Clay and stones

It has been quite a long time since I posted travelogues. Although, there are quite a few to add, thanks to our wonderful vacation in Australia, this post is not about it, but a quick trip planned with the family.

Since the kiddo and his cousins did not have any good outing together, this summer, we decided to go to 'Our Native Village', near Hesaraghatta for a day.

Well, it was terribly hot, but the place had shade, thanks to the trees, and was full of engaging activities to keep us occupied, for the most part of the day. The highlight of the place was all the rustic games - Kite flying, Laggori, Gilli-danda, catapult, tyre-racing, spinning tops. There were added attractions too, in the form of pottery making, garland making, rangoli making, cow-milking (yeah, you heard that right!) and a bullock-cart ride! A few indoor games, like carrom, chess, snake and ladder were also present.

Through the bullock-cart ride, I was trying to recollect the bullock cart ride songs in Hindi/Kannada movies that I had come across! Some of the ones I remembered were 'Oh re taal mile' and 'Janumada jodi' songs.

It was a return to our childhood seeing the games, and the village ambience and the other activities made our parents nostalgic! Needless to say, the kids enjoyed thoroughly, making the most of the time we spent there.
The adults had fun too, although, there were pockets of time, when we did nothing, but just slept/sat on the mats/benches and talked. Well, doing nothing was fun too, I guess, if you could excuse the heat!

Food was very good, and the buttermilk was just what the doctor ordered for a hot summer day!!!
We even got to buy some organic vegetables, that were grown in the resort.

All in all, a good place to spend a day, esp. with kids and if you enjoy playing outdoors.

View greeting us on the way to the resort.

Inside the resort. The fruit ladden mango, sapota, lemon trees were a beautiful sight!

And so were the flowers!

Decorative door

yuhi chala chal rahi

We went to Brindavan Gardens during the long weekend (but just for 1 night). We drove and that meant having the kiddo trampling on me for a good 3-4 hours! :-) Was fun showing him cows, birds (even imaginary ones to distract him!), trees, cars, buses etc.

We stayed at Royal Orchid Hotel, which is inside the Garden itself. So you get a good view of the garden from the sit-out area of the hotel. It was a pretty good place and decent food, so no complaints! Although it rained in the evening, which meant our trip to the garden to view the musical fountains was washed out! (literally ;-))

The garden was in full bloom, and the colors were very pretty. Couldn't dedicate much time to photograph them though, so managed a few quickly before leaving the next morning.

Some pics from the trip below.

Just like that!

Tranquility

Glimpses of Belur

door gagan ki chaaun mein

Sunehri

Glorious Ruins

Well, that's Hampi for you. Watching the sun set over these ruins is an overwhelming experience. The end of a rich and prosperous era retold day after day after day...

Silence at dusk!

Was browsing through some old folders and came across the snaps of the Hampi trip. Here is one of the snaps - of the Vijaya Vittala temple. Go there during sunset, it is at its best!




One more snap around Hampi at dusk.

Glimpses of Darjeeling

The outskirts of Darjeeling is pretty nice filled with rows and rows of tea gardens. Feels very calm. Wish the same can be said about the city. Lots of litter and chaos everywhere. Roads to get to the city are also not that great.

The bright and not-so-bright spots:
-- Tiger hill view point - Where you get to see a magnificent view of Mt.Kanchenjunga and the entire Eastern Himalayan Range, also Mt.Everest, at sunrise. It does come at a cost though - waking up at 4.15 and enduring the cold. Unluckily, there was mist covering the entire place and we could barely see 10ft ahead of us! To catch a glimpse of the mountain range, best time is after October.

-- Ghoom monastery - well.. i do have a soft-corner for monasteries, so it will be on my must-watch/best enjoyed list any day (yeah..even at 5.30 am!) The rows of hawkers trying to sell their merchandise around the place was not impressive (you would probably find them around all popular tourist centers)


-- Himalayan Mountaineering Institute - One word: Awesome!!! and that also would be an understatement. A visit to this place is a must and is truly a very humbling experience. The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological park, near this Institute, can be avoided.


-- Japanese Peace Pagoda - Pleasing. The temple's architecture, prayers, instruments (for the lack of a better word) used are quite unique.

-- Tibetian Self-help Center - Nothing much to see except a museum which contains some nice facts about Tibet's rulers and their family; a shop with tibetian clothes, paintings, purses, bags etc. The handloom center was nice, with weaving machines and women actually knitting!




-- Ava art gallery - Quite nondescript gallery of paintings by the late Ava Devi. But after the initial resistance, once you enter the place, its a world of its own! Mind-blowing paintings ( very different styles) and the human profile pictures are just too good.

-- Bhatasia loop - A train track or loop surrounding a War memorial. Best avoided if the crowd is too much. Add to that, the hawkers comfortably settled on the loop itself. Very chaotic.

More snaps:

Khil rahi hai kali kali..

Woh bheege pal

Survival

This is one end of the Rebdantse (ancient capital of Sikkim) ruins. The walk to this place is very nice and the entire area is neat and well-maintained.

Kabhi alvida na kehna

Well.. you can't say goodbye to someone who is very much a part of you right?!

Anyway, our office gang went on a trip (probably one which will be cherished by all for many reasons) to Anejhari nature camp near Kollur. The place was pretty nice, but not all that clean. The best part was the fact that the camp, as well as the falls, is completely isolated from civilization, almost amidst a forest!
The trek to the ArshinagunDi falls was awesome, through a jungle, avoiding leeches, admiring the forest, the trees and flowers, the light and shadows...


Most of them almost gave up at one point of the other. Very tiring it was.
The falls was a welcome relief. Not much water, but the pool near the falls was peaceful.





The next day, after a quick visit to Kollur Mookambika devi temple, the gang tried their hands at kayaking on the river Varahi. Needless to say, I made myself busy with Shhande's camera :-)


River Varahi


Sailing through the storms?


YeLe chiguru..


loved the greens in this one.


berry berry!


Mimosa pudica :-D

After lunch, sudks made a quick decision, and as a result we found ourselves climbing the Agumbe ghats (quite a fuss my tummy made over this!) and made it on time to watch the sunset. What a sight that was! Truly awesome. Some pics from Sudks here.
The next decision was to visit Pabba's in Mangalore (but, of course, how could we miss that out of this trip!?!?!) As always, it was almost closing time when we reached there. We quickly made our orders and for the first time I had a non-chocolate ice-cream!! :-) Reached Bangalore on Sunday morning.

The trip had its moments:
- 2 friends waiting for the rest on the banks of Varahi - one reading, the other 'contemplating' ;-)
- Singing happy birthday in the TT, for dkoya.
- The camera experiments in the camp!
- Experiencing nature and seeing it "through my eyes rather than the camera's" (as someone had 'advised' :-) , but this was just because my camera conked up during the trip!)
....missed some more, which were the best..how ironic! will update as and when I recollect.