[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by kirantp

Hey, not sure from which side you guys did the trek. We went in a 4X4 forest Jeep that the resort had organized for us. I will post the pic sometime tonight.
I am already feeling like making it there again after looking at those wonderful pics and write-up dude.

Me too. I just want to do the trek one more time, especially because we could not make it to the peak last time.

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R

Himavanth, Many thanks for the photos !!

Hope u don't mind me adding some photos taken during our trip.

You are welcome. I dont mind at all. Infact I am looking forward to seeing more pics from your side. Also I see lot of flowers when you went. When we went there were none
And the place where they dried coffee was filled with moss and I slipped and fell. I was lucky that I did not get hurt badly.

Originally Posted by kirantp

As promised, here are few pics of the 4X4 in which we made it to the top.

The pics are wonderful. I myself own a safari 4x4 and I did not know about it. I should have done it. May be next time.

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R

I will dig into my archives and try to post some more photos. The snaps which you have posted also are superb.

The homestay hosts didn't have either the safari or the Jeep when we went. They had an old 4x4 Gypsy (strictly for the plantation related activities) and a Maruthi Van (for daily passenger use).

Please post as soon as possible.
Right now the hosts own a commander and a safari at the palace estate. The host was mentioning about his earlier Gypsy during one of our conversations.

Continuing... The next day was a beautiful day and we were greeted with some wonderful views. Although we had seen the same views the previous night, we could not get enough of it.

For comparison sake with Rajesh K R (Then and now), below is a similar pic taken by us at the home stay




One more shot of the beautiful homestay


In another angle


The other side of the beautiful coorg district


@ Rajesh K R: Hope you remember this person. Our wonderful host


The hosts belong to a tribe called Kodagu tribe. There are multiple clans within the tribe. I do not remember his clan's name.
Kodagu's are generally warriors. The Indian government allows all people of Kodagu tribe to own guns. They are entitled to a gun license with no reason. The gun shown above is in proper working condition.

More information about Kodagus:
These people do not worship any idols. Each clan within the tribe have an ancestral home. They consider that home as their temple. If any one member of the clan looses his/her home, they can always go back to their ancestral home and live there. All members of the clan do contribute to make sure that their ancestral home is well maintained.

In case of loss of any family member, all people within the clan go to their ancestral home and pay their due respects. They also fire gun shots into the air during the ceremony. The marriages are not allowed within the same clan. One must only marry a person of a different clan within the Kodagu tribe. We went during the festival and so he took out the gun and his knife. They were getting ready for the festival and they do have their own dress which is typical to kodagu homes. They were supposed to go to their temple (i.e their ancestral home) and worship there. But now a days, Kodagu's are beginning to adapt to other religions and some of them do have idols of Ganesha and other Lords.

That is enough of knowledge.

Continuing with my log. After a good breakfast we went outside and we saw hamsters that our hosts keep as pets. So we played with them for some time.

Aren't they cute.




Trying to climb onto the shoulder


It finally made itself way up on the shoulder


Some customary pics

My ride. Always brings a smile on my face


The commander that our host owns


The safari that our host owns. Looks good aint it


Now, I am going to bore with some pics of my ride. Cannot resist putting them here






We eventually got ready and we were ready to leave the place.

The final pics at the place




We just did not want to leave the place. But we had to so that we can catch some other beautiful place.


We will come back to this place one more time.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R

I will dig into my archives and try to post some more photos. The snaps which you have posted also are superb.

Didn't know such a 4 x 4 track existed to the top, else we also could have explored the opportunity to do the climb by a Jeep. From where does this track originate? Did u also stay in the same homestay ?

The homestay hosts didn't have either the safari or the Jeep when we went. They had an old 4x4 Gypsy (strictly for the plantation related activities) and a Maruthi Van (for daily passenger use).

We stayed in Misty Woods resorts which is a stone's throw from Nalaknad Palace. They had this trip to the peak included in their package when we went there 3yrs ago.

[himavanth_m]

Sorry for the delay in continuing my travelogue

Originally Posted by kirantp

We stayed in Misty Woods resorts which is a stone's throw from Nalaknad Palace. They had this trip to the peak included in their package when we went there 3yrs ago.

Palace estate is 5 minutes from Misty Woods. Infact we were going to Nalnad palace and we missed a turn and went inside Misty woods.

Pics of the route to Misty Woods


Misty woods also seemed very nice.


Nalnad Palace from a distance


Safari parked in front of the palace


There were no pics of Nalnad palace. Sorry about that. But its a beautiful place to spend 15 to 20 minutes to see around and learn the history

This palace was the last refuge of the king of Kodagu, Veera Rajendra. Apparently this king was a very mean king and he used to bring people (girls and guys) and keep them in dark rooms in this palace. He used to later enjoy them physically and finally kill them. But as they say, no bad deed goes un-noticed, the king was killed brutally by the British.

We have gone into these rooms in the palace and we could not even see who was beside us. It was that dark with absolutely no ventilation.

But now its a protected monument


View from the Nalnad Palace


Then it was time to leave Kodagu. We went via Dubara Elephant camp. We chose this route so that we could drive down a different route as compared to the one we already did. We knew that there would not be any elephants at the time we would reach Dubara. But the route was splendid

Route to Dubara Elephant camp


The twisties. How would a BMW handle here? I was dreaming. Just wishing to have one for this part of journey. But I later realized the safari has taken me to places where no Bimmer would


Tall trees are on either side of the road making it an excellent road for scenic beauty


We were enjoying the road and suddenly one of us wanted to see what Golden temple was all about. We saw this on the way to Kakkabe. Since we had no urgency to reach home, we though we might as well see this place. And we were glad we did this. Some of the best things happen when we do it unplanned. And here we were in Kushal Nagar with just a side thought of seeing what Golden temple was all about. And we ended up in a place that seemed like we were in Tibet.

Kushal Nagar is a tibetan settlement in south India near Mysore. Its a lovely place and anyone doing Mysore - Madikere route, this is a must visit place enroute. It is just 5 to 6 kms deviation from the main highway and one will feel he is in a completely different country here.

Everyone here were looking like monks and most of them were wearing the monk robes that we usually see in TVs or Monastries.

First view of the Golden Temple


Safari Parked near the temple


More pics of the Golden temple will follow in my next post

[himavanth_m]

This is the final set of pics of the travelogue

Some pics of the beautiful Golden temple

The Entrance


First temple. None of the visitors are allowed inside this temple


The doors locked of the above temple


The temple visitors were allowed inside


Majestic aint it?


Wonderful paintings. So many pics can be added here.


The inside of the temple


As you can see in above pic, we went at 4 PM and people were praying there. It was a wonderful experience. There was awesome music that was created inside the temple with a drums. And everyone was chanting something in their language. we could not figure out what they were singing, but it was a wonderful experience

Pic of the monks praying


We spent almost an hour sitting inside the temple and seeing them pray. We were mesmerized by their discipline and awesome music they created with nothing but drums and chants.

Outside the temple


Pic of us in front of the temple


Please keep silence. We did not talk. No need for this sign as we were all awestruck by everything that surrounded us that we had no words to speak


More random pics of the temple


Us leaving the temple


Final pic while leaving the temple


We left this place, bought a few souvenirs from this place and went back thinking we will come back here once again.
Once we left the temple, we headed back and the following pic is the last pic of the journey


However on our way back, we also visited another good temple that has a special place on our heart. It is Nanjangud (Or Dakshin Kasi as most people call it). This is a Lord Shiva temple which I recommend anyone travelling from Mysore to Ooty. In order to visit this temple we did additional 30kms one way from Mysore. (It does not fall on Mysore Madikere Route). It was 7 PM by the time we reached Nanjangud and by the time we left this place it was almost 9 PM. The temple closes around 8 30 PM.

After visiting the temple, we headed back to Hyderabad. The long journey awaited us and we finally came back to Hyderabad at 11 AM on Tuesday.

Hope you all enjoyed my travelogue.

[Rajesh K R]

Thanks Himavanth !! How can i forget our good host for 3 wonderful days spent at his place ?

Actually, we were planning to take our extended family to this place very shortly, but waiting for the rains to end, so that we can walk around freely without having to encounter the muddy soil & leeches !!

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by Rajesh K R

Thanks Himavanth !! How can i forget our good host for 3 wonderful days spent at his place ?

Actually, we were planning to take our extended family to this place very shortly, but waiting for the rains to end, so that we can walk around freely without having to encounter the muddy soil & leeches !!

I am sure you will have lot of fun there. I am not sure if you have already visited TalaCauvery, but that is onething I missed during my last trip. Hope you will be able to do it. I think you can even check out the Dobara Elephant camp if you can reach the camp by 11 AM.

Loooking forward for more pics from you past trip and also your next trip to the same place

Also if you have already visted Talacauvery, could you please enlighten me on how the place is.

Thanks

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

I am sure you will have lot of fun there. I am not sure if you have already visited TalaCauvery, but that is onething I missed during my last trip. Hope you will be able to do it. I think you can even check out the Dobara Elephant camp if you can reach the camp by 11 AM.

Loooking forward for more pics from you past trip and also your next trip to the same place

Also if you have already visted Talacauvery, could you please enlighten me on how the place is.

Thanks

We went to Talacauvery and Bhagamandala during our stay of 3 days in Palace Estate. Our host suggested a wonderful road from the homestay to the above places.

The road was so narrow it was possible only for one vehicle to go with coffee plantation on either sides. Had so much fun driving on this stretch. I will try to put up some snaps of this stretch. At one point, ran into a Skoda Octavia and had to back up some distance to let him pass..

Talacauvery is the birthplace of the river Cauvery and there is a hill ( Bramhagiri) which offers breathtaking views of the rolling hills of both Karnataka & Kerala.

[NIP]

Originally Posted by kirantp

We stayed in Misty Woods resorts which is a stone's throw from Nalaknad Palace. They had this trip to the peak included in their package when we went there 3yrs ago.

I really dont think there is a jeep trail to the top of Tadiyandamol...actually I'm quite certain. The jeep trip that the Misty Woods guys took you on was probably to Chomakunda. You can check with them.

Some pics and details here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...lute-best.html

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by NIP

I really dont think there is a jeep trail to the top of Tadiyandamol...actually I'm quite certain. The jeep trip that the Misty Woods guys took you on was probably to Chomakunda. You can check with them.

Some pics and details here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...lute-best.html

@NIP: Thanks for the links. Nice pics by the way. We had done this Coorg trip in 2008 and I am sure they had included the Jeep ride all the way up Cheluvara peak. Infact they had it listed in their website as well at that time. I have some video clips while climbing the peak in 4X4 but they are too big to post them here.

[NIP]

Originally Posted by kirantp

@NIP: Thanks for the links. Nice pics by the way. We had done this Coorg trip in 2008 and I am sure they had included the Jeep ride all the way up Cheluvara peak. Infact they had it listed in their website as well at that time. I have some video clips while climbing the peak in 4X4 but they are too big to post them here.

Chelavara yes, one could go all the way up a couple of years ago. But Tadiyandamol is a trek.

[MaverikMahesh]

Himavanth,

Nice crisp travelogue. The homestay looks beautiful. Can you provide the contact details, tariff for the homestay? How about food? What was the food in the homestay like? Local coorgi fare? How was your experience on the culinary front?

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by MaverikMahesh

Himavanth,

Nice crisp travelogue. The homestay looks beautiful. Can you provide the contact details, tariff for the homestay? How about food? What was the food in the homestay like? Local coorgi fare? How was your experience on the culinary front?

Sorry for my delayed response as I was on a road trip. The following link has all the contact details
HomeStay in Coorg, Palace Estate

This is one of the best times to go to that place. You can bargain for cheaper rates and it will be green. Not too many people visit here in monsoons.

The negatives being you will not find guides for the trek. The homestay owner will give you a map drawn with a pen and you need to follow it for the peak . The other negative being there will be lot of leeches. You would need to carry dettol or tobacco or salt to rub over the leech in case it catches you. Nothing to fear about as their bite is not harmful. More often than not, you will not realize a leech has bitten you.