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 !

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.

Unwinding at Nelliyampathy-Top slip !!

Dates - April 22,23 and 24.

Tripmates - Karthik, Vednath, Lakshminarayana, Chandu (Vednath friend from B'lore) and Varadharajan and Selvakumar from Coimbatore.

A different and a new group for me to a trip. Most of the guys planned for the trip missed out from the planned 6-8 members ! The month of April is not always a good time to visit mother nature, but, luckily, the previous day rained and continued to drizzle the rest of the trip, making it a very unforgettable trip in life. We hired a Innova from Coimbatore and drove after relaxing in the morning to Meenkulathi amman temple. This temple is situated at Pallassana (Palakkad) on the way to Nemmara. This is located on the parallel road to Nelliyampathy towards Nemmara. After a darshan at the temple with dhoti's, we spent some time around the temple tank and started towards Nelliyampathy.



First, we stopped at Pothundi dam. We had bought lunch on the way and had the same after walking around the dam. After that, we stopped on the way on the hills in a falls. We drenched ourselves in the water and snapping lot of pictures on the misty hills of Nelliyampathy.



Mayiladumpara was such a nice view point. We drove to Puliyampara and stayed at ITL Dormitory. Compared to the earlier visit to Nelliampathy in 2009, this time the place of Puliyampara looked much better with lots of cottages. We thought that we should not have booked earlier at a comparatively higher rate. We paid 2.5k for a 8-bed dormitory. People get better offers and options when we reach and enquire. Beware !

After relaxing for some time, around 6PM, we went for the forest jeep ride (Rs.600 for 2 hours - 6-7 people). The timing was near perfect; started at bright sun, witnessed the sunset shortly, and drove to the top by dark and had a great firework show towards the end. After the bustling red sun set, we went all through to the top and saw one of the best we can see with our eyes. Crores and crores of firebugs in the forest lit the dark forest like a X-Mas tree ! Amazing treat to eyes it was ! Every photo and video of this can only be taken with our eyes and not with the cameras ! Such an amazing light Concert ! Worth the drive from Chennai !! Came back and had a good rest overnight.....

Day 2 : Started around 9 AM to Seetharkundu - the suicide point. We had missed this in our earlier trip because of time constraint. I believe this is the longest range of suicide point in the world. Anywhere near to this, works ! :-) ... Its a long trek for people who want to trek; else a spectacular view point. Many people were walking towards a waterfalls which was a little distant for us. This place is inside the Poabs tea plantation area. Again, a worthy trek and couple of glasses of butter milk energised us !





















After a dilemma of where to go, because of the uncertainty over the availability of stay in TopSlip, we decided to give it a shot. By the time we reached Aanamalai, my collegue Rameshkumar had made sure we get proper guest house in Topslip. Thanks a ton to him, that we have a great time at TopSlip. After check-in, we got into the Pollachi-Parambikulam Govt. bus and traveled to Parambikulam. The bus was almost full but the ride was worth it. We saw herds and herds of Indian Bisons, monkeys, wild boars and deer. The scenery was ultimate paradise on the whole with water flowing, dams and green, greener and greenish surroundings - thanks to the spell of rain in April. Stayed overnight awake in-between to see some animals around us, but no luck. Slept few hours and ready for the early morning trek !










Day 3 : Citing a black scorpion near the cot set the rest of the day for us !! 05:30 and ready for the trek. Stopped our vehicle near the Parambikulam - Kerala Check post and got off the road for a trek to a water falls. We walked up a hill and sited the tomb of Hugo Wood, IFS, founder of TopSlip. Then, started the downward trek to the falls - the route was little slippery and was almost single rock. Was not a easy one at all ! The silence of the forest was so original and the sounds of some birds at times was also scary ! Reached the falls and had a shower - herbally enriched shower ! Beware of Leeches !We trekked back and sighted the Sarkarpathy water tunnel to Aliyar dam. We also had some cactus fruit on the trek - pink jelly like fruit; whose spikes cannot be operated with even surgical knifes !


















Reached back to the cottage, packed out and reached out to Aathu parai - a famous shooting spot. Back to Coimbatore for lunch and train to Chennai ........ great weather was the biggest companion for the three days ....



Highlights - Nelliyampathy light show by firebugs and morning trek in the forest to the water falls in Top slip !!!

Trip to Nambikovil - Kalakkad

On April 16, along with my wife, daughter and few relatives, happened to visit Nambikovil near Kalakkad. This is around 45-50 kms from Tirunelveli.

Nambikovil is a hill temple for Lord Narayana, with a very good stream of running water over the rocks around. The river is called Nambiyaru. Many people do a trek to the temple on the hills. The nearest village to this hill is Tirukkrungudi. Nambikoil is 4-5 kms trek from the village of Thirukkurungudi. A jeep ride costs around Rs.600-700 on a normal day. On any festive day, the jeeps do a trip for Rs.50 per head. The ride includes to and fro the hill back to Tirukkrungudi.

The ride is on the bumpy rocks and sand. There is no road enroute to the hill temple. Once we take this bumpy trek of 20-25 mins to the top, we get a sight of the rumbling waters ! The ride is worth it and take a dip on the running water. As we do a trek still ahead, there is a location of stagnant water, which varies in depth from a feet to 20 ! The water is so pure and tasty. What else ? Take a good bath, walk to the temple, few feet away from the waters and trek/drive back !