My Coorg Escapade

shyamm

It was a long weekend with monday too being a holiday thanks to Ugadi.On friday night just out out of the blue wifey an I planned a weekend getaway.But where? We selected Coorg as it was one place we had not seen before and it would be good escape from the summer heat and traffic jams of Anand Rao circle-KR Circle and Hosur Rd.

In great hope went to the nearest KSRTC online booking centre,but sadly no tickets were available. A few enquiries and the only private bus service operating to Madkeri was Poornima Travels whose office is next to Golden Landmark Hotel near Anand Rao Circle petrol bunk.2 tickets were booked for the 10pm departure super deluxe bus. The ticket was priced Rs.230 each.The old creaky bus departed at 10pm, picked up a few more passengers near the railway stn and soon we were on the way via the Mysore Rd.

The night journey went off peacefully except when the driver thought he was driving a air cushioned hovercraft over the speedbreakers and the ever present potholes.It was 4am when i suddenly woke up, thanks to screeching tyres with the driver continuously changing gears and braking liberally.We had arrived at Kushalnagar.The driver had stopped for his early morning tea.I too got down to stretch my legs and have a cup of steaming hot coffee.After a 10 min halt, soon we were on way to Madikeri.Woke up my wife too show her the narrow ghat roads covered in mist and fog(were seated on the first row on the left side- a disadvantage in this bus with the driver's cabin not covered by curtains to block high beam headlights from the opposite side).

Reached Madkeri at about 5.30 am Sunday morning and asked directions for Vinayaka Lodge.Why this lodge? On saturday i had made a few enquiries regarding home stays but it was beyond our budget as most of them were charging 1000 rupees per day per person.Vinayaka Lodge run by one Mr.Kamat is a good decent lodge, diagonally oppsite the KSRTC bus stand and about 3 min away from the private bus stand.The double room at Rs.300 per day alloted to us had clean sheets and toilet.We did not opt for a room with a TV .The room boy would supply us piping hot water for bath from a solar geyser from 6.30 in the morning.

Soon, after freshening up , at about 8am we had our breakfast at the Raghavendra Hotel, a stone's throw away.This restaurant is too owned by Kamat and his smile will be bigger if you speak Konkani.Do not miss the Kesaribath at this place.Probably the best I have eaten. With real pineapple pieces unlike the artificially flavoured one we get in namma Bengalooru Darshinis.After breakfast and great filter coffee, we went to the KSRTC bus stand for the Kushalnagar bus.The bus departed at 8.30 , was a new one with comfartable seats.The ticket was priced at Rs.14 each. One the way I started clicking with my digicam the hilly Coorgi countryside, the coffee,cardamom and pepper estates and the small wayside inns with boards announcing the famous Pandi Curry.Reached Kushalnagar(about 40kms) at about 9.30am.

We hired a auto for Rs.40 to take us to the Buddhist Golden temple and Monastery.Soon we were amazed by the sights, the pagodas and the golden idols of Buddhas.Most of the people were monks cald in marroon robes with only a few tourists.The Golden temple is a huge one with 3 giant idols of Buddha.Also saw a throne reserved only for the Dalai lama.After an hour or so with me clicking photos, we had icecreams in the canteen outside the premises and did window shopping at the shopping center opposite to the temple.Most sell sweaters, t-shirts and other knick-knacks.They were all run by the Tibetans but the prices were about 3 times what there cousins near the Bangalore City railway stn charge.Not worth buying.

It was 11.30, time to leave. We hired an auto for Rs.200 to take us to Dubare Elephant camp and Nisargadhma .The journey past Kushalnagar thru the open countryside, past sunflower and marigold fields was great. After an hour we reached Dubare.The driver had agreed to wait for 45 min. The elephant camp is on the other side of the island, but it was peak summer time, the river water was shallow.Though there are boats to take you up and down at Rs.20 each, we preferred to cross by foot. The rocks were slippery, so we removed our footwear for better grip.Watch out for Crocs! says a board , but we did not see any.Bangalore human meat has too much Lead arsenic, Carbon-monoxide and monosodium-glutamate in it, i guess.Reached the camp but we were dissapointed that the daily baths for the jumbos are given only in the morning.So IndiaMikers! if you do not want to visit Dubare in the morning, give it a skip.The elephant rides are at RS.100 each. The only other worth while is river rafting on a rubber dinghy at 100 per head for 30 min.Dont know what excitement it brings to raft in shallow &still waters? Took the auto back to Nisargadhama and what a place it is!!!!

Nisarghadhama,3kms from Kushalnagar is an island turned into some sort of eco-retreat. Bought our tickets for the entry fee,boat and elephant rides. Crossed a all bamboo hanging bridge to embark on the island.There is an beautifully constructed hut which sells all types of products made of natural raw materials like bamboo, tree barks,etc..There is also a balcony made of bamboo shoots which keeps swinging overlooking the small boatyard.We took our boat, a small row boat which we shared with a another Bangalore famly. The 15 min ride was on the still but muddy river under cool shady trees.There are pedal boats too here.It was 1.30, and we were hungry. The Canteen in the Nisargadhama is a very expensive place and moreover it took 1 hour for him to supply our order:1veg fried rice, 2 chappathies and 1 Chana masala, the last one very dilute and had less chanas than fingers on my hands.A few boys at the neighbouring table were complaining that their Sprite was just plain soda.So we were not the only ones to be had.Avoid this crook to the maximum.After lunch, we were atop a elephant ride, a small 10 min ride.After the ride, we fed the elephants and the deers, cucumbers and groundnuts. There are plumpy rabbits too reared near the canteen.Then we climbed a few machans(tree houses) for thrill of it.Nearby is the river where you can bathe and fool around. Watch out for the monkeys here.

We left the place at 3.30 and took the bus back to Madikeri. We reached Madkeri at 5pm,freshened up in our room ,had tea and light snacks and booked our return tickets back to Bangalore for monday night.No KSRTC and we had Poornima TRavels again, but this time we were charged RS.190 for the same bus.Did the Bangalore office rip us off? We hired an auto for Rs.12 and went to Raja's seat.Being a sunday there was a big crowd. But we were dissapointed that there was no good sunset to be seen thanks to cloud cover.Spending an hour here, we reached our hotel at about 7pm. PLz note that most of Madkeri shops close at 7pm. There is a daily power cut between 7.30 to 8.30pm.Had dinner at Raghavendra Hotel again and retired for the night.

Bang!Bang!Bang ! it was the room boy banging on the door.He was asking for the buckets to bring us hot water.Time was 6.30am. Told him to leave us alone.I knew where the tap from the solar geyser was.I will get it myself, so I said.After head bath and on my wife's insistance, ate a small piece of jaggery and neam leaf.It was Ugadi and she had shopped for this yesterday.After Kesaribath again at Raghavendra's, we took the private bus to Bhagamandala at about 9.50am. Though the conductor insisted that we would reach Bhagamandala at 11.30, it was a circuitous route thru many towns and villages and we reached only by 12pm.Visited the Sangam and the centuries old Baghanandeshwara temple, which was undergoing renovation.Hired an auto for Rs.100 to Talakavery, wait for 30min and back.We reached Talakavery after 30 min thru a mountainous road, passing roadside shops selling Coorg Honey and spices.There was a shack selling spice buttermilk stored in an earthen pot.We drained a few cups thru our parched throats and visited the birth place of our Cauvery(or Kaveri?) The priest there spoke perfect English.After a few snapshots here and we prayed at the Shiva and ganesh temples here. There was a mixed group of Kannadigas, Tamils and Andhraites who were listening to their leader who hoped that the new year would bring peace between their states and the Kaveri muddle would be solved peacefully.Took the auto back to Bhagamandala where we had a hearty lunch.We took the 2.30pm return bus back to Madikeri and we reached by 4.30pm.Took an auto from the Bus stand to Abbey falls and back for Rs.110. Incidently the rick driver too was from Bangalore.

Abbey falls , even in the summer with less water looks beautiful.Imagine it during peak monsoon. With a few deaths due to sudden currents and whirlpools, the authoriries have barred and banned entry right to the waterfall.But it can viewd froma hanging bridge a few metres away.Though thereas barbed wire all around, it did not stop a score of young Buddhist monks to play around in the water.The trek up the steep path to the vehicle park is tiring and we had tender coconut water here and were back in the auto for the ride back to Madikeri.We told the driver to take us to the Fort /Palace.

The small museum in the fort was closed as it was a public holiday. There is a small temple dedicated to Ganesh in the premises.Took a few shots of the palace which is now a government office. Old windows and doors and the open courtyard in the centre intrigued me but saw a few cops inside who were staring at me holding a camera.Better sensed prevailed and restrictd my photos to the fort architecture and 2 elephants made of concrete.A few locals guided us to the Omkareshwar temple just 5 min away and we were there.

The Omkareshwar temple is a blend of Islamic architecture of minarets and Konkan coast style temples.The walls surrounding the temple has paintings of Gods and Godesses and even saiBaba and RaghavendraSwamy.That day being Ugadi, there was a huge crowd of devotees.The tank opposite the temple has a huge number of fish which were fed popcorn by a few devotees.After spending some time here it was time to go back and we slowly trudged the way back to our hotel room.Spend the next few minutes packing our bags as we wanted to beat the 7.30pm powercut.We had dinner at 8.30pm and boarded our bus back to bangalore, departure at 9.30pm.

We reached bangalore at 4.00am and soon we were back home by 5am.Madkeri is a very nice place to settle after your retirement and is a real pensioner's paradise.Hardly an populace and traffic. A few days later watched the movie , Mungaaru Maley and regretted that we had not gone to Coorg during monsoon.But there is always an next time, isnt it?

batistuta

Nice TR Shyamm. Thanks for sharing. Incidentally, I too stayed in the Vinayaka lodge. It seemed like a bargain when compared with the Home stay rates.

shahronakm

Excellent trip report shyamm. Have you uploaded the pics. Would love to see them desperately.

Here is the reason for that.
Last October we (I & wife) had planned to visit coorg for 6 - 7 days & had done all my train bookings up to Mangalore & return. We were also supposed to visit Bekal during the trip. I had called up one or two homestays (Honeyvalley being one of them) & had also called Nisargdham (wanted to stay there one night). Everything was set just then due to some urgent business work had to cancel the trip. Was very much dissapointed & don't know when will I get my next chance. By the way after reading your report I am all the more dissapointed.

Please do upload the pics & post your link here on this thread.

Ronak.

goa baba

Hi Shyam,

Thanks for the detailed info on things to do and places to visit in Coorg.. Am planning a trip with my family in mid June, we are planning to drive down to Coorg. any budget hotel in and around Coorg that you can recommend ? we want some place that is very close to nature and is away from the crowd. How is the weather in june ?

Thanks n god bless

roccstar2

Wow, thanks a for a real short and sweet writeup about Coorg and the places there. I plan to visit there with my friends from college sometime soon.. so I would like to know what the best time to go there would be?

And as for staying I have heard that some of the home stay options are really quite inexpensive, like this one called Ramcad Estate I read about them in the last edition of some travel magazine (Outlook traveler i think..) and I looked them up on the net. Does anyone know anything about this place?

Here's are the sites for Ramcad Estate:
http://www.greendreamsholiday.com/ramcad.htm

Thanks for any help!

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Roccstar2

kavithanair1

HI;

Would anyone forward me the contact number of vinayak lodge?

Thanks.