Travelogues

I love to read travelogues. It gives me a feeling as though I am with the author. But I am not good at writing one. Last week I had been to Tiruchendur, a coastal town in Tamilnadu and I had a great experience there. I wan’t to capture it in the form of a travelogue but I have deleted almost 12 posts ever since I started to write one. Can someone suggest some interesting links that can help me write a good travelogue.

@ Coorg

India’s best kept secret! Scotland of India! There are many more captions that all these travles website coin for the district of Coorg. Situated in the western ghats, Coorg or Kodagu means dense forest on steep hills. 

We started at around 12.00 am in the morning and reached Kushalnagar at around 3.45 am. We were stranded in a deserted bus stop and it was damn cold out there. Luckily the home stay that I had booked was very close to the bus stand and the owner of the property came to pick us up. 

After a good early mornig sleep, we headed out for our day 1 trip which was more of local sight seeing in and around Kushalnagar.

Our first stop was Dubare. The Karnataka Forest Department has about 150 Elephants in various camps and Dubare has been historically an important camp.The Elephants for the famous Mysore Dassehra are trained at Dubare elephant camp. Apart providing from Elephant rides, still water rafting and camping at night are also offered for tourists. We spent a good 3 hours at Dubare and then headed towards Nisargadama which is a local deer park. 

After lazing around the deer park we headed towards Namdroling, a buddist monastry. It is a must visit for all tourists who head towards coorg. Rarely do you get to see a monastry of this magnitude, in terms of size, and architecture. 

We ended Day 1 with a late lunch at Namdorling and headed back home.

Day 2 was more of a spiritual tour and both Kala and I weren’t happy with the places we had visited because, of the crowd. Talacauvery, Bhagamandala, Madikeri and Abbi falls. These were the places we had visited.

We returned back to bangalore at around 4.00 am the next day and as soon as we reached home, we hit the sack.

On the whole it was a great day 1 trip and not so happening day 2 trip for me.

During this journey, we faced some hiccups in the form of food and places to eat. But we if you are a traveller you need to overcome all of that.

Zijin Cheng

Zi means Purple, jin mean Forbidden and Cheng means Walled City.

Zijin Cheng – The Forbidden City. Located at the centre of Beijing and spread over 72 hectares, this massive structure was once the palace of the Royals of China. Built by the Ming dynasty and then later taken over by the Qing dynasty, this world heritage site, now houses the palace meseum.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the world’s largest surviving palace complex. Its 9000 rooms, filled with paintings, pottery and bronzes, are redolent of China’s imperial past, an era of concubines and a rigid power structure.

The Forbidden City contains 9,999 buildings, so it is easy to get lost unless one is familiar with the Chinese architectural layout, although it is definitely symmetrical.

One good thing that Chinese government has done to preserver this monument is that they have banned commericial establishments inside of the Forbidden City.

As john Keats said “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”, this truly outstanding piece of architecture is really a visual treat for every visiter.

I am just waiting for my turn to experience the magnificiant monstrous structure.

Travel – Wish List

I have a huge wishlist when it comes to holidaying.

Top 5 places that I would want to visit

• Dharamshala
• Coorg
• Rishikesh
• Wayanad
• Kasauli

Destiny took me to Destiny

Since childhood if there was one thing that I would complain to my parents was that they hadn’t taken me to Ooty. I have grown up seeing Ooty only in movies and I even envied my sister whenever she told me that she had been to Ooty with friends or family. I had to wait.It wasn’t a pleasant one. But this was one wait that was worth for.

Kala had given me the best of vacations that I had ever had. Destiny was Awesome. Now what is this Destiny. Destiny is a Farm in the village of Emerald which is further higher than Ooty. Situated amidst a forest, this farm is probably one that resembles an Australian / Swiss ranch.

I reached Metuppalayam at 5.50 am. I badly wanted a coffee as it was cold. Almost everyone had left the platform and I was still relishing my cup of freshly brewed coffee when I suddenly heard a huge roar from the crowd. I ran to see what had happened. It was the arrival of the Toy train, one of the must do’s when visiting Ooty. The queue was longer than the train, which comprised of 4 compartments.

I decided to explore nilgiris on a toy train sometime later and boarded the bus to Coonoor. After travelling for almost 1 hour and 30 minutes and surpassing 14 hairpin bends, I finally the Taj Garden retreat @ coonoor.

After having my breakfast there, kala and I headed to the secret location. Kala had kept Destiny as a secret to me. All through the way she was giving me insights about the place that we were to going to stay. Finally we reached the place. But all i could see was a big mountain and a muddy track.

We waited for 10 minutes and the came our transport. It was a 4×4 truck that come to pick us up. I was like what is happening.

We got on board the truckand started. It had rained heavily the previous night and the tracks were muddy. We passed through the forest and after 30 minutes arrived at this beautiful Farm.

The farm overlooks a valley and during monsoon wind blows at speeds of up to 140 kmph. I had experienced it first hand.

The best part about this place is that there is no network coverage in this area. There is no TV or telephone connection here. Feels great if you want to get lost. The farm has around 50 cows and 6 horses. There are lot of geese and rabbits. They also cultivate vegetables and use the same in whatever they cook. The food tastes very differently here. you can feel the freshness in whatever is served. Lastly you are allowed to move wherever you want in the ranch, feed the horses, rabbits.

Thanks Kala for giving me the best holiday I have ever had. I would suggest this place for people who are brave and want to get a closer look at nature. If you like rains and love to get drenched the best time to visit is between June and August.

Finally, I consider my wife to be my destiny and hence the title.