Trip to Mari Kanave aka Vani Vilasa Sagar Dam

This is a little known tourist spot about 175 kms from Bangalore. It is 17 kms off NH4 to the left after Hiriyur. It is one of the very beautiful scenic spots around Bangalore.

It has lot of beautiful hills with emerald green waters stored in the dam. A nice little dam not an ugly concrete structure. There are lots and lots of windmills on the hills which are starting to spoil to beauty of the place. because windmills are still new to us, it is still is an attraction.

The place is so windy the there are wave like in sea, not so big though. If anybody want to play, one can take a deviation to right just before the dam there is a small temple being built. trek for 1/2 to 1 kms depending on water level.
Water is shallow and bit muddy. Need to find a place without weeds. It was fun playing in the shallow waters, even my 4 year old had lot of fun. There is a small garden which looked pretty from outside which we missed going to.
Overall a nice place unspoilt by commercialization, go in a large group can have fun. An ideal one day trip away from maddening crowds of Bengaluru.
We also went to a place called All Rameshwara near Hosadurga, a place for religious minded, with lots of superstition. Seems to be quite popular definitely more popular than the dam. I dint bother to into the temple.

Jog - 2 Top view

Next stop was Jog again, this time it was from the top. There were so many people, it was more like a Jog Jatre, with lots of vendors lined up on the road to the top. Once we went to the view point, it was more like Majestic in Bangalore oops Bengaluru. My friends did not bother to some down. Well Down means to the top of the falls from the view point near British bungalow.

Oh! Boy people had gone crazy; men, women and kids were looking down from the edge of the falls. Men were holding the women and children to help them have a wonderful view. Yes from the edge of the falls looking down at 900 feet vertical drop. People were sitting, lying down, hanging and having a look down. It was like this all around the horseshoe shaped cliff. (One can’t make out from the front view that the falls is horseshoe shaped). Off course everybody wanted to have the Mungaru Male view of the falls. Infact people were talking about it.

To be honest even I got bitten by the looking down bug, I sat on the edge of the cliff and looked at the bottom of the falls, initially I was scared but once I looked down it was not so scary. I enjoyed the view of the water falling down into the emerald green pool formed by Sharavathi. It is a sight to be remembered. I shot it all with my handycam.

I was as irresponsible as everybody, looks like it needs couple of deaths to wake up the tourism department to stop people from looking down. But the view was worth the risk.

Back to Bengaluru

Drove from Sagar to Tarikere, Accent viva is a nice car to drive. The car is easy on driver, at 4 and 5 th gear the response of the engine is wonderful. Reaching 120 – 130 kmph is very easy. I thought the car had a bit of understeer or may be I was taking on the curves too fast. It doesn’t strain the driver much. After that Sridhar and Ramu drove rached home at 1 PM. We had covered 950 kms in 2 days

Unchalli falls aka Lushigton falls

After the Jogs disappointment, we planned to see the Unchalli falls. We made Siddapur as our base. Road from Jog to Siddapura is not very good. Siddapura to Unchalli road is pretty good.

Route to falls. Need to take a left after siddhapura town on Siddapura Sirsi road. Need to travel for about 20 Kms till one sees a board at a junction. Unchalli falls is 4.7 Kms from the junction.

One has to park the vehicle were the road ends near a small shop. The trek to view the falls is about ½ kms and is pretty steep at some points.

We came to the view point all we could see is white mist and lot of sound from the falls, felt were in cloud. Met an old school friend who came up from view point at a lower height, he was drenched. He told us to go down for the better view. We started climbing down the steps. It started raining. Soon we realized it wasn’t raining it was the spray from the falls. We were soon drenched from head to toe before we reached the view point. It is about 200 steps. Soon after we reached the second view point, the wind changed direction and the spray cleared for some time. The view was awesome. It was a really huge falls. Narrow at the head and becoming wider as it comes down. There is thick virgin forest on the either side of falls and the valley. In the raining season there was lots of water in river Aghanashini. It was a wonderful sight. It was like a Christian bride dressed in all white with a flowing skirt below the waist, covered in misty veil, who let us have a look at her once in a while when the veil lifted.

We had a look at it for few times. It was wonderful experience, especially after the Jog’s disappointment. The photos Unchalli falls on net were generally taken in summer and from the bottom. They don’t really do justice the Majestic falls.

There were visitors in about 4 cars, where as Jog had 1000 times the visitors. But this hidden beauty just 45 Kms from jog made our trip wonderful. Hope it doesn’t get commercialized too much.

The drive to and from Unchalli Siddapura itself is wonderful. There are lush green paddy fields on the flat land and a thick forest as we climb. There is a view point on the road where the river Aghanashini curves between mountains make a picturesque sight.

Jog -1 Front

What a disappointment awaited us. There was hardly any water falling, it was little more than what we normally saw in photos. But the setting of Jog is majestic, it is much bigger that the picture I had in mind, the sheer drop of over 900 feet itself is mind blowing. The dark rocks against the greenery made a very nice sight. Kp and me started to go down, well KP backed of at the start itself. Everybody was coming up and nobody going down. KP scared me saying it takes 3 hours to come up. I did not believe him. On the way down I saw 2 other guys also going down. We started to run down the huge steps. Half way through my thighs started shaking with strain. One lady had fallen on the path because of fatigue. People were trying to make her get up. I simply ran down. I felt the hole was bottomless. Even after seeing the foot of the falls, it took quite sometime for me to reach it.

When I reached the bottom, I was the only guy heading down; I had left behind the other 2. I relished the view, It was a wonderful sitting alone, well almost seeing the majestic falls. I saw to other falls apart from Raja, Rani, Rocket, Roarer. It has been quite sometime. I did not know whether they were new or I did not just remember. Took pictures in video and stills, washed my face and checked the time. It was 6:36 and was getting dark, Oops had I made a mistake going down alone? There were few people (including some drunks) and vendors who were going up almost in slow motion. I climbed a bit may be 20-30 feet. I ran out of breath, my legs were on verge of collapse. I pushed a bit, one the vendors saw me urged me not to hurry and take it easy. I drank a Maaza and slowly started off, could not climb much. I was on all fours, it gradient was pretty steep, It helped climbing on all fours. After going further, there were almost no people and was becoming dark by the minute. Made my mind not to stop would go at a steady pace. I was thinking of Tour de France riders for inspiration, soon I reached a family who were climbing slowly and reached a stream. I washed my self and my mouth. The sweetness of cool drink had made very tired. Felt refreshed, made up the remaining distance pretty quickly. I finally could see the view point check the watch, it was only 7:05. Wow I could not believe it. My climb was less than half an hour, wanted to reach the top in next one minute. I went up quickly, saw my friends waiting for me check the time. It was 7:06. I had made it to the top in ½ hour flat.

Drank some water, ate some pineapples which tasted like heaven. Then started for Siddhapura Inspection Banaglow. Siddhapura is about 16 kms. After 3-4 kms the roads are pretty bad.

Stay at Siddhapura

The person at IB Hegdekar took very good care of us. Nice dinner was served. Rooms and toilets were built well, but maintained badly. Didn’t feel sleeping on the bed. All 5 men slept on a single double cot. Well it was warm on cozy…. It was link old times before marriage.

Had breakfast in a hotel treated by Hegdekar, had Sira (Kesari bath) and a dish like puri made of banana, midha, etc. I was good. We left for Unchalli falls.

The trip 1st stop Chitradurga

When we friends met, three of us planned to go to Jog after seeing the pictures it overflowing in newspapers. But five of us (Sridhar, Kp, Ramu, Srinath, myself) went. Prasanna would have joined if he were here. It was 13 years since I went to Jog. Wanted to see it.

Going with friends without family was like old times pre marriage days. We were pretty much excited to go. When I told this to dear wifey, there was usual noise, but it was more of a formality. She actually did not complain as I much as I expected her to do so.

We went in Sridhar’s Accent Viva. We decided to take the Chitradurga-Shimoga route instead of Arisikere route. The Golden quadrilangle road is a wow. But the toll road to Tumkur is not as good but still have to pay for it, what an irony.

We had breakfast at Kamat upahara. The food was BAD, was very disappointed. While driving on the quadrilangle on the Sridhar hit 170 kmph. The vehicle was surprisingly stable. I was surprised that a diesel engine of 84 bhp could hit the speed with 5 people inside. On the way, we saw Karnataka tourism board mentioning about Chitradurga fort. We decided we wanted to see Obhavvana kindi, she always holds a special place in our hearts for her bravery.

We reached there not many tourists. It was surprisingly lack of tourist activity in the town for place with so many places to visit.

The fort seems to be pretty well maintained. We enlisted a guide, he said Rs 250/- we said ok without bargaining. Cursed ourselves later for behaving like IT people. He took as around, went through the 5 of the 7 doors of elu suithina kote. Remain 2 are in the town. Saw Ganesha temple carved out of a rock. Saw rocks in form of Elephants, rabbit, boat (Hence the name Chitra-Durga) Akka thangi kola, finally reached Obavva’s house. It was just a small space few sq feet below couple of big rocks. Thought the kingdom may not be rich, asked the guide what was the source of income for people, no convincing answers, went ahead. He showed us the Kindi where Hyder Ali’s troops entered. We also went around the boulder and entered through the kindi. We were acting like kids. It was fun.

We saw one tower dedicated to a pregnant lady who was buried alive to impress gods. Pathetic fellows these kings were.

Climbed the Gali gopuras?? Had a jolada roti oota and started. We then realized we were late we spent 3-3.5 hrs there. The road from CD to Holalkere was pretty bad. We got stuck at a railway crossing. Srinath was driving the vehicle. I really pushed hard to prevent him from stopping anywhere. Road from Shimoga to Jog was pretty good. We reached Jog at about 6 PM.

Trip to Kodagu - Kushalanagar

We reached Kushalanagar at about 1 PM. We took an auto to the Veerabhoomi resort. The auto driver charged us Rs 25. Unfortunately for us, at about 50 meters from the entrance there was so much slush from previous day rains, we could not even walk. A bus had got stuck. We paid another 20 and went around and landed in the resort.

It is a very nice resort at the foot of a hill, with manicured garden with some cottages which looked like huts. It had a wall built around like a fort with some carts and cannon in between. It is a picturesque place. Nice warm welcome from the people there. The waiters are dressed like the old soldiers.

But the standard room we took was a disappointment. It was not maintained well. No cable and telephone when we entered, it was repaired it for us after escalation.

We hired an auto; we negotiated Rs 200 for a trip to Golden temple and Nisarga dhama. At Rs 50 per hour looked reasonable.

The golden temple was very good. It is situated in a nice place at the centre of lush green fields. We entered the gates we saw lots and lots of monks. There were lot of kid monks, they seems to be no different from the kids I see everywhere playing, fighting, etc. Was wondering how it is to be a monk.

Entering the temple was a very new experience. I knew the Buddha were big did not really expect it to be that big. The main statue was a usual peaceful looking statue other 2 were looked totally different from what Buddha was to me. In fact I though one of them was a devil, Rishica was actually scared. I realized that it was a Buddha after reading it. My experience in china and Hong Kong had not made me wiser about forms of Buddha. Took lots of photos and then went to Nisargadhama.

We went around the island formed by Cauvery River. The river was full and flowing swiftly. It's a nice place full of bamboo trees, with rabbit and deer park. Children enjoyed playing with rabbits. We literally had to drag them away. But there was no elephant ride that day spent about 2 hours there. By the time we came out it had started drizzling children were tired and started acting cranky, it made us tired and angry. We went back to the resort. We were told that we may not be let into Harangi dam so we decided to skip it. We decided we were going to relax the next day without visiting Dubare elephant camp.

Evening there was a culture show by artists in Veerabhoomi. Initially I was skeptical on how it would be. But they were pros. They kept us entertained for 2 hours. Infact tourists staying in other places came to the resort to see the performance. It was a mixture of song, dance magic show, jokes. There was a fire dance by one of the guys for the Rajkumar song from the movie Ashwamedha. It was really good. It was the first time I saw anybody fire eating and spitting kerosene on a torch, it was an amazing sight. Kids also had there share of fun.

I and kids joined the dance party at the end. Rishica really enjoyed dancing.

We had dinner, food was descent. We did not risk trying out anything new; we had akki and normal roti with dal fry.

Next morning, we had a good bath had breakfast and let kids play in play area. We showed the artist the video recording of their performance they were mighty happy. We had a early lunch and left Kushalnagar.

Took the KSRTC volvo bus at 1 Pm. we reached Bangalore at 6 PM inspite having 4 breaks.

Trip to Kodagu in Madikeri - 1

I initially planned to go to Kodaikanal for my 5th anniversary. I cancelled it because it started raining. Handling kids in a 10 hr bus ride was going to be tough for 2 of us.

We decided to go be closer home viz Kodagu.

We planned to stay a day in Madikeri and a day in Kushalnagar. We booked for a day in Kaushalnagar on Veerbhoomi resorts and a day in homestay in madekari. I searched for homestays on need. They looked pretty expensive. One of my colleagues had noted down a number when he was in Madikeri gave me. The guy whom i called Nanda promised me I will thank him for making him stay in a house. It was a single bedroom house close to Raja's seat costing Rs 750 per day in including breakfast.

Decided not drive in my M800 car, took a Volvo bus. It reached madekari sharp 1 PM. The homestay owner Prithivi took me to his place in an auto. It was raining pretty heavily in Madikeri. Packed out lunches and went to homestay. The homestay was located about 500 mts from Raja seat on a hillock. It had a beautiful view of Madikeri. It was nice cozy single bedroom house, just enough for us and 2 kids with option for making coffee.

We had out lunch and planned to go Abbi falls, Omkareshwara temple and Raja's seat. Prithivi aranged for an auto and bargained for Rs 180. The rains very lashing and there was no power in Madikeri since previous night. The auto had adequate cover to protect us from getting wet.

We reached Abbi falls, luckily for us the it was just drizzling. It was a small trek down in a plantation to reach the falls. Luckliy the kids decided to walk down.

The sight of falls was awesome, the rains had made the river full (is it Cauvery?). It was very nice sight. Last time when I had gone there, we could get into the water. Now there was no question of it. There is a hanging bridge for people to stand and relish the spray of the falls. Took photos and recorded in handy cam. Best part was getting wet in the spray, spent an hour or so. While coming back it was a climb we had to carry the kids and the bag. It was a bit tiring.

Then we went to the Omkareshwara temple, this is inside Madikeri. The temple kalyani was overflowing and water had flooded the entrance. The auto driver Jayram took us round to another entrance which was on higher ground. It was a nice temple. me and Kids stayed at the entrance watching the overflowing kalyani. Prathibha finished her prayers and came back.

We then went Raja's seat. It is a very small park with a very beautiful view. Last time when I had visited I was rather disappointed. Now the park is well maintained.

We took the toy train, charge for it was Rs 5 but there had to be min 20 people. We were about 10 people we paid 10 per head asked the driver to run it. The kids atleast enjoyed the ride.

We rested for the rest of the evening. We requested the homestay guy to send us dinner as it had started raining and there was no power in Madikeri. He sent us so much food, lot of food went waste. We had a candle light dinner. It was not a romantic dinner, with Rishabh touching the lantern and starting to wail. Putting the kids to sleep was a big achievement and we were glad to sleep.

Next morning we decided not to go out any where. Morning was Madikari was covered with mist. It was a beautiful sight from the hilltop home, spent time filming and relaxing. Had a loooong bath. Luckily a gas heater was installed. Ate a nice break fast prepared by Prithivi's household. I actually liked the idlis (not exactly my favorite).

Prithivi dropped us of to bus stop, we took the local bus to Kushalnagara.