Beautiful Thailand- Krabi Day1

After a week of working hard and partying harder with my colleagues in the Bangkok Office I was ready for a break. I had taken a week off to explore some bits of Thailand.

I was meeting my friends in Krabi, a coast in the southern tip of Thailand. After a night long journey I arrived at Krabi to be greeted by a sleepy, mist covered small town. There were taxi drivers offering rides to the beach destinations near by at exuberant rates (500 Bath). Based on suggestions from a colleague I looked around for a van/tuk tuk that would take me to Aonang Beach at a nominal cost (50 Bath). The ride in the tuk tuk was short and in 30 mins I was in Aonang beach.

Luckily I could check-in to the hotel (Warner's Place/ Andaman Sunset) earlier and after a quick breakfast I was out exploring Aonang. As I walked on the beach I came across a path that seemed to disappear into the hill. As I was meeting my friends much later in the day I decided to walk on. The walk turned out to be rewarding as I was treated to beautiful sights of the beach from the top and I also walked into a private beach that was not as crowded as the main beach. Though I would have loved to spend more time there rain played spoil-sport and after about 15 mins it started to drizzle hard.

To avoid getting drenced I decided to get a Thai massage in one of the many places set up along the beach. It was 1 hour of absolute bliss. By then the rain had stopped and as I walked along I found company called Scuba Addicts, they offered the cheapest session so I booked myself for a scuba diving session next day.

Just as I was done with this I found my friends and joined them for the rest of the trip. Spent rest of the day window bargaining and shopping. Dinner was at a small place called Blue Orchids. And soon after that headed by to the hotel to catch some sleep.

More Pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/aishwarya.belliappa/BangkokTheVacation#

Days of Nostalgia

The month of October bought with it the festival of lights. Though I don’t celebrate Deepavali, I always make it a point to sit on my terrace and watch the firecrackers.

For me fire crackers remind me of Huthari, a harvest festival celebrated back home. As a kid since I didn’t get to burst crackers during Deepavali I would wait for Huthari. Dad would take me and my siblings to the shop give us a budget and let us buy what we wanted. Then it was a wait till 8 pm, that was when we were allowed to burst them. Friends from houses near by would join us and along with crackers one could hear laughter and shrieks of children.

Huthari was also a time to show off ones courage. The one who lit the biggest and the nosiest cracker without flinching was considered the most courageous. I am proud to say that there were few times I got the title

And as we finished our stock of crackers elders would carry oil lamps and head to the fields to bring home the first harvest for the year. This done everybody would wait for payasam made along with the first harvest to be served and then head back to their respective homes.

This year as I sat in a quite corner of the water tank and watched the skies light up it brought back memories of the good old days of fun.

Another weekend another destination - Pavagada Fort

When Krishna mentioned Pavagada all I could think of was the famous Shaneshwara temple. As usual the plan was to meet at Aravind's house and leave from there. Before we started we gobbled hot idlies that Aravind’s mom served and left at 8 am.

As we hit the NICE road our drive turned eventful, we noticed some test cars, we chased the cars for some distance till we got close enough to take some pictures.

As we passed them we kept guessing their make and company. Based on recent news we all decided that this could be the new hatch-back from Ford.

After the initial excitement the drive got boring with bad roads and not many birds spotted.

Just as we neared Madhugiri the sight of the sunflowers against the backdrop of the second largest monolithical rock prompted us to stopped and take pictures.

After this our next stop was Pavagada. Since it was Saturday the town was crowded with devotees. However very few people knew about the fort. Finally with some directions we managed to reach the base of the fort.

The start was through open drainage and filth. As we moved up the path was covered with animal dung. The place though of great significance in history is deteriorating and badly kept.

(Pavagada Fort is located in the northeastern part of Tumkur District in Karnataka. It was built in 1405 by a Vijayanagar chieftain. This hill fort witnessed a historic battle between the English and Tipu Sultan.)

The fort has entrance at each level.

Halfway up there is a Hanuman Temple and a little further there is a water tank. Our assumption was that this might have been used to stored water for the entire fort. Krishna commented that the pattern of the fort was similar to the one at Madhugiri. The fort is also guarded by huge boulders. Finally after 50 mins we were on top of one of the watch towers. This is supposed to be the tower where the king sat (not sure if that is true). The view from here was very pretty. We also noticed that there were buildings on the other side. We decided to explore them. As we walked around we realised that there was nothing much one could infer about their use by walking around. We also chanced upon a flight of stairs and this lead to what looked like rooms. For a change it didn't have the musty smell. Since there was nothing much to do after that we started our descent. It was faster than my expectation and we reached back in about 15 mins.

By now our breakfast was digested and we were ready for lunch. As we hunted for a place to eat we decided to try the one that looked better than the rest. But when the food was served we realized that we had made a mistake. We barely ate anything and quickly left. Our only consolation was that we could stop at Kamat Restaurant on the way back and eat good food.

Finally after losing our way couple of times more and making a stop at Kamat we reached Bangalore at 7 pm. Though not one of my most memorable trips it was definitely worth it.

Gulakamane Lake

When Krishna sent me the write up about this place (which was relatively less) I was sure I had not heard of this place and was eager to explore.

The only direction that we had got was that the lake was close to the Art Of Living Campus. Since it was Ganesh Weekend we decided this was an ideal short trip and we could be back before 10:00 am.

After being misguided once we finally managed to take the right road. One had to go past the Art of Living campus and take a left at the main junction of the next village, after that take the left at Gulakamane village. One can even ask for TK falls and will be guided to this place. (TK Falls is 2 Kms from the Lake)

The whole intention of this trip was to bird watch. When we got there initially except for the beautiful lake, we didn’t see any birds and we were disappointed. But as we walked around the lake we observed folks of muniya, ducks, kites, weaver bird building its nest, white browed bulbul, parakeets, cuckoo, myna, laughing dove, ashley premia, kingfisher, coucal to name a few.

We spent about 2 hours here and then it was time to leave. Though this heaven for bird watchers is close to Bangalore it still remains known to a selected few.

Magnificent Water Falls Dudhsagar, Gokak and Godchinmalaki

It was a long gap after Amedikal Trek and fortunately Dudhsagar happened at the right time.

After waiting in the railway station for 2 hours the train (Vasco) finally arrived at 8:30 pm and we were off to Dudhsagar. This was going to be my first full fledge railway track trek and I was looking forward to it.

The plan initially was to alight at Castel Rock Station and walk towards Dudhsagar. When we were told that the train would stop for 2 minutes at Dudhsagar Station, we decided to take that option to save time.

But as we crossed Castle Rock the view turned beautiful, with waterfalls at every turn and green hills everywhere. So when the train stopped at a signal we hopped off it and started walking. We walked through 6 tunnels both long and short and we managed to do this without a single torch. We were later told that it could have been dangerous to walk without torch as the tunnels were sometimes home for snakes. The sights during the walk were beautiful and worth every minute we spent.

After 2 hours (8 kms) of walking we finally arrived at the breath taking Dughsagar Waterfall. It is so beautiful that one can watch forever and still not have enough. Since we were told the train back to Castle Rock was only at 5 pm we decided to walk a little further, here laid the most beautiful tunnel passage. 2 tunnels separated by a small waterfall. The water fell from the openings of the tunnels and the bright sunlight made the water drops sparkle. Since there was no one there we had a chance to experiment with our camera. Another 10 mins of walking we were opposite Dudhsagar waterfalls and it looked lot more majestic from here.

Though reluctant we walked back to Dudhsagar Station to board the only train back to civilization. Luckily the train was going all the way to our next destination Belgum.

The day activities had worn us out so after a delicious dinner we went to bed.

The plan next day was to visit Gokak falls and Godchinmalaki falls. We took a bus to Gokak and from there hired an auto for the day. This was not a good idea as the auto driver wanted to get back in a hurry and kept nagging us through the journey.

We decided to visit Godchinmalaki falls first. This is about 16 Kms from Gokak Falls and 20 Kms from the main Gokak town. We had to walk some distance before we could see the waterfalls. Though the view took our breath away the place was so crowded and dirty that we didn’t feel like spending more than 5 minutes here.

The next destination was Gokak falls. Having seen pictures of the falls before we had high expectation but when we got here, there were more people than water. Just as we were giving up hope we spotted nature at work; a rainbow started to form around the falls and stayed for about 5 minutes. It was truly an amazing sight.We spent some time admiring this and as it disappeared we decided to head back. The rainbow remained the topic of discussion all the way back.

This trip had good share of breath taking moments and disappointing ones but at the end it’s definitely one to remember.

A much deserved break – Coonur (Part 2)

We had big plans for today. We were to visit Dolphin’s Nose, I was told that the view from here was superb.

While we waited for our Uncle, we decided to visit Sim’s Park again. And this time Akshaya managed to find the Rudraksh Tree, unfortunately we didn’t find any seeds.

Just as we finished walking around Uncle called to say he was ready to take us to Dolphin's Nose.

The drive through tea estates and forest was beautiful. But as we near the actual destination all there was to see was mist. We waited a while, drank some tea but the situation was still the same, finally decided to head back home.

On the journey back we discussed the type of tea, tea-flowers etc.

Another delicious lunch and we were ready to explore again. Considering our interest in tea cultivation Uncle decided to take us to his Estate. The Famous Catherine Waterfalls is situated amidst the plantation. The ride turned out to be an exciting one. Not only did we get treated to beautiful scenery, we also spotted a herd of Bison amidst tea plantation. As I watched them I felt that this was their way of reclaiming the forest that men keep encroaching.

By the time we returned it was dinner time. The plan was to go to Wellington Club. Wellington is the place where army officers are sent for education so that they can be eligible for promotions. The club looked like an old British Bungalow. This place also had a collection of old pictures, guns and stuffed animals. Once can easily spend 2 hours looking around. Though the food was not so great, the visit was worth it.

Since we had to leave early next day when we got back we quickly packed and went to bed.

Journey back was another adventure. The drive in the ghat section was beautiful and I kept cursing myself for not driving down. Due to heavy rains some bridges were submerged. The bus had to go through villages and bad roads to reach Mysore. From there it was a smooth drive on the highway. It also meant a end to a lovely weekend.

A much deserved break – Coonur

Coonur has been on my to-do list for 16 years now. My Uncle and Aunt stay there and the last time I visited them was 16 years back. Ever since they have been inviting me over and some how the trip never happened till 19th Jul 2009.

It was an impromptu trip. Decided last minute, called and confirmed with my aunt, booked tickets and I was off. My sisters were coming with me so I expected to have a good time. While Ashraya was travelling with me, Akshaya would join us in Ooty a little later

Though we had heard about roads being blocked due to heavy rains, our journey was uneventful till Ooty. About 8 kms from Coonur a fallen tree lead to the road being blocked for an hour. Eventually we reached Coonur by 8:30 am.

We were greeted with sumptuous breakfast of Appam, Stew, Egg Bhurji and Toast. We quickly polished off most things on the table. We then decided to rest for a while. Restless souls that we are, within 30 mins the urge to do something started to nag us. We decided to explore Sims Park. This turned out to be a wise decision. The park has some exotic trees, botanical names of which I can’t pronounce. We also spotted lots of birds that I had not seen before. The main attraction for us was the Rudraksh Tree; we searched the whole park for it and but couldn't find it. Finally by lunch time we gave up and headed back.
Lunch again was delicious spread. Must say my aunt is a terrific cook. The plan after that was to drive to Ooty to pick Akshaya up. Since we arrived early we decided to explore the Wax Museum that a friend of mine Akshata had mentioned. All I can say is that it’s a good attempt. Next stop was the Thread Garden opposite the Ooty Lake. I was amazed how they could make it look so real and that too by just using thread, very impressive.

Once we picked Akshaya up we shopped for some Ooty chocolates at King Star (Oldies in the business) and headed back.

The dinner was another memorable experience. We went to a place called Blue Hills, the signature dish here is Wellington Parota (a must try). Having stuffed our selves here decided we had done enough for the day so headed home for some good night’s sleep.

Day 2 – to be continued…