Monday 5 December 2016

Coorg - The Scotland of India

Railway station clock was ticking 10 past 11, I was sitting in station with a band of doubts combined with a twine of happiness.

My bestie from college had got into the train by 09:00 pm in Chennai. I was supposed to get into train by 11:25. Female voice in station had announced that the train will be delayed by 10 minutes. I waited impatiently in the station.

The waiting time had just casted the events which had happened 2 days back. I should have been in train to Kerala by this time.

A sudden craving for a snack resulted in a series of catastrophic events. A small accident had made my roommate bed-ridden. I was at least relieved to know that there was nothing serious and just that she needed more rest.

So what next? I had to plan something real fast. Only two days left. And most importantly I need to find friends who can join me for this trip.

I bounced back to reality when the female voice announced again about the arrival of Kaveri express in platform No 1.

My bestie from college was waving her hand at me from train. I got into the train with all smiles. 

After all, a trip with your bestie is all the more special than anything else in the world.

I had asked my college best friend to join me for this trip. But she was very reluctant to go on a girls alone trip(So much concerned about safety you see), because of which we ended up in pulling her fiancé from Hyderabad.

So finally we are three.

We reached Mysore station by 6 am in the morning. Her fiancé was already waiting for us in the station. We headed out together to enquire some travel agency for a car.

There we are. Headed towards Coorg.

Though we had booked at the nick of time, we got a good deal for hotel(INR 1700). We got refreshed and left to Abhey falls.

Day 1 Abhey Falls 
We had to do a small trek to reach the falls. Lush green trail en route falls was good. Falls with old rickety bridge offered a good view.
Brahmagiri Hills  
We started to Brahmagiri hills after Abbhey falls. Half the way, my friend had got sick, so we decided to drop the plan and returned to the hotel.

Raja's Seat 
As Raja's seat is in close proximity to our hotel, we decided to see sunset there. The hues of sunrays made the sunset really splendid. The name Raja's seat was given to the place because the Raja used to see sunset from here. 

There is a small light and sound show everyday from 6:45 to 7 pm. There is also a toy train ride available in Raja’s seat. While returning to hotel from Raja's seat, we chanced upon a temple and went on to explore it.

We had decided to set out early next day morning  before sleeping.

Day 2
We were out of our room by 6:45 am. We proceeded first to Dubare elephant camp. The route was full of coffee plantations. After all it is Coorg, Coffee country you see.

Dubare Elephant camp 
Dubare Elephant camp looked alluring with the early morning sun rays piercing through the thickets of trees. We were extremely happy that we made it to the place early in the morning, as only few were there and that made the place all the more charming.

We need to cross river Cauvery to go to Dubare Elephant camp. There were two options; Either you can take a boat or cross the river by foot. Being January, water level wasn’t higher. So we decided to cross by foot. That was all the fun.
After crossing, we lazed around in the elephant camp admiring the elephant stable built there. As the elephant ride was very crowded, we didn’t try it.

Kaveri Nishargadham
The entrance to Nisargadhama is a hanging bridge which leads you to the park. There are few tree house like watch towers. We climbed the tottering stairs to enjoy the view. A deer park, Small Zip lining, Boating options were all available there.   
Watch towers
Tibetan Monastery (Golden Temple) 
Enroute Mysore, we stopped at Bylakuppe to see the South India’s Tibetan Monastery. The monastery was well-maintained with beautiful garden around it. On entering the monastery, there was absolute peace inside.
We headed towards Mysore for boarding our train to Bangalore(From Bangalore we had booked another train to our place). Least I knew that time that there was going to be a series of adventures followed.

Adventures that followed
We got into the train at the eleventh hour. As soon as we got in, we got to know that the booking was for the next day. As our booking was tatkal, done by my friend’s cousin, we didn’t check the dates. 

As we had nearly 6 hours in hand, we got down to board bus to Bangalore. And the bus was struck in traffic for hours. That had made us reach Yeshwantpur station at the last minute. We ran from platform no 1 to 6 to get into the train just a minute before starting.

Overall Trip cost  : INR 4000
Month of trip        : Jan'15
No of days of trip : 2 Days

Sunday 4 December 2016

A Quick Escapade to Kerala

What do you do when you get tuesday as an official holiday?

Take leave on monday and head somewhere new! That’s what I usually do.

Being Onam time, I thought of making it to Kerala to lose myself in the beauty of spectacular snake boat race and Onam celebrations.
Tatkal train ticket attempt miserably failed. And I was heartbroken to have home-ridden on a combined holiday. I badly wanted to go somewhere.

Finally I pulled one friend to join me for this trip. Since bus option too failed, we decided to board the train without reservation along with my roommate(Whose ticket is already confirmed) and pay the fine amount. LOL.

We enquired TTR for availability of seats. There were no extra seats available in train. So we three somehow adjusted ourselves in side lower.

These little discomforts, I would bear cheerfully, when it comes to travel.

Cochin - Willingdon Island
We heard that lot of couple photo shoots used to happen in this island. It was indeed a picture perfect island
Picture perfect willingdon island
After lazing around in the island for sometime, we took a ferryboat to Ernakulam for our lunch and kerala saree shopping.

Lunch in a real naatu kadai(A local shop). Parotta and Chicken curry was out of the world.

Munnar
Straggling Tea plantations carpeting the placid hills make it an ideal destination for honeymooners and backpackers.

We checked into Cuckmere resort, Chitrapuram at night.
The resort we stayed was too good having a balcony with superb views overlooking a dam. We could hear hushing of water below.
View from the room
Blossom Hydel Park
The park was well maintained. A good get-away near Bus stand itself.
Strolling in Blossom hydel park
Photo point of Mattupetty 
The perfectly lined up trees in the tea garden surrounded by bed of tea garden. Isn't this green soul soothing?
Flower show in Munnar 
Having varieties of exotic flowers, it’s absolutely a treat to our eyes.

Kumarakom - The Rice bowl of Kerala
Hotel we stayed wasn’t that good except for the balcony facing an emerald green fields.
While ferrying through the Vembanand lake, the lake was so large that it seemed never ending at some point.
Pathiramanal island 
We did enquire for a visit to pathiramanal island. But since it seemed costlier, we dropped that plan and headed to Mararikulam beach.
Mararikulam beach 
We were totally mesmerized by the white sands, turquoise blue colored sea with the backdrop of blue sky and lush green coconut trees.
Nannari lemon juice is a must try in the beach.
What is Onam celebration without Sadya?(Sadya is a feast consisting of variety of vegetarian dishes usually served on a banana leaf in Kerala)

We had our palatable Sadya in Travancore Palace, Chertala.
Travancore Palace
Did I say how we had to skip the much awaited snake boat race in Neerettupuram?

As we started our trip spontaneous, we didn’t have time to frame our plan. We missed to check the time of Snake boat race before booking our tatkal return ticket. Snake boat race starts around 2:30 pm at Neerettupuram. We had booked our train by 4 pm from Allepey. That implied we had to miss the boat race this time.

Nevertheless our impulsive escapade ended with delightful memories.

You can check the official website for date of Snake Boat race. And do check their facebook page for the time.

https://www.keralatourism.org/festivalcalendar.php

Month of Trip :  Sep'16
No of days       :  3 Days
Overall Cost   :  INR 6500