Onboard GLORY - Backwaters of Kerala

I was bit sceptical about this in the beginning when S had this idea of spending couple of days in the back waters of Kerala @ Alleppey. Nevertheless, we made up our mind and decided to go ahead. It was really a memorable and a wonderful experience.

The House Boat

After getting the details from our family friend, who had been there last year we dialled to Mr Alex from Seasons Cruise. Nice gentleman he is... he took care of A-Z of our travel. As soon as we alighted from the train, a cab was waiting to pick us up and he dropped us to a homestay where in we could refresh ourselves. Houseboat -stand (If I may call so) was at the walking distance from homestay and we started our journey in the morning.

A Lone tree

As we moved away from Alleppey, nature started unfolding itself, from the coconut plantations, to picturesque paddyfields and the life near the banks of back waters. It's actually quite interesting to watch the surroudings as people get on with their daily lives. It was as if life is moving in slow motion relaxed manner. As Alleppey being the starting point, we had a lot of hosueboats making a beeline when we started, but as we chucked along, our driver made sure that we were lost in the serenity. Inside the Houseboat Steering Wheel and the Gear

As we camped for the night near a village, we had an opportunity to go around and see the life around. Local boat men offered us a small ride in along the "backwater gullies" of the village. As our chef prepared snacks for us, we bid farewell to sun for the day at far west muching crispy onion pakodas. As the night set in, cool wind started blowing along with mosquitos :-). Yes, during evenings, sitting around in lobby of the houseboat is quite trouble some as loads of mosquitos will attack you. You need to be well prepared for it or get used to :-)

A church and the station on the banks

Next day was great as we woke up with sun rays beaming across, we made our way back to Alleppey. We were dropped at the place where the famous Kerala Boating Race happens. This place looked like as if there was a sea of house boats and it was truly a "HouseBoat Stand". As we were alighting, we had to cross at least 3 house boats to reach the shore and Alex was there to make sure we reach our next destination.

Bangalore to Agumbe – Road Trip

As we packed our bags post Xmas vacation, the choice was very clear and it was Agumbe. We had two choices for our road journey, Take NH 206 and reach Agumbe via Shimoga or Take NH 48 and reach Agumbe via Hassan and Chickmagalur. Having already travelled once via NH 206, we decided to choose the later one mainly because we would be traversing through Bharda Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Drive:
Although leaving Bangalore very early and reaching Aagumbe was one of the options, we preferred to leave Bangalore the previous evening and stay somewhere in between. We left Bangalore at around 5 PM and and stayed at Kamat Yatrinivas. Kamat Yatrinivas( near CR Patna) offers a decent stay with double occupancy bedrooms and dormitories at affordable rates. We left CR Patna at around 6 AM in the morning and headed towards Chickmagalur, it was a cold winter morning with a lot of mist around , needless to say it was one of memorable drives. Route from Chickmagalur till Agumbe is pretty scenic with almost entire stretch covered with Coffee and cardamom estates. We reached Agumbe @ around 11 AM in the morning and headed straight to Doddamane.


Drive Info:
Route : Bangalore- Kunigal – CR Patna– Hassan- Belur – Chickmagalur – Aldur – Balehonnur – Sringeri (Outskirts) – Agumbe
Distance: ~ 350 Kms
Time taken for Journey: ~ 8 Hours with couple of breaks in between.

Stay and Food:
Doddmane is world famous in Agumbe :-) . Just on the road side, this was home to "Swami and his friends” of Maludi days fame. Kasturakka and family were our hosts and I must say, this was home away from home for us. As Kasturakka was preparing delicacies day after day, I was in a no mood to venture outdoors. Stay and accommodation was pretty good, it was as if I was at my Grandama house.


Kasturakka hasn’t fixed any rate for all these, but accepts whatever comes out of the way! Dragging her to a conversation, she reveals how this was started, who were the esteemed guests at Doddamane , what is keeping here running this show etc. From the money that is generated, she also supports the poor and under privileged children in their education. In fact Doddamane is home to several of them.

Places Around:
ARRS: We had plans to visit Rainforest Research Station at Agumbe, we were infact very lucky to meet Gowri Shankar at Doddamane. It was very kind of Mr. Gowri Shankar for taking us around and explaining what they do.

Kundadri Hill: Another picturesque spot where we had a great experience of the rising cherry from the mist clad hills of Western Ghats. Along with Ravi (Kasturakka’s Son in Law) we started at around 5 AM in the morning and I was confident of driving up all way myself. As we started driving up, the hairpin bends were too sharp and it was full of mist with little or no visibility at times. I almost felt, I shouldn’t have ventured into this adventure with my Alto. Nevertheless, we made to the top in time and got simply lost in the nature after that!!!!

Sunset Point: Well.. Can you miss the wonderful sunset from Sunset point, I remember seeing this secluded place during my childhood. Sunset was great, except for the crowd around me! There is a beautiful lake nearby and offers paddle boat rides as well.

Jogi Gundi, Barkhana and Onake Abbi water falls are must! and a trek to Narasimha Parvatha can also be planned. Next plan is to visit Agumbe during the peak monsoon and just enjoy the rain, eating Kasturakka's delicacies.

Ajmer, Pushkar and Jaipur

The drive from Jodhpur to Ajmer was again by a taxi, enroute you can find lot of mining activity around. With the proposed 6 line highway coming up, the last leg of the journey to Ajmer was full of traffic. Had a quick darshan at Dargah and headed out to Pushkar. It was before Diwali and the streets of Ajmer were at its best. By the time we reached our hotel lake view Pushkar, we were pretty exhausted.

Water in the sacred lake wasn’t so clear, and locals informed us lake was degraded and thanks to good monsoon last year now lake is slowly getting back its glory. I was also told that the local administration officials have taken water conservation measures to restore the lake. Food is not at all a problem with every other building serving multi cuisine food.

Then the drive to Jaipur was less painful, since it was on 6 line expressway and we reached Cosy Homes @ Jaipur run by a gentleman Mr. Mahesh Tikku. Truly speaking, during this trip we dedicated very less time to Jaipur and just thought we will have Jaipur as a pit stop!

The booking @ Cosy homes was done by Sum and we didn’t contact him further after the booking, that left Mr Tikko wondering who is this Sumana from South India coming for just one day trip to Jaipur? Is she coming with her mother? Sister? friend ? or is she married? If married why her husband didn’t book this? Well… once we reached there, we really had a great fun talking about this, and also found that Mr Tikku is father of Sum’s ex colleague. Then we thought rather than planning all by ourselves, we should have surely called Mr Tikku and planned our trip. Nevertheless.. surely next time I visit cosy homes, Mr Tikku , I will make sure we will call you and plan our trip. Jaipur was at its best on Diwali eve, We shopped and return to Cosy home , planning for come and visit Jaipur Again!!!!

Lake view Pushkar is a medium budget hotel, which is right in the market area just next to the ghats. Offers a good view of lake around and one can enjoy the mornings and evenings sitting quietly at the terrace. Also has a roof top restaurant which offers quite a variety and tasty food. Non vegetarian food and liquor is not served at Pushakar , veggies can hop in to any hotel or restaurant. The Hotel is run by a gentleman Mr Raghu Pareekh, who also runs another good resort nearby.
http://www.lakeviewpushkar.com/index1.htm

Cosy Homes is a wonderful home stay I must say!! It was a home away from home for us. Albeit short, we had an enjoyable stay and I should admit food was fabulous. Situated in the heart of the city, in the calm residential area of Jaipur, Cosy home offers a great value. Hospitality, great room, friendly nature of Mr Tikku’s family will definitely bowl you over.
http://cosyhomejaipur.com/

Happy New Year

May all your dreams come true in 2011, Wishing you a great year ahead.

Jodhpur: The Blue City

The drive from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur is excellent. We hired a taxi to reach Manvar Desert Camp. Negotiating for a taxi , that too for a one way ride is pretty tricky, you will have to bargain hard for a good deal. Reaching Jodhpur (around 110 kms) from Manvar Desert camp was a real challenge. When we enquired for a taxi, they made an exorbitant demand. So we decided to ditch taxi and thought we will catch the first bus which comes our way! To our luck, as soon as we reached the road, we found a shared taxi going towards Jodhpur and driver was more than happy to drop us till Jodhpur.

Mehrangarh Fort and Umaid Bhavan Palace are worth seeing. The fort being located on a hillock, is almost equivalent to a 12~ 13 storied building and there is also lift facility to reach the top. The blue city in its full glory is best seen from the top of the fort.

This fort is also under the control of a trust run by Maharaja of Jodhpur and showcases enormous Rajput culture within and has been converted in to a museum. The technology used in this perfume bottle (toy) is amazing! To fill the perfume, you have got to open the knob on head, and if you press the bird like thing on the left hand , the perfume sprays out of right hand!!! Truly amazing isn’t it!

The protective gear that was once used by the Majaraja, I wonder how much stamina one used to have then!

The entire roof that is seen is made of gold (around 80 Kg, I was told) , this is a war loot from one of the war over Ahmedabad.

Cannons still in position on the top of the fort.

The Royal State Flag and Emblem

Umaid Bhavan Palace: As the history goes, once there was a severe drought in Jodhpur, then Maharaja thought he would distribute money and food to his citizens, then citizens told, being true Rajaputs in nature they don’t want anything in free as alms, instead asked the King to provide them with some work and then pay them. It was then the king decided to build this truly majestic palace.

It’s said that this doesn’t use mortar or cement to bind the stones together, but stones are bound together by a complex interlocking mechanism. Majority of the hotel is under the control of Taj group, part of it is museum showcasing heritage.
Below one really caught my attention! A Menu of Maharaja’s party from 1936, will I ever have an opportunity to taste old wine, liquor listed there?

Khuri ->Jaisalmer->Jodhpur->Ajmer->Pushkar->Jaipur - I

After deciding to go with Rajasthan for this seasons trip, we were bit skeptical about the travel arrangements and place of stay etc. But a thorough research and advice from friends and seasoned travelers helped us. We decided to go all the way up to Jaisalmer (from Jaipur)in train and from there traverse back to Jaipur covering the circuit within 6 days. As soon as we got down from the train @ Jaisalmer, we were mobbed up group of taxi drivers and rickshawallahs, nevertheless we hired a shared auto to Bus stand, All through the journey Auto driver told us how people cheat tourists and but finally dropped us in front of hotel /restaurant and was pushing us to go and have a look there! Commission business rules here! You should make a plan and stick to it. After having a enjoyable stay at Badal House @ Khuri, we headed to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer the “Golden city” has good tourist attractions.

Jaisalmer State Emblem

A doll shop out side Ghadisar Lake: You will find a variety of these shops in the city but you will have to wear a good bargaining hat out here!

Ghadisar Lake was built as a source of water for the Jaisalmer city, the lake is quite large and is a good spot for birding as well. It has a complex of the temples both on the shores and in the center. Boat rides early in the morning and evenings offer a good view of the fort and other monuments around.

A view of the Ghadisar lake.

Most of city looks painted in Golden color.

Lord Rama with a beard :-) May be sculptor thought after "Vanavasa" Rama should have grown a beard.

Jaisalmer Fort(Sonar Killa). Being strategically located in the Arab trade route, Jaisalmer fort occupies an important place in Indian history. As the guide said, during those days if anyone has reached Jaisalmer on camel it was considered to be a major achievement.

City as seen through the fort.

One can still see the stone armoury around the fort, which was used to defend the attacks on the fort.

Unlike other forts, still a significant population lives inside the thriving fort. You will be greeted with lot of guides as you enter the road which leads to the fort, but we found that the guides available inside the fort museum are more knowledgeable, authentic and affordable. The fort is still under the control of current Maharaja, the fort and the museum inside is run by a Trust under Maharaja.

A Busy street inside the fort

Eat out: Desert Bytes is a good vegetarian resturant, which offered us delicious idly, sambar

Next: Jodhpur the Blue City

A Quest with Birds, Bisons,Antelopes and Mokeys..

Last week, we had a great opportunity to participate, learn and make a beginning and I wish we will take forward a good beginning that we have made.

The School and the pupils

This is how we ended up drawing birds! I started to draw a Sunbird but ended up drawing a Kiwi instead!

And a great Morning to begin with…

A Wagtail basking in the sun

I wish I had these morning walks every day

Hog deer has spotted something!!!

Looks like the Kingfisher has got a fish…

Here comes the Bison.. The Hero….

Can you tell me something more about the bird we spotted?

Guess what? He is trying to simplify …

Looks like he has simplified it for Mantis…

Canons shooting birds….

As the Guru says.. it is a complex and interconnected world out there, we should respect each others place in nature.

Badal House @ Khuri

It was a windy, sandy afternoon as we got down from the train in Jaisalmer, the western most tip of Indian railways! As we ventured our way out of the railway station, needless to say auto, taxi drivers started offering accommodations, ride to Sam, ride to Khuri etc. The information collected from various sources was real handy here, finally we took a shared auto to board a bus to Khuri. At Bus stand we couldy only figure out the bus is leaving pretty late and after a good negotiation booked a taxi to drop us at Khuri. As we entered Khuri, we noticed a decent number of resorts and home stays, and after getting directions from an elderly fellow at Village naka, we reached "Badal House" .

"कर्म तेरे अच्छे तो किस्मत तेरी दासी" (If your deeds are good enough then the destiny will follow you) reads a saying written on his house. Ever smiling, simple and down to earth Badal Singh welcomes us to his clean and neat dwelling. As we start unwinding on the small platform infront of the house, the clouds have already surrounded the village and gusty wind starts blowing across. As I cover my face to save it from the sand, Badal Singh says "रेगिस्तान आपका स्वागत कर रहा है" (Desert is welcoming you). Well it's quite true that, wherever we go rain god accompanies us, I was quite suprised to see the rains in the desert with the onset of winter. Badalji attributes it to "Global Warming", and we learnt next day that there was indeed quite heavy showers at Jaisalmer.
True to his nature, Badal Singh has kept his home quite simple but well mantained.You will find 3 simple huts and 3 rooms with shared bathroom facilities. As we talk over a cup of tea, Badalji tells us he is expecting some visitors from Europe that evening and that because of rains they may not be able to make it and tells us how a guest few days back booked and after making all arragements they didnt show up! Badalji so calm and peaceful, there was not a shade of anger while was telling this.
As rains started to drizzle, goats came home and Badalji & Napa (Badalji's Son) served water to goats. You can see the ancient wisdom of rain water harvesting is being practiced here. Badalji has build two storage tanks for water in the house which is used for most of household purposes. Badalji tells as there was good monsoon this time around, he has sufficient water stored for rest of the year.

We break for an evening walk or rather trek to nearby sand dunes, Khuri offered us the peace and solitude, ofcourse the tourist activities @ Khuri have picked up with lot of resorts mushrooming around, but if you are prepared spend a bit more of energy there is no derth for solitude places. Being in the desert national park Khuri also offered us sight of lot of Avions as well. After watching lovely sunset we are back to Badal house, Badalji tells us he has arranged for the Camel ride the next day, we along with the other guests will depart for camel ride next day. He also tells us, "Seeing your state, and also state of weather sir, I cancelled your camel ride today and arranged it for tomorrow". I nod my head in concurrence, with around 20+ years of experience in this , Badalji must have read my mind!! As the loud music from near by resort cuts through the peace of the village, he tells he is not very happy about this, and how this has become part of his life.
Next day, we are up early, and knowing our interest in birds Badalji directed us to three small lakes on the outskirts of Khuri, these are for different purposes of animal and human needs of the village. And when we were back, Badalji showed us comments of an Ornithogist from Europe about Great Indian Bustard, and asked if we were keen to visit that place around 40~50 kms from Khuri. I had to forego that thought, since the travel arrangements couldn't be made in a jiffy, and good time to spot these are only during morning and evenings.
Afternoon sun rises, and so the heat of the desert, Although it was pleasant inside house, it was a bit harsh outside. Badalji told us why there are no A/C's , TV's at his home. "People come here in search of peace and definitely I don't want to spoil my kids with all the facilities". He cherishes his guestbooks, which he has been maintaining since early days of home stay, I must say, this humble man from the western tip of India is making the country proud by doing his bit of service in a selfless manner.

We set out for Camel Safari, as the desert prepares for the evening with an aim to be at the camp by the sunset. For us being first timers, Camel ride wans't that great, with whole of upper torso shaking all the way! But after a while, I guess body adjusted itself and started cooperating. It was great to watch the sun set across the border amidst the sand dunes. We retired to our bed with open sky as the roof, and sand dunes as our bed.

It gets colder during the night with cool wind breezing around, couldn't get good sleep though. But this was really a blessing in disguise as I woke up sometime in the midnight to see a wonderful and glowing "Moon Light soaked desert", It wasn't a full moon day and I made a decision to visit again on a full moon day and went back to sleep.

Spotted a wild deer on our way...

Bettle (id?) on its way...

Den of a desert fox. I was told that they dig up the sand in a zig zag fashion to confuse the predators and protect young ones.

Sun came up a bit late on the horizon next day( We were expecting early sunrise as we see in the east) , and sunrise was over real quick. We were up to birding again, after a great cup of Chai. Napa and Co prepared the breakfast for us and set out to find the Camels in the desert. They had left the camels free with the forelegs tied to each other pervious day. We were back to badal house on camel with a wonderful experience of our lifetime.

As we left Khuri, the words written on Badal house and ever smiling face of Badal Singh kept recurring. I must thank my buddy Arun for suggesting this place and I am sure I will definitely come back here to have a dekko at the Great Indian Bustard and the moonlit desert.

For an account on Birding around Khuri follow this link: Birding Around Khuri