Kodachadri

Date of visit: 09 Aug 2008
Country: India
Major Places visited: Kodachadri, Kollur
Photos: HikeUpToKodachadri

Have you though of a trek where you need to climb green mountains get drenched in pouring rain cross streams and walk past waterfalls? And have you wondered where you would get this thrill to set your heart to thump with every step you take. If you dont know the answer, let me enlighten you. Its Kodachadri.

Kodachadri is a mountain peak (altitude - 1343 m above sea level) in the Western Ghats in South India (Karnataka State). The name is a corruption of the Sanskrit word "Kutakachalam." Kodachadri forms a picturesque background to the famous temple of Mookambika in Kollur. Situated in the middle of the Mookambika National Park, it is home to several endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna. Tha rain forests loom in a perpetual layer of mist around the peak.

This peak is where 'Shankaracharya' did meditation. You will find a Sarvajna Peetha of Sri Shankaracharya at the top.

Adi-Mookambika temple at Kodachadri village is believed to be the moola sthana (the origin) of Sri Mookambika Devi.

Four of us set out on Friday night to Kollur from Bangalore Majestic bus stop. If you want to enjoy one of the joyrides without having to go to Wonderla, sit on the last seat of the KSRTC Rajhamsa bus. You will never ever want to go to Wonderla again. Thankfully we were seated in the middle of the bus, but could feel the 'fun' of the back seaters.

The bus reached Kollur at 6:30 am on Sat. We checked in a hotel, refreshed and headed for the Mookambika Devi temple. It is believed that Adi Shankara perceived the idea of having a Mookambika Devi temple at Kollur and himself installed the idol of deity in the temple some 1200 years ago.

We were done with the temple visit by 11 and we took an auto to go to Nittur. The distance from Kollur to Nittur is about 15 - 18 kms. The route is laced with beautiful waterfalls and enchanting scenery. We stopped by at one of the waterfalls and the water there is very refreshing. All the tiredness and the discomfort from the night trip just about disappears.

We reach Nittur by 12:15. Akshay, had already found out a guide and he met us at the busstop. He took us thru a trail we will never forget in our entire lifetime.


We started at 1:00 and started moving towards the mountain. The weather was dull but pleasant. We were hoping for some light rains. Just as we crossed a small stream it started raining incessantly. With no shelter close by we just trudged along. The greenery around hits your your eyes. I had seen these many shades of green only on the Asian paint pamphlets. We walked thru green fields, with slush all over over legs, thru the waterfalls that had so much water, it made us wonder why the government does not channelize it in better way to reach the thirsty Bangalore, thru the sparkling streams, thru the ever green grass we marched on for 5 hours. This place has a ton of leaches and you will not even know when one bites you. When one of us got bitten we were excited, because not all of us had seen a leach before. But by the time we took our first halt after climbing for 2 hours, we noticed that we had at least 15- 20 leaches stuck on each our legs. The only way to get rid of them is to put some rock salt on them, or if you have fire light set it on fire and kill it. With the rains, there is no fire. We had salt. And it was getting over fast. The only thing to do was to walk on and don't see what on your leg and where it has reached.

The guide I think was a goat in his previous life, a mountain goat that too. He could climb the mountain with an umbrella in one hand and packet in the other. He is a Kannada speaking guy and really knows his way up. It was a good thing he was there. There are two routes to reach the top of the mountain. The easier route is a well laid out one, which Satheesh had already gone thru and he says it possible to do in 2 hours. 2 hours is reason we said ok for this trip. But it turned out that the guide had some other plans. He took us thru a route which was much more difficult and dangerous. This route has streams, waterfalls, paddy fields, step slopes, over the edge climbing and rapid water flows, all the adventure which a true hiker will want in any trip he does. And our guide gave it to us all in just 5 hours.

We reached the peak at 6. There is a PWD guest house there. There were some other hikers there already who had come thru the easier way and were saying its tough. We were imagining what tough was and smiling. They had not experienced tough. The guest house was damp all over the place with no electricity. They had solar heater for the water, but with wet weather and no sun no hot water. We were soaking and all our spare clothes we carried were all wet. Thank fully we got cots to sleep on with blankets. And we happy to get those for Rs. 150/- per person. But our happiness didnt last too long when we noticed that the cots were also damp and the cots were broken with the base of the cots not being there. So we had to sleep on the the edges. Thankfully the house keeper of the guest house had another set of warm blankets.

HOT Rice Sambar pickel and rasam....have you ever had anything better? climb for 5 hours with very little food and this is like best meal you have had. And eat did we. Like hungry animals gorging on the food, we ate and ate. Ravi had packed a lot of energy biscuits and energy drink. we had already finished this on our way up. We needed the energy to climb.

Ravi had also got some candles, and it was pretty funny to see him try to dry his clothes over the heat of the candles. But he didnt give up and did manage to dry up a t-shirt. The rest of us used the damp clothes and went to sleep, too tired to even think of drying over the candles.

Next morning we had upit, and rice dish for breakfast. Tea and coffee thankfully was flowing. we went to a small temple near the guest house. It was unfortunate we could not go to the place where Adi Shankar had meditated. It was about 2 kms away and there was no way we could go there with the rains still pounding.

The trip downhill was another adventure in the Mahindra jeep we hired. With approximately no road, the driver was able to take us down in one piece and in an hours time. The bumpy ride really shock the insides and took my stomach for a roll. The driver charged us 1000/- and I know it was worth it.

We went back to Kollur, and boy were we glad to have the nice bed to sleep on. 5 pm we went to the Mookambika temple and at 7:00 pm we were in the bus bound for Namma Bangaloru. Amazing trip.

Things to remember
1) Take rock salt - put some salt in a cloth and take. You can run this on the leeches and it will fall off.
2) Take plenty of water and food.
3) Make sure you have your spare clothes in a plastic bag.

Kanyakumari

Date of visit: 23 Feb 2008
Country: India
Major Places visited: Kanyakumari, Thirparappu
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/paresh.redkar/Kanyakumari

At the tip of the Indian peninsular lies a small town called Kanyakumari. Kanyakumari takes its name from the Kumari Amman or Kanyakumari Temple, situated in the town, on the sea-shore, the very confluence of the three water-bodies - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
The water over here is just too beautiful. You will feel like taking a dip in the cool waters on a hot summer day. Though there are several places of tourist-interest in the town and district, Kanyakumari is especially popular in India for its spectacular and unique sunrise and sunset. The confluence of three ocean bodies - the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea - makes the sunrise and sunset even more special.

A must visit place is the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the gigantic 133 feet statue of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar, one of the biggest statues in Asia. Swami Vivekananda is said to have seated on this rock in deep meditation. Also on this rock, there is a Dhyana mandapam, an area for meditation. Ferry services are available to reach the memorial.
The Gandhi Memorial has been built on the spot where the urn containing the Mahatma's ashes was kept for public viewing before immersion. Resembling central Indian Hindu temples in form, the memorial was designed in such a way that on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, October 2, the first rays of the sun fall on the exact place where his ashes were kept.
From Kanyakumari we went to Thirparappu waterfall. This is about 1.5 hours away and you can take the bus and go. The waterfall is not a very huge one but serves as a good source of enjoyment for many people who come to take a shower under the falls.

Rameshwaram and Dhanushkoti

Date of visit: 20 Jan 2008
Country: India
Major Places visited: Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pareshredkar/sets/72157603761639036/

Long time ago according to Hindu mythology, Lord Rama on his way to Sri Lanka to save his wife Sita, had to construct a bridge, Ram Setu(also known as Adam's Bridge) over the sea. The place he choose to start from was Rameshwar. On his return back from Lanka after killing Ravana, Lord Rama, installed and worshipped the Sivalinga here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmin).

My journey to this holy places started from Madurai at 2:20 AM from the Madurai train junction. Travelling in the general compartment with hordes of people on their way to visit the holy place, we had a tough time getting ourself a seat. at 4 am we finaly managed to get an upper berth and got about an 1hrs time of eyeshut. We reached Rameshwaram at 5:15 am. Went straight to the temple. Never before have I gone to a temple at 5:30 in the morning. At the temple, you can go in for the 22 theertham bath, where the priests will shower water from 22 different wells. It is believed that after the bath, all your sins will be washed away. Or you can just walk into the temple. The temple comprises forty wells where the taste of the water of each well is different from the other.


The temple is a beautiful structure. It has a lot of pillars and the grandest part of the temple is the 1219 m pillared corridor consisting of 3.6 m high granite pillars, richly carved and well proportioned. The perspective presented by these pillars run uninterruptedly to a length of nearly 230 m.

We came out of the temple and went to the beach next to the temple. Hordes of devootes were taking a bath there. We left for Dhanushkoti in a bus (No 3). It takes about 20 -25 minutes to reach the beach. Breakfast was at a small tea shop. We had omlet and paratha. The curry they gave along was the best I have ever had.

Tummy filled, we headed off to the ruins of Dhanushkodi in a tempo which accomodated 20 people. Some were riding on the top of the tempo. They charge anywhere from Rs. 40 to Rs. 60 for a 30 minute ride. The Dhanushkodi railway line was destroyed in the 1964 cyclone from Pamban Station and a trainload of passengers was washed into the sea.Even though the railway line was laid between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, it was in course of time covered by six sand dunes and it was abandoned. Here you will find a ruined church, a shiv ling, several temples associated with Lord Rama and the ruins of a now a ghost town. A local guide will take you around explaning in Tamil. You need to have a translator with you.

The water is very blue and enchanting. I took a dip in the water and it was very refreshing. 20 minutes later the tempo driver comes by asking you to get in the tempo for the trip back.

We then went to Rameshwaram and took an autorikshaw to visit some of the temples around the place. One the must visit place is Ram Jharokha. The name of the place is actually Ram ji Rukhe, meaning Lord Rama had waited. Over the period of time it became what it is now. You will get a fantastic view of the town from top of the temple.

Another place is Lakshaman kunbd and Sita Kund. Legends holds that Lord Rama's brother Lakshman and his wife Sita took bath in these respective ponds.

Once done visiting these places, we headed back to Madurai in the 2:00 pm bus.

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.