. But I must do better photography in upcoming tours. It is so good to see the pictures time and again and share with friends.
When we went to Munnar we just realized getting accomodation without reservation is tough. We just changed our mind, roamed a bit seeing the views and headed back to Erode. While crossing Kerala/TN border, the TN check post was collecting Rs 20 from every car. We could not understand what it was for so left without paying it.
Both onward and return we stayed whole day in Erode to spend time with family. Of course we had some good food and shopping in Erode. From Erode we returned to Bangalore.
This is first long trip for my Scorpio. It did excellent. The drive was 1750 KMs. Average mileage was 14.3 Kmpl. Next time I will try to capture average speed between destinations. Kerala roads were really good. The road sense i.e., lane discipline, proper honking, responding to honk was something I should mention. May be it is due to being a highly literate state. But they drive really fast even on narrow roads.
Please leave your comments and let me know what you think
Bangalore - Erode - Coimbatore - Malampuzha - Palakkad - Guruvayoor - Thrissur - Adirapally - Cochin - Munnar - Erode - Bangalore
Visiting Marudamalai and Bharathiar University campus was soothing... All of us who went were from Bharathiar University. And yes we did spot a Peacock in the campus. When we went the boys hostel was empty. Lot of new buildings but the forest feeling is still there (thank god).
I had seen Palakkad fort before but did not recognize it. So worth the visit. The fort had some amazing huge very old mango trees. It is great to realize how old the trees around that fort are standing time. Malampuzha dam was not that pleasing as it was I visited it before. May be due to summer. The dam staff sounded as rude as the ones in Bangalore Lalbagh.
Guruvayoor was crowded. I did not have patience to go through the queue so just prayed from outside. Thrissur was on the way. Somehow we did not plan well to make it to the Vadakkunnathan temple. We saw it just from outside.
Adirapally falls was amazing. When my Dad took us to Kerala tour, this is something we had to give up in our agenda. So I insisted on this in this tour. Going down to the foot of the falls and climbing back was a mini trekking.
We headed to Cochin, stayed there for 3 nights. We booked KTDC tour package to see the backwaters, village life, etc. We had wonderfull Kerala food. The ayurvedic massage was just ok. The ELA restaurant on Marine Drive was good food for reasonable price. Very decent service.
The back waters of Cochin was the key part of our tour. The green, waters, birds and fishes were pleasing to our eyes. I did not concentrate much on my photography. In fact I did not even use my SLR or Tripod. Rather I was just adoring the beauty. But I must do better photography in upcoming tours. It is so good to see the pictures time and again and share with friends.
When we went to Munnar we just realized getting accomodation without reservation is tough. We just changed our mind, roamed a bit seeing the views and headed back to Erode. While crossing Kerala/TN border, the TN check post was collecting Rs 20 from every car. We could not understand what it was for so left without paying it.
Both onward and return we stayed whole day in Erode to spend time with family. Of course we had some good food and shopping in Erode. From Erode we returned to Bangalore.
This is first long trip for my Scorpio. It did excellent. The drive was 1750 KMs. Average mileage was 14.3 Kmpl. Next time I will try to capture average speed between destinations. Kerala roads were really good. The road sense i.e., lane discipline, proper honking, responding to honk was something I should mention. May be it is due to being a highly literate state. But they drive really fast even on narrow roads.
Please leave your comments and let me know what you think
Labels: Kerala, Roadtrip, Travel
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Ugadi & Naresh Birthday Trip to Erode
We made a four day week end and went to Erode. Naresh's birthday was on 27th March which coincided with Ugadi. We kept the Ugadi puja very simple this time. We relaxed completely and spent time at home. We did not travel anywhere. Early summer was real hot.
It took 5 hours onward including the refreshment time at Adayar Anand Bhavan near Thoppur Toll Gate. Average speed of 57Kmph is not bad. The slowest stretch was Erode to Salem.
Route Distnce Time KMPH
=============================================
Erode
Salem /NH-7 61 1:21 45.19
Thoppur/NH-7 54 0:54 60.00
Krishnagiri/NH-7 67 0:50 80.40
Bangalore Border/NH-47 58 0:55 63.27
Bangalore Home 30 0:45 40.00
Erode - Bangalore Average Speed was 56.84.
It took 5 hours onward including the refreshment time at Adayar Anand Bhavan near Thoppur Toll Gate. Average speed of 57Kmph is not bad. The slowest stretch was Erode to Salem.
Route Distnce Time KMPH
=============================================
Erode
Salem /NH-7 61 1:21 45.19
Thoppur/NH-7 54 0:54 60.00
Krishnagiri/NH-7 67 0:50 80.40
Bangalore Border/NH-47 58 0:55 63.27
Bangalore Home 30 0:45 40.00
Erode - Bangalore Average Speed was 56.84.
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