Single day trek to MakaliDurga (May 15, 2016)

It was long time since we went for a trek with office mates.
Even though it was summer, we decided to go for one day trek. After filtering out many options, we decided to visit MakaliDurga.
We planned to start at 4:30 AM in the morning with a  gang 8 -  Shantanu, kp, Vivek, SaiKiran, Piyush, Murali, Dibya, Myself.  Shantanu and Vivek agreed to get their cars. We were delayed by an hour and finally hit the road around 5:30.
We reached MakaliDurga railway station by 7 AM. After a quick photo session, we started walking along the railway tracks towards the hill. After reaching the mile stone number 54/400, we took a left deviation towards the hill.
The trek  path was marked with white lines and all that we need to do is to follow the arrows. We got little adventurous and decided to take a random path to reach the top.

This path was clear and we did not have much difficulty except for one place. From any point on the hill, we could see the railway track. Once we reached the top, we took out our remaining snacks and enjoyed the cool weather. There is a very small temple on the top which is not operational.
After posing for few pics, we headed  towards the foot of the hill. We relied on google maps for the route and got  misdirected and took a wrong path. Instead of taking 1 hour to reach the base, we almost took 4 hours. Because of this we ran out of water and the energy levels went low.
We did not have an option but to force ourselves to walk. Fortunately we found a motor pump which pumps water to the fields. We were relieved that we got some water to drink and our energy levels raised.
After a quick break, we started back. We found a lake nearby and decided to cool ourselves in the pure water. After a refreshing bath, we started towards the railway track. Finally we were on track to the railway station. We reached the station at 5 PM completely drained out of energy.
We started around 5:30 to Bangalore. 

Trip to Kukke, Dharmastala, Hornadu, Sringeri

A single day trip over a weekend. Four of us Kranthi, V Sairam , Satyanvesh and myself decided to go Kukke. We found that there are other attractions near by kukke which we should not miss.

We started on Saturday morning (20th Feb 2016) around 1 AM in a Indica cab. The route is Yashwantpur-Nelamangala-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Kukke.
We reached Kukke around 6:30 AM. It was a good time to visit the temple as the number of devotees were  less. We quickly finished our darshan in the temple shrine and immediately started towards Dharmastala.

The road to Dharmastala is fairly good. We reached the place at 9 AM. It was a big lane outside the temple but luckily we finished our darshan pretty quick. There was food arranged inside the temple complex but we were too early for that. Without wasting much time, we headed
towards Hornadu.

Hornadu is famous for Annapoorneshwari temple and is also famous for serving free food to all the devotees visiting the place. As soon as we reached, we first finished our lunch and started towards temple for darshan. It was a quick darshan inside the temple as the crowd was less.

The last place to be visited in the list is Sringeri. Reached this place by evening around 5 PM. As all of us were hungry we had snacks just outside the Matt. We spent good amount of time inside the
Matt. There was a musical program being performed in the auditorium. This place has a nice view of the river flowing next to it. Since our driver wanted to take some rest, we spent some extra time inside the premises.

We started back to Bangalore around 7:30 PM. We could not travel continuously as the driver was tired and wanted to take rest for some time.
Finally we reached our home around 3 AM  on Sunday. Every thing went on well  according to the plan and we reached home safe.

Skandagiri - Trek

There are many trekking places around Bangalore and one among them is Skandagiri. Located 70 km from Bangalore, this can be the first choice for anyone who wants to trek.
My team members from office decided skandagiri for our first trekking experience. Seven of us shown interest to go for the trek - KP, Shantanu, Venkat, Yash, Umar, Murali, Myself.
We started sharp at 6 from Bangalore. I started on my Xtreme and shantanu had taken his car. We reached Nandi Upachar restaurant for our breakfast at around 7:30. After that we reached the base of skandagiri (Papagni Mutt) via chickballapur - Muddenahalli.

We started our trek by taking a right turn near the temple and started climbing the hill. Initially I felt little tiring but as we continued to walk, I started feeling better. There is a clear trail for the trek and one cannot go away from the trail. It was not a difficult trek but a little tiring one.
We took around 2.5 hours to reach the peak of the skandagiri. It was an amazing feeling standing on the top of the hill. With the cool breeze, we didn't feel the tiredness of the trek. There was a temple on the top which was closed. We relaxed there after emptying our snacks and had a photo shoot after that.

Coming down is not a difficult one. We just took around 1 hr 15 min to reach the base where we parked our vehicles. From there we decided to go to the near by lake so that we can prepare lunch there. Unfortunately, the lake was completely dried up. There is not even a  single drop of water in that lake. We were in search of a good place to camp for preparing lunch. In the process, on the way , we visited a bhoganandiswara temple. After visiting temple we went ahead and parked near the base of another hill. After finding a good spot, we unpacked all our items required for lunch and started preparing. Some guys were fetching water, some were cutting vegetables, some making arrangements for the fire. At the end of all this, we prepared good food - veg pulav and raita.

We started back from our dining place at around 6 and reached bangalore by 8.

Chickmagalur - A trip to remember

Staying in Bangalore, we have lot of places near by to visit during weekends. Thanks to Karnataka tourism for making these places special ones and comfortable ones. One such place near Bangalore is Chickmagalur. With the highest peak of karnataka, Chickmagalur is definitely  a  place to visit.

The planning for the trip started a month prior mainly regarding  the stay in Chickmagalur. We decided to visit places like Sravanabelagola, Belur, Halebeedu, Chickmagalur, Kemmangundi with nine of us confirming for the trip - Kranthi, Sampath, Satyanvesh, Ravu Sairam, V Sairam, Govardhan, Sowmendran, SivaSree.

Being a holiday, we started our trip on 25th September 2015 at 5:30 in the morning in a TempoTraveller. 

25th September (First Day)

The first place in our list is Sravanabelagola. As per the schedule, we reached the place at 9 in the morning after finishing our breakfast on the way. The Gomateshwara temple is situated on the top of a hill. There are steps to reach the top and it is not very difficult to do it. The Jain temple on the top has a beautiful statue of Gomateshwara. The view from the top of the hill is amazing with coconut trees surrounding the hill. The cool breeze made our visit pleasant on the hill. We clicked few snaps quickly and started to our next place.   

The next place is Belur. The places of interest in Belur are Belur temple and Yagchi dam. The temple is a old one and it is well maintained now. The architecture of the temple is very intricate and gives a impression that this architecture cannot be replicated now. The guide we hired explained the interpretations of the statues and design of the temple. Right next to the temple there is a similar but a small temple which is a prototype for the big temple constructed then. After spending good enough time around the temple, we started to our next destination. As it was already lunch time, We decided  to stop for our food.

Halebeedu, which is our next destination is also famous for a ruined temple. This is a Shiva temple and the architecture is similar to that of Belur and Somnathapura (near Mysore). The condition of the road from Belur to Halebeedu is bad. Since we have to reach chickmagalur from Halebeedu via Belur, we reached Belur and visited Yagchi dam. This dam is small one with 4 gates but water body is huge. The water sports in this water is located on the other side of the dam, so we decided to skip the water sports so that we can reach chickmagalur on time. 

We reached Chickmagalur at 6 and our home stay at around 6:30. The home stay The Spectrum http://www.thespectrum.in/ is located around 10 km away from the Chickmagalur bus stand. The home stay is located in a cool, calm, serene place inside a coffee estate. We were received by the manger of the home stay and were offered welcome drinks. 

We quickly refreshed and came out of our rooms  for the camp fire arranged by the home stay. We could not enjoy much during the camp fire because of disturbance by another group. Around 10 we had dinner and started back to our rooms. Some of us  played bluff game in the night and then went to bed.

26 September (Second Day)

The day started at 6  in the morning. We stated to Mullayanagiri peak before breakfast. We need to go to the base of Mullayanagiri and then walk to the peak. At the base, we spotted a shooting set and found out that Manchu Manoj's Telugu film is being shot there. We started walking from the base to the peak of the hill which is around 1.5 km. After a certain distance, we need to climb steps to the peak of the hill. Once we reached the peak, we literally felt that we are on top of the world. It is at a height of 6400 feet above sea level with  a Shiva temple on the top. A local person said "The scenery changes every second on the peak". True to his words, we found that every second there is a change in the scenery. It is completely surrounded by the clouds. Once the clouds are cleared, the view is the best.

We spent lot of time on the peak clicking photographs and enjoying the beauty. 

We reached home stay for our lunch around 2.

After our lunch, we started to BabaBudan giri. This place  has a temple which has a durgha on one side and a Dattatreya peeta on the other side. Due to lack of time, we could not visit the temple. Near by, there is water fall by name Manikyadhara. Since we need to walk a distance of 4 kms. we dropped the idea of visiting the falls. But smaller vehicles can directly reach the falls. 

The next place is Buttermilk falls. We need to hire a jeep to go to the falls from the main road. The road is very bad, so own vehicles are not allowed. We reached the beautiful falls and took bath in the freezing cold water. 

We started back to the home stay and reached around 7 in the evening. After the camp fire and dinner, we played bluff and went to bed.

27 September (Last Day)

On our last day of the trip, we started after the breakfast and we vacated the rooms. The first place is kallathigiri falls. There is a temple just next to the falls. Its not a big falls but definitely we can take bath. We visited the temple, spent some time near the falls and started to our next place.

We went to a garden  in kemmangundi and then started to z point. The z point is a must see place in kemmangundi. We need to stop our vehicle on the road and have to walk on the mud road. We need to be careful about the leeches. After walking around 2kms, we can spot Shanti falls. We need to walk past the falls and trek a good amount of distance for 45 min. The trek is not dangerous but we need to be careful. The top of hill which is Z point is  awesome. This peak is surrounded by many other peaks. We spent some time for pics and stated back. 

On our way back, we stopped in kadur for food and started to Bangalore in heavy rain. We reached our home at 12 in the midnight and thus ended yet another beautiful journey. 

One Day Trip to Shivanasamudra, Talakadu, Somnathpura.

Weekend getaways are always fun especially with the close friends community. We really need enthusiastic friends who are ready for the any trip which is organized. Luckily I have a good number of friends who are always interested. Staying in Bangalore, we have lots of nearby places to roam around and we have very good access to reach the places.

On a Friday morning, one of my friend, Rajesh suggested  that we need to plan a trip for the weekend. By quick search in Google, we narrowed down few places of interest. We decided that we will go to Bheemeswari and shivanasamudra. The head count for the trip turned out to be good with eight of  decided to go. So, I quickly called up the cab driver (The driver who drove us to Ooty) and asked his availability. He said we can start on Saturday morning by 6 and can be back in the night by 10 on the same day.     

The next day morning we started early by 6:30 in the morning. On the way to Bheemeswari, we stopped in Kanakapura for the breakfast. The driver suggested a hotel Vasu. The food was very good especially the Masala Dosa. We ate to the fullest and then started to Bheemeswari. 

Once we reached Bheemeswari, we realized that the fishing camp is closed and no one is allowed. We were disappointed. There was a resort which organizes the adventurous rides but we felt that it was costly (around 2k). So we started to shivanasamudra. 

The road to shivanasamudra is small but it is very good. People who like riding bike will enjoy this road. We reached shivanasamudra by afternoon and we went to GangaChukki waterfalls. We were not allowed to go in to the falls. Because of the monsoon, there was water gushing from a great height. As usual we took lot of pics with the waterfalls. The next place to visit was Talakadu. 

Talakadu is a small village near kaveri river. On the banks of the river we can find lot of eateries. The water near the bank was dirty. So we went little inside for our bath and we played in the water for so long. Then on the banks of the river, we all played football. Then we went for a boat ride in the kaveri river. The boat was a small round shaped one. Only 5 guys can sit in it. After coming from the river bank, we had lunch nearby.

We started to Somnathpura temple after our lunch. Actually, Somnathpura was not in our plan. We decided to visit that place after we started from Bangalore. Once we reached the temple, we knew what we decided was absolutely correct. The temple is not huge but it was marvellous. Each and every stone was carved to beauty. We can find very small statues carved on the stones which shows the great art work of that century. Rituals are not performed in the temple any more.

We started back to Bangalore in the evening. It was so tiring that all my friends slept in the return journey. We reached our home at around 9 in the night well ahead of what we thought. 

This is the story of our successful one day weekend trip to shivanasamudra, Talakadu, Somnathpura.

South Indian Trip

                

      Planning a trip is not an easy task. At the same time executing the plan is equally tough. We plan so much beforehand, but most of the times we fail to execute it. Same thing happened with me when we planned a trip to south India. Let’s see how we succeeded with a failed plan.

                                Three of my friends Sameer, Sainadh, Rajshekar and myself planned a tour to South India. Sameer and myself had gone to Bangalore on 31^st of October. Four of us boarded the bus to Wayanad at 8:15 PM.

1^st November

                We reached wayanad early in the morning at 5:30. We had a tough time finding a room. Finally we came across a gentle man who helped us in getting a dormitory room. He also arranged a cab to roam in wayanad. We quickly freshened and started to Eddakal caves. We expected a lot but when we finally reached there, we were disappointed. There was nothing special about the caves. I personally felt that Borra caves in Araku are better than that. Next, we went to waterfalls which were quite far from the caves. To reach the waterfalls we had to trek the hill all along by walk. When we reached there, we were almost tired for the day but the beauty of the waterfall rejuvenated us. It was an awesome sight of water falling from that great height and with so much force. No one can withstand the force of the water if they stand directly underneath the falls. After enjoying the scene and bathing in that cold water, we started back. Unfortunately it was raining all the way back and we were drenched completely because of the heavy downpour. We were supposed to visit Pookot Lake on the way but because of the rain and our tiresome bodies, we ruled out the idea. We directly went to Cochin in the same car.  We had communication problem with the driver all the way. He didn’t even know where the bus station and railway station is. He took us all over Cochin and finally with the guidance of local people we reached the railway station. We got in to almost a running train. In the train we found out that our plan for the next day was washed out because of heavy rains in that area. As an alternative we decided to visit Guruvayor temple near Trissur. So, that night we stayed in a dormitory in palaghat.

2nd November

We got up early in the morning and started to Trissur by train. From there we went to Guruvayor temple in a bus. The custom of the temple imposes that we have to wear only dhoti and a cloth covering the upper body. We thought we can finish the darshan in one hour. But it turned out that it took almost four hours for darshan. We started back to Trissur in the bus and got in to a train to Allepy from Trissur. We reached alleppy late in the evening. We had a plan to go to beach that evening but unfortunately we couldn’t go because of the dark night. We booked a boat for the next day for backwaters ride in Alleppy.

3^rd November

We started to the place where the boats were stationed. From there we took a boat ride in the nearby villages of Alleppy for almost 6 hours. We thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the place around us. Around 3 in the afternoon we reached back Alleppy. From there we went to Varkala beach which took almost 2 hours to reach. By the time we reached it was already dark. So we couldn’t see much of the beach. In Varkala, we can find so many foreigners and couples roaming. Almost each and every shop sells beer and fish.

4^th November

We went to beach early in the morning. We enjoyed beach by playing in the water. Beaches were not new to me since I was brought up in the coastal region. But for my friends it was a rare sight. We started to Thiruvananthapuram in the afternoon in a bus. One of my friends (Sainadh) had a friend in Thiruvananthapuram. So we went to his room and from thereon he only took us to the temple “ Anantha Padmanabha Swami”. It was a beautiful temple and it was very well maintained. After the darshan we started to Kanyakumari in train. We reached Kanyakumari late in the night.

5^th November

We reached the beach early in the morning to view the sun rise.  Unfortunately, because of the clouds, we couldn’t see the sun rise properly. After the sun rise we came back to the room and refreshed and stared towards the beach again to see Vivekananda rock memorial. We have to go in a boat to reach the rock. We thought it will be very easy. But we found out that there was a line to enter the boat which was almost 1km long. We somehow managed to poke in the line. Even then it took us almost 2 hours to just board a boat. The Vivekananda memorial was beautifully constructed in the midst of the sea.  We quickly came back to room and started towards the railway station to board a train to Madurai. Unfortunately, we missed the train and we have to reach Madurai only by bus. We reached Madurai in the night and had a darshan of Goddess. We stayed in Madurai for that night.

6^th November

We had gone to temple once again in the morning to see the architecture of the temple. We saw thousand pillar hall in the temple. After the darshan, we started to bus station to catch a bus to Rameshwaram. We reached Rameshwaram at around 12 in the noon. There was a bridge by name Pamban which comes just before Rameshwaram. It was constructed on sea. The water was very shallow that we can actually see the bottom of the sea. In Rameshwaram, we took an auto and saw all the places around it. We entered the Rameshwaram temple in the evening. There was a custom in the temple that pilgrims have to take bath in 22 wells which were located around the temple. Though it was not compulsory, we took bath in all the 22 wells. After that we had darshan of Shiva. Immediately after the darshan we started back to railway station. 

7^th November

We reached Chennai in the morning and one of our friends T N Prashant came to railway station to receive us. From there we went to one of our classmates’ room. From there Sainadh and Sameer started to Bangalore and Vishakhapatnam respectively. Myself and Rajshekar started to Puttaparthi that night in a bus.

 That’s how our successful tour ended.