Madikeri is 5-6 hrs journey by road from bangalore and most of the road is good, so I decided to travel by my car itself. It was my first long ride so was a bit excited about the whole thing. Still gathered as much information as I could from internet(all the blogs and travel sites) about the road conditions and also sightseeing options. Also took a printout of all Maruti workshops on the way from bangalore to madikeri so that if by bad luck, my car breaks down, I can get help immediately.
We started very early from bangalore to avoid getting stuck in bangalore traffic. Mysore road till now was fully done and on full 150km strecth u can easily cruise above 100km/hr. My 800 could hardly go above 100, so I can't tell the maximum limit. :-) I had to give side to every Innova passing by even after maximum acceleration and running at 100km/hr speed.:-( Only one Innova gave me consolation by restricting its speed to 80 and I had the fun of overtaking it many times.
The road till periyapatna is extremely good and even after leaving Mysore road at Srirangpatna, one can drive above 80. well, most of the time. From periyapatna to Kushalnagar, the construction was going one, and it was very bad.
Had decided to go to Bylakuppe, the tibetan settlement after reading the reviews. However, it was an okay place. Just on the way, so not a pain to visit but nothing so special. Its photos, though, come really good since the temples are all in bright colors. And yes, it's really a calm place and have few well maintained gardens. The one thing that's strikingly beatutiful and deserves special mention is golden temple(photo on the left).
Then went on to Nisargdhama, a small island on kaveri. It was also a bit of disappointment as far as natural beauty is concerned. However, had fun while pedal boating and elephant ride. kids may love that place. There is also a deer park and I didn't expect it, but there were lots of dear in it.Reached Club Mahindra around 5p.m. The resort looked beautiful, seems straight in the jungle itself, and yet all the greenery was very well maintained. After freshing up, came outside of room and it looked even more beautiful because of small lights in walkways in the resort. Came to know that there is some dance programme going on hilltop(they have a small hillock inside resort premises) . Again, the activity staff was great as ever. I am sure they get some professional training for organizing activities. Somehow, they succeed in getting people participate in even most awkward things, by joking, rebuking whatever. The host made even most reluctant senior citizens into trying out some stupid looking dance steps. After that, we had dinner and then went again to hilltop for dancing out on their DJ tunes. (They have a makeshift dicso also there).
Next day in the morning, we went to raja's seat. the view was good, but nothing splendid. May have looked better in rainy season. In my view, Ooty and Munnar are better placed in terms of viewing points. Gave Abbey's falls a skip, since resort guys had informed there was little water there right now. Had read about the drive from madikeri to somwarpet(about 40kms) and so decided to drive. I enjoyed the drive to the full with all the twists and turns, however, my wife(ruchi), my brother(vikas) and my friend(satish) got really bored just sitting in car. We came across no good viewing point in the whole journey. May be u get rewarded after some trekking on coffe estates on both sides of the road, but we were in no mood to do that. So satisfied ourselves by shooting some photos of a bamboo jungle midway. Really missed the activities that were planned in the resort and we couldn't take part because of time lost in the journey.
Took lunch and had to take a nap after such a curvy ride. Then went into swimming pool, it's great there. I mean for non swimmers like us. Wasn't too deep.:-) Also, it's kind of semi private with all the greenery around it.That evening, they had a carnival on the hillock. all small games that you may have played when you were a child in melas in ur hometown. initially, it looked a bit stupid to play those games but as we moved on, the fun crept in. Tried to win with all brains, tricks and skills. Got two kitkats in rewards. Satish concluded that it was a successful evening since we had fun and recovered twenty percent of the expenses made on the tickets for the games.:-)
Went for dinner. All the meals were buffet and we got really full everytime. Satish and vikas forgot their dieting also and gained all what they had shedded over last few weeks.:-)
Next day, we decided to relax in the morning. Got up late(see how good is the room and how messy we left), had a really heavy breakfast (what with Omlette, dosa, idli and poori together) to prepare for the journey. Checked out at 11 to reach bangalore before evening.On the journey back, had a stop at Kamat Hotel on Mysore road for a quick bit. didn't like even the dosas there. I don't know why it's so famous.
Reached Bangalore home in time by 7p.m., cursed ourselves for wasting time in going to somwarpet and missing some more fun in the resort we could have, had a good sleep. Still had a hangover day in office next day.:-)) Thinking about shifting to hospitality sector in some way that I can holiday more frequently.:-))
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