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Many a times I have come across people who tell me that they have visited Coorg and my first question would be “Where in Coorg?”. “Cooorg” comes the answer. Well..not many people realise that Coorg (aka Kodagu) is actually a District, and the town Madikeri is its district headquarters.

Coorg is known for its coffee plantations primarily.But then there’s a lot of other things one gets to see in Coorg.

Getting there

The town of Madikeri is around 230 kms from bangalore. The only mode of transport is through road and it takes abt 5 – 5.5hrs.

The first time we (Vijay and me) went there by KSRTC bus and it was then that we learnt it the hard way that having a own vehicle is the best way to get around,else you need to be at the mercy of the local auto-rickshaw fellows or the private bus operators.

The next time that we went there (Priyam, Krishna, CV and me), we drove down to Coorg.

Route : Take the four laned Mysore road till Ranganathittu and proceed till you hit the Hunsur road,then on to Hunsur, and to KushalNagar.

Madikeri is 40 kms from Kushal Nagar.

My personal opinion is to stay in Kushal Nagar rather than Madikeri for 2 reasons

• Most of the places that one would visit are near to Kushal Nagar
• It is less crowded than the town of Madikeri

Before I get on with the nitty-gritties of the “what-to-do”, one word of advice “Ensure you have made arrangements for accomodation”.

Orange County in Kushal nagar is a nice option if you are willing to shell out a decent amount of money.Other good option is Hotel Kannika International in Kushal nagar.

Madikeri has loads of options close to Bus stand.

Day I (Oct 30 2004)
We started from Bangalore early in the morning and as usual stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast. After this , we proceeded to Srirangapatna ,10 kms before the city of Mysore, to visit the temple of Ranganatha swamy.

By the time we reached Kushal Nagar after the brief stops, it was around 2 PM when we checked into Kannika International.

We decided to take it easy for a couple of hours before we decided on an agenda for the evening.

In the evening, we decided to visit Bylakuppe , which houses the largest tibetian monastery in India. There is this Golden temple in the Namdroling monastry which is a must-see. Streams of monks wearing yellow and maroon robes can be seen all around this monastery.

Its a good idea to visit this place in the morning or when there is ample lighting. The walls of the prayer hall have colored glasses that let the natural lights into the hall.There are 3 statues , each of 40 ft high inside this temple.

The statues are of Padmasambhava, Buddha and Amitayus.

It was getting dark as we got out of the monastery and headed towards Kushal Nagar. With no specific agenda and time in hand, we decided to explore the place. We then headed towards Veerbhoomi, a place where one gets to see the cultural side of Karnataka with folk dancers performing while the dinner is served. The approach road was very bad and the experience inside also was not all that great for us.

After a long day , all we wanted to do was to have a good rest and gear up for the next day.

Day II

Coorg is said to be the place from where the river cauvery originates. So, we set out in the morning after a light breakfast to TalaCauvery, which is around 30 kms from the town of Madikeri. From Kushal nagar, it took us almost an hour and a half to reach as the roads were bad. The place of origin of cauvery is a small tank. We took a dip in the tank. The cold water was refreshing enough to beat the heat of the day.

From this place, steep steps lead to a hill top (Brahmagiri) from where one can have a bird’s eye view of the whole area around.The climb is steep and there are no support railing to hold on. The view and the breeze are worth the climb.


On the way down from Talacauvery, there is a temple known as Bhagamandala. This temple resembles the temples of kerala in its structure.

After a brief stopover in the temple,we headed back to Madikeri for lunch. Madikeri has few options for vegetarians near the bus stand. One place that you would probably want to skip is Raja’s Seat. Today this is just a park with a toy train for the kids amusement.

Since it was around noon that we landed in Madikeri , the Omkareshwara temple was closed.The architecture of this Shiva temple is muslim-like structure, with a central Dome and four minarets. A tank in front of the temple provide serenity to the temple.

Off we were, bidding farewell to Madikeri ,and heading towards Nisargadhama, a place where Cauvery has been diverted through. We spent close to an hour sitting on the rocks in the water and cooling our heels. The quite atmosphere adds to the calm. It was beginning to get dark and we decided to head back to the hotel.

Day III

This was the last day of the outing and we had saved this for Dubare , an elephant training camp ,around 8 kms from Kushal Nagar. The roads are narrow, but motorable except for the last stretch of 100 metres. Hang on, you are still not there yet.The last leg of the journey to the elephant camp has to be covered by boat across the cauvery.

As we were getting out of the boat, the first of the big visitor was on its way into the river. You get to spend time with the elephants, bathing them, feeding them with the specially-made food.

There is a doctor in the camp who explains all about elephants. Pretty interesting lecture. Finally the elephants get ready to give the visitors a ride on their back. All these activites are a part of a package that costs INR 150 per person.

If you are a person who is not fascinated by the huge creation of Mother Nature, then you could sit among the rocks in the river and enjoy the serene settings.All in all , this place has something to offer for everyone.

Plan to reach here as early as 7.30 or 8 in the morning so that you get to spend time with the elephants and also enjoy the nature sitting on the rocks.

Finally, the time had come for us to bid adieu and get back to rozi-roti. A long weekend well spent..

Last but not the least, the machine that helped us make it …. my fav.wagon

Until next time………

Delhi to Haridwar on a no-traffic route

There are few thousand people who go to Haridwar everyday and most of them use the traditional route of

Delhi – Meerut – Khatauli – Purkaji – Muzaffarnagar – Chhapar – Roorkee – Haridwar

and then there are some who go much less often and take the road less traversed.

which even though being a national highway is actually nothing closed to being called one. This highway is actually not better then any small town road and can actually get worse then that courtesy the usual traffic rush and impatient drivers. Also, the towns which fall on the way are not too great outsiders-lovers and their own life revolves around this highway, unlike NH1 esp between Delhi and Amritsar section, where you do get long stretches of no-habitation. So all this heavy traffic is dealt with bad speed breakers and what not.

So in one of our trips, we had the same dilemma and we were struggling hard to figure out whether an alternate route will make sense. We were essentially thinking of a way to avoid this highway as much as possible and if somehow we can connect to NH24, which is much better and quicker.

And after lot of calculations and some brave calls, we decided to do the following

Haridwar – Najibabad – Bijnaur – Mirapur – Mawana – Meerut – Delhi

This route will connect us back to the standard road at Meerut and was coming out to be about 25 KMs costlier but we took the bait and boy, it was worth it, every meter of it.

Haridwar – Kotdwar / Najibabad : From Haridwar, turn right at the gol chakkar (roundabout) towards najibabad / kotdwar. This is a big turn and anyone would know it. As you turn right, you hop on to a bridge ending in a temple. If your taste buds dont need the certificate of city-clean-food always and are permeable enough for street food then have some fresh fruit chat. If you love visiting temples then there is this famous temple on the river bank, I think it was Durga, I am not 100 % sure though. Keep driving on this road and you will notice that you are actually driving along a animal sanctuary, Rajaji. All those years, we used to look at Jim Corbett map and wonder that how come this is so big, as big as 500 Sq KM and we never know from where it starts and where does it finish. So actually this road connects to the Kumaon and you can go to Kashipur and to Corbett. Rajaji has lots of Elephants and you may get lucky.

The road is very well laid, the tar was fresh but it was not meant for a high speed drive so be careful as it can get a little bumpy and the curves could get dangerous. Keep driving straight till you get a gantry where you need to take a right which goes towards Bijnaur and then further to Delhi.

Najibabad – Bijanur : In this section you hit smaller towns, villages but no traffic. You keep going straight, occasionally you will have a tractor or two to maneuver or a group of cattle but thats fine. Again, you dont hit more then 100, usually you drive at 70 but with no traffic, fields on both sides and a countryside to cherish, you wont get fatigued.

Bijnaur – Mirapur : Bijanur is the biggest town in this route so you would want to stop and take a bite, there are some decent option. We stopped at ‘Vyanjan Vatika’ which is just after Bijanur. From here you need to go straight to Mirapur. This section is the best section in terms of driving pleasure and speed. The road is really impressive, you can push the pedal and you still dont see too much of traffic. But now we are entering into the sugrcane belt.

Mirapur – Mawana – Meerut : From Mirapur, you go towards Mawana, the town which has made its name in Sugar trading. Mawana is a decently sized town and you can get your provisions here incase you are a long drive and most likely coming from Delhi. It takes a while to clear Mawana owing to petty traffic and from here you head on to Meerut.

Getting Through Meerut : This gets a little tricky so avoid this route in odd hours since you would need to ask your way through. Go towards Cantt, then towards jail-chowk or karagar-chowk or something like that. Move towards Chaudhary Charan Singh University and you will reach a fork, take right and then first left again. There is a minuscule, hidden cut on your right so be very very vigilant. Once you take this right, you will wonder that where-the-hell you are driving since now you are a narrow tar-strip with fields on both sides. Again avoid this in odd hours, keep going straight and you will meet the main highway. Go a little further and now you are on partapur bypasss, hooooh you are back.

From there you just go straight towards Ghaziabad and then hit Delhi.

So if you are looking for a countryside drive which is away from the maddening crowd on the main highway then take this one and you will thank your stars. We did this in Apr’2007 and roads can change over time but its well worth it.

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Chamba of Uttranchal in Apr 2007

Another long weekend for most of the folks on account of Good Friday was good enough reason for some of us to pack our bags and head towards Chamba. Its a different matter that none of us had an off but how does that matter as long as the desire to drive and the tire of travel are strong enough motivators.

We stayed at ‘Classic Hill top’ and I will try to write a separate blog on that. Apart from Classic, we also checked out the properties of “The Hermitage”, Kanatal and “Terraces” and I will cover a real tiny quick review about them. Small but good enough to decided whether you would want them or not.

So we started early morning on Apr 6 and got on to G T Road or Delhi-Haridwar road.

Day 1 – Apr 6, 2007
We started at around 6 from Preet Vihar, Delhi which was the meeting point for all the folks, other people parked their cars and I pushed the pedal. We crossed Cheetal Grand which is about 110 KM from Delhi in two+ hours and since we had early morning tea + snacks, we didn’t stop for breakfast. By 1230 we were in Haridwar.

On the way we passed Ghaziabad, Meerut, Khatauli, Muzzafarnagar, Chhapar and Roorkee. Thats the route you typically take to reach Haridwar. (but on the way back we tried a different route and it was much worth it). This road is a highway but it has no laurels to be called one.

First and foremost is that this highway is really really a big constricted alley which passes through numerous towns and at any point of time you can’t drive at more than 80 KMPH for more then 5 KMs.

Second is that its not well kept. There are stretches which are not re-tarred for years. The patchwork can’t missed.

And finally, you can get into a real jam, especially at places like Khatauli, more so in Sugarcane season. And if not Khatauli, then on the railway fatak on Muzaffarnagar highway.

But there is no other way or at least thats most of the folks think. And its not true at all, we will cover that separately. So we had lunch at some place in Haridwar, very bad food and we started the upward journey. Chamba is about 90 Kms from Haridwar via Rishikesh, Narendranagar, Nagani and it takes about 3 hours since its real steep uphill drive.

We checked-in at around 2, and time to get some fresh mountain air, some sun and of course some beer. Classic Hilltop is a beautiful property and its really hard to believe that such a vast expanse of beautifully done property is still not labeled as 5 star and is accessible to budget-semi/permium travellers. I will try to compile another blog dedicated to this property since it has lot of things.

The rest of day was spent eating and drinking. Some of us took a game of billiards in the evening, rest decided to rest and we all gathered again in late evening. There was a definitive nip in the air and after a few round of more throat-wetting we called quits. After all, the 9 hour odd drive from Delhi was still taking some toll.

Day 2, Apr 7 2007

We decided to drive towards Dhanaulti. Essentially if you are in Chamba, you can either go towards Dhanaulti and then to Mussorrie or you can go towards Tehri. Now the dam is done, Tehri Jheel (Lake) attracts lots of visitors, beyond Tehri lies Uttarkashi and then if you are one of those real initiated ones, you can actually go to Gangotri (mouth of Ganges) and then Yamnotri (mouth of Yamuna). Anyway, after sloping down from the hotel we noticed a bunch of tents aside fields. They are just a yard away from the road but you need to climb up so sort of secluded. In any case you dont get to see many people.

“Whispering Pines” - Just 4 odd KM from Chamba on Chamba-Dhanaulti road, a collection of standard A tents, each having two folding ply top beds, common loo and a very humble kitchen. For Rs 500 a night for a double, its the best you can get to have a camping experience. The booking office is in Chamba town but I ams sure you can convince the property-keepers to allow you to come in.

Beyond ‘Whispering Pines’, we passed few small town and then we hit upon “The Hermitage”. It would be about 7-8 KM from Chamba on Chamba-Dhanaulti road, and is actually a 500 odd sq yard structure which has lot of old wood. A very small parking, a ping-pong table laid in open, a small restaurant and thats about it. They also have a website http://www.kanatal.net/, incidentally the only link that doesn’t work there is ’snaps’. We had high hopes from this hotel since the site boasts of real big things but it was even a bigger damp-squib. We did see two Honda Civics parked there and a travel operator bus so I guess a good travel network is keeping them alive. But this is our feedback based out of 20 minutes of property seeing and may be we were expecting too much so do read at other places before taking our word granted for this.

After about 1-2 KMs, we hit another popular hotel on this road, called ‘The Terraces’. Its a little away from main road and you need to do some first-gear travel on a non-tar road. So we got in thinking that we will have a cup of tea. The guy, Pali, greeted us and requested us to take a small tour and to show around things. And boy, we were impressed. Terraces is going to be one sought after thing in time to come. They have a concept of cottages where each cottage has four doubles. Each room is modernly equipped with a Satellite TV, tea-cofee maker, mini-bar (though they dont yet have a liquor license), wooden floor etc. There is a restaurant, a recreation area which has a mini theatre, a micro mini discotheque, billiards table, other table games (scrabble, pictionary), carrom etc. They have a provision to setup couple of tents on the roof so as to give you a camping experience but it get real chilly in the night so not suitable for overnight stay. We had complimentary tea and we all left with good memories. I would recommend this hotel but it falls in premium category so you will have to shell out more money. The going rates for a double in season is 5K+ per night.

By that time, we had a good drive and some of us were more keen to go back to Classic for a round of beers in Pool so we headed back. We were back at the hotel by 2 only to realize that Pool is still not clean. After getting an assurance that Pool will be done in an hour, we had some beer and had a late big lunch.

Post lunch, some of us went to take some rest and rest of us headed for a game of Billiards. Evening was spent looking around the property and generally having a chill time. By night it grew very very cold so we stayed indoors and indulged in our standard theatre games like Back-to-Back improvisations, a few rounds of dumb-charades, more whisky and rum, some tandoori chicken (I think it was some other bird), some more rum and after a late dinner, we all crashed.

Day 3, Apr 8 2007
Time to go back. We started at 1100 hrs and reached Haridwar in 2+ hours. It takes less to climb down and all the while we were thinking on how best to avoid the tradition Delhi-Haridwar highway. I knew that there is another route which connects to Moradabad via Bijnaur.

I carry a very good book called ‘Lonely Planet India and Bangladesh Road Atlas’ and after doing some calcuations, we decided to try a new route. We had time at our hand and what better time to try new thing then now.

The new route will be
Haridwar – Najibabad – Bijnaur – Mirapur – Mawana – Meerut and then we meet the more common Delhi-Haridwar road.

Contrary to our expectations this is one terrific road to drive. So much so that I am inclined to write another small blog just for this new route. So come back for this. Also we spotted barasingha somewhere before Bijnaur in fields. They were very very close.

We reached Delhi before 9. Thats the photo of the whole gang. Clockwise from left – Vijayant , Reena, Smita, Pihu, Nandan, Preethi and Vinod. You see the Scorpio as the dial of this clock.

A weekend well spent.