Coorg Trekking...

It had been a long time since our previous trip & hence we decided to go for one. We had shortlisted some places, but ultimately chose Coorg as many had not been there & also because Coorg has some amazing trekking spots. This time around we wanted to focus on doing some serious trekking and see some nearby places on our way back.We started late in the night on Friday and reached there early on Saturday morning , though the vehicle was pretty good , the road after Mysore was bad and hence most of us were completely exhausted after the journey.We had decided to stay in "Kings Cottage" and had done prior bookings .So after we reached the place, we took some time off to take a stroll in the countryside and also grab a few photo opportunities.

After finishing our daily ablutions and a heavy breakfast, we backpacked our stuff and started off for the trek. "Tadiyandamol" was the name of the hill, supposed to be the highest peak in Coorg.I had read in some blogs that we could see the Arabian sea on the horizon from the top & everyone was excited to do the trek & to be on the top.

The initial part of the trek was pretty cool as we had proper roads to start with. Slowly as we reached the bottom of the hill, the paths became narrower & the terrain was rough.Some nearby hills were completely charred as recent forest fires had wiped out any sign of vegetation on them.As we gained some altitude, it was around 12'O'Clock , we had already finished most of the water we had carried , we found a small stream of water , so we replenished our reserves & headed on.

As we moved on further, it became more & more difficult for some of us as most of us were cramping badly.We took some small breaks in between and moved on. By the time, we reached the summit, I had cramps in both my calf muscles, a sprained ankle & an exhausted body. I decided not to strain myself further & stopped in between, the rest made it to the top & were back in no time, The skies were suddenly filled with grey clouds & it became more murkier by the minute.. We made our journey back to the stream & had our lunch. As we walked back, lightning thundered and looked like it would pour any moment.We were lucky to get a drop from another trekking team and we made it in time to our cottage.It was a terrific first trek for me as I had never done a more strenuous & demanding task in my life .

Photos:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2108581604&code=21577364&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

a short trip to hesaraghatta

This is definitely one of my favourite place to visit during weekends. This time it was Manju's car.I know that he had a tough time driving through the crazy crowd but it was worth the experience.

I have been here so many times and I still find something new each time I come here.As usual we started off with the lake, but things got interesting later on in the day.We visited Rohith's farm and the jowar fields.Picking the corn right from the plants was some kind of experience.By the time we learnt to pick up some good ones we had already picked quite a lot of them, most of which were good only to make popcorn.We forgot to take our camera and had to makeup for it from my mobile.The link to the pics is http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2117746102&code=19232938&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite.Since the photos were taken from my mobile phone, the quality of the pics are not so good.

Honnemardu

My trip to Honnemardu has been my favourite for many reasons.You normally tend to remember and visualize any thing happening for the first time in your life.Honnemardu gave me many such incidents and memories.

We were about 8 people out of which I knew only four. We had to catch the train at 11 pm and were already getting late. After reaching the station,both me & Anil realized that we didnt know the train number and also did not have the phone number of my friend Madhan, who had booked the ticket. We somehow managed to get the train number from a hawker and ran to the platform.Now the task of finding our seats was in front of us.We got it from the TC & sat in our seats.The others made it in time.

At about 6'O' Clock, we reached Shimoga. From here we had to take a small train to Sagar.This train was very small.It looked more like a minibus than a train.If anyone from the fields nearby would wav his hand, this guy would stop the train for him !!! After about 2 hours of travelling we reached Sagar.We hired a jeep from here to Honnemardu which was 6 kilometers from here.

"It is a place out of this world" . This was my first impression of the place. I could see miles and miles of placid blue water right in front of me.There were small islands in between with lush greenery, something which I had never been to before.We had our breakfast & a short information session on the itenary for the next 2 days.We then put on our foam jackets and took a dip in the water.I had never done swimming and this was another first time thing for me.I just loved it eventhough I did not know what to do or how to go ahead.We got a small game going with the target being who would reach the island around 1 km away , first. Well , I honestly gave it a try but gave up after 15 mins or so when I realised I was far behind the pack.We spent the later part of the day boating, exploring nearby islands and enjoying the ambience.

We set out to a nearby island just before dusk for camping through the night.We collected some firewood and lit up a small campfire.We had antakshari , some small games and a very good dinner.After this, we went through the woods to see the Linganamakki dam far away on the horizon.We spent some time gazing at the stars in the cloudless sky. It is so difficult to observe all the stars in an city like Bangalore because of the streetlights and the lights at night, but here it was pitch dark and all you could see was millions and millions of stars.Within a few moments I saw a falling star ( a meteor ) but no one believed me..So in the process to prove this, we saw one more & then everyone was convinced :-) . Eventhough I used to look at the sky, in the past 23 years never did I see such a thing before..

The whole night, we had this hostile feeling in the tent because of some sound .We could hear something moving in the woods & we also heard the sound of a bell. Some felt that it should be a ghost where as others felt this may be even worse.. cud be some witch .. But our guide came to us and assured us that these were just cattle from a neighbouring village which swam all the way to eat some shrub.Well, my take on this is that either these cattle are maniacs or they are insane. Why would anyone swim for 1.5 Kms just to eat some shrub in the night? They seem to have it in them to win a gold in the next olympics !

I woke up pretty late the next morning only to find out that everyone has gone out in the bushes to answer the nature's call. Well, this is also a first timer for me as I never ever did it in the bushes. I managed to find one of the guys and with his instructions found a suitable bush for me( without thorns). In the process I saw some beautiful birds perched on a rock at the end of the island . I went there and got some good feathers ( A peacock feather & 2 hawk feathers ) .I was mighty pleased as these would be mysouvenirs for the trip.

We got back to the banks of the river & started one more round of photo sessions and also did some swimming.We later packed up and set back to Bangalore.. :-(

This was a special trip in more than one ways. I had done many things which i didnt do till then and such things leave sweet memories in your mind.

For any person who is bogged down with his daily routine & who wants to break away from this world, Paradise is after all not so far away.....

The link to the photos is :-
Sorry photos are yet to be uploaded

Gokarna, Murudeshwara, & Karwar

This was the my second trip with the "Boys" and as many thought was the last of a series of trips to various places in and around karnataka.It was also termed as "Now or Never" trip and the tagline was very evident that it could very well be the last....

We started off late and just as we reached Nelamangala, we found out that we had one seat less in the van and there started the confusion.Small Praveen had to give way for the big and bulky Chetan ( As mentioned in Darwin's theory he had to !) amidst sour feelings and an aching bottom...Praveen had to compromise and adjust with the backseaters... Size Matters !.

The driver was good. He was extremely careful while driving and we had a nice journey.We reached Karwar at around twelve noon and decided to go to the beach before having lunch.The beach wore a deserted look .There was no one except us.We started to play some frisbee & the boys started to play some pranks on one another. Suddenly, Harish from nowhere jumped on Anand and there was a big collision. Harish had bit Anand on his head and Anand was bleeding.A bad start to a tour one must say, we had to pack up and go for lunch after this.After lunch, we set out to go to Gokarna.

Everyone was exhausted as we spent more time in travelling than having fun on the beach..We reached Gokarna at aroung 4 PM in the evening.Since it was still a bright and a sunny day we decided to go to the OM beach. After manouvering through the rough terrain & criss cross roads, we finally reached Om beach. This place seemed like heaven.Lots and lots of people on the beach and a wonderful destination in between some small hillocks.The most fascinating fact was that the beach looks like an OM written in Indian script. I started out my routine work of collecting shells and catching crabs on the beach.So habits never change no matter what age you are & this was one of them.I wandered along the beach and along the extreme end of the beach were big rocks & in the crevices of these rocks were the most beautiful crabs I had ever seen.These were the hermit crabs.I tried to catch them but u see they arent so dumb after all.

The other guys also had a good time.Some guys suddenly started to think seriously of photography as a career option.Some had plans to stay the whole night at the beach.There was a small beachside hotel here which had a party starting after dusk.It was a hard time persuading them to get back to the vehicle.We all took some time out to watch the sunset & got back to our vehicle. We reached Gokarna by 8 PM and started to settle down.In the hotel room we played cards till late night and scanned through the photos taken on the beach..The day was not so bad after all..

The next day, we took some time to explore Gokarna. This place had some very good temples and was worth a visit. I had also heard the famous story in which Ravana had a Shivalinga which he gave to Ganesha to hold for sometime whilst he took a bath.If the Linga was to be kept on the ground, then there was no way anyone could have lifted it. Ganesha cooly accepted it and kept it on the ground and escaped :-) .

So I reached that temple where these things happened.On the doorstep I was welcome by a pujari.He started to say a lot of things about the temple and we started to smell something fishy.We were able to see the salesman within him quite clearly & tried to escape. But Suddenly he started to spray question on us like ..

Puj: " Where are u frm ..Bangalore ? "
Rit : " Yes"
Puj: " Infosys, TCS,Wipro,IBM....(some names even i didnt know ) ?
Rit : Siemens..
Puj: @#@#%^^&34346teF%^$%...Namaha.. 50 Rs please..
Rit: ???
Puj: 50 RS PLEASE...
Rit: ok here u are..
Puj: u r 4 ppl 50 x 4 = 200 Pls..
Rit: sorry I dont hav the cash...
Puj:@$#%^&&$$&#$@%$..
Rit: ok I understand.. Here u are...

after this encounter, he handed us to a team of small pujaris and they started out with the technical formalities..
I got the " Topi haki bitta" feeling. :-(

After this I was left with Rs 1/- only in my pocket.A deep hole ...


We later packed and started to go to Yana. It was a good trek to the top.We managed to have some good photo sessions on the rocks at the top and explore the hill.Later on we started off to go to Murudeshwar. In Murudeshwar, There is a pretty big Shiva statue along the beach . We spent some time in the temple and later played football on the beach till sunset.I again started collecting shells and other things on the beach as usual. I got a pretty big fish on the beach with its eyes gouged out ( Maybe a crow did it..) . But still it looked pretty good. I took a photo with it.

Our trip ended with this and we started our journey back to Bangalore. On the way back the usual fight for seats started yet again . There was a truck carrying sugarcane in front of us. Every 200 meters it was dropping some sugarcane & our driver was happily collecting them. By the time we reached B'lore, we had more sugarcane than those people !!!.. jus joking..

Photos are lost during my last format of my PC.. So I hope u can visualize all that happened.. :-)

ok some photos can be seen at :=
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119390374&code=21577331&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Back to Bangalore !

Coming back to Bangalore was a fantastic feeling. Never did I feel so good when I was in Bangalore. Bangalore is not so bad after all…..

Hiedelberg

Since all my weekend plans had flopped I thought of going to Hiedelberg on the following saturday.It is about 16 minutes from Mannheim by train.My first impression of Hiedelberg was that it is a very beautiful city, with lots o greenery, old buildings and stone paved narrow streets.My colleagues had told me to visit the castle if I was going to Hiedelberg. I took the steps to reach the castle. By the time I reached the top I was gasping for breath.I realised only then that there was a bus which could have taken me directly to the castle by a different route :(

The castle is upon a hill , very close to the Neckar river. The view from the top is excellent, I could see the entire city spread on both the banks of the Neckar.The castle had collapsed on one side and some restructuring work was going on on some sides.Behind the castle was a route to the city through the woods.I took the route to reach the main marketplace.I did some shopping there and took some time to explore the city.

At about 4 'o' Clock , I took the tram from Hiedelberg to Mannheim. Eventhough this took me 55 minutes to reach Mannheim, it was a nice slow ride passing through the fields on both sides and stopping at stations never heard of before.

A weekend in Paris

I joined my colleagues who were going to Paris on the first weekend of September.We were a group of five.We took the bus at 12:30 AM early in the morning on Saturday.It was nice to see that that there were a lot of Indians in the bus apart from us.We reached Paris at about 8 'o' Clock in the morning.

On that morning, we took a quick tour around the heart of the city. Later we had the opportunity to have an aerial view of Paris from Montparnasse. It is a building well over 200 meters in height, supposed to be the second tallest structure in Paris.The view from up there was spectacular.

Later we moved in to our hotel rooms. The hotel was in Clichy, which is at a fair distance from the centre of the city.In the evening, we went to the Eiffel tower.This is definitely the best place to visit in Paris.Any tourist who visits Paris will surely not miss the Eiffel tower .I seized the opportunity to take some good pics. We took a boat ride on the river Siene.We passed by the Notre Dame church and various historical buildings along the river and as the sun went down the red sky the Eiffel tower was dazzling with colourful lights.

It was a day full of travel and by the end of it I was dead tired .All I needed was a good nights sleep to recharge me.The next morning, we went to the Louvre museum.I must say that this is the biggest and the most splendid museum I have ever been to. Everything ranging from rare coins,replicas of tombs,tools used by the various civilizations to paintings were on display. The biggest attraction being the painting of Monalisa by Leanardo Da Vinci.But frankly speaking, I saw many other paintings which were far better than the Monalisa.Maybe I am wrong, I dont know.We had a problem coming out of the museum 'cos the theft alarm had been raised. So all of us were thoroughly checked before coming out.By then, it was time and we had to rush to our bus to get back.The experience of being in Paris was great and even though it was a short trip, it was a memorable one.
This is the link to the photos
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2118450736&code=19255467&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

First weekend in Mannheim

I arrived on a weekend in mannheim on 27th Aug. Eventhough the journey was short, waiting at the airport was a pain.So I just had rest on saturday.

Sunday was all about Mannheim.I got my monthly pass and set out with a map.As usual i didnt know where to go.Suddenly I cud see something nice , a river and a boat.. So I got out from the tram.

I went to "Museumschiff Mannheim", a museum in a boat. Inside were a lot of surprises in store for me.I saw lots of models of ancient ships, some old boat engines used during the World war II, a country band and a puppet show.Here are the photos http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2119266789&code=18872960&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Ritesh & Cooking...[2]

{ MTR Kharabath Ready to eat ..}

see the improvement in cooking?.. this is called smart cooking.

Ritesh & Cooking...

Picture 017
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

I think this is enough to prove that I am not good at cooking... This was supposed to be Puliyogre, doesnt look like that.But at the end it doesnt matter because anyway I will have to eat it.

Please suggest some tips on cooking !

Cycle

Picture 020
Originally uploaded by Riteshkamath.

Would you imagine ? this is a cycle.. saw it near Mannheim on tuesday..

last day in Vienna

Today is my last day here.I have enjoyed every moment here in Vienna.I have visited most of the places in and around the city.There have been some highs and lows but on the whole it has been a wonderful experience for me.