Jog Falls, Worlds 7th largest

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I was helping Som, to reach Bengaluru early from his scheduled Mangalore trip and ended up having a new itinerary and I also joined the trip. Plan was to visit Jog Falls via Shimoga and then visit Murdeshwar via Sharavathy valley and then take a train to Udupi along green route on Konkan railway. It was ambitious, packed and I was keeping my fingers crossed.

Trip started on a disastrous note. It was raining cats and dogs on Thursday night and there huge were traffic jams everywhere. Ended up walking 3-4 kilo meters to the railway station and thankfully train was delayed and we reached just in time. Wonder how many missed train,bus.. What about people planning to travel with kids? How many would venture to travel out after this kind of experience. There are hardly any sign of improvement in the condition of infrastructure in Bangalore.

We had booked First Class AC as that was the only available category. This was the first time I travelled in 1AC. Seat/Bed/Berth was certainly more comfortable and surprisingly there is socket for charging laptop with 110V and US type socket. Also there is a rest room status indicator in every cabin. Cabin can contain 2 or 4 berths. After the long run I did not feel the cold but was hungry at midnight along with body pain. The train does not have pantry car. Reached Shimoga at 6:20 AM with a cloudy weather. Car we had booked was waiting for us.

Elephants at the entrance of Aghoreshwara Temple, From Jog Falls

We had a packed schedule and there was only one our to get ready and have breakfast. Coloured hot water came out of taps for taking bath. I convinced Som that the colour was due to the fact that locals treated the water with herbs to make it soft and usable. He realized I was joking only when he was explaining it to Santosh and I told him the truth, which was well after the trip. We got into the car at 8:15 AM to see Jog falls. We quickly paid a visit to Aghoreshvara temple and then rushed to Jog falls, worried that heavy rains can potentially spoil the fun of watching falls. All along the road we were greeted with green cover on both the sides and cool climate. To add some difference to the ambience every now then there were breif drizzles and children marching on with the flags celebrating independence day. Looking at those children we got nostalgic and regurgitated memories of independence day celebration we were part of as kids!

On the way we went past the now closed railway tracks of only "Rail bus" in the world. It had only two carriages and one would buy ticket once you got into the train. There used to be a conductor moving around issuing tickets on the way! Amidst all the talking we reached mist covered Jog Falls. There were hundreds waiting for the mist to clear up as falls played hide and seek behind. Little a bit of waiting and we got glimpse for few minutes with people cheering around and hordes of photographers who were waiting for this minute so that they can have somebody to take an instant photograph with falls on the backdrop. It was precious business time for them.

Raja, Roarer, Rocket, Rani From Jog Falls

After having some hot Maggi Noodles at a small shack in tourists complex, we visited other view point below travellers bungalow. One can go really close to the mouth of Raja, one of the 4 falls from here. After some diligent walking we reached the mouth and took some good photographs.

From here the next stop was Murdeshwar through Sharavathy valley. Its a treat to drive through this valley. Even at 2:00 PM it was covered with mist. Atmosphere was cold but not chilling. There are numerous baby falls, view points and zeals on the way with forest on both sides of the road. Traffic is low and as it is ghat section one can slowly move, looking at the surroundings.

Fog covered Sharavathy Valley From Jog Falls

Murdeshwar Beach From Jog Falls

We had our lunch at Honnavar and reached Murdeshwar around 4:00 PM as planned. We spent some time at park with Shiva statues with cool breeze passing by. Visited the temple and then went to the beach and touched the chilling water! It was so good, long time since I went to a beach during monsoon.

There were already people thinking of settling down there, but for we had a train to catch at 6:30 PM. Reached Udupi around 9:00 PM by Madgaon Passenger of Konkan Railway which is one of the beutiful routes to travel on. That was end of the trip for me, but for Som&Jayeeta there were more places to be covered before they started to bangalore on Sunday afternoon from Mangalore.

How to reach
We took Shimoga express which leaves bangalore at 11:40 PM and reaches Shimoga Town at 6:00 AM in morning next day. Note that there are two stations Shimog town and Shimoga, later is a deserted station with hardly any amenities. Make sure you get down at Shimoga town station which is well connected and easily one can get Auto or a Taxi. There will also be Buses to Sagar from here and one can catch a bus to Jog from Sagar. We had booked a car which took us around and dropped at Murdeshwar via Honnavar on NH 206. From Honnavar one can travel north and go to Gokarna, Karwar, Goa etc.

Where to stay
Sagar is ideal place to stay but as there are really few hotes it is very tough to get accomodation during monsoon. Check out the link to notes for phone numbers. We stayed at Mathura residency in Shimoga just enough amenieties to freshen up and have breakfast.

What to see

1. Tyavarekoppa lion safari - A few kilometers from Shimoga on the way to Jog falls.
2. Ikkeri - 4 kms from Sagar has Aghoreshwara Temple built 500 years back with carvings on the outerwalls. Supposed to built in Vijayanagara Style architecture built by Keladi Nayakas Though I saw royal emblem of Hoysala among temple carvings style distinct from other Hoysala Temples. The main diety of Shiva with 32 hands was 300 hundred years back and is placed outside the temple. The existing "Shivalingam" along with "Nandi" was installed 200 years back. Preist told that In India one can rarely see a temple platform so high from the ground. There is small Akhilandeshwari temple is next to this temple.
3. Keladi - Though we could not visit due to lack of time and bad raods, its worth visiting if you want to see some more ornately built temple. Its 25 km away from Sagar.
4. Singdhur Choudeshwari temple - Around 10-15 km from Sagar and Situated on a island fully covered with forest. Supposed to have very scenic view and one has to catch a ferry to reach the temple. Our driver emphasized about the ferry ride than the temple. We could not visit this place.
5. Jog Falls - Has 2 main view points. From the first one can see all the four falls Raja, Roarer , Rocket and Rani. One can also trek down and see the falls from bottom, but not during the monsoon as it is not allowed. Other view point is below the travellers bunglow and if the water is low one can up till the mouth of Raja and also hear roaring sound made by Roarer. Side view of othere 2 falls is also very good from this view point.
6. Sharavathy Valley - NH 206 passes through the valley and there numerous small falls and zeals on the way. There are also couple of elavated view points watch the valley.
7. Murdeshwar - is on the beach with Shiva Temple and statue park.

Atlantic city

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Long weekend was coming cup and we were exploring economic options to go to Niagara. Though we did lot search and research we could not find a viable option within the reach. Then Greg offered to take us to Atlantic city which is supposed to be next only to Las Vegas when it comes to gambling.

On Thursday night, there was production issue due to which I was awake till 3:00 AM. Some how I managed to get up at 5:30 AM and get ready hurriedly. Including Greg there were 5 of us – Me, Naga Satish, Nagesh and Praveen. We were planning to start at 6:30 and Greg arrived sharply at 6:30 AM. Then we thought of having breakfast which took another 20 minutes and we hit the road. We were cruising at 65 MPH we went past Mormon temple which had tall towers and supposed to have beguile boy in gold. We went past Baltimore and traffic was ok so far. We had herd that there will be huge holiday traffic and there can big traffic jams.

While on the go roads in Ameerica, was the major topic of discussion. Greg answered all the questions patiently explaining whole of the interstate highway system in America. Praveen(called as officer by Naga Satish for the punctuality shown by Praveen )was the driving force behind discussions. Sometimes he sounded like a question bank which is waiting for the answers to be completed so that next question can be thrown. There was one question on cricket, Why Americans do not play cricket, the way he asked that question looked as if Greg was responsible for Americans not playing the cricket.

In between the discussions we realized that there was traffic jam. The topic turned to how to find a rest room when you are on highway. I guess the discussion was contagious and everybody wanted to “dew”. Greg took the car to shoulders, and without knowing that there is poison Ivy in the woods Naga Satish, Nagesh and Praveen ran to the woods to do the “dew”. Thankfully the traffic situation improved and we were cruising again. I took up my favorite job of navigator. Nagesh was busy watching a movie on the small screen in the car. Don’t know how he managed to watch the movie amidst all the discussions going on. He is movie crazy person who will any movie as long as it is called a movie.

We reached Atlantic city around 10:30 -11:00 AM. Our first job was to search for the parking and we found a self service parking close to the “Trump Plaza” which was supposed to be the one of the popular casino’s around. That was my first look at the casion’s and the slot machines. We tried to decode the logic behind playing. We pressed the help button and went through the instructions, but no body seemed to understand what needs to be done. Simplest had 3 columns of running numbers and you win when you have 7 in all columns. This had a minimum bet of 25 cents. We gave couple of tries using the quarters we had. There were a lot of people who were very busy gambling, without closing eye lids with a finger moving very frequently, every now then lips making some noise and very rarely people asking machines to read between the lines.

We managed to get an old lady who helped us to understand the slot machine. The game was simple we tell how much are we going to bet and on which row. Then we keep pressing the button and ask the machine to play. If we get 2 or more golden biscuits in a row we win and the machine credits us else it will deduct the bet amount. In the olden days you were supposed to pull a lever now all that you need to do is press a button with your finger. What more you can even ask it to repeat the bet and keep playing and just watch. It took nearly one hour to loose my $5 completely, not sure how many win but Nagesh managed to double his $5 and stop playing too. Greg and Naga Satish lost $20 each.

When we were done with the casino we came out the beach bar next to Trump Plaza. Praveen was in an American beach atmosphere for the first r time and one could make that out from his blushing face. For some time there was silence and no questions were coming out of Praveen’s mouth. Then he spoke to Greg, thanked him profusely and said he had gone to Goa to see this and did not see anything. Not sure which beaches he visited though as Goa is one of the most sought after beach destinations.

After some refreshments we set off to find a pure vegetarian Indian restaurant. Though we could easily manage with a cheese pizza, other vegetarians were not even ready to take the cheese. We could not a find any Indian restaurant on the board walk. So we got into a restaurant complex inside the casino. First restaurant we went in, we were told that it was only for the premium members. Then we found an Asian restaurant but the options were pricey and finally we settled for a fruit basket!

All along the board walk we saw what are called the rolling chairs. This is nothing but glorified version of hand pulled rickshaw in Calcutta which is going to be banned soon. There is a chair which enough for 2 persons to sit on human being pushes the chair from behind. The pricing was based on the distance covered in terms of blocks. I guess a rolling chair guy makes 10 times more than rickshaw guy for 10 times lesser distance. But of course they live in areas with different cost of leaving.

Guys were already feeling sleepy and we got back to the parking lot and were next destination was Ocean city. I managed small nap as well before we reached the ocean city. Ocean city board walk is much longer compared to Atlantic city board walk. Here there are amusement parks with roller coasters etc. Nagesh took a roller coaster ride along with some blonde girl who could not get a seat with her friend and Praveen repented the missed opportunity.

In the mean time I, Naga Satish and Greg were busy with food and cheating. Greg managed to feed the sea gulls and I tried my level best to capture photograph of a sea gull catching French fry on the fly! Then I and Naga Satish took a long stroll along the beach, the beach was full of eateries. There was a pizza place and then there was French fries shop, one ice cream shop and one gift shop. The sequence repeated for miles and miles. All the shops were managed by the kids and teens. Later on I came to know that children love to be at the beach during summer. So these places provide means of paying for the beach stay! That sounded cool I never had such a long beach vacation when that old. My first beach vacation was in 1999(I was 20) at Goa and we stayed there for 4-5 days and that was memorable one.

As the sun was setting we started back home. By the time we hit the highway I was fast asleep. In between we stopped for some tea and dough nuts. By the time we reached Rockville except for Greg( Of course he was driving all along) and Praveen everybody had slept and there was snoring concert I believe. Don’t how many more questions Greg had to answer on the way back.

atlantic city

Yelagiri - The Cardmom hills

Posted by Nbhat |12 comments

This was another of the plans which was planned a while back but did not realize. We were hesitant will it be good ? Are we going to like it ? It may be hot or it may not be. There were many reviews varying in opinion on the net. Finally I and Prem decided to give it a try due to alluring trek to Swamimalai in the vee hours. Prem was determined to drive on good roads! This was the option which was nearest. 6th April 2:00 PM we set off to Yelagiri from Koramangala.

After wading through the busy traffic to electronic city, we were greeted with refreshing winds on good roads with scarce traffic. We cruised along, enjoying the scenic views and occasionally cursing the drivers who did not follow the lane discipline.We took breaks at Krishnagiri and just before the winding roads to Yelagiri. We were little early and started climbing the hairpin bends close to 5pm. After 10th hairpin bend we found a place to park the car and enjoy the view.

So far it was going as per the plan and we reached Yelagiri around 5:45 and our plan was to get a place to stay then go to the boat club. We got attracted by the posters of Rhythms resort which offered a lake view and followed the directions. Only to find that it will be ready for occupation in another 10 days. That was just the beginning of search. Some people told us there was accommodation available and then retracted and some told us it was not there and then showed us some not so good rooms for exorbitant prices and some right way told that is not available. So we set off to Rainbow Resort. We traveled along the not so motor able roads in the interiors. We thought we lost it .. then again asked for directions and some how we managed to find it after couple times moving back and forth. The first guy out there showed us a nice room which can accommodate 4 people easily. As we were just two we were not too convinced to take that. Soon arrived Mr. Bernard aka Rajesh and offered us to show some dingy rooms for a lesser price. We saw those rooms and found it bright and manageable for a night. Only to realize that there was no fan(which was not a problem due to cool breeze) no tiles on floor and no wash basin either.

Rajesh talked about his past, his farm over a cup of coffee we were having in the vast open space infornt of our rooms. We were told that there will be a night trek and party all night with bonefire and music. It was then I recalled the reviews read on mouthshut.com about the resort. But then it had happend and this was the only guy who could give us accommodation with a "smile", "hospitality" and lots of talking about stuff all around the globe.

We spent the evening with the pretty costly drink Rajesh managed to get and discussing the possible reason for bumble bees getting attracted towards tube light. There was no conclusion to discussion with too many possibilities coming out. There was also discussion if were right on rushing through the night on our coorg trip. In the night we ate homely food with rasam being truly relished and then we walked to take some clicks of the moon. Disappointed with the cancellation of night trek we slept waiting for the morning trek. The weather was cool in the night and it got colder towards morning.

Next morning some how managed to get up at 5:15 AM, and started off to Swamimalai at 5:45. We reached the place around 6:15 but we were late and the sun was already coming out. We parked vehicle near temple and hired a guide who fell upon us and we were not able to decline.
Though the guide was pretty old, he was much faster than us. Path was clearly visible and through out there was steps. Here and there we stopped for watching the birds. Guide was very enthusiastic about showing us the bee hives("Thena" in Tamil) and digging by bears("Karadi" in Tamil). Though initially he had told us that there were bears, we understood that only after seeing the digging. This discovery made me wonder what will happen if a sloth bear suddenly emerges out of the dense bushes flanking our path! There were plenty of bul buls and we sighted paradise fly catcher too. We were torn between watching the birds , finishing the trek before sun becomes too harsh and then there was the hunger factor. On the way were worried not to see anybody else trekking on the way. After nearly an hours trek we reached the top. On the top there is temple and plateau to to watch the the surroundings. One has to climb to the plateu using the shaky iron ladder. I guess the view would have been much better just after monsoon or as Rajesh said Jan/Dec when there is sesame flower bloom in the fields below the hills.

After spending couple of minutes on the plateau we started climbing down. Half way through we started meeting other trekkers. Though it was not an Olympic race we were rejoiced to know that we were the first to reach the peak that day. Also there was a doubt in the mind if we had really climbed Swami-Malai or some other peak, all that was put to rest by the inflow of the people. When we reached temple where we had parked our vehicle, only thing that was on our mind was breakfast. Based on the suggestion of driver of the tourist vehicle behind us, we went Hotel Hills and were disappointed by the food. We thought we will have coffee at another place and reached Hotel Yelagiri. Yet again we were disappointed know there was no coffee available there.After making couple of STD calls we were back at the resort.

At the resort Rajesh gave us directions to find the guide (Thatha) who will take us around the forest. It was a eucalyptus forest devoid of animals and birds. But it was dense all around with thorny bushes.We had a pleasant walk with almost next to silence under the shades occasionally meeting bunch of children who were collecting dry woods. Only thing that was making noise was our foot steps.
Back from the walk we took bath and some simple homely lunch. Then we were back on the track to Bangalore.

For those planning to visit

To find how to go and what to see check out "Yelagiri on wknd.in"

When to go ?
Though Outlook traveller suggests that its all around the year, I would say its best after the monsoon and till may be Jan. If you are going after Jan plan such that you reach the place in the evening and do all the activities in the next day morning and you can leave before the sun gets hot in the afternoon. There is cool breeze in the evening and it gets colder by the night. We slept without the fan and started feeling cold around morning. Afternoons can be hot during the months Feb to Apr. Post monsoons it is supposed very pleasant climate. Compared to Ooty(1858 m) , Kodaikanal(2089m) and Yercaud(1500 m), Yelagiri is situated 1410 m above sea level.

Stay and Food
Though we were visiting their on off season period, almost everybody turned us down for the accommodation. Then if you see the search the net lot of complaining about accommodation too. There is Hotel Yelagiri, Nigress, Hotel Hills and Sterling Resorts. Most of these also have their own restaurant. It is advisable to book in advance. When were searching for stay, some initially said rooms available then backtracked or some said no and then showed us pricey options which not worth that much money. If you are planning a early morning trek to Swami-Malai, ONila might be the closest. Then there was Rythms supposed to open in couple of weeks, offers a lake view. There are also home stay options, if you inquire at the shops or STD booths you can easily find one.
We stayed at Rainbow Resort in a room with limited facilities surrounded by forest and enjoyed the stay thanks to a walk through woods in the morning (The resort also also provides rooms with more facilities). The food served though simple was much better than we tasted else where in Yelagiri. We always had Rajesh to talk about this and that and always smiling at your help resort staff.
Outlook Traveller recommends Hotel Diana at Hotel Hills as the best option for food, but we did not like the breakfast and it was not worth the price as well. The food at Hotel Yelagiri was better but there was no coffee/tea served on that day. To sum it up be prepared for food or stay not matching your expectations if you are not lucky.

Yelagiri