Vaayavya Karnataka Pravaasa

Hi,

i'm back after a long time. just edited some part of the other blog and writing this new one. i had been on a trip to North - West Karnataka. we covered nearly 6-7 places including Shivamogga, Jog falls, Murudeshwara, Gokarna, Yana and Dandeli. i didn't like the trip so much till Gokarna as the season was really hot and it was sea side. it was a trip for 5 days but this time 4 of us had gone. Bharani, myself, Jagadish(J) and Smitha(S) - 2 of Bharani's friends. it was a good trip. 

we left at around 7:30 in the morning on 22nd of may, 2010. it was going to be a long journey that day. we had planned to leave much earlier but it got delayed. we picked up J and S at 7:30 and headed towards shivamogga. we were very hopeful to see Jog falls in it's full glory first. went to shivamogga via tumkur-tiptur-arsikere-bhadravathi. here's the google map...

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then we headed towards Sagara where we had lunch at around 2 in the after noon.

after having a heavy lunch, we drove to Jog falls filled hoping that we'll see the Jog falls in its full glory. but all our efforts went in vain, when we saw that the rains were not enough and the falls was very thin and water had fully dried.... :(

felt very sad.... after all this, people advised us to first find out and then go to the place to see the falls. anyways.... can't revert it. we left this place around 4:30 and drove towards Murudeshwara. didn't have any plans to stay here but it was almost 7:30 when we reached there and all of us were tired. so we decided to halt there and then go to Gokarna the following day.

On the way to Murudeshwara it rained a little bit and the weather became so cool. but didn't estimate the terrible humidity in Murudeshwara and Gokarna..... it was terrible and just unbearable.

We found a good hotel at Murudeshwara for about Rs 1000 called Summer Breeze Inn. very decent and a nice hotel with good AC facility on when there is power. otherwise it's worse than outside.... :) had some good north indian food for dinner at RNS hotel and we were all flat in 5 minutes in our rooms. all of us were so tired that day.... only travelling.

i guess we did a good thing by staying back at Murudeshwara otherwise we would have missed these beautiful views of the beach, the Shiva and the temple. then we moved on to Gokarna from there... reached Gokarna by around 12 in the afternoon, had lunch and headed to the beach.

We spent that night in Gokarna. Next day morning, we got up late and headed towards Yana, a place formed by rocks due to erosion. The picture above shows the rock formations at Yana. One is called Mohini shikhara and the other one is called Bhairaveshwara shikhara.

 On the way back from Yana, we went to a water fall called as Vibhuthi falls. it was really worth going there after the sunny trek. the height of the fall is small but there was lot of water.

 These pictures were taken while coming back from Yana on the way to Vibhuthi falls. we stopped by at a small stream...

 Vibhuthi Falls.

 Next day we left Gokarna and moved towards Dandeli. we went there via Yellapura and Kulgi. we didnt know the route and had to ask people every 10 kms. although it was just 130 kms from Gokarna, we took around 4 hrs to reach Dandeli.

 Salt making at Gokarna.

 A pit stop near Kulgi as we waited to ask routes.

 Hornbill River Resort - Dandeli: Our activities at Dandeli were planned from morning itself, but we reached late. the picture below is the one of our rock house at the resort.

 I found these really beautiful butterflies at the resort. they were nearly 15 of them around one plant.

 that's our room below.

 Below is the river Kali on whose banks is the resort located. Here we had the Jacuzzi bath, swimming and diving sessions. of course, i didn't dive, i was too scared.

 Jacuzzi bath location.

 Oh yes, we found a non-venomous snake as played in the water, it had come to catch some fish for a meal.

 Begin, the diving sessions.... Bharani, Smitha and Jagadish know swimming,..

 This is Putta. A one and half year old dog at the resort. he was so sweet and lovable. he allowed us to play with him.... he has too much patience.

 A view from our rock house.

 this is on the way back from Dandeli to Bangalore.

I recommend Hornbill River Resort to whoever is planning to visit Dandeli. they have some really good activities that helps distress you completely.

Trip to Munnar and Alleppey

It had been quite a while since we had gone on a tour. The last time we took a break was in October 2009, when  we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. And Bharani also changed his job from Accenture to Volvo. We thought of going for a week long getaway, but since my project at office had a very tight schedule, we decided to go for just 2 days to Madikeri. A place i had seen but Bharani had not. Then in January of 2010, both of us desperately deserved a break and so we went for a week long tour to Munnar and Allepey from 25th to 30th. I used my comp offs for this.

It was a great trip. He drove the entire journey alone. We first went to Munnar and covered around 450 kms. While coming back it was around 600 kms. It was a very big and one of the most enjoyable trips for both of us. I think it is very important to find partners who share common likes and dislikes. Both Bharani and me like to travel a lot. He loves to drive cars and I enjoy going with him. Apart from this, I can hardly think of any common likes, it's mostly uncommon.... :)

Every time we go on vacations, we experience something unusual / memorable. This time it was the Munnar bandh. It was bad that day. We didn't get lunch!! :( We then moved on and literally begged one restaurant which was open for residents of their hotel but not for outsiders. Got food and were very grateful. "Annadata Sukheebhava"...

Route we took:

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Munnar to Alleppey:

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Alleppey to Bangalore:

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Hotels: Hotel Misha, Munnar.
Remarks: We booked it before we left from Bangalore but unfortunately it was not very impressive. For Rs. 1350 we got a room so small and not very good in terms of cleanliness also. We then requested for a bigger room for which we had to pay another Rs. 700. View from the room was very good though. Food was good as it was outsourced to a hotel Annapoorna, managed by a group of North Indians. There were other hotels around which were much better than Hotel Misha, Hotel Green Ridge and Hotel Bell Mount. I suggest people visiting Munnar to hire rooms in one of these two hotels or checkout better hotels in Munnar.

Hotels: Pagoda Resorts, Alleppey.
Remarks: A very good resort and a very comfortable one. Clean rooms and the service was great. The ambiance is extremely good. Food is a little expensive and good for non-vegetarians. We got a double room at Rs. 1250 per day. Really worth the price. We also took their speed boat for a round around the back waters and it was great. No hassles what so ever. They charged us Rs. 500 per hour. The whole boat was for us exclusively, no disturbances, no problems. We went around for 2 hours. People generally hire a house boat for a day or two in which we stay, eat and sleep in it. There are house boats with a single room, 2 rooms, 3 rooms and upto 5 rooms. Very spacious and splendid. We didn't hire as we were just the 2 of us and thought that we would get bored without any games. There is a TV, DVD player, etc for entertainment. But it is always better to go in groups of 4 or more so that you don't bored just looking at the water and your companion around.