Outdoor Activities: June - Nov 2010

 Ajanta Ellora: Way above expectations. The fineess and grandeur of the paintings were mind blowing. Floor, pillars, walls, ceiling was completely covered in intricate paintings. Worth visiting especially with an enthusiastic group who had some knowledge about the caves. Ellora was also more than anything I have ever seen the amount of effort dedication involved simply blows you away. Not to mention the 3D modelling and 'stability analysis' that would be required for constructing each temple. Golconda fort looks ridiculously easy to capture when compared to Daultabad fort. Worth a visit, gives a perspective and increases expectations. Its not the strength of the walls that builds a good fort but the ingenuity in building traps along the way. This should definitely be part of the bucket list.

Outbound: Nothing great except for air crash and paint ball. Air crash, my performance was below expectations and paint ball i skipped because of the incident earlier.


Suryalanka: A good sea shore and beach with less facilities. Typical of the east coast where the beaches are beautiful but the not well developed.

Pocharam Dam: One of the most 'exciting' trips in and around hyderabad. Again the trip started with low expectations/entusiasam ( i held up the group for around 1 hr :( ). I was suprised by the inflatable rafts and refreshed by the great swim in the lake. It was beyond beyond expectations. One of the best value for money trips ever by GHAC. WoW. ALL credit to diyanant, mel, sindhu. Met some good people... Never had such a good time swimming. Swimming in a fresh water lake simply simply rocks......

Tirupati : My first camping experience although it was 'managed'. Campsite and dinner (food was simple but delicous)was always prepared before our arrival and we had the river for our daily ablutions. Even then there was lot of excitement, considdering it rained heavily on day 1 and we slept in the open in the jungle.. Everybody was afraid of animals but i was scared to shit about snakes. They have nothing to lose and will be attracted to the heat.. Horrible risk experience like Kulang alang..

Bhanu's Wedding: A decent wedding but more importantly went to godavari's shore and a temple nearby which made the trip extremely memorable.


GHAC Carnival : Lot of Guilt that i couldnt contribute. Meeting people whom i had said i would coordinate was kind of awkward. :( :( . Function itself was good... but the guilt and akwardness persisted.

Bhongir Fort: Great trip where I met some great people. :) Weird man, the knowledgable guy and prashant pai.. Another great trip within hyd.

Golconda: With GHAC even the most mundane and boring places come alive. We climbed a small rock and had a good time sitting on the same. Overall a decent trip.

Sweet Pure Mountain Water

Reaching there
The Meghadhoot service by N.W.K.R.T.C. (North West Karnataka RTC) runs A/C Luxury (that’s what is claimed anyway) buses between Hyderabad and Hubli. Starting at 9:00PM in the morning, the 11hours journey is exhausting to say the least. It was drizziling slightly when we deboarded in Hubli. The last few days had also seen rain. This brought down the temperature and the countryside was green all around. Its another 2 hours to Dandeli and a light breakfast from Hubli would be an advisable option. The ride from Hubli to Dandeli was pleasant, mostly due to weather and most definitely not due to the bus (which had as much shock absorbers as on a truck). The bus took us to Dharwad (made famous by a well known dental college), Haliyal and finally dumped us at the Dandeli old (or new) bus stand. There were MUVs from the farmhouse ready to pick us up at the bus stand and it took another half hour to reach Stanley farms.

Accomodation
There are various accommodation options available from high end resorts like the Bison to low cost options (farmhouses) like Stanely Farms.

Kali
Kali River fabuolous water, cold, clear and sweet. I only hope there are no more modernization project to 'develop' the river. The river is surrounded on both sides by dense (tropical) forests.

Activities
Apart from offering a glimpse of the beauty of the western Ghats and lush tropical rainforest. The river Kali and the general terrain provides an ideal ground for various adventure activities like White water rafting, Kayaking, River crossing, Rappelling.

White water rafting
As compared to Rishikesh and other rafting venues on the Himalayas the gradient is not steep. Hence the rapids are mostly short interspersed with stretches of slowly flowing river. However the scenic beauty is amazing. As compared to the raw rocky terrain of Rishikesh, the river kali has banks of filled with flora and fona. The steeply rising hills with trees dotting the landscape provides a enchanting view. It’s a bit costly at upwards of Rs 1200 per person but its worth it for the novelty. Had the costs been lower we would have gone for another round.

Night Trek
Technically it would be called a night walk but we will leave the technicalities for later. Considering we were right in the sanctuary we just had move out of our farm and take a small walk in the surrounding jungle. We were lead by our guide. A long train of torch lights, heavy footstep on the ground, smell of the latest deos and incessant chatter signaled our arrival to every animal who cared to listen. Considering that years of evolution has trained their ears to detect the faintest sound and smallest of movement we were not so successful in our search for ‘tigers’ and ‘deers’. We did spot a couple of flying squirrels, its orange eyes peering down from the trees. Humidity certainly made us sweat, negating all benefits of a bath. Somehow the trek was refreshing although a bit tiresome. Post the night trek we slumped in our beds. (Two pieces of bedsheet on a Insulation padding material) Anything will do when you are tired. It was a night truly under the stars. By daybreak heavy dew had soaked our ‘beds’. Another incentive to wake up early.

Trekking
After waking up early in the morning , We pushed off from Stanely farms for a trek to Cavala caves. The jeep path that leads us to the caves has been cut out by broken tree trunks uprooted in the last major rains. There are around 535 steps (counted precisely by one fellow trekker) to the Cavala caves (all downhill). The cave initially appears to be a huge gap in the rock face. Its only later that we found that there is a tunnel which goes to the shiv ling located inside the mountain. The tunnel was cramped, smelled of bats (or something) and pitch dark. It was a slightly scary but completely delightful experience.Anyways the journey back is tiring to say the least. The view as usual is spectacular and the air filled with sounds of thousands of cicadas falling and rising rhythmically.The trek certainly does build up appetite for breakfast and makes the humble Upama quite delicious.

River Crossing
River crossing is a novel experience. Although practically it can be called stream/pond crossing. Hanging between two ropes pulling yourself into the water is surprisingly absolutely delightful. Although not ideal’ compared to the river crossing done over quick flowing mountain stream, it has a pleasure of its own.

Kayaking
Kayaking is a great option to help. Sadly it rained when we were due to do our kayaking and we just stood there drenching ourselves (which was also fun).

Coming back
This time we ditched our ride on the local bus from Dandeli to Hubli and instead hitched a ride on the MUVs ( tempo Trax). The journey was uneventful but the scenic beauty was amazing. Somehow the setting sun one side and the dark clouds on the other lit up the landscape with a strange hue. The depth of colour was amazing and simply too hard to explain. The bus from Hubli to Hyderabad also passed too quickly by and we reached Hyderbad and hop skipped on various share autos to our homes.

2 day trip to dandeli might be a slight stretch another day (a long weekend is most preferable).

Tava fry in Pandi land

Bangalore Hogenakkal

Comments on fellow Tamilians have been made in the best of spirit.Please do not mind.

Getting there

Its 3-4 hour drive from Bangalore (we did 377Km door to door). Driving direction are readily available with a simple google maps search. We started at 8:10 ( Fashionably late from the scheduled time of 7:00), had breakfast at Adayar Anand bhawan (recommended) and reached there by around noon.

With the new NH the road just goes on and on... its very easy to miss turns/get confused.. whole villages and towns are bypassed.. Only thing signifying a village would be a signboard on the road.

Things to do

1) Eat fresh, soft river fish (fried in oil of dubious quality - cant help that - fast moving so shouldnt be a problem)

2) Haggle with the corackel guy. This is an art.

3) Go in a coracle (obviously why else would anyone want to drive all the way) and get wet.
4) Swim in the fast flowing river (great experience)

Concerns

1) Local crowd - looks like every other person (in and around the district) has no other work except to go to Hogenakkal and have a bath.

2) Anything and everything from Meera Shampoo sachets, Sarees, Soap case and of course

Water bottles floating around in the 'Strictly No Plastic area'.

3) There are reports that a dam is being built... so i guess the 'Niagara of India' will go down to a trickle in a few years.

4) There is approximately 100% chance of you being a victim of 'goondaism' (just because you are a tourist). Parking ticket for a non existent parking area, sudden increase in rates of boats/fish, arbid rates for misc items... general high handedness...

Way Back

Over all the trip was great. Spent a weekend escaping from the urban jungle and going back to nature. Its a great one day trip with a equally enjoyable ride home on the smooth highway.

Thannk Youuuuuu Ko, Babu, Wilfred and Thota

Getting There

The Thai air flight was at a late hour (11:55 PM) from Rajiv Gandhi International airport, Hyderabad (An International airport by all standards) and was scheduled to reach Bangkok at an unearthly hour. Checkin, immigration, boarding process was long but hassle free. Space was at a premium in Air bus A330 but who cares for a 3 hour flight anyway. The flight was pleasant and exciting (my first international trip.. yippee). I have missed the bus for so many places (Geneva... Rome... London... America); I was beginning to think I would never leave Mother India. But finally on 12th Feb after some 'interrogation' from the immigration officer I had a stamp on my 'near expiry' passport. Strange fact is in India they very concerned if you are going out of the country and least bothered whether who/what is coming in. I thought it was supposed to be the other way round considering we share such cordial relations with our neighbors.

We reached Swarnabhumi international airport in the wee hours of the morning.(The local time is ahead by 1:30 hours). Even in the morning the air was sultry and hot. Compared to 'cool and dry' Hyderabad we were entering a sauna. We were taken to our hotel thankfully in an A/C tourist bus. Corrolla Altis, a status symbol in India was taxi (in rainbow colors to boot... orange, yellow, pink, green ).. talk about culture shock. They are decently prized at 35baht minimum.The roads were made as if they already had a couple of rounds of National Highway development program, with 3 layers of roads very common.

Tuk-Tuk Bangkok
Amari Watergate, situated quite in the centre of the city, is by all standards a business class five star hotel. Two things that pamper me in a five star hotel; the bathroom (huge ones with 2 washbasins, bathtub, hot shower, 4-5 different towels etc... ) and complementary breakfast (Fresh fruits, Bacon, sausages, croissants, juices... mmmmmm). I slept through the breakfast on the first day but thankfully woke up in time for the conference. The conference went off beautifully with us defining future expectations from the C&FA while we received quality feedback from the C&FAs. We changed for the gala dinner which included a cultural dance program followed by a DJ night and also (by initiative) a great Jugalbandhi.

We went to two temples on the 2nd day. The first was ok, but the second was truly impressive. A huge

sleeping Buddha with fine inscription on the feet and beautiful paintings on the walls around. The inner sanctum contained a prayer room (locals were stunned to see us posing in front of the altar for photos.. ). The temple had so much work/statues (well preserved also). We took snaps like crazy (we are tourists right?).After our temple trip we experienced a typical Bangkok style traffic jam.
A cruise cum dinner was scheduled for the evening. Our private party had a Thai singer did some Punjabi/Hindi numbers (which were hilarious) in addition to her usual gig. The singing was fun and the way she involved everybody was even more fun :). We were also treated to a personalized display of fireworks culminating with Dr Reddy's name getting lighted up. BTW Each person had his photo taken with a Thai lady (in traditional wear) before the cruise. At the end of the trip lo behold a photo (with great background) and can be purchased for 100 baht.

Good Guys go to heaven, Bad guys go to Pattaya!
After our brief sojourn in bangkok were on a three hour bus ride to Pattaya city. The scenery was beautiful (like kerala)with monasteries dotting the landscape (somehow the Buddhist have a fascination of having gold like colour to the structures.We checked into the Amari Orchid and proceeded to Noong Noch village. The village was fun, specially seeing the 'whites' running around elephants, clicking their photo from every direction. As in 'haathi mera saathi' is so common in India. There was also a thai cultural show in the village: More elephants, variety of instruments and strange dances. (As in except for the last one the other dances were as if it were stuck in 'slow play forward'). Another star attraction was a chance of a photo shoot with a tiger (Going at 50baht for 3 pics). I went for the Elephant one (The pachyderm happily pulls you off the ground and leaves you hanging around..). Otherwise the village has has huge stretches of landscaped gardens recreating a tropical paradise. Good to roam around and kill time.

We were free in the evening (after an Indian Dinner) and we chose to stroll from the hotel to 'walking street'. The night life is great in Pattaya (Aerobics happens on the beach at 7:00 in the evening)with the streets quite packed, shops buzzling with activities, street hawkers selling fruits and lot of ISUZU share taxis plying on the road.

The air was sultry and the night was warm, we were quite soaked by the time we reached 'walking street' but the sight was 'not of this world (India)'. I will save that for another post.

Our trip to coral Island started early in the morning (by Pattaya standards), also included a stop over for some parasailing fun. The 'pull' of the boat is really awesome. I had a 'dip' trip, so the motorboat happily slowed down during the middle of the round and I splash right into the water, only to get pulled again. They take great photos at 100baht for a pair.

Coral Island sadly had no corals. There was of course a man made coral patch recreated for an 'underwater' walk, other than that natural 'snorkelable' corals are nowhere in sight. (Havelot Island, Andamans rock) But the place is completely commercialized with a variety of options (water scooter, swimming, shopping) but most importantly beer on the beach. Enjoyed the boat ride back for the place with twin Yamaha engines pumping enough power to make the 30 min ride really enjoyable.


Strange!
There seems to be something fundamentally wrong when the hallmark industry of a country is an Industry you wouldn't want to be part of (Ok..Not all people who join Wipro/TCS prefer to do so.. but still). During macro economics our professor had explained that if free trade is permitted each country will specialize in thing that it can do the best and rest will be imported. Don't know about Thailand (something has 'to give').Like a friend said wherever the Americans go to culture ka 'chunna lag jata hai'.

Another disappointing thing was, inspite of receiving millions of foreign tourists the usage/proficiency in English was poor (more like pathetic). Much much less compared to India. As in shop signs, big banner advertisements...all in Thai. The only shop signs invariably in English were 'Go-go bars'. :)

Shopping
The best thing to do is to take a huge empty bag to Thailand!! Shopping can be done for any budget whether its clothes, accessories, souveniors or material (thai silk) etc. There are a variety of opitons Big C(big bazaar type), street shops (fashion street, mumbai) or boutiques.
Some recommended buys are:
1) Cool pair of shorts/half shirts
2) Thailand T shirts for gifting at home.
3) Accessories like cloth handbags, wooden bags, fake watches (80 Baht)
4) Souvenors like Buddha statue/ Wooden hand Fan/ Wood Umbrella etc
5) Precious stones like Jade emerald etc

Things to Do
1) Foot massage (150-250 Baht Per hour) is real nice after a couple of days of walking all over the place.
2) Parasailing (Pattaya)
3) Walk down walking street. (Adults only)
4) Giant Sleeping buddha.
5) Beer on the Beach.
6) Ride behind an Isuzu share taxi (10 baht per trip)
7) Alcazar Show (BTW missed it.. Too many culture shocks already)
8) Bargaining@ beach road.

Return
Return journey was relaxed considering that we spent a good 3 hours going from Pattaya to Airport (slept all the way). We did our group check in and started off again with some last minute photo sessions at the airport. Duty free shopping was fun with Baileys, Sheringham and JD's getting added to my luggage. Watched a movie on the flight back home. Indian immigration was least bothered about what we are bringing in. We said our good byes at the airport and proceeded back home.

Bhandhavgarh: Sal,bamboo, deer, antelope, tiger & more

A Zoo treats one like a spoilt child, providing an array of choices without appreciating the individual beauty. Strangely travelling in the open gypsy for more than 3 hours under the hot sun, caked by dust just for a glimpse of an animal is much more memorable. The feeling of disappointment as the closing time approaches and the sudden exhilaration in spotting a tiger, a safari has it all. A flick of the tail to ward off flies is enough to send a ripple of excitement across the 'audience'. Yes a Safari makes one yearn to see animals and fauna.

Getting There

We arrived in Umaria (nearest rail head for Bhandavgarh) in the Amarkantak Express at 2:00 AM on the 7th of March 2009. Other rail heads include Katni (2 Hrs) and Khajurao (230 Km). Dressed in light clothes for Raipur's summer we were completely ill prepared for the chilly winds that swept the station. Since the pickup from the MP tourism resort was not due till 4:00, we made our way to upper class waiting room on Platform 1. Strangely for a non-descript station, Umaria was well lit up with row upon row of newly installed tube lights on both platforms. In the waiting room we met Christine , his mother and girlfriend who were waiting for the Utkal express (6 hours behind schedule) who did not have much luck with the tiger inspite of numerous visits. Considering that the Indian Government was intent on robbing the foreigners blind it was pity that they were not able to see the tiger. We sighted numerous Chitals during our otherwise uneventful 32km (Rs 650) journey to the forest resort. A short nap preceded our first park safari (6:15 AM till 10:15 AM).

Morning Safari

We had bed coffee and tea to brace ourselves for the trip. Our vehicle, the legendary Maruti Gypsy and its 4 wheel drive, which we were sharing with a family from Kolkota took us to the sanctuary main gate where we paid an entry fee of Rs680(the fees is per vehicle which can seat 6-8 people). A gypsy for a jungle safari comes at Rs 1000 while its Rs 2500 for a trip to the fort. We took the 'C' route in the sanctuary which took us uphill downhill over rock, mud, sand and pebbles. During mornings vehicles movements are governed by the route system (A,B,C to F) while it’s a lassie faire in the evening slot (3-6PM). The jungle, a varying mix of bamboo and sal, was interspaced with grasslands of brown grass. We made numerous sightings of Chitals, the largest indian deer and samabar, the largest Indian antelope. Most of the route hugged the Charanganga (which meets the Son river and finally the ganga) which is a perennial water source feeding the sanctuary and incidentally our government guest house. Mornings are extremely chilly and I was still shivering under a double Tshirt and jeans. Once the sun rises in the horizon (around 9:00 AM) the cold becomes more manageable however we had still not made our tiger sighting. We stopped at for a 'chai' in the middle of the jungle at centre point, a fenced enclave with around 7-8 shops also selling lays, biscuits and snacks. There were also 4-5 boys running around with bers and chana. We resumed our tiger hunt but to no avail. Finally we were given information about a 'tiger show' on elephant back in a corner of the sanctuary. Climbing the back of the tusker was kind fun in itself. Once we were fully with 4 people the mahout started tapping frantically on the elephant skull. The jumbo immediately veered to the left and made its way to the cave where the tiger had been seen. The 'cave' was actually a man made rectangular hole from 10th century were the tiger had decided to rest after the night's wanderings. The fact that tiger hardly moved, was lying on its back with legs up and was resting in a manmade cave didn’t give me much satisfaction. The elephant ride (Rs 100 per person) was only worth an elephant ride and a 'buffer' that we had seen a tiger but it did not give me the satisfaction of seeing wildlife. We then went back to the resort for breakfast and an afternoon of rest.

Places to stay

There are various lodges and resorts in Tala, the village next to the main gate of Bhandavgarh. Our last minute planning restricted us to the White tiger resort by MP tourism. The room rates hurt!! Rs 3500 for an A/c double bedroom. With an extra bed @ Rs 700 we were paying Rs4200 per night. The fact that pre dawn tea, breakfast, lunch (veg) , tea and dinner (non veg) made the price more reasonable. The ambience was great with huts on raised platforms under the shade of huge trees, connected by walkways. Other facilities include a swimming pool, souvenir shop and a game room (billiards table, TT, Carroms, chess). We never felt the need for a A/c and could have done with an air cooled room @Rs2500. If you discount the complementary food (2 people entire day), the effective rate comes to Rs 1500 which is decent for the excellent ambience. A slight bit of bother was the fixed 12:00 noon check in/out system.

Also dotting the village are resorts like GTV, Tiger Heaven, Wild Heaven etc which have rates from Rs600 through Rs 2000 and beyond. I would recommend a one day's stay at White tiger followed by stay in another lodge. This helps in bargaining as the quoted rates and rates at which lodges are given varies widely. Christine did a similar trick by staying in a resort for Rs600 which was quoting at Rs 1500 (cancellations make lodge owners desperate).

Fort Trip

The fort trip starts slightly late @ 7:30AM and ends at 11:00 AM. This was a stroke of luck as we shall see later. Steep would be an understatement for the climb up the hill. Hairpin bends, rocky ledges and roads cut into the rock face were common. We kept a sharp lookout for the Malabar pied hornbill which is known to inhabit these parts of the sanctuary. Luck didn’t favor us then and we reached the gate of the fort without any sightings. My perception of gypsy and Maruti went up a few notches during that period. We were welcomed by a racket and that unique stench of bats. The fort is huge and has 12 large water tanks, statutes of Vishnu in various incarnations and the world’s only temple dedicated to Lakshman (brother of Ram). The fort is also dotted with various points like the seat of the maharaja (strategic point used to command troops) and vulture point (a Cliffside with vultures gliding around their nests). We struck gold on our return journey with a close up view of the Malabar pied hornbill. It was posed for us for several minutes and then glided down the slope. More luck awaited us at Sidhh Baba, a grassy patch in between the dense jungle. A convoy of gypsies signaled the sighting of a Tiger. By the time we reached the place the jeeps had already left as they would overshoot the park closing time of 10:15. We on the other hand had another 45 mins at our disposal which we put to good use. After staring at the brown grass for a good 15 mins we were getting impatient. Suddenly a black stick popped up!! The tail going up signaled the movement of the tiger. The tiger continued to higher ground and we had a view of the majestic walk across the grass. The tiger’s striped skin providing a perfect camouflage in the tall brown grass. It was a well rounded trip quite worth the Rs 3200 (2500 + 680) spent on it.

Other places to see and things to do

On the afternoon safari, we went to Sheesh shaiya (Sleeping Vishnu), the origin of the charan ganga river (literally translates as river from the foot). The statue of Vishnu (10th century) lies under the shade of the seven headed serpent and the river is supposed to originate from this point. The climb is steep and taxing and the driver might be reluctant unless you ask him to take you there. But the place is worth it.

Another point is Badi Gufa ( Big Cave)which comes as part of the safari. A cave built in the 10th century used by Buddhist monks and later by the military.

The interpretation centre (museum) in Tala village is quite informative and presentation style was good. A visit to the centre is recommended so as to better appreciate the wildlife. The timings are 10:30AM-1:00PM and 5:30PM - 7:30PM.

There also various souvenir shops in the vicinity and tiger pug mark Tshirts are quite a rage.

Return

We landed at the Umaria station at 11:00PM on Sunday, sipping hot tea, and waiting for the Amarkantak back to Raipur. We reached Raipur Monday at 8:00AM. Overall it was a extremely good weekend trip. It comes a close second to our Andaman trip because we were able to explore the entire region within the short span of time.