Trip to Mysore with college friends on Jan 3rd and 4th. (Shatabadi Express)
Start to 2004 with a Mysore trip. Mysore sight seeing trip, places covered include palace, zoo, chamundi hills and KRS.
The best was the journey to Bangalore from Mysore in Shatabadi Express.
KSTDC pkg tour to Mysore srirangapattana (Feb)
KSTDC pkg tour includes srirangapattana also.
Belur and Halebedu with friends. March 27th
It was a KSTDC pkg trip to Shravanbelgola, Belur and Halebedu. Belur and Halebedu very well known for their stone carvings built by Hoysala dynasty. Belur has more external beauty. Halebedu is known for its internal carvings. The Whole temple can be dismantled and reassembled again.
Bheemeshwari and village
We set off to CFC and my village. On a Thunderbird with my friend to CFC and my village. We managed to do some joy fishing @ the backwaters of kaveri. We took a dip in the pond near to my village.
Nandi hills: May 30th.
One RX135 and TVS, I couldn’t believe that my 70 CC vehicle to pull me up to the top of Nandi Hills. I enjoyed the ride on the ungeared vehicle. Got drenched completely in rain while heading back to Bangalore.
Team building @ kanakpura road
This is an official one, we had a team building@Angana resorts.
Off to Coimbatore for a Friends marriage 20th and 21st June
I left Sunday early morning in a train to Mysore, from there took a BUS to Coimbatore. The best was the drive through the jungle of Karnataka and Tamilnadu border. Luckily there was a CAR rally going on, I managed to see some lovely rally CARS. The mountains very fully covered with thick green grass. The drive from Hasnur to Sathi was lovely.
Hyderabad trip official: 21st to 25th June
I just managed to check in to Bangalore, immediately I had to leave to Hyderabad for training.
The MIST, the Marriage and the …….. 26th and 27th June
I just managed to land my foot back to Bangalore from Hyderabad and I had to leave to JOG falls.
It was around 7 am in the morning. The complete hill was surrounded with mist. After some time we were able to see the World Famous JOG falls.
We hired a Jeep and went to each tip of the water fall Raja, Rani, Roared and Rocket.
The best moment of the trip was the when I managed to reached the tip or Raja Water falls, Raja falls doesn’t hit the any rock before reaching the bottom.
We managed to get down the water falls, Climbing back was little bit tire some.
We managed to get the buses in right time and reached Chitradurga @ 7 pm. Checked in to Hotel AMOGA international.
Got up early morning and ready to attend friend’s marriage. Afternoon food was awesome.
We left to chitradurga fort the very same day.
Back to Bangalore on the very same day.
Rafting @ Sita River with office friends: July 3rd and 4th
Set off to Hebri via Kudremukh. It was about 5:30 early morning when we left the office. Nobody knew the exact route to the Rafting site. The drive to kudermukh was awesome, lovely tea plantation every where and lit of drizzle on top of that I was sitting on the Top of the vehicle. I had to get back in after entering the forest range. There very so many waterfalls created due to rain. We managed to visit Kudremukh dam. We enjoyed the stay @ Bhagavathi nature camp. River sita flowing with full flow and a cottage next to that, you can’t ask for more than this. There were leeches all over the places.
We had to do some cooking for the dinner.
Got up early morning and left to Rafting site, which is about 48 kms approx from Bhagavathi nature camp. River Sita flows all the way from Agumbe. Rafting is conducted by CARE ADVENTURE GROUP with well trained experts. Rafting is done only during rainy season. River level was 5+, everybody enjoyed the rafting in sita river. We managed to spot some birds and a peacock while rafting.
This place is easily accessible through BUS. Probably the best time to visit is between July and August. Sugama has regular BUS services to the camp site.
CFC on bikes: 10th and 11th July
This was for the first time I was riding a geared vehicle for a long ride. We had booked log huts for stay @ bheemaswari through jungle lodges. We set off on Saturday early morning. All together there were 4 in the gang. I enjoyed the ride from Sathnur to Muthathi. Butterflies were hitting the visor of the helmet. One side of the road was with mountains and other side was with river kaveri flowing with full flow.
Lazing on a Hammock, I went for a quick sleep within 10-15 mins. I think that was one of the best sleeps I ever had.
There was no luck in joy fishing, went for a boat ride before joy fishing.
The evening barbeque was good. Sitting next to the river bed with camp fire and sipping my favorite drink. Only thing which was missing was some music.
The food @ jungle lodges was excellent.
Wake up call @ 6:30 am, we managed to do a little bit of trekking for 3 kms to reach the nearby watch tower. I view from Watch tower was excellent. All the mountains were covered with thick green grass.
Mysore trip with family: August 22nd
This was my first trip with my family members after a long time.
A visit to Mysore Zoo turned out to be worthy. It has just rained the peacock was @ it best, full feathers opened and dancing in the rain. The flood gates were opened during this time. KRS was almost full.
Sangam on bikes: Sunday September 5th
Back to Kankpura road with RX135, could manage to sleep only for some time the previous night. We left at 7 am in the morning. It was around 11 am when we reached chunchi falls. We managed to get very close to chunchi falls. From there we left to Sangam which is around 10 kms approx. The water level was almost up to the chest mark when we crossed to the river. We reached this place called Goat’s leap. Water was gushing through the rocks making loud noise. The best was the drive from Goat’s leap to Sangam on Top of a mini bus and the chunchi falls
It rained heavily while coming back. We reached Bangalore @ 7 pm.
Bandipur trek – September 25th and 26th
I decided to join for this trip @ the last minute. There was only one seat left for the trip.
This is my second trip with Care. This is an all expense paid trip. I had never been to Bandipur before. We left to Bandipur early morning 6:30 am from City Railway Station. All together we were 20, including the organizing team and the Doctor. We reached bandipur at 1 pm. We had a safari in the evening. We had the sighting of spotted deer, peacocks, samba deer, Gaur and elephants.
Deer’s covered the entire area near our cottages @ the night. Eyes of the deer were shining in the dark when we used our torches.
Got up pretty quickly early morning, went for a morning walk. The mist had covered the mountains completely. Deer’s were running around the campus.
After the breakfast we went for a trekking to Gopalswamy Betta. Gopal swamy betta is the border of Karnataka. Madhumali and Kerla are very nearby to this place.
The trek was good. One the members of the crew managed to spot a tiger. We had covered nearly about 5kms I think.
Left to Bangalore from Gopalswamy betta @ 5pm and reached Bangalore @ 10:30 pm
Hostel trip 18th and 19th September
We left to Alnavar on 17th night in Rani Chennamma express. Alnavar is around 70 kms from Hubli. I enjoyed the train journey from Hubli to Alnavar, both sites of the track lush green fields covered with mist and due drops. We reached Alnavar around 7:30 in the morning. BCH had already got ready for the trip. The warden had everything planned in advance. After a quick shower and breakfast we left to Dandeli. Dandeli is known for paper mill and teak wood. We managed to get into the museum @ Dandeli wild life sanctuary. Safari was not possible since the track was full of slurry.
We visited 3 power plants on that day. The view from ambikanagar power plant was too good. Water is allowed to pass through the tunnel and passes through 6 huge pipes, which in turn rotates the turbines. The river Kali was with full flow.
We stayed @ Dharwad and boarded the inter city express on 19th September.
Karwar trip 9th and 10th October
Click on the link below for more info on this trip.
http://www.geocities.com/avalanchegopi/karwar.html
Bike trip Oct 22nd, 23rd and 24th (AOF)
Click on the link below for more info on this trip.
http://www.geocities.com/avalanchegopi/Biketrip.doc
Oct24th: Final race of 2004 (Brazil). It was an awesome race to watch JPM final race with BMW Williams with FW26 and P84 taking a chequered flag. I have captured the complete race commentary.
@ Press conference this is what JPM had to say. It has been 4 years with Williams I have had ups and downs. There is nothing like ending a season with a win.
GKVK: November 7th
There was an article about krushi mela held @ GKVK on Saturday. I thought that probably the best time to visit would be early morning, to capture the due on the flowers. Got up @ 5:30 am and left to GKVK. GKVK is approx 20 kms from my place. To my disappointment I couldn’t see any flowers in the show. Just thought of spending some time around the campus and head back to home. Then I was about to leave, thought of asking someone if there is any other garden in and around the campus. Headed 3-4kms deep inside the campus to my surprise, there is a beautiful garden.
Managed to capture some snaps of fruits and flowers on my Digi cam.
Nagarhole trip: 25th and 26th December
I had some thoughts of ending 2004 with a trip. Although I had been to Nagarhole twice in 2003, I have not stayed @Nagarhole. Thought to giving a try this time, this was my 3rd trip with Care Adventure. The only difference, I was not alone.
We left Bangalore around 11:30 pm in Friday (24th) and reached Nagarhole entrance @ 5:30 am on 25th. Had to wait up to 6:30 am near the entrance, since the gates would be open only after 6:30 am.
After breakfast we left to Irrupu. Irrupu is 10kms from Nagarhole. We had a trek to Bharamagiri hills. The total trek distance was about 10 kms. The view from top of the hill was awesome. We had our lunch @ Bharamagiri hills. We returned to the base camp around 6 pm. After dinner we left to the Dormitory, it was almost like a night safari. We managed to spot some deers, a tusker and a gaur. We had a sound sleep after a tired trek.
Got up early morning and returned to base camp for a safari. Managed to get a window seat, on the left side in the safari van. The sun rays were still young piercing through the trees. Still we could see some mist covered the ponds. We couldn’t spot any tigers. Probably we weren’t lucky enough. You can spot deers everywhere in the jungle, I think you will get bored after seeing only deers everywhere. Our driver spotted a tusker, just got little bit close to the tusker. Quickly took some snaps with Flash switched off. Most of the animals get attracted to bright colors, light and a strong perfume. I would advise not to wear any bright colors, while going for safari or trekking in the jungle. Especially red color dress. An Irrupu wall is one of the most amazing waterfalls of Karnataka. The water was almost @ the freezing temp. When I stood below the waterfall, I felt that some body was throwing ice cubes @ me.
Back to base camp packed everything and left to Bangalore. While returning back we took a different route. Mysore à Srirangapattana à Bannur à Malavallià Kanakpuraà Bangalore.
Banyan tree and manchanbele dam: December 30th
This was my final trip, although this is short one I guess. Took a deviation on the Mysore road to reach Big Banyan tree. This place is aprox 18-20 kms I guess, the road is not that good. Most the branches of the tree have fallen. Just took some snaps, after a quick round of snacks left to Manchanbele Dam. I didn’t have the proper idea on the route. Some people guided us to this place. Even @ this season, still some water is left in the dam. The back drop of the dam is Savandurga hill. Manchanbele dam is aprox 8 to 10kms from Big Banyan tree.
tion from Bangalore. Nandi Hills is 65 kms from Bangalore. I took my cruiser bike (Eliminator) on Wednesday, stuffed my bag with couple of camera, binocs and a set of clothes. I refueled my bike @ shell petrol pump in Yeshwanthpur. Shell petrol pump is the place where I normally fill the gas. Hit the Hyderabad highway around 11 am. You need to take a left turn on the high way to reach Nandi Hills one more left and a right turn should take to you the base of Nandi Hills. The curves(Hair Pin bends) start from here, 44 hair pins bends (curves) till you reach the peak. I like the straight line speed of my bike. I had touched 100 kmph on the highway already. When there was not traffic on the high way. I would stretch my legs straight, felt like I was riding a chopper bike. I wanted to enjoy my ride; there was no hurry to reach the peak. Eliminator lacks a bit when it comes to cornering. I am not sure is that my riding style or because of the length of the bike, I was little cautious while negotiating the curves. I had ridden on the same circuit on a RX135 in Nov 2004. I had enjoyed my ride on a RX 135 on the curves. The 2 stroke engine rocks in hill station. I track surface on the way to Nandi Hills is pretty hard. It will punish your tyre if you brake too often. I didn’t have a pit stop before reaching the top. I parked my vehicle in the parking lot and made all the way walking to the reach the top. I was not sure if I would get an accommodation. If I get an accommodation @ Nandi Hills I would stay back and return on Thursday or else ret
urn on Wednesday itself. After talks with the horticulture dept, they agreed to give me accommodation @ the Nehru nilaya managed by the horticulture department. I dumped my luggages at the room and carried only the cameras and binocs. Started to roam around the place, took some shots of the flowers in the garden. The VIP suite had an old fan in the 1st floor, probably that’s the oldest fan I have seen with 4 wings and blades in front. I had ordered for some food in the canteen. This canteen can only be used by the people who stay at the guest house. I had walked enough, the rice along with rasam tasted well for the amount of walking I had done. After lunch went around exploring new things near tippu drop. The fort walls are fallen down at many places. It was very windy on top of the hills next to the temple. I walked all the way to the parking lot to put my vehicle in a proper place. I parked my vehicle inside the shed. As I was heading down the sunset was nearing. The temperature gradually decreased as the sun disappeared. I took a nice walk around the campus after dinner. There was no crowd after 8 pm. How often would you get such weather, cool wind breezing and now crowd, no mobiles to trouble you? I was enjoying my last days of 2005; it wouldn’t have got much better than this. I went to sleep around 11 pm. 
ain @ 6:30. Still poor visibility, decide to take a walk. As I walked to the hill top the view from the KSTDC restaurant was too good. I was surprised by the mist which started to pile up the hills. I couldn’t believe I would have got this spectacular view. I wish I could have walked on this and reached the sun. The mist started to rise still further and covered the hills completely. I stood here for close to an hour watching the movements of the mist and sun rise through the mist. The mist covered the gardens the dew drops looked like jewels around the leaves and flowers in the hill station. The mist completely covered the hills completely and making visibility poor. 
t and left Nandi hills around 11:30 I stopped only once near Nandi cross for a drink and reached Bangalore around 1 pm. 
