[abhayankara]

Luckily still here! At this moment I am sitting in the exact same desk , at the same chair as I was when I wrote my first blog,

Every Mile A Memory! Bali, Indonesia,

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...indonesia.html

So what have I been up to since my first blog?
Absolutely nothing! no adventure, no trips. I live in this beautiful city Namma Bengaluru where we have a pleasant climate, beautiful gardens, and lakes which makes this city a charming place. My office is about ~35 kms from home and I usually take 1.5 hours to commute this distance. Anyone who lives in Bengaluru will know the pain of riding/driving in this thick traffic. One should have lots of patience to travel here.

Me and wife needed a break from all this busy life and wanted peace for our body, mind and soul. Something new and different, something more adventures. There was some strong desire inside our hearts to go on a long trip which slowly materialized in a family get together in mid-June. We had a holiday for Ramzan on June 26th so we had a long weekend. Dr. Vidyadhar started planning the itinerary and finalized few places with keeping Shimoga as base location. Shimoga being our hometown we decided to visit Kodachadri, Hanumangundi falls , Sakrebailu and Lion Safari. Dr. Vidyadhar booked a hotel for the stay in Kollur.
Dr. Vidyadhar had packed a ton of supplies — way too much food for the basically long weekend we would be away. Thank you so much for that which helped through the trip and planning such a wonderful trip.

ITINERARY:

Day 0: Bengaluru – Shimoga (Halt)
Day 1: Shimoga – Hanuman gundi falls – Kollur(Halt)
Day 2: Kollur – Kodachadri - Shimoga(Halt)
Day 3: Sakrebailu, Lion safari – Bengaluru (Sweet home)

TRAVELLERS:

Dr. Vidyadhar & Vinutha

Vishwajith

Madhusudan & Deeksha

Darshan & Smitha

CARS

Honda City

Skoda Laura

The Team

NICE ROAD



Hanging Bridge en route Sirimane Falls



The more I see this BEAUTY, the more I fall in LOVE with this beautiful BEAST







SIRIMANE FALLS




MARAVANTHE BEACH







En route KODACHADRI




Much needed WASH to SKODA after the TRIP

There are so many moments which mark your life that are forgotten in time, but these can be the moments that make a lasting impression and have the biggest impact. Life should be an adventure and I do not want to forget the big or little things that matter, this is my way of collating memories and sharing with friends. After all, we only have one life, and Live life to the fullest.

To Be Continued..

[abhayankara]

Day 0: Bengaluru – Shimoga
23rd June 2017

Route Map - Bangalore to Shimoga

The day of the trip had come and I was little worried about the traffic since this was a long weekend. Dr. Vidyadhar started early at ~3:30PM, the plan was to reach shimoga as early as possible and start the next day as early as possible. I got delayed at my work and left office only by 4:00PM. By the time I reached home wife was ready with all the baggage and started our yet another adventures journey. On the way picked my sister and brother in law at Nayandhalli metro station and soon we made an exit from PESIT Nice road towards Tumkur at 6:50PM. First I wanted to take Hassan NH75 route to avoid the traffic (since this was a long weekend thought there will be big jams near tolls) but got a call from Dr.Vidyadhar who had already reached chitradurga told me that there is less traffic on Pune NH48 and recommended to take the same route. Hence we took the same route as Dr.Vidyadhar and reached Shimoga home by 11:30PM, we finished our dinner and off we went to sleep.

Day 1: Sirimane waterfalls
24th June 2017

The next day as planned we woke up early and we all were ready by 6:30AM. The plan was to drop the two cars(Laura and City) and take my cousins Ertiga so that we all can enjoy and travel together. We loaded all the luggage into the Ertiga and started by 7:15 AM.

First Selfie of the Trip

On the way stopped to fill diesel, and asked the guy to check the pressure of the tires but a shocker was waiting. Gosh! there was no stepney in the car, so what next? We did not want to take risk as the tires were 40K kms old. So immediately decided that we will take our cars, at least we are sure about the condition of the cars. It was already 8:00AM and we were already behind our schedule, Me and Dr. Vidyadhar dropped rest of the members at Meenakshi bhavan to have break fast and left to bring our cars. It was 9:30AM by the time we left shimoga after having breakfast.
Hanumangundi was our first destination

Route Map - Shimoga to Hanuman Gundi Falls

En route to Hanuman Gundi Falls we stopped for few pictures

There is a check post around 20~25kms before Hanuman gundi falls where we were told that the falls is closed now and they are not allowing anyone to visit the falls.
When checked with locals they confirmed the same and suggested to visit Sirimane falls. It took us another 50 minutes to reach the Sirimane falls.

Route Map - Hanuman Gundi to Sirimane Falls

Few More Pictures en route Sirimane Falls

Vishwajith trying his hands on Camera

Narrow Bridge en route Sirimane Falls

Sirimane Falls
Entry Fee: ₹10/adult & ₹5/ child.
Parking Fee: ₹5/car
Entry Time: 8am - 6pm
Few shops in parking area proving snacks
Public transport available till Kigga
There is a changing room for both men and women in the Parking area with toilet which is not so hygienic.

Sirimane waterfalls is at a distance of 12 kms from Sringeri Sharadamba temple. The road is in good condition and there is marking all the way to the falls. if you are using Mobile GPS, then be careful as you will not have network. The drive to the location is scenic, especially during post monsoons. This is one of the easily accessible waterfalls of this region as it requires only to descent a few well laid steps to reach near the waterfalls. Be careful while entering the water as there are many rocks near the falls which are slippery.
If you chose the right time you can enjoy the waterfalls. You can go right up to the waterfall. A lovely place for quiet contemplation.
If you visit Sringeri, don't miss this water falls. It really lived up to all our expectations and more.
We all had a great time enjoying the falls, specially Vishwajith who enjoyed playing in the water. It was 4:00PM when we left the place. All were hungry and we found a school ground in Kigga which seemed to be opt place for having lunch. It was cool and quite, we had our lunch which we packed from home.

Route Map - Sringeri to Kundhapura

Since we had to pass through Sringeri, we made a quick visit to the Sringeri Sharadamba Temple. All was good till we made a call to the hotel in Kollur where we had booked for our stay. We just called the hotel to confirm the booking, but a shocker came from the other side saying no rooms were booked in our names and no rooms available for the day. The mistake we had done while booking was we had selected July 24th instead of June 24th. We had to change our destination to Kundhapur since we hardly found any rooms available in Kollur to stay. We booked hotel Shivprasad in Kundapura and confirmed the same with the hotel.
It was around 9:45 PM by the time we reached the hotel. We settled in our rooms and soon left to have dinner and that was the end of the day.

[abhayankara]

Day 2: Maravanthe Beach & Kodachadri
25th June 2017

Surprisingly we all were ready by 8:00AM. We were told by the hotel supervisor that the breakfast was a complimentary and will be served to room on request. We ordered & quickly finished our breakfast in the room. By this time Vinutha and Dr. Vidyadhar prepared and packed bun, jam for lunch since we were not sure whether we will get food in Kodachadri.
Maravanthe Beach was not at all in the Itinerary but we were very close to the beach and did not want to miss visiting this unique beach. BY 9:30AM we made a check out and loaded all our luggage into the cars and left to beach. The beach was ~ 15KM from the hotel and took us around 20mins to reach there.

Route Map - Kundhapura to Maravanthe Beach

The beach is separated from the river on the other side by a national highway is a perfect example of scenic beauty. This is the cleanest beach we have seen, the water is so pure and inviting, but we had to resist ourselves since we could see very powerful big waves. I wish we had more time and we could spend some more time at this beach, but had to leave since Kodachadri was another 2hrs 30mins drive from here.

Here are few Pictures

Ladies trying their hands on Camera

We spent around 1 hour here took some pictures and we started our journey towards Kodachadri.

Route Map - Maravanthe Beach to Kodachadri

On the way we entered Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary which has been named after goddess “Mookambika” the presiding deity of the famous Mookambika temple at Kollur located at the heart of the Sanctuary. The drive was very scenic and we stopped at few places to take pictures.

Kodachadri – Truly a heaven on Earth

We reached Kattinahole at around 3:00PM. For lunch We had our packed Bun with Jam. After lunch we hired a Jeep to top, Hiring a Jeep is also a task here, if you do not negotiate/ bargain they will rip u off. All Jeep taxi’s here are controlled under a person, on his instructions only the drivers take the duty. We negotiated a lot and fixed ₹1800 + ~ ₹ 200 (For toll, I am not sure how much we paid here).

The road was very uneven and bumpy, this is the reason locals do not recommend tourists to drive here even if you have 4X4 vehicles. Jeep ride was dangerously awesome, one should experience this ride once in lifetime. The scenery kept on changing as we gradually went up. We could feel the mist, the weather was very cold. Our driver was very friendly and told us some stories about Adi Shankaracharya and Mookambika through the journey. We arrived at our destination from where we have to trek for 2kms. Driver asked us to come down by 6:00PM else it would be difficult to drive back.

The roads are really Pathetic, you can actually see that in the baove pictures.

It was raining heavily all through the trek, so could not take more pictures here.We started our trek, there are leeches so never forget to wear shoes. There is a snacks and tea shop, which is also a resting place. Soon we reached the top, it was raining heavily all the way to the top. We rested for a while here then started to descend. We could feel the clouds and the experience was awesome. We reached Taxi stand by 6:15PM, we all were hungry and we had ready to eat Maggie with some fruits. It was 7:15PM by the time we reached back Kattinahole.
We spent some time here having some more snacks we had packed. It was 8:10PM we left Kattinahole and started our journey towards Shimoga. We booked rooms at hotel Ashoka Grand and reached at 11:00PM. We finished our dinner at the hotel. We all were tired and signed off for the day.

[abhayankara]

Day 2: Tiger and Lion Safari
26th June 2017


This day we had planned only Tiger & Lion safari since we must travel back to Bangalore. We quickly finished our breakfast in one of our cousin’s house and reached safari by 11:00AM. We first boarded into the safari bus, this was one Lovely experience of being taken around the sanctuary in a bus and up close to the animals. We saw Sambar deer, Tigers, Lions. The tigers were walking by the bus side, overall the trip was for around 20~30 mins. We were dropped at the same place where had boarded the bus, soon we made an entry to the Zoo. This is well maintained and a very good place for a short visit. Please be careful with the monkeys, there are many in the park which snatch your bags, food. There is also a play area for the kids. Vishwajith spent some time playing some games here.
After this we parted with Dr. Vidyadhar, I personally enjoyed this trip a lot, also learnt many things.

Here are few Pictures

The Co-Driver was very friendly and helpful, he stopped wherever he spotted animals

To be Continued..

[abhayankara]

Much needed wash to Skoda

I feel very happy when I am gaining new experiences and insights. Travel is the perfect catalyst for happiness, as it has allowed me to experience the natural, cultural and man-made wonders of the world.

As I write this travelogue I am also planning a yet another vacation to Munnar coming weekend (Aug 12th ~ Aug 15th )
We have booked our accommodation, destination(Munnar) is fixed! I have started to do research on travel blogs, the list of things we want to do and visit the places while we are here in my notebook. Needless to say, I am more excited. Even with all that planning, I still do not know what is going to happen when we arrive, and that is often the best feeling in the world. I live for this excitement.

Signing off – till my next travelogue

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[King_pin09]

This one was a very nice travelogue; I particularly liked the photograph of NICE road which has been captured very tastefully.

I can see that the car washing guys at Royal Z Plash have left the fuel lid open while applying the foam. Was it done deliberately or by oversight?

Nonetheless, Kodachadri seems to have turned into a mesmerizing abode under fog. It seems the place was very cool as well. Any idea, as what temperature your car MID indicated about the place?

Further information on road conditions, along with the performance of HC and Skoda at these hilly terrains, mileage, handling on broken roads, underbelly hits taken if any etc., would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for sharing.

[gabrielthomas]

Nice T'logue and excellent pictures!

Safari - 400rs for foreigners? ain't that plundering?

[abhayankara]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

This one was a very nice travelogue; I particularly liked the photograph of NICE road which has been captured very tastefully.

I can see that the car washing guys at Royal Z Plash have left the fuel lid open while applying the foam. Was it done deliberately or by oversight?

Nonetheless, Kodachadri seems to have turned into a mesmerizing abode under fog. It seems the place was very cool as well. Any idea, as what temperature your car MID indicated about the place? Forgot to check this factor

Further information on road conditions, along with the performance of HC and Skoda at these hilly terrains, mileage, handling on broken roads, underbelly hits taken if any etc., would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks King_pin09

Chitradurga to Shimoga – They have laid new roads but marking yet to be done. So if you are doing a day journey then Bangalore – Chitradurga – Shimoga road is best.

We experienced some bad patches between Kodachadri to Shimoga(Single lane roads) which makes difficult to drive during night. Rest of the roads are good.

Coming to the roads between Kattinahole to Kodachadri you can see those in the above pictures, one should have really good experience in driving or should have off road driving experience, the sad part is they do not recommend to take our own 4x4 vehicles also.

Both City and Laura performed well, not even single underbelly hits to Laura. I got a FE of 17kms overall trip.
Not sure about City.

[KAUBMW7]

Excellent travelogue, love the details and the pics.

I visited Shimoga (from Bangalore) about 6 months ago and the roads were excellent to travel in. Plan to do a similar trip in a month or two, the only issue being there aren't too many great places/ resorts to stay in there, unlike the Coorgs of this world.

[abhayankara]

Originally Posted by KAUBMW7

Excellent travelogue, love the details and the pics.

I visited Shimoga (from Bangalore) about 6 months ago and the roads were excellent to travel in. Plan to do a similar trip in a month or two, the only issue being there aren't too many great places/ resorts to stay in there, unlike the Coorgs of this world.

HI KAUBMW7,

Good to hear that you are planning to visit Shimoga.
You have some options to stay in Shimoga like,

1> HOtel Ashoka grand
2> HOtel Royal Orchid
3> http://www.junglelodges.com/sakrebyle-elephant-camp/
4> Simha Farms, Kodachadri

You can call them directly for tariffs

Best Regards,
Madhusudan

[KAUBMW7]

Thanks mate... i did stay at Royal Orchid in my previous visit. Will try one of the other ones this time around. The rains now should make it a pleasant scenic view that side of the region..

[P21]

Nice Travelogue, except for those initial disappointments on Day 1. First the absence of spare wheel in Ertiga and next the closure of Hanumangundi Falls. Overall, I guess you guys enjoyed to the core.

I drove the Kudremukh stretch on the last week of May'17. Hanumangundi Falls, Lakhya Dam, all are closed now. The abandoned Kudremukh township looks like a Ghost City now. Worth a visit to see the ruins of this township.