Monsoon 2N/3D getaway from Bengaluru to Coorg

After all the delays due to heavy rains in that region causing commute issues, finally the time had come for me to travel to my desired monsoon destination “Coorg”! Got weekday offer at Amanvana Spa Resort (Amanvana 8 island resort) in Kushalnagar & it seemed like a good offer for Rs. 15,975.00 for double occupancy with breakfast for 2N/3D. Only places we had in mind to see were the nearby Dhubare, Chikilihole dam & Nisargadhama. The plan was to spend most of our time in the resort itself. Booked our bus tickets from Bengaluru for 30th Sept 7:00AM in KSRTC Volvo Airawat online and then it was off to Coorg!!

We reached bus stop by 6:45 AM & to our surprise, the conductor said they were waiting for us as they wanted to leave early since the bus was already 95% full. Thank God we booked the tickets in advance, otherwise we would have missed this bus. Wondered if ever our transport will leave as per its exact schedule :-)?

B’fast stop was near Ramanagara. It is one of Kamath’s outlets & food is same as its Yathrinivas restaurant but no ambience, more like a dharshini. Driver announced a 10min stop…We rushed thinking it is “real” 10mins and annoyed the heck out of the waiter by rushing him to serve us quickly and then for the bill. He later commented to us before we left “Ayyo, why are you rushing me like this, see your driver is still eating :-)” time sense in India is something I still haven’t gotten used to! Finally, bus left after 25min & next stop was Mysore. Most of the folks got down here and very few continued on to Coorg.

Mysore looked all decked-up & pretty for Dhasara. It started raining after we left Mysore & luckily it stopped by the time we reached Kushalnagar at 12:30 PM. Road from Mysore to Kushalnagar was not bad as we had expected. Conductor said the road from Mangalore to Coorg was the one that was badly damaged due to rain. Our resort was just 3Km from bus stop, hopped on a rick for Rs. 80.00 and reached resort in no time.

After the welcome drink and usual intro to the property etc., we walked towards our bungalow admiring the garden... it was beautiful! Seemed like every inch of the property was landscaped & it was very well maintained. They call each unit a bungalow and not cottage – very nicely done! Our bungalow was very cute with its own gate and a small private garden with a lotus pond.

Amanvana

It had windows all around overlooking nothing but green surroundings. After freshening up we went to their restaurant to try some Coorg food – had Coorgi style akki roti & kodava curry, very yummy! Ambience was cool with the sound of birds & Kaveri flowing, and a view of the garden, what more can one ask for…we thought we will rest for a while before our 3:30pm water trek arranged by resort to 8 islands right behind their proprty. 

Bungalow

Kaveri

We were asked to meet the trek guide where Kaveri flows thro’ the resort. They also told us to wear comfortable clothing as we would get wet below the waist and absolutely not carry anything including camera, money, keys, etc., & that trek would be for 2hrs.
Luckily it was a small crowd for this trek; there was the two of us and one other family with 3 children. We had worn tracks as it was just walking in knee deep water to reach each of the small island thro’ water crossing (well! that is what we thought). Walk to the first Island was via a floating bamboo path (like a floating carpet) on water, only our feet got wet! Next was a knee deep water crossing and at the end of the crossing guide asked us to hold hands of each other & pray for Kaveri river with our eyes closed and before we knew… they splashed water all over us and, with 3 kids & young guides, it was riot! We were drenched and added to that next crossing was very deep and given the monsoon, the force of the flow was high, we had to cross holding a rope tied to trees on either side, this was an experience! The next one was even more exciting; we had to hold a huge old fallen branch to cross. Each crossing was lot of fun…the 2 guides were great and we all spent some time sitting on a rock with water flowing on us like what you can call as natural Jacuzzi. What a 2 hours it was! Later that night there was a movie playing at their open air theater. It was a nice setup but we had to walk out after 10min…, they were playing some typical Bollywood movie and 10min was about all we could tolerate :-)

Birds

View from dining hut

 Next day got up early for a walk thro’ the property enjoying the flora & fauna. As it had rained in the wee hrs of the morning, everything looked so fresh. I simply sat by the river enjoying the beautiful nature. Viji with her drawing tools started sketching. Around 8:30 we had our b’fast, which was a good Indian b’fast spread. Later, we left for our ½ day taxi tour (Rs. 900.00) at 9:40 AM for Dhubare & Chikilihole dam.

Dhubare

Dhubare, Chikilihole & Nisargadhama:

Dhubare is only 13km from Kushalnagar, a well known elephant training camp! It has about 20+ elephants and is run by Karnataka Forest Dept. 

Jungle Lodge has cottages there if one prefers to stay there. If you want to bathe elephants or enjoy seeing elephants in water, you need to go there between 10:00 and 12:00.Since it was Dhasara time many elephants had gone to Mysore. There were only 3 elephants in the water. You can feed them and there are elephant rides as well for a nominal fee. This camp also has many dabbas if one does a day trip from Mysore. One of the elephant showed me my place, when I tried to walk closer to him without a mavutha…He got angry & scared me away :-( actually, it was very stupid of me to have done this.

Chikilihole 

Chikilihole dam

From here we proceed to Chikilihole dam which is 5km from Dubare & about 15km from Kushalnagar. It is a picturesque place. It is a small dam built across Kaveri River. The construction is very unique & funnel shaped. The landscape with backwater & mountains make it a feast for the eyes. Since it was monsoon season, it had lot of water. We were back at the resort at lunch time. Had tasty food by the river (Shavge, thopu fry and soup). After lunch, Viji found a good spot in the garden with a full view of Kaveri and parked herself to sketch. I walked around the property which also has a nice veggie & herb garden. This place is so calm & peaceful; you can just sit for hours doing nothing. 

Nisargadhama rope bridge

Later in the evening we visited Nisargadhama which is 5min walk from our resort. It is a 64-acre island formed by Kaveri. It has bamboo groves, sandalwood and teak trees and surrounded by the Kaveri River. The island is accessible through a hanging rope bridge. There are deer & rabbit parks inside. We just walked one complete loop of 2.5km and it was unfortunate all the entrance to water area was blocked (may be due to heavy rain). This is a popular spot for college trips and family picnics and hence was very crowded. When we got back to resort,  we were tired and just wanted to relax…, lucky for us, we got coupons for foot & head massage at the Spa as the pool was closed that day. It was niceee... later that night we opted for Neer dosa with Coorgi side dish! Hotel staff were nice, I guess we were the only 2 asking for Coorgi dishes every time although veggie choice is limited in their cuisine, we got some extra attention :-)

Next morning was yet again another lovely one, waking up to birds singing & hearing to water flow. Saw some colorful butterflies! Just chilled out for rest of the morning and left for Bengaluru by 2:00pm bus. Luckily, it started raining only after we got on to the bus. It was a great monsoon getaway! It rained at perfect times - never when we were venturing out :-) 

Viji's resort landscape sketches that she did while I was busy doing nothing :-)

A lovely relaxing & rejuvenating holiday …true to what this resort advertises as “ Rabbit hole for the soul”. Total cost per head for 3D/2N came to Rs 10,500/- and was worth it!

Day trip from Bengaluru to Melukote-Nagamangala-Basaralu-Kere Thonnur

My niece’s recommendation to visit Melukote temple triggered me to google Mandya district. I searched for less travelled sort of destinations in & around Mandya as we had already seen more well known attractions like Srirangapattana, Shivanasamudra & others. Based on the info gathered, Viji & I decided on a day trip to Mandya to cover some of the Hoysala dynasty temples from 12th century AD: Melukote-Nagamangala-Basaralu & Kere Thonnur

Booked taxi from our usual reliable taxi service (Kiran Travels/Kiran Coffee works) a stone throw from my house in NR Colony & started off the next day at 6:50AM, Nov7th. The drive was smooth with very little traffic. Had great bfast (Kotte Kadabu) at Kamath Yatrinivas near Ramanagara & headed straight to Melukote. 

Farm on the way

Drive was nice with beautiful shades of green fields on either side, I guess the fields were showing off the effect of good monsoon. By the time we reached Melukote it was around 10:15AM(3hrs drive – 140 Km from Bengaluru, 30 km from Mandya)

Melukote

This is a 1000+yrs old town and is built on rocky hills (granite rocks) of Yaadavagiri overlooking the Cauvery valley. Few attractions in Melukore are Cheluvanarayana swamy temple, Kalyani, Hill temple of Lord Yoga Narasimha, Raya Gopura, Akka Thangi Kola, Academy of Sanskrit Research & the residence of Pu ti Narasimhachar (famous Kannada literary figure)

Yoga Narasimha Temple

First we visited the Yoga Narasimha temple on top of the hill , you can either walk up the steps from the bottom of the hill or take the vehicle up to where it can go (midpoint) and then walk up. We walked up from mid point, it had 225 steps. Temple is nice & yet could have been maintained better. It has simple & nice old architecture, pillars are plain with no carvings, the idol is beautiful. Thankfully there was hardly any people…view of Melukote town from here is picturesque. 

View of Melukote from hill top

Next, we headed towards Kalyani /Pushkarani – Nice & big! Apparently it is in lot of movies & a very popular Kalyani & most photographed in Karnataka. It has a very well carved Mantapa. 

Kalyani with a view of Narasimha temple

After spending sometime here, we went to the famous Cheluanarayana swamy temple. Narayana is really cheluva here & so are the rest of the idols in this temple complex, all of the temple jewellery here are from Mysore Wodeyar family. There are few marvelous carved pillars inside the courtyard. Temple has more religious significance than architectural beauty that we usually see in Hoysala temples. 

Cheluvanarayana swamy temple

Temple Corridor 

The priests here are Tamilians and the story goes like this, early in the 12th century the famous Srivaishnava saint Sri Ramanujacharya, who hailed from Tamil Nadu stayed at Melukote for about 12 years. It had thus become a prominent centre of the Srivaishnava sect of Brahmins, who obtained this from the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana. This place is often known as Badrinath of the South. We were hoping to get some prasada (famous Melukote Puliyogare and we shamelessly asked as well :-) One of the priest said, it is delayed today due to some special pooja at the Ramanujacharya temple :-(

Raya Gopura

We proceed towards Raya Gopura, which is a very interesting incomplete structure leading to the hill. It has four tall pillars and has no tower above it, apparently the king ordered this to be built overnight & since it could not be finished by morning it was never completed. 

Akka Thangi Kola

Next to this is sisters' pond (Akka Thangi Kola), One has salt water and one sweet (of course Thangi kola is sweet :-)). This is well maintained! Thumbs up to the watchman here. There is also an Anjaneya temple behind this pond.
I understand there is paid toilet facility here which is clean.

Sanskrit Research Center

We went to Sanskrit Research Center. Areas of research here are in Upanishads & Vishitadhvaitha. Their library has thousands of manuscripts and about 30,000 books in Sanskrit, Kannada & Tamil.There are few cottages if one prefers to stay overnight. We went to one of the cottage mainly to use it for bio break… it was basic but clean. Most of the cottages looked occupied by foreigners. By now it was 12:30 and we were hungry. Went towards the temple street looking for “Subbanna Mess a Brahmin restaurant” which I had read about from other bloggers. Thumbs up for the puliyogare and Bella Pongal….they were Delicious! We got some packed for our night dinner as well and bought puliyogare gojju from them.

After a good lunch, went to Pu Ti Na’s house, a very humble cute house that has all the awards he has won and some of his personal items.

Nagamangala

Melukote to Nagamangala is about 30km & the drive was good with sugarcane fields on both sides. The Saumya Keshava temple is like any other temple from outside. Unfortunately temple street starts at the front door itself in other words, what looks like once was the temple grounds, now is occupied by buildings like school & shops. Since it was lunch hour for children, they were running all around including jumping up and down the garuda gamba outside the temple:-( But, once inside the temple complex, it is very different all together. 

saumya keshava temple

corridar

Saumya Keshava is exactly like his name “Calm & serene”. Since Keshava has a “Shanka” in his right hand as opposed to “Chakra” hence the name Sowmya Keshava & this is very rare. Pillars and the Mandala on the center ceiling is very well carved & beautiful . Adhi Shesha is sitting in Mandala akara. We were told you will not find the Adhi Shesha Sitting in Mandala akara on top of mantapa anywhere else. Adhi Shesha is sitting on a big Shanku which appears as if it is placed on heap of 108 Shanku. This is a unique feature here. The temple guide compared this temple to Kukke Subramanya as many people come to clear their naga dosha  The walk around the courtyard inside the temple was very peaceful and clean. It had the perfect air of a very old temple. 

From here we started towards Basaralu sign but everyone who claimed to know the area kept telling us there are NO OLD temples in Basaralu. Our driver also misled us by calling his friend from Basaralu and he said no old temples there and he said that the info we have is wrong & it must be a different Basaralu town. Since there was no mobile signal to download the map or use navigation here… we decided to proceed first to Tonnur Lake instead.

Kere Thonnur

Thonnur is located at the southern foot of the Yadugiri hills. When Musilms invaded Melukote in 14th century, this is where the Hoysala king retired. A beautiful and huge fresh water lake surrounded by hillocks. Tonnur lake is a man made water barrage across Yadavanadi connecting two rocky hills and built 1000 years ago. It was called as Tirumala Sagara (lake of the sacred hills) & Tipu sultan called it "Moti Talab" (lake of pearls). One can also climb the rocks if you have time & energy. There is also a small sand beach area where you can have picnic but no shade.
I had read there is boating, but when we went they had stopped since Monsoon… sometimes adventure clubs have overnight camping here. Well, not sure if it is these campers or local folks who used this as a picnic spot...have made a mess and filled every corner with plastics.

Nambi Narayana temple

This place also hosts few heritage temples from Hoysala dynasty. Since it was afternoon 2:30pm they were all closed. We just saw one temple though the garbagudi was closed. We were told that we can walk to the poojari/priest residence and ask him to open but we did not. The Nambi Narayana temple we saw is 900+ yrs old and very nice. The history goes “Nambhi Narayana Temple: Initially was a Jain basadi, it was transformed into a Vishnu temple once Ramanujacharya arrived in the Hoysala Kingdom. He is believed to have personally installed the idol of Narayana in the temple”

Basaralu

Yuppiee!!! By now my cell phone signal was working and I retrieved info on Mallikarjuna temple in Basaralu as well as the driving direction…we headed back towards Nagamangala as Basaralu is between Mandya and Nagamangala.
Basaralu is about 20 km from Mandya & 17 km from Nagamangala. The main attraction of Basaralu is the Mallikarjuna temple of Hoysala architecture. It is built by Harihara Dandanayaka. First expression as our car pulled towards this hidden temple complex was a big WOW!!!!!!

Mallikarjuna Temple Entrance

Temple carvings

It is just wonderful with awesome carvings (very similar to Halebedu but smaller in size). The temple was locked but the watchman/security opened the door and showed us the inside which was just spectacular and full of intricate carvings. Photography is not allowed inside,  It has a Shiva Linga & all the idols were so pretty and it has a beautiful Nandhi and many carved mandalas in the ceiling. Outside of this temple was ruined during Muslim invasion in 14th century. Good news is that Archeology department is working on the restoration and the plan is to rework the structure as currently it is tilted in many areas. 

More carvings

Lady holding a handbag?

It was sad to see most of the faces in the carvings outside the temple are disfigured. The security guy said only few visitors to this temple & mostly people who have seen this on internet. So, we told our driver to ensure he brings visitors from Bangalore who come to Melukote.By now it was 5:20pm…it was time to leave.  On the way to mandya we got to see this cute Devi procession with painted bullock carts

Painted bullock cart

Devi

Reached home by 8:00PM…What a day!!! 13hrs & 400km…I think if we had the route plan ahead of time, we could have avoided time spent driving that extra 50km or so & covered Panchakuta Basadi (from 10th century AD) at Kambadahalli instead.Well, there is always a next time.

A very cool trip!Highly recommend this day trip from Bengaluru. Lesson learnt is that to ensure you have the route map if you travel to less known temples & don't totally rely on locals or mobile signal :-)