Coorg - Jan 2012

This trip to Coorg was planned just about a week in advance. One day while looking for tickets in cleartrip i look at the offer they had about 30% instant cash back on hotels, we immediately decided to go ahead and visit Coorg.

Coorg or Kodagu is called as the Scotland of India. It is known for its coffee estates and also for its brave warriors. It is located at a distance of ~260kms from Bangalore. We tried to cover as much as possible but then left a few places for next time :).

Day 1:

Bangalore - Nagarhole - Irpu - Orange county - Coorg ~350 kms.

We started from Bangalore around 6:30. The roads until Hunsur are great. From Hunsur we took a diversion to go towards Irpu falls through the Nagarhole national forest. If any one wants directions to Nagarhole, all you have to do is follow the boards to the Kings Sanctuary. The roads from the diversion are just bad.......it completely in tatters. After entering the Car details at the Nagarhole checkpost, we entered the national forest area expecting good roads. Unfortunately luck wasnt on our side, and the roads continued to be bad. We finally reached Irpu around 12:30 in the afternoon. The odometer read 250 kms from home. The entry fee was 20 Rs / person and the Parking free was 10Rs. The trek up to the falls is quite tiring.

Roads thru the Nagarhole national park:



Spotted some deers:


Irpu falls :




The foot of the falls was too crowded since a bunch of college kids had visited around the same time. We spent about half an hour there and then started back down the stairs. One of our friends suggested we go to Orange county for lunch and so we decided to go there. Orange county is about 40 kms from Irpu falls. On most of the roads we couldnt find people to ask for directions but thankgod for the Google maps on our phones which worked perfectly. The road towards Coorg was being relayed and so to some extent (4-5 kms) it was good. After 5 kms though the roads continued to be bad.

We reached Orange county around 3 in the afternoon. We had the buffet lunch there for Rs 799/ person. Though the buffet was great we though it was a little expensive.

Left Orange county around 4 and reached Club Mahindra at around 5:00 (Odo reading ~340 kms) . The plan was to go to Rajas seat in the evening but we were so tired by the time we reached the hotel that we finally decided against it and just lazed around the resort. Dinner was at Coffee Blossoms in Club Mahindra. Club Mahindra was a great resort. The amenities were great. There is a fun zone where we could play TT , carrom etc. They also had a bon fire set up. The temperatures in Coorg during the day were quite high but the nights were cold.

Day 2:

Started the day with the complimentary breakfast provided at the hotel. We had decided to do Bhagamandala , Talacauvery Abbey falls and Rajas seat today.

We left to go to Bhagamandala around 10:15 from the hotel. You have to mainly take the mangalore road from coorg and then all the deviations are properly marked. The roads though are again bad. We reached the temple at about 11. Temple was not crowded so finished the darshan quite early.

Bhaganandeshwara Temple :

After having a cup of coffee we left for Talacauvery. Again the temple wasnt too crowded so finshed the darshan fairly early. We then went up the 373 steps to the top of the hill. The view from here of the Brahmagiri range is awesome and totally worth the climb. Spent about 20 mins on the top and then started back the stairs and rached the hotel back around 1:20. One thing to note is that there is only one petrol station enroute to talacauvery so please make sure you have enough fuel.

Talacauvery:

Views from top of the hill


Had lunch at the resort and rested for a while. We left for Abbey falls around 4:30 since i wanted to catch the sunset at Rajas seat. Abbey falls is 9 kms from the city center. The parking fee is 20Rs. the climb down to the falls is again a little tiring. Fortunately when we were reaching the falls a lot of people were leaving. Reached the base of falls...... Took some pictures and left for Rajas seat.
Abbey Falls:

Rajas seat was a wonderful experience ....... We reached Rajas seat around 5:30. The sunset indeed looks beautiful from here. There was a musical fountain, toy train ride but we did neither and left back to the resort after the sunset. Had a early night since we had to go back to Bangalroe the next day.

Rajas Seat:


Day 3:

Checked out of the hotel around 9:45. The plan was to visit the monastery on the way back. After crossing Kushalnagar we kept looking on the right for the entrance to the monastery. The monastery is 7 kms from this entrance. Parking fee 20Rs. We spent about an hour in the monastery. The route back to Bangalore through Hunsur is fantastic. There is some construction going on, on the ring road at mysore which was the only bad patch.

Monastery:



Roads back to Bangalore:



Started back to Bangalore with only one stop at Cafe Coorg for coffee. Reached outskirts of Bangalore around 2:45. Did the weekly grocery shopping on the way back and parked the car around 4:30 at home. Fortunately we had a heavy breakfast and so we had lunch after we reached home at 4:30. We want to stop at Adigas or Kamat lokaruchi but both we so crowded that we decided we would finish all the snacks we had and just have lunch after we go back home...

Trip to Coorg was fun overall except the roads in Coorg, which were in very bad shape. Hopefully you will all enjoy reading the travelogue. .

Debbie Macomber

I haven been reading a lot of Debbie Macomber books lately. What started me off was surprising the "About the author" part of on of her first books. She was dyslexic as a child and had to struggle with it. She finally saved some money to buy a second hand typewriter and started writing when her kids used to go to sleep. Some how this story was very inspiring which made me read my first Debbie Macomber books, " A good yarn".

This review would be a series review more than a book review.

Blossom street series:

This series deals with mainly one yarn store called the " Good Yarn" on Blossom street and the knitting classes organised here. All the characters you see in this series are very real and you feel connected to them instantly. There is a cancer survivor, a struggling mother , a woman who desperately wants to become a mother , a man who needs to find a new meaning to his life and many many more characters. They all meet in the knitting classes and get to know each other, They learn from each others experiences and form a wonderful friendship. This series is basically a feel good series of books . They make you feel happy and give you hope by the time you are done with them....... :)

After i loved the Blossom street series i decided to read another one of her series, Cedar cove series.

Cedar cove series:

This series is based on the place where she currently lives and almost all the characters are actually based on the people who live in that place. This series again is fun to read. The characters and emotions are portrayed beautifully which again makes these books page-turners. This series has a large number of characters ranging for a teenage girl to a pastor. Every book is based on one of the families and takes us through their lives and issues.

Style of writing:

Debbie's style of writing is very easy to understand and the stories are so well written that it makes you want to turn pages until you reach the end . The language used is also fairly easy to follow.

Debbie Macomber is a must read when you want to read a feel good book. something they makes you believe that life is beautiful however it is. You can make your life what you want it to be. Just like the tag line says ....... Make time for friends..... Make time for Debbie Macomber...... :D

Happy reading.

Kodaikanal - June 2011

Bangalore - Kodaikanal - Bangalore

I always wanted to go to Kodaikanal since a long time and when it was time to go on a vacation next i had almost decided it would be kodai. I then met some people who told me it was a wrong time to goto Kodai since it would be raining and thats when i came here and asked you all here if i should go to Kodai or Coorg. I then read Shishir's travelgue and decided it would be Kodai.

Day 1:

Bangalore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Dindigul - Batlagundu - Kodai
Total : 465 kms.

We started at around 5:50 from our house in Bangalore and hence found most roads to be the empty. The car was tanked up the night before and the air pressure checked. The drive was fantastic and NH7 is a treat to drive on and to the eyes.... . We reached Salem by about 8:30 with justone stop at the A2B in Thoppur. We finally reached Kodai around 1:30 in the afternoon and checked into Villa Retreat. Some pics enroute. So we took around 7 and a half hours to reach Kodai with about 3 breaks in between. The major road blocks were in Salem and Batlagundu. In Salem because of the two wheelers who came out of no where and in batlagundu because of that narrow road in between the town that we had to take to reach the kodai ghat road.

The electronic city fly over.




Beautiful NH7.....



Kodai Ghat road. Sorry for the blurred pics, they were taken while the car was moving.







Rat Tail falls. I was just glad to see some water in the falls. I just didnt want to be dry.



View around Rat tail falls.



Silver casade falls.



View from the hotel



After checking into the hotel, we ordered lunch, which was ok, and kind of just relaxed most of the evening. The hotel room was excelled and the view from the room we were in was awesome. In the late evening, we walked around Kodai lake and the surrounding places so that we knew where the restaraunts etc were.

After having a good dinner at "Tava" we slept off at around 11.

Day 2: Kodaikanal Sight seeing.

We woke up in the morning and decided to do Pillar rock today. When we checked at the reception they told us that there is a 15 km circut road where in we could cover about 7 view points, so we decided to do that.

This road has the following view points.

1. Green valley view.
2. Golf course
3. Pine forest view.
4. Guna caves
5. Pillar rock
6. Moir point.
7. Upper lake view.

In all these view points the best ones were the Pillar rocks , Pine forest view and the Upper lake view. The main disadvantage though was that all these view points are extremely crowded. Infact we avoided Guna caves cause when we reached that point, the crowd was so loud and that was a major put off.

Pillar rocks was interesting mainly cause the view changes every couple of minutes with the fog playing hide and seek. Following are some pictures from the circuit drive.

Golf course view:


Pillar rock:




Upper lake view.


In the afternoon we had a great pizza at Cloud street cafe. They make some amazing brownies too. Infact the brownies were so good that we got some packed. We went back to the hotel for a short afternoon nap .

Kodai lake:

In the evening we went to the lake thinking we might go boating, but when we saw the crowd there we decided to walk around the lake instead. Dinner was at Hilltop Inn which was very average. We came back to the hotel and enjoyed the night time view with some hot tea and called it a night. Tomorrow we go to Berajim lake.

Day 3: Coakers walk and Berajim lake

Next day morning, we decided to go to Coakers walk which was right next to the hotel. We were the first ones there and so it was fun to just walk around. The view was great but then it was the same as we got from the hotel. The entrance fee was 3Rs per person and 10 Rs for the camera.







At around 10:30 the taxi was ready to take us to Berajim lake. We decided to take the taxi for this tour since you need permissions to go into the forest. We started from the hotel at around 10:30. The entrance to the forest is right next to the Moir point. We were told by the hotel guys that at the entrance the forest guard would trake Rs.50 as the cleaning charges and that we need to pay that there. I am very sure that cleaning charges go into the guards pocket. So we paid the fifty bucks and went in.

The first point was the silent valley view point. We could hardly see anything from here as it was all covered it fog. The view point is also securely barricaded since apparently people have tried to commit suicide from here.

The second point was the Upper berajim lake view point. When we reached the view point it was already crowded. People were pushing each other just to get a good view. We waited until the crowd left to go up the view point.

Lake view:


The third view point was the Caps valley view point. This view point was also completely fogged out and so i didnt feel the need to walk completely inside. I just took a few pictures and left. This worked out to our advantage since we kind of left the crowd behind.

Caps valley view:


The next point was called " madi kettinsole" in tamil. Please correct me if i am wrong. The drive told us that this means that people who get lost in this area of the forest get disoriented and hence loose their minds.


The last point was the Berajim lake. The lake was very serene and calm. People apparently have picnics here which was visible thanks to the trash around, but we decided to leave early.

We reached the hotel by about 1:30 and went to have to lunch at Tibetian Brothers. Apprently every sunday there is a sunday market and so PT road was jam packed. Cards arent allowed entry and so we had to park a little further away. We went to cloud street cafe and packed some brownies to get them back to Bangalore.

In the evening, we just walked around the lake again, bought chocolates, had dinner at "Tava" again and came back to the hotel and slept off.

Day 4:

Drive back to Bangalore. Followed the same route back to Bangalore. Villa retreat was a pleasure to stay in . As a gift they gave us a picture of us in the hotel garden, which was a really nice gesture. We started at around 8:50 and reached the outskirts of Bangalore around 3:50. Unfortunately the traffic was bad and so got home around 5.

Overall, Kodai was a beautiful place to go to. The roads were a treat to drive on and the car performed fantastically well. Major put off though was that at every nook and corner there are these touts who keep coming and asking Sir room chahiye......

3 Book reviews together

Didnt have a lot of time over the last couple of weeks to write the reviews..... so i am combining the reviews of 3 books together on this one post......

1. Engaging the Enemy by Nora Roberts:

Its actually two small novels combined into one. Both the stories are such wherein both the characters hate each other in the beginning and then fall in love ultimately.

Somehow i couldnt connect to the characters in both the short stories. It was too much of romance which is not necessarily seen in Nora Roberts books.... So wont recommend this book.

2. The first love cookie club by Lori Wilde:

This is the story of a Sarah who believed that “On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny.” until she was 15 and ran in the church to stop her destiny " Travis walker" from getting married. Now she is 24, and is a famous children's author and is popularly known as Sadie cool.

The story starts when Sarah gets a letter from a fan who is dying and her wish is to to meet her. Sarah decides to meet her, but meeting her means going to the same place that incident had happened 9 years ago , meeting the people who would recognize her... She was prepared for all of this....When she reaches there she realizes she wasn't ready for one thing....... the little girls father was Travis walker..... Her soul mate.... Her destiny....

Lori Wilde writing is fairly basic and so it makes a fun read. The book depicts the father daughter relationship beautifully and make you really feel for those characters. Overall a nice read but does feel too idealistic in the end

3. Sanctuary by Nora Roberts:

This time Nora Roberts does a fantastic job writing this thriller.

Jo Ellen Hathaway is a twenty-seven year old photographer with a growing national reputation. She left her family home, Sanctuary, at the age of eighteen to make her way in the world. She left behind a family which had never recovered from the mother's desertion twenty years earlier. Her father Sam; her brother, Brian, and her sister, Alexa were all, as was Jo Ellen, devastated by Anabelle's abandonment. Jo Ellen, who looks just like her mother, has found it particularly difficult to adjust to the sense of betrayal she feels.

She is being stalked and she is scared. One day she gets a picture of her mother's body and has a breakdown. She decides to run back to Sanctuary, her so called home.

The book is basically about how the relationships develop between the siblings, how having a loving family helps and how Jo ellen finds love in Sanctuary.

Nora Roberts is back to writing the genre she is best at... Romantic Thrillers. Its makes a fantastic read.

So there you go, 3 book reviews at once.......Hopefully i did do justice to all of them.

Custody for Two -- Karen Rose Smith -- Book Review

Picked up a Mills and Boon after a long long long time...... :)..... but it turned out to be a decent read.

The story is about two characters........ Dylan Malloy and Shaye Bartholomew.

Dylan is a photographer who loves to travel into exotic places like the jungles of Africa to photograph wild animals....

One day he gets a message that his only family... his sister and brother in law are killed in an accident. The only family he has now is his prematurely born nephew, Timmy. The situation is complicated by his sister's will, which gives custody of Timmy to her friend, Shaye. Dylan's wish to be a part of his nephews life makes it very difficult for Shaye. She keeps worrying that Dylan might take Timmy away from her by filing for custody. So now , they have to find a way to trust each other but the bigger problem was that they needed to deal with their budding attraction.

Karen Rose Smith's way of writing is pleasant and is simple and fun to read. Overall, a decent read....doesnt need too much attention so a good travel read i guess....... :)

A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson -- A Review

Just finished reading " A summer fling" by Milly Johnson.

When Christie takes overs as the head of the Bakery department she changes not just the way the department works but also brings about a difference in the people working in the department.

When dynamic, power-dressing Christie blows in like a warm wind to take over their department, five very different women find themselves thrown together at work. But none of them could have predicted the fierce bond of friendship that her leadership would inspire...

Anna, 39, is reeling from the loss of her fiance, who ran off with a much younger woman. Her pride in tatters, these days Anna finds it difficult to leave the house. Her impending 40th birthday also makes her think as if she is turning 60.....So when a handsome, mysterious stranger takes an interest in her, she's not sure whether she can learn to trust again?

Then there's Grace, in her fifties, trapped in a loveless marriage with a man she married because, unable to have children of her own, she fell in love with his motherless brood. Now, that the children have all moved out and have lives of their own Grace has nothing to look forward to other than the family lunch on Sundays and her Job at the bakery. Will she move on ever from this life to have the faith and courage to start a new life.

Dawn, orphaned as a child, engaged to love-rat Calum, is more interested in the security that comes with his tight-knit, boisterous family? As time passes by she realises that she is just stuck in this relationship.......When a sexy, footloose rock singer catches her eye, will Dawn have the courage to follow her heart?

At 28, Raychel is the youngest member of their little gang. And with a loving husband, Ben, and a cosy little nest for two, she would seem to be the happiest. But like that say every one has their secrets.....and her secrets made her unwilling to open up to any one.....

Chirsty, also has some secrets of her own...... she still mourns her husbands death.... Will she be able to move on?

When Christie walks in as their new boss, the girls realize that they all have been going through some tough phases in life and realize that as long as they have each other for support they can overcome these hurdles.None of them though, quite realized how much they needed the sense of fun, laughter, and loyalty that abounds when five women become friends. It's one for all, and all for one!

Overall, it was a good read. The book has some fun moments which make you laugh, some sad moments and some which make you think. Milly johnson's way of writing is fantastic though , she captures the emotions just right but in some parts you do think that she could have done a little more justice with the words.

Happy Reading. !!!!!