Trip: Mysore-Nisarghadham-Coorg(Abbey Falls)-IrupuFall
Welcome to the district of Coorg.
North from Mysore, towards the borders of Kerala is the scenic district of Coorg. Coorg is rapidly developing as a tourist destination. Good roads have been laid. Excellent driving conditions. A few things to keep in mind would be, keep your fuel tank full and keep enough cash till you reach Madikere, the main town in the district.
Approximately 50 kilometers from Mysore, in the village of Bylakuppe, there is Golden Temple. It is a buddhist monastery, maintained by Tibetians. Its an amazing temple which is not very famous.
The deities you see above (from left to right) are King Budha, Lord Budha, and his Guru. The idols are 52 feet tall and are stuffed with holy books inside. All the outer covering is pure gold. Aesthetic paintings adorn all the walls. A place worth a visit. Nice shopping place too ... you may buy some cyrstal chains etc and aesthetic items.
Now going forward ...
Moving a little forward after few kilometers you get to Nisargadhama. This place has resorts which can be prebooked and its kind of a forest stay. You get to trek, sit next to a stream ... its very cool. Check these pictures.
Aren't these pictures excellent? Lovely place. Lets go ahead.
Moving ahead we went to Madikere, the main township in Coorg district. Just before reaching this place are the most famous Abbey Falls. Its a long walk down to the waterfall and finally the security didn't allow us to get into the water; lovely place though.
After the disappointment that we couldn't get in to the water stream, we moved to the town to have a late lunch. This is the place you better refuel your vehicle and yourself too. We have booked a home stay in South Coorg.
Silver Oaks
Central B Estate
Manchally Village & Post, Vai Kutta,
South Coorg
08274 - 244206/244971
9448325906/9945635188
Home stays are a wonderful concept found in Kerala and its border towns in Karnataka. A room with bed and an attached bath costs you Rs.1200 per day. Twice in a day Tea or coffee is free. Lunch and dinner is provided on order at Rs.100. The owners take you around in the estate and help you buy liquor etc. Camp fire is provided upon request. At night its very creepy, darkness all around, not even a single source of light can been seen for very far. Roads are illuminated only by the beams of your car. Trees all around and believe me its really creepy, however its fun.
However the other side of the coin is ...
Lovely coffee estates surround every house there. Every house is surrounded by very large coffee estate. We were told that during rainy days, wild animals like bears etc come near homes and take shelter. A bit scary. Excellent surroundings make it a pleasant stay.
Just few kilometers from the home stay was Irupu falls. Excellent falls. Water falls from 52 feet high and is freezing cold in winters. We drove till the parking point and after which we had to walk up for a kilometer to reach the falls.
Trek all these stairs to reach this amazing view ...
Water was freezing cold, however I managed to get a dip :-) Lovely it was. Post this we left the home stay and started our journey back to Bangalore via the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. Beware of the road, for at least 60 kms is worse than one can imagine. Full tank fuel is important. Drive slow and carefully so that you don't attract the wild.
BIAL: The myths and the facts
The Myths:
So things still need to change, however there is certainly a significant amount of internationalization that has been brought in because of the BIAL and this fact should be appreciated.
- The route to the airport is not good.
- It takes hours to reach the airport
- It is not at all complying with international standards
- The road to airport is good, no doubt about it.
- Taking a cab is a little bit costly however it takes a maximum of one hour thirty minutes by cab.
- Buses are in plenty and are inexpensive however take a little longer to reach
- No Doubt the airport looks excellent from outside.
- The roads, gardens and the parking facilities make it look really great
- The drop off and pick up zones are also very good, except that our fellow Indians still don't maintain the discipline.
- The one thing that is highly pathetic is, you will hardly find any direction boards and no help at all.
- Once you get down from the bus or taxi, you cannot quickly pick up a trolley. Thats really bad.
- You have four departure entrances and its tough to figure out which one to take. Actually you may take any of the four.
- Now you enter a beautiful chaotic world.
- You have self checkin computers like the US.
- There is not even a single taker for it. I am one of the very few.
- Now the fun, it takes all the information from you except baggage.
- So you now have to again stand in the same line and get your baggage checked in. However in other countries, once you e-checkin and get your boarding pass, you would have to go to a different counter where just your luggage is picked up. I mean there are two counters, one for checking and baggage and the other only for baggage.
- Ok after this hassle you go to the first floor for security check and boarding.
- Security check is a chaos. Not because of the security personnel, but because of the Undisciplined Indians.
- Now comes the part where I have to highlight. How many synonyms you may find for the words robbery and atrocity, you may use when you get hungry.
- A plate IDLI (2 pieces) costs Rs. 90
- A plate VADA (2 pieces) costs Rs. 90
- A plate of Pongal costs Rs. 90
- Half litre water costs Rs.20
- Exorbitant prices - No Doubt
- The restrooms are a little bit better compared to the old airport.
- The smallest of the passenger aircraft carries at least 48 passengers.
- The number of seats infront of every gate are hardly 18. check the picture below.
So things still need to change, however there is certainly a significant amount of internationalization that has been brought in because of the BIAL and this fact should be appreciated.My First Experience with Paramount Airways
Being a middle class man, I have always preferred Deccan, till date. It was only a couple of times that I tried other carriers like Indigo and Kingfisher. During my recent trip to visakhapatnam, I again took Deccan. Relatively, AirDeccan the now called Kingfisher-Red, was far far better than the later. I realized that the takeover resulted only in crippling the low cost carrier nothing else.
So this time when I was returning back I took Paramount Airways. I read the ratings all over and found it to be an amazing carrier. The moment I entered the airport till I got down the plane I only regretted, "why I did not choose Paramount all these days?". It was absolutely an amazing experience.
The thing to be expressed in bold is, I bet you will not get the same seating comfort in any of the airlines in India, as in Paramount. No doubt.
So this time when I was returning back I took Paramount Airways. I read the ratings all over and found it to be an amazing carrier. The moment I entered the airport till I got down the plane I only regretted, "why I did not choose Paramount all these days?". It was absolutely an amazing experience.
The thing to be expressed in bold is, I bet you will not get the same seating comfort in any of the airlines in India, as in Paramount. No doubt.
It has two classes, Elite class and the Business class. They do not have economy. The courtesy and respect shown at the airport is amazing. Luggage handling is too good. I would give a 5/5 for the ground handling.They kill you with hospitality. What I exactly mean is this is not the kind of treatment you get on any other carrier for the same class/money. One gets a nice light meal on the trip. The news papers you get onboard are very exhaustive.
So my overall rating for Paramount would be 4.5/5. Its worth trying. And once you try I don't think you would go for anything else.
Kudos to ISRO
Picture Courtesy: www.isro.orgCongrats to all the Indians. A most awaited moment in the history of Indian Space Mission has just begun. Its not far when all the myths are broken and an Indian lands on Moon.
Kudos to ISRO and all its associates.
Visakhapatnam/Vizag - A wonderful Place
Visakhapatnam is certainly the city of Destiny. I thought of writing about it here, but when I went through wikipedia then I dropped the idea. However I shall write on something which wikipedia is not giving on this beautiful city.
An Airline Review
Assumptions:
1. You are an Indian
2. You are flying economy :-)
1. You are an Indian
2. You are flying economy :-)
It happens quite so many times that people get a last minute information that they are flying and the travel desk just sends them a ticket and poor we just take the flight what was provided. However many companies do give us a lot of options and there are many things that need one's attention when booking a flight. Something which I have experienced :-) thus writing
Connectivity:
Yes, this is priority. As most of the times we may miss the connecting flight and fall into serious trouble. Then it becomes important that you have options to fly to your destination rather than just getting stuck in an alien place. When I was traveling on Air France, the flight to Paris landed an hour late which left me only 45 minutes to run and catch my connecting flight to Houston. Which if I miss then there is no flight till next day morning. Imagine what would I have done in Paris airport for another 24 hours???
However I missed connecting flights couple of times when traveling on British Airways, but never had any problem as the number of flights to destinations in US are enormous.
One more thing to check in connectivity is, they should also have tie up with the local airlines at your destination, neither, due to your continuous delay, you will not be able to fly your local flight as most of them do not reschedule or cancel. Example would be OneWorldAlliance where British and American airlines are members. So, if you missed your American airlines domestic because of British, they would certainly take enough care to see that you are on the next best flight available.
Connecting Point:
Whats there about this??? This is the most important one. Let me start with an example. As told earlier, my flight arrived late at Paris. I was in a hurry to catch a bus to go to the other terminal to get onto my flight to Houston. No sign boards, people don't speak English, you ask for help they are rude. After a hassle I get to the next terminal. The lady who has to check my passport and boarding pass and send me in, says "bonjour". I tell her I don't understand French and she still keeps saying the same thing. After a while I had to explain her that I hardly have few minutes for my next flight then she explains that its "good day" in French. Was it necessary???
Also if you see Airports are very confusing, especially Paris, which may get you lost. Travelling via a small airport is far better and happy as your hassles of changing flights are brought down to a bare minimum.
Another thing to check would be if you can really have some decent food at the connecting airport, cos if you have missed your flight you are bound to miss your meal preference too.
Luggage Handling:
I still wonder why I am unable to place it at the first. However realtime troubles start once you land at your destination and you don't get your luggage. Just imagine you are traveling to a freezing place like Salt Lake City and luggage which contains your warm clothing was missing. Horrible is the only word one can use.
So couple of things to consider are
1. Whats the carrier's reputation when it comes to Luggage Handling?
2. If unfortunately your baggage is missed then how quickly and properly can you claim the refund?
British has great reputation - 50% of the time you are bound to lose luggage. However, they compensate you very quickly and also help you personally. What I mean was, I missed my baggage which was having all my warm clothing. The land staff took me to a room where they had unclaimed items like jackets etc and offered me to take one as I was traveling further to a very cold place.
Food they Serve:
This item may be pertinent to either gourmets or Indian Vegetarians. May be even gourmets can adjust while flying but an Indian Vegetarian is the ultimate sufferer when they either order wrongly or miss their preference.
Suggestion guys, no one can match the quality and taste of vegetarian food that is offered on British Airways. However if you missed your flight then your Asian Veg meal is on the other flight and for sure you have to starve.
So common suggestion is, keep a cheese pizza or some apples/fruit or croissants in your bag. Don't forget to carry eatables with you when you fly. Ofcourse you may not be allowed to carry curd rice or pickles :-)
Courtesy of the staff:
I missed my connection once and my Asian veg order went for a toss. However the crew brought me an apple which was part of their meal. How nice ...
Classes they provide and their reviews:
Kindly read reviews about the classes of travel an airline provides. Some give you a better class than economy for a very little difference in price.
Seat comfort:
A few have 8 seats in a row and few have 9. Air France is comforatble. British is Ok. Lufthansa is pathetic. Also, try to find rows in the front as you can embark or disembark faster.
Tip: Take Emergency exit seats if you are not flying for the first time in that route. Emergency exit seats have lot of space in front and you can stretch your legs. However you may not have a good window view.
Ground Handling:
May not be of much significance however its better to know if you can find helpdesks etc quickly and if they can support you anytime for all your problems. This becomes important when you miss your connection. You need to talk to someone.
An Example: I was traveling back home via Chicago - NewYork - London. My flight to NewYork got cancelled due to bad weather. However I already did a e-checkin to my London flight. Now no one knows how to release the seat from that aircraft and then check me in for a London flight from Chicago. Luckily guys took the initiative to pull the information and then also get my luggage re-routed to this flight.
So, these are the few tips which I could provide. Have a safe trip.
Connectivity:
Yes, this is priority. As most of the times we may miss the connecting flight and fall into serious trouble. Then it becomes important that you have options to fly to your destination rather than just getting stuck in an alien place. When I was traveling on Air France, the flight to Paris landed an hour late which left me only 45 minutes to run and catch my connecting flight to Houston. Which if I miss then there is no flight till next day morning. Imagine what would I have done in Paris airport for another 24 hours???
However I missed connecting flights couple of times when traveling on British Airways, but never had any problem as the number of flights to destinations in US are enormous.
One more thing to check in connectivity is, they should also have tie up with the local airlines at your destination, neither, due to your continuous delay, you will not be able to fly your local flight as most of them do not reschedule or cancel. Example would be OneWorldAlliance where British and American airlines are members. So, if you missed your American airlines domestic because of British, they would certainly take enough care to see that you are on the next best flight available.
Connecting Point:
Whats there about this??? This is the most important one. Let me start with an example. As told earlier, my flight arrived late at Paris. I was in a hurry to catch a bus to go to the other terminal to get onto my flight to Houston. No sign boards, people don't speak English, you ask for help they are rude. After a hassle I get to the next terminal. The lady who has to check my passport and boarding pass and send me in, says "bonjour". I tell her I don't understand French and she still keeps saying the same thing. After a while I had to explain her that I hardly have few minutes for my next flight then she explains that its "good day" in French. Was it necessary???
Also if you see Airports are very confusing, especially Paris, which may get you lost. Travelling via a small airport is far better and happy as your hassles of changing flights are brought down to a bare minimum.
Another thing to check would be if you can really have some decent food at the connecting airport, cos if you have missed your flight you are bound to miss your meal preference too.
Luggage Handling:
I still wonder why I am unable to place it at the first. However realtime troubles start once you land at your destination and you don't get your luggage. Just imagine you are traveling to a freezing place like Salt Lake City and luggage which contains your warm clothing was missing. Horrible is the only word one can use.
So couple of things to consider are
1. Whats the carrier's reputation when it comes to Luggage Handling?
2. If unfortunately your baggage is missed then how quickly and properly can you claim the refund?
British has great reputation - 50% of the time you are bound to lose luggage. However, they compensate you very quickly and also help you personally. What I mean was, I missed my baggage which was having all my warm clothing. The land staff took me to a room where they had unclaimed items like jackets etc and offered me to take one as I was traveling further to a very cold place.
Food they Serve:
This item may be pertinent to either gourmets or Indian Vegetarians. May be even gourmets can adjust while flying but an Indian Vegetarian is the ultimate sufferer when they either order wrongly or miss their preference.
Suggestion guys, no one can match the quality and taste of vegetarian food that is offered on British Airways. However if you missed your flight then your Asian Veg meal is on the other flight and for sure you have to starve.
So common suggestion is, keep a cheese pizza or some apples/fruit or croissants in your bag. Don't forget to carry eatables with you when you fly. Ofcourse you may not be allowed to carry curd rice or pickles :-)
Courtesy of the staff:
I missed my connection once and my Asian veg order went for a toss. However the crew brought me an apple which was part of their meal. How nice ...
Classes they provide and their reviews:
Kindly read reviews about the classes of travel an airline provides. Some give you a better class than economy for a very little difference in price.
Seat comfort:
A few have 8 seats in a row and few have 9. Air France is comforatble. British is Ok. Lufthansa is pathetic. Also, try to find rows in the front as you can embark or disembark faster.
Tip: Take Emergency exit seats if you are not flying for the first time in that route. Emergency exit seats have lot of space in front and you can stretch your legs. However you may not have a good window view.
Ground Handling:
May not be of much significance however its better to know if you can find helpdesks etc quickly and if they can support you anytime for all your problems. This becomes important when you miss your connection. You need to talk to someone.
An Example: I was traveling back home via Chicago - NewYork - London. My flight to NewYork got cancelled due to bad weather. However I already did a e-checkin to my London flight. Now no one knows how to release the seat from that aircraft and then check me in for a London flight from Chicago. Luckily guys took the initiative to pull the information and then also get my luggage re-routed to this flight.
So, these are the few tips which I could provide. Have a safe trip.
An Amazing ride - Yet caught by police
Watch this video
This guy was driving through the main streets of Paris, over speeding the limits and jumping all signals. Also read this ...
Road Trip: Visakhapatnam to Tirupati and back to Bangalore
Welcome to Tirupati - The world's most famous/highly-visited pilgrimage.
On our way back to Bangalore, we saw a market place which is a wholesale market where only Tomatoes are sold. The worst part was the wastage. Have a look below.
The statue of Lord Sriram, near to Bangalore. This was an amazing statue, very tall and looks excellent.
Tirupati to Bangalore takes around 4 to 5 hours and the roads are pretty good. Especially the drive through the forest area gives a nice experience. Petrol bunks are not in plenty and also its better to carry cash. The bunks may not accept cards.
Have a safe trip
On our way back to Bangalore, we saw a market place which is a wholesale market where only Tomatoes are sold. The worst part was the wastage. Have a look below.
The statue of Lord Sriram, near to Bangalore. This was an amazing statue, very tall and looks excellent.
Tirupati to Bangalore takes around 4 to 5 hours and the roads are pretty good. Especially the drive through the forest area gives a nice experience. Petrol bunks are not in plenty and also its better to carry cash. The bunks may not accept cards.Have a safe trip
The wonderful Highways of Andhra Pradesh
My car trip continues ...
After a while in Hyderabad, we started to Visakhapatnam via Vijayawada. Amazing roads almost few kilometers from Vijaywada. Have a look.
The full flow of the river Krishna.
Statue of Sri Vivekananda few kilometers near to Tuni.
The distance from Hyderabad to Vijayawada is 265km and from there to Visakhapatnam is 396. I completed it in two parts as I had to visit my relatives at Vijayawada. Out of the entire stretch, the only place where one should drive cautiously is at Hanuman Junction which is around 40 kms from Vijayawada on the way to Vizag. Its not humans who live there.
After a while in Hyderabad, we started to Visakhapatnam via Vijayawada. Amazing roads almost few kilometers from Vijaywada. Have a look.
The full flow of the river Krishna.
Statue of Sri Vivekananda few kilometers near to Tuni.
The distance from Hyderabad to Vijayawada is 265km and from there to Visakhapatnam is 396. I completed it in two parts as I had to visit my relatives at Vijayawada. Out of the entire stretch, the only place where one should drive cautiously is at Hanuman Junction which is around 40 kms from Vijayawada on the way to Vizag. Its not humans who live there.Road Trip: Bangalore to Hyderabad
To put it in few words, picturesque, irritating diversions, horrible roads, not for a rainy day drive or not to drive at night.
Moving ahead we were at Anantpur. Yes once we touched Andhra Pradesh the roads got a little bit better however the diversions still exist as there is immense road work going on. Once we passed out of Anantpur, we cameby an amazing temple built by ISCKON. Here are the pictures.
After driving for another 180 or so we stopped at Kurnol to have our lunch. From there I was just driving ahead and ahead for another 200 kilometers to enter the once wonderful city, not now, Hyderabad.
We started our drive around 7.30 in the morning, which was a little late I feel. The traffic catches up by 8.0AM. Thus the best thing I should have done was to be out of Bangalore before 7 in the morning.
Drive goes very well till Chikballapur with less diversions etc. There is a nice hotel on the main road of Chikballapur and I think one should complete their breakfast there, as after which on the trip its tough to find any better places or better food.
The road now shows up all its violent faces with lot of potholes and many diversions. Therefore drive with caution. There is a nice lake on the way to PenuKonda.
After driving for another 180 or so we stopped at Kurnol to have our lunch. From there I was just driving ahead and ahead for another 200 kilometers to enter the once wonderful city, not now, Hyderabad.More about Hyderabad in my next Blog.
Tripit.com
A little bit out of the box, however I have been just told about an amazing tool provided by http://www.tripit.com.
Features:
All the frequent travelers out there, register on http://www.tripit.com
Features:
- Just send your trip itinerary to plans@tripit.com and it automatically creates your id with your email and sends you a password
- It also parses your email and plans your calender accordingly.
- Using the calender update URL you may synchronize your personal calenders.
- Also when you expand your network by adding friends it shows where they are and to them, where you are.
All the frequent travelers out there, register on http://www.tripit.com
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