How come Coorg?
Coorg - Scotland of India. Yeah that is what we chose to celebrate our first marriage anniversary. It was summer and we wanted a place, preferably a hill station, to get away from the heat. We decided to take our pet Leo with us. The reason for not traveling for almost an year is him. An epileptic dog, whom I did not wanted to leave alone in a kennel. To be honest, I miss him more than he does. I would constantly worry about him, than enjoy the trip. From our previous experience( Singapore) we decided we would take him along.
How did we go?
We chose to drive( obviously, with a pet). We found the route guide through( team-bhp.com). There are basically two routes to this place and thanks to this website we could take the shortcut and save some 50 kms journey. Directions are pretty good. Every 20-30 mins you would pass by a town or a village and you would not get lost. To me this was important. I hate traveling on empty long roads. I have not traveled at all in my whole life and looking at empty long roads makes me restless.
We started in the morning at 6:30. We were not in a hurry and drove on an average 60 kms/ hr. We stopped at multiple places all along for Leo walk, for tender coconut, breakfast or some shopping on the way( when you pass by Chennapatna you see a lot of shops on the road side). By the time we reached the place it was 12 in the noon. Or else one could reach this place in less than 5 hrs. On our way back we were in Bangalore in less than 5 hrs.
We could have covered Golden Temple on the way. But as Leo was with us we could not. Otherwise Golden Temple is on the way from Bangalore to Coorg/ Madikere. This is a Buddhist monastery and a must see in Coorg.
And where did we stay?
So the obvious choice was to go for a Home Stay which would allow pets. I called up few and the only one which would pets was this - Bougan Villa Home Stay. The host was a bit worried if my pet would chew on the furniture etc, but they eventually agreed. They were charging 2000/- rs per day for the cottage. This is for a couple. Even though they provided food for my pet, we were not charged anything extra. But if you take kids along the charges are slightly different. Extra 1000/- rs per child. They provide breakfast, tea, snacks and dinner.
Home stay is located near Siddapura. Almost all the home stays are away from the main town - Madikere. All these are in estate areas away from the hustle bustle. You would have to travel min 12-20 km to get to Madikere or any tourist spot. If you do not have a vehicle Homestay is NOT an option.
Any other facilities like restaurants, medical stores etc are not found anywhere near by. All we could see was a small grocery shop. So carry your own first aid kid.
And what did we see?
After we reached the place we took bath and relaxed till 3 or 4 pm in the evening. Thanks to the estate, mobile signals were poor. The place really serves you well if that is your intent. To be away from being "connected". Raja's seat was the closest one we could visit and be back before it gets dark. Yes it is important to be back by max 7 pm as there is not good lighting to drive around the estates in Coorg. So usually we were back by 7 pm. To savour home made wine, watching the entire forest sleeping.
Rajas seat is the highest point from where you can look down entire stretch of Coorg. There is a fountain show, a garden. This is in Madikere town. All along you would find stores selling spices, honey, and different varieties of wine. I have never tasted such weird ones before. Beetle-nut wine, Hibisicus Wine, Coffee Wine - it is like they can make wine with anything and everything. We usually used to go for wine shopping on our way back to the Homestay; and they give 20-30 ml just for tasting. So yeah we were slightly tipsy by the time we reached Homestay :-P.
Next day we went to Golden Temple. There are many tibetian restaurants in Buddhist monastery if one would like to take tibetian food. As we were not hungry yet( after sumptuous neer dosa served by the hosts @Homestay). So we drove back to Madikere and after some shopping for honey etc we had lunch. One our way back, we covered Dubare Elephant Camp. We traveled at the end of April - there were rains in Bangalore but none in Coorg. So most of the falls/ rivers had no water. Same with the river at Dubare. There was little water, and people used to take boats to reach across to Elephant Camp. But now, they just walk through the waters to reach across.
Next day as everyone said TalCauvery is a must visits we drove almost 1 1/2 hrs to reach this place in scorching sun to this yet another hilltop. I was really disappointed with this place. It's a huge temple, well maintained but nothing really to see. Just water gushing out of a small hole into the pool in front. They say its the birth place of river Cauvery.
We did not really go to roam around Coorg. We really wanted to spend time away from the apartment, away from the kitchen, away from work. So we deliberately chose to drop many other places like Irupu Falls, Aby Falls, Omkareswara Temple etc.
We lived like estate owners for those few days at Coorg ;-)
So? How was it?
I was so excited when I thought about staying in the middle of an estate amidst the coffee/ tea plantation. Coffee plantation there was more than 100 years old. Owners of this estate had nothing to worry about security. They keep their doors open even in the nights. Well, there was no proper road or lighting, even if some one had come to steal something or harm someone I don't think they could escape from the estate owner's, they had guns. And every evening the owner would train his two daughters in shooting. So guns are their protection. To protect them from wild animals than burglars.
Food served by these people is authentic coorgi style. Everyday there would be minimum 15 items for dinner. All marks go to the hospitality of the guests. They even come and sit with you in the evenings for a chat and tell you stories about the estate history or Coorg.
And for drives in the estates. Again, I hated them. The roads would go on turning and twisting with not even a single vehicle meeting you on the way. They would just go on. All you could see is 5 feet tall plantation on the sides of the roads. I really wonder how they laid the roads in the first place. They are pretty narrow, even though you know that there is no vehicle coming in the opposite direction you cannot go fast, if you did and there is really a vehicle coming, it gets tough. There is not much space really to accommodate.
And how about neighbors? Except the estate owner, his wife, his father and two daughters and us there was not one else to be seen for 20 kms.
How could one live such a secluded life? I envied them for having so much land for themselves, apart from that I pitied them. Homestay was their way to stay connected to the world. To people. To life. Otherwise a person like me would die in that silence/ darkness. Only thing I liked there was you can sit in that darkness till late night and walk bare foot through out the estate not having to worry about anything. I realized THEN, that I like chaos, I like noise, I like busy, I like my life back at the city than in such a secluded isolated place for which you are the king or queen. I like to "belong" somewhere not "lost" somewhere.
Coorg - Scotland of India. Yeah that is what we chose to celebrate our first marriage anniversary. It was summer and we wanted a place, preferably a hill station, to get away from the heat. We decided to take our pet Leo with us. The reason for not traveling for almost an year is him. An epileptic dog, whom I did not wanted to leave alone in a kennel. To be honest, I miss him more than he does. I would constantly worry about him, than enjoy the trip. From our previous experience( Singapore) we decided we would take him along.
How did we go?
We chose to drive( obviously, with a pet). We found the route guide through( team-bhp.com). There are basically two routes to this place and thanks to this website we could take the shortcut and save some 50 kms journey. Directions are pretty good. Every 20-30 mins you would pass by a town or a village and you would not get lost. To me this was important. I hate traveling on empty long roads. I have not traveled at all in my whole life and looking at empty long roads makes me restless.
We started in the morning at 6:30. We were not in a hurry and drove on an average 60 kms/ hr. We stopped at multiple places all along for Leo walk, for tender coconut, breakfast or some shopping on the way( when you pass by Chennapatna you see a lot of shops on the road side). By the time we reached the place it was 12 in the noon. Or else one could reach this place in less than 5 hrs. On our way back we were in Bangalore in less than 5 hrs.
We could have covered Golden Temple on the way. But as Leo was with us we could not. Otherwise Golden Temple is on the way from Bangalore to Coorg/ Madikere. This is a Buddhist monastery and a must see in Coorg.
And where did we stay?
So the obvious choice was to go for a Home Stay which would allow pets. I called up few and the only one which would pets was this - Bougan Villa Home Stay. The host was a bit worried if my pet would chew on the furniture etc, but they eventually agreed. They were charging 2000/- rs per day for the cottage. This is for a couple. Even though they provided food for my pet, we were not charged anything extra. But if you take kids along the charges are slightly different. Extra 1000/- rs per child. They provide breakfast, tea, snacks and dinner.
Home stay is located near Siddapura. Almost all the home stays are away from the main town - Madikere. All these are in estate areas away from the hustle bustle. You would have to travel min 12-20 km to get to Madikere or any tourist spot. If you do not have a vehicle Homestay is NOT an option.
Any other facilities like restaurants, medical stores etc are not found anywhere near by. All we could see was a small grocery shop. So carry your own first aid kid.
And what did we see?
After we reached the place we took bath and relaxed till 3 or 4 pm in the evening. Thanks to the estate, mobile signals were poor. The place really serves you well if that is your intent. To be away from being "connected". Raja's seat was the closest one we could visit and be back before it gets dark. Yes it is important to be back by max 7 pm as there is not good lighting to drive around the estates in Coorg. So usually we were back by 7 pm. To savour home made wine, watching the entire forest sleeping.
Rajas seat is the highest point from where you can look down entire stretch of Coorg. There is a fountain show, a garden. This is in Madikere town. All along you would find stores selling spices, honey, and different varieties of wine. I have never tasted such weird ones before. Beetle-nut wine, Hibisicus Wine, Coffee Wine - it is like they can make wine with anything and everything. We usually used to go for wine shopping on our way back to the Homestay; and they give 20-30 ml just for tasting. So yeah we were slightly tipsy by the time we reached Homestay :-P.
Next day we went to Golden Temple. There are many tibetian restaurants in Buddhist monastery if one would like to take tibetian food. As we were not hungry yet( after sumptuous neer dosa served by the hosts @Homestay). So we drove back to Madikere and after some shopping for honey etc we had lunch. One our way back, we covered Dubare Elephant Camp. We traveled at the end of April - there were rains in Bangalore but none in Coorg. So most of the falls/ rivers had no water. Same with the river at Dubare. There was little water, and people used to take boats to reach across to Elephant Camp. But now, they just walk through the waters to reach across.
Next day as everyone said TalCauvery is a must visits we drove almost 1 1/2 hrs to reach this place in scorching sun to this yet another hilltop. I was really disappointed with this place. It's a huge temple, well maintained but nothing really to see. Just water gushing out of a small hole into the pool in front. They say its the birth place of river Cauvery.
We did not really go to roam around Coorg. We really wanted to spend time away from the apartment, away from the kitchen, away from work. So we deliberately chose to drop many other places like Irupu Falls, Aby Falls, Omkareswara Temple etc.
We lived like estate owners for those few days at Coorg ;-)
So? How was it?
I was so excited when I thought about staying in the middle of an estate amidst the coffee/ tea plantation. Coffee plantation there was more than 100 years old. Owners of this estate had nothing to worry about security. They keep their doors open even in the nights. Well, there was no proper road or lighting, even if some one had come to steal something or harm someone I don't think they could escape from the estate owner's, they had guns. And every evening the owner would train his two daughters in shooting. So guns are their protection. To protect them from wild animals than burglars.
Food served by these people is authentic coorgi style. Everyday there would be minimum 15 items for dinner. All marks go to the hospitality of the guests. They even come and sit with you in the evenings for a chat and tell you stories about the estate history or Coorg.
And for drives in the estates. Again, I hated them. The roads would go on turning and twisting with not even a single vehicle meeting you on the way. They would just go on. All you could see is 5 feet tall plantation on the sides of the roads. I really wonder how they laid the roads in the first place. They are pretty narrow, even though you know that there is no vehicle coming in the opposite direction you cannot go fast, if you did and there is really a vehicle coming, it gets tough. There is not much space really to accommodate.
And how about neighbors? Except the estate owner, his wife, his father and two daughters and us there was not one else to be seen for 20 kms.
How could one live such a secluded life? I envied them for having so much land for themselves, apart from that I pitied them. Homestay was their way to stay connected to the world. To people. To life. Otherwise a person like me would die in that silence/ darkness. Only thing I liked there was you can sit in that darkness till late night and walk bare foot through out the estate not having to worry about anything. I realized THEN, that I like chaos, I like noise, I like busy, I like my life back at the city than in such a secluded isolated place for which you are the king or queen. I like to "belong" somewhere not "lost" somewhere.
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