Misty Madikeri ...

Trip : Chennai - Madikeri - Bylekuppe - Chennai
Trip Dates : August 15, 16, 17 2014
Trip Mates : Karthik and family, Selva and family, Santhaseelan, Karthikeyan, Viswa, Dhana

A trip with friends and family, first time. We started from Chennai around 6 PM on a Tempo Traveller. To reach Poonamalle and get a Karnataka permit on the long weekend evening, the time was close to 8:30 ! Uffff ! We had dinner to the Motel Highway at Ponnamalle and started to drive towards Madikeri via the Vellore-Krishnagiri-Hosur-NICE Road-Mysore ByPass-Mandya-Hunsur-Bylekuppe-Kushal Nagar-Madikeri route. The roads are excellent apart  from the link road between Srirangapatna and Mysore ByPass - which is around 20 kms.

Day-1
There were few stops in between for tea and the driver was also not really driving as like the road. We closed in on the Mysore bypass road by 7 AM and took the road to Madikeri from Srirangapatna around 8 AM. We had some idlis, dosas, vada, kara bath, chow-chow bath at Hotel Aditi, Kushal Nagar, some 50 kms before Madikeri. We had booked Hotel Highton - a budget hotel at Madikeri through MakeMyTrip. There were very few reviews in TripAdvisor, however, all were good. We checked-in around 10:30 AM and the rooms were spacious, clean and neat. Very good for a budget hotel.

After quick refresh, we started our day towards Abbey falls (Abbi falls). Abbey falls is a 5-10 minute walk  from the road (parking area). Provided the monsoon was rich this year, the falls was very much flowing on its full capacity and the fine breeze made it a treat to watch. Looks like people are allowed to take bath when the water is less, however, this period of the year, one cannot even go near the water falls. There is a hanging bridge, on which one can get excellent view and treat to photographers ! 

After spending close to 30 minutes, we moved on to next stop. Our driver recommended a view point, which is one of the best (Mandalpatti). However, he did not name it. This was on our Day-2 list but though the one referred by driver was different and skipped. Mandalpatti is #1 place in Madikeri and the parking area is 3 kms ahead of Abbi falls. Please read through for more information on Mandalpatti later in the blog.... :)

Next, we went to Madikeri Fort, in the heart of the town. This is an ancient fort and a small one, and not many people visited. The weather was a slight drizzle. With this, the view of the moist and green fort was very good to walk around and a quick time killer for travellers. I would suggest people to make a short visit and walk around the Fort for a good view of the nearby valleys.

After having a delayed decent lunch @ Hotel Amanthrana (Pure Veg.), around 3:30 PM , we went to Raja's seat. Raja's seat is a cool view point of the valley from Madikeri. This would be an amazing view provided the clouds are clear. It was raining when we went, however, enjoyed the views. With children, it was little difficult to enjoy the moment in rain, but one can always prefer to spent more than 1 hour in the evenings. There is an entrance fees for Raja's seat. Around 5:30 we returned back to the hotel rooms, very tired after the overnight journey in Tempo Traveller and limited sight seeing. We want to have a better day next day, and decided to rest early.

We had dinner at Hotel Poornima. Try to avoid the hotel as the service was poor and did not know how to handle when there is a crowd.

Day-2

The plan was to cover Bhagamandala - TalaCauvery and Mandalpatti. Bhagamandala is located about 33 km from Madikeri. Talacauvery is 44 kms from Madikeri. Bhagamandala is on the way to TalaCauvery.

We visited Omkareshwar temple - around 1 km by walk from the hotel we stayed. A small and old temple and quite popular locally. We made a quick visit to the temple and then for the breakfast. We had breakfast at Hotel Amanthrana. The breakfast was quite horrible. We went there since the lunch was ok on previous day.

We first went to Bhagamandala. This is a place were 3 rivers are merging at a height of 3-4 feet of depth. Many people were bathing in the chill waters; however, we were underprepared for the bath. One can spend upto 30 minutes here and then there is a temple closer to the place. From there, it is a scenic drive towards TalaCauvery. One has to walk for a km from the parking lot for larger vehicles. Cars are allowed to go closer to the entrance of TalaCauvery. There is a small temple for the source of Cauvery.

The place is very scenic amidst hills and valleys and a must visit place. One can climb around 150 steps to the hill of Bramagiri adjacent to the temple. Almost everyone apart from elders, walk the Bramagiri hill and get a great view of the mountains and valleys. One can spent around 2 hours there. The view is spellbound, green, amazing and peaceful. Photographs just keep flashing all around.

We came down and had some tour-lunch - biscuits, vada, bajjis, Maggie and done for lunch. There are a bunch of shops all around Talacauvery. Next we drove towards Mandalpatti. Since we were not aware that we missed previous day, we need to cross back Madikeri to reach the other side towards Abbi falls. Mandalpatti is around 19 kms from the parking lot. We need to take 4x4 jeep from this point. They asked for Rs.2000 and bargaining really did not help big. We negotiated for Rs.1800. First 12 kms is normal road but quite steep/sloppy for big vehicles to commute. Then, the roadless journey starts. Even the 4x4 jeep was slipping here and there and the driver was yelling us to hold tight. The road had a visibility of 3m only because of heavy fog and rain. There were limitless valleys on both sides and any small mistake, none would know where once would end up !

Reached Mandalpatti with amazing views, fog and rain ! WOW ! The drive was worth it and now we knew why this place is #1 in Madikeri !!! Yeah, a must visit place. This falls inline with our earlier expeditions of Nelliampathy and Babubudan Giri (Chikmagalur/Mullayangiri). The visibility was so low and the wild wind made it really a great experience. We all were drenched heavily coz of the heavy fog and moisture. People are allowed to climb the small hill for a great experience only until 6 PM. One would definitely need 2 hours time there and please ensure you be there by 4 PM to have maximum experience.

We all enjoyed a lot in Mandalpatti and had a great time. The fog was even denser when we returned and turned out to a big rain shortly. We just escaped the hard rain ! A very tired day again and returned back to Madikeri around 7 PM. We decided to pic-up a different hotel now for a better appetite ! This time, it was Hotel Neel Sagar (Pure Veg). This hotel ended up to be much better compared to other hotels we had in the last 2 days. Enjoyed some decent food and returned to hotel to get ready to start by 6:30 AM.

Day-3

We decided to start early by 6:30 AM and check-out. We planned to see Cauvery Nisagardhama and Bylekuppe on the way to Chennai. Our aim was to reach back Chennai by 11 PM to avoid another day of expenses for the Tempo Traveller. We perfectly started as per our plan.

Unfortunately, we got to know that Nisagardhama shall be open by 9 AM only :(. We then had breakfast at Hotel Adhiti @ Kushal Nagar (the same place where we had when we were bound to Madikeri). The food was good. We heard that there is a dam - Hirangi dam near by - around 9 kms from Kushal nagar and we went there to kill some time. The dam is closed for visitors but allowed to see and photograph from outside. We spent close to 45 minutes there at a small walk of 200m from the dam, where the overdraft water was running as a stream. When we were returning back, we saw Nisagardhama to be open but preferred to visit Bylekuppe - a Buddhist golden temple so we can return to Chennai on time as planned.

Bylekuppe is a monastery - Tibetian settlement - 7 kms from the highway. The prayers were on when we went and spent close to more than an hour. We took some good photographs and leisured our time at the monastery to listen to their prayers and temple. It was a different experience all together and a definitely visit when one passes by to Madikeri.

Around 11:45, we started back to Chennai; stopped at a Hotel after Mandya for lunch and near Vellore (Hotel Anandas) for dinner and reached back Chennai around 11:30.

Excellent trip and a long wait and thirst to visit Madikeri was quenched with uttermost satisfaction !

Must visit in Madikeri :: Mandalpatti, Talacauvery and Bramagiri walk, Abbey falls.
Must visit on the way : Bylekuppe
Time Killers : Raja Seat and Madikeri Fort.

Pilgrimage @ Karnatak !

Trip : Chennai - Mangalore - Dharmasthala - Sringeri - Kollur - Murudeshwara - Udupi - Mangalore - Chennai
Trip Dates : Sept 7, 8 and 9, 2013
Trip Mates : Karthik, Ilangathir, Shivi and Balavasanth

This was a planned destinations trip but little offbeat in planning. We decided to goto each destination and figure out way to the next destination. Mainly 2 reasons, did not get sufficient information in Internet and a strong belief that all these places are too popular and should not worry about connectivity. I will touch these 2 points once again at the end !

DAY-1
We had booked confirmed tickets Chennai to Mangalore and return. We had planned to use the public transportation in Karnataka for all travels. On getting down, we made use of the clean Mangalore railway station; Rs.10 for a bath. After refreshing, we 4 went to Mangalore express bus stand by an auto for Rs.30 (Rs.20 for Rs.10 for 1 extra person). Had a quick breakfast at the bus stand and there was a bus to Dharmasthala ready for us. The journey started at 9:45 and we reached Dharmasthala around noon. It was raining all the way and all the time. Its a distance of 80 kms covered in 2:15 hours. We put our baggage in the cloak room near the bus stand and went to the temple. There was a small queue and took us around 1 hour to have a satisfactory Dharshan. We then went to the temple food hall and had food. Treat the food as prasadham and do not expect anything more. We were out around 2:45. After taking out the baggage, we started probing how to go to Sringeri !?!?!?!?!

One ticket conductor asked us to go to main bus stand and go to a place called Kottigehara. Dharmasthala to Sringeri in this route is 120 kms. Many in the bus stand (KSRTC employees/drivers/conductors) told that there are lots of frequent buses to Sringeri from Kottigehara. Dharmasthala to Kottigehara is 48 kms and expected to take 90 minutes. We boarded a bus to Chittor (AP) at 3 PM, for which the first stop is Kottigehara ! The path is Ghats road and excellent views and either side. Very good roads, excellent views, very misty and the bus was crowded like anything. We had our own fun in the bus because apart from conductor none knew Kottigehara ! 

We reached Kottigehara around 4:00 PM. Once we got down there, what we saw was a bus stand that can accommodate 3 buses and 4-5 shops around. Nothing else; just a typical stop for a long running bus and a very rural part in the ghats ! Many from the shops around said, there is never a direct bug to Sringeri from Kottigehara ! We were taken aback ! One person said there is a mini-bus going to a place called Balehonnur. From there, there are "frequent" buses to Sringeri. Now, this is our clue. "Frequent" - we are not ready to bite the dust again. So, we enquired an omni-van and bargained a drop to Sringeri from Rs.2500 to Rs.1500. We ended up paying Rs.1700, which was a good instant decision we took. Started from Kottigehara at 4:45, we reached Sringeri at 7 PM.

Sringeri - present at a much higher altitude, was really cold, but bearable. We were wet most of the day - September is a month, when sky is going to be open all the day and night and the views are spectacular everywhere. We got 2 rooms just opposite to the Shri Sharadamba temple at temple's guest house. Each was Rs.300 per night. They are very spacious, easily could accommodate 5-6 adults; had 2 single cots. We were really tired and had more travel plan for the next 2 days; so took 2 rooms. The temple is open until 9 PM. We had a dharshan and some food in the temple. We also want to have some more hot food given the climate and hunger and went around the place. There are many vegetarian restaurants. Back to room, had a sound sleep.

DAY 2
Started the day at 5 AM, refreshed and reached the temple for another quick dharshan by 5:45. We were the only devotees in the temple. So calm, serene and super dharshan of Lord Sharadamba, we walked around the temple peacefully, near the river and came out at 6:45. Had some idlis and chowchowbath and learnt the previous day that there is a direct bus to Kollur at 8 AM. We walked to the bus stand and lucky enough that we got comfortable seats. Sringeri to Kollur took us 4.5 hours and reached at 12:45. The bus took a big route through Agumbe, Hebri, Brahmavar, Kundapura and then to Kollur. Normally, if someone go by car, they can go through Agumbe, Hiliana, Halady, Kollur in 2 hours ! The bus stopped at Kundapura for almost 30 minutes :(.

Reached Kollur, and put our bags at a chappal stand and joined the long queue. The temple was closed for some puja and there was a long queue. It took almost 1:30 hours to have a Dharshan and then went to the temple food hall to have prasadham food. Next comes, the move to Murudeshwar. We believed that both so closed located - only 64 kms and the proximity to the main highway, and many also claimed frequent buses to Murudeshwar from Kollur. Next surprise came on reaching the bus stand. No direct bus and one had to go to Byndoor,34 kms from Kollur to reach the highway and from there, buses to Murudeshwar. It was around 3 PM by then and was starting to rain heavily. If one has to goto Byndoor and then the Murudeshwar, it would take round 3.5 to 4 hours totally to reach !

Again, took a new car - a Toyota Etios from the stand for a Car union rate of Rs.1500. We reached Murudeshwar by 4:30 and checked in to RNS Guest house. We took one guest house for Rs.1600 and ordered 2 extra beds. It was worth to get the car and save almost 2 precious hours. We divulged for a bath in Arabian Sea and then went to temple to take a lift to the top, which I missed during my previous stay ! We reached at 6:45 and by then, the lift which has to operate until 7 PM had stopped taking people to the top as there are many people already in the top ! Could not understand the logic but no other option :(. After having a good Dharshan of the Lord Murudeshwar and the Shiva statue at the top, we had dinner at Naveen Beach Restaurant and strolled around for some quick shopping.

A sleep amongst mosquitoes in the guest house ruined a pleasant night.

DAY 3

Again, started the day at 5 AM, took bath and had quick walk around the place. Did have quick breakfast at Naveen restaurant and started to Udupi. An auto took us to the highway for Rs.40 and boarded the bus to Udupi at 7:45.

Reached Udupi around 11 AM - a distance of 102 kms. Took an auto to the temple, had a very good Dharshan in 20 minutes. Back to the bus stand by 12, boarded the bus to Mangalore. We reached Mangalore around 1:15, went to the railway station, put our bags in the cloak rooms. Do note that cloak room keeper does not accept the luggage without locks ! We bought locks and checked-in our bags. We went around in a search to have some good food; few recommended Hotel TajMahal and turned out to be horrible food !

Thus ended our tiresome trip in Karnataka. Coming back to the 2 points in the beginning of the blog.
1. No proper information about buses in Internet - because buses are NOT there. Poor operation of buses by KSRTC !
2. Tourist places - who cares ! If you want to tour in Karnataka, take a package or drive your car/rent a car.