Nov 2008 | November trip to Madikeri. A long drive and actually was looking out for a break from concrete jungle again. The drive was surprisingly pleasant again because of good road from Mysuru all the way to Bylakuppe. Roads seem to be lot better than i had anticipated, although we still need to make it complete and consistent. Notably we drove to Madikeri without booking any resorts on the weekend and were lucky to have found a resort good enough to rest comfortably |
| First stop Bylakuppe.We reached there late in the nite. The journey was very good since we had not expected good roads. None the less it was an enjoyable journey. |  |
| We had not booked any resorts prior to our start from Bengaluru. We started at around 300pm and reached Bylakuppe around 700pm. |  |
| We got into this Coorg County Resort some distance after Kaveri Nisargadhama. |  |
| The resort stay was good, considering we had not booked earlier, we had to pay a walk in price of Rs.4000 per nite. |  |
| It was Kerala home style suite we stayed in. The room was good. Cleanliness i would say was tolerable. In general i would say it was a good place to stay considering so many bad accommodations that is rampant in India. |  |
| Our Alto was as fantastic as usual. It provided a very good mileage and is comfortable for a small car. I have driven Hyundai I10 but i found the shock abosorbers in Alto way better than I10, considering the bumpy roads you need to drive through in and outside the city |  |
| This is the view of the main complex inside the Coorg county resort. It is a coffee estate and the estate house is converted into a resort. By the way, we were the only guests for the nite when we visited. We had dinner here. The service was good and nothing to complain about. We now know of a good place to stay in case we need to find a spot around Madikeri. |  |
| From resort we started the next day to TalaCavery, on the way we visited Madikeri. This one is infact a village before Bhagamandala. |  |
| Love the villages in western ghats region, they somehow appear neat when compared to villages in kanakapura and kolar belt. Very dusty in those regions. Would love to do a homestay in one of the very many remote villages. The one posted here is kinda busy though. |  |
| Reached Madikeri early around 1030am. The most talked about place "Raja seat" was all too visible to be ignored. At first we took it as just another park and drove beyond it only to loop down back into the valley. On further enquiring with the locals realized the park was indeed the Raja Seat. There is a good look out here but nothing else, it was more liking checking the todo list item. Spent some time trying to track the movement of vehicles through the curve roads below. |  |
| Tried to capture some nice pictures from the view point. |  |
| Toy train to make a round trip just outside the Raja seat park entrance. Lot of peanut and mandakki selling was going on. Again did not feel good about the hygiene to buy any of those. Did not take the train trip |  |
| Direction board. Lots of places to go to from this point on. It was funny though, i think the distance were all in negative values to suggest you need to go away from the direction i was looking towards the board. What a logic!! |  |
| Heading towards TalaCauvery, to many estates and the likes. Although this belt is green yet it is hard to ignore how man has occupied the hills completely. Not sure if we found any forest region not belonging to a private party or an individual. |  |
| If not the estates then the rice fields. Again it is nice green ..and all...you know but it is occupied by man, nothing left to nature even on the plains and valleys either. This was a good spot with lots of green fields and morning sun brightened the place to its best. |  |
| We reached triveni sangama, bhagamandala, around 30kms from Madikeri. Very nice place, the road to talaCauvery cuts through the stream in this valley region as the river jumps down the hilly region. The water looked shallow when we visited in winters but the following monsoon was heavy, the road was submerged in this region. |  |
| Shopping arcade and the place was festive with some sort of regional rally ending at this point. |  |
| Visited the Kerala style temple neatly done and looks relatively new.Sri Bhagandeshwara temple |  |
| Reached TalaCauvery and hiked up to the top. Usually when cloudy it is very serene. However today was hot day and could not stay on top for long. Lots of steps to climb to reach this place. A good panaromic view when not cloudy. |  |
| Birth place of river Cauvery. Still wonder how it was concluded that this is the place of birth for river Cauvery? I thought there is a saying as to not search for "Nadi or Rishi moola". Maybe i am not very sure about the significance of this place. Completed the archane to goddess and headed back. This place is slowly turning into a tourist spot and i am sure this will be commericialized and will lose its beauty in another couple of years. |  |
| Back to Madikeri and Hebbe falls. This has overlook bridge built in now. The authorities have blocked access to the falls itself. So yet another bummer of a place. This place is now left to the babus and other earthly being who cannot strive to explore nature!!. In the end it was early evening when we started from this place, folded back to bylakuppe and hunsur road, mysore and voila back to another jungle called Bengaluru |  |
