Chikkamagaluru

Date of visit: 15 Dec 2007
Country: India
Major Places visited: Kemmangundi, Kallathigiri Falls, Hebbe Falls, Shanti Falls, Belur, Halebidu and Shravanabelagola
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/nolandsouza/Chikmaglur

Chikkamagaluru, is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Chikkamagaluru is where coffee was first cultivated in India. The mountains here which are a part of the Western Ghats are the source of rivers like Tunga and Bhadra. It takes about 4 hours by road from Bangalore.

There are quite a few places you can visit in Chikkamagaluru. We visited
Kemmangundi: 55 km north from Chikkamagaluru town, a scenic hill station on the Baba Budan Giri range of hills. at a height of 1,434 meters, is surrounded by thick forests and a salubrious climate through out the year.

Kallathigiri Falls: Just 10 km away from Kemmangundi is Kallahathigiri falls, also known as Kalahasti falls. Water cascades down from the top of the Chandra Drona hill from a height of 122 meters amidst fascinating scenery. There is an old Veerabhadra temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, constructed in a gap between rocks. This temple can be approached after crossing the waterfall.


Hebbe Falls: This beautiful waterfall is over 10 km away from the famous hill station, Kemmangundi. Here water streams down from a height of 168 meters in two stages to form Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls). To reach the falls you need to take a arduous journey in a jeep. The driver will take Rs 100 per person. You may think that it not worth the amount before you go on the trip, but once you reach teh destination I am sure you will really think it was worth the pain and the cost. The road is absolutely not there and the drivers of those Mahindra Jeeps are the only ones I think can manage this journey. The jeep will drop you off to a spot from where you need to trek for 30 minutes to reach the waterfall. The trek is thru 3 small streams and if you in the evenings then you get freezing water. Its better to carry a stick when you go. Once you reach the waterfall you are greeted with a spectacular view of the gushing waters from the top of the hill. Only the daring few might want to go under the waters to take a bath, but you can certainly go and take a dip in the chilling refreshing water in the small pond that is there.

Shanti Falls: This is a beautiful waterfall on the way to Z-Point in Kemmangundi.

You can get accomodation at the PWD guest house or the Horticulture gues house if you are early and lucky. Try and reach the place by 9 am and you should get it. We were unlucky so we had to go back to Chikkamagaluru town and check into a lodge there. The rooms are cheap and decent.

The next day we headed out to Belur, Halebidu and Shravanabelagola. Belur was the early capital of the Hoysala Empire. The main attraction in Belur is the Chennakesava temple complex which contains the Chennakesava Temple ( dedicated to Lord Chennakeshava , meaning handsome Vishnu) as the centre piece, surrounded by the Kappe Chennigraya temple built by Shantaladevi, queen of king Vishnuvardhana.

Halebidu is located in Hassan District, Karnataka. Halebidu was the regal capital of the Hoysala Empire in the 12th century. It is home to one of the best examples of Hoysala architecture in the ornate Hoysaleswara and Kedareswara temples.

Shravanabelagola is a city located in the Hassan district. It is one of the most important Jain pilgrim centers. The Vindhyagiri hill is home to a thousand-year-old gigantic 17.38 meter high monolithic stone statue of the Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali, considered to be the world's largest.You need to climb by nearly 900 odd steps to reach the base of the statue. Every 12 years, thousands of devotees congregate here to perform the Mahamastakabhisheka, a spectacular ceremony in which the thousand-year-old statue is anointed with milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins.

We finally left for Bangalore at 6 from Shravanabelagola and reached back at 10 in Bangalore.

Killarney Provincial Park

Date of visit: 4 August 2007
Country: Canada
Best time to visit: Summers, April - Aug

This is one place which is absolute paradise on Earth. Located in Ontario, this is not as famouse as the world famous Algonquin Provincial Park, Killarney is one of Ontario's most popular wilderness destinations. With its sapphire blue lakes and white quartzite ridges it is considered the crown jewel of the Ontario Park system.

The park contains just one campground at the George Lake entrance as it is primarily a wilderness park, left alone with little facilities to allow visitors a chance to experience the solitude and beauty of its undisturbed natural setting. It boasts spectacular hiking trails and canoe-in back country camping. The canoe routes include well maintained portages between lakes.

We hired tents in Toronto for 2 days and 1 night. You need to stock yourself with food and blankets, if you dont have sleeping bags. Food is important because there is very little that you can get close by. You will need to reach early to camp site because it is a very popular destination with the campers and site gets sold out like hot cakes.

Setting up the camp site took some time because we were all new to pitching of the tents and had to rely on the manuals and the days practice we had before we left for the camp site. Canoeing,kayaking, bird watching, cycling, fishing and trekking happens to be major activities. We headed out to the wilderness. There are some very good tracks for you to go explore. We took the one which took us through some very beautiful places I have never even imagined. I think I have never even seen such places in pictures on TV or in print.

Being one with nature is something you will not have any problem with. With 11 guys in 2 Dodge caravans the trip to Killarney was absolutely amazing fun.

Switzerland

Date of visit: Oct 13 2007
Major Places visited: Basel,Jungfro, Geneva, Lausanne,and Zurich
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/paresh.redkar/Switzerland


Visiting Switzerland has always been my dream destination and I just full filled it this month. Lufthansa has a offer called Peace offer where if you fly certain distace you can avail a free round trip to certain countries in Europe, by paying only the airport taxes. I had flown to Canada on business and naturally I took up this as an opportunity to visit my dream destination. I am not sure which all countries you can visit, but try finding the Peace Offer from Lufthansa. To get to the country you will obviously need a visa which is very easy to get and you will get in 2 days. Give your passport, duly filled form, one picture of yourself, itinerary, a proof of employment or invitation letter from your friend or whoever and a credit card photocopy. You can either fly Zurich or Geneva or Basel. I flew to Basel. Basel is in France and the airport has exits to France Germany and Switzerland. You need not get any other visa

if you are traveling to Switzerland. Once in Switzerland it is better to get a traveling pass from the railway/bus station. The cost is 244 Swiss Francs and with that you can travel all over Switzerland via bus/train. This pass is valid for 3 days only and you can decide the dates of your travel. I visited Zurich on the day I landed. Switzerland is not a cosmopolitan country and all the cities are not really cities, I would call them towns compared to what you have seen in Toronto and New York. The tallest building is I think 10 -15 floors. Small compared to Arista. Zurich is a small city, with lots of shops. I reached in the evening and roamed the streets. There is a nice cobbled street where you will find lots of restaurants servings a huge variety of food. We tried Fondue and Wine. I would suggest you taste it, but make sure you ask the waiter not to put alcohol in it. It’s very bitter with the brandy and cheery wine that they put in it. Next day we visited Jungfrau. This is a snow capped mountain and the highest peak you can reach in Europe. Its very beautiful and a must visit place. You will need to take an extra train pass to reach this place. The cost was 79 francs for me, just because I had the other pass. Otherwise it’s double. Once there, you can see the beautiful scenery as the train passes by the mountains. The train will stop at two spots before reaching the top. These are site seeing spots. Once on the top, there is a huge building which houses restaurants, lookout points, souvenir shops, and ice palace. You can walk on the ice and go for a trek on the ice there. Our next day stop was Grindelwald. Nice small town overlooking the Alps. Next day stop was Geneva to see the UN and Red Cross. After that came the Olympic capital town, Lausanne. Check out the Olympic museum there. The town is very nice also. You can walk along the banks of Lake Geneva. Nice place Switzerland… try and go there once in lifetime. It’s expensive to eat, stay and travel in Switzerland. I would say will require at least 500 Swiss francs. Plan well and go and you will enjoy your stay there.