Ranganathittu & Mysore Zoo

After lots of discussions for a destination for a one day trip from Bangalore, we decided to visit Ranganathittu and Balamuri falls on a Saturday, 9th of January. We(me, Anurag, Govind, Amma and Pappu) started off at 6am from home and after an eventless journey we reached Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary 8:45.

The first thing that one notices about this place is cleanliness. I had not expected a tourist place to be so clean. We soon hired a boat for ourselves and went around the lake. The sight was amazing. There are so many varieties of birds so freely flying around making it a treat for the eyes.The guide was telling us the names of all the birds spotted there. We really felt the lack of a good camera here. Our little point'n shoot digican couldnt get us any good pictures of the birds here. After the boating we spent some time in the garden there and had breakfast at the canteen there.

After Ranganathittu, we changed our plans and decided to go to the Mysore zoo and then go to Balamuri falls after that if time permits. After lots of enquiries about the route, we reached the zoo. Govind enjoyed the zoo more than the bird sanctuary. He was happy to see all the animals that he reads in stories and has only seen in pictures. Though we were all really tired, he was all excited. But even after seeing giraffes and deers in the zoo, he still confuses between the two in pictures. He is not able to relate to the difference between giraffes and deers to this day.

Towards the end of the zoo, Amma noticed that her watch is missing. We thought she would have lost it in the zoo and talked to the security there to let us know if somebody finds it there. After coming home and analysing the photos, we figured that she had lost it in the boat at Ranganathittu. But we tried calling them up to see if they have found it but they said they didnt get it.

By the time we finshed the zoo, we were all tired and it was past 2 o' clock. So we decided to skip Balamuri falls. We had lunch at a restaurant in Mysore and then drove back to Bangalore.Anyway, it was a nice and memorable trip. There were many talks of making more trips like this but nothing much has happened yet.

I have photo similar to the one below from my childhood.. In that I had taken my brother in my arms and was helping him feed the girafees at Trivandrum zoo. Here, 20 years later, my brother is showing my son giraffes.

Cauvery Fishing Camp - Bheemeshwari [May 30-31, 2009]

We generally try to keep our trips at low cost by avoiding extravagant accomodations. But this time we decided to splurge a bit(by our standards) and make a weekend trip to the Cauvery Fishing Camp, Bheemeshwari. We made the reservations on Monday and the program said we need to reach there at 12 noon. So we planned to start at 9.00am and finally started by around 9:20am. After filling up petrol at the Shell petrol bunk on Old Madras Road and withdrawing money from an ATM on 80 feet road, we proceeded to Hosur Road and then entered the NECE Road towards Kanakpura Road. This was a pretty round about way, which we realised only when we drove back on Kanakpura Road reached JP Nagar on the way back. The NECE road is not fully done and there are no proper road signs showing the diversions to be taken. We once hit the end of road and then had to turn back ask for directions to continue towards Kanakpura Road. There after we reached Kanakpura and there somehow we got into the impression that we need to go towards Mekadattu. We folowed this route for around 20kms on village roads and then started noticing that the directions are all toards Mekadattu and Galibore Fishing Camp but no mention of the Cauvery Fishing Camp, Bheemeshari. Luckily the mobile network was still there and I had the phone number of the Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp. From them, I learned that the route to Bheemeshwari and Galibore are different from Kanakpura. But luckily, from the place from where we called up , a village name Doddanahalli, we can take a route to Sathanur which is on the route to Bheemeshwari and from there on the ride was smooth.

The route is Banagalore--> Kanakpura Main Road--> Kanakpura-->Sathanur-->Muthathi-->Cauvery Fishing Camp. From Sathanur, here one needs to divert towards Galibore/Mekadattu and Bheemeshwari/Muthathi. From Muthathi, take the Halaguru route and you will reach Cauvery fishing camp in another 6 kms.

We reached the camp at 1:30 pm and were quickly shown to our loghut. It was lunch time already and we went for lunch. It was decent food south Indian food that was served. After lunch we took rest for sometime and went to the river just in front of our loghut. Its was nice to play in the water without bothering about the crowd around you. This place is like the river is all left for you. We just stayed at the shallow waters and my son really enjoyed it. Not many people seems to be wanting to play in water. But then you cannot swim in this water as there are crocodiles.

After playing in the water, we proceeded for tea and coracle ride. The coracle ride here is in no way comparable or exciting as in Hogenakkal as the river is very calm. The coracle ride was followed by joy fishing. The helping guy gives you a string with a ball of maida dough as the bait.. There was absolutely no "joy" to be derived from this but still there was some fun as everyone who was trying to do this around was really bored and making some very interesting comments. The rest of the evening was spend relaxing in the hammocks and climbing some of the bigger ones tied higher up which you have to climb up to reach and the al time favourite swings.



The dinner was preceded by a barbeque or so it was called... There was a campfire and chicken and some pakodas that were prepared in the kitchen were served near the campfire. There was a short trek in the morning to a nearby hill and the view from top was really great. But, trekking, however short is something I find very tiring and Anurag to carry our son all the way to the top.. The trekking took only an hour to go up and come down.. After that we just walked around the place and spend some more time in the water... By the time we finished breakfast, it was time for us to start back...

There is nothing great in the "planned programmes".. But the best part of this place is that you are totally cutoff from the rest of the world.. No mobiles, net connection, TV or even newspaper... You are all left with yourselves and the nature... That is a really required break in this mad world...

Weekend Trips around Bangalore

After a long lull,we are hitting the roads again. But this time with one day trips around Bangalore.

Nrityagram & Hesaraghatta Lake


The first place we hit was Nrityagram and Hesaraghatta lake but it was a disappointing trip. On Aug15th, as we loaded ourselves into our car and started we found out tyre punctured and that was the end of the plans for that day. Next day, we started off with a friend in his car and were soon on the roads to Nrityagram. We took the outer ring road to Jalahalli and then took a right towards Nrityagram after the Jalahalli cross. The landmark is a black glass RCOM building, and you need to take the right turn after that. Attached is a map that I have downloaded from a fellow blogger's site.

The road is pretty bad in some patches but the drive at the last leg of the journey is great.Its like you have left Bangalore and entered some different world. You will pass through some poultry and dairy farms and nice green surroundings. But, sadly, when we reached Nrityagram, they were closed for vacation. We spent some time at a nearby green spot and played for some time and decided to hit the Hesaraghatta lake.

This lake comes to your left on the road back after the poultry farms. This huge artificial lake build by BWSSB was dry though it was raining during the season. The 52 Weekend getaways handbook from Outlook had a picture of sailing at the lake during sunset and the dry lake really disappointed us. So we started our drive back and settled for a quite evening at home.

The Bull Temple

After being in Bangalore for seven years, we had never been to the Bull Temple. So one Sunday morning, we decided to go to the Bull Temple in Jayanagar.

The bull temple consists of four different temples. The first one is dedicated to Lord Ganesha. The Ganesha idol here is really huge. Behind the Ganesha temple is the Lord Anjaneya temple and the Siva-Shakthi temple. Towards the right of these temples is the Bull Temple dedicated to Nandi. A very serene and quiet place, the temples are well maintained and you can feel the peace though there is nothing of architectural marvel there.

A little away from the Siva Shakthi kovil is a beautiful park. This is a very well maintained park and I would suggest that this is much better than the much hyped LalBagh. Its real green with lots of birds. I looks like there is a musical fountain show in the evenings there.

Pilani, Delhi and Agra

I was having my dissertation VIVA at BITS,Pilani on 28th of April 2006.. We decided to combine this visit to Pilani with a trip to Delhi and Agra during the long weekened of May1st...

We started our trip on 26th night by the DN662, the Bangalore-Delhi AirDeccan flight..The flight was delayed by an hour and we reached Delhi at 00:30 am on 27th... We decided to spend our time at the airport itself and then took a cab early in the morning to ISBT,Kashmere Gate to go to pilani.. On the route to ISBT, we could see all state houses like, Pondicherry house, UP Bhavan etc .. We also passed by the memoir of the Dandi march and rajghat, virbhoomi, shakthi sthal etc.. We could get a bus to Pilani at 7am.. The bus went via Rohtak, Bivani and Loharu to reach Pilani by 1pm.. Most part of the travel was thru Haryana. All you could see was dry land on both sides and the sun was so sharp that you couldnt keep the windows of the bus open.. There are places were water is kept in earthen pots on the road sides from where people drink water and fill water bottles. All over this part I was seeing that people drink water by keeping their hand near the mouth and pouring water to their hands.. I have never seen anybody drinking water like this early..At Pilani, the main road was blocked and there was a bit of confusion about how to go to Pilani as the bus took the by-pass.. But the bus reached the bus-stand some other way and then a guy in the bus helped us with the way to BITS campus and getting a cyclerickshaw from the busstand as he found that we are new to the place and not very comfortable speaking in Hindi.


The cycle rickshaw guy dropped us the VFAST hostel or thier guest house. We couldnt get an A/C room there as everything was occupied and had to settle for a room with cooler. As soon as we put our things in the room, we went for lunch at the mess in the guesthous. We were really hungry as we didnt have anybreakfast that day. The food provided there was neat and decent. And then withdrew to our rooms for some rest.. Evening we went out for a walk around the campus, found the DLPD division where the VIVA is supposed to happen.

The day of VIVA was also Anurag's star birthday.. We started the day with a visit to the saraswati temple in the campus. It was a beautiful temple in marble. I learned later that the temple pillars were adorned with sculptures of Einstein and other famous scientists which I didnt notice when I when to the temple. After breakfast at the guesthouse mess, we went to the hall where VIVA was supposed to happen.. There was 1.5 hrs -2 hrs long orientation before the VIVA when they briefed about the history of BITS, the education pattern there and then about the VIVA procedure. My VIVA was scheduled for in the morning itself with Mr Rohil. There were two others who were supposed to make their presentation to the same prof.

Two people - Abhilashi and Balamurugan had their VIVAs before mine. VIVA went well and I was free by 12:30pm. We then paid a visit to the new library building of BITS. Thats a really beautiful building with lots of reading area and computers for online classes etc. After that we went ot the Birla museum in the campus which was closed for lunch. We had lunch and then after resting for sometime, we came back to the birla museum. They have a coal mine model inside the museum in addition to the exhibits on energy sources, vehicles, pharmacy, chemistry, electronics etc. Skylabs outside the museum seems to a a snackbar popular with the students here. With that we retured for the day.

On Saturday, we took a Delhi bus at 5:30 in the morning. This bus took a different route than the one we took for the onward journey and we reached Delhi by 11am.. We took a cab from the ISBT to Pahargunj which had some hotels as per Budget hotels website. But by the looks of the area, we felt its not a safe area to stay. Then I had to reach for a colleague from Delhi and her father suggested a place in KarolBagh. This was a decent plance and we checed into this hotel. After getting fresh we had lunch at Pizza hut opposite to our hotel and then went to RedFort. RedFort houses a few museums inside it now and the entry includes an entry to all these museums.From RedFort, we proceeded to RajGhat, the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi. We paid our respects for the Father of the Nation there. From RajGhta the path leads to VirBhoomi, samadhi of Rajiv Gandhi. VirBhoomi leads to Shakti Sthal, samdhi of Indira Gandhi. From there we went ot ShantiVan, samadhi of Nehru and samadhi of Sanjay Gandhi. While we still hadnt covered VijayGhat( Lalbahadurshastri, lalitha shastri and Sankar Dayal Sharma), ekta sthal( samadhi of ZailSingh) , Samta sthal( jagjeevan ram) , kisan ghat(Charan Singh), we quit going around and went back to the hotel.

Our plan was to go to Agra on Sunday morning. As per the information our hotel reception, we went to new delhi railway station by 7 am to catch the 8 am train but couldnt get tickets. The next train was at 11:30 and hence we decided not to go to Agra that day. We took the metro to Central Secretariat which is close to Rashtrapti Bhavan.From there we took an auto to take us to RashtrapatiBhavan, India gate throu rajpath and then to the parliament and finally to the lakshminarayan birla mandir.
Rajpath was really nice place with lawns on both sides and lots of children were playing cricket there. The kids were jumping to the canal there to beat the heat. Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament were just quick views from the outside. At india gate we just walked around the place and read the writings there. From Birla Mandir , we walked towards Connaught place. Everything was closed at Connaught place as it was a sunday morning.. we walked around and then went to the bus stand to see if we can get get a bus towards KutabMinar. The guy at busstand directed us to Jantar Mandir and said from there we can get bus towards Qutub Minar. So went to Jantar Mandir. I couldnt make out anything about how they determine time using those constructions or how they determine the angle of heavenly bodies there. We could get bus towards KutubMinar from there. Kutub Minar, except for the tower the mosque is badly damaged. The iron pillar that doesnt rust and the kutub minar tower are still seen there. Right next to Kutub minar is the Malini Ramini dance bar where Jessica Lal got killed. From Kutub minar we proceeded to Lotus temple or the Bahai temple. It is a beautifully maintaining temple with volunteers maintaining the quiet atmosphere. Bahai faith doesnot have any idols or any religion or creed difference. The temple is made in the shape of a lotus using white marble and has nine ponds surrounding it. By the time we finished going around Lotus temple we were tireds and returned to our hotel.

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel by 4:30 am and went to the railway station. We could get tickets to Agra by the 6am Bhopal Shatabdi. I was travelling by Shatabdi for the first time and really enjoyed it. We reached Agra at 8am. We left our baggages at the cloak room and went around Agra. Our first stop was TajMahal. TajMahal is really marvellous. The work on white marble is really beautiful. The main building is where ShahJahan and Mumtaz are resting while ShahJahan's two other wives are sleeping in the two building on the sides. The outer forts of TajMahal is adorned with the same kind of ornamentation as TajMahal but in red stone. From TajMahal we went to Agra Fort. Agra for is a beautiful place. It houses the palaces where the mughal emperors used to leave. It is in a section of this palace that ShahJahan was kept in prison. Taj Mahal can be clearly seen from this section of the fort. The view would have been really beautiful when Yamuna is filled and not as contaminated as it is now. This palace was initially build in red stone by Akbar and was then build in white marble by ShahJahan. The intricate work in stone in parts of this palace looks like wood work. After the fort, we paid a quick visit to the garden and then to a UP handicrafts shop and then took a bus back to Delhi.

The travel back was horrible. I cant finish a description of this trip without writing about the travel back. Almost 60 kms away from Agra, our bus had a flat tyre. So we lost more than an hour there. Then once we were near Faridabad, our bus had a sideways collision with nother bus. There was not much damage and our driver drew on with out stopping. Byt the time we reached next junction, police waved our bus to stop and then we had to take another bus to Delhi. This bus was already full and all the passengers from our bus made it too crowed. The journey then onwards with our luggage was really tiring. Meanwhile we got a message from AirDeccan that our flight is delayed by 2 hours and hence it will start only at 10pm. This actually gave us some time so that we need not have to be worried about being late for the flight. Then by 7pm we got down somewhere in the outskirts of Delhi city and took an auto to the airport. By 8, we were at the airport tired from all the travel of the day. As wee stand in the long inching queue for checkin, there is an announcement that the flight is further delayed and will start only at 11:30. It was a long wait after checkin and then finally we took by 12:15 and reached Bangalore at 3am in the morning..

The Land of Merlion

I had my first overseas vacation early this month.. As I boarded the JetStar flight to Singapore early morning of 2nd Feb 2006, I was taking off on my first ever international vacation.. Anurag was in Singapore on an official visit and as his trip was getting planned, we had decided that I will join him for a few days there.. Finally this was the day we had fixed for.. I was taking a Thursday and friday off to join him there for 4 days..

I touched down on Singapore soil on a Thursday morning around 10:30 am.. I had been at the Singapore airport before on my two trips to Japan. But I had never come out of the airport earlier. Anurag was waiting for me at the arrival lounge. We took the skytrin to terminal 2 from where we can get the MRT.. thats the local train service..
Singapore MRT is a well planned transport system. They have a red, blue and a green line..
These lines are partially above and below the ground and intersect each other at specific stations.. The interchange stations are so well designed that the crowd that needs to board a specific line is not affected by the interchange crowd and the crowd for the other line. A specific incident that made us realize the how well they have planned is when we were coming to the airport.. the red line was passing thru the place where we were staying. So we need to switch to the green line to go to the airport.. There are two adjacent stations (City Hall and Raffles place) where both the lines pass through. The MRT announcement system urges passengers going to the airport to interchange at City Hall. Since there is always a huge crowd getting down there for interchange we decided to skip it and interchange at Raffles place so as to avoid the crowd. This we though t will give us a better chance of reducing our chances of having to stand in the train with out baggage. Getting down at the Raffles place, we found that the green line comes on a level above and we took the escalator. Going up the escalator we realized that it doesnt let us get down at the level where the green line comes.It took us directly to the entry level. Thats when we realized how efficiently the crowd is managed. The crowd going on green line will never realize the crowd waitign for red line at the same station..

Coming back to my trip, it was almost an hour journey to the hotel where we were put up ..Hotel York.. This was pretty close to Orchard.. the happening place... The first day was for me to rest and Anurag to work.. In the evening we went to Clarke Quay.. Clrake Quay has a whole lot of restaurants on one side of the river and steps on the other bank.. We waited for Jubin at the steps.. Once she joined us we went for a boat ride in the river from where u can see the Merlion statue. We could also get a good view of the Chinese NewYear firecrackers.. After spending some time at the quay, we went for a walk at the Fort Canning Park. Seems to be a big park with some monuments from the wars. But we decided not spend too muc h time there as it was dark nad none around. We took the MRT and went to Jubin's house where we had dinner.

Friday, we had plans of going to Sentosa Island. Our plan was to start early but Anurag had to work the whole night nad hence we could start only by 1 pm. We took MRT to Harbour and then the cable car from there to Sentosa.

The Scotland of India

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.

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.

Chikmagalur,Kemmenguddi, Belur and Halebid

We had been planning a weekend outing for several weeks now.. But for one or the other reason it was not realized.. So this weekend, we decided that we are going somewhere, come what may..
And the destination was initially decided as Belur, Halebid and Shravanbelagola.. But some localites of Hassan had a different thot.. They felt Shravanbelagola is very commercialized and a better place to include in the trip would be Kemmengundi.. So it was all finalized on Friday the me, Anurag, Juby and her cousin Benjamin(Chikku) were packing off for the weekend on Saturday morning..

Our preparation for the trip began with a Google search on the route and place to stay.. A nice description of the route was obtained from http://www.indiacar.com/index2.asp?pagename=http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/drivingdest/drv_july04/index.htm. This helped us to reach Chikmagalur without loosing our way once.(At Hassan, there is a left turn that you need to take but the directions in the link says to take a right turn.. But if you look for the directions on the road, it is clear..) And we decided to stay at Planter's Court in Chikmagalur on Saturday and reserved rooms there..Friday evening, we did a shopping for snacks and fruits..

Our day started at 3:45 am on Saturday morning.. Packing up our things and getting ready as usual took us more time than we had planned. We dumped our things in our Santro and started off for Juby's house, reaching there at 6am, half an hour later than planned. Juby and Chikku were ready and we started off on the drive.. We took outer ring road and then turned to NH4 and later onto NH48 to Hassan.. The road was really good and we went real fast.. We stopped at a Reliance petrol bunk on NH48 for fuel for the car and then at the Kamat restaurant for breakfast.. Drive on NH48 was a real nice one- the road was good, not much traffic and beautiful views on either sides.. We stopped at a marigold garden and sunflower gardens and a couple of other places to take in the view..

From Hassan, we took the state highway till Chikmagalur. Belur is enroute and its just a 2km diversion from the Belur main junction to the main Belur temple. This temple build by Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala kingdom is famous for the sculptures. Very intricate and the main ones are of the different poses and moods of a dancing lady.. Above the dancing platform inside the temple is a sculpture of Shantala Devi, queen of Vishnuvardhana, who was a blessed dances herself. One will need the service of a trained guide to point you to the minute details brought out in those sculptures. On either sides of the main temple are the temples of Sridevi and Bhoodevi and a marriage hall.

Once we savored the beauty of the temple, we continued our journey towards Chikmagalur. Since there were not good places to eat around Belur, we banked on the snacks we carried to quench our hunger. Another unplanned stop on the way was the Yagachi dam..We spent some time there and then continued our journey towards Chikmagalur..


Once at Chikmagalur, we directly went to Planter's court and checked into our rooms.. The web suggested that this is the next best place to Taj in Chikmagalur.. But I didnt find it quite welcoming.. Especially the bathrooms.. I would have choosen a different place if given an option. As the drive-in restaurant didnt look very good, we went to Taj for a high tea. At Taj, we tried our hand on pool. Chikku was the only one who had played pool earlier and so he was giving directions to everyone. But soon Anurag outplayedChikku.. After the tea, we tried our luck at the Coffee museum. But it was closed. We roamed around a bit in the town of Chikmagalur and then went back to our rooms.. I had a small nap while Anurag watched TV.. Then we decided to get out of the hotel and look for a place for dinner. At the reception, we found that Planter's Court has another restaurant also. Hence decide to have dinner there itself..

This dimly lit restaurant looked like more of a bar than a restaurant. We were the only ones having dinner there.. Every other guest there left after drinks.. Back from dinner, we had a few games of UNO and cards..

The next day started at 5:30am for us and we got ready and checked out of the hotel before 7 am.. We soon took the road to Kemmengundi stopping once in a while to take in the beauty of the place.. As we approached Kemmengundi, we spotted trees and rocks that had fallen down on the road in the rains. As there were chances of rain that day also, we had second thoughts on going further up as the road can get blocked in the heavy rains by the time we come back.. So we decided to turn back and came down to Chikmagalur. After a late breakfast there, we stocked ourselves with fruits, snacks and water for the rest of the day. Ofcourse, we didnt miss to buy Chikmagalur's own coffee powder. Soon we were on our way to Halebid.

At Halebid, we decided not to take a guide's help and went around on ourselves. This is a Shiva temple. As expected there is a Nandi there. The Hoysala temples are built in star shape. Here there are 64 legs for the star where as the Belur temple had only 32 and more than the dancing ladies, you find sculptures of Gods and incidents from epics. The damage done to Halebid temple is much more than the damage at Belur. Another difference between the Belur and Halebid temples is the huge lawn that surrounds the Halebid temple.

Bidding Adieu to Halebid, we started back on our way to Bangalore. Now we did a major mistake. There is actually a way from Halebid to Hassan which as per the sign boards in Hassan is only 30km long. But without knowing this, we went back to Belur and turned to Hassan from there.. That should have costed us quite some time..

We stopped at Hotel Hassan Ashok for a high tea. Hot chocolate and lots of snacks - sandwiches and pakodas - refreshed us for the rest of the journey. Our aim was to hit Bangalore as early as possible and it was a deadly drive back by Anurag.. We dropped Juby and Benjamin at their house, visited Rajesh and gave him the sunflowers we had picked for him on the way back.. And then we were back in bed to sleep off all the tiredness...