Our weekend at Coorg

It's been a month we've been to Coorg, on 8th August 2013. I am writing it down so that these are never forgotten. It's like we've just been there a few days back. Everything is so easily being recalled. Every moment on the trip was lived and enjoyed. Well we have a few reasons to go back to Coorg, again :-)

We struggled a bit to get inputs and information on the places to visit, in which order, etc... which was one of the other incentive for me to write this. I hope you all find it interesting and useful.

The Journey Begins

The journey to Coorg for us began on 8th of Aug with the start of premier show of Chennai Express at 21.40 hrs at Q Cinemas, Whitefield, Bangalore; along with +Neellohit and +Tamal.

The Cab, which was pre-booked came at 0.45 hrs to drop us at Majestic Railway Station. We had to return to mall again to collect the refreshment deposited at movie entrance. Then we had a cup of tea along with the driver :-)

We reached station at 2.00 hrs which was very much ahead of time. Our train, Cauvery Express was at 4.15 hrs. So we stayed for an hr in Cumsom, had some snacks and then one was talking over phone. Not to mention with whom :p another was listening to music and I was completing my pending office work. It was then when we realized that I left my lapy's charger at home :-(

Tamal and I were strolling on the streets nearby. Finally we hooked up on the train "Cauvery Express" which was late by 30 mins. As all were tired we went to a deep sleep (term coined by Tamal). In the morning, person next to me, on the upper birth, told me to switch off my alarm :-) We all woke up and then suddenly everyone was rushing out. We were wondering as to why people are in a hurry as this was the last stop. Then one of them said that the train will start soon to go back to Bangalore. We all ran out and then took a Rik (Rickshaw) to Mysore bus stand. While we were talking to the driver to get more information, he suddenly accelerated and stopped in front of a bus saying this is the last morning bus to Coorg. We rushed and took the bus but we were not able to digest all these activities happening in a jiffy.

Finally we reached Coorg. Now the next thing we did was finalizing a hotel, had lunch and then we had to plan our day's schedule for site seeing.

Places to Visit: DAY 1

1. Abbey Fall

We hired a Rik and then went to one of the most popular place for visit, Abbey Fall. It's 9 Kms from Coorg. All the 5 spots were next to each other of which starting spot is Abbey Falls.

The breeze and mist from the fall were pleasant and the climate was cold. It felt awesome. As it was mid August, it was drizzling but we were lucky that no heavy rains were encountered.

2. Gaddige (Raja's Tomb)

This was the next place of our visit, between Abbey Fall and Coorg. It had 4-5 tombs. The specialty was greenery and the major area of the Madikeri was visible from this place because of its altitude.

Nice Place to take snaps and the weather was pleasant.

3. Omkareshwara Temple

The next place we visited was Omkareshwara Temple. It's situated within the city. The driver was a bit upset with the time we were taking at each place and he threatened to increase the rate we agreed to.

We told that we'll be back and soon and then pierced into the gates quickly to get it moving.
Temple is good. I went in with Tamal and offered prayers and did parikrama. It's a silent place with sound of Om being played making the ambiance more soothing and pleasant.

4. Fort

On our way to The Fort, the driver was firm that this will be the last spot as were taking more than 30 mins at each place. When we entered Fort, there was nothing much to see. We climbed the stairs and saw whatever maximum possible.

We came down in 5-8 mins and then went to last place to visit for this small package.

5. Raja's Seat (View Point)

The driver told that he'll leave as this place will take time, there's light show at 6.30 pm and the bus stand, close to our hotel, was near by and we could take another Rik to return.

We arrived at Raja's seat, the last place in our list which was included in the package. It started raining after we went int and we had to be under the shade of a tree for 10 mins. It was at a good height. Mountains being visible and then hiding themselves in cloud, along with the mist made our eve. It was very pleasant.

Unfortunately the rains began to create havoc and the light show got cancelled. We were in wet cloths and had no option but to return to hotel. 

We changed, did photo-shoot and relaxed. Only Tamal wanted to go out to see God knows what. We all relaxed and finally went for dinner, well on time. We were tired and had to sleep to recharge our body; our souls were charged though :-)

DAY 2

Next day we went to Kushal Nagar, via bus, for Jungle Safari. As the bridge was damaged in between, so we had to walk a little and then take another bus.

The Cauvery Nisarga Dham, situated on the way to Kushal Nagar, is known for its jungle safari. Due to rainy season, this was not available.

Dear park, paintings, Cauvery river and the sceneries were the highlights of this place. After visiting these, we had lunch at the restaurant.

Then we went to Kushal Nagar. We got a free lift :-) in a car. All three of us were staring at each other as the car started making noise as if the front left tire got punctured. We were afraid, also laughing as it could be our last journey :p.
The person driving was at a speed of 60+ and we were like fainting. After we dropped off from the car we saw that a part above the tyre was making that noise ;-) We were alive.

We sighed, laughed and then hurriedly took an auto to Golden Temple (Tibetan Temple) which was 5 Kms from Kushal Nagar.

Golden temple is a beautiful place to be in. The monastery, the people inside, who were residents, all felt like we were in Tibet (in short, it felt like we were outside India).

We took some snaps inside the temple and in the garden. Some shops were there on the entrance where people were buying some Bengals, Chains, Pendants, craft work, etc...  Opposite to these shops were buildings which appeared to be rooms where the local people resided. We thought we should come and take admission here to be away from the dreadful world :D

Next, we went to Dubare Elephant Camp popularly know as The Dubare Forest.
It's famous for Rafting and Safari. We took a bus from Kushal Nagar to reach this place. Well, the bus dropped us off at the stop from where the forest was 1.6 Kms, as visible in this board.

By the time we reached in, it was 17.15 hrs. The ticket counter for Rafting had closed. The last group of people were standing for their turn. They were lucky enough to make it before the closing time of 17.00 hrs. We were a bit depressed.

Then we saw people seating in boat. It was not boating where we can enjoy and drive. Rather it was group of people taken on the other side of the shore where the Jungle Safari takes place. It felt good and we took the ticket instantly. On reaching the other side, we were told that safari is also closed as the Elephants need rest. It was really frustrating and we felt sad again that we missed another happening thing. When we asked about the timing from the person in charge, he said, it closes at 11 in the morning. Ahhhh.... It was too early and was not possible for us to even imagine that.
We planned to stay in the lodge, available in there in the forest, but we were not having enough stock (money and clothing's). No ATM near by :-(

Well as I mentioned earlier in the post, there are couple of incentives for us to go there again ;-)

On the way back to the bus stop, we got a lift in a loading Rickshaw. We took a bus from there and came back to Kushal Nagar. This was the most adventurous journey I've ever had. We had dinner, at bus stand, after reaching Mysore. From there we took a bus to Bangalore and reached in the morning at 2.30. We had to wait for the bused to start from Majestic.

Finally we reached our home at 4.30 in the morning.

All pics have been added at: Weekend Masti at Coorg.

Please do write your feedback on the blog, your questions, your comments. We definitely have not visited all the places, but we did cover most of them in 1.5 days trip. You can also suggest places which we can visit on our 2nd trip to Coorg.

Thanks +Neellohit and +Tamal for this wonderful trip.