Weekend Travelogue: Coorg Revisited !!

[akroy]

Bangalore – Ramanagaram – Channapatna – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatnam - Hunsur – Piriyapatna - Kushalnagar – Suntikoppa – Madikeri (halt) – Bangalore

Members: ROYs in AltoLXi, Subodh-Mohini & Nikhil-Shikha in Nikhil’s Indica V2 Turbo

This is my second Coorg Trip. The first one is here (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-madikeri.html (Weekend Travelogue: Trip to Madikeri))

It was just a few days back during a meet in Subodh’s house for dinner and all of a sudden this plan for a trip got initiated. Now where to go? Initially it was Pondicherry but by Thursday the plan shifted to Madikeri after hearing that Banyan beach Resort is sold off (I called Hotel Mass to confirm it) and St. James Resort is going full we dropped the Pondy plan. We didn’t want to shell out money staying in a hotel in the heart of city without enjoying the beach. Luckily booked Capitol Village Resort in Madikeri which later turned out to be a very nice decision. Sudden I get a call from Nikhil that he wants to join as well and book a cottage for him too.

Now Friday turned out to be very hectic for me. In the evening me and my wife go to do some snack shopping, dumped the Alto boot with a 20lit water bottle. Finally sat to watch the Indo-Pak T20 match thinking that I will go back to sleep after the Indian innings. Somehow I kept on watching the game which ultimately turned out to be a thriller killing my sleep. In the end I went to sleep at 2AM with the alarm was on for 4AM.

15th Sept, 2007 (Sat): We get up at 4AM and for the first time I was feeling damn tired due to lack of sleep. Immediately get an SMS from Nikhil that he is up, called up Subodh to wake him up. After the necessary settling of things (packing was already done by wife last night), had a nice bath, offered some flowers to the lord Ganesha (as it was ganesh chaturthi) we start at about 5:15AM from CV. Raman Nagar.

Reached the Shell Petrol Pump in Old Madras Road, did a tankful, reset the tripmeter, checked the tyres pressures. Soon got a call from Nikhil that he has picked up Subodh & bhabhi from HSR Layout and proceeding towards Mysore Road. I told we will meet up somewhere immediately after Kamat Lokaruchi.

It was already past 5:30AM and we headed straight towards Mysore Road via MG Road, Richmond Circle, Corporation Circle and onto the Huge flyover. Soon we were speeding past Kengeri. Although it was a bit crowded with cars, probably many others were starting too but the speed was hovering between 100-110kmph. Soon we see some youngsters, college goers probably doing some early morning maniacs (they call it heroics) on their Pulsars, zooming past, cutting, overtaking between 2 buses etc. My wife started to shout “Ohh Ahh”, “gelo re”, “ki korchhe chele gulo”, “matha kharap hoechhe naki”. I told this is how people die and blame it on the heavy vehicles and highways.

It was 6:45AM we were passing Kamat Lokaruchi. Weather was very pleasant and drive was really good so far. We already decided to try Maddur Tiffanys’ this time and give a break to Kamat. Stopped for a brief period on the road, had some nice sandwiches prepared by Subodh’s wife and moved forward and reached Maddur Tiffany’s at 7:10AM. We had idly-vada and chai. Although the chai was good but didn’t like the place. Kamat is better.

After a long break and ladies sneaking into shopping in the adjacent shop we finally moved out of Maddur Tiffany’s at about 8AM. Within no time we were passing Srirangapatnam. Took right from there onto the 2lane road which led to KRS, Ranganathitu Bird Sanctuary.

In another 18km we were onto the highway to Hunsur. Roads have improved compared to my last trip in 2006 when roads were under construction. Except for a few stretches near villages entire stretch till Kushalnagar was fine. Soon we passed Hunsur, there is a diversion for Virajpet there but this time we preferred the Kushalnagar road. Stopped by once on this deserted stretch after Hunsur, just for some chitchat, photography and some timepass.

A small stop near Hunsur


Roads were bad inside Kushalnagar. Looks like the highway upgradation work has not yet started between Kushalnagar – Madikeri. Nevertheless roads were motorable and very scenic. It was about noon when we were passing Suntikoppa and onto the ghat road inside the dense forest and plantations. It was green all around and the recent fresh rains also adding aura to the place. At about 12:25PM we reached the first circle at Madikeri where the left road goes to Siddapur (our resort is 5km on that road) but we decided to have lunch and then move forward.

I headed straight to Hotel East End by 12:30PM. I liked the food last time. All were very hungry and we hogged mutton curry, egg fry, rice, dal, tandoori roti, veg kadhai and spent a nice one hour there.

At about 1:15PM we headed towards the resort. Once into Siddapur road, it was an amazing drive, road was broad and smooth and passing through some scenic views of hills, valleys and plantations. In another 5km we reached Capitol Village resort and checked into our rooms. Tripmeter read 273km.

Ambience in the resort: We were particularly amazed by the beauty of the resort. It spreads in about 25 acres areas with coffee plantations inside surrounded by a beautiful pond and lots of trees. Another amazing thing was the scenic beauty from our balcony. It was really breathtaking. Soon we ordered filter coffee (local made from the plantation) and it was like Wow! What a coffee.

I was in no mood to move out of the resort and also I was feeling very sleepy. Since I have already done Abby falls and Omkareshwar temple in my last visit hence decided to skip it and told Nikhil and Subodh to move there and meanwhile we will take nap and meet you guys at Raja’s seat in the evening. So they moved on and we took the much needed nap.

After a nice sleep we started for Raja Seat at 5PM and reached there in 15min. The Indica has already reached there. They told that the Abby Falls was flowing very hard and it has become very beautiful this time round. Now at Raja’s Seat, the view was much clearer and we took lots of pics there. Soon it became dark and started to pour.

Pics from Raja's seat




We moved to nearby station of the toy train and within 15min it started to pour very hard. It was very heavy and the place got very chilly. Thankfully my 2 umbrellas which I always carry during the trip came in handy.

Already 30min passed and it was 7PM and no sign of stoppages from heaven. Me and Nikku somehow managed to get to the car, took the car near the station for the other members managed to get in. All became half wet in all this process.

With full wiper speed it was getting difficult to see, it was raining heavily. I put on the heater of my car for the first time to give some heat to our chilled and wet bodies. I really liked the way it got hot in no time. It was a nice experience driving in dense ghat road with heavy rain and the headlight is the only source of light. We finally reached resort by 7:30PM.

We had another round of coffee. Thankfully Nikku carried half a bottle of Bacardi and small Smirnoff which was there in his house for long time. We three guys used this opportunity to finish it off in the next hour sitting in the balcony and enjoying forest ambience along with rains, sound of frogs, fire-fly running around. The ladies enjoyed their coffee meanwhile.

By 9:30PM we went to the resort food court and had the buffet dinner Coorg style and it was really tasty. By 10:30PM we all crashed to bed and end of a nice day in Coorg.

16th Sept, 2007 (Sun): Madikeri – Bhagamandala – Talacauvery – Madikeri (100km round trip)

We get up at 6:30AM. Myself and Subodh alongwith our better halves when on clicking spree around the huge resort. We clicked lots of pics near the pond along the trees and spend about an hour before returning to our balcony which by now has become a favourite timepass place with the splendid view. We all gathered there and had tea and biscuits.

Some pics inside the resort






Although we planned to check out by 9AM and move to Talcauvery but we were not feeling like leaving the resort. It was like “let’s spend the day here” only. Somehow after taking bath and doing the packing reluctantly we finally started at 10:30AM and this time Subodh and bhabhi preferred our Alto over the Indica. Soon we started playing Antakshari on the way to Talacauvery.

We took the Madikeri – Mangalore highway and within 5km there is a left turn for Talcauvery. Although the road was bumpy initially but the roads improved a lot after we passed the Indian Institute of Spices Research and also the road was very scenic. We wanted to stop in IISR but it was closed on Sunday. We halted at a nice view point and took some nice pics and proceeded towards Talcauvery. We were playing around with drizzle, sunshine as we passed the hills.

Some pics enroute Talacauvery




We finally reached Talacauvery, the birth place of the sacred river Cauvery by 12:30PM and maan what a place it is!! Fog, Cloud passing by which makes the place invisible, what a sight. It was such a great feeling of drinking the holy water from the origin of cauvery. There is lots of renovation work going on and this place will soon become very sought after tourist destination.

Pic from TalaCauvery

This is the spot were Cauvery starts its journey


After spending a good 20min in the temple we moved out and spend another 15min outside a tea stall where we had nice tea-coffee and bun bread as everyone was feeling hungry by now. At 1:45PM we headed back for Madikeri. After a small pics stop on the way we sped away to Madikeri and this time we were really very fast. We were doing 60-80kmph on the dwindling ghat road and reached Hotel East End by 2:55PM. We hogged the food specially the drivers(me and nikku were hungry after the fast ghat drive) of tandoori roti, chicken butter masala, fried rice, 2 rounds of egg bhujiya, rice, daal, curd, chicken curry. Out of the 12 tandoori rotis, 9 were shared between me and Nikku. Wonder why do I get so hungry after a speedy drive in the ghats?

Finally it was bye bye time to Madikeri, we start our return journey at 3:45PM from Hotel East End and slowly moved towards Kushalnagar. In an hours time we reach Cauvery Nisarghadhama. It’s a really nice place to hang around. Next time I will surely do it in the forward journey. There is a nice hanging bridge to cross where cauvery was in full flow beneath and reach the huge eco-garden with many varieties of bamboo trees. The sprawling 64-acre nature resort has a deer park, orchidarium, and elephant and boat rides, plus there were some picnic spots as well.

Pics of Nisarghadhama





We left Cauvery Nisarghadhama at 6PM, soon reached a Reliance petrol pump which was on the left hand side for a refill. Tripmeter read 403km and the car drank 22lit. Soon we hit the good stretches of road and it was slowly getting dark but the car speedo was touching 120kmph. We were covering really fast with the headlight the only source of light and Nikku following me, it was on my shoulders to make sure I don’t hit a pothole and a sudden hump at that speed. I already had a measure of the road while coming there so it was not a problem. Soon we passed the KRS road and hit the Mysore Road at Srirangapatna.

Srirangapatna to Maddur was a breeze. My car hit about 135kmph with 4 people on board, we zoomed passed all the other cars. By 8:40PM we were parked in Indradhanush after Maddur for dinner. We did Nisarghadhama to Indradhanush in 2.5 hours. That was fast !!

We were no mood of hurry. We wanted Bangalore to sleep before we reach outskirts. Hence after a nice dinner of roti, dal, paneer, we moved to CCD for a round of coffee and kept on chatting.

At about 10:15PM we start the last leg of the journey when Subodh and bhabhiji shifted to the Indica as they were moving towards Koramangala through ring road and we proceeded to our house straight. Amazingly Indradhanush to CV Raman Nagar, a distance of 80km we did in exactly 75min. Reached back home watched the remaining Eng-SA clash and hit the bed.

Overall a nice journey, Coorg just keeps on calling every year and we like explore it again and again.

Total distance from home to home: 630 km (Car drank 33.5 lit of petrol)

Signing Off
Abhijit Kumar Roy

[hvkumar]

Great account as usual, Abhi. Impressed that the Madikeri road is in good shape.

[-GT-]

Abhi:

Another excellent travelogue from you and of course great pics. Also learnt a few Bangla phrases :-)

BTW, wWhat are the tariffs at Capitol Village Resort?

[akroy]

Originally Posted by -GT-

BTW, wWhat are the tariffs at Capitol Village Resort?

We got discounted rates..Rs 1250 / room
Lunch/Dinner/breakfast - Rs 100 / head

Abhi

[akroy]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Great account as usual, Abhi. Impressed that the Madikeri road is in good shape.

Yes Sir, but one have to very careful with the speeds, good road suddenly ends without prior warning, and there are sudden humps near villages (no probs for a SUV though)..also there are no signages of turnings etc, hence one have to be very careful for the first time, I suggest not to cross 80kmph while travelling first time...thats what we did while going while the return journey was faster with 100-120kmph speeds and in the night...
Once you have the measure of the road then it is fine...

Abhi

[BunnyPunia]

Lovely write up. Will be of great help, im visitin coorg from 30thsep-2nd oct

[lohithrao]

Good report Abhi!

btw can i have more info on "Capitol Village resort"?? like tarrif etc...do they hav a website??

[rjstyles69]

Abhi nice trip report. Wonder why you took the KushalNagar route ?

[mobike008]

Awesome report as usual. You bangy guys have loads of weekend places. I am jealous!

[BlackPearl]

excellent report abhi and great pics as usual.

would like to mention only one thing about the heater.

I really liked the way it got hot in no time.

.

The heater will start blowing hot air as soon as the engine reaches operating temperature. It basically comes from a heater core which gets heated by the hot coolant which starts circulating through the cooling system of the car.

[Lukeskywalker]

Yet another one Abhi!! Kudos to you, well written and as usual you take readers for a virtual trip.

[-GT-]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Abhi nice trip report. Wonder why you took the KushalNagar route ?

This is the shortest route from B'lore.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by -GT-

This is the shortest route from B'lore.

GT sorry cant help. Thanks for that update.

My question is why this route when the roads are bad and the other is more picturesque.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

GT sorry cant help. Thanks for that update.

My question is why this route when the roads are bad and the other is more picturesque.

Ya Riju, I did take the Virajpet route last time around as the Kushalnagar route was indeed very bad last year (I returned through this route). I took Kushalnagar this time as I heard about the road upgradation and also the guy who booked the resort told me that the road is fine...

Yes, the road is good till Kushalnagar...another 6 months probably, road till Madikeri should be very good...

Abhi

[Samurai]

Great report as usual Abhi. Many familiar places for me. I have visited Talacauvery twice, first in 1981 and next in 1996. My 1981 visit was in the rear side seat of a Jeep and then the roads were 10 times bad compared to now. I still remember that I slept for 17 hours non-stop after returning from that same day trip, we lived in Gonikoppal then.