Family Trip to Mysore

A 2-1/2 day trip with family - parents, wife and daughter !

Dates :: Ugadi weekend - Mar 23, 24 and 25, 2012
Trip :: Chennai - Mysore - Chennai

A pre-planned/well-planned trip to Mysore - started by Kaveri express on 22nd night from Chennai and reached Mysore railway station by 8 AM on 23rd. We had booked Hotel Ginger well in advance and had also booked a Tata Indica A/C for 2.5 days of site seeing - right from railway station pick-up to drop.

The plan was as below (suggested by the cab service and duly accepted by me - it is better at times to accept the itinerary suggested at popular places, than we deciding ourselves).

Day -1 - Chamundi Hill, Lalitha Mahal Palace, Wax Museum, Zoo,St.Philomena's Church, Shopping, & Brindhavan Garden
Day -2 - Srirangapatna, Fort, Ranganathaswamy temple, Gumbaz, Dariya Daulath, Birdsantury, Jaganmohan Art Gallery & Mysore Palace lighting
Day 3 - Somnathpur

Day 1: After refreshing, we asked the cab driver (knows Tamil also) to take us to a 'local' restaurant to taste Mysore food for breakfast around 09:30. We did get good dishes and filled our stomach for the long day ! Wax museum - this is a place where they have all sorts of music troops - old, traditional, western, hispanic and all made of Wax. Felt the entrance ticket of Rs.30 was on the higher side, any how, it was not aided by government and probably demanded more fee for maintenance. Then, we proceeded towards Chamundi hill, the ultimate destination for my parents to visit on Ugadi! The queue was normal and we finished the darshan in less than 30 minutes. The day was quite hot and chilled with tender coconuts. We decided to skill Lalitha mahal, now a 5-star hotel.

Mysore Zoo (Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens) was the next destination - around 11:30 AM. Perhaps, the best - clean zoo in India. The most striking nature of the zoo is -- good directions and the whole of the trek is under shade ! During sunny days, the visit to the zoo is worth ! Most collection of Fauna in the zoo was really good ! The Zoo also has the battery operated car. We chose to walk as my daughter may prefer few of them to be viewed for a longer time. It gave us the liberty to spend as much time as possible to see the animal, if not in first sight. We also had 'some' lunch at the canteen in the zoo - not bad !

Came out of zoo around 3 PM and drive to St.Philomenas Church. Awesome piece of history ! Grand ! Then, was the Brindhavan gardens. It is around 25km from the city and the light-sound show is timed at 7 PM. We reached the gardens after a tiresome day around 4:45 PM. We walked across the walkover bridge on the right flank of the garden and reached the visitor's gallery, where the 'show' was about to begin. The show went on for 20-25 mins and we started early to avoid mad rush at the parking area. Way back, had dinner at Hotel Dashaprkash, not so g(f)ood :-(

Day 2: A good sleep and nice buffet breakfast at Ginger, started our day towards Srirangapatna - the island across river Cauvery ! This was the kingdom of Tipu Sultan ! We visited the Ranganatha Swamy temple, it is small compared to Srirangam and the Lord's posture is same as Srirangam ! Then, visited the dungeon built for British prisoners, Tipu Sultan's body found place, mosque, memorial (Gumbaz) and summer palace (Dariya Daulat). Dariya Daulat had awesome paintings, but most of them were tampered with :-(.

 Then, came the best place we visited for the day - Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary ! What a serene, calm, clean place to visit. For the first time, I visited a bird sanctuary and we could sight hundreds of Storks, Cranes, Pelicans, Hornbills in hand feel distance. The boat ride took us closer to nature and we would site couple of crocodiles as well. A sure visit for anyone traveling to Mysore !!!

We returned back to Mysore for lunch and had a very good one at Hotel Sidharth. Post lunch, we visited Jaganmohan Art gallery - Ravi Varma's paintings were so lively, almost beating high resolution digital photos ! It was so worth - bad thing was that camera not allowed ! Around 3:30 PM, we reached the Mysore palace. Really it is a pride to visit this place. I has more than half of the grandeur that Taj Mahal posses !!!!! We went around the palace for some photos - camera not allowed when we visit the palace inside. We need to deposit the camera at a counter near entry.

We returned back to the rooms for an hour of rest before going back to see the PALACE under lights. There was light-sound show - portraying the history of Mysore, the greatness of the Maharajas and Lord Chamundi. The play was well done and the 1 hour show felt like 10 mins. The whole palace was illuminated for 5 minutes. WOW !

 
Day 3 : As we had booked tickets to return by Shatapdi express by afternoon, we decided to visit Somnathpur - very similar to Belur and Halebid. This was quite small when compared to other two and was mostly destroyed ! Somnathpur is around 45 kms from Mysore and worth a visit. We also visited Rail Museum, which hosted historical engines and the Maharani's saloon - private train used by highness !

Thus, ended our trip and boarded back !

Anantapur - Belum Caves - Horsely Hills

2-day weekend trip to Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) for teammate's marriage - Naresh Gupta ! We managed to visit two places - Belum caves and Horsely hills.....

Dates :: 8th and 9th February 2012
Route :: Chennai - Anantapur - Belum Caves - Anantapur - Horsely Hills - Chennai
Members :: Karthik, Sakthivel, Pranesh, Premkumar, Ramesh Kumar, Harish P, Sanjeev, Vednath, Shaik Kashif, Deepan

On 7th Feb evening around 6 PM, we drove to Anantapur in a Tempo Traveller. - a 450km drive. We reached Anantapur by 5 AM in the morning and rested for couple of hours at Hotel Sampoorna. After having breakfast in a kai-yendhi-bhavan (yummy-yummy dosa/poori/vada/idlis), we started to BELUM CAVES !

90 kms from Anantapur through the Tadipatri road is Belum Caves. On the way at 20 kms is Singanamala lake. We decided to stop there when we return and proceeded further. A road where no greenery can be sited and quite dry. Thanks to our decision of taking a AC cab from Chennai worked out !

We arrived at Belum Caves - history from Wiki :-)

Belum Caves is the second largest cave in Indian subcontinent and the longest caves in plains of Indian Subcontinent, known for its stalactite and stalagmite formations. Belum Caves have long passages, spacious chambers, fresh water galleries and siphons.

The caves reach its deepest point (120 feet from entrance level) at the point known as Pataala-Ganga.

3.5 km of the cave has been successfully explored, though only 1.5 km is open to tourists.

The caves are of hard limestone and we heard from the guide that the whole cave maintains a temperature of 33 degrees irrespective of the climate outside ! Oh yeah .. we were sweating already ....... It was nice to walk through all 1.5 kms tourists were allowed to. The guide was quite helpful to understand and also patient enough to let us take photos at will. Also, he did his best to keep us excited us adventurous at times !

There is a "linga" at 120 feet below ground and there is water at the linga alone ! We heard that the whole of the cave formation was because of water movement - naturally formed. After 2 hour stint under ground, we were very hungry and had the spicy Andhra food on the way back to Anantapur.

After attending the reception and marriage functions, we started back to Chennai. On the way back, 28 km ahead from Madanapalle - right side from the highway. It is a small hill station meant to be a chill out ! It was very sunny on the day we went but the views were guide good. It also hosts a park for children and a restaurant.

 

Trip around Pollachi !

A 2-1/2 day trip with family - parents, wife and daughter !

Dates :: Republic day weekend - Jan 26, 27 and 28 2012
Trip :: Coimbatore - Pollachi - Udumalapet - Pollachi - Top Slip - Coimbatore

Day 1 :: Coimbatore - Pollachi - Thirumoorthi falls - Thirumoorthi dam - Amaravathy Dam - Crocodile park - Pollachi
Day 2 :: Pollachi - Monkey falls - Aliyaar dam - Maasani Amman Temple - Top Slip
Day 3 :: Top Slip - Coimbatore - Chennai


Day 1, after taking the morning break at a relative's house we started towards Pollachi and booked rooms at Nivetha Inn - clean and convenient rooms above Hotel Gowrikrishna (get one of the tastiest food here). We drove towards Thirumoorthi dam and falls. This is 50 kms from Pollachi and around 23 kms from Udumalapet. A simple trek of 900m (not recommended for elders) from the Thirumoorthi temple leads to the falls. A short but rapid falls is an excellent place to take bath ! We did pack our lunch from the Gowrikrishna hotel as there are no good places around to eat. We could not have the food at the falls as there were too many monkeys around. We trekked back and had the packed lunch near the vehicle and came down to the banks of Thirumoorthi dam. The breeze was quite nice for children to play in water for some time. Then, we drive to Amaravathi dam - 25 Kms from Thirumoorthy Dam.

There is a crocodile nursery hear the dam - 60+ crocodiles are there. A short time pass is worth here and a walk around the dam ended the day. We drove back to Pollachi and stayed overnight at Nivedas after dinner at Gowrikrishna hotel.



Day 2, we decided to start early to Monkey falls. We packed the breakfast from the hotel and started around 7 AM. 24 kms from Pollachi is monkey falls. Luckily, we were the first on the morning and the water was sufficient for few people to take bath. 20 mins of shower on the cold and fresh water was awesome. Drove back by few kms, we reached Aaliyaar dam. Climbed to the top and took few photos around.

After visiting Maasani Amman temple, 20 kms from Aliyaar dam, we drove uphill to Topslip. We got a decent cottage for undisclosed amount (:-)) around 12:15 PM. We had a decent lunch there in the canteen and drove with our vehicle to the Kerala - Parambikulam check post. Took few photos there and drove back to the cottage. We then drove to the Elephant camp by 5 PM. We witnessed the elephant being fed and allowed to take photographs with the elephants. Not too many animals were sighted during the drive and night stay at Topslip this time ! Few deer, lone Bison and peacock and lots of Wild Boars.


Early morning around 7 AM, we started from Topslip reached back Coimbatore by 10:30 AM - relaxed a bit and started back to Chennai by afternoon. A nice and short trip with family.

Kemmanagundi-Chikmagalur and around !

Dates - July 23, 24 and 25 2011.

Tripmates - Karthik, Selvakumar, Karthikeyan, Santhaseelan and Visweswaran.

Our first mission to explore Karnataka !! We started from Chennai by train to Bangalore and had booked a cab for 3 days. The trip route is:

Bangalore - Kemmanagundi - Chikmagalur - Belur - Halebeedu - Sravana Belagola - Bangalore.

Chikmagalur Tourist Map

Day-1:

Kemmanagundi is around 240 kms from Bangalore. We went via Tumkur.

Starting from Bangalore railway station around 4:45 in the morning, we had our breakfast on the way and reached Kemmanagundi range around 10:15 am. We visited Kalhatti falls from outside as it was raining very heavily. We then reached Kemmanagundi. We enquired for the stay and all dormitories were blocked for some VIP and the cottages were all knocked down because of fresh construction. We enquired couple of people for nearby private cottages, but, no help ! We then decided to see as much possible for the day and then think about accommodation.

Places to visit in Kemmanagundi - Raj Bhavan, Rock Garden, Shanti falls and Z-Point, Hebbe falls.
As we walk on the well laid pathway, leeches welcome everyone ! Raj Bhavan is an old government building atop of the hill. It was completely windy and foggy. The visibility was barely 10m. We walked around for some time and the sound of wind was scary ! We spend close to an hour there. There was a dog that accompanied all the way in this small trek. We then climbed down and took the route to Rock garden - Shanti falls - Z-point. They are 1-3 kms of total distance on the same route. As we walked upto Rock garden, the leeches were too much and made us not to walk all the way to Z-Point. We heard that Z-Point is an excellent view point, but the very low visibility and the leech filled route made us return back from the trek and pursue Hebbe falls.



Hebbe falls is 8 kms inside from this place. We need to do a jeep safari to reach the foothills and from there around a km of trek to the falls. We started around 2:45 PM. On the way we need to encounter lot of leeches and cross 3 streams of running water. We applied lots of Shampoo from knee to feet to counter attacks from leeches and it was almost successful. Hebbe falls was rich with beauty and water ! WoW ! was the first word. We immersed ourselves in and spent around 20-30 mins there before the water levels started to raise. We decided to leave and cross the 3 streams back and reached the jeep. We were back to Kemmanagundi by 5:30 PM.

Having covered Kemmangundi's prime locations, the cab driver suggested drive to Chikmagalur for night stay and we obliged. There are lot of hotels/lodges in Chikmagalur. Most of the hotels close by 9 PM for dinner.

Day-2:

After having breakfast at Mayura hotel in Chikmagalur, we started the day for site seeing. The places to visit for the day were Mullayyanagiri, tallest peak in Karnataka and rest of the places in the Chikmagalur to Kemmanagundi ghat road. Mullayanagiri approach roads are decent and can accommodate only one vehicle at a time. We realised the elevation from sea level as the wind speed was increasing exponentially and visibility was barely 10-15 feet. There are around 200 steps that takes us to the 'peak'. The speed of the wind is such like it is difficult for everyone to make it to the top. The low visibility too adds to it ! Life time experience. The way to the top looks like steps to heaven :-)

After spending couple of hours in the windy (stormy) peak, we decided to move on. On the way, we visited "Sitalayana Matta" - a very good view point. Next, we stopped at Honnamana Halla falls. The actual halls is down in private estate, but, people around said that it is full of leaches. We saw the falls on the ghat road. The next stop was "Babubudan Giri Datta Petta". We believe this is one of the best places to see the sunset. Nevertheless, the almost zero visibility hampered our view and it was all white everywhere. 4 kms from the there is Manikyadara falls. Again, same site - 10 feet visibility and misty everywhere and a falls ! Couple of our friends took bath in this falls which should be close 7-8 degree Celsius. Had some mirchi bajjis as lunch and killed time for couple of hours there.













Reached back Chikmagalur by 5 PM and did some purchase - coffee/tea/pepper at Panduranga Coffee on MG Road and dinner at Hotel Maurya and stayed in Chikmagalur.

Day-3:

After checking out around 9 AM, we started the last day of the trip towards Belur - Halebidu - Sravana Belagola.

Belur is 26 kms from Chikmagalur and Chennakesava temple at Belur is an ancient Vishnu temple build in 12th century. The temple was built for 103 years and the artistic nature of the sculptures are amazing. They are so well sculptured that the original posture of any human shall aptly match the sculpture. The pillar that is in front of the temple just "stands". There is no support to the pillar, neither it is planted/set with concrete. It just stands !

Halebidu is 16 kms from Belur (27 kms from Hassan) and in no way lesser in architecture than Belur. These two temples are build at the same time and the outer dimensioning of the temple is in star form with 32 edges. Amazing architecture ! Halebidu is Hoysaleswara temple (Shiva temple).

We reached Hassan by 2 PM and had lunch. Post lunch we drove down to Sravana Belagola - 51 kms from Hassan, a very famous Jain pilgrimage. One has to climb around 65o steep steps over a hill to reach the top and see Gomateswara Bahubali. The monolithic statue is 57 feet tall. We took few snaps and sited the beauty around the place from that height.

Then, what else ? climb down and reached Bangalore to catch the train back to routines at Chennai !





Awesome trip ....... highlights :

Day 1 : Raj Bhavan and Hebbe falls.
Day 2 : Mullayyanagiri
Day 3 : Belur-Halebidu sculptures and Sravanabelagola.