Wayanad Trip

Before leaving Bangalore...I at least once, wanted to be to Waynad...had heard a lot about the place.....and was really looking forward to go there.....My Motorola office colleagues planned for the same this weekend. We were six people.....Marliyn, Srinivas, Dechen, Yashwant, Pankaj and Me :)

Marilyn : Sweet girl , coordinator of all the accommodation and plan for travel....ready and enthu for all the activities.
Srinivas : Ready to help anyone for anything...and anywhere....(phisalta hain..bar bar)
Dechen : This girl slept maximum time....as soon as we used to enter the cab...she always managed to take a nap :)
Yash : Cool banda....apni hi dhun me mast !!
Pankaj : Challa jaata hoon kisi ki dhoon main....machalte dil ke tarane liye :)
Trupti : I had promised myself and everyone....that I would give up phone for one night and one day ;) ......and hurray I did it !!!!

Day1 : 5.00 am
We started early morning by 5 from Bangalore..had hired a cab....we managed to reach Mysore by 8. On the way we had nice breakfast.....at Mandya...a place few kms
from Mysore.....Marliyn had got 2 CD's written, but we had already finished with all the songs until we reached Mysore...so we got a new CD of A R Rehman..... :)

Mysore
After crossing Mysore the stretch along which we drove was simply awesome...as the monsoon had just started.....it was lush green everywhere.....and did not feel like missing even a single view or sight. After entering into Bandipur forest...we could see ... tall bamboo trees towards both the sides...which made the view absolutely panoramic. To our luck....we could spot two huge elephants and one baby elephant on the way...It was very nice. We reached Sulthan Bathery at about 11 pm.....The home stay we had booked, had already arranged a guide for us. He came to meet us at Sulthan Bathery, around 11, and we started with sight seeing :) We decided to roam around the places throughout the day, and go to home stay directly at night.

Edakkal Caves
These caves are located closer to Karnataka border, the carvings in these caves have been acknowledged as the work of the earliest human races. It was a good small trek for about an hour....which was really refreshing for all of us.....the breeze was cold and nice...while moving through the place we found several coffee n cardamom plants....Had nice ripe mangoes and amla....while coming back. After this we headed to have our lunch. In lunch we had fish biryani, and lots of chicken...must say the fish was really tasty..!! After lunch we went to some of the tea estates near by....had nice time der...and left for chemra Peak...which was about an hour from der....

Chemra Peak
Is the highest point in waynad....there were clouds moving through....the mist and fog....made it appear more and more beautiful..you can enjoy the green ghat enroute to Caliciut from here.

Pookot Lake ... a natural fresh water lake bound by forest and hills all over. The fresh water lake nested above wooded hills, is the only one of its kind in Kerala. It is one of Wayanad's top visitor draws.

Kanthapara Waterfalls
Relatively smaller than Sentinel Rock Falls, and rather less frequented Kanthanpara and its surroundings offered a very pleasant site.....this one was very far from the town.......It was only we six souls ....der....we walked across a small stretch of trees and jungle...which led us.....to this beautiful place...the water was fresh and refreshing......the place was covered with dense thick trees....from all sides of waterfall....as the the sun started to set...we could see the clouds....and could here the sounds made by birds....we spent maximum time here....and then left for home stay....

Entee Vedu...our home stay
An exclusive bamboo house with 2 bedrooms and an open sitting room ...tree houses....dining hall...the food , the view and stay was simply amazing...very well managed.....These cosy rooms were the perfect place for a tranquil stay!! Traditional Kerala cuisine was served for breakfast and dinner. . There is also a small kitchenette if you are in the mood for a holiday cooking..
After having bath...we went for dinner...chit chatted for some time..played carom and cards. We wanted to stay in some more time...but every one were too tired to stretch beyond 12....so all of us went to bed.

Next day early morning....we woke up had a nice cup of tea and headed towards....the fields and farms...it was a nice experience walking through the paddy...and supari trees...we walked more than 2-3 kms and came across a river....spent some time der...and headed back to home....we had nice breakfast and started for our first place for the day....

The Kuruva Island with 950 acres of evergreen forest lies on one of the tributaries of the River Kabini. This calm and peaceful island is home to a variety of birds, butterflies and orchids. We had a wonderful experience of boating though bamboo boats. After crossing the Kabini river....we found several small islands which we could cross by walking through the river. This was the most adventurous part of the trip. We kept crossing islands....hoping that we could reach the other stretch of river.....walk instead of boating back to reach the place. We just got lost to a point ... where we were with water all around...then we thought of walking back the same path and reached back...until which it had stared raining...so had nice bhajjis and tea :)

Started at about 3pm from the place...had lunch and then headed towards Bangalore.....the trip was excellent....and would like to go there several more times :) Had a rocking experience guys!!!

Coorg Trip

We had booked a tour package for some 1350 for coorg-medikere-nagarhole with 1 night accomodation. Tour was from saturday morning to Sunde night.

Trip main we all following ppl were there:
-- Deepali - Make up queen.....cautious about looks and figure
-- Sonal - wohh itna sabko chalne ke liye tayyar karti hain n she takes care of things like keeping water, food, snacks etc etc
-- Trupti - waise adha time she is on fone but thankfully very pumped up to go on any trip anywhere ....anytime..always
-- Hina - Jab we met ki geet ka doosra naam... she talks endlessly.. punjabi kudi from jalandhar.. soch lo kitna chik chik. mazze dilati hain.. uski baatein totally full of fun
-- Kanika.-. kitchen ki spelling bhi nahi aati hogi.. shruti ka perfect replacement hain.. born on 16th april... n kuch bhi khana bana na nahi aata.. use sab kuch tayyar karke de do.. fir woh apna italian etc etc banyegi...

Saturday

So Saturday morning we got up, got ready n had tea n took bus to reach badami house jahan se tour ki bus thi. wahan pohoche 7.15 am par toh pata chala tour bus nahi aayi hain..
khana peena chalu kar diya with loads of fotoz .... ek baar toh hum paanch apni khud fotoz le rahe the toh ek uncle aakar bolte hain ki u guys are struggling i ll take the foto..
fir kafi itnezaar ke baad bus aayi.. trip start ho gai ...

bus main ghuste hi everyone slept..10 am we reached a dhaba on mysore highway (revived old memories jab we mys se bus main aayi thi wen zo,vikas,mahaveer, n all saath the we had food over there)
wahan Kanika got tea for free.. for all of us.. that guy didnot ask for money.. fir wapas bus main.. n we started towards coorg...

raaste mai we started playing dumb c + antaskhri n all.. slept for some time as well.. reached coorg at 1.30pm

1st Place : Buddhist Monestry.. largest in India.. thats like a small town for Tibetan ppl..clicked fotoz stopped for 20 mins n back to bus.. it was damn hot that time
then headed to a restaurant.. that village was very small so had bakwass food.. there we came to know that there is no river rafting as the water level is not gud enough :(
we headed to next stop.

2nd Place : Kauvery river fishing & boating camp : here the only thing was boating & a hanging bridge over the river..
here we got very frustrated that nothing worth while is there in the tour

3rd Place abbey Falls: then we headed towrds abbey falls.. it was like u go up in the mountains n then go down again.. kind of from one hill to another.. ek side valley doosri side trees n hills.. was not enjoying cos of heat... the bus driver stopped around 2KM from the falls n asked us to walk down n come back by auto as buses not permitted to go beyond this.. it was evening around 5..30..
me n sonal started running from here.. it was fun.. it was steep curved roads & narrow ones... down the hill so we cud easily run.. we reached there near the abbey falls n clicked fotoz.. other ppl reached.. then foto session hua.. n some coconut water ...
while going down there were some steps once u enter the area of falls... while coming up we started shoutin jai mata di jor se bolo... pyaar se bolo n all.. all ppl got so shocked some of them started also shouting.. guess everyone had the enthu... then we got into a jeep.. jeep main bhi we were shouting the same hting...

4th place : Raja's seat: here we reached in another next hour.. by the time we reached it was dark n cold... wahan bhelpuri (churmur) milta hain.. so ate that ... then cold drinks.. wahan troy train thi chotu si... but we chuck it out.. then went to raja 's hill... there was a garden on the edge of the hill... and its like highest point of coorg-medikere.. it was dark so cudnt see anything.. but thandi tahndi hawa chal rahi thi and it was like on the edge of a hill... so we stayed there for sometime.. fir nearby ek musical fountain tha.. wahan gaye.. wahan 2 gaano par dance kiya.. some kannda song n its the time to disco.. beech beech mai fountain rotate hota tha n it use to sprinkle water on us..
then wapas bus jaate hue got into a march by ISKON temple ppl.. hare rama hae krishna kiya n back to bus..

5th place : old shiva temple of 1800.. darshan kiya n then went to hotel...

hotel was quite OK ... not tht gud..w ahan ajaake sabse pehle change kiya n got camera charged.. went out for dinner.. ek mast jagah par khana khaya.. was like a dhaba...
mast khana tha north indian..

then came back.. we had foto session for some time again :D n slept again

sunday

we were suppose to get up at 5.. the tourist incharge told that hot water comes at 5 in the monring.. we thot hum logo ke room mai koi bucket mai deke jaayega..
so we kept on waitin. pata chala baad mai it came in taps..

khair kuch kar ke we got ready went into teh bus by 6.30 (5.45 tak pohochna tha)

9am : Thala kauvery : here the kauvery river originates.. on a very high mountain.. a small temple n a pond is there.. nothing much.. the scenic view was nice but it was already very sunny so cudnt capture anything.. then there were some 300 steps up where u cud see the whole medikere... went up watt lag gai....

there were one aunty uncle who went up n came backa also wen we were only 1/4th way

fir upar gaye.. it was beautiful/... u cud see many windmills.. mountains covered with fog n all...

neeche aaye.. camera was running out of charge :(

10 am : went to a small restaurant for bkfast.. wahan camera 30 mins ke liye charge kiya...
11 am : sangama kauvery : here the kauvery river and a spring is there.. dono milte hain... wahan pani hain 1 foot jitna..
pani main thoda der masti ki.. fir tere was a small boundary..wahan chadd gaye.. socha khudte hue we will click fotoz but ek bhi foto nahi aayi...

pass main hi ek temple tha wahan gaye n back...yahan bus wale se daant padh gai.. we were late n everyone has come so :(

fir gaane saane. dumb c etc etc

1.30 PM : had lunch n refilled eating stuff.. chips etc etc... ye gonnikappal (town) main tha

3.30PM : nagarehole national park.. tourist incharge told ki nobody has seen even a single animal in last 15 yrs of his carreer still if u want to take safari u can.. some ppl booked for the same...
entry jahkaas hui.. tat tourist incharge uncle told this after restaurant only.. but jaise hi ismai ghuse he started shotuing tiger tiger... everyone was sleeping so sab uth gaye,.... n idhar udhar dekhne lage,.. then he told ki us board par hain... popat maara..
fir uske baad we saw many deers n all... wahan elephant par bhi safari hoti hain.. fir we got down there.. that jungle is some 32 kms.. and its a thick jungle.. safari n all take u only 7-8 kms hence u dont find any animals...
we 5 gals iwent into the jungle way clicked fotoz n came back.. wapas aake pata chala ki safari is booked till 6.. so cannot go.. toh wapas chal diye..

raaste main stopped for tea break.. fotoz wagarah click kiye n then antakshri n all gapp marna suru.. mysore highway par fir ruke n then raat ko ghar wapas at 11.30pm..