[nandita_bayan21]

It’s been quite a while that we had done a road trip with Skiddy (my Chevy Beat), so it was high time we took him out for a quick zapping. We had just the Saturday to do this as Sunday got other pre-planned stuff to do. Atul and I did some quick check on the places and finally decided on Bylakuppe / Kushal Nagar / Golden Temple in Coorg. Considering the fact that it was some 230kms from Bangalore, we could easily complete the round trip in a day and be back home by Saturday evening / night. We checked with Arun, our most beloved tripping friend if he wanted to join. He agreed. And so there we go Skiddy’s one day trip got planned really quick. So here is a quick snapshot of our trip to Bylakuppe with photolog to follow:

Car: Chevy Beat
Drivers: Atul and I, passenger: Arun
Route taken: BTM > Kunigal > Channarayapattana > Arakalagud > Kushal Nagar > Bylakuppe > Hunsur > KRS Road > Mandya > Bidadi > BTM
Total distance covered: 513 kms
Date of travel: 21/11/2015

Our morning started by waking up at 5:15am, like all other time we are late once again as we decided to leave home by 5. No worries, Arun was on his way, after getting ready and packing few important things needed during the journey we were good to go. Arun reached and we left home at about 6am. We took Bannerghatta road, touched NICE Road and went straight up till Nelamangala to catch NH48. Before that we filled Skiddy’s stomach with petrol from the Shell Petrol Bunk in Bannerghatta Road. You must be asking why NH48 route when we would have taken the regular Bangalore Mysore highway. Well, no logic around it, just wanted to take this up while going and come back via Mysore Road. Once we hit the super awesome Bangalore Mangalore highway (paid a toll fare of Rs 120 for NICE Road and Rs 20 for the NH4 Road) I took the wheel and started cruising through the highway. There were not many vehicles on the road despite being a weekend, good for us.

Covering some good 100+ kms we stopped by at a place for breakfast. We gobbled down masala dosa, idly vada, pongal and tea. Around 8am we started our journey ahead with couple of breaks in between to click pics and enjoy the early morning scenic surroundings. Please note on our way in the NH48 we paid toll at three places (1st Rs 41 from Nelamangala to Kunigal, 2nd Rs 41 from Kunigal to Devihalli, 3rd Rs 40 from Devihalli to Hassan). This is the reason I sometimes love traveling by bike – no need of paying toll fares. Nonetheless, we reached Channarayapattana by 9:45am and then took diversion towards State Highway 8. This road continued until we reached Arakalagud after some 45 kms and took left to be on SH 21 (Hassan – Periyapatna Road). Arrived Ramanathapura and a right diversion after 18kms to reach Bylakuppe via SH 91. We reached Kushal Nagar and then Bylakuppe at around 12:30pm.










We missed directions and ended up in a different temple, not sure what the name was. Asked nearby people if we could get inside the temple and see it around, a monk told us we can. Parked the car in a nearby open space and explored the temple. Clicked few photos and proceeded towards Golden Temple – it was some 7 kms away from this place. Followed GPS and reached Golden Temple around 1pm. People who might have come here before might know that there is a parking lot available for vehicles to park at a cost of Rs 20. We parked our car and first decided to have our lunch, too famished and stomach growling in hunger. Went straight to a non-veg restaurant called ‘Hotel Crown’ right opposite to the shopping complex. Ordered our lunch – chicken momo (people say momos here are must try but I didn’t feel so, had much better momos elsewhere), Coorg style mushroom fry, Coorg chicken thali, chicken thukpa, schezwan noodles and some lime fresh juice. Basically, we belted food like crazy food-deprived human. Around 2pm we were done with our lunch, we headed straight inside Golden Temple.









I have come here before and yet the feeling is same – peace and happiness. Being a Saturday, the place was overly crowded and lucky enough the prayers just started for the day. The temple complex was literally echoing with the chanting of the monks. One gets easily involved with the rhythmic chanting of the holy texts by the monks in line with the gongs and the temple bells, the experience was really amazing and mystic. For some quick facts – this Tibetan settlement is the second largest one outside Tibet housing over more than 7000 monks and students. The 40 ft tall golden Buddha and the golden statue of Buddha, Padmasambhava and Amitayus are well curved out structures. The walls of the temples and institutions are decorated with colorful paintings depicting demons and gods from the Buddhist mythology.

















We roamed around the temple and clicked many pictures. The hustle bustle of the crowd took away the calm and peaceful surrounding of the temple, yet the feeling was divine. After spending some hour and a half time to head home. This time we were going to take the Mysore Road (NH 275) hence going early would make sense as traffic in that road is highly unpredictable. Around 4pm, we were out from Bylakuppe and hit NH 275. Return journey was pretty boring, nothing much to do except drive. We took the KRS Road bypass and trust me that is one of the most horrible road in entire Karnataka. Potholes are in abundance there and one can’t even imagine driving beyond 10/20 kmph. Somehow we finished this stretch of 10-15kms and reached Srirangapatna.

The greatest fear in my life is to cross Mandya town during peak traffic hours, we reached the town by 6:45pm. And I was literally pulling my hair – no road sense, mountain height speed bumps, cows on the road, turn without indicators, phew! I always swear never again to cross it but destination always bring me through this town. Anyways, we reached Mysore Road Decathlon at about 7:45pm and Atul had to do a quick pit-stop here to check out some stuff not available on the other city outlets. Couldn’t get what we were looking for, we started once again and reached NICE road toll gate by 8:15pm (gave toll fare of Rs 50 for Bannerghatta exit).

Once exiting NICE Road, we entered the horrible traffic of Bannerghatta road. Managed to reach home by 9pm, Arun bid us goodbye and a tiring yet joyful car trip comes to an end.

[S2!!!]

Nice short report there. Whenever I read a travelogue by you, excellent pictures with some nice post-processing are a given.

that just for the first few opening shots, taking the NH48 was totally worth it.

What's with all the stuffed toy on the parcel tray? Doesn't it hamper rearward visibility while driving?

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

Nice short report there. Whenever I read a travelogue by you, excellent pictures with some nice post-processing are a given. - What's with all the stuffed toy on the parcel tray? Doesn't it hamper rearward visibility while driving?

Thanks!

The stuffs out there doesn't hamper the visibility at all. They are in a much lower heights as compared to seen in the pics.

[MrIncredible]

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

Thanks!

The stuffs out there doesn't hamper the visibility at all. They are in a much lower heights as compared to seen in the pics.

May i know which GPS you followed the way throughout and also are there any Premium fuel Pumps like Shell en-route ?

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by MrIncredible

May i know which GPS you followed the way throughout and also are there any Premium fuel Pumps like Shell en-route ?

Not sure what you meant by which GPS - but if I understood correctly, we used Google Maps. Coming to petrol pumps - no Shell, only Indian Oil and HP as far as i remember.

[Aditya]

Nice travelogue Nandita. Good to see a travelogue from you with your car after such a long time. Normally it's bikes.

Fantastic pictures. Tibetan monasteries have a lot of charm. The sculptures, paintings, decorations and colours make them stunning to behold.

But, I like places of worship to be calm and quiet. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen most of the time in our country.

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Nice travelogue Nandita. Good to see a travelogue from you with your car after such a long time. Normally it's bikes.

Fantastic pictures. Tibetan monasteries have a lot of charm. The sculptures, paintings, decorations and colours make them stunning to behold.

But, I like places of worship to be calm and quiet. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen most of the time in our country.

Thanks Aditya. You are correct, most of the time it is bike. So this time thought lets clock some ODO with Skiddy!

And I second you, the place felt so divine yet the hustle bustle of people made it too chaotic.

[Rajain]

Nandita

Its a nice short sweet TL.

The Golden Temple is so totally worth it. My mom was in Bangalore last year in November and I took her out there too on our way to Coorg.

Its just a lovely picture of calmness. Particularly the ones inside.

Keep up the travels and the TLs.

Cheers
Rajain

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Nandita

Its a nice short sweet TL.

The Golden Temple is so totally worth it. My mom was in Bangalore last year in November and I took her out there too on our way to Coorg.

Its just a lovely picture of calmness. Particularly the ones inside.

Keep up the travels and the TLs.

Cheers
Rajain

Thank you so much!