Italy Revisited

A revisit to Italy from June 1st to June 10th this year -  Naples, Amalfi coast , Pompeii, Mt Vesuvius, Herculanium/Ercoland, Rome and Venice

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Serene Arasinamakki

When the month of Karthika  (this eighth month, as per Hindu solar calendar, starts when Sun enters Scorpio, corresponding to October/November) started, I remembered the TV program about Varanasi Karthika masa/month last day celebration when Ghats are lit with oil lamps. I wanted to be there.

Unfortunately no rooms were available in any of the guest houses near the main Ghat. They all said the same thing, rooms get booked 6 months in advance for this festival!  Checking on the net, I read about Dharmasthala Karthika masa “Laskhadeepotsava” festival. Dharmasthala is the temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangadi taluk of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka.  We decided to go there as it is only 6 hrs drive from Bengaluru & to stay somewhere outside Dharmasthala town as accommodation within the town is catered to pilgrim crowd. We were warned of the crowds in this temple town; forget about the festival time, this sacred place attracts 10,000 people on average on a normal day.

Travelling to Western Ghats by itself is a thrill - Older than the Himalayan Mountains, this mountain chain of the Western Ghats, declared UNESCO World Heritage site, represents geomorphic features of immense importance with unique biophysical and ecological processes. The site’s high montane forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather pattern.

A quick search found what looked & sounded like an awesome home stay, “Stream of Joy”, 30 km from Dharmasthala in Arasinamakki by the River Kapila & in the middle of Adike thota/ beetle-nut farm.  A call to the host, Mr. Kashinath Damle, helped us book a cottage at a very nominal rate of Rs. 3,000/- including 3 meals/day for 2 people. He informed me of heritage temples within 10-15 km radius and a short trek into the forest for some great bird watching. Added bonus was he was going to be our guide for these. Key information he stressed is, it is fully vegetarian with no liquor allowed and place not suitable for people who cannot do stairs!  With one of Viji’s friends joining us, it became even more economical at Rs. 4,000/-  total including 3 meals/day for 3. After booking the cottage & bus tickets, the word that came to my mind is “Destiny” since these two places were never in mine or Viji’s bucket list or in radar of our things to do/see.  

Arasinamakki

Stream of Joy

On Dec 9, 2015 off we went on a 2N/3D getaway by the 10:30 PM Airawat bus to Dharmasthala. We were informed by host to get down at Kokkada (20 km before Dharmasthala) & to take a Rickshaw to Arasinamakki (10 km ride) for a cost of Rs. 200/-.  Checking with the bus driver, we found out that we would reach this place around 4:30 AM.  Ride was OK as night bus ride can never be comfortable especially the ride through the winding Ghats. Reaching little early at 4:15 AM, we were happy to see an auto in the stand & were at the property by 4:30 AM. Although we were sort of in the middle of nowhere, riding an Auto felt safe! We were greeted by the host. As I had booked the cottage for 3 full days, we were able to check-in at this odd hour. The Cottages are located a little distance from the main house and have few steps along the way. Our cottage was clean & simple with an attached bathroom and a small sit-out facing the river.  

Kapila by the cottage

Cottage

10th Dec: We crashed for couple of hrs and later walked around the property which is neatly done:  4 cottages, 2 small and 2 slightly larger to accommodate 3 people. Each cottage has basic bathroom with a nice old style “Hande/copper vessel” for hot water right outside each cottage bathroom with direct pipe connection.  The dining area is a gazebo with net all around in the middle of all the trees & close to the cottages.  The River Kapila, in its tranquil form, flows a few feet from the cottage completely surrounded by greenery. Kapila, originating at “Devaramane” in Gutti Village of Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalore district, also takes-in the waters of a river-let “Bairavi” and flows westwards before joining Netravathi at Koodali Pathikallu. Understand during monsoon, river rises to 10ft and comes to cottage entrance steps, but now it was only up to my thighs and you can cross this pure/clean/transparent flowing water by foot or use home-made bridge from beetle tree trunk & balance across.  They have a bamboo raft & a man-made rain fall on the river for your pleasure. Added to this natural picturesque beauty is the continuous music from varieties of birds.  Simply fell in love with this place instantaneously. Had breakfast around 9:00AM – delicious banana leaf wrapped idly, chatni & sambar with avalakke and pinapple kesari bath.  I ate more than I should (Well! What’s new?) .

Rubber tapping

Discussing our plans with Mr. Kashinath, our host, we decided to visit Dharmasthala after lunch. The agenda was first to see some of the temples/places I had listed & walk around till late evening to see the lighting of deepas/one lakh oil lamps. We were informed once again of the huge crowd during this time and the long lines to temple. Our host arranged a taxi ride at Rs. 650/- each way.  After breakfast we took a walk in & around the estate, saw the interesting process of rubber tapping and just relaxed by the river enjoying the pristine Kapila!

Dharmasthala Main St

After a heavy typical South Canara lunch, off we went to Dharmatsala at 2:30 PM on a 30 min ride to the 800 years old historic place- Shri Khestra Dharmasthala. Today’s Karthika festival special was lakshadeepotsava, Sahitya sammelana/literature discussion and Gowri Marukatte Utsava/street fair. It is said “Twenty generations of the Heggade lineage have devoted their lives to manage and develop the Dharmasthala kshetra. Sheer dedication, selfless service and pious devotion to God and Man, have been the foundation of the revered religious centre that Dharmasthala is today.”    

This is one place where people of all walks of life & religion \ are united. I say to all those Indians who are screaming on top of their lungs about intolerance... please come here :-) Its history & legend are amazing; details can be found here - http://www.shridharmasthala.org/subsequent_page.php?id1=3&id=2  

Sri Manjunatha Swamy temple

We were in for a surprise when we reached Sri Manjunatha Swamy temple, contrary to what we had heard there were very few people as it was temple’s afternoon closing time. It was 2:50 and we were asked to run/walk real fast through the long… winding barricade path to reach the inside of the temple as they close the door at 3:00 PM. Huffing and puffing along the long path, we ran this marathon in a hot humid afternoon (like we say in Kannada mata mata madhyana uri beselu) and reached inside the temple in time for dharshan. 

Dining Hall

Unlike in North India, no pandas/priests bother you for money or to perform special poojas. Priest here specially informed us to go to the food hall “Annapoorna Dining hall” and have the meal before its 4:00 PM closing time.  This is Dharmatsala for you… or, should I say, South Canara temples uniqueness where everyone is fed well for free during lunch time in a clean and hygienic environment. I remember what the famous Indian chef Vikas Kanna once mentioned, the tastiest South Indian meal he ever had was at the Udupi Shri Krishna Temple free lunch. 

 

We went on another long walk in the Sun towards the lunch hall to see it.  It is indeed amazing, to see how they feed approx 10,000 people, on average, every day.  Since we had heavy lunch already, we did not eat anything.  By now the heat was getting to us. Could hardly believe it was almost 4:00 PM but still the Sun and the heat was way too much to handle. There was no space with shade available to sit.  Went to the Information Center to check the time the lamps will be lit, but to our disappointment we were informed that oil lamps will be lit after mid night after the chariot is drawn through the Temple Street. They also said oil lamps are few and mostly electric light everywhere which will be on as soon as sun goes down.

Modi,,, Modi... Modi

Original House

Although we passed by Modi chai shop J  , we went to a canteen nearby to sit and made my first wrong move, while the other 2 had cool drinks, I opted for coffee (stupid!? May be! But when I heard coffee I was tempted to have it). Went to see “Neliyadi Beedu” the original residence of the Heggades.  (Story goes “Devathas or guardian of Dharma (Religion) consider it to be a seat for flourishing Dharma. Hegade’s were instructed by Devathas to propagate Dharma and offer free education, food and shelter to people of Nelyadi Beedu, which is still followed to this day & hence the name Dharmatsala.”) The house was locked and we have to see it from outside. Adjacent to this is Shri Chandranatha Swamy Basadi, a well known Jain temple. Across is their grain storage building called, Jama Ugrana and an antique car museum.   We walked thro’ the fair/jathre street and noticed more and more people were just coming to Dharmatsala and festivity had started.  By now it was past 5:00, yet still very hot.  We went to towards the Bahubali hill.  

“In 1973 a statue of Lord Bahubali carved out of a single rock, was installed at Dharmasthala on a low hill near the Manjunatha temple. It is about 39 feet.” You have to climb about 250 steps to the base of the statue.  Statue is done nicely but nowhere close to Bahubali statue in Shravana belugola. It was very crowded with school children.

Sri Rama Kshetra

Although exhausted, from here we took a Rickshaw to see Sri Rama Kshetra which is couple of kilometres away. This new temple structure looked colourful & attractive. External architecture reminds you of Bhubaneswar temples, the inside is North Indian/Iskon style white marble idols and halls.  Legend has it that Lord Rama stayed here for some time during Seethanveshane/search for Seetha. In 70’s a temple was built here. 

Festivity

From here, we took an interesting local shared van/taxi ride back to Dharmasthala for just 10 Rs :-)   By now the lights were on and the entire place looked so festive.  We headed to Kamat for a drink, and I made my 2^nd mistake of the day with 2^nd cup of coffee in the heat.  Festivity had started, streets in & around the temples as well as the temples were lit with lots of lights. It was indeed Lakshadeepotsava,/100000 lights...The crowd was getting bigger and bigger by the minute.  Musicians in groups were playing Mrudhanga and Nadhaswara at every 20 ft distance, the main Chariot was being decorated. Many make shift food and fancy stalls with decorations were attracting customers.  
Children play/ride area was in full swing and beaming with so many lights and rides. All in all, a very high energy atmosphere!

After spending some time wondering around, we decided to leave at 8:00 PM, our car was ready! The winding road back to home-stay was too much to take for me at this point.  The coffee(s) I had in that terrible heat started doing numbers in my stomach and I felt nauseated…luckily I started puking only after I reached the cottage. I felt terrible & just crashed that night! For the first time, although when Viji told me the dinner was very good, I did not even blink!  By morning, I was perfectly fine again with all the toxins out of my system.

Beetle nut 

beetle nut trunk bridge

11^th Dec: Woke up to a beautiful morning. There is nothing like being in the midst of the nature. Went for a short walk across the river via the beetle trunk bridge. Plan for the day was to visit the off-the-beaten-track heritage temples within 15 km radius of Arasinamakki. Had a good breakfast (Akki Rotti, chatni & avalakki) and set out with our host to see temples in his car. The hosting family is so humble and kind, it is beyond words! He took time from his busy schedule to accompany us in his vehicle to these temples with no additional taxi/tour charge.

Southadka temple

First stop was “Southadka Shree Mahaganapathi Temple”. It is more than 800Yrs old and has no gopura/temple structure. It is in open field amidst of nature.  The origin of the name is interesting- Southa in kannada means “cucumber” and Adka means “plain/field”, this Ganesha idol was found by cow herd boys who used to offer tender cucumber which was grown mainly around here. This temple is considered as one of the siddhi kshetras.  There are lots of brass bells of different size hanging all the way from entrance to the idol sanctuary.  We were just in time for morning pooja/maha managalarathi, which was such a great sight and sound from100’s of bells. Panchakajjaya Pooja, the way it is done, is one of the typical South Canara trademarks for Ganesha. It is so colorful to watch.  Avalakke Panchakajjaya Prasada & laddu were delicious!

Vaidhyanatheswara temple

From here we proceeded towards the historic Kokkada Vaidhyanatheswara Temple, It is one of the few places where Hari and Hara, both are worshipped in the same temple complex. The management & priests here are Vaishnavaits.   In this complex there is Vishnu, Vaidhyanatheswara and Neelakanta idols/temples. According to the history it is more than 2600 Yr old “In Dhvaparayuga, Madhvacharya consecrated the idol of Lord Vishnumurthy in Kokkada & authored the Sanskrit book ‘Krishnamruthamaharnava’ here”. 2600 year old!! Goose bumps experience indeed! 

The main temple as you enter is peaceful, beautiful & clean, it is of  Vaidhyanatheshwara - temple is in ‘Deerga Sthandilakara’ structure and was built approximately 1000 years ago. There is a stone writing in Halegannada/Old Kannada in front of the temple which was written in 1544 by Devu (son of king Desinga). He also consecrated Dhwajasthamba, the flag post, in front of the temple. Garbha gudi/Sanctum was glowing with oil lamps all around – the word that comes to mind is “pure”.  

Pushkarani and Neelakanta temple

The Nandhi, in front, is a natural rock formation. Next to this is the small Vishnumurthy temple, the current structure in the form of Mandal is believed to be of the Vijayanagar period. Next to it is this beautiful Kalyani/sacred pond which is believed to have many herbal properties and hence called as Dhanwanthari Kshethra. Pond is believed to be built by Pandavas. The Neelakanta Swamy temple which is in middle of the pond is believed to be one of the very old temples in the region.  This temple probably is the least know heritage temple in Karnataka.  Thanks to Dharmasthala trust that contributes to the up-keep of all these temples. 

Way to temple

Hanging bridge

Temple Complex

Next stop was Panchlineshwara Temple dating back to Mahabharata.   Here mother nature is at its feet, you have to walk about a km in the middle of beetle farm & cross a beautiful hanging bridge on the river called “Gundya holae” to reach this temple.  Here the scenic beauty of Western Ghats - the greenery, water and the surrounding hills/mountain - Yethena buja (looks like shoulder of an Ox and hence the name), Amedhe kallu and Shingani gudda - is breathtaking.  Seems you can trek these hills but minimum 10 people are required.  We were told there are elephants and leopards in those areas & hence local guide/villager is essential for such treks.  This temple complex is marvellous in a traditional style of this region and Kerala. 

Gundya Holae 

Yethena Buja

Our host told us that we will cover Shishila Temple & sunset point in the evening and we headed back to cottage.  The drive was picturesque and beautiful all the way. We saw a few “Cold pressed coconut oil mill” on the way and, of course, we wanted to buy some oil. The price is so cheap (Rs.185 /liter) with an appetizing fragrance (spoken like a true Mangalorean). You realize what a rip off in Bangalore organic stores for cold pressed oils at Rs. 500/litre.

Host ready to serve lunch

After a great lunch and a short nap off to Shishila – This temple, on the banks of Kapila River surrounded by dense forested mountains,  is a biodiversity hot spot.  You have to cross a hanging bridge on Kapila River to reach the Shiva temple. Idol here is in the form of a Linga & is believed to be Udbhava Linga. There are interesting folk stories about this temple. This place is known as Matsya Theertha as huge numbers of Mahashir fish is found here in this river. These fish are considered sacred and prasada is offered everyday to them.There is a belief that feeding these fish can cure skin disease. 

Damle ready with puffed rice bag

Fish...Fish

A devotee from Bangalore has paid for & requested our host to feed the fish on his behalf every time he came here. So, our host had carried a huge bag full of “Aralu/puffed paddy” and the moment he threw some in the water a huge group of fish came up the water and we all got so excited. He showed us a trick, he made loud thumping noise on the bridge and walked towards the steps to the Kapila river, the fishes followed him. It was as if they knew he was going to feed them. I guess they are used to people feeding them and follow footsteps. It was an awesome experience feeding these fish, they are anywhere from a foot to 3 ft big, Our enthusiasm went up 100 folds automatically; it is one of those being in the moment experience!

Shishila temple

After we emptied the bag of Aralu, we went inside the temple. It is a serene 800Yrs old rocky temple with internal architecture being more like a Basadi/Jain Temple.  There is a memorial carved in stone that reminds one of a terrible disaster on the liveliest occupant of the river–the Mahashir fish. They perished in thousands when miscreants poisoned the river in 1996. Residents of Shishila village joined hands to set up the Matsya Samrakshane Vedike (Fish Protection Forum). Known as the Shishila Temple Fish Sanctuary, today it is one of the finest such sanctuaries in the country and a prime example of what is happening in our country today: Locals taking efforts in protecting eco system/aquatic life & becoming self-appointed guardians of the environment, in this case this fish sanctuary. A total contrast to this, our Govt’s unscientific Yettinahole Dam project, that is coming up just 15 km away from this sanctuary, will definitely upset the eco system here and of the Western Ghats in general.   Sad state of affairs with total disregard towards the nature! They have not learnt any lesson from 2013 Himalayan tragedy!

By now it was cloudy and sun already going down and so, we dropped the plan of going to sunset point.  We headed back towards the home stay. We spent some quiet evening time at the water recalling how mesmerizing day had been! Had a great dinner again and finally off to bed for an early morning bird watching.

Bird watching trek

12^th Dec: Ah…our last day here! After a good cup of coffee, off we went for bird watching.  A group of four Techies from next cottage joined us. It was a wonderful guided walk tour with our host.  Inside the forest area, hardly 2 Km from the cottage we saw many birds.  The whole experience was very good! The nature walk of uphill/downhill/straight path surrounded by thick vegetation,  music from birds and us chatting all the way – very different experience from our Hawaii bird watching tour, where fellow tour group members would get annoyed even if you breath loudly and snap at you saying birds will fly away. In India birds are like us, adjust madee attitude with humans and won’t fly away when they see or hear us. 

Beetle nuts

We saw 17 different species including hornbill (Barbet, woodpecker, grey hornbill,  King fisher, Bee eater, plum headed parakeet, Cormorant, Heron, greater Coucal,  Black hooded Oriole, Flycatcher, Drongo, Common Iora, Red whiskered Bulbul, Sun bird and white wagtail).  Some of these, you get to see quite often near the cottage river area here. After an amazing couple of hours’ walk, headed back to cottage.   
As usual, had good breakfast and nice chat with IT folks who surprising were sort of my peers and all four from different parts of India.  These guys with 20+ yr exp & the couple we met earlier who worked 30 yr in IT before retirement was a total contrast to the three youngsters we met first day. Those youngsters had quit IT jobs after a year as they felt IT is not their cup of tea. We hear this quite often nowadays. Parents, please note J if you are pushing your kids to do Engineering - money you spent on Engg degree is down the drain. 

pepper

After some rest we decided to hit the water.  It was so relaxing just being in this peaceful clear river.  We enjoyed being under the waterfall at the river.   You can just sit in the water and watch the reflection of the surrounding scenery for hours. We just hung out there till it was time to catch the late night bus back to Bangalore.  

Stream of joy - Viji (watercolor)

What an enchanting 2N/3D trip right in our own backyard at an unbelievable total cost of Rs. 6000 Rs/head.  Arasinamakki came in as such a pleasant surprise and feel so privileged that destiny brought me to such a magnificent place! A real hidden gem!

Monsoon in Chikkamagaluru

When I was unable to travel for months due to house renovation (which by the way never completes on time), it made me realize how strongly I believe in the phrase “To travel is to live”.  Ahh…! Finally, amidst of all the work a 4-day travel window popped up. Boy! did it make all the difference!

Since it is monsoon, picked Chikkamagaluru as our travel destination. The name literally means younger daughter’s town in Kannada. The story goes: This town was given as dowry to the youngest daughter by Rukmangada, the legendary chief of Sakrepatna. Chikkamagaluru, at 3400 ft, is home to lush green coffee estates, forest, mountain range with highest peak of Karnataka, water bodies & of course Hoysala temples. Talking about coffee estates - In 17th century saint Baba Budan, while on a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven coffee beans (by tying it around his waist) from Yemen to Mysore in India and planted them on the Chandragiri Hills (6,001 ft), now named after the saint as Baba Budan Giri (‘Giri’ means “hill”) in Chikkamagaluru district. It was considered an illegal act to take green coffee seed out of Arabia. As number seven is a sacrosanct number in Islamic religion, the saint’s act of carrying seven coffee beans was considered a religious act. This was the beginning of coffee industry in India, and in particular in Karnataka State.
Baba, here is my, a genuine coffee lover’s big salute to you! or should I say Coffee rules Baba :-)

Viji & I spent half a day planning – selected "The Coffee Bean Home Stay" for accommodation (thanks to all the reviews on trip advisor on home stay). It cost Rs. 2500/night per person with 3 meals. They are usually sold out over the weekends and since ours was weekdays it worked out just fine for us with a no-crowd bonus. We decided to combine nature & heritage as our theme. We booked one way ticket just in case we wanted to stay back in Hassan for an extra day.

Off we went on 30^th June by Airawat KSRTC bus, a mere 4:45 hour journey @ Rs. 445/- with surprisingly great roads with a decent stop for brunch at Swathi! Our home stay in a 100-acre coffee plantation was some 20km from the city. Ride from the bus stop was pre-arranged by Nishchit (host) for Rs. 500/-.  Once you leave the city limits, you are surrounded by coffee plantations with silver oak trees, cardamom & pepper. With off & on rain and lovely shades of green… we knew we were going to have great time.

Estate

Main House

We were greeted by our friendly host and staff with a fresh cup of or like we say in Kannada “steel lota” filter coffee. We were taken for a quick tour of the main bungalow, a heritage building with nice antiques, & a beautiful garden all around including a cool kitchen garden off of the dining area. There is a 100+yr old cactus tree which we were told blooms early morning during this time of the year and my favourite, a big Avocado tree. Nishchit is 6th generation living here and has put a nice genealogy picture which shows the difference in their attire & style as generation and time change. Do check their website for details (http://coffeebeanhomestay.com/contact.html). 
It was suggested that we visit the sunset point later that evening at

Pebbles Cottage

Cottage deck

Kavikal mata. We went to our cottage, called Pebbles, to rest for a while. Cottage was cute with tasteful & minimalistic décor, sort of bringing in the nature with wooden pillars & furniture. It had a nice rustic deck overlooking the estate.
Around 5:00 pm we left to the sunset point in a 4WD/jeep (cost for rental is Rs. 1000/-). Layers of magnificent green mountain range all the way with dark clouds playing hide & seek. It occurred to me, our own backyard, i.e. Karnataka, has such a Mt. beautiful range but has taken me so many years to come here. Guide pointed us to different hills/mountains (a.k.a betta) on the way. Reached the spot well before sunset. It was very windy at this elevation (around 5500ft).

Around the sunset point

Sunset point

After wondering around a little, we sat at the sunset spot & enjoyed the filter coffee, yet again, from the picnic butte/basket that was sent for us. Drizzle and the cloud was coming & going and yes, at the last minute of sun set, dark thick cloud played spoiled sport… but no complaints! The view was still good with awesome cloud formations and the place so very peaceful! We headed back just in time for some late evening snacks & home-made wine. There was one other family staying in the home stay only for that night. There was a good bonfire and awesome Malnad dinner. We discussed the plan for next day with the host who arranged Jeep tour to cover Muliayangiri, Baba Budangiri, Buttermilk waterfall & couple more places in between. Cost was Rs. 3500/-for the tour in a 4WD. We decided to leave by 9:00 AM after breakfast with packed lunch.

Day-2: Got up early and did some stretches on the deck of our cottage enjoying the fresh air and

Cactus tree with white flowers

 greenery…We walked up to main bungalow to look at those white cactus flowers; it is beautiful & looks so much like Bhramakamala! We enjoyed the hot coffee served at our cottage around 7:30AM. Got ready & had delicious Neer Dosa, pongal & Jackfruit sweets for b’fast and was ready to bond with Chikkamagaluru nature for rest of the day. Discussed with our guide Krishna on our tour and places we would see.

Jeep thrill

First stop was Mullayanagiri (This is in the Chandra Dhrona Hill Ranges of the Western Ghats. With a height of 6,330 ft, it is the highest peak in Karnataka between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris) we would drive up till Seethalayana Mata and trek up from there to the peak, and then trek down all the way to the base of the mountain via the Sarpadari (snake path). If you choose not to trek, there is also a motor-able option up to a point and then just take 300 steps to the peak. We were asked to carry cotton balls for our ears while climbing the peak due to heavy wind and were warned about low visibility due to fog/mist & in addition, may be, heavy rain & leeches.

Off we went with our packed lunch and got very excited to see open safari Jeep. We were told by the guide he would call out to us (sitting at the back) to stand & ride whenever the path becomes steep with no roads :-). We can hurt our back if we decide to sit during these stretches given the bumpiness. After just few kms drive, we were asked to stand – My! My! What an experience! Balancing between steep descends/ascends on slushy winding path & ducking when branches come in your way. Whew! Time to sit again, En route was enjoyable with the views of coffee estates, forests & mountains. There are a couple of huge monolithic rocks as well which we were told are also hot spot for adventure sports. We reached Seethalayana Mata. There is a Shiva temple here and nothing much to talk about.

Mullayanagiri 

We got ready to trek from here; our guide drew a map which was more of a line on how to climb up. His instruction was as simple as “just follow the cow path (a narrow path with no grass) & once on top, climb down via Sarpahadi which is next to the bull statue and follow the cow path all the way to the base”. For our trek we had carried a backpack for jackets if it rains, cell phone, bottle of water & trekking poles as we were told it takes only about 2:30 hrs. We started around 11:00AM following the cow path. Within 10 min into walking we found two cow paths. We took the widest path available only to find out that it leads to a view point, so we had to return and take the other path. Don’t expect any arrows or route sign anywhere…Weather was good, luckily, no rain or leeches on the way.

 steps to peak

There was no one else other than the two of us all the way till we

Stone structure on top

 reached the start of 300 steps to the peak, by now it started to drizzle and was windy. While climbing the steps we encountered few groups of people who had come by vehicles/motor able path. We had to maneuver thro’ the groups of current day Indian youths who are usually immersed in themselves and their selfies. It was very foggy and windy at the peak! There is a nice stone structure at the top with a Shiva temple. The view was spectacular from here! There is a cave just below the summit where Mulappa swamy is believed to have meditated & hence the name of the peak.

Highest point

After a short break, we headed towards the path “Sarpadari” as mentioned

View

Nandhi statue

by our guide (just next to the Nandhi statue), he had told us not to take the path from behind the temple as it can be dangerous. To my amazement, Sarpadari is steep and at times has a 60 degree incline path & is indeed a snake like path – winding all the way. As usual after about 30min there were multiple cow paths and we could see a meadow at the ½ way mark and started to walk in a path what looked like leading to a meadow and it was the widest path, My cell rang but the place we were I could not stop to take out the phone from backpack as the path was winding quite a bit. After a while this path went into thick bushes, we continued thro’ the bushes and it ended at a cliff. Oh My! Thank god! No mist or fog and we could see the cliff.

cliff

Time to check the cell phone; of course it was our guide trying to call us. I could not return his call as there was no signal. We started walking back and my cell rang again, it was guide/Krishna who apparently was trying to call us since he lost the sight of us after first ½ hr into the trek. He was waiting for us at the base, he was keeping an eye on us. When we told him where we were, he was not able to guide us but insisted there is only one path… :-( after walking for about 1.5hr leading to nowhere, we decided to climb back up as we could see the peak.It started raining but luckily no real thick fog and hence good visibility. Although I tried to tell myself " Not all those who wander are lost" , panic was creeping in as there was not even a single soul around to ask nor did we carry our GPS or any real trekking essentials that we normally take for survival. Viji as always was not stressed. Finally we reached the peak again, this time climbing via tough 60 degree elevation route & walk down 300 steps – our guide had driven near end of the steps! he was very worried saying lucky for us no fog to obstruct visibility, if it had hit, then we would not know the direction nor what is in front of us! We told him, they should recommend a guide who is knowledgeable about the route since there are multiple paths & especially when there are absolutely no marking/arrows anywhere. After we came down we were told it is all tiger belt but none sighted so far :-)) All's well that ends well!

When we drove down to the bottom of the Sarpadari, he showed us where he lost us, we realized watching the mountain; we were actually doing sort of parikrama to the mountain and we were at the backside of the mountain when we got lost . On a funny note, Viji and I were talking how I prefer to walk up and she prefers to walk down when terrain is steep. When we decided to walk back up via steep path- she was telling me thatit is all my fault as my desire to walk up steep trail prevailed :-)
It was 2:00PM by now, we decided to have lunch near the next spot, a view point called “ Kavikalgandi”. After climbing about 50 steps there is a fantastic horse shoe view of the Chandradrona mountain range, a very picturesque sight indeed. We had our lunch – Simple but classic chithranna & mosaranna with papads & delicious pickles. One of the really nice thing about this home stay is, they do not pack the food in plastic bag, instead they use big steel carrier with plates in a old fashioned wire basket/butte.

way to water fall

Buttermilk fall

After lunch, we drove towards “Buttermilk falls/Dabdabe falls/Sagir Ahmed falls”, this route is nothing but scenic. This fall is in a private estate (Sagir Ahmed estate) & you need permission to enter. This route is slushy mud path with lot of ascend/descends.

Our 4WD had no problem here, we did :-) as we had to stand all the way & ensure we don’t fall or hurt ourselves while ducking from the branches & they were in plenty. It was a short walk after some point but is a leech infested path as it is in shade and full of slush. The very thought of leech makes you feel something is crawling on you (we had our socks tucked into our pants). The water falls & its surroundings was an amazing sight- Fall is pretty wide and water falling from layers of rocks gives it a lovely shape & width. You can walk to the bottom of the fall. It was so pleasant with cool pure water splashing on us! How lucky the estate owners are!
Next, we headed towards ”Baba Babudangiri”–known for its shrine to the Sufi saint Baba Budan, a pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Muslims. Main peaks in this range are Mullayanagiri & Bababudangiri, together they are known Chandradrona as they naturally form the shape of a crescent moon. Our guide informed us there is a nice trekking trail called Blade between these two peaks & Kemmangundi. Understand minimum 10 people have to be there to organize such treks.The views from Baba Budangiri are nice but it was disappointing to see commercialization of this area.

Baba Budangiri shrine

Like in many religious places, temp structures are anything but! To control crowd during the religious festivities, there are structures to limit ones movement all the way to the cave shrine. Dattatreya for whom the cave shrine was once named, is considered by some Hindus to be God who is an incarnation of the Divine Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara , in the form of an ascetic in the discipline of Avadhuutha (God intoxicated monk). A Sufi saint known as Baba Budan is believed to have later been in the same cave for some time. Some Hindus have making a claim over the shrine, which is controlled by Muslims. This has led to tension between the two communities. This has now become the place of communal riots on the occasion of the death anniversary of the Sufi saint and during Datta Jayanthi in the month of December.
It was 5:00PM and we were ready to head back after a wonderful and an adventurous day. Made plans for next day with Krishna to see off-the-beaten-road Hoysala temples & parted. After some hot coffee, rest & a nice hot shower, we went to see the documentary on Bhadra wildlife that host had arranged. We got to watch this wonderful well made documentary about wildlife sanctuary in Chikkamagaluru – Bounded by mountain range, this sanctuary which is declared as project tiger reserve spreads across 493 Sq km with Badra reservoir at one end. It has 250+ species of birds & home to many wildlife & reptiles. While watching this documentary, had delicious dinner – Shavige with Kai halu, raw jackfruit/kadee sambar, mango desert. We still had not done the plantation tour & thought of doing it next evening if we come back early. Off to bed now… Wow! after all the jeep ride (standing), no need for ibuprofen… In your face youngsters!! :-)

Day-3: Another lovely morning! The best part is, listening to the birds and gazing at the lovely green surroundings forces you to be in the moment! After an yummy b’fast (shavige bath, guliappa & just plucked Avocados), we left for our Archaeology tour of less travelled Hoysala temples with buthe/packed lunch (On a side note they ask you the previous night what you would like for packed lunch; the cook & the manager/Mahesh were surprised at how low maintenance we were when it comes to food demand, since we were the only 2 guest there except for the first day, they were comparing us with other guests who normally order additional food items) . Today there was no jeep but an Indica L as the places we were going has proper roads. Viji had recently completed reading both the volumes of Pattamahadevi Shantaladevi & the follow-on novels by C K Nagaraja Rao, the first recipient of the Moortidevi Award instituted by Bharatiya Jnanpith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.K.Nagaraja_Rao) and from these books she had made a list of the lesser known Hoysala temples & the town it is in/with current names. (Do read this book if you can read Kannada!) Based on her list, our list of temples to see near Chikkamagaluru was: Belavadi, Marla, Hulikere (private pushkarane of Shanthala), Ayyanakere, Angadi, Doddagaddavalli & Koravangala. Our local guide Krishna had not heard/traveled to some of the places. After checking the distance and other things we decided on Hiremagaluru, Belavadi, Marla, Hulikere and Ayyanakere.
Our first stop was Hiremagaluru (about 6km from Chikkamagaluru). It has a Kodandarama temple and we were informed by the priest that it is the oldest Rama idol in south India & is more than 1000yrs old. The current temple is built in 14th century. The uniqueness here is Sita is to the right side of Rama and Lakshmnana to the left. It is believed that temple was built in 3 different times from 14th century to 17th century. We were also told that pooja is performed in Kannada.

Marla temples

Interior

From here we went to “Marla” – Ruined twin small temples stand side by side dedicated to Chennakeshava and Siddeshwara built in 1120CE. There is a huge “shasana” that stands in the middle of these two temples. When I saw these ruined temples, it reminded of what someone wrote of Marla “This village once spoke of tribal chief Poysala Muruga, one of the earliest founders of the Hoysala dynasty. Yet, today, you barely see a soul around you as you drive/walk along dry fields and patches of land to see the temples virtually lost to the sky and earth”. Temples do not have intricate carvings like other Hoysala temples but do have more stone carving on the exterior wall as compared to the interior. Archaeology dept’s restoration work is in full fledge but, looked like a long way to go! Although everyday pooja is performed, quality of temple upkeep is extremely poor & it's interior very dirty.

Belavadi temple

built in phases/design difference

We proceeded to Belavadi (29km from Chikkamagaluru). As per the legend this was the town known as Ekachakranagara in Mahabharatha where Bheema killed the demon Bakasurin. There is an annual fair even today to celebrate this. Veeranarayana temple complex here is fantastic and

well maintained. Built in 1200CE, temple is a trikuta having Veeranarayana in the center facing East, Venugopala facing North and Yoganarasimha facing south. Each of the idols has a complete superstructure (tower on top of idol) the idols are marvelous and very pretty in jet black! It is no surprise that Archaeological Survey of India has certified this Venugopala as the most beautiful idol of Krishna in all of India. The Nagamandala in the ceiling is quite unique, it is sort of impossible to find the end of the Naga. The ceiling itself is superb, depicting various stories from Bhagavatha. We were told “If one lies down at the main entrance of the Garbhagriha and look straight towards the East direction, you will find that the entire length of the temple/270 feet is flawlessly leveled to such accuracy that you can also see the horizon about 3 kms away without any disturbance in the level. Priest also informed us on Summer Solstice, direct Sunlight enters the Garbhagriha of Veeranarayana during sunrise (something to note if one plans to travel during this time). This temple is said to have been built in phases, which you can see in the design as you walk around the temple. Priest took time to explain in detail to us. There is hardly anyone around these temples as most of the tourists only visit Belur & Halebedu :-( When we told him our next stop was Hulikere, he said yes! we must see the beautiful pushkarane there.
Krishna told us he knows the route to Hulikere and off we went.

Pushkararane

Once we reached the village, locals knew nothing about any Pushkarane or any old temple in this area. The board did say Hulikere :-( finally one person said there is one old Pushkarane full of weeds and may be that is it! So went there and what a sad sight - Pushkarane was indeed completely filled with weeds and plants grown from all sides.

Treasure dumped

Sculpture thrown

There was a shasana and few sculptures thrown on road side and was almost fully covered with garbage. I was telling Viji we should take this home :-) at least we will care for it or take it to the home stay. By now, another passerby told us there is one very old Krishna temple in an alley and he can show us the way. Off we went with him; he took us to what looked like a room (no temple structure) with a new Krishna idol – at the back of that very dark room was an ancient Krishna idol which was disfigured. This
place was so very dirty :-(. Felt really sad. It is no wonder having this type of mindset towards our heritage, why only 400 out of the 1500 shrines Hoysala dynasty built are known/discovered! Even today when it comes to Hoysala dynasty, only 3 of its well known temples (Belur, Halebeedu and Somnathpur) are promoted. We told Krishna there must be something wrong as even the priest in Belavadi had mentioned about the beautiful pushkarane/tank in Hulikere. (After I came back to Bangalore, I found that the Hulikere with Pushkarane is different & is closer to Halebedu... Hmm! There is always a next time).

Ayyanakere

Ayyanakere & Shakunagiri

From here we headed towards Ayyanakere Lake. This ancient lake was constructed by Rukmangada Raya, a chief of Sakrepatna, & later rennovated in 1156 CE by Hoysala and has never gone dry! Lake is very pristine and calm with the conical hill Shakunagiri rising to 4,600 ft forming a picturesque backdrop. I understand you can trek this mountain as well! Perfect place for lunch & lunch it was: Lemon rice+curd rice+ yummy tomato halwa + dry mango, mouth watering pickle & papad (I can still taste the sweets) although they pack way too much for 3 people, you always have local folks to share with, which is nice!
We were all set to return when Krishna said he wanted to show us a lesser known place near

Ukundha lake

Ukundha lake

Chikkamagaluru & took us to Ukundha Lake. It is so beautiful and right in the backyard of the Chikkamagaluru town. There was quite a bit of water now but apparently dries up during summer time. By now it was 5:00PM and back to the cottage, we went. Forgot to mention – cost of today’s tour was Rs. 2500/-. It was late and we were too tired to do the plantation walk and decided to do it next morning. That night yet again, we had a relaxing evening and a great dinner! Since we had told the cook we loved her halwa, she had specially made jackfruit halwa for us. We decided to take afternoon bus the next day to Bangalore, so planned for plantation walk by 7:30AM

Estate walk

Day 4: Last day of our trip! It had rained quite a bit previous night and Nishchit told us to be prepared for Leeches during plantation tour since the waking path was all slushy. Psychology in full swing again…itching/scratching/checking! Walking in the estate can be a relaxing trek by itself and nice with all of Nishchit’s dogs accompanying us. I must say, leeches did not allow us to enjoy the walk to the fullest as we were busy concentrating where we put our foot, especially after seeing some of them making it to host’s boots. Viji & I could have easily advertised for EMS Gortex hiking boots as none climbed on our boots :-) There is a

Pond inside the estate

big pond in the estate as well! After we came back, we ensured no leeches will accompany us to Bangalore… got ready and had sumptuous b’fast – Set dosa & Avacados. Around 12:00 we left and stopped by Panduranga Coffee works near bus stop for some local pure filter coffee powder, cardamom and peppers.


What a wonderful 3N/4D trip to Chikkamagaluru for a cost of Rs.12,500/person. It can work out cheaper if you have more people as 4WD rentals are for the vehicle which can accommodate 6-7 people. I give this beautiful Chikkamagaluru trip with stunning nature & heritage temples plus our awesome accommodation at Coffee Bean home stay a “5 star” rating. If you have not been to Chikkamagaluru go ahead and add this to your travel bucket list, you will definitely enjoy!