Like any other tortured software engineer would plan for a break, we too planned this one which was pending from a long time. The main place that we planned to visit was jog falls. But due to some miracle, we got 4 days of vacation which made the list grow like anything.
We ensured we had the following things before we started off –
Don’t see the news : every news channels aired the videos showing the heavy rainfall around the places we had planned to go. We ignored them.
Arms : good number of vacation
Ammonution : Money, Health and spirit.
A rough map of the places to be visited was drawn for our reference. As per the map, we were to cover the places in this order – Chickmagalur, kalasa, kudremukh, hornadu, sringeri, shimogga.
22nd of Aug: we started from Bangalore at 8.15 am in a ordinary bus to chickmagalur. The journey was a bit tiring though the roads are pretty good. We reached the destination around 3PM. We halted in the LIC guest house, took some rest and went walking around the city. Much to our surprise, the city is super clean and people also aid in maintaining the cleanliness by not littering around or spitting. People were very friendly. We loved the coffee served at Mayura restaurant which is the best in the city. Coffee is very famous in this place and is grown extensively in the estates encircling the chickmagalur. We ended up consuming almost 1litre of coffee within 1 and half days that we stayed there.
The next day, the Tata indica taxi came in front of our guest house. The previous day we had went around the city in search of tours n travels agency. When we couldn’t find one, we asked a local traffic cop. He advised us to go near the KSRTC bus stand where the taxi people stand usually. So we went there and striked a deal with one of the taxi guy to take us sight seeing the next day.
Our first stop was mullayangiri – the highest peak in Karnataka 25km from Chickmagalur. Though it was around 10am when we reached the top, it was so cloudy that you can see only the person standing next to you. Even a slight mistake by the taxi driver at the curves can put us in danger. The strong winds will make the mist to wet your face. But u
nlike getting wet in rain water, the mist will dry even if the wind stops for a second! At the top of the hill there is a small mutt taken care by an aged Archak. The most surprising fact about this mutt is that, only within a small boundary where it is situated, the temperature is a bit warmer. This might be the God’s miracle in order to help the Archak stay in the mutt!!
nlike getting wet in rain water, the mist will dry even if the wind stops for a second! At the top of the hill there is a small mutt taken care by an aged Archak. The most surprising fact about this mutt is that, only within a small boundary where it is situated, the temperature is a bit warmer. This might be the God’s miracle in order to help the Archak stay in the mutt!!
Ok so after spending about an hour at this place, we started moving down. There is a sub peak called sitayyanagiri at a small distance from the main peak. There is a temple over here where right in the garbha gudi, a source of water is present. Water comes out of it 24/7. Temple is well maintained and was cool unlike the mutt at the peak point.
Once we reached the foot hills, we started towards Kemmangundi which is 55km from Chickmagalur. On the way we visited one
place called Devirmanna temple. There is a hill close to this temple where, at the top, the puja for the temple godess will be performed once in a year during Deepavali. The path to climb the hill is too steep and at certain point you will stand parallel to the hill itself. Hence people would climb up the hill only once in a year during the day of puja to fulfill their vows.
place called Devirmanna temple. There is a hill close to this temple where, at the top, the puja for the temple godess will be performed once in a year during Deepavali. The path to climb the hill is too steep and at certain point you will stand parallel to the hill itself. Hence people would climb up the hill only once in a year during the day of puja to fulfill their vows.
There is a miracle associated with this temple which is dedicated to godess Chamundeswari. During diwali, 4 days before the Amavsya day, the Devi idol will be taken to the top of the hill where the grand puja will happen. On the day of Narakachaturdashi there will be spl puja during which people climb up the hill. And on the day of Amavasya, when the devi idol is brought back from the hill, they wont place the idol just like that. They wait near the temple’s Garbha Gudi door for a while and at certain point, the wind would force open the door which is to tell that the Devi has come back to Garbha gudi of the temple. Only then the Devi idol would be taken inside!!
We continued the journey towards Kemmangundi. There is no temple or any other thing at the top of this 
hill. You will have to enjoy the nature and scenic beauty. There is a garden built at the top where you can rest for a while.
hill. You will have to enjoy the nature and scenic beauty. There is a garden built at the top where you can rest for a while.
Coming back, at a distance of 10km from the peak, there is Kalhatti falls. The uniqueness of this falls is that the water flows right next to a temple in front of it. You need to cross this water in order to reach the temple.
The day1 of trip thus ended when we reached chickmagalur back at 5.30pm. We thought we came back pretty early. But later we came to know that it is not safe to roam around at the forest area after 6Pm. So we reached at right time. We went around the city again to buy some coffee powder and after the dinner went back to guest house and took rest.
The next day morning we had to get up early. We had planned to cover the following places – Kudremukh, Hornadu, sringeri and halt at shimogga. We were told that there is no direct bus to kudremukh early mrng from Chikmagalur. The only way we can reach there early mrng is to take a bus going towards sringeri, get down at Balehonnur, take a bus going to Kalasa and then to Kudremukh. Since the first bus to Sringer was at 6am, we got up at 4am itself and went to the bus stand around 5.30am. Our plan was to visit Kudremukh where there are couple of waterfalls nearby. But after the tiring journey till Kalasa, where we reached around 9.30 am, we were told by a local shop owner that there is nothing to see in and around Kudremukh as there are not many ppl in that town ever since the Famous KIOCL was shut down. Thankfully we decided to trim our trip plan by removing Kudremukh from the list. Instead we decided to go to Hornad directly which is 8km from Kalasa. We managed to get a shared Auto to reach to Hornad.
Horanadu is a beautiful temple town. The nature here is so beautiful that you will stand for a while after you get down from your vehicle to take a 360degree look of the place. The temple which is dedicated to godess Annapoorneshw
ari is very famous. There will be Anna dasoha every day from 12.30pm to 2pm. The temple complex is very big and serene. Within a 15km radius from the main temple, there are two more temples – Amruteshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Ganesha temple. The nature view from Ganesha temple which is slightly at the middle of a hill nearby, is too good. One can see the Main temple from here. Any auto wallah will take you to these two places for 100Rs.
ari is very famous. There will be Anna dasoha every day from 12.30pm to 2pm. The temple complex is very big and serene. Within a 15km radius from the main temple, there are two more temples – Amruteshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Ganesha temple. The nature view from Ganesha temple which is slightly at the middle of a hill nearby, is too good. One can see the Main temple from here. Any auto wallah will take you to these two places for 100Rs.
After a sumptuous meal at the sacred temple, we came out of the dining complex and went to a shop within the temple premises. This shop markets the products of SDM rural welfare programme society and are famous for their quality. We buyed the things which are famous in Malnad – The coffee and tea powder, Kashaya, Puliyogare mix etc. We had good 1hr to be spent before the next bus to Sringeri comes. But the time just flew watching the beauty of nature.
The journey to Sringeri was expectedly tiring due to the extra congested Bus, blaring audio, and incessant rains through out the route. Also, I was getting strained due to continuous journey and not-so-good health. 3 hours of journey finally ended when the bus reached another nature-beauty town of Sringeri. Rain had slowed down thankfully when we reached the town.
The huge temple complex of Sringeri is jus magnificient. We reached around 5.30 Pm
which meant we had just 1hr till the next bus to Shimogga leaves from the town. So we had to hurry up. As soon as we entered, we were told that the Head swamiji of Sringeri mutt is giving Darshan at the Ashram which is located at the back of the huge temple complex. We walked towards the direction of Ashram. It was spectacular beauty all around. There was a bridge which connects the temple complex with the back side where the Ashram is located. When you look around the river while walking over the bridge, you will understand what the Malnad region beauty is. The rain, sunset rays, water flowing in the river everything looked like as if some award winning painting had taken life all of a sudden and is present in front of you. It was just brilliant.
which meant we had just 1hr till the next bus to Shimogga leaves from the town. So we had to hurry up. As soon as we entered, we were told that the Head swamiji of Sringeri mutt is giving Darshan at the Ashram which is located at the back of the huge temple complex. We walked towards the direction of Ashram. It was spectacular beauty all around. There was a bridge which connects the temple complex with the back side where the Ashram is located. When you look around the river while walking over the bridge, you will understand what the Malnad region beauty is. The rain, sunset rays, water flowing in the river everything looked like as if some award winning painting had taken life all of a sudden and is present in front of you. It was just brilliant.
We spent almost half an hour at the ashram and then next half an hour we rushed to visit the different temples within the complex. After waiting for about 30mins outside, we got a bus to shimogga. I was little disturbed by the fact that we had to waste 30mins simply for the bus instead of spending that in temple. I wondered why ppl didn’t tell us correct timings. Later we came to know that due to heavy rains, the pvt bus operators had cancelled off all their trips to Shimogga. Luckily we had managed to get KSRTC bus and reached Shimogga around 10PM.
I was dead tired when we finally made it to Lic guest house after just-for-survival dinner. If not for the dirtiness-obsessed people, the town is decently clean. I didn’t had much energy to even think and argue more about this with my bro and mom and just slipped to bed.
If our gust house caretaker hadn’t knocked at 6.45Am on the door, we wouldn’t have got up at even 10am I guess. Unwillingly, I had to get up dragging my aching feet to bathroom. We got ready at around 9pm and started toward Jog Falls around 10am. The journey takes 3hrs and hell lot of pvt buses are there.
I have an apprehension before I proceed to describe about the beauty of the falls. Reason being, I know that how much ever I try to explain it, it will not stand up to the level. You need to see the place and enjoy the beauty yourself. From the main place, you can view all the 4 falls – Raja, Rani, Roller and Rocket. But unfortunately thick clouds had covered the place and out wait turned futile as 
it never showed the signs of either flowing away or evaporating thru rains. But we hired a taxi there to see each of the falls from different points. At the first place where he stopped, we had to walk a few steps down and then we can see the 3 falls (I don’t exactly remember which ones they were). There is the famous Mungaru Male spot here where the shooting of the movie took place. The Spot is indeed very nice where you can see water of the falls flowing down vertically from its origin point. Unfortuanately here again, we couldn’t see the depth properly due to the clouds. But however, as and when the clouds where clearing for a few mins, the sight of the falls appearing at the back was so spectacular. The wait for this breath taking scenery was worth all the strain taken to reach there.
it never showed the signs of either flowing away or evaporating thru rains. But we hired a taxi there to see each of the falls from different points. At the first place where he stopped, we had to walk a few steps down and then we can see the 3 falls (I don’t exactly remember which ones they were). There is the famous Mungaru Male spot here where the shooting of the movie took place. The Spot is indeed very nice where you can see water of the falls flowing down vertically from its origin point. Unfortuanately here again, we couldn’t see the depth properly due to the clouds. But however, as and when the clouds where clearing for a few mins, the sight of the falls appearing at the back was so spectacular. The wait for this breath taking scenery was worth all the strain taken to reach there.
Finally we reached shimogga at evening. I had no energy left in my body now. The 4days trip had come to end. We were discussing about which place we liked more. I voted for Chickmagalur. Don’t know what was the verdict of the poll since I dozed off without my knowledge. The Volvo bus took us back to Bangalore withink 5hrs against the usual 6hrs taken normally by other buses.
It is now BAU life from the next day L. Groan.
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