This is a blast from the past. A trip done 5 years back. I am transferring this article from my other site Bangalorebeats.com for more synergy and streamlining contents. This article will be updated further in time to come.
The visit to Medikeri has been an enchanting one. 252 kms from Bangalore and 1525 m above sea level lies Madikeri, the district headquarters of Kodagu or coorg. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Started the journey on 7th April 2006. There was a bit planning before that and lots of wrangling with my girl fren about the timings. I have packed my bag the day before but I forgot a couple of things. On the date of journey I was at late night shift. Reached home and hurriedly took the bag and boarded an auto and left for Majestic. Near Ulsoor bus station I remembered that I forgot to take the hotel booking receipt. Shit…lol Had to come back again. Took the recipt, ……….. and left for Majestic. In the meantime she was calling non stop. ” The bus is going to leave come soon…..” Traffic really sucks…… At last reached Majestic and started running toward platform 6 and heard she calling me. Opps I made it. Thought I will not be able to make it. The Rajhamsha buses are good. They have comfortable seats and are spacious. The bus was almost empty and the journey had been a good one although it was hot and dusty. We had our lunch at a KSTDC VEG hotel on the way to Mysore. I had a nice sleep on my gf’s lap. After crossing Mysore the landscape is very irregular. After a journey of around 8 hours fighting heat and dust reached Medikeri. The serene, small hill station. It was cold then — 8.30 PM.
On setting our foot on Medikeri , first bought a few needs like soap, paste and towel. Then hired an Auto and left for our pre-booked hotel KSTDC Valley View near Raja’s seat.
Day 2:
Last night I had put an alarm. We got up at around 7 am. Slowly got fresh, had breakfast and left for sight seeing by 9.30 AM. I was looking to hire a city taxi which was supposed to show us all the places. But that looked costly at 1600 rupees and she advised to take bus. So first we walked toward the GT circle and took an auto for abbey falls as that was only 9 KM away. We hired the auto for 150 up and down and for half n hour waiting time. It was good a drive through the narrow winding road. The Abbey falls is inside a coffee estate. On the way back the driver also shown us the Coorg raja’s tomb, where the Raja and his royal family has been cremated. Then we boarded a bus for Bhagamandala. An one way trip cost 20 rupess per person which is cheap but the quality of the bus is not bad. It was a good ride through the ups and down of the hills. At Bhagamandala we watched the sangam of three rivers viz. Kaveri, kanneri and the mythical river sujoythi. On the other side of the road there is a temple which was a collection of many deities. The architecture of the temple resembled Chinese style a lot. From there we bought Pure honey. Opps very tasy. There on we haired a van for Talcauvery for Rs 100. Talcauvery is the origin of the river cauvery. We also hiked the bhramhagiri hills. Excellent…what a view from there…also saw a couple of wind mills there. Took a couple of pictures there. On the way back we bought coffee, Elaichi. On reaching Bhagamandala, we had lunch at one KSTDC hotel. We boarded the bus for Medikeri again. In Medikeri we hurried for the Raja’s seat where also a flower show was going on. We enjoyed the enchenting view from the Raja’s seat. Took a few pictures of the flower art. Finally we headed back for to our hotel. Took rest for sometime and by 7.30 we went to see the town. Hardly we could see anything, it was almost a empty town. She asked for tea and we went for a Mallu resturent. The gobi manchurian was good. After a little stroll we we decided to have dinner there. I went for KP, alu-jeera-capsicum sabzee and she for a sea fish. With full stomach we headed back.
Day 3:
Today I did not put alarm and as a result got up late. By the time we checked out it was almost 12 noon. Then I wanted to taste coorgi food so we went to the bhramagiri hotel. We settled for pork chilly, rice roti and pork curry. Excellent food. I would like to have more. LOL! With packed stomach we finally headed toward the bus stand and found the the latest Rajhamsa has left 5 min back. Wrangled for a while for the bus and finally settled for a semi deluxe. On the bus stand I bought a bottle of sealed honey and few butter fruits. The butter fruits are not that tasty. To tell the fact honestly it is very tasty, I did not knew how to eat butter fruit then. I actually tried to eat the seed. No problem, you can have a laugh on me.
We have been lucky to see the coorg rain also. It was pleasent one and pleasing cool breezes. The bus took the Virajpet route amidst the forest, hills and coffee estates. However, the bus took a hell lot of time to reach bangalore. My goodness, the bangalore traffic which I almost forgot came to haunt me at 10.30 pm. We got down at some point near Majestic and dropped her at her hostel and reached home hurriedly.
One can book the Karnataka government owned Kstdc valley view here in Bangalore itself at the Kstdc office at Badami house near corporation. The hotel was quite good at that price(Rs 500 per 24 hours – now (2011) the price has increased many fold). Please note that the checkin and checkout time is 12 – 12 noon. Food is ok. They have a bar too and you can ask for room service if you would like. The hotel is actually on top of a hill. On the back side of the rooms there is a balcony from where one have a nice view of the surrounding hills.
My coorg tour is hardly over as I am yet to see most of the places like Irpu falls, Nisharga dhama, Nagarhole, Siddapur etc. Looking forward to another trip sometime soon.
Note: Regular buses are available from Majestic. Please check the with Ksrtc, the karnataka government run transport company. Recently Ksrtc has open many counters in various of Bangalore. So one can inquire or buy tickets from there too.
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