Part 3 - Exploring Coorg - Iguthappa temple and CheLavara Falls

Continuing from Part 2,

After visiting Nalknad palace, we started towards Iguthappa temple. Along with localites' guidance we discovered many Iguthappa temples on the way but we wanted to visit the main of them where the sancinity is at it's highest.

We were able to locate the exact temple which is in the midst of the nature. Then, we had Lord Shiva's darshana, spent some time over there and started towards CheLavara falls. It was a nice treat for our eyes on the way as we discovered some nice sceneries and the nature at it's best.

It was around 1:00 PM when we reached CheLavara falls, trust me this is one of the best visiting spot in Coorg. The water plunging from a decent height and the spot was a bit crowded as it was a weekend. Raghava and our cab driver Bungaaru both being good swimmers dived into the waterfall area and had their share of fun. I was bit reluctant to get inside the water area and was just watching Raj, Rag, Raghava and Bungaaru having fun. Here is one click of the falls alongside Raghava posing :),



It was around 2:30PM when we started from there, we took the same route and reached Bangalore around 11:00PM on the same day. That's it guys, hope you enjoyed reading my blog. Will keep blogging about my trips in the next series...Bye :)...

Part 2 - Exploring Coorg - BhagamanDala

Continuing form Part -1

Well, after a tremendous trek in ThaDiyanDamol we headed towards BhagamanDala. Actually, we missed an ancient palace on the foot hills of ThaDiyanDamol, later on while coming back from BhagamanDala we visited this palace i.e, the Nalknad Palace. Here is one click of the palace,



There were no entrance fees as of such but a security guard will guide you through the palace and it's your wish to offer him some money if you find it worth listening him :). While entering the palace you find a marriage mantapa, the below pic



which was built by the king on the occasion of his sister's marriage. A visit to this palace is must thou you are not allowed to take photos inside the palace. Then we started towards visiting Iguthappa temple and will blog about it my next series.

Now, coming back to BhagamanDala, as said in the first part of the blog we very so tired that we were looking out for some eateries to feed ouselves. At last we found one and grabbed all the snacks available and started towards BhagamanDala. By then, Raghava had called the Kashi mutt in BhagamanDala and booked us a room. Here is the entrance pic of the Kashi Mutt,



The rooms were good and well under our budget. After boarding the room we went to Sangama where 3 rivers [Kaveri, Kanika and Sujyothi] confluence and we had our bath there. Then, there was some mouth watering dishes waiting for us for the lunch, the mutt officials served the lunch on the plantain leaves. We were so eager to have everything and at last all we had was the empty plantain leaves at the end of our meal course :) really the food was finger licking :).

By then, it was around 4:00 PM and we all took a small nap and woke up at 5:00 and started towards Talakaveri, it's the holy place where river Kaveri originates. Here is one pic of the ugamasthaLa [In English: birthplace],



Even though we were not allowed to take the pics inside, we some how able to click one of them while the guards diverted their attention towards other public. There is a small hill within the vicinity of the temple which has around 150 steps to reach the top.

We spent some time there and it was getting dark so started heading back to Kashi mutt. Raghava and Rajesh witnessed the night Pooja @ BhanganDeshwara temple which is very near to the mutt. Myself and Rag fall asleep as soon as we were back from Talakaveri. The dinner was served in the mutt @ around 9:00PM and we all went to bed.

The next day morning was awesome out there with all the fog, but the rest rooms in the mutt were all occupied by the tourists who boarded the mutt that early morning. So, we went to Sangama again for having bath. It was a chill morning and just imagine how cold the water would be but without second thought I, Raj and Rag jumped in and had our bath, it was a great experience for us. Raghava a wise fellow who woke up early and finished all his activities in the mutt itself :).

Then we visited the Bhagandeshwara temple and here is one click of it,



You can reach Kashi mutt on dialing the following numbers,
+917676515357
+919481961398

After having lord Shiva's darshana we headed towards Nalknad palace, the place which we missed in ThaDiyanDamol. Then we thought of visiting Iguthappa temple, Iguthappa is the other name for Lord Shiva and he's worshiped by all the Kodavas. Will blog about it in my next post....Bye :)

Part 1- Exploring Coorg - ThaDiyanDamol

Hi All, a trip to Coorg will always be an awesome stuff to experience and that too accompanying your best buddies will be a memorable one for the new year. This was my first outing with my kuchikus[friends] Raghavendra[Rag], Rajesh[Raj] and Vijaya Raghava[Raghava]. It's a common thing that all the techies nowadays prefer to explore the scenic world during the weekends to get some relief and of course we never differed in that thought and straight away planned to start on a Friday night. My Friend Rag spoke to one of the travel agency and arranged a cab[TATA Indica] for 5 including the driver.

So, after boarding the cab we headed towards Bangalore-Mysore highway and a deviation towards the right after Srirangapattana which connects us to a place called ELwal, on Mysore-Hunsur highway. Then, headed towards Kushalnagara and finally reached Coorg around 5:00 AM.

The main spot we were excited to see was ThaDiyanDamol, so we enquired the night beat police and other localites for the direction. We finally reached ThaDiyanDamol but were surprised to see that there were no lodging or eateries there and then waited for the sun rise to make some buildings or lodges or any kinda refreshment outlets visible. While it was 6:00 AM, I clicked the following scenic view.



We gottu spot a guest house but it wasn't all the way affordable they told that it would charge 1000 bucks per person and it included a coorg style breakfast, lunch and a room to get refresh. We were a quiet reluctant to board that guest house for that price but gathered some information about the trek route and finally started the trek with just 2.5 litres of a bottle full of water. Remember, we didn't had any kind off refreshments and just rubbishly headed for the trek.

On the way, we had some photo session and were amazed to watch the nature at it's best.



The above pic depicts the hill to climb also it's me towards the left, Raghava on the right and the one who is standing is Rag.

It was exciting for the first few initial hours and later on when the Sun started his duty it was getting sweat out from all of us. We still concentrated of reaching the hill top. On the way to the hill top we discovered several other small hills and were having fun. By this time our stomach started knocking for food but we all just had a bottle of water and the dry grass on the hills. Still, we thought of reaching the top.

After a while, we saw a group of trekkers who came all the way from Hyderabad and when enquired they revealed that they had a campfire on the previous night and were heading back. Now, it was getting steeper and steeper but the mission in our mind was getting the better from us.

By this time the bottle was empty and our stomach as well. We were climbing, climbing and climbing, and in the meanwhile we took a lot of break and were regretting our decision to start without any refreshments after the overnight journey. But the smile was still in our face :) and with whole lot of kidding all the way. The below pic depicts the fun we had where Raj and Rag pulling Raghava as if they were saving him from falling down the hill.



Voila, finally we reached the top, you see we climbed ThaDiyanDamol with all the niggles but the hill view on the top was cherishing. Below pic depict the view from the hill top.



We all were so overwhelmed and again had some photo session and a small nap. By this time it was around 12:00 PM. Then, we started to head back towards the cab parked area as we had to explore others places and while heading back we saw many group of trekkers/youngsters/oldies climbing the summit and we greeted them with the new year wishes.

And that's it we boarded the cab and headed towards Bhagamandala, will blog about it in my next post. Bye.... :)