BEAR SHOLA FALLS - KODAIKANAL

We all started early in the morning towards "Bear Shola Falls", which was a place holder in our planned list of places to visit. They used to say that in early days bears used to inhabit the area and came to drink water here. Hence the name Bear Shola falls. Initially we thought like we need to spend time in travelling to reach falls. But with in 15 minutes ride from the cottage(where we stayed), we are almost

there. From that spot we need to take walk to reach the falls, since its not possible for vehicles to go near the falls. At that early hours it was still quiet and the trail to the falls was deserted. Surrounded by lush greenary and rugged landscapes, the walking path is a sight to behold! The fresh, soft air and calmness of the surrounding is indeed a treat while walking towards the falls. For sure the first glance of the falls takes your breath away and mesmerizes you totally. I had a nice few minutes sitting by the falls with all my friends and thinking about how lucky we are to be on earth and had so many nice places to explore. Most of us had a walk and explored the surroundings of the falls. It is ideal to visit the Bear Shola Falls during rainy season to enjoy the beauty of the abundant misty waterfalls in its fullness. At the end of it all you definitely cherish the moments you spend out there.

You can have a look at my write up on KODAI LAKE, Moon Light Walk and total KODAIKANAL.

KODAI LAKE - A RELAXABLE PLACE

CREW: Sudhir, Paddu, Venkat, Ravi, Geeta, Pruthvi, Swetha, Kranthi & Me.

Sometimes it is so refreshing to get out of the hustle bustle of city life and relax yourself. As part of this we planned a trip to KODAIKANAL - A NATURE LOVER'S PARADISE. There may be many place holders in your list of spots to watch in Kodaikanal, but the most rewarding one is KODAI LAKE. This lake is in the middle of the town with around 5km circumference and is a quieter portion away for the hotels area which will provide you boat peddling, horse riding and the best one - cycling(it will be more exciting if it is with your best pals). Lake will be surrounded by vast private properties(kind of estates) and some pretty good houses.

Lake is fringed by bunch of eucalyptus trees. It will be very refreshing to do fun cycling with your buddies, while breathing the fragrance drifting from eucalyptus trees, hearing the sounds of colorful birds and enjoy the taste of some stuff like pear, peaches, corn etc. It will be thrilling to have a chacobar/Ice cream in that chill whether and peddling a boat at the snail's pace around the lake. Whatever may be the season, near this lake, I will assure you that it will be relaxing and quaint, peddling the boat, eating chocolate/ice cream, admiring the lake view, a well worth stroll and cycling with your pals. You can enjoy the beauty and serenity of Kodaikanal and surroundings in my next write up KODAIKANAL - A NATURE LOVER'S PARADISE.

Friends...Hope we all had a good time in Kodaikanal. I really miss you guys and the rocking trips like that. Stay tuned for our entire trip write up KODAIKANAL - A NATURE LOVER'S PARADISE.

KODAIKANAL - A NATURE LOVER'S PARADISE

Starting from : Chennai

Destination : Kodaikanal

Crew : Sudhir, Paddu, Venkat, Ravi, Kranthi, Geeta, Pruthvi, Swetha & myself

A gulp of fresh air has become rarity in city life and we are desperate to have a break from our work pressure. So started to search for a picturesque and perfect holiday destination. After chasing with lot of options, KODAIKANAL was chosen as the place to go and unwind ourselves. After getting down in Kodai road station, we had a good three hour drive up the hill but the breath taking views make it all worth while. After finishing our check in formalities with TTDC(TamilNadu Tourism Development Corporation), we rushed towards our cottages for fresh up. These cottages are pretty good and most economical ones. After having the break fast we started exploring the place, with everyone in their best spirits.

KODAI LAKE

CHETTIAR PARK

KURINJI ANDAVAR TEMPLE

DOLPHIN NOSE

COAKERS WALK

BEAR SHOLA FALLS

GET TOGETHER - A TRIP TO HOGENEKKAL FALLS

Starting from : Bangalore

Destination : Hogenekkal Waterfalls

Crew : Graduation friends

As getting nearer, every one's attention will be dragged by the roaring sound of Cauvery/Kaveri river and surprised to see plenty of herbal vegetation. WELCOME TO THE LAND OF SMOKING ROCKS - "HOGENAKKAL WATERFALLS", popularly known an Indian Niagara. It is istuated in Dharmapuri Dist in Tamil Nadu, which is around 150 KM drive from Bangalore.

As get-together party, 2 years after graduation, we planned one day trip to visit this place. Even though we started early in the morning, we reached Hogenekkal by noon, as we halted considerably good amount of time in between for breakfast and permit related stuff at state check post. The first thing which yo will come across after getting down there is CORACLE(small round boat) drivers. You need to act wisely with them; otherwise you will need to pay huge amount for them. This is the main source of income for those guys. Somehow we managed to take 2 coracles(to & fro)...of course we paid a lot :-)

One way coracle drive will be happen in 2 stretches. First one will be till waterfalls, ther we need to get down and walk tillwe cross the falls. Second stretch will start from here to a small island nearby in kaveri river. Here you will get chance to play/bath in water which supposed to having some curative nature, as the river flows thru the dense forest consists of herbal plants. Apart from this you can see spa like environment with few people taking body massage. We enjoyed a lot by playing in water. Need to be careful while playing as the force of the water will be really high, of course it depends on the season as well. Everyone got exhausted with their energy and this was the time we got the delicious meal( since we were literally hungry), popularly called as "Meen Kolumbu", gravy kind of thing prepared with fish. After enjoying the meal at sunshine, we all started back to Bangalore and reached almost late night.

Some other attractions of this place are having history of film making, kids diving into water from around 30 meters height(Just like hero introduction seen in RAVAN....hope some part of this movie shooted there) etc., Overall this trip leaves memorable moments, which we can remember throughout our lives.

JOYFUL RIDE TO NANDI HILLS, LEPAKSHI & GHATI SUBRAMANYA - NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS 2010

Nandhi-Lepakshi

http://picasaweb.google.com/lokeshnetwork/NandhiLepakshi?feat=directlink

Start Place: Bangalore

Destination: Nandhi hills, Lepakshi, Ghati Subramanya

Date: 1st Jan, 2010

Crew: Praneeth, Sujay, Laxmi, Saravanan, Nagendra, Kaushik, Praveen & myself Travel Mode: 2 Maruthi WagonRs

The faces of each and every traveller who came there glowed along with the rising sun and their eyes sparkled with the quiet appreciation that comes from knowing that they had witnessed something truly special. WELCOME TO THE LAND OF PURELY MAGICAL SUNSHINE - NANDHI HILLS. It is a place to visit atleast once in a life time.

Eventhough we started one hour late than our planned schedule, we reached top of the nandhi hills before sunrise. On the way we came accross the guys who are deeply involved in new year celebrations. We all had tea before the ghat section starts. After taking the entry/parking tickets we all rushed towards the view point.

After spending some good time roaming around & playing with cameras, we all started towards chikbakkapur. We had our breakfast in Shanthi Sagar and then started our journey on NH-7(Even an amateur driver can fancy his chances on these roads. Thanks to our Joy Riders ;-)) towards our next destination "LEPAKSHI".

No words to explain the architectural beauty of Lepakshi's veerabhadra temple. Some where or around in the temple you can find idols of most of the Hindu gods. The paintings on the ceiling of the temple, unfinished Kalyana mantapam(marriage hall), foot print of Sita Devi, idols explaining the situation in Indra loka, blood marks of Virupaksha's eyes, hanging pillar and designs on the pillars and many more will tell the beauty of monuments. The main attarction of lepakshi is statue of the Nandhi which is biggest one in India and it will be there at good 1 KM distance from the temple. If you are planning to visit Lepakshi, it is advisable to visit Nandhi Statue first and then the temple.

Form there we went hindupur where we had good and delecious lunch and then moved towards Ghati Subrahmanya temple, where you can see Lord Subramanya from one side and Lord Narasimha from the other side of the same idol.

Overall we had a good ride of around 350 KM covering all the 3 places as part of new year celebrations.

TRIP TO BEKAL FORT

Start: Chennai
Destination: Kanhangad, Kasorgod Dt, Kerala (God’s own country)
Dates: 14th March – 16th March 2007
Travelers: Nitish, Satish, saravanan, Vijay, Senthil, Muthuraman, Balaji, Nagendra & myself

Travel Mode: Train(till Kanhangad) & Innova(for roaming around)

After hectic Office hours we all started to Central Station for the most awaited trip to BEKAL(planned almost 2 months ahead). We had dinner in Saravana Bhavan(Chennai Central) and got into Mangalore Mail. This was the time where we came to know about some of the good chess players among us..."Muthuraman", Nitish & Nagendra. Every other team member know why I highlighted Muthuraman ;-).......As time passes, slowly one by one adjusted to their berths and slept.

Day 1(14th March):-

I waked up at around 8 AM when the train reached Calicut(Kozhikod). By that time every one waked up. We had our bf in the train itselfonly. We came accross and enjoyed the typical kerala greenary on that misty morning before we got down in Kanhangad Station. We took autos to "HOTEL BEKAL INTERNATIONAL" which was booked earlier. Initially at the time of booking we was thinking about the ambience of the hotel, since it was only hotel which we got while surfing thru internet. But the ambience was realy good. We all occupied the rooms. After fresh up, we all had lunch(which was OK OK kind of) there only. By that time the Innova was ready and we started to "BEKAL FORT". Hope that driver is fan of Schumi...:-). Reached there in 15 minutes. Took the entry tickets and entered the fort.

The place was really good and worth seeing atleast once in a life time. We all had fun roaming here and there inside the fort. The sight of the Sea/beach from the fort was quiet impressive. After spending nearly 2 hours in fort we started towards the nearby park(it will be there in beach itself only) by taking a walk on the shore from fort. We had a nice chat among us by the time we reached the park. Then we started playing in the beach. I hope west side beachs will be really good when compared to east. Ofcourse, after seeing the Marina beach every other's opinion will be same ;-)
After exhausting our energy by playing in the beach, we reached back to hotel. Everyone went for fresh up, meanwhile some of us enquired with receptionist/driver about our next day's plan. We all set for the next day's plan. Most of the members got ready within short time, sice it was liquor time accoring to the plan :-)
We all had nice dinner and went to bed quickly since every one is tired.

Day 2(15th March):-

As per plan we started to Ranipuram Hill Station(the most challenging part of our trip) at 8 AM. We had our bf on the way and took 2 water bottles per person.We came to know that nothing will be available in Ranipuram. Hence we take some chat stuff also. After 2 hours of drive via ghat section, finally we reached the place from where we need to start our trek. I think three of us suffered with vomitting sensation, due to long schumi ghat drive :-). We really wondered to see only 2 houses over there. We started our trek with the help of the guide, a high school going Kid :-) Half the way we trekked thru the dense forest of huge trees and big bushes. Some of the guys exhausted within this half way itself. If it is needed to be specific, the guy was none other than Satish. After that we really thrilled to see the green lush of grass with out having a single tree. We took rest for nearly 20 minutes just to regain the energy. Then again we started towards the peak. Finally we reached the peak, every one felt like conquered some kingdom after having a ferocious war. Hardly no one was there when we reached top. For our excitement, when we was taking rest, we got nice fellow trekkers.....2 buses full of college girls 8-) This was the boost up part for some of our....no..no..no...most of our team members. It really kicked the stamina level of one person in our team and made him to reach down the hill first among us along with other girls. Hope by this time the other members came to know abt whom I am talking ;-)

Beware of leeches while trekking. Dont forget to carry some natural salt.

Then we started around 4 PM from Ranipuram towards our next destination in our plan......"OVER NIGHT CRUISE(Boat House)". We reached the place by 5:30 PM and entered the cruise which was booked earlier. Its really good experience to stay overnight in the boat in such a pleasent atmosphere. We had our dinner and as ususal liquor stuff in the boat itself only. After having a small chat every one went and occupied their beds, thinking about the sunrise the next day morning.

Day 3(16th March):-
Slowly sun came out of the misty clouds waking us up. Enjoying the sunrise, with the cool breeze of that fog filled day, we decided to have some fun time in that water. Few of us know swimming, but no one initially dared to dive. Since we have the life jackets in the boat, I took the initiative of getting into the water first. Slowly most of the team joined. Later we had a good shower in the boat itself and that’s the end time for our cruise.
We got into the Innova which was waiting for us and started towards our next destination in our schedule “MATHUR GANAPATHI TEMPLE”. On the way, Nitish got down near the hotel and rest of the team started. We had a drive of almost one and half hours to reach there. After having good darshan we enjoyed the pleasant environment of typical kerala style temple. On the way back, we had kerala style lunch and good snaps on the beach. We reached hotel, packed everything and checked out at around 4PM. We got into Chennai Mail at 5PM and reached Chennai the next day morning.

Overall we covered the entire district of Kasargod which leaves long lasting memorable moments and good snaps as well :-)

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