Our trip to coorg/kodagu - Part II

Hi friends,

Here is the continuation of the trip.......

So we were exploring the route in complete dark with the help of a map. At a loong distance on the top of the hill we can see a man waving a torch light. That was the homestay owner who was calling us very often and giving the directions and safety measures. Finally we were just 100 metres away and we need to take a left turn from the road. As it is mountain route we were scared to take a left turn. We took left turn and there was very narrow mud road which was made by dwelling a biiiiig rock. My driver said he cant move any more. Then my husband and brother in law got down to check the path. We were scared if there might be some wild animal. Finally they got down directed the driver to move and we in the car with driver started moving.

                           

With in a minute drive came the beautiful home stay in front of our eyes illuminating with lights. We were sooooo much relieved to see the homestay. The homestay owner Prasad gave a warm welcome and we went into our rooms. The rooms were really awesome completely made of wood and fantastic interiors. The complete floor is made of wood and chairs are there in the corridor to enjoy the fresh air. We had bath with hot water in that cold weather and went for dinner. The dinner was home made and really fantastic.

As its already very late in the night we slept off. At 5.00 AM in the morning I suddenly woke up hearing bird chirping sounds. I opened the curtain and my mouth opened wide by looking at the beautiful greenary around the home stay. I woke up my husband and we both came out. We called my bro' in law n co-sis also. Really I cannot explain the beauty of nature in words. Previous day when we arrived as it was dark we did not realise the beauty around the homestay.

The home stay owner wished us with hot cup of tea and we went down stairs and started exploring the place. As we moved further we saw the complete area behind the homestay is covered with 90 yeaer old coffee plantations. Then the home stay owner accompanied us describing about the forest there, the types of coffee plants, black pepper trees, orange trees...... finally he told us to go through a path. As we moved ahead we saw a beautiful private natural water fall. We ran into the water and the water was soooooo pure. Its the source of drinking water for the people around that place.

We played there for a lot of time and we went back to the rooms. Had bath n and breakfast and then went out for a jungle walk. We moved into the jungle and some how we managed to get back to the homestau. But the worst part is that we all were caught with 5 to 6 small leeches. Here we have mountain trecking also but we did not prefer it. But people who went there and came back were saying that it was an amazing experience.

we enjoyed our complete stay at this place for 2 days. I suggest all the nature lovers to visit this place once. You will fall in love with the place. The homestay owners are also very good people and they helped us in all the ways to make us feel comfortable. Even the home made food was really wonderful here. We explored some of the places which are around our homestay. But its the best place to take complete rest (particularly away from this city life). Here are some more pics of the homestay.

 

You can have a look at the homestay and its rooms in the following URL:
 http://www.palaceestate.co.in/

Cheers,
Jyothi

                                         

Our trip to coorg/kodagu - Part I

Hi,
This week I want to share my beautiful experiences with all of you. Last year we had an hectic schedule for 3 months and during December we thought we want a break from the routine. Finally, my husband came out with a plan of going for a trip. But I said, I want to go to some place where I can have peace of mind and I want to be away from this boisterous surroundings atleast for 2 days.So, I selected Coorg or Kodagu valley which is in Karnataka. My brother in law & co-sister were also interested to join the trip. After 2 days of my survey/browsing/enquiries, I sketched a 4 day trip plan via Bangalore. All the preperations/bookings were done in next 2 days.

The day arrived and we started from Hyderabad and reached Bangalore. From there we hired a taxi to coorg and the taxi would be with us for all the 3 days. We started at 6.30AM from Bangalore in car. We all were so enthusiastic to reach the place and enjoy the nature. But, there were so many places to visit on the way from Bangalore to coorg. Our first place of visit is 'Golden Temple/Monestary' which is near 'Periyapatna'.

This monestary was really beautiful and the temple had lot of wall paintings which reflected some of the buddhist ancient history. There are 3 idols in the main temple which are very huge and made of gold.

Also there is a model of the monestary placed in the temple which is really awesome. By the time we entered the temple it was prayer time and all the monks entered and sat at their places. Every one started chanting some words and some of the monks started playing music with drums and long trumpets.

We started again in the car and our next place of visit is 'Nisargadhama' in Kushalnagar. A forest resort which is really an awesome place. Here there is a hanging bridge which leads to a forest area. We reached a place where we saw 'cauvery' river. The place was really beautiful.

After enjoying at this place we started our journey again as we need to reach the destination before dark.After Kushalnagar we took a left turn from the highway to visit 'Dubare' an elephant forest. We came out of the car and found a lake type cauvery river flowing. We are on one bank of the river and the other side of the bank (which is just few meters away) is the place of elephants home. There are many motor boats and we got into one to reach the other side. It was really an awesome experience touching the water while travelling in the boat. When we reached the other bank of the river we found that elephant are in the forests and they reach the river by exactly 5.30PM everyday to take the bath. Its their daily routine. We heard that at 5.30 PM elephants in large number reach the river. But its oonly 3.30PM and we were only half way through our journey. So we played for some time in cauvery river and started our journey again.

Actually there are two ways to reach the destination. One is via virajpet and one is via Madikeri. Via Madikeri is the shortest and good route but you will be able to see Dubare forests only if you go via Virajpet. The journey via this virajpet is really very worst. By the time we reached Coorg its already 6 PM in the evening and it started getting dark. But unfortunately our Homestay is still 6 to 7 Km from this place.

This route is the path made to reach the top of the hill and it really had hairpin bends. We with a map in our hand started directing the driver showing the path. There is neither atleast one street light nor a human being to show us the way. I scolded myself a 100 times for booking that homestay even after that much of survey. The driver whom we hired told me he would never ever take a chance to come to that place any more in future. Imagine my situation....!!! Though my husband, bro-in-law & my co-sis were trying to calm me down saying there is no fault from my side, I was totally dejected.

You might be thinking... Then how come the trip was wonderful experience......??? This is the point from where our real trip/adventure started...... Keep watching the space to know how we managed to reach the place in complete dark with heart pounding in high frequency............

Cheers,

Jyothi

Yoga

Friends,
Finally I joined in Yoga classes and started doing yoga since a week. Really its a magic.... I can feel the flavour of it. Doing yoga in early morning rejuvenates your mind and body. I never knew that one hour yoga will make you spend so many calories. In gym, I used to run on the tread mill and constantly look at the calorie count to reach that day's count. Used to count the minutes, thinking 'Huh.... how much time to complete 150 cals.. huh!!' But in daily yoga class, I don't understand how quickly the one hour time passes. The extent of tireness is more than the one which I experience in Gym but here in Yoga our mind also does excercises and so we feel fresh for the rest of the day.
My class starts at 6AM in the morning with some stretching excercises. Then we proceed with surya namaskaras which is a wonderful technique to spent your calories and also to make your body flexible. After doing 5 to 10 (depending on your interest) surya namaskaras then lie down on your back and do some abdominal exercises. Then end the yoga with 'Praanayaamam' which is a wonderful breathing technique. This praanayaamam purifies your body with breathing excercises. It is the best solution for obesity, acidity, heart problems, many more...On the 3rd day I was unable to lift my hand also because of the body pains. But continuing the excercises has made my body bit flexible at the end of the week.
In between these comes 'Savaasana' which is a relaxation technique. This relaxation technique has a drastic effect on your mind. This helps in slowing down the thought process. The mind struggles everyday with thousnads of thoughts striking it. This is controlled by the relaxation technique.
Have you ever heard the name Pathanjali Maharshi? I hope you all know that he is the father of yoga. Yoga, the India's ancient techniques were told to the world by Pathanjali Maharshi. In the present time, Baba Ramdev, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Ravi Shankar (AOL) are the people who are preaching the advantages in the Yoga. These people are really doing a wonderful job by educating the people with the ancient techniques to live a healthy life. As all of us know 'Health is wealth' I recommend every one to spend some time in tuning their body to lead a healthy & happy life.

Keep smiling,
Jyothi