Monday 4 November 2013

Awesome trip on the eve of Diwali

Kehte hai life mein atleast  ek special cheez karni chahiye ...

With this line I did my first Trekking experience with BTC..

Our trip started on 1st Nov Friday 10:00PM...Point of meeting was Shantala Silk house,scared of getting late due to Bangalore Traffic reached little bit early waiting for the other trekkers to come.Met Ashwini my first trekmate with hubby had a quick intro with them very cute couples.Very soon our other trek mates reached the point (again thanks to Bangalore Traffic)....best thing about the meeting point is...it was near to SBI ATM who ever comes first head towards ATM..:-p



Good thing we all reached ontime ,had a quick introduction of all (Mujhe to ek bhi naam yaad nai hua....last tak ek bande ka naam yaad karti rahi....:-P)..started exactly by 10:00pm.

Night we got a chance to listen to old hits hindi movie songs ..(Koyal si teri boli...,Subah se lekar shaam tak , Kudarat Ne banaya hoga fursat se tujhe mere yaar.. ) which we miss these day ...Thanks again to our Driver who never complained our demand for changing songs and bad route to Kodachadri.


Our First Day at Kodachadri 

We reached  HomeStay early morning had South Indian breakfast Idli and variety rice ...then our toli started heading towards the goal with our local guide Manjunath. We crossed some streams...green fields ..sugarcane fields and reached Hidlumane Waterfalls. We also had a view of two beautiful snakes.

Our way to Kodachadri Peak Green Fields


Hidlumane waterfalls


Darshan of Snake on the way to Hidlumane Falls

After reaching to Hidlumane falls unable to control ourselves from we enjoyed the bathing in falls where one of our trek mate Sindhu got the chance to meet Mr. leech. After our photo snaps we started ahead towards the peak . After crossing the densed jungle we reached to the the grassy bald top of the peak where the difficult part of trek started as Sun was at it best and it was my first trek on straight trail.


Thanks to our Organisers Virander and Chaitanya for inspiring us with their previous experience short stories and constant motivation to reach the peak .I was the slowest trekker in the trek taking frequent breaks .....(with tagline - 2 minutes) and finally got the the title -" Bhag Milky Bhag" , we also had a Milkha (Gangadhar ) who enjoyed the resting due to my frequent breaks.


After reaching top we rested and our chitchat started with my love to Chennai (Akhir Chennai mein aisa kya hai jo bangalore mein nahin ...still this question is secret )  Enjoyed beautiful view of western ghats with foggy climate.

Afternoon Lunch at Kodachadri 

We had afternoon lunch at peak and started descending ...it was quite easy for me (Rolling down is easier than climbing ;-P) After reaching down we preferred bathing in a stream flowing  nearby ,it was much relaxation with some drizzling then I started learning names .. .(atlast found to be drainage water) :-p
Still i remember (Verma from Punjab and confused between Murli n Yogesh)

Night @ Homestay 

It was almost dark when we came back to Homestay with no power and only torch .Suddenly someone found out there was Mr / Mrs Leech on my leg ...this was my first experience with leech ...yukk!!!! it looks so ugly ...( Shouting Mummy ! Mummy ! please isko nikalo  )..My again thanks to Viru who took it off.
       We had a candle fire (similar to camp fire) at terrace and shared our first day experience then finally the medication time - First time experience with leech , pain and blisters. It rained very heavily which washed off our second day plan -visit to Arishinagudi falls.


Best thing about BTC organisers they are very caring !!!!:-) :-)


Second Day -> Visit to Kollur Temple, Ferry Ride on Sharavathi Backwaters and visit to Shivappa Naik's Fort 



Our second day started with breakfast at Sridevi hotel . Got a chance to have a new dish in Karnataka -Buns and we headed towards Kollur Temple .On the way to temple our TT 's tyre got slipped to muddy path .Our GOD - Gangadhar saved our lives instructing us to get down from the vehicle...


As it was Diwali there was a long queue for the Goddess darshan took the outer view of temple and escaped from the queue. Decided to go for Habbe falls  but on the way reached to Sharavati backwaters to experience Ferry ride .

AfterNoon Lunch at Sharavathi Backwaters

Enjoyed the lunch with Tamarind rice with garlic .....:-P :-P .Sipped buttermilk and headed to our Ferry ride
Sky was at its best captured some of the beautiful pics.. and enjoyed the panoramic view .


Our next destination was Jog falls but on the way reached Shivappa Naik's fort  where we decided not to miss the beautiful sunset .Captured some of the sunset and our group pics by the time it was dark we started for our last destination  .......DINNER.

 
Dinner at Shimoga

Our Final destination - (Yes it was Final Destination - Swati our trekmate said will have Kulcha and ended up with sambhar /rasam rice with Raagi balls  tip -> we should no chew it but swallow ...lolz)  Finally had a superb lassi which made our day . 

Virander and Chaintanya took our feedback - Seriously it was one of the best trip of my life and will try to makeout  maximum trips with BTC. Got suggestion on how to improve fitness for next trek . 


On the whole we didnt missed our Diwali Celebration got a chance to see 240 shots in the sky thanks to the workers of Ashoka Hotel for making our Diwali even more special.!!!



          We had a smoke free ,pollution free Diwali  where we met 11 people as strangers today good friends.
Cheers !! to the Founders of BTC for organizing such events where we can be more close to the nature and to our Mother Earth  which makes us to remember some beautiful lines....

" Hum hai iss pal yahan ,jaane ho kal kahan ..Hum mile na mile ,Hum rahe na rahe ....
Rahengi sada yahaan pyaar ki yeh dastaan ..Sunegi sada jise yeh zameen aasmaan..."

Thanks again to all the trekkers and Chaitanya and Virander for a great event!!!!!

Regards ,
Cveta