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
