Place: Kudremukh, Western Ghats, Karnataka, India
Mode: Tempo (Bangalore - Hassan - Kalasa - Kudremukh - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: December 5 & 6, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Kudremukh
My Experience:
1. Me and my colleagues started at around 11.30 PM from bangalore to kudremukh. We arranged a tempo traveller as we were 10 of us. I would say it was very comfortable in the whole journey.
2. Reached a small village which is situated between Samse and Kudremukh. This is the starting point of our trek to Kudremukh National Park. From there to reach the base camp village we travelled by jeep and the travelling experience was good.
3. We have arranged for a home stay. There are some three homes and they provide food, take care of the forest permissions and guide for the trekking.
4. After having the breakfast and packed our food for the lunch we started to trek around 10.30 AM. On the way we found lot of water streams and vertical stretches. After some rest here and there, reached the peak around 3.00 PM. The peak was awsome.
5. Since we have no plans to stay at the top we started trekking down around 3.30 PM. It was getting late and we want to reach the basecamp before sunset. We spotted a bison in a long distance, hurray.
6. But I started having groin injury and one other member was unable to walk becoz of knee injury. So our phase started slowing down and it was complete dark and still we were only half-way through.
7. Then the fun started as we were having only one torch. But somehow managed to reach the base camp around 8.00 PM. After some hot bath had some good dinner.
8. Next day we went to Kudremukh town and Lakya dam. We went to the Hanumanagundi Water falls but we couldn't make it in time as it was closed. After some rest started back to bangalore and reached around 2.30 AM the next day.
Thought of Day:It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven. - Matthew Henry
Place: Agumbe, Western Ghats, Karnataka, India
Mode: KSRTC Bus (Bangalore - Shimoga - Agumbe - Chikmagalur - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: October 31, 2009 - November 1, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Agumbe, Narasimha Parvata
My Experience:
1. We started by Friday Night to Agumbe by direct bus(Rajhamsa Executive). Since the bus goes through the shimoga route, the road was pretty bad as you can't even sleep for a minute.
2. We reached Agumbe around 7.30 AM and it looked like heaven. Agumbe has very few shops and houses. It was the place where the famous Malgudi days shoot happened. We went to the Malgudi days home and took snaps. I still remember one or two episodies from my childhood memory.
3. From Agumbe we took an auto to Malandur which is the base camp for the trek. We met our guide Thimmappa who is a localite in the village. After having a little break, we stared our trek around 10 AM.
4. After some walking, we entered the dense jungle. It was full of leaches. As we had applied salt on our legs and shoes, it was ok. It was sunny, but since we were trekking inside the forest, the trees were giving us shade all the time.
5. Around 1 PM, we reached a big water stream. We decided to have lunch over there itself. At the end of the stream, it was a big water falls. Standing on the top of the falls and seeing down was like too scary but it was fun. Again we started trekking towards our place where we have planned to stay overnight.
6. After some few steep hiking and mountain hoping we reached the small house. The view throughout the trek was awsome. Lot of people got so tired because of the dehydration. Seeing the sunset from top was a nice one too.
7. We had some camp fire and enjoyed our dinner. Next day morning 9.00 AM we started towards the Kiga village and reached around 11.30 AM.
8. We took a local auto and went to Srimane falls which was too good. We went to sringeri and had the god's blessings. That night we started back from sringeri and came to bangalore.
Thought of Day:No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. - Isaac Newton
Place: Hogenakkal, Tamil Nadu, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Bangalore - Dharmapuri - Hogenakkal - Salem)
Date(s) of Travel: October 15, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Hogenakkal Falls
My Experience:
1. I was planning to go to coimbatore for diwali. One of my colleague said why not we do a bike trip till salem, as he stays in karur. Then the plan was on for going to Hogenakkal too. Thatz how this trip happened.
2. We started early morning around 5.30 AM from Domlur. Driving pulsar 180 on the empty road was fun. It was little bit traffic until the outskirts of the city. Once we crossed electronic city, we pushed our limits.
3. We had few breaks in-between and reached Hogenakkal via Hosur, Dharmapuri around 11 AM. When we went to see the water it was like a heaven. Water Water everywhere. The beauty of cauvery reaching tamilnadu was an amazing view.
4. We hired a parisal and did boating on the river which is above the falls. You won't believe we spotted a crocodile. Sitting above the waterfalls in a rock and viewing it was a fun experience.
5. After tasting the local fish, we headed towards salem. Driving on the NH7 from dharmapuri to salem was like kick ass. The road was too good.
6. Overall the trip was too good and tiring.
Thought of Day:Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. - Albert Einstein
Place: MM Hills, Karnataka, India
Mode:Car (Bangalore - Kollegal - MM Hills - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: October 2-3, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Malai Mahadeshwara Hills
My Experience:
1. Myself and two of my colleagues started to MM Hills around 8.00 PM from bangalore. We had a heavy dinner at hotel kamat on the mysore road. We took the road before Mandya to Kollegal. Finally we reached MM Hills around 1.00 AM after taking few breaks.
2. We couldn't find a place to stay at night and slept in the car itself. That was too tiring.
3. Next morning, we took a jeep which takes us to the base village of nagamalai. The jeep journey was so awsome and adventurous. Actual plan was to trek to palaar through the dense forests of MM hills. The trek to nagamalai was good as we could see lot of adjacent hills. It was bit sunny though.
4. After reaching nagamalai, we enquired some local villagers about helping us reaching pallar. They weren't ready as they said it's risky becoz we might experience elephants. And also they said, forest officials will question us. So we dropped the plan to reach pallar.
5. Had blessings from the shiva temple in nagamalai and reached back bangalore the same day.
Thought of Day:
God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps on trying other things. - Pablo Picasso
Place: Visapur and Lohagad Fort - Lonavala, Maharashtra, India
Mode:Bike Trip (Pune - Malawli - Visapur - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: September 12, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Visapur Fort and Lohagad Fort
My Experience:
1. At the last moment, we arranged for a bike to reach the village. The drive
from Pune to Malawli village(On the Way to Lonavala) was quiet calm.
2. The village has quiet a few shops and we could see a lot of people who came
to visit the Lohagad fort. We started our trek from the Buddha caves on the way
to Visapur fort.
3. From the back side of caves, we started trekking towards visapur fort.
Walking through the water streams was quite difficult. On the way through the
fort, we could see a very small village and their main business is cattle
breeding. Since it was monsoon, all the small paths to the fort were so dirty
because of cow marks.
4. Finally we reached the Visapur and I enjoyed walking above the walls. It was
really good. From there we started trekking downwards to Lohagad.
5. In the Lohagad base, there is a village and they serve awsome food. After
finishing our lunch we started trekking to Lohagad. The trek was quite simple as
we just need to climb the steps. Once we reached the top, we could able to see
the Pawna river, Tung fort, Visapur fort from the fort top.
6. We reached back malawli in the evening and I was exhausted. Pushed the pulsar
to its limits and reached back pune in quiet a short time.
Thought of Day:
Winning is important, but what brings real joy is the experience of
being fully engaged in whatever we do - Phil Jackson
Place: Tung Ghat - Lonavala, Maharashtra, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Pune - Lonavala - Tung Ghat - Bhushi Dam - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: September 5, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Tung Fort
My Experience:
1. In Lonavala it was raining all the time. Driving from Lonavala to Tung thru INS Shivaji was an awsome experience.
2. One villager helped us guiding the correct path to reach the base. In the base there is a Hanuman temple. The Trek was easy and we reached the top in an hour. The whole mountain was green and were water streams everywhere.
3. There is a Ganesh Temple in the fort entrance. When we reached the top, it was raining heavily and we hardly see each other. It was fun though.
4. Reached Bushi Dam and had some Corn Pakoda. It was yummy. People littered the place like anything. So sad to see them...
5. Back to pune in the evening.
Thought of Day: Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. - Maria Robinson
Place: Khandala, Maharashtra, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Pune - Lonavala - Khandala - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: July 25, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Khandala
My Experience:
1. Driving on the Pune - Mumbai old Highway was fun. It was raining all the time. Wet Driving is fun :).
2. Awsome view of the mountains on both sides of the road. Waterstreams everywhere.
3. Lonavala Chikki (Kadalai Mittai) was bad and good. Corona was costly and traffic sucks in Lonavala main road.
4. Police catched me and I had no documents except my license. It was atirek's bike. Spot fine 100 bucks but no bill. :(
5. We went to Khandala Railway station and started our small trek to Duke Nose. Walking through the railway tunnels was an awsome experience.
6. As usual Ganesh Majji screwed us. Lost the path and ended up reaching a Thermal power station :). Came back to pune in the evening.
Thought of Day: A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. - Henri B. Stendhal
Place: HarishchandraGad, Maharashtra, India
Mode: Bike Trip (Indica) [240 Kms] (Pune - Narayangaon - Junnar - HarishchandraGad - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: July 11-12, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Harishchandragad
My Experience:
1. Me and my colleagues started from office around 8.00 AM from pune. We went through the Pune-Nasik highway and it was raining all the time during the drive. It was lush greenery all the way and the ghat road was simply awsome.
2. We reached khireshwar which is a village on the foothills of HarishchandraGad around 12.00 PM after having few breaks. Parked all our bikes in a house and we ate some hot pohas which was fantastic.
3. Started trekking around 12.30 PM and we went inside the forest. The trek totally contains three phases. The first phase was little bit difficult as there were lot of rocks and stones on the way. But the view of the adjacent mountains was awsome as we could see lot of falls and land slides. Since it was raining heavily, the path that we went through had lot of water streams.
4. The second phase was too scary as we have to climb and crawl through rocks. But we did it with atmost care and it was fun too. In some places while climbing when I looked down, there were some butterfly effect in my stomach.
5. Then the last phase was walking, walking and simply walking all the way to other mountains. During that we crossed some dense forests and i was little bit scary about leeches, but luckily there were none. On the way we could able to see some crabs too.
6. Finally we reached the top around 4.00 PM and it was full of mist. We went to the Shiva temple and the beauty is, the whole temple is covered by water streams. Then we went to a cave where we finally decided to stay for that night. The cave had a huge Ganesh sculpture and it was glowing in the night due to fluorescence paint.
7. Adjacent to the cave there was a water falls and we had good fun taking bath. And there were some villagers who prepare Tea and Rice/Roti/Dhall. The food was awsome and they charged very little which made me think a lot about the city life.
8. Next morning we started to trek down around 7.00 AM. On the way, we went to the Kedareshwar cave in which there is a big Shivlinga. And I heard that during Shiv Rathri, there will be a huge function. Finally reached the foothills back around 10.30 AM.
Thought of Day: Backpacking is the art of knowing what not to take. - Sheridan Anderson
Place: Nagerhole, Thadiyandamol, Coorg - Karnataka
Mode: Car Trip (Indica) [650 Kms] (Bangalore - Nagerhole - Thadiyandamol - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: June 27-28, 2009
You can read more about the place(s) here: Nagarhole
Thadiyandamol
My Experience:
1. Me and my friends started around 10.00 AM from bangalore. Banaglore - Mysore highway is very scary. You have to be extra careful while driving in the road. We had breakfast at Kamat hotel and it was awsome.
2. We reached Gonikoppal in coorg around 2.00 PM. We used the Srirangapatna - KRS - Madikeri highway to reach gonikoppal. The weather was awsome and it was drizzling.
3. From Gonikoppal we started to Nagerhole national park and we reached there around 3.30 PM. There is a forest guard at the entrance of the park and he does nothing. Above all he was recommending people for some hotels to stay. The sad part was, we saw some people just drinking and littering beer cans inside the park. If the guard could have inspected the vans, they could have been stopped at the entrance only.
4. We saw hell lots of deers. Then we took a bus ride inside the forest. We could able to see only some deers and sambars. I should say the bus ride was a disappointment.
5. Then we stayed overnight at virajpet next to gonikoppal ie on the way to madikeri. Next morning, on the way to chelavara falls we had a nice breakfast in a small hotel. We saw a big black cobra crossing the road. Finally reached chelavara falls and it was awsome.
6. After nice bath in the falls we started to Thadiyandamol and reached the foothills around 11.00 AM. We went to Nalknaad palace and the guard explained about the architecture. It was awsome. But the sad thing is people have screwed up that place as much as possible.
7. We started trekking to Thadiyandamol around 12.00 PM. Everywhere it was green and the climate was f***ing awsome. We were so hungry and some fellow trekkers gave us some food. Around 2.00 PM we reached halfway and it started raining. The rain became heavier and the paths we went through looked like water streams. So we decided to go back and reached the foothills. Then found that we got bitten by leeches. It was scary and the blood was not at all clotting.
8. Finally reached bangalore around 10.00 PM. It was a fun filled experience.
Thought of Day: Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Place: Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra
Mode: Bike Trip [300 Kms] (Pune - Panchgani - Mahabaleshwar - Panchgani - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: June 4-5, 2009
You can read more about the place here: Mahabaleshwar
My Experience:
1. Me and my colleagues started around 9.00 PM from office and reached the Pune-Bangalore highway at 10.00 PM. We had four bikes and all are pumped with petrol to really cruise. There are lot of dhabas on the highway and we had a nice non-veg dinner at a dhaba. Awsome food. :)
2. Just 20 kms on the highways, you will find a 1.5 Kms tunnel which was awsome to watch. I had seen these kind of tunnels on the Kulu Highway in Himachal.
3. On the way to Panchgani, we stopped at a place and did a small night trek. It was so slippery, and we decided to end it halfway. From that hill, we could able to see a fort which was amazing at the moonlight.
4. Reached Mahabaleshwar around 2.00 PM and there were fog everywhere. Stayed overnight there and reached tapola in the morning which is around 25 Kms from there. The way to tapola was awsome as you could enjoy the beauty of western ghats. In tapola, we did some boating on the Koyna River.
5. Started back to pune around 5.00 PM. When we hit the highway, it was raining. Wet driving was dangerous and it was more fun too. Finally reached home around 8.30 PM with some pain in the back. :(
Thought of Day: Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. - Albert Einstein
Place: Purandar fort, Maharashtra
Mode: Cycle Trip [120 Kms] (Pune - Saswad - Purandar - Saswad - Pune)
Date(s) of Travel: May 30, 2009
You can read more about the place here: Purandar
My Experience:
1. Me and my office colleagues started to Purandar from Pune around 4.00 AM. We reached Saswad around 9.00 AM. Riding the cycle in the 4KM ghat was a horrible experience. It was almost impossible for me since my stamina sucks.
2. Reached Purandar village around 12.00 PM. It was hot like hell. Even then I made my mind to take the trek and managed to reach the top around 1.00 PM.
3. Started back to Pune around 2.00 PM and reached back around 7.00 PM. But it was tiresome to ride around 120 Kms in a day. Tried some glucose, electrol nothing worked. Other Avid cyclists were encouraging me a lot and that kept me pushing and able to finish the trip as well as trek.
Thought of Day: Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. - Albert Einstein
Place: Kodachadri and Udupi, Karnataka
Mode: Bus Trip (Bangalore - Shimoga - Kodachadri - Kollur - Udupi - Bangalore)
Date(s) of Travel: December 24 - 28, 2008
You can read more about the place here: Kodachadri
My Experience:
1. Me and my office colleagues started to Shimoga from Majestic Bus stand, Bangalore at Dec 24, 2008, 11.00 PM. We reached Shimoga the next morning 6.00AM and again boarded a bus to Kollur by 6.10 AM. We got down at Kodachadri cross at around 10.00 AM. The Bus travel between Shimoga and Kodachadri cross was so tiresome as it was going through western ghats all the time. By the time I got down, I was so tired and worried about the Trek. :)
2. From the Kodachadri cross to the foothills, it was around 4-5 Kms. On the foothills there is a hotel called santhosh and we ate breakfast over there. Food was bit costly, but was good.
3. Then we started to trek through the hills around 11.30 AM. The mountains are filled with lots of trees and because of this we didn't felt the heat. We did take a lot of breaks. We have to cross mountains by mountains and the picturesque hills was so good to see and experience.
4. We managed to reach Kodachadri by around 2.30 PM. There was a temple and few shops were also there. There is a mud road path too where jeeps can travel. We stayed at a priest house, where they provide food at a minimum cost.
5. We went to Agasthiyar theertha, which it is a small stream where we took bath. The water was freezing cold and rocks were so curvy. In the evening we went to the peak also called Sarvajna Peetha to experience sunset. We could see a small temple of Adi Shankaracharya where he did meditation.
6. We stayed overnight at the priest house and it was damn cold outside. It was a nice experience. Next morning, we started to trek down at 8.30 AM and reached the hotel at the foothills by 10.00 AM. From there we went to kollur, which is 20 Kms from Kodachadri cross.
7. In Kollur, we stayed at a hotel for sometime and went to river to take bath and went to Mookambika temple. After taking Darshan, I alone started to Udupi Via Kundapura by 7.30 PM.
8. I reached Udupi by 10.00 PM and when I started looking for a hotel, it was a big shock for me. I checked around 7 hotels and no rooms available in any hotel. But with gods grace, I could get a hotel in a place called Parkala which is around 10 Kms from Udupi.
9. Next Day Morning, I went to Malpe beach. From there I went to Malpe Shipping Harbour and could able to see a ship building yard too. Then, I went to St.Marys Island by boat which is around 40 minutes drive from Harbour. The Island was too good and the water was clear. There is a shop in the Mid Island where they sell fried fish. In the evening I went to Krishnan Temple which is very famous. After that, I boarded a overnight bus from udupi and reached bangalore next morning.
Thought of Day: Brahma (God) is real, the world is an illusion, Jeeva (atma) and Bramha (god) are same, not different - Adi Shankaracharya.
