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Travel Date(s): March 18, 2017 and March 19, 2017
Day-0: (Friday)
Travel Date(s): March 18, 2017 and March 19, 2017
Day-0: (Friday)
My friend and his colleague came to room and stayed
over night. I had my dinner (Half-Grilled) and then waiting for
them. They came at 10.30 and had dinner (Biryani). 😃
Day-1:
Places Covered:
Home -> Kalhatti Falls -> Hebbe Falls -> Raj
Bhavan, Kemmanagundi -> Shanthi Falls -> Z-Point, Kemmanagundi -> Horticulture
Department Guest House, Kemmannugundi
Complete Link of the route for the day-1:
Details:
Got up at 3.30 AM. Completed the formalities and
woke my friends up. Thought of starting at 4.30 AM from HOME, but finally it
was 5.15 AM by the time we start (not much delay though). The climate was good
enough for the ride, neither cold nor hot.
The ride started and hitting the NICE road is always
an awesome experience. We took the first break in
Nelamangala (as usual for tea).
The second break is at Swathi
Delecacy which comes around 6 kms before Yadiyur.
Here comes the first pic of mine in the trip.. Thanks to Sravan for giving me one of the best clicks of mine with my 💙🚲BIRD
Here comes the first pic of mine in the trip.. Thanks to Sravan for giving me one of the best clicks of mine with my 💙🚲BIRD
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| ME WITH MY LOVE THUNDER-BIRD (Unedited) |
Place-1:
Kalhatti Falls - Navigated here with the help of GPS. This was not so great
place. Beware of monkeys. Knowing language is always an added advantage.
Talking with the localites and getting to know the routes and places is easy.
Points to
note: Can reach till the falls in your vehicles. No issues. Just to add
in your visited list, this place has to be visited. Nothing so great. May be
because we visited in March, the waterflow was not so much.
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| KALHATTI FALLS, TEMPLE |
Place-2:
Hebbe falls - This is the best place in the trip. This has to be visited
atleast once, preferably in monsoon. We went in March but it's still worth. A
bumpy drive in the jeep, 2-levels of waterfalls and 3-streams to cross (small
ones).
Points to
note: The only mode of transport to Hebbe falls is jeep. They are not
allowing our own vehicles now. Have to park your vehicle in the starting point.
From there we have to go in a jeep which they organize. And it is 3200 per jeep
limited to 8 members (400/- per head). The amount is fixed. Tried bargaining, but
was not successful. They said it is Government fixed rate. Not sure how true it
is.
If your team is less than 8, do
not worry. Wait for 15 to 20 mins, there will be people coming to visit. You
can combine with them and go in the same jeep. Take care of your car/bike keys.
Once lost it is tough to find.
Have to share our experience regarding
this. As we went in bikes and didn’t want to carry our bags to the falls, we
asked a guy to keep our luggages in their car. Then we headed towards the falls
in the jeep. The jeep driver dropped us at a place from where we have to walk
till the falls. We will get to see 3-water streams on the way to falls (so avoid
shoes). We had an amazing experience at the gorgeous falls and then decided to head
to the point where we got down from the jeep. And here that guy gave a bomb to
us saying he is not abe to find his car keys. We searched throughout the path and couldn’t find them. Finally
found it in the jeep. Since the jeep ride was similar to a roller coaster ride, the keys were dropped in that. If it was somewhere near falls, then
we couldn’t have found it.
Things to take care of:
1. Prefer slippers to shoes.
2. Take a pair of clothes if you wish to get into
water. Mostly you will be tempted to get in after seeing the falls.
3. Cannot take your vehicle. So keep enough money
with you. I don't think they accept cards.
4. Take care of your car/bike keys. Must note this.
Be very careful about this.
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| FISHES AT THE STREAM |
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| ONE OF THE STREAM TO BE PASSED (OUT OF 3) TO REACH HEBBE FALLS |
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| HEBBE FALLS - THE TWO LEVELS OF FALLS |
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| HEBBE FALLS - CLOSER |
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| OPPOSITE TO HEBBE FALLS |
Place-3:
Raj Bhavan, Kemmanagundi – Not so great, but it has a view point for sunset.
May be for the couple visit and for the ones who love roses, it will be a
great place.
We headed to Shathi falls and Z-Point which is
around 3 kms from Raj Bhavan. This road is muddy and there was little rain the
previous day night. So we saw some water staying on the road. It’s not an easy
ride. We have to be very careful in these off-road driving.
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| A CAPTURE OF THE VIEW POINT |
Place-4:
Shanti falls – This is not really waterfalls. A small stream of water falling
down from around 10 feet. But the name gets justified. It comes on the way to
the Z-Point trek. While coming back from the z-point peak, just stop at this
falls and wash your face. You will feel the real peace (Shanthi) of the falls...after a tiresome trek...
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| SHANTI FALLS |
Place-5:
Z-Point -Sunset Point – This is arguably the second best place of our trip. The
trek was exciting and a little bit tough after riding approximately 300 kms.
The trek will give the feel that we are walking at the edge of the hill. You
feel like the earth is moving along with you. That’s little scary though. May
be 30 min to 45 min of trek from the place where we can park the bike/car. Our
vehicles are allowed to a certain point. From there we have to trek for 30 to
45 minutes.
Points to note: Need to wear shoes as the trek route is not so great. Try to come back before it gets dark if you are with a family. As the driving route is also not so good.
Note: There will be jeeps arranged from
Kemmanagundi to z-Point start (from where we have to trek) for that mud-road.
It is just 3 kms of jeep drive. With your own vehicle, you can go
directly till the trek starting point.
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| THE SUN - SETTING |
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| THE SUN SET |
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| WAY TO SHANTHI FALLS & Z-POINT |
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| Z-POINT TREK ROUTE |
We started back and had to search for a room. We
didn’t spend much time in searching. There was horticulture department guest
house within a km to Raj Bhavan. We went there and got the room.
This was a government guest house. And we got
Virupaksha Lodge for our stay. The charges are Rs. 1680 for 24 hours. Have to
say about this. Seriously the facilities showed how the government functioning is.
No Fan, No Water Supply in the wash basin, No Flush. The only best part was the
bed which was so comfortable. And we had to ask multiple time for the AC remote. Asked him to
put an extra bed for which he charged Rs. 100/-.
Day-2:
Places covered:
Horticulture Department Guest House, Kemmannugundi
-> Town Canteen Chikmagalur -> Belur Chennakesava Temple -> Halebidu Hoysaleswara
Temple -> Home
Complete Link of the route for the day-2:
Got up at 4.30 AM. 3 of us got ready by 6 AM and
started the trip at around 6.15 AM from the lodge. The bike already showed the territory markings with Oil and Mud.
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| BIRD |
Started the navigation to
Belur. And for this, the route shown was through Chikmagalur. The road to
Chikmagalur was awesome. We didn’t expect the ghat section again in our trip as
the routes to Belur and Halebidu are State Highways. But to our surprise, the
road till Chikmagalur was a Ghat road and the ride through that at the morning
time was too good.
Place-1:
Town Canteen, Chikmagalur – I read about Town Canteen in Chikmagalur in www.tripadvisor.com and the reviews were
so positive about that hotel. So once we reached Chikmagalur, I remembered this
and navigated to the Town Canteen. Ordered Masala Dosa and Gulab Jamun as
suggested online. Please don’t expect so much after reading the reviews. Masala
Dosa was just ok with little Aloo Palya and little butter inside. But the Jamun
was really good. It was hot and tasty. Had a coffee and then left the hotel to
Belur.
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| TOWN CANTEEN - CHIKMAGALUR |
Place-2:
Belur – This is the second time I visited this temple. And the carvings and
sculptures are just awesome. The temple name is Chennakeshava Temple, Belur.
As always the temple gives that peace of mind. Guides are available for
explaining the history of the temple. We didn’t take a guide, so I am not sure
about the price. But I think you can get the prices online.
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| PILLARS - INSIDE THE TEMPLE |
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| HOYSALA EMBLEM |
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| PANORAMIC VIEW OF CHENNAKESAVA TEMPLE |
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| SIDE VIEW OF THE TEMPLE |
Place-3:
Halebidu – This was another temple which has to be covered. I am visiting this
temple for the third time. The name of the temple is Hoysaleswara Temple. The
construcion will be similar to Belur temple. But we had taken so much of rest
here. It was around 12 PM we reached this temple. So we didn’t wish to get out
of the temple soon. We sat there and relaxed for a while. And again the best
time to visit this temple is monsoon as there will be a lawn outside which was
completely dry when we went.
But
when I visited the same temple last time in the month of October, it was full
of greenery and very nice for photos. The temple is peaceful and there will not
be many options for food nearby. So from here we headed to Bangalore.
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| NANDI STATUE - IN HOYSALESWARA TEMPLE |
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| INSIDE THE TEMPLE |
That’s all the places we have covered. We had a
stop at Polar Bear icecream shop which is around 6 kms from Yadiyur. And the
conincidence is, it is just beside the Swathi Delecacy which we stopped on the
previous day for breakfast. Had a couple of icecreams while watching the
IND-AUS 3rd Test match. And then started back to Bangalore.
Took a right at Nelamangala
junction and from there the traffic was too heavy. Be careful, as everyone will
be riding very fast as they will be still in the Highway mode. We have to
switch back to City mode where we have so many idiots.
We took a turn onto the Nice Road.
And as always riding on the NICE road is good. It was not so smooth ride as it used to be, due to road damages. Finally reached home at around 8
PM. That’s the end of a memorable trip.
Thanks to my ROYAL ENFIELD
THUNDERBIRD 350 and Sravan for adding more memories. 💓💗
