We couldnt go anywhere during the long weekends of Dusshera and Diwali because of Anurag's travel to Taipei. Hence the weekend after his return , ie the weekend of 19th and 20th of November, we decided to hit Coorg. As it was not a long weekend, we took off on Friday afternoon and started by 3 from our home. We touched the Mysore Road just below the long flyover at 3:30 and set our trip meter to 0. The towns you pass on Mysore road before reching Srinrangapatna are Kengeri, Ramnagar( 43.3Km), Chanapatna(54.4km), Maddur at (74km) Mandya at 92km and as the odometer reads 120kms, you are at Srirangapatna. Around 2kms after the Srirangapatna junction there is a right turn with huge hoardings of OrangeCounty and GRS Fantasy Park. Take this turn and go straight all the way till Yelwal(139km). On this road, you would have seen diversions to Bird Sanctuary, GRS Fantasy Park and KRS Dam. As you enter the state Highway (SH88) at Yelwal, take a right and proceed towards Hunsur. At around 168Kms, the road forks and the right fork is the Hunsur Bypass whihc you need to take. Before this forking also there is a huge Orange County board which urges you to take the right turn. At 176km, you will find another right turn, where you again need to keep right and this leads to Periyapatana. We reached Periyapatana as our trip meter read 192 km and we proceeded to Kushal Nagar which we reached at 214kms. Proceeding further from Kushal Nagar we reached another forking at 230km where the left leads to Madikeri.. Finally slight after 250kms we reached Madikeri.
Madikeri is a small town and we didnt have any problems finding the office of our agent and from their our host took us to his house. We got the entire upstairs which included a hall and two bedrooms all for ourselves. It was around 9:30pm when we reached here and the long drive without any break had left us really tired. We bought dinner from a restaurant nearby and slept early.
Saturday morning , we proceeded to Talakaveri which is where River Kaveri originates. There is a pond where people take bath and a small temple where the goddess is worshipped. There is also a peepul tree which is supposed to be an offshoot of the original peepul tree under whihc Sage Agastya used to meditate. There is a Ganesha and Shiva temple and Lord Shiva is called Agastheswara. Talakaveri is around 47 kms from Madikeri. Follow Mangalore road from Madikeri and then take a diversion to left to reach Talakaveri. We went there are tourists but lots of ppl come there for worship. There is view point at Talakaveri but the sight of the steep flight of stairs made us quit the idea.. Enroute to Talakaveri is Bagamandala, where there is a temple of Kerala Architecture style. From Talakaveri, we came to Madikeri and proceeded to Abbey Falls. It is around 8 kms from Madikeri and the road is narrow with steep curves. Not a very impressive falls and was too crowded on the day we were there.From Abbey falls we came back to Madikeri and then went to Raja's seat. Raja's seat provides a good view and the sunset is really beautiful from here.
Sunday morning we stated at around 8:30. We went to Omkareshawara temple whose architecture is a mixture of different styles and the idol here is supposed to be brought from Kasi.From Madikeri, we came to Cauveri Nisarghadama. Nisargadama is 2 kms before Kushal Nagal and the big Karnataka tourism board is facing those coming from Kushal Nagar. So while coming from Madikeri, you may miss this place. Nisargadama is an island formed by a tributary of Cauvery and there is a hanging bridge whihc connects the mainland with this island. Nisargadama houses a deer park and also has elephant ride. Otherwise it is a beautiful park where you can just relax. 7kms from Nisargadama, we took a right towards the Tibetan Settlement. Another 5 kms on this road, there is a Tibetan Monastry and Golden Temple. For me, it was the first time I was seeing a Budhist temple and hence it was interesting. From there we proceeded back to Srirangapatna, where we stopped at the Tipu's summer palace turned museum and then proceeded back to Bangalore.
Monday, November 21, 2005
The Queen of HillStations
The long weekend of August 15th was fast appraoching and we decided to go somewhere.. From among Ooty, Coorg and Pondicherry we chose Ooty at the last moment.. We couldnt get accomodation or travel tickets for any of the places and finally my aunt who is teaching at GoodSheperd's in Ooty arranged for our accomodation in their guest house. Still we couldnt get bus tickets to Ooty and finally Friday evening we decided that we will drive to Ooty..
We started around at 8pm from our house and reached Mysore around midnight.. Stayed at one of my uncles' house in Mysore and drove to Ooty from there on Saturday morning.. We enjoyed the drive through Bandipur and Mudumalai and spotted groups of deer and peacocks on the way..The 41 hairpin curves that takes one to Ooty is a scary drive with breathtaking views.. We reached Ooty around 11 am and made our way directly to the botanical garden.. From botanical garden we proceeded to the Rose garden which houses an amazing collection of 2000 varieties of roses.. From there we proceeded to the Lake View campus of Good Sheperd where our accomodation was arranged. Met my aunt there who took us to our room and then around the school campus. For me, with no hostel life experience, it was all very new but Anurag was finding it very similar to his Sainik school experiences.. The school is great but the site of 5 or 6 year olds staying in hostel is heartbreaking.. Its a place where kids are pampered with all that money can buy but parents seem to forget that money cannot buy everything. We joined the students and staff of the school for a dinner at their canteen.
Sunday morning we drove to Conoor where we went to Sim's park, where you can find some rare trees. We got some Rudraksha from the cleaning staff who was cleaning below the Rudraksha tree. Outside the park, while wondering where to go to next, we noticed the board of a tea plantation and factory nearby. We decided to go there. With a minimal ticket fare, they take you inside the factory and explains the process of making tea as you see it in the market from the tree leaves. For me, initially I couldnt stand the smell inside and had to come out to take some fresh air after entering the factory first time. Thereafter it was ok.
From Conoor we went back to Ooty via the Wellington camp and lost our way. From Wellington we ended up taking the way back to Conoor instead of Ooty and had to drive back once more. In the evening,we went for boating and then visited the thread garden nearby. The plants and flowers including the moses in this artificial garden made of threads are made with amazing naturality. We ended the day with a dinner with the kids of Good Sheperd.
Monday morning we started back from Ooty and reached Mysore by 10:30 for a late breakfast. On the way, we saw flaghoisting in front of a police station and were caught in traffic for around half an hour by the procession of school students in a small town enroute. We stayed for lunch at my uncles place and then started back to Bangalore. We were supposed to catch the 5:30 bus to Kerala from Bangalore that day but even after a frantic drive from Mysore, we couldnt make it on time and had to miss the bus and take another one which was started at 6:30.
We started around at 8pm from our house and reached Mysore around midnight.. Stayed at one of my uncles' house in Mysore and drove to Ooty from there on Saturday morning.. We enjoyed the drive through Bandipur and Mudumalai and spotted groups of deer and peacocks on the way..The 41 hairpin curves that takes one to Ooty is a scary drive with breathtaking views.. We reached Ooty around 11 am and made our way directly to the botanical garden.. From botanical garden we proceeded to the Rose garden which houses an amazing collection of 2000 varieties of roses.. From there we proceeded to the Lake View campus of Good Sheperd where our accomodation was arranged. Met my aunt there who took us to our room and then around the school campus. For me, with no hostel life experience, it was all very new but Anurag was finding it very similar to his Sainik school experiences.. The school is great but the site of 5 or 6 year olds staying in hostel is heartbreaking.. Its a place where kids are pampered with all that money can buy but parents seem to forget that money cannot buy everything. We joined the students and staff of the school for a dinner at their canteen.
Sunday morning we drove to Conoor where we went to Sim's park, where you can find some rare trees. We got some Rudraksha from the cleaning staff who was cleaning below the Rudraksha tree. Outside the park, while wondering where to go to next, we noticed the board of a tea plantation and factory nearby. We decided to go there. With a minimal ticket fare, they take you inside the factory and explains the process of making tea as you see it in the market from the tree leaves. For me, initially I couldnt stand the smell inside and had to come out to take some fresh air after entering the factory first time. Thereafter it was ok.
From Conoor we went back to Ooty via the Wellington camp and lost our way. From Wellington we ended up taking the way back to Conoor instead of Ooty and had to drive back once more. In the evening,we went for boating and then visited the thread garden nearby. The plants and flowers including the moses in this artificial garden made of threads are made with amazing naturality. We ended the day with a dinner with the kids of Good Sheperd.
Monday morning we started back from Ooty and reached Mysore by 10:30 for a late breakfast. On the way, we saw flaghoisting in front of a police station and were caught in traffic for around half an hour by the procession of school students in a small town enroute. We stayed for lunch at my uncles place and then started back to Bangalore. We were supposed to catch the 5:30 bus to Kerala from Bangalore that day but even after a frantic drive from Mysore, we couldnt make it on time and had to miss the bus and take another one which was started at 6:30.
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