5000 Kilometers of Triversity

Nineteen days in seven destinations of three nations packed with diverse cultures and vibrant people, I would like to call it "5000 kilometres of Triversity".

iJag: Have you ever imagined travelling to Cambodia?

Vyas: Macha, check out the pictures from Angkor Wat! Its simply amazing!

Me: Yes, Angkor Wat is surely the destination! Thailand with it will be wonderful!

Niki: Super le, let’s do it!

Others: Cambodia?!? These guys must be crazy!!!

This is exactly how the idea to venture into Cambodia and Thailand started. After having spoken about this for almost a year, iJag and I decided to pug mark South East Asia sometime in October '08. Then Nikhil joined in. Jyothi who was at the client site in Tokyo decided to join for a part of the expedition.

Flights:

Friday, 17 October 2008 - Tiger Airways, Bangalore (23:00) to Singapore (05:50), Duration: 4h 20m

Monday, 20 October 2008 - Tiger Airways, Singapore (06:30) to Bangkok (07:50), Duration: 2h 20m

Tuesday, 28 October 2008 - Air Asia, Bangkok (17:05) to Krabi (18:25), Duration: 1h 20m

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 – Tiger Airways, Phuket (10:40) to Singapore (13:10), Duration: 1h 30m

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 - Tiger Airways, Singapore (21:15) to Bangalore (23:00), Duration: 4h 15m

Visas:

Singapore: We procured the Tourist Visa from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority through TT Services. The Tourist Visa is valid for a period of one month from the date of issue and for multiple entries. The application fee costs Rs.870/- for visa processing and an additional cost of Rs.500/- as service charges for TT Services. We received the visa within a week's time from the date of application through TT Services.

Thailand: We planned to procure the Visa on Arrival at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. The Entry Visa is valid for a period of 15 days from the date of issue and only for a single entry. The application fee costs 1,000 Bahts and is provided at the immigration checkpoints. I would strongly suggest procuring a Tourist Visa from the Thailand Consulate in the home country as we ended up taking the Entry Visa three times due to complexities.

Cambodia: We planned to procure the Visa on Arrival at the Aranyapathet-Poipet Border. The Entry Visa is valid for a period of 30 days from the date of issue and only for a single entry. The application fee costs 1,000 Bhats or US$20. But beware of scams at the Cambodian Consulate in Aranyapathet as they would demand more. It is better to procure the Entry Visa directly at the border crossing. The best option would be to procure Tourist eVisa, which is valid for 30 days over a period of 3 months from the date of issue.

[To be continued...]

Mesmerizing Maya Ravan

How many times have you witnessed the stage set on fire? I would get on to my knees and kiss her hand. Her dancing and naughty gestures all over the musical of Maya Ravana will mesmerize anyone; for sure I was! Shobana even in her near 40s, dances with elegance and lots of energy. Her students from Kalarpana are surely world class presenters as well. This ensemble's musical performance at Christ College on Saturday, 13 Dec '08 brought few of Ramayana's chapters to life through Maya Ravana.

The musical was power packed with great performances, A.R.Rahman's music and voices of Naseerudhin Shah, Mohan Lal, Jackie Shroff, Tabu, Suhasini Maniratnam, Revathy, Milind Soman and other famous film personalities. The stage setup and lighting add to a great experience. Shobana plays the evil characters of Ravana, Kaikeyi and Shoorpanakha, who are the highlight of the musical. The students perform the other characters flawlessly as well; thanks to Shobana's great choreography.

The musical having travelled through United States is now making rounds in India before it reaches Dubai. So if the show is around, do not miss it. Maya Ravana surely is a wonderful musical and visual feast!

Shootout At Ranganathittu

Destination: Balamuri falls, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Squad: iJag, Megha and Myself
Departure: 06:30 IST, 20th July, Sunday
Distance: Approx 140 Kms
Directions: Bengaluru – Srirangapatnam – Balamuri Falls – Ranganathittu

After a busy work schedule and continued weekend traveling in Switzerland, the travel bug left me thirsty for more after my return to Bengaluru. So was my Nikon D80 and it was time for a shoot.

Megha was the immediate aspirant to jump onto a day trip plan. After a lot of shuttling thoughts between various folks, the plan was finalized and Jagdish (referred as iJag) hopped in with his jazzy Chevrolet Spark. iJag picked up Megha and they were at my place by around 06:30 IST to welcome me aboard the car. We were then ripping by the Mysore road until we stopped for refueling ourselves at Kamat Lok Ruchi; one of the hot spots for some south Indian delicacies.

A right deviation after Srirangapatnam leads to the Balmuri falls. “Balamuri” in Kannada means “right turn”. There is another water fall called the Yedamuri falls, “Yedamuri” in Kannada meaning “left turn”. Balamuri falls is not exactly a water fall, but a blockade for an irrigation dam; this in turn creating artificial water fall. We were lucky to reach the place early as the place got crowded with time and also the police escorted us out of the water fall due to rising water levels. After a refreshing shower and fun, we were off to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary.

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary has a restaurant; which is a decent place for lunch. We had to wait quite a bit until the sanctuary started their post lunch boat rides costing Rs. 25 per person. The boat ride is very short but is very charming to the eyes of a bird watcher. We could spot tons of Nigerian migrants called White Ibis, Egrets, Herons and Strokes. Of course few elegantly swimming crocodiles were also spotted.

Loaded with lovely pictures and memories, we bid a farewell to Ranganathittu. The drive back on the Mysore road was pleasant and a little faster as our iJag tested the speed limitations of his car. “We arrived, shot and sped away!”

Over Night Hike To The Clouds

Destination: Kalavara Betta aka Skandagiri
Squad: Nikhil, Yateesh and Myself
Departure: 01:00 IST , 27th July, Sunday
Distance: Approx 75 Kms
Directions: Bengaluru - Devanahalli - Chikabalapur - Kalavarahalli

After having picked up Yateesh and Nikhil, we stopped over at my place before heading out for a quick dinner. Then after a small party at a friend’s place, we were driving with a speed limit of 80kmph on the newly laid highway leading to the new International Bengaluru airport. After having passed the airport, we drove towards Chikabalapur. At Chikabalapur, we had to take a left turn at the bus station, on the road leading to Gauribidanur. It was indeed confusing to get to the correct road; but with few local's directions, we were on track to the Kalavara Halli which is a host to Papagni Matt.

It was around 02:30 IST when we reached the base at Kalavara Halli to be welcomed by a lot more hikers. A forest entry fee of Rs. 25 per person is charged for the uphill hike by the forest department and the local guides are very expensive. We teamed up with other hikers to share a guide and we almost immediately started the hike, and forgot to take water bottles. We were also not carrying torches, which handicapped us almost completely but the mobile phones came to our rescue.

It was the rainy season and though it wasn’t raining, it was pretty cold. As we crossed the halfway mark, we realized that we were indeed walking into the clouds of mist. The hike is quite tiring as it is a steep climb. It almost took us 2 and a half hours to reach the top. The top of the mountain has couple of small temples, which were all occupied by the hikers trying to keep themselves warm. It wasn’t raining; but we got soaked in a few moments in the mist. The temperatures must have been around 5`C plus fast winds, which created a very freezing atmosphere. Indeed the water droplets on the eye lashes started to freeze at some point of time. We enjoyed our entire time on the hilltop with my Nikon D80, shooting in the clouds.

Our downhill was faster which took us about an hour. Only at the base, we could relish tender coconut, our first glimpse of fluid; yes we covered the entire hike without water. We then started the drive back till we reached Konark for breakfast at 09:00 IST.

The first overnight uphill hike turned out to be an helluva experience. It was tiring; but worth every calorie burnt!

Sultanates of Sunderbans

Clicks: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/thyagaraj.annaswamy/SultanatesOfSunderbans

Worth a Drive

Traffic, smoke, noise; all these are the characteristics of any city; but Namma Bengaluru surely shows it all in abundance. Any weekend will beckon for a peaceful get-away; but the finances/time constraints will not support every other weekend. So this time we decided to explore the vicinity of Bengaluru, a reservoir called Kanava dam. A cool highway towards Mysore has a lot to offer; but this reservoir being least visited by the people, keeps it noiseless and green; rightly called the unlikely paradise!

Kanava dam is about 65km from Bengaluru; so our plan was to start at about 11:00hrs and stay till we could witness the sunset. After picking up the last man, iJag, we were cruising towards nature's treasury of silence. We stopped at Kamat Lok Ruchi at around 1PM, about 3km after Ramanagaram; to relish the very delicious "jolada rotti". A mere 2km from here is a deviation to the right that leads to the Kanava dam. The journey gets rough; but the last 8km drive cuts through a few lovely villages, mango and coconut groves; making it a memorable drive.

A glimpse of green pasture, herds of sheep and cows grazing at the grass, welcomed us to the peaceful and isolated Kanava Reservoir. There were couple of cars visitng; but only to depart soon, leaving us with the entire reservoir. We spent most of the time shooting pictures, lazing around, spotting birds and listening to the music of silence. It definitely delivered no nonsense; but clean peace.

We started the return drive at about 18:00hrs. We visited the Irrigation Department’s Inspection Bunglow to get contact information for stay; but failed to get any. But this bunglow is surely a cool place to stay given that one gets the booking done at their office in Channapatna. We did a pit stop again at the Kamat Lok Ruchi for snacks and coffee. We then cruised back to reach homes before 20:30hrs. Yes, we were back in the concrete jungle only to have spent less than a day's time in a NO nonsense Kanava dam. Surely worth a drive!

The squad: Vinay, Jagadeesh (iJag), Megha and Myself.

More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/thyagaraj.annaswamy/KanavaReservoir
Also visit http://www.deccanherald.com/Archives/jan292004/metro16.asp

Serenity down under the Arabian sea

Scribbling over the brain, easily noticeable question was "what's next?" with the inbound Easter holidays. Sunbathing at Goa beaches, flavored with adventure like trekking to Dudhsagar & scuba diving at Grande island were the immediate thoughts! But with most of the Goa doors closed around the time, exploring scuba diving at the Netrani island was THE thing to do! Thankfully BMC guys had vacancies & 6 of us squeezed into their adventure plan.

Leaving behind the office slavery early Thursday evening, few of us were waiting over a meal of Chopsuey at the Green Onions restaurant. The bus arrived around 23:00hrs at Symphony theater, planned schedule being 21:45hrs. This was just the beginning of a jinxed plan and went all along the trip; thankfully over shadowed by the Arabian Sea blue waters in an aura of ingenious simplicity.

The rain showered Murdeshwar's dusk (yes, it took us a few hours short of a day to travel 495km!) invited us to take refuge at a swimming pool for an immediate scuba training session. The session turned out to be fun & informative; only then to realize that scuba diving is a serious affair! The instructors' lessons included equipment usage, useful underwater signals, underwater breathing techniques & a lot more. Closing the day at almost 21:30hrs, we drove 16km to Bhatkal for the dinner & stay.

"Knock, knock! we are getting late!!" - these words woke us up at 06:00hrs & the rest is the usual. A bunch of folks had already departed to get their scuba gyan session which they could not complete the previous evening due to the time factor. As we stepped out of the lame bus & walked towards the world's tallest idol of Lord Shiva, with the roaring sea to the west, the towering hills to the east & the coconut groves nearby; we could witness an amazing atmosphere. Also the frequent spotting of dolphins surfacing over a bright blue sea and serene skies left a lovely scenic-postcard in the memory.

We were aboard couple of motor boats at the Murdeshwar beach with all the equipment & we were cruising through the Arabian sea to Netrani island, 18km off the Murdeshwar shore. It was a sight to watch the changing colors; muddy brown - green - light blue - dark blue . . . As the world's largest idol diminished in our sight, we could watch the the island growing in size; but not completely until we anchored close to the island after almost 2hrs of boat ride. Netrani island, locally known as Netraguda, is sporadically used for target practice by the Indian Navy.

Scuba diving at Netrani were managed by 2 clubs from Goa namely Goa Aquatics and Dive Goa. They charge about Rs.3500/-, which includes a training session at a swimming pool followed by the actual dive at the Netrani island; inclusive of the return boat ride to the island.

We were immediately diving over into the seas with life jackets, people taking turns to snorkel & scuba. Scuba diving was a venture for most of the folks & clearly everyone was excited. The instructors taking the utmost care, ushered 3 folks at a time into the sea of colorful secrets. Wow, it was THE experience of course! Landing 8 meters down under on the seabed, swimming across the coral & the sheer pleasure of witnessing the colorful marine life is definitely a beautiful frontier to be explored. We took off from the island almost the moment it started pouring heavily.

After a quick tour to the Pranalinga of Gokarna's Mahabaleshwara thrown by the demon Ravana and the idol of Lord Shiva, the rest is the cliche. Yes, I meant the tiring journey back to the concrete jungle! Some highlights were dancing crazy to unheard Kannada songs; the gang knows who the item boy was :-) All in all, it was a serenity down under the Arabian sea!


More pictures can be viewed on my Picasa web album.
Underwater pictures can be viewed on Bikram's Picasa web album.

Dandeli's Adrenaline Rush

Shashi's wedding invitation read Belgaum as the venue. What's close to Belgaum? What can be adventurous there? These questions sparked almost instantaneously. Got the vacations approved at work, did a lot of research and finally zeroed on Dandeli. Wildlife Sanctuary and Kali River White Water Rafting are the best it can offer.

Following reservations were made:
Onward train ticket reservation on "Rani Chennamma Express" which departs from Bangalore at 21:15 hrs everyday. A sleeper costs about Rs. 260/-.
Return bus ticket reservation on "KSRTC RajaHamsa Executive" which departs from Dandeli at 17:30 hrs everyday. A seat costs about Rs.370/-.
Tents at Kulgi Nature Camp booking over the phone with Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Division, Dandeli, 08284-231585. It cost Rs.250/- for regular tents (common bathrooms) and Rs. 500/- for deluxe tents (attached bathrooms).
White Water Rafting booking with Southern River Adventurers (Aurangzeb) over the phone at 91 9448134375. Rafting costs Rs.1100/- for everyone except students; they are charged only Rs.750/-.

Dandeli is located about 485 km from Bangalore; 125 km from Goa; 75 km from Hubli. The closest railway station is Alnawar; Rani Chennamma reaches Alnawar at about 07:00 hrs. One needs to take bus from Alnawar to Haliyal. There are frequent buses from Haliyal to Dandeli. Taxis can be hired to reach Kulgi Nature camp which is about 12 kms from Dandeli.

After attending Shashi's wedding at Belgaum, I ventured onto my journey to Dandeli on 29th Feb. I boarded a bus towards Haliyal and it took about 2 1/2 hours. Without any delay at Haliyal, I was on a bus to Dandeli. Aurangzeb from Southern River Adventurers received me at Dandeli bus stand and dropped me to the Kulgi Nature Camp on his motorbike.

On reaching Kulgi Nature Camp, the man-in-charge, Chandrakant informed that I actually had to get the permission letter from Wildlife Conservator Office in Dandeli. He was a little reluctant; but wired the Dandeli office and agreed to let me stay for that night and get the letter the next day. He then escorted me to my tent named FlyCatcher. Each tent is named after a specific bird. The secluded camp is a lovely place for stay; a sure feel of staying on the forest boundaries. I spent the evening lazing around the camp. Later witnessed a delicious meal and slept to glory till Aurangzeb's subordinate, Mohammad woke me up in the morning.

There were about 7 folks arriving at Alnawar railway station. Aurangzeb had arranged a taxi for a decent fare of Rs.500/-. His subordinate, Mohammad and I were off the camp at 06.15 Hrs and it took us approximately an hour to reach Alnawar. We both received the gang, tucked all the luggage and we started off. On the way to Kulgi Nature Camp, we visited the Wildlife Conservator Office to collect the permission letters.

After having a heavy breakfast, we started off on a trek to Nagzhari Valley. Our guide, Nandeesh took us through the forest, spotting birds; not many though. The terrain was quite interesting and everyone enjoyed the ascent to Nagzhari Waterfalls. We spent good amount of time at the waterfalls. The rest of the trek was not difficult and we reached the camp by 14:30 Hrs. After lunch, we decided to take nap and laze around the camp. The evening went real smooth. Megha and I were lucky to spot Sambar Deer just outside the camp. As the evening rolled by, we finished our dinner and went to a well-deserved sleep.

On 2nd March, everyone was awake by 06:00 Hrs and were all ready to venture onto to a mini-safari and trek to Cavala Cave. Nandeesh accompanied us again; this time to spot a good number of birds, the most interesting being the Hornbill. The descent to cave was easy; but the ascent back was tiring. The cave has a formation resembling Shiv-Ling; which is supposedly stormed by janata during Shiv-Ratri. We were back at the camp by 10:30 hrs. Whoosh, we were running late for White Water Rafting which was scheduled to start at 11:00 Hrs. Also Ashu and Shruti, who had arrived the same morning, were waiting for us at the Jungle Lodges. We only managed to get to the Jungle Lodges by 11:30 Hrs. After signing our "Note of Death", we were on a jeep rushing to the rafting kick-off point.

Once the instructions were given out, we were on a raft guided by Sunil. Our first rapid named Beard was the best and we had a very good adrenaline rush through-out. At the last rapid, we also did a number of turn-arounds and pushed ourselves upstream towards the rapid to experience a great excitement.

Back at camp, we finished our lunch cleared all bills, took the final group picture and we were rushing back to board a bus from Dandeli to Bangalore. Holy cow, we also had to collect the sweater that Shruti had forgotten at the Jungle Lodges and also a DD from Wildlife Conservator Office, which they had denied to accept (only DDs payable at Dandeli are accepted) . None of these stopped us from boarding the bus on time.

Thanks to the adventure that Dandeli offered us; we were indeed one with Nature, relishing every bit of beauty. A special thanks to Aurangzeb for all his assistance. Thanks to the cooks at Kulgi Nature Camp, who indeed served us some yummy food. Oops! not to forget the "gang of 10", who were all fun - Arvind, Ashu, Megha, Merryl, Pradeep, Prashant, Praveer, Sandeep, Shruti and of course me! Wah wah kya experience tah!

More pictures on Picasa Album - Dandeli Wilderness Camping.

Dandeli Wilderness Planning

As some of you already know, I'm planning to be in Dandeli on 29th (Fri), 1st (Sat) & 2nd (Sun). Dandeli is well-known for its Wildlife Sanctuary & white water rafting. I want the friends to join me; best for all 3 days, else atleast on 1st & 2nd of March. I have done some homework & its all here. Please let me know your interest & I would try making arrangements for all the enthusiasts.

Expenses:

Travel, stay & food should cost approximately Rs.1000/-.
I'm not yet sure about white water rafting, but my other rafting experiences suggest that it could cost about Rs.800/- or more/less.

Informative blogs:

http://www.travel-library.com/asia/india/in_20061108144814.html
http://addithebirdie.blogspot.com/2005/11/great-birding-party-dandeli-karnataka.html

Stay options:

Best economical stay option -
Kulgi Nature Camp (Rs.200 to Rs. 250)

Other stay options, but quite expensive -
JLR (Rs.2200) - http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_overview.asp?resort=Kali
Bison River Resort (Rs.1200 - Rs.2800) - http://www.indianadventures.com/BisonRiverResort.htm

Contacts -
http://www.karnatakatourism.org/sites/des_west_dandeli.html
http://www.indianwildlifeclub.com/mainsite/lkdestination.asp

Transport options:

Rani Chennamma Exp (~Rs.250) -http://www.indianrail.gov.in/inet_metro_trns.html
Closest railway station - ALNAVAR
29th Feb - Onward is available
2nd Feb - Return is unavailable

KSRTC - http://59.162.166.116/AWATAROnline/
Lot of bus options available both ways, best economical option is Rajahamsa Executive (Rs.362)

White Water Rafing -

http://www.aquaterra.co.in/kali_river_rafting.html
http://www.kalirafting.com/

About 9-14 kms of river rafting facility is located here with Class 3 rapids lasting for couple of hours to half a day. Non-swimmers as well as children above 12 are allowed to raft here. Rapids along the route are named as well. The first rapid is known as 'Adi's Beard'. It is a class-2/class-3 rapid depending on the water level. The second rapid or the 'The Stitch' is a wide formation of rocks over which water flows. The other rapids are the Smugglers' Trove, the Stanley's Squeeze, etc. Each rapid has a feature of its own.