A trip to Coorg - Scotland of India
Adventure trips are not always the ones which they show in the Mountain dew ads, you know the 'darr ke aage jeet hai' ones :P
We do have breath taking locations and life-or-death bike trips within our reach.
A trip to Coorg is one such weekend escape spot!
We are a bunch of corporate techies, so that said, all we have are our weekends to get excited for, and this was a two day trip.
Started from Chennai central by Friday evening we got the train to Mysore, reached mysore by Saturday morning 8AM which was already a big delay in our schedule from southern railways!!!
By the time we got our rental bikes it was 10AM in the morning and it was one sunny day! We were a group of 9 guys and rented 3 Avengers and 2 Bullets ( classic 350cc).
Every one wanted to drive the bullets, but after the first day ride it was the avengers comfort which won our Backs :P
Day one ride started from Mysore, and the destination was Kushal nager by the kalpetta forest route, a 90 kms ride which we covered in approx one and half hour of racing ourselves.
As soon as you enter you see the color ful beauty of the Tibetan architecture and culture. People taking those signature photos of their hands over the building and with the tourists we enter into the spiritual world of Tibet.
The architecture of these temples and the choice of color makes you fall in love at first sight, and man I so wished those dragons to be real!
As we enter into the temple huge Buddha statues and the artistic interiors makes it a treat to our eyes. Peace and Tranquility pervading the atmosphere. We could feel the benevolence and blessings of Lord Buddha while praying before his magnificent Golden Statue.
After all the photography and spirituality made us really hungry, and the restaurant outside is a must visit place if your visiting Kushal nagar. The Momos with Chai was so yummy, I can still remember the taste as I type !
So from here we were all set for the river rafting fun which was next in our plan.
As we reached the spot, realized that the water level was not adequate for the rafting down the river. But still the was was calm so we had an opportunity to swim in the river.
The swimming part was one of the thrilling experience, the water was so chill and we had our life jackets on. The real fun was watching the non-swimmers trying to swim as the instructors pushed us into the river, after some 1 hour of swimming in the river the in-flow of water increased and we had to get back our boats.
With all the swimming and fun we forgot to keep a watch on the time, and we were getting really late since we still had 70kms+ ride to Madikeri town and it was already sunset.
This ride was one of the thrilling and fun ride we started really late from our schedule it was already past 7 P.M and we all knew its gonna be a night ride. For most of us this is the first time we are driving on hills.
After swimming I wanted a lil more adventure so started driving with the wet shorts and didnt change to dry cloths, the over excited me was thinking that I will look like one cool tourist with the jackets on shorts :P
After some 10 minutes of ride I started to realize what a stupid decision it was, and since we can no longer stop just for me to change cloths, continued to ride with wet shorts :P
As it got dark we started to race ourselves in the curves, all we could see were those side reflectors and the road guide lines. We three bikers were racing in 80+ km speeds in those curves over taking all the buses and cars, and two other bikers were coming on their own steady speeds.
Reached Madikeri by 9 PM, and now our mission was to find a hotel to stay and eat. We also found out about a place called Mandalpatti, which has breath taking views from the local guys also we need to start by 5 A.M so that we can get the view of it.
The route is adventurous, with steep curves and zigzag tracks, Abbey Falls lies along the way. As the roads leading to Madalpatti are narrow, ones who have decided to make it to the beautiful spot need to be a bit adventurous too, but the adventure is worth for the way to the spot is dotted with nature’s bounty as one passes through viewing lush green coffee estates, paddy fields and mountains.
From Madikeri, there are 2 routes to Mandalpatti - one which shares its route with Abbey Falls(around 20kms from Madikeri), the other which goes via Makkandur(around 35kms from Madikeri).The later one is a bit longer but a safe one, we took the route from abbey falls since we wanted to be adventurous.
Both the routes take you through the forest, so one never get bored of the 2 hours of journey.
As we drive up the hills ,we can witness the mountains covered with grasslands on the top. Every view from then are all panoramic views of the mountains. The road ends at Pushpagiri reserve forest office, Mandalapatti.
The sunrise through the hills made our day, and the excitement level in all our eyes rose up.
The route to the peak is the most adventures bike ride you will ever take, it tests all your will power and muscle power. We made memories riding through these roads ( stones I would say) .
The journey to mandalpatti is literally breath-taking, but once you reach the top and when you get to see the view all the arduous journey goes off and you will fall in love with the view.
With this I will let our pictures speak more about the view.
This is one lovely place on way back to Mysore, as we drive down hill from coorg Nisargadhama is bliussfull bamboo forest and in the middle of the forest Kaveri river flows, one of the best place for the photograpy freaks.
So with this one awsum winter trip came to end, we made memories and the friends became family after the trip.
And that's the experience of ride to coorg from our travel diaries.
Do comment the places you visited in coorg and your experience ;)
We do have breath taking locations and life-or-death bike trips within our reach.
A trip to Coorg is one such weekend escape spot!
We are a bunch of corporate techies, so that said, all we have are our weekends to get excited for, and this was a two day trip.
Started from Chennai central by Friday evening we got the train to Mysore, reached mysore by Saturday morning 8AM which was already a big delay in our schedule from southern railways!!!
 |
| Mysore Railway Station |
By the time we got our rental bikes it was 10AM in the morning and it was one sunny day! We were a group of 9 guys and rented 3 Avengers and 2 Bullets ( classic 350cc).
Every one wanted to drive the bullets, but after the first day ride it was the avengers comfort which won our Backs :P
Day one ride started from Mysore, and the destination was Kushal nager by the kalpetta forest route, a 90 kms ride which we covered in approx one and half hour of racing ourselves.
Kushal Nagar
Namdroling Monastery is the main attraction you will find in kushal nagar. As you enter kushal nagar you will get the feel of a Tibetan village, and we felt like we were in a chinese movie ( not being a raciest here :P ) |
| Snow Lion - Emblem of Tibet |
As soon as you enter you see the color ful beauty of the Tibetan architecture and culture. People taking those signature photos of their hands over the building and with the tourists we enter into the spiritual world of Tibet.
The architecture of these temples and the choice of color makes you fall in love at first sight, and man I so wished those dragons to be real!
As we enter into the temple huge Buddha statues and the artistic interiors makes it a treat to our eyes. Peace and Tranquility pervading the atmosphere. We could feel the benevolence and blessings of Lord Buddha while praying before his magnificent Golden Statue.
 |
| Reclining Buddha - about to enter parinirvana |
After all the photography and spirituality made us really hungry, and the restaurant outside is a must visit place if your visiting Kushal nagar. The Momos with Chai was so yummy, I can still remember the taste as I type !
So from here we were all set for the river rafting fun which was next in our plan.
Coorg White water river rafting
 |
As we reached the spot, realized that the water level was not adequate for the rafting down the river. But still the was was calm so we had an opportunity to swim in the river.
The swimming part was one of the thrilling experience, the water was so chill and we had our life jackets on. The real fun was watching the non-swimmers trying to swim as the instructors pushed us into the river, after some 1 hour of swimming in the river the in-flow of water increased and we had to get back our boats.
With all the swimming and fun we forgot to keep a watch on the time, and we were getting really late since we still had 70kms+ ride to Madikeri town and it was already sunset.
Kodagu White Water Rafting to Madikeri
This ride was one of the thrilling and fun ride we started really late from our schedule it was already past 7 P.M and we all knew its gonna be a night ride. For most of us this is the first time we are driving on hills.
After swimming I wanted a lil more adventure so started driving with the wet shorts and didnt change to dry cloths, the over excited me was thinking that I will look like one cool tourist with the jackets on shorts :P
After some 10 minutes of ride I started to realize what a stupid decision it was, and since we can no longer stop just for me to change cloths, continued to ride with wet shorts :P
As it got dark we started to race ourselves in the curves, all we could see were those side reflectors and the road guide lines. We three bikers were racing in 80+ km speeds in those curves over taking all the buses and cars, and two other bikers were coming on their own steady speeds.
Reached Madikeri by 9 PM, and now our mission was to find a hotel to stay and eat. We also found out about a place called Mandalpatti, which has breath taking views from the local guys also we need to start by 5 A.M so that we can get the view of it.
Mandalpatti
 |
| What an epic ride! |
 |
| Forest route. |
The route is adventurous, with steep curves and zigzag tracks, Abbey Falls lies along the way. As the roads leading to Madalpatti are narrow, ones who have decided to make it to the beautiful spot need to be a bit adventurous too, but the adventure is worth for the way to the spot is dotted with nature’s bounty as one passes through viewing lush green coffee estates, paddy fields and mountains.
From Madikeri, there are 2 routes to Mandalpatti - one which shares its route with Abbey Falls(around 20kms from Madikeri), the other which goes via Makkandur(around 35kms from Madikeri).The later one is a bit longer but a safe one, we took the route from abbey falls since we wanted to be adventurous.
Both the routes take you through the forest, so one never get bored of the 2 hours of journey.
 |
| As the Clouds flow! |
As we drive up the hills ,we can witness the mountains covered with grasslands on the top. Every view from then are all panoramic views of the mountains. The road ends at Pushpagiri reserve forest office, Mandalapatti.
The sunrise through the hills made our day, and the excitement level in all our eyes rose up.
 |
| A glimpse of what we experienced. |
 |
| Absolute beauty! |
 |
| Road not taken |
Nisargadhama
 |
| Bamboo forest |
 |
| getting lost into photography |
 |
| Cavery |
This is one lovely place on way back to Mysore, as we drive down hill from coorg Nisargadhama is bliussfull bamboo forest and in the middle of the forest Kaveri river flows, one of the best place for the photograpy freaks.
 |
| The bikerz gang |
So with this one awsum winter trip came to end, we made memories and the friends became family after the trip.
And that's the experience of ride to coorg from our travel diaries.
Do comment the places you visited in coorg and your experience ;)
Pictures are breath taking!
ReplyDeleteSeem like a nice adventure!