I have recently come back from a fabulous trip to South India in the Coorg district. I visited Madikeri and Chikmaglur and was floored by all that I saw experienced.
The trip started with a long drive from Bangalore to Madikeri. It wouldn't have been such a long drive (11 Hours!!!!!) had it not been for the crazy traffic we encountered on the way owing to the fact that we decided to start the drive on 15th August a national holiday and the beginning of an extended weekend. On account of it being an extended weekend, most of Bangalore and I am sure the surrounding cities, decided to do what we did... take a holiday to the nearby coffee plantations or other tourist destinations in the area. We were advised that under normal circumstances, taking traffic into account it should not take more than 6 hours to reach Madikeri from Bangalore.
The first thing that hits your senses as you travel south are the colours that you see around you. The homes of the area are so brightly colored that it seems a little unusual to our staid North Indian sensibilities, yet look perfectly at home in their surroundings.
En-route to Madikeri, we stopped at a small Tibetan establishment / township by the name of Bylakuppe. They are more or less a self-contained township and use their land mainly for corn farming and have a lovely Monastery, made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,which displays some beautiful paintings and statues. I was glad that we stopped here on our way. It was very unexpected to come across a Monastery smack bang in the middle of traditional South India.
After another couple of hours on the road we finally made it to the Heritage Resort in Madikeri (http://www.heritageresortcoorg.com). Now this resort is something else entirely. Beautifully located up a largely isolated road, this resort mainly consists of little hut like cottages set in the middle of lush greenery and not a soul in sight other than those running the place and those living in it. It has the most divine infinity swimming pool with deliciously cold water that we itched to get into as soon as we got there! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who goes there. Though not the cheapest place to stay in, I believe it was really worth the money. The staff is very friendly and helpful and the rooms are quaint and comfortable.
The weather Gods blessed us with lovely cool weather with rain that made Madikeri (also known as Mercara and situated in the Coorg district) look all the more lush and beautiful. We took a trip to Dhyan's Den (a coffee plantation and home-stay) and got a "personalised" tour of the plants growing in the plantation and some really lovely coffee, all planned out for us by Heritage Resort. We also drove up to Abbey Falls (also spelled Abbi in some places) though due to the crowds we decided not to go up to the actual falls. And then came the much awaited dip in the cold cold waters of the infinity swimming pool which made one feel like we were swimming at the top of the world with nothing but a sheer drop beneath us! It was heavenly!
The trip started with a long drive from Bangalore to Madikeri. It wouldn't have been such a long drive (11 Hours!!!!!) had it not been for the crazy traffic we encountered on the way owing to the fact that we decided to start the drive on 15th August a national holiday and the beginning of an extended weekend. On account of it being an extended weekend, most of Bangalore and I am sure the surrounding cities, decided to do what we did... take a holiday to the nearby coffee plantations or other tourist destinations in the area. We were advised that under normal circumstances, taking traffic into account it should not take more than 6 hours to reach Madikeri from Bangalore.
The first thing that hits your senses as you travel south are the colours that you see around you. The homes of the area are so brightly colored that it seems a little unusual to our staid North Indian sensibilities, yet look perfectly at home in their surroundings.
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| The Colours Of Coorg... Just some of the ones we were able to capture along the way. |
En-route to Madikeri, we stopped at a small Tibetan establishment / township by the name of Bylakuppe. They are more or less a self-contained township and use their land mainly for corn farming and have a lovely Monastery, made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,which displays some beautiful paintings and statues. I was glad that we stopped here on our way. It was very unexpected to come across a Monastery smack bang in the middle of traditional South India.
After another couple of hours on the road we finally made it to the Heritage Resort in Madikeri (http://www.heritageresortcoorg.com). Now this resort is something else entirely. Beautifully located up a largely isolated road, this resort mainly consists of little hut like cottages set in the middle of lush greenery and not a soul in sight other than those running the place and those living in it. It has the most divine infinity swimming pool with deliciously cold water that we itched to get into as soon as we got there! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who goes there. Though not the cheapest place to stay in, I believe it was really worth the money. The staff is very friendly and helpful and the rooms are quaint and comfortable.
The weather Gods blessed us with lovely cool weather with rain that made Madikeri (also known as Mercara and situated in the Coorg district) look all the more lush and beautiful. We took a trip to Dhyan's Den (a coffee plantation and home-stay) and got a "personalised" tour of the plants growing in the plantation and some really lovely coffee, all planned out for us by Heritage Resort. We also drove up to Abbey Falls (also spelled Abbi in some places) though due to the crowds we decided not to go up to the actual falls. And then came the much awaited dip in the cold cold waters of the infinity swimming pool which made one feel like we were swimming at the top of the world with nothing but a sheer drop beneath us! It was heavenly!
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| The Heritage Resort, Madikeri
Of course, we had to see the town of Madikeri which we did that evening. My travel companions discovered a few jewelry stores with some of the most beautiful Gold Jewelry I have seen in traditional South Indian designs. It goes without saying that one can buy truck loads of coffee in Madikeri in different blends, and we proceeded to do just that! We also managed to try one of their locally made fruit wines. On the whole, a most satisfactory evening out on the town and shopping expedition.
The next day we started our journey to Chikmaglur (located in the Chikmaglur district of Karnataka), another area known for its coffee plantations. But the really interesting part of the journey were the two stops we made in Halebeedu and Bellur (located in the Hassan district of Karnataka) to visit the temples there. They are some of the most exquisitely carved temples that I have ever seen. The details of the work both inside as well as outside the temples keeps you completely spellbound. When our driver told us that we would take an hour in each of the places, I had very serious doubts as to what we would do there for the entire hour. All such thoughts were dispelled once we actually started the tour assisted by the guides.
Halebeedu (also known as Halebid), constructed by the Hoysala dynasty in 12th Century AD, is a homage to Lord Shiva. This temple took 86 years to be made and is still incomplete in certain places as the city was attacked before all the carvings in the temple could be completed. Amazingly, no two of the thousands of carving in this temple are the same. We had a very interesting guide (Mr. Prem Kumar). He looked a little like a squashed version of Randeep Hooda and threw us a little every time he pointed to particular carving and said "Hundookasi". It was only later that we realised he meant "And you can see"!!!! But hats off to Mr. Prem Kumar, we would not have appreciated half the beauty of the temple had he not told us stories of the carvings and pointed out the details and the delicacy of each carving to us. If you do visit either of these temples, be sure to hire a guide while there.
 
A Beautiful And detailed Carving of Deity Guarding One
Of The Entrances At the Temple
  
Note The Minute details Like A Monkey Climbing a Banana Tree In The Top Right Corner
Carvings Showing The trinity Of Brahma, Vishnu And Shiva
We were met by Mr. Manjunath (who preferred us to call him Mr. Manju) at Bellur and we spent another very fruitful hour at the temple. Known more for the carvings inside the temple as opposed to the Halibeedu temples, this temple known for its external carvings, this temple too was made by the Hoysala dynasty in 12th century AD and took 103 years to be completed. This temple is dedicated to one of the Avataras of Lord Vishnu (Lord Vijayanarayana). We were once again floored by the beautiful detailed carvings in this temple. Mr. Manju was just as good in holding our attention throughout the hour that we were there specially as he explained how each carving of the female form depicted a different hairstyles that were now coming back into style, for example the bob cut, the sadhna cut and the boy cut! Oh and did I forget to mention that according to our guide the Vodafone pug too was depicted in one of the carvings????!!!! (Please see image below of the moter with children walking the dog).
    
And we finally reached the Taj Gateway in Chikmaglur. The rooms that we got were big and had large balconies and 2 Queen sized beds each (heaven!!!!). We reached the unanimous decision that since the next day was going to be our last before the drive back to Bangalore, we would relax most of the day by the pool and only venture out in the evening if we felt like it. We had already seen a coffee plantation in Madikeri and after all we were on a holiday were we not? And that is exactly what we did. In addition to spending a cloudy day in the pool, most of us threw in a massage done by the most capable hands of the masseuse employed by Taj Gateway. I came back feeling completely relaxed and wanting more. Thoroughly recommended!
Well, technically that was the end of our trip except for the journey back to Bangalore. And that too turned out to be a real pleasure. It took us only four and a half hours to get back as the weekend traffic was over. And we got the opportunity to stop at a beautiful Marigold field and have some coconut water. We even managed to make a stop on the way at Hot Chips, a chain of small shops that sell positively yummy South Indian snacks like thattai, tapioca chips, potato chips, banana chips and jackfruit chips among many many others.
At the end of the day, our journey would not have been complete without the customary stop at Maiya's and Hatti Kappi for Aki Roti and South Indian filter coffee respectively at the airport.
Some of the things that interested me during this trip apart from all that I have mentioned above?
1. Pepper creepers climbing up trees in coffee plantations (by the way, raw pepper straight off the creeper tastes really interesting. Try it if you can.)
2. I saw castor seed plants for the first time. Most interesting leaves.
3. Ginger fields
4. An overabundance of the Lantana bushes in all the colours possible.
5. The very different concept of gol guppas or pani puri in the Coorg area.... very delicious but very different.
I have to recommend that you do this trip if only to see the Bellur and Halibeedu temples.
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