Chakartha - Way to Wilderness..

சக்ரதா - உத்ரஞ்சல் மாவட்டம். சிறிய மலை பிராந்தியம். இன்றைய தேதியிலும் இந்திய இராணுவத்தின் கட்டுபாட்டில் இருக்கும் பல ரகசியங்கள் அடங்கிய ராணுவ கன்டோன்மன்ட் ஏரியா. எந்த எழுத்துகளிலும், பயணங்களிலும் மிகவும் பேசபடாத ஒரு பிராந்தியம்.
நாங்கள் மேற்கொண்ட பயணம் சிற்றின்பத்தை தேடி அல்ல. நாங்கள் மனதில் அனுபவித்தது அமைதியின் பேரின்பம்.

பேரின்பம் அமைதியின், வெறுமையின், மலை வளத்தின்  உண்மையின் வடிவாக உயிர்ப்பாக மனத்தில் அறைந்தது சக்ரதா மலை பிராந்தியத்தில் கால் வைத்த பொழுது..

I plan this trip in the month of August 2010. Intially i planned this trip to travel alone. Travelling alone is presious. but travelling with someone who understands you is a gift. Paa and Sathya wants to be with me along the travel.

Kodai - Mannavanur trek through Mathikettanshola Reserve forest

Kodai - Mannavanur trek through Mathikettanshola Reserve forest

After a brief break from Vellayangiri trek we guys planned for a medium trek and want to break up the hot Chennai summer. Nine member team finally decided that includes my father-in-law's brother Mr.Nagu. Everyone in our team is wonderful and very cooperative. Few members in our team are first timers including Venky, Praveen, Sandeep and Nagu. Other team members are Sathya, Praveen alias Panju, Paa, Sheik alias PB and myslef (Aravind). Booked the tickets in SETC from Chennai to Dindugal and in KPN from Kodai to Chennai.

Friday 16th 2010

Everyone gathered in Koyembadu for the 8pm SETC bus towards Dindugal. After introduction session quickly we mingled with everyone, so everyone in the team fits perfect with others frequency. SETC service is very better then expected and especially air condition in the bus is above average.

Saturday 17th 2010

Reached Dindugal safely at sharp 6am and got the tickets to Kodai in the TNSTC counter there and had some refreshment. Bus started at 7 and reached Kodai around 10:20am. Even though journey tested our patience we realy enjoyed the climate and the outside Scenes. Thank God! Kodai is still alive with its own color and not like Ooty.


Our Guide Mani arrived soon and we bought Noodles, MTR Ready to Eat for Dinner and next day breakfast. Mani gave us packed Lunch and we started our trek from Caps valley around 12:30 in the afternoon.

At the moment we started rain also join its hands with us. Makes everyone scary and wet due to the heavy rains and with the risky path. But we steadily proceeded the trek and had our lunch around 2:45pm. The lunch is memorable. Just think with thousands of A/C surround you and you are wet having parotta with chicken chalna. yummy...After 3pm rain just stopped and we entered Mathikettan Shola Reserve forest.

Mathikettan Shola is merely like "Pandora" with dark wet green every where with tall trees and no source of light in the day time also. Its really thrilling and place is really beautiful. We finally reached Berijam Lake around 6pm and its dark.

We started pinching tents and it again started raining. We finished pinching tents and kept our valuables inside the tents and we are in the dinner mood. All the newcomers were completely helpful in all the aspects and they were in great Josh. We had hot noodles in the drizzling chilling weather and Edwin our helper prepared for "Camp fire". Every one really enjoyed Camp fire and Nagu started to sing nice old songs. Very aesthetic night with nice songs, chilling weather and with the warmness of the Campfire. Actually no proper words to explain the beauty and happiness we had.

Sunday 18th 2010

Next day morning everyone woke up around 6 in the morning after a adventerous sleep in the tents. Sathya and myself done Yoga for some time and its really refreshing in the beds of berijam. After yummy brekfast we started our trek towards Mannavanur thru Thalavetty falls. Climbing down Thalavetty falls is real adventure and scary. Sheik and Nagu has height sickness but they managed well with their confidence and of course sense of humor. Sandeep, Praveen, Venky cooperated with us very well and especially Sandeep with his weight he came along with us. Kudos to his confidence. Few of us had a deep shower in Thalavetty falls and ran away from the falls because of leaches!!! :).

As usual Panju and Paa rocks to the core with their high spirit and stamina. Sathya is the Silent bird in our team (Only during treks!!) tops the charts this time. With Paa, Panju, Sheik and Sathya i can do any treks for sure.

Finally we reached Mannavanur around 3pm in the afternoon after the tiresome trek for more then 7 hours. Every one hunted the meals in the small hotel and reached Kodai around 5:30pm. Our bus is at 6:30, so we done few shopping etc. and boarded the bus with nice and fun filled memories. Hope that cannot be recreated again without the same team.

Thanks to our Guide Kodai Mani and his helper Edwin for all the arrangements. Kudos to our team for their confidence level. See you guys with my next travelogue!!

Total Distance: Around 25 Kms.

Difficulty Level: Medium

Expenses: Rs. 2500 from Chennai to Chennai including all meals and Guide Charges (Rs. 1500/- per head).

Vellayangiri - தென் கைலாய பயணம்

Vellayangiri - தென் கைலாய பயணம் 

வெள்ளயங்கிரி மலை..

ஏழாம் மலையில் வீற்று இருக்கும் சிவனே..

இருளோடு எங்கள் பயணம்

உன்னை நோக்கி..காடு மலை தெரியவில்லை 

போகும் வழியின் கடினமோ புரியவில்லை

எங்கு இருக்கிறாய் நீ ?..

வழியெல்லாம் உடல் 

வலி கொண்ட போது..உணர்ந்தோம்..

நீ எங்கும் இருக்கிறாய் என்று..

The above statement is completely true. We never got such a experience in our previous treks. We planned this trek on January. Because of lot of mixed reviews about permission inside the hill we postponed the trek to February 12th. that is on the occasion of Maha Sivarathri. Initially the team strength is 3 (Myself, Sathya and Paa) and final head count increased to 9. We planned to start the trek by night and reach the top around 4. Wait until the sunrise and return climb down to foot hill.

Priya packed breakfast for all and she dropped me in Nungambakam railway station. Thanks to her. Myself, Sathya, Paa, Karthik and Rajesh Mannai (Friend of mine) got the morning train on Feb 12th Friday towards Coimbatore. Nadraj also joined with us in the train. We reached Coimbatore in the afternoon and reached my Sithhis home. She prepared pakka lunch for us and had it thoroughly. She also packed dinner for us. My lovable cousins Palani and Senthil joined with us for the trek and Saravana my friend he also joined the trek from Coimbatore.

We took the bus to Poondi from Town hall Coimbatore. Its been a one hour travel and we reached Poondi around 8pm. There is a Vellyangiri andavar temple in foot hills and huge crowd was there for the occasion of Sivarathri. We got bamboo sticks for our trek. Its highly mandatory for this trek. Whom you want to try this trek please get a bamboo stick or otherwise you will be in serious trouble!!!.

We started our trek around 8:30pm and the first hill is full of rough steps around 2000!. It makes the first time trekkers (3 in our team) exhausted and we keep on taking breaks. One more unfortunate thing is we had only three powerful torch lights for 9 members. We bought four torches during the trek, each for 15rs. it works only for and hour!!. It gave us real hard time but we are in the motto of reaching the top at any cost.

Totally there are seven hills. First and second are foot steps, as third and fourth are shola vegetation. Fifth is the thick forest as sixth hill is the Climbing down trek. Again seventh will be the uphill and its somewhat hard to climb because of the steepness and strong current of the freezing wind.

In the sixth hill we took bath in a small stream and its frezzing cold. Do not miss the "Karupetti kappi" in the sixth hill. The total uphill trek took us around 6hrs. and we reached the top around 3am in the morning. Its been a very very tough time staying uphill because of the very strong and freezing air flow. But the experience in the seventh hill with Lord Shiva's presence is like we are in the heaven. No word to explain the beauty of the place as we are above the clouds and the stars seems to be very close and sometimes it feels like hitting our head. 

 

Finally sunrise happens at sharp 6:48am in the morning and everyone begins to pray the sunrise. Its been a memorable sunrise for everyone there. We started our downhill trek at 7 am and reached the foothill around 11:30am.  In the morning we got stunned with the beauty of the nature. Its been a real nice experience as the uphill trek is full of darkness, exhausting and we climbed with the help of cute stars around us in the freezing wind. The down hill trek is warm and scenic. 

Reached Coimbatore junction around  1:45pm and our train is at 2:20pm Kovai Express. My Sister Uma packed lunch for everyone again and we had it stomach full and started to sleep like hell because of the tiredness. Reached Chennai around 10pm in the night and our pitty legs needs rest and the total body needs sound sleep. 

After every trek our hearts need more and its planning for the next one. We planned next trek for Kumaraparvatha in Karnataka. Experience makes human better.

நாடோடிகள் நங்கள்..

அனுபவம் தேடும் பதர்கள் நாங்கள்

சிற்றின்பத்தில் நாட்டம் இல்லை..

பேரின்பம் தேடி அலைகிறோம்

பேரின்பம் பெண்கள் இல்லை..

மனிதம் கண்டுபிடித்த கருவியில் இல்லை..

எவராவது கண்டு பிடித்தால் கண்டு சொல்லுங்கள் 

அது வரை இந்த பதர்கள் அலைந்து கொண்டு இருக்கும் 

அடர்ந்த காட்டிலோ இல்லை மலை மேட்டிலோ..!!

Mandatory things:

• Torch light.
• Alternate dress.
• Pain healer lime Amrutanjan, Moov or releif sprays.
• Glove for hands and jerkin for managing cold in the uphill 
• Energy bars and instant energy foods like dry fruits, glucose etc.
• The trek was allowed only on special occasions like Chitra pournami and for Maha Sivarathris. I heard that its also opened for other Pournamis. But its closed from July to December because of heavy Rainfall and the total paths are slippery.
• Ladies are not allowed. Above 50 are allowed.

Trek Folio:

• Difficulty Level : More then Medium to Difficult
• Trek duration : 5hrs uphill and 4hrs downhill.
• Travel expenses from Chennai to Chennai : 280 rs
• Food expenses from Chennai to Chennai : Around 250rs
• Total Expenses : 500rs

 

Catch you soon with my next trek folio..

Nagala Mini Trek

Looks like Ayirathil Oruvan Poster!! Actually we are 3 idiots!!

After Kodai trek i had a long break and we want to visit Vellayangiri. Intially we made the plan on Jan 29 and then postponed that to Feb 12 ( in the occasion of Maha Sivarathri). So we had a day to spend on Jan 26th. Seriously browsed the web for one day trek and got three ideas. Yelagiri, Tada falls and Nagala. I want Priya to accompany my trek, so after discussion final crew was decided as Myself, Priya, Sathya, Paa and Nirai (Paa's lovable sis, even ours too!!). Then had a confusion of selecting places and finally ignored Yelagiri because of distance and heard Nagala is better then Tada. So plan finalized on Jan 25th night.

Sathya in the Dam site

Temple submerged in the water.!! Mysterious!!

Jan 26th.

Woke up at 4:30am and got ready around 5:10. Packed snacks, bread for lunch and picked Paa and Nirai at Guindy at 5:45am and on the way to Nagala, we picked Sathya at redhills (at 6:30am). The trek place is not actually starts from Nagala and the route as follows:


1. Driving directions:

Gunidy to red hills
Take diversion for NH-5 that proceeds towards Tada, Nellore.
Redhills to Tada toll plaza is there. After 10km. approx from Toll plaza take left diversion towards Periyapallayam.
After reaching Periyapplayam Proceed towards Oothukottai.

From Oothukottai town itself there is right cutting that proceeds towards Sathyavedu. If you miss that cutting the main road will proceed to Nagalapuram. (12km from Oothukottai).
From the right proceed 10km towards Sathyavedu and you will have a left cutting which the road will proceed through Kone falls or janakipuram. Do not miss the left. There is tea shop and bust stand over there.

After turning left again drive for more 10km and the road will face a end and from the end take a left ( on the cut you will have a very old temple!).
Cut in to the left and drive for few meters you will find a Mechanic / Puncture shop.
From the mechanic shop take a right cut in which the mud road will helps to explore towards the dam site. There will be a small elementary school. Park your vehicles there and proceed your trek.



We reached there only around 9:50 am after missing the route. Started the trek by 10 in the morning and we did not planned much because of the girls in the trek. Our only trip plan is trek fro three and half hours and have lunch near a stream. Take a hour rest and return back to the base camp and finish the trek. The first 40 minutes killed us because of very bright sun light and we did not find any water. The area is dry with rocks and boulders. After reaching the dam we had some grip because of the fine water level.



Entered the forest from there and trek continues for next 3hrs. In the intermediate we had some fine water beds and climate seems to be ok inside the forest. We followed the water and we reached a pool with a small water fall. We reached there within 2 hours from the dam site and want to take a dive in the stream.


Paa knows swimming very well, so he researched the pool and its depth by his swimming skills and we four took a very nice bath and had real fun in the streams. Sathya took nice snaps of us and he didn't attempt for a dive.



Around 1pm we finish the snacks like anything and returned back around 3:00pm to the base camp. Even though its a mini trek we had very nice fun fundas and it will be a warm up trek for our upcoming Velliyangiri trek. Thanks to Paa and Sathya for their Photos.

Check the picassa link for photos.


Catch u guys with my Velliyangiri post after Feb 12.

Trek Details:

Distance from Chennai: Around 90. Approx 200km up and Down.
Total Expenses: 200Rs per head including all meals.
Difficulty Level: Easy. But there are numerous trails in Nagala varies from Medium to difficult.
Type of Landscape: Rocks and Boulders.
Best Season of trek: September to January end. Avoid Summers. You will get screwed up.

Monsoon Road Trip Chennai - GOA - Chennai

கோவா - எங்கள் கனவு பயணம்..பயணம் சொல்லி கொடுத்தது பல..அதில் இங்கு சில...

Its been a dream come true for us. Myself and Priya planned for vacation to Goa by train. After spending time in internet for few days, i found that other then Goa there are lot many interesting places to visit in and around Goa and in Karnataka. Karnataka is like a real heaven with interesting landscapes, water bodies, sea shores, wildlife. Karnataka can be defined as "One State many Worlds".


So we dropped the plan by train and thinking about alternate transportation. When searching the blogs many buddies done Bangalore to Goa. It gave me a idea, why cant we do a road trip from Chennai - Goa? I done long trips in my Swift Dzire, but not like this!!. We calculated the total distance and it comes around 3000!!. I asked my close buddy Olani Mohan (now working in Chennai, previously in bangalore!!) to join the trip. He asked me some time for deciding but i know for sure he will join this trip..



He has a hands on experience on Driving and good geographical knowledge and atlast we have a good rapport among us. So i want him for my trip, and he replied with a big "YES". So now the trip comes to a shape by deciding the transportation by Car and at present we are three. I want Meithilli ( my close friend) also to join the trip. She also agreed and her Sis ( Vinitha) also wants to join our club. I am happy to see the team as Priya gets proper company even i am!!



We decide to start by Sep 26th of 2009 and ends by October 4th of 2009. Prepared a pakka trip chart. It follows as

September 26 ( Saturday) - Travel Distance 365Km.
Leaving from Chennai to Bangalore. ( Around 5 in the morning)
Reaching Bangalore by afternoon. Night halt in Bangalore.


September 27 ( Sunday) - Travel Distance 425Km. approx.
Leaving Bangalore by 3:30am in the morning towards Jog Falls
Reaching Jog falls by around 12 in the afternoon.
Sight seeing Jog falls and Sharavathi Valley.
Night halt. Reservation booked on Hotel Mayura Gerusoppa (KSTDC Property)- Jog falls

September 28 ( Monday) - Travel Distance 254.91 Km approx.
Starting from Jog falls around 6 in the morning to Goa.
In between Sight seeing and reaching Goa by afternoon
Lunch. Sit back and relax for few hours.
Evening sight seeing.
Goa Stay arranged in Santana Beach resorts, Candloim ( yet to reserve!!)

September 29 (Tuesday) - Travel Distance 100 Km approx.
Local Sight seeing - Goa


September 30 ( Wednesday) - Travel Distance 100 Km approx.
Local Sight seeing - Goa


October 1 ( Thursday) - Travel Distance 140.43 Km approx.
Leaving from Goa to Dandeli. Starting by early in the morning around 5am
Staying in Horn bill Resort - Paid Advance for two tree houses.
Adventure activities included in the package. Enjoy those things and night halt in tree house.
All meal included only in Dandeli Resort and not in the above accommodations.


October 2 ( Friday) - Travel Distance 100 Km approx.
Leaving Dandeli by afternoon to Udupi (Just for night Stay, breakup journey towards Bangalore.)
Stay in Udupi


October 3 ( Saturday) - Travel Distance 518.13 Km approx.
Udupi to Bangalore. Starting by early morning 5am
Reaching Bangalore by evening. Halt in Bangalore.


October 4 ( Sunday) - Travel Distance 365Km.
Starting from Bangalore to Chennai by early morning 4am
Reaching Chennai by afternoon.



Even though the plan seems to be clear, we desperately changed the final two days plan because of floods in Karnataka. We changed the destination from Udupi to Hubli. The We returned back from hubli to Bangalore and from Bangalore to Chennai.



Day 1: We reached Bangalore in the late afternoon and i stayed in Mohan's room, as Priya and Meithu stayed in Vinitha's room. Vinitha is totally helpful and she is ready to volunteer in all kind of work fundas. I felt safe as my team looks very stronger. Mohan will be my mental stamina, Meithu, Priya and Vini took care of food and other snack fundas.


Day 2: We started very early (2:30am) and reached first tumkur. had a tea and again proceeded to jog falls. Ghat section starts immediately after tumkur and throughout the trip we faced beautiful ghat sections. Amazing views and everyone has to feel it!!! Reached Jog falls and felt little disappointed with some less water flow and high crowd. We stayed there over night. But our disappointment changed to surprise the next morning!!!



Day 3: Every sunshine has its own beauty and tone of color. Water flow drastically increased in the water fall and it gave us a very good view and we took plenty of shots from various angles of the water fall. Food was ok there and Myura stay is worth for the money. Clean basic rooms with all facilities. Kudos to Karnataka tourism. Started from Jog falls and proceeded towards Goa.



Afternoon we had our breakfast at Honovar and lunch at Karwar. Visited Om beach in the intermediate and it been a long drive in the ghat roads and reached Goa by night. Rain was our one more co traveler towards the trip and gave us a pleasent mood towards our travel. We stayed overnight at Santana Beach resorts.


House keeping and Manager were so kind and they upgraded one our rooms to deluxe from ordinary without any extra fare!!. As usual girls took that room. Everyone felt so tired especially myself. I drove the vehicle all along the way from Chennai, as Mohan got some ankle injury in his leg. But he guided me through out the way and we listened to good tracks of Illayaraja, Yuvan, A.R.Rehman and few Hindi tracks too. Mohan's Song collection is simply superb and even today i kept it safe as a treasure.


Day 4: Local sight seeing in Goa. Since its monsoon all the water sports got closed and we enjoyed the rough sea shores with drizzling chill weather. Food items seems to be bit costlier but don't miss the sea foods. We strongly recommend RITZ CLASSIC hotel for perfect goan foods. Do not go for "Delhi Darbar". Poor hospitality with high menu rates. In the evening went for Cruise ride



Day 5: Went to Anjuna beach and Fort Tricol. Its a real nice expeirnce driving to Fort Tricol. Its been a 1 hour drive from Panjim and we have to board our self with the Car in the ferry.


The fort was tiny but the view of the shore from the Fort is tremendous.





Day 6: Said a bye-bye to Goa and had a very tough drive towards Dandeli - Kali river. Roads are really bad near the borders. Real tough time gives us some frustration. One more reason for some frustration is because of heavy monsoon Water rafting been closed in Dandeli. We expected a lot but after some instances we are ready to enjoy with what we are having. Stayed in Tree house of Hornbill resorts.



Really awesome experience staying a whole night in a tree house. Our girls got scared initially but We have no other option there and made up our mind to enjoy the mother nature. Done boating in kali river, Natural Jacuzzi id reaaly good at a point of Kali river. Enjoyed and had a great dinner. Next day early morning went for animal safari also. Able to find some deers.




Day 7: The day is very important in our life. the whole day is sitting in the corner of the seat and watching a horror movie or a disaster genre movie like "2012". We started from the with real happiness and proceeded towards Udupi. Planning to have lunch in Honovar and want to take ride towards Coastal roads of Karnataka. While we started we had a sudden decision to visit Sindheri rocks near Dandeli, so we had a deep diversion and the roads are very close to nature and the forest is very dense. We took some shots in Sindheri rocks are planning to return back to Karwar first. We again got a road diversion to Karwar and reached some how around afternoon.

We heard the shocking news that Coastal Karnataka was totally under flood and we are not able to cross a single bridge in Karwar. All the bridges been flooded with water and gave us a scary shock in our hearts. he remioanig plan was screwed up and now we have no option of retuning back. Rain was hitting real hard and making the scene more scary. A driver in Kadra dam project guided us to stay for few hours in their Inspection bungalow and he arranged for some hot rava uppuma. It is like motherly care and i still have hope that nature will not create any problem to us. I love and care nature up to my extent and i am in a confident level that it will reciprocate good things to me.



After our lunch we got a alternate route to reach hubli and catch NH-4 to Bangalore. Everyone made up our minds to cancel the Udupi visit (not only Udupi. We wished to visit Murudheswar, and want to cover the Mangalore - Bangalore ghat section!!) and re route to Hubli. We had to get permission for the alternate route from the Police station , since the route is been very dangerous ghat section and been a private road used by the forest officials. We got the permission by giving our identities and they provided their phone numbers for emergency. I drove the car like anything and the ghat section is full of dense forests and in the day time itself there is no sunlight. i never saw a ghat section like that!!!!.


Its been a scary 3 hr drive and we got the highway to Hubli and stayed there overnight in a hotel.

Day 8: Its been a clear sunny day and we started our drive to Bangalore. The highway is good at parts and totally damaged at most parts. We informed our parents that we are safe!!. Mohan drove the car and reached Bangalore in the evening. Refreshed and went to "Forum Complex" for dinner. Had a real good dinner and stayed over night.


Day 9: Started early to Chennai and reached Chennai by afternoon.

Its been a life time experience for us. Road trip taught us Courage, Planning things, Driving skills, Team coordination etc. Since we are five we are totally dependent with each other. Thanks to Meithu and Priya for their hindi speaking skills. Thanks to Vinitha for coordinating the stuffs especially in Bangalore. Thanks to Mohan for the mental support and at last i that my Car for providing us safety, comfort etc.



Some Hotels for Staying with budget accommodation:

Udupi Accommodation:

HOTEL SWADESH HERITAGE
Maruthi Veethika,
Udupi - 576 101
Karnataka,
India
Ph. No.:+ 91 820 2529605 / 2529705
E-mail: udupi@hotelswadesh.com

Goa Accommodation:

Santana Beach Resort
www.santana-goa.com
Dando Beach Sinquerim Road
Candolim, 403515
0832 2479556

Dandeli Accommodation:

Horn bill Resorts
Address
Ganeshgudi-Joida Taluk
Near Super Dam
Dandeli
Karnataka - 581362
India Telephone No: 0 - 9880683323
District: Uttara Kannada

Jog falls Accommodation:

KSTDC Mayura Gerusopa
Address
Jog Falls
Sagar Taluk
Karnataka - 577435
India Telephone No: 08186 - 244732
Website: www.kstdc.nic.in
District: Shimoga

Approximate Distance Coverage

Ø Chennai to Bangalore – 350Kms
Ø Bangalore to Jog falls – 393Kms
Ø Jog falls to Goa – 360Kms
Ø Goa to Dandeli – 240Kms
Ø Dandeli to Hubli – 315Kms
Ø Hubli to Bangalore – 490Kms
Ø Bangalore to Chennai – 350Kms

Approximate Trip Expenses:

Ø Vehicle fuel & Maintenance – 6500 Rs.
Ø Hotel Stay – 25600 Rs. ( Jog falls, Goa, Dandeli and Hubli)
Ø Food & Snacks – 12000
Ø Water Rafting – 6000
Ø Other Accessories (Medicines, Water, Battery Cells etc.) - 500

Total Expenses per head: 8000/- ( All Expenses from Chennai to Chennai)
Days Covered: 9 days ( Sep 26th to Oct 4th of 2009)
Road Conditions: 70% good and 30% totally bad
Driving Skill difficulty: Difficult but its heaven.

"NO PAIN NO GAIN". See you guys in my next post with lot more interesting places!!