the journey continues…

Staying in Bangalore and not seen Coorg yet?? So a weekend we were in Coorg with friends.
Coorg also called as Kodagu is 250km from Bangalore passing through Mysore.Since Mysore was not in our itinerary we bypassed it from Srirangapatnam and took the Bangalore – Mandya – Srirangapatnam – Hunsur – Piriyapatna – Kushalnagar – Suntikoppa – Madikeri route.
Coorg land is rich with many coffee estates and they grow the best coffee in India.Most of the houses in Kodagu have some one in the Indian army or navy.They are well known for their bravery and hospitality.There are many sites in the internet which gives info about homestays,food etc in Coorg so travelling is not at all a problem here.
First day we covered Iruppu falls,Bylakuppe Golden Temple,Dubare Elephant Camp.
Next day we went to TalaCuvery and BhagaMandalam.

Iruppu

Iruppu falls

Golden Temple is a major attraction at Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement. The gold coated Buddhist statues in the monastery are impressive and unique, explains the rich cultural heritage of Tibetans.
They have good accommodation facilities here.So we stayed here for a night and early morning visited the temple.

Golden Temple,BiluKoppe

Monks inside the temple

Monk & Buddha

Dalai Lama

GoldenStatues

Paintings on the wall

Dubare elephant camp is good for children.We can bath the elephants ,feed them,have a ride and enjoy.But there are timings for these activities.I remember we should be there before 10AM in the morning to do all these.

Dubare elephant camp

ElephantRide

Dubare Camp

Tala Cauvery where the river Cauvery originates, is my favt spot.We did pooja and archana here.We also did a small trekking to Brahmagiri, a small hillock near by which gives a nice view of western ghats.

TalaCauvery

View from Brahmagiri

Few kilometers away is Bhagamadala where River Cauvery merges with the rivers Kannike and Sujyothi to form a Triveni Sangama.

Triveni Sangama

Bhagandeshwara Temple

Recently we had been to coorg and chikmagalur. Both the time we stayed in homestays. Somehow I felt homestays are better choices compared to Hotels as they would be having homely atmosphere and you can have home food which you will miss always .
So in Coorg we stayed in a home stay called Palace Estate.Its a pretty nice place in between the woods maintained by a Coorg family. The place is very remote and is entirely sorrounded by greenary and there is no network also.So if you want to spend a weekend without any traffic noise,mobile calls this is the best place to go !!!

HomeStay

Balcony

Have a cup of coffee in the morning , take a walk amidst the coffee plantation,have a shower in the private falls [ which was awesome ] and relax.They also gave a nice breakfast,lunch and dinner mostly prepared in coorgi style.
10 mins from the homestay there is a palace called Nalkanad Summer Palace where you can see some of the old paintings. This palace was built by a Kodagu King named Lingaraja and now it has been protected by ASI.

Palace

Waterfalls

“Thadiyandamole” which is the highest peak in Coorg is 6km from here and is a very good spot for trekking.Top of the hill provides a scenic view.
Padi Igutappa Temple which is a very auspicious temple for Coorgis is 7 km from here.

My Favt dew drops

Woodys

They have a website of their own where you can find more details
www.palaceestate.co.in.
Make sure you book in advance before going there.

Few weeks later we visited chikmagalur,there also we stayed in a homestay called Woodways.
This homestay is also remote and sorrounded by coffee plantations.You can take a coffee tour,do trekking,
bird watching etc.This place fills with you so much positive energy and makes you feel fresh.
You can stay here for a weekend and visit places like Kemmanugundi,Bababudangiri,Mullayyanagiri etc. which are near by. Pics are below

homestay

front view

coffee with cam

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಗಾದೆ ಮಾತಿದೆ. “ದೇಶ ನೋಡು,ಕೋಶ ಓದು” ಅಂತ.ಹೀಗೆ ದೇಶ ನೋಡ್ತಾ,ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಓದ್ತಾ ಓದ್ತಾ ನಾವು ಭೌಧಿಕ್ಹವಾಗಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಜ್ಞ್ಯಾನ ಸಂಪಾದನೆ ಮಾಡ್ತೀವಿ. ಮಾನಸಿಕವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳಿತೀವಿ.ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ದೇಶ ಸುತ್ತೊದೋ ,ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನ ಓದೋದು ನನ್ನ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಹವ್ಯಾಸಗಳು.

Palace Estate Home

ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ನಾನು ಭೇಟಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಸ್ಥಳ ಕೊಡಗಿನ ಪ್ಯಾಲೇಸ್ ಎಸ್ಟೇಟ್. ಈ ಪ್ಯಾಲೇಸ್ ಎಸ್ಟೇಟ್ ದಟ್ಟವಾಗಿರುವ ಕಾಫಿ ತೋಟಗಳ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಇರುವ ಸುಂದರ,ಶಾಂತ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇ(ಮನೆ ವಾಸ).ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಧಾವಂತದ ಜೀವನದಿಂದ ಭೇಸತ್ತವರಿಗೆ ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಇದು ಮನಸಿಗೆ ಮುದ ಕೊಡುವ ಆಹ್ಲಾದಕರ ಸ್ಥಳ. ಹಕ್ಕಿಗಳ ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿ ಕಲರವ ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ನಿಮಗೆ ಯಾವ ಶಬ್ದ ಕೂಡ ಕೇಳಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ .ಎಸ್ಟೇಟಿನ ಎರಡು ಸಣ್ಣ ಜಲಪಾತಗಳು ನೋಡುಗರ ಕಣ್ಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುತ್ತವೆ .

ಪರ್ವತಾರೋಹಣ ಪ್ರಿಯರಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಟ್ರೆಕ್ಕಿಂಗ್ ಸ್ಪಾಟ್ ಕೂಡ ಇದೆ. ಇದಲ್ಲದೆ ಇತಿಹಾಸ ಪ್ರಿಯರಿಗೆ ಸಮೀಪದಲ್ಲೇ ಕೊಡಗಿನ ಅರಸರ ವಾಸ ಸ್ಥಳವಾಗಿದ್ದ ನಲ್ಕನದ್ ಅರಮನೆ ಇದೆ.ಈ ಅರಮನೆಯ ಗೋಡೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಳೆಯ ಕಾಲದ ವರ್ಣ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾಣಬಹುದು . ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರಕಾರದ ವಾಸ್ತು ಇಲಾಖೆಯಿಂದ ಅರಮನೆಯು ಸಂರಕ್ಷಿಸಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತಿದೆ.

Nalaknad Palace

ಸುಮಾರು 10 km ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿ ಇತುಗಪ್ಪ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನವಿದೆ. ಬಹಳ ಪ್ರಾಚೀನವಾದ ಈ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ ಕೊಡಗು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಬಿಂಬಿಸುತ್ತದೆ .ಇನ್ನು ಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಕಾಫಿ ತೋಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ walk ಕೂಡ ಹೋಗಬಹುದು .
“ಅತಿಥಿ ದೇವೋ ಭವ” ಅನ್ನೋ ಮಾತು ಕೊಡಗಿನ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಖಂಡಿತ ಅನ್ವಯ ಆಗುತ್ತೆ. ಅತಿಥಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮನೆಯವರಂತೆ ಆದರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ . ಹಾಗೆ ಊಟ , ತಿಂಡಿಗಳು ಕೂಡ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ರುಚಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದವು .ಮಡಿಕೇರಿ ಪಟ್ಟಣದಿಂದ ಸುಮಾರು 30km ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಇಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ನೀವು ಹೋಗಬೇಕುಂದ್ರೆ ಮೊದಲೇ ಅಡ್ವಾನ್ಸ್ ಬುಕಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಿರಬೇಕು.ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ್ನ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಾಗಿ
ಅಂತರ್ಜಾಲದ ಇ ವೆಬ್ ಸೈಟನ್ನು ಸಂದರ್ಶಿಸಬಹುದು :http://palaceestate.co.in.