Orange County - Coorg!!

We were getting married in August and we were at loss, as to where to go for our honeymoon.

Its the rainy season, it'll wet and slushy all over.

Then we decided , if we are getting wet, lets do it in style :) ........

We decided to go to Orange County - Coorg!!

Its a breathtaking place, expensive but worth it !!

We left for KushalNagar in the morning, reached there by afternoon, we went to the usual Tebitian Temple visit..

I love the place though , maybe for all the cool stuff we get there ... shopping basically.

Anyone who goes there should pick up the dolls there , they are exquisite..

After the shopping , we were kinda stuck , Orange county is in Siddapura, almost 50 KMs from Kushalnagar!! ...

An auto driver decided that he'll be brave enough ferry us till there, in the driving rain and bad roads.

We could'nt help but notice that, our bumpy ride offered some fantastic views :) ... and a very entertaining auto driver...

We paid the auto guy almost 400 bucks and reached Orange County! ... What a place ... What a place ...

We were welcomed in style , It was Onam , so the place was decked up in Kerela Decorations...

THe place is an Eco Resort, basically what it meant was that , we could'nt be messy and throw plastic and paper about...

It is a throughly beautiful place, in between the Coffee Plantations [whihc coorg is particularly famous for] ....

The area is so vast that , the resort is evenly spaced out and beautifully thought out..

There is a huge lake in between the resort and there is boating, in good weather..

There are activity centers, they organise treks and bicycle rides.

There are three restaurents, each serving a different cuisine.. Italian,Indian,Continental...

The place is unbelievably romantic .. Lush greenery all around, clouds hanging low and very very beautiful rooms,cottages and villas.

We had booked a Villa with a pool, the architecture was the traditional Coorgi style.

The entire house [ yes it is huge ] , was made of eco friendly materials [wood, mud bricks] ...

The interiors are beautiful, soft and antiques everywhere.. The bathrooms are a delight ... The pool was a jacuzzi :) ... so it was FUN!!

We shared the pool with a couple a swans , for some odd these birds loved our pool and refused to go back to their lake [the villas are on the lake side]

These birds poop everywhere thats the worst part :( , but the staff is so friendly that , they dint mind coming over again

and again and cleaning after and shooing the birds..

There was activity in the evenings, folk groups performing, magic tricks , dance shows ... In the morning we could go biking, trekking , play games [indoor and out door] ...

Or just lazing around [thats the best option]

Orange County is a romantic place , imagine , soft rain pelting your windows , tea and mini biscuits , exqusite chocolates .. hot showers and a book.. Heaven..

They belive in pampering the guests, so we got a lot of free goodies ... :) , chocolates and T shirts, free Wine , Coffee Beans , Umbrellas ....

Its expensive .... BUT WORTH IT !! Its worth it for the stay , the experience , goodies , food , the service , the sheer beauty !

Gokarna!!

Gokarna has always been my favorite holiday spot. I love the serene beauty of the place , its almost as if , its untouched ....

A number of people come every year to Gokarna , but even with all that, there is something indescribable about the place , it just draws you in, you feel like you can just live there forever.

Sitting beneath the swinging coconut trees, playing in the sea .. sipping lime juice ... just sitting and staring ... There is something infinite about the sea which has always fascinated me and when i go to Gokarna , that feeling intensifies....

Gokarna is a small town, there are exactly two roads in the town , one of which leads to an antient temple. Gokarna is famous with Hindu piligrims, its has two very famous temples , one dedicated to Lord Shiva and the other to his son Lord Ganesha. The town is a very important place for hindus in terms of the last rites to attain Moksha [salvation]. There are a number of tales connected to Gokarna , it seems to be a great hit with almost all the holy books in india , it finds reference in both Ramayana and Mahabharata. Adi Shankracharya seemed to have defeated a Sanskrit scholar here in a debate which lasted for days, finally establishing his doctrine ...

For the other stories : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gokarna,_India

We took the bus to Gokarna, we left Bangalore at 10 PM and reached Gokarna by 8 AM. The only drawback in Gokarna are the rickshaw fellows, the fares are always beyond 100 Rs. I mean that is highway robbery, but they know that we are helpless and we will pay :( ... bikes for hire is not a concept which is very popular .. so tourists end up spending a lot of money on travel alone. This time we stayed at Gokarna International on the Kudle beach. It is'nt all that it is made out to be , it is an average place which stinks big time ! We ate at various places in Gokarna , food is not fantastic , but since it is so hot , you don't feel like eating anyways ... so it is all good !!

The ocean on one side and the western ghats on the other , Gokarna has something for everyone .. The ocean is very very very gentle , the waves aren't too rough, you can just paddle or swim out , its great fun .. There are six fantastic beaches in Gokarna - Gokarna beach,Kudle Beach,Om Beach , Half moon beach,Paradise beach and Sangam beach.

Om Beach is arguably the most popular beach,it is shaped as an Om. Half Moon is my faveroite, it is a quite beach, where most tourists don't come, the sea is really friendly and gentle , paradise is a party place ... I don't like it too much , but again it is subjective. Sangam beach is a beach which most of us have'nt visited, its a virgin stretch of sand spreading kilometers across, with no civilization in sight.

All the beaches are separated by cliffs, sometimes its a adventurous trek or it may just be a normal trek to the next beach. The easiest path is from Kudle to Om. The most arduous one would be from Om to Half moon, the most tricky one would be Paradise to Half moon.

As i said Gokarna has something for everyone, there are cheap shacks which sell interesting knick knacks or clothing, you can get anything from chains to anklets to china ...

There are water sports, but not that interesting. There are fishing boats which take you from one beach to another , I personally love them but the pricing is steep, but worth it.

There is usually an interesting mix of people there, people are friendly and I mostly think that is coz most of them are either drunk or high. It is a proper hippy place,but no one disturbs you if you want to be left alone !! Thats the best part of all.

Overall it was a fun,relaxing experience. We drank and drank and drank some more, played all the games under the sun... swam out in the ocean,trekked ... LOVE IT!!

I will go back as always ....

Pics :)

Here are a few pictures , i thought were wonderful.... :) 

The entire Ramayana is etched out on the temple walls .. "Hazari Rama Temple " 

The famous Musical Pillars :) 

Carvings on the base of the Vittala Temple 

The Vittala Temple 
Hampi's Poster Pic ... the stone chariot 
The typical pillar ... a roaring lion
THe Vittala Temple Enterance
Pillars
The promised Sunset
The carvings on the walls 
Actutanarayana temple 

Kadelekalu Ganesha
Virupaksha Temple .. .the main temple in the heart of the city ... dedicated to lord shiva

Shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Trinkets 

 
Some random ruins on the river bank 

Hampi !!

The first thing that hits you when you get to Hampi after a long bus ride through Hospet is the heat. It is so hot that the air shimmers with it. :) I love the heat .. so i love it... 

Hampi is surrounded by beautiful banana plantations and a beautiful winding river of Tunga Badra. 

When you enter this small village there are a lot of things that hit you at a time - the heat , the color of the sunlight (its different trust me ) , the smells , the sounds , the ruins , the stones , the beauty , the ravaged raw beauty ...... it takes sometime to sort all of them out ... 

I went there with a friend and we first went in search of a place to dump all our stuff and take a bath , there are no hotels in that place , all of them are home stays ,given the fancy name of guest houses :) ... people rent out a couple of rooms in their houses -- that my dear people is your accommodation.Don't worry it is'nt bad , its all clean. But you need to bargain as hell , you would not believe the prices :O

Once you head out for food. always always go to this place called  "Mango Tree" ... awesome . its on the banks of the river.... under a  mango tree (really!! ) and awesome food .. yumm!!! :) We dint eat anywhere else , it is the only place decent enough to eat there. 

Once you start exploring hampi , at first you are fascinated , the structure and the architecture just leaves you spell bound ... but then you start feeling slow burning anger ... how could someone malign and destroy something that beautiful... how can you even bring yourself to disfigure a sculpture so perfect that you can really see it come alive .. how how how .. 

The whole place is full of temples , palaces pushkars each and each one more beautiful than the other , each one has a story associated with it . that makes the whole place unique ..... 

It is the whole fairy story come alive -- A powerful empire , art flourishes under the powerful kings .. they like beauty , respect it , create it ... but then the powerful kings die , the ugly enemy raises its head , destroys the kingdom , destroys everything that was once beautiful and pure .. sad. 

Hampi is known for its sunrise and sunsets .. we could not bring ourselves to wake up early for the sunrise :)  but we definitely saw the sunset ... it was all that was promised --- magical ... its a different sunset , amid the ruins .. slowly the light fades , its like the ruins are falling into a  deep slumber one by one ... awesome..

The more you roam around the more you feel like an ant there ... each structure is so huge that you feel insignificant and totally awed. Each structure is an engineering and a logistical marvel ... without cranes or huge machinery people then managed to build structures that huge and with such precision .. marvellous ..... 

We met a German there ... something she said to me just stayed with me .. She was travelling alone , she said --- "I don't miss not going to Goa with my friends and  travelling here alone with my camera. It would be a crime to have skipped this place.It is good that i came here alone than not coming here at all " .. True ... at least once in your life time you SHOULD visit Hampi ... 

When you are there you get the feel that the whole place is like this old dino , its heart s beating slowly and it takes a huge sigh and its sleepy ... :)  

Shopping ....... it is the place to shop for quirky stuff ... cheap stuff(bargain bargain bargain) ... all of them different .. jewellery - stone , shells , colorful beads ... funnnnn :)

P.S. There is not network there , Airtel , Vodofone no nothing ... the best part ... you can just be in the moment without people bugging you :)

Bannerghatta National Park

OK this is for folks like me who get very restless cooped up in the city and want to get away ... 

The best option is the Zooooo ... Head to the zoooo folks it is fun ... trust me !

Once in a while you can get very near nature in a safari bus :P to watch "wild life" :P 

You can go on a nice Safari for a minimal prize ... watch all the animals in very large enclosed places :P 

It is nice for a change .. you can see your favorite animal and see the similarities between them and the person you hate the most ... make nice critical judgements about them and then tell yourself that that poor animal cannot be as bad as the person you hate .... 

Bannerghatta is a National Park close to Bangalore ... it is basically on the outskirts of the city maybe a little more than 11 kms from IIMB .. 

Plenty of buses folks thats the best part .. Volvo .. Smooth red ones :) 

You are allowed photography there so click away .. morph them to show them off .... (African Safari  you can say) ... 

Its definitely worth a half a days trip ... instead of sitting and wondering what to do over a weekend and waste an entire day just head out folks ... its real fun trust me ... 

P.S. Don't feed the Animals :P 

Travel ........

"You lose sight of things... and when you travel, everything balances out.”

This is one of the best Travel quotes I have ever come across :) 

I am a person who loves to travel ... you learn a lot ... experience a lot ... you get a chance to reflect ... think ... have fun ... let your hair down ... meet new people ... see new things ... discover something new in the process discover yourself.

It may be on a mountain where you are awed by how high you are that you can almost touch the sky ... makes you feel like you small , insignificant... 

Or you are on a sea shore surrounded by water where it almost hypnotises you . the constant swirling makes you think about your life your achievements , mistakes , dreams ...

 

When you are confronted by these mighty elements you realise how much there is to see , how much to discover in yourself and around you .. you almost feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things..