After a long time...back to blogging. I had a happy landing, back in India this month. While I was in Canada, I realized how beautiful the places are in and around my own home land. I was eager to make few trips once I landed. So as planned, our first trip was to Goa, to give it a bang of opening. Unfortunately, two days before our travel I read in some news papers that the Goan beaches are under threat after recent Mumbai developments. Unable to convince our 'home' ministry, we decided to cancel the trip to Goa and make other plans. We decided to go Kodachadri, a beautiful hill station near Kollur in the Western Ghats region of Karnataka.
Day2: Morning we woke up at 3:00AM. The Jeep was already there to take us to Kodachadri. We started by 4:45AM. We wanted catch the sunrise at the top of Kodachadri hills. I sat alone in the front next to driver. A and U were sitting behind me along with Timma. Initial journey was ok after some half an hour....was the real experience...man!!!! It was unbelievable. There is no road to Kodachadri...it was full of big stones and rocks. No one on the earth except these experienced drivers plus their jeep can drive to Kodachadri. My heart skipped beating 2-3 times in some of the turnings! At some turnings, the driver had to stop, go back and then made the turn, they were such sharp turns even the jeeps can't cut. 
We were on the top by 5:30AM. We had to walk about a kilometer to reach a nice point to watch the sunrise. We were walking behind Timma, who was walking effortlessly saying he grew up in these region and these things are no challenge to them. We were there at the peak exactly 10 mins before sunrise. It was just amazing. No clouds. A beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. The Kodachadri peak is very very high. We later walked to Sri Shankaracharya temple. But didn't wanted to go to sarvagna theertha which was 4 more kilometers up and down the hills. We visited the Moola Mookambika temple installed by SriShankaracharya. My heart started beating higher, thinking of our drive down the hill. It was same experience again. I felt my feet almost touching the ground in some turnings; the jeep was inclined so much. The driver was excited to show his skills and started driving at a very high speed once we reached the plane ground near Nittur. We almost had our stomach in the mouth! This trip took Rs.400 each and was an unbelievably adventures experience. We returned to resort. Had some nice Kotte Kadubu. It is a kind of Idly wrapped with some specials leaves like Jackfruit leaf, Chakke or even Banana leaf.
It was time to say goodbye. We had a royal treatment in the resort which we will never forget. We started by 12:00Pm and reached Mysore by 9:00PM with few hours break in Theerthahalli for lunch.
Overall road was 95% good. Cost incurred was around Rs.2500 per person with a mileage of 14km/lit from my Car. The Bangalore-Nittur-Mysore journey was totally 880Km. It was one of the unforgettable trip for me.
Day 1: We started from Bangalore around 7:00 PM on a Wednesday night. We wanted to avoid the weekend rush, so decided to go in the mid of the week. Me and my two friends, Mr.A and Mr.U drove to Hassan in my car. We stopped for a delicious dinner at a road side Dhaba 9km behind Hassan. The road was ok, not so suitable for a night drive as it is a two lane road and overtaking was a headache with some eye piercing high beam headlight from some ill mannered people on the road. We reached Hassan by 1:00 AM in the night after a two hours stop at the Dhaba. We wanted to have some sleep in a local Hassan lodge before we start in the morning. We started towards Chikmagalur by 3:00 AM in the morning, so could get only 2 hours of sleep. To reach Chikmagalur, we have to go via Belur. Hassan Belur road is superb. As it was very early in the morning, the road was full of fog. We could hardly see anything beyond 10 meters. The yellow line painted all along the left side of the road was only our best guide for the turns.
We drove towards BaleHonnur after Chikmagalur, the road was bit bumpy for a 8-10km stretch near BaleHonnur. The “Bhadra Stop" coffee shop was not yet open so we postponed our coffee stop till Jaipura. It is small place in the mid of coffee plantation and small mountains. We finished our morning 'karmas' in the Jaipura. It had some nice facilities, which I never expected. We had two options to reach Kodachadri from Jaipura, (1) Driving to Koppa-Theerthahalli-Kodachari OR (2) Driving to Srigeri-Agumbe-Threrthahalli-Kodachardri. Te second route would incur extra 80km of journey. But I had never seen Agumbe, so we decided to take the Sringeri route. We reached Sringeri, had breakfast at one of the 'mess' near the temple. Made a visit to temple. We were really delighted after a beautiful darshanam of Shri Sharade. It was a divine experience. Later on the streets of Srigenri, we bought some Jackfruit Papad etc.. Started towards Agumbe ghat. Agumbe was very disappointing for me as we went there at a wrong time. Usually people go there to see the sunset. We didn't have that luxury to wait till sunset.
At about noon we started towards Theerthahalli- Nagara (a stretch of horrible road, 8km took one hour). Then we reached Nittur. We had made a booking in 'Kalyani Nisarga Dhama' which is couple of kilometers away from Nittur in a quite and calm place. One of the NisargaDhama person guided us to the place from Nittur. We reached their about by 3:00 PM. The Owner of the cottage, Mr. Manjanna, is a very nice person. Not at all commercial minded. He is a nature lover and this resort is one of his efforts to conserve and spread the specialty of Malenad flora and fauna. It is a 20-25 acres of area, with absolute peace. There were about 8 hut type cottages build with bamboo. The dining system was amazing. After taking a bathe, we had a very good Malenad side meal. By evening we went to kayaking on the back waters which was few minutes of walk from the resort. A very nice person 'Timma' who works in the resort, accompanied us. We did some kayaking till the sunset. It was cool, peaceful and a beautiful experience. We returned to resort spent late night outside with campfire in front of the resort.
We drove towards BaleHonnur after Chikmagalur, the road was bit bumpy for a 8-10km stretch near BaleHonnur. The “Bhadra Stop" coffee shop was not yet open so we postponed our coffee stop till Jaipura. It is small place in the mid of coffee plantation and small mountains. We finished our morning 'karmas' in the Jaipura. It had some nice facilities, which I never expected. We had two options to reach Kodachadri from Jaipura, (1) Driving to Koppa-Theerthahalli-Kodachari OR (2) Driving to Srigeri-Agumbe-Threrthahalli-Kodachardri. Te second route would incur extra 80km of journey. But I had never seen Agumbe, so we decided to take the Sringeri route. We reached Sringeri, had breakfast at one of the 'mess' near the temple. Made a visit to temple. We were really delighted after a beautiful darshanam of Shri Sharade. It was a divine experience. Later on the streets of Srigenri, we bought some Jackfruit Papad etc.. Started towards Agumbe ghat. Agumbe was very disappointing for me as we went there at a wrong time. Usually people go there to see the sunset. We didn't have that luxury to wait till sunset.
At about noon we started towards Theerthahalli- Nagara (a stretch of horrible road, 8km took one hour). Then we reached Nittur. We had made a booking in 'Kalyani Nisarga Dhama' which is couple of kilometers away from Nittur in a quite and calm place. One of the NisargaDhama person guided us to the place from Nittur. We reached their about by 3:00 PM. The Owner of the cottage, Mr. Manjanna, is a very nice person. Not at all commercial minded. He is a nature lover and this resort is one of his efforts to conserve and spread the specialty of Malenad flora and fauna. It is a 20-25 acres of area, with absolute peace. There were about 8 hut type cottages build with bamboo. The dining system was amazing. After taking a bathe, we had a very good Malenad side meal. By evening we went to kayaking on the back waters which was few minutes of walk from the resort. A very nice person 'Timma' who works in the resort, accompanied us. We did some kayaking till the sunset. It was cool, peaceful and a beautiful experience. We returned to resort spent late night outside with campfire in front of the resort.
Day2: Morning we woke up at 3:00AM. The Jeep was already there to take us to Kodachadri. We started by 4:45AM. We wanted catch the sunrise at the top of Kodachadri hills. I sat alone in the front next to driver. A and U were sitting behind me along with Timma. Initial journey was ok after some half an hour....was the real experience...man!!!! It was unbelievable. There is no road to Kodachadri...it was full of big stones and rocks. No one on the earth except these experienced drivers plus their jeep can drive to Kodachadri. My heart skipped beating 2-3 times in some of the turnings! At some turnings, the driver had to stop, go back and then made the turn, they were such sharp turns even the jeeps can't cut.
We were on the top by 5:30AM. We had to walk about a kilometer to reach a nice point to watch the sunrise. We were walking behind Timma, who was walking effortlessly saying he grew up in these region and these things are no challenge to them. We were there at the peak exactly 10 mins before sunrise. It was just amazing. No clouds. A beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. The Kodachadri peak is very very high. We later walked to Sri Shankaracharya temple. But didn't wanted to go to sarvagna theertha which was 4 more kilometers up and down the hills. We visited the Moola Mookambika temple installed by SriShankaracharya. My heart started beating higher, thinking of our drive down the hill. It was same experience again. I felt my feet almost touching the ground in some turnings; the jeep was inclined so much. The driver was excited to show his skills and started driving at a very high speed once we reached the plane ground near Nittur. We almost had our stomach in the mouth! This trip took Rs.400 each and was an unbelievably adventures experience. We returned to resort. Had some nice Kotte Kadubu. It is a kind of Idly wrapped with some specials leaves like Jackfruit leaf, Chakke or even Banana leaf.
It was time to say goodbye. We had a royal treatment in the resort which we will never forget. We started by 12:00Pm and reached Mysore by 9:00PM with few hours break in Theerthahalli for lunch.
Overall road was 95% good. Cost incurred was around Rs.2500 per person with a mileage of 14km/lit from my Car. The Bangalore-Nittur-Mysore journey was totally 880Km. It was one of the unforgettable trip for me.
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