Hola Folks
Back after a wonderful sojourn at chikmagalur.The trip was well planned in advance,albeit however things dint look rosy a few days before the travel date. Work as usual started playing spoilsport and I somehow managed to get outta the hustle and do the trip.
The whole idea was to celebrate my 1st wedding anniversary away from home. I was so lost and engrossed with work that I even went ahead and posted my confirmation for the Yelagiri Drive. Only later did I realize my blunder while I was talking to my better half about the drive dates
I wanted this whole trip plan to be a complete surprise, since my better half always wanted to see Chikmagalur and thought what better gift for our 1st anniversary. A week before the trip, the whole scene was uncovered. There goes my surprise through the window, its pretty tough to keep surprises under wraps when you are married and live under the same roof.I am sure the married folks here can agree.
My bookings were done well in advance at Nature Craft Homestay in Chikmagalur. The plan was simple, visit as many places possible and catch up with a few old friends from Hassan.
Day 1 : 06-Dec-08
Route Taken : Bangalore--Nelamangala--Chennarayapattana--Hassan--Belur--Chikmagalur. ( roughly about 240kms)
Am sure everyone knows this route and the road conditions too well.
Left Bangalore only by 7:00am and a blessing is disguise was that petrol prices had reduced by Rs5 ? Surprisingly most IOC bunks along the route aint selling normal petrol " only Xtra Premium is available saar " was the common response. I tanked up at IOC before the Nelamangala Cross.
Took me 3 hrs to reach hassan and speeds hovered around 80-90kmph, sedate eh?
For those traveling along this route the best bet for breakfast is Kamat at Chennarayapattana, else try Venkatesh's hotel for the yummy Ghee Dosa's its famous for. Am sure most of you chaps who travel regularly on this route would know this place.
Its on the same road as Malnad College of Engineering. This was my 1st stop for breakfast and my bro-in-law with his friends caught up with us here. I too tanked up my grumbling belly with dosa's only to realize I was already feeling sleepy.
Its only 11:30am and my bro-in-law tells gives us the idea of checking out the Windmills around hassan. There are 40 odd such Windmills in Hassan to harness Wind Energy and convert the same to electicity.
Wifey gave a go and zoom we were off on the Hassan - Halebidu road to check out this magnificient thingy.
We visited the mountain rite after the MAster Control Facility of ISRO in Hassan ( Master Control Facility (ISRO) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Please ensure you don't pull your cam's or bazooka's around the MCF. If they ever spot you pulling your camera out , before you realize you will have someone pointing a gun at your face.
I was informed well in advance and realized the magnitude of the warning only when we saw the number of gun weilding chaps along the towers.
The approach road is nothing short of an OTR track once you deviate from the Hassan-Halebidu road.So watch out and drive carefully if you plan to visit this place and forgot doing this place if in case it rains.
On flat dry surfaces there was absolutely no traction with the S-drives, all that the car would do was wheel spin.
Am posting a few pics, was in half the mind to pull my camera and shoot since the place was that full of dust.Dint even bother to change the lense coz of the dust factor.
The car was all dirty and we had to send it for a wash in one of the service stations in hassan before we could continue our drive. Me and wifey headed over to her friends house while my bro-in-law got the car washed.
It was 3pm now and I get a call from Ansar at Nature Craft asking us when we would reach chikmagalur. My bad, I had informed Ansar that we would join them for lunch which apparently dint happen.A few aplogies and then we decided to leave Hassan and head to chikmagalur.
Hit the hassan - belur highway and was in for a complete surprise. Excellent road and what more, I did a top whack of 180+ (as per speedo) on this road GPS showed 177kmph.
Flat 40 mins we are in chikmagalur
For the rest of the evening we did nothing much other than spending some quality time with Ansar and his his family. Dinner was served at 9pm and hell Ansar's mom cooks really well. The taste of the chicken biriyani served during the 1st night still lingers on my tongue.
I fell asleep by 10pm and so did wifey.
Day 2 : 7-Dec-08
Wake up by about 7am and get myself a bed coffee and damn its chilly out in the woods here. I take a stroll only to realize my toes are going numb. Well where in bangalore would you get to experience such a thing, I continue my walk through their estate.
Todays agenda is to visit Kemmungundi and Hebbe falls. My bro-in-law is joining us at 10am with his friend for the drive. Meanwhile me and wifey spend time with Ansar's family and have a lovely breakfast. Apparently the boys enroute have had a flat tyre and are getting it fixed in Belur. Its already 11am and am already going bonkers waiting endlessly.
11:30 am they arrive and we ask Ansar as to whats the best route to do Kemmungundi. We are asked to take the road towards Tarikere and then deviate at Lingadahalli towards Kemmungundi.
Reason the 51kms of road from Chikmagalur via Mullayangiri and Bababudangiri towards Kemmungundi is in shambles.
Route taken : Chikmagalur--Aralaguppe--Thogarihankal--Lingadahalli and take a left at the Petrol bunk.This detour is easy to spot,simply watch out for the pertol bunk. From here on its 21kms roughly to Kemmungundi.
Roads are excellent till the detour and from there on its a drive via villages for the next 20kms or so.Bad patches here and there so take it easy.Total distance from Chikmagalur is close to 72kms.
For those of you visiting this place, dont waste your time at the Kalahatti water falls, aint worth the time.
We drive thru the winding roads and reach kemmungundi. Mind you these are estate roads and hence watch out for those occasionally speeding MM540's and the Bolero Invader's.
Kemmungundi is a very small town which has hardly anything to offer other than the trails in its mountains. Hebbe is close to 8/9 kms from Kemmungundi, you need to hire a jeep to get to the waterfalls. We hired a jeep from here for 700 bucks (to and fro) to the waterfalls, the deal being we get 90mins at the waterfalls.
All excited we jump into the jeep and we are in for a rough and a bone jarring drive through the mountains.
Let the pictures speak for its self about the terrain.Truly a jeepers and trekkers paradise.
We are done visiting the waterfalls and take our drive back since its already getting dark. Back at the waterfalls I saw a group of imbeciles opening up their booze and partying. Sucha nasty sight to say the least, would these fellas booze and dirty their own houses and backyards ?
I wonder when will our tourist places be rid of such morons, We walk back to our jeep cursing these fellas.
Back at kemmungundi and we order for some hot omlettes. Carry your own food and water when you travel to this place, coz there aint any hotels or shops.
7pm and we reach Lingadahalli cross, only to realize my cars headlamps stop working. There aint any street lights all along this winding ghat roads and yeah all hell broke loose. I barely can see anything, no mobile coverage and not a single soul in sight for the last 5/6 kms.Pull over the car and 3 mins of switching on and off, voilaa the lights come on. Only highbeam seems to work, I drive on apologising to every single passing vehicle for not dimming my lights.
Its 8:30pm by the time we reach Chikmagalur, the boys bid their good byes and are off to hassan.We catch up with some good dinner and retire for the day.
Day 3 : 8-Dec-08
We are up by 6:30 am today and planning what needs to be done for the 2nd half of the day. 1st half is to be spent visiting Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri back for lunch and then what next ?
My better half wants to see both the peaks with a lot of mist and I know for sure if I did do visit the place with mist around us my blue sky fantasies would go for a toss.I have this fetish for blue skies
I delay breakfast as much as possible and we leave only by 10am. The drive to Mullayanagiri is lovely and an eye candy for nature lovers minus the bad roads. I cant seem to fathom why our lousie gov' doesnt provide good roads to atleast tourist destinations.
We reach Mullayanagiri and climb the steps to reach the peak. Here you go with some pictures of the place.No PP done apart from adding the frames, most shots processed from RAW to JPEG and posted as is.
We are greeted with this view .
I counted 504 steps , those of you who have counted it please post the exact number.
The temple atop Mullayanagiri
Further on we drive from Mullayanagiri to Bababudangiri and here is what you see.
Couldn't visit the cave in Bababudangiri since it was closed for tourist and there seems have to been some kinda communal problems. We decided to drive on further for another 3/4 kms to see Maanikyadhaara.
We were back at our home stay by 3pm dead tired. Ansar's mom treated us with some excellent chicken kebabs and I slept like a log only to wake up by 6pm.Later during the evening we took off to Chikmagalur town and got ourselves some coffee powder and the usual mundane shopping. I get back and start washing the car since tomorrow we gotto drive back.
For the 1st time, it gets really cold in Chikmagalur and I never experienced this in the last 2 days. My toes go numb again
Ansar gets back asking me if I could shoot some pics of his homestay and post it on Holiday IQ. I simply obliged and it was an honor.I spent about 45 mins shooting his homestay and go on to have dinner.
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Day 4 : 09-Dec-08
Overslept and woke up a little late, was already feeling bad that my holiday has come to an end. Everything has been packed the previous night and my car also washed, with a heavy heart we go over to Ansar's house for breakfast.
Its 10am now and time to leave, thats when Ansar's mom offers to give recipes of a few non-veg dishesto my wife. My better half is still a novice when it comes to cooking traditional non-veg dishes. 30mins later we are off , bidding our adieu to their family.
Today 1st stop is at Belur and from there on to Halebidu. Lunch is already planned at Suvarna Regency at Hassan.
Posting pics shot at Belur. Please note the skies were a bit harsh and I had to underexpose most of the pics. The weather playing spoilsport was the main reason. When we left Chikmagalur its all cloudy and all of the sudden the sun is out.
We finish up with Belur and head over to Halebidu. Halebidu is just about 17kms from Belur. The road is pretty well marked and hence no chance of loosing your way. Excellent roads and watch out for those occasional errant drivers/bikers.
I never carried a flash (since I dont have one) hence no pics of the interiors of the temple. I shot a few with my wife's sony cybershot.
From here on we take the road in front of the bus-stand to reach the Hassan-Belur Road. There are 2 routes to reach hassan.
If you take the road in front of the lake, its the same Hassan-Halebidu road which takes you via the MCF.
By about 2pm we are hassan and pull over at Suvarna Regency for lunch. Fill up our grumbling bellies and we are off to Bangalore.
The 1st milestone read 174kms to Bangalore. Wifey buckles up and falls asleep and lets me do my driving. From Chennarayapatna floor the pedal and enjoy the pleasure of revving my beauty to the max.
Simply wanted to test the S-drives and its performance. Managed to sustain speeds of 140kmph on most of the stretches and for company I had a Innova whoz driver had excellent driving skills.
In flat 2 hrs and 30 mins we reach Peenya and from there on it takes us another 1 hour to get home. Beat that !! Therez a huge traffic jam and guess what !! the cops are letting go off the 2 wheelers, autos,buses and cabs stopping 4 wheelers and asking them where are they coming from blah blah.
I am pulled over and I ask the cop whats this whole scene about and response is this that " we are checking vehicles coz of the mumbai scene" . A little lost I still ask him whaaat !! He says " All this coz we need to ensure that terrorists don't enter our City " .
What rubbish !! I go on to reason saying what about the buses and the auto's you just let go ? No response and then goes on to say " hogi neevu" . Me and wife have a good laugh at our so called Police Force and their reasoning.
Am back home by about 6:45 and the odo reads 942kms. Did a quick check of the mileage and the figure was about 15.xx after all the ghat section driving and the redlining I did for the whole trip. Not bad at all for and wifey puts the ball back in my court asking me " Do you really want to sell the car " and here I am back in the same old dilemma
Thanks all for your time going thru my banter. Have a nice day.
