[mjothi]

Kids exams are over, and its a weekend. So, where to go?

As usual, browsed to find some places around Bangalore for spending a Saturday night. Though the initial idea was to visit and stay in a resort with amusement parks for the kids to have fun over the weekend, it was changed once I came across this Pyramid valley.

Was interested reading the information on net, and zeroed down to it.





They also have accommodation. When I called them, I was surprised hearing the price of the standard accommodation. He said its Rs.600 for standard and 800 for Deluxe. Booked the rooms and started our trip.

http://pyramidvalley.org/pyramid/Hom...dhapyramid.htm

Maitreya-Buddha Pyramid, with a capacity of 5,000 people, is the World’s Largest Pyramid built solely for practicing intensive meditation. It has a base area of 160ft. x 160ft. and is as tall as a ten stroreyed building at 102ft. height. The exterior surface of the Pyramid is covered by beautiful murals depicting various elements of nature.

Its around 35KMs just before the Harohalli town, from the Kanakapura Juction (Merida Junction)

Left Brookefield by 2:30pm on Saturday. The kundanahallu Gate junction was complete mess, so U-turned and took the below route

Brookefield - Doddanakundi - ORR - Silk board - Merida Junction - Kanakapura road - Pyramid valley.

http://goo.gl/maps/EbTyL

Had a quick lunch stop once you cross the Nice road bridge over the Kanakapura road. Traffic was horrible till getting out of Bangalore, then it was good.

You can see a big lake called Gabbadi kere on your left, and once you cross this lake, you will see the name board towards your left indicating the left turn for reaching the valley.

This has good parking space, no charges for anything. This is run by some charity and they also offer free food for Lunch and Dinner.

We reached around 5pm and check-in the room. I was surprised at the cleanliness of the rooms. Checked both standard and deluxe rooms. They both are similar, but deluxe had extra furniture. And also AC. If you need AC, they charge extra Rs.400. Not bad.

Certainly a good option for someone looking to stay outside Bangalore.

They say that this is the world 3rd largest Meditation Pyramid. If you are into meditation, this place is certainly worth the visit.

But if you are looking for some place for the kids, this is not.

[mjothi]

Now for the pictures. All pictures are from the mobile.


Leaving Bangalore


Location Map


We parked the car, and checked into the rooms. The accommodation is right next to the car parking, with series of rooms facing each other. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the room.

Accommodation




Deluxe Room




They provide free lunch and dinner to all the people visiting the places.

Lunch Time - 12:30pm to 2pm
Dinner Time - 7pm - 8pm

They also have cafeteria inside the venue, which are also reasonably priced. Choose your pick

First Glimpse of the huge Pyramid


Closer view


Greens.


Gandhi Statue behind the Ampitheater.



We visited the Pyramid in the night. A briefing about the meditation and its importance is provided initially in the lower deck of the Pyramid.

Then you can move to the Pyramid, and can start your meditation or to wonder about the size of the Pyramid. There is a stair case that reaches to a stage at the center of the Pyramid, which is for "Intensive meditation place" - that's what the board says

The board also says that it would be much hotter in there than the lower floors. And it was indeed warmer than the ground.

If you plan to go up the stairs, you are suppose to meditate for minimum 30min. But yes, not all do this, and for curiosity reasons, I also went up and tried for 15-20mins.

Then you exit the pyramid from the other side, and will be greeted by the sleeping Buddha and Meditating Buddha.

Below pictures were taken from outside the pyramid with zoom on my mobile, so sorry for the low clarity.

Sleeping Buddha - below the Pyramid


Closer look


Meditating Buddha


HDR - Night Shot of the Pyramid.

[mjothi]

Had a very sound sleep and next day morning, re-visited the Pyramid. If you are here for a vacation and have plans to sleep till 9 or 10am, then you can forget your bath. The hot water stops right at 8am.
Some more pictures from the morning episode.
















The pagoda style accommodation are near to the Pyramid. They are also constructing a small iron bridge that would connect it with the Pyramid directly.







Room details:
Standard Room : Rs.600
Deluxe Non A/C : Rs.800
Deluxe A/C : Rs.1200

They also have Pagoda style accommodation, which costs Rs.2500 per night. 5 Adults can stay in it. It also has a small swimming pool (5ft wide) inside the Hall. A separate charge of Rs.1500 is charged if it has to be filled with water.

Tried to click the interior of the room through the window and here is what I see.



Notice the "small" pool good enough for the kids to play.

Road conditions:
The stretch from Merida junction to the Gabbadi kere is excellent. You may encounter muddy roads once you take the left from the Kanakapura road to valley. But its very much drivable.

[mjothi]

Some more clicks.



























Pyramid Valley is in the Silk City, and how can we miss this?









We started our journey back by 12:30pm, had some more fun in the E-Zone on our way before reaching our Home Sweet Home.

Small bonus for the kids




Wow, it was a wonderful weekend. Signing off now.

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[mjothi]

Yes. We did tried the dinner. Very normal food and edible.

They had Rice, Sambar, 2 vegetables and Butter milk. You need to pick a plate, get your food, enjoy and have it washed and arranged back.

Next day, we did not try the lunch since we wanted to leave before 12:30pm.

[girishglg]

This is a nice little intro of another weekend getaway from Bangalore and any new addition to the list is welcome. As you had mentioned there is not much that is there for kids, however how is it for adults and how can they spend their day?

Also just an observation from some of your pics that the place seems not maintained immaculately. This may be an observation just from the pics (garbage bin fallen off etc) but how is the place kept in reality from your personal experience?

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by girishglg

This is a nice little intro of another weekend getaway from Bangalore and any new addition to the list is welcome. As you had mentioned there is not much that is there for kids, however how is it for adults and how can they spend their day?

Also just an observation from some of your pics that the place seems not maintained immaculately. This may be an observation just from the pics (garbage bin fallen off etc) but how is the place kept in reality from your personal experience?

Its a nice place for get together, relax your vacation, etc. The only activities here is meditation in the Pyramid. Ofcourse, you can stroll around in those green gardens, if you like to.

In my opinion, the place is very clean and neatly maintained. I think you have seen the picture with white Buddha statue where there is a garbage bin fallen off. There are some construction activity around there, and may be that was the reason. But, I have not seen any litter near my accommodation and around Pyramid.

If you are 2 families, then you can opt for the Pagoda rooms, and have nice time. Its like a studio with kitchen, fridge etc. So in my opinion, a perfect place for small get together.

Kids can play in the small swimming pool in the room or some indoor/outdoor games. Except this, I am not sure how we can keep kids entertained.