Where is the jungle yaar..!!! (Part 2)

I forgot to tell you one thing. Everyone in Coorg who has a homestay are related to each other. If you call up one person and the person is not able to help you, he/she will surelly given you another number. Make sure to check the estate name rather than the persons name. Or else you might end up calling the same person again. When I was lazy to ride back to the homestay, I called up a homestay..the lady on the other side gave me a land line number without checking I made the call. After giving my intro and asking for the room. She was like " you had called up few minutes ago and I gave you the directions also to ride back 5Km." :-O I was dumb struck. I apologies and without checking other homestay rode back 5Km to the homestay I had initially planed.

OK.. Day 2.. with not much happening on day 1.. All I was left with,was day 2. If I were to reach home by 10. I would have had to start by 2 pm or 3 (worst case). With that in mind I calculated backwards. I would have about 9 hrs to explore the place if I were to get up by 5.
Aunt was happy to give me all the details of the places that I could visit.
Trek through Brahmagiri was ruled out as it was suppose to be booked couple of days in advance. I was left with: safari, irupu falls, Estate walk and there was also rafting which I was not aware of before I landed there. Safari was to start at 6:30 and I was told I could be back by 9.
Now there was the catch. If I were to come back by 9 and irupu falls were to take me 2 hrs and another hr for the walk. I would be left with about 1 hr at hand, my maths could not accommodate the rafting. With this rough plan I started by day with a hot bath.


I went out of the house with my camera, just to find it was still dark. As soon as I stepped out, aunt and uncle came running behind me. They had 2 dogs which were let loose the previous night. one was a Labrador and the other was a pamarian. Both were so cute that I just loved the way the two were playing. I could easily make out that pamarian was the older one (female) and was very decent in approaching and the lab was a typical guy, jumping all over.. :-)
I was at the entrance of the safari by 6:30. Again the guys at the counter were surprised to see me all alone. They were friendly though. The guy suggested me to wait, to see if someone might tag along and I would have a reduced fair. I waited for about 30 min but in-vain. I finally decided to go alone. So I had one whole gyp,one driver and one guide at my service. I was told that though I could easily get to see spotted deer, to sight other animals I would have to be lucky.

As soon as we entered the sanctuary, the first animal I spotted was Spotted Deer. The guide was explaining me about the food habits and how they move. Giving me details of the different animals that are present in the forest. suddenly the driver stopped the gyp and the two started to talk in Malayalam. I didn't get a bit of it first then they explained me that they were able to smell fresh dung of the elephant. I was surprised as I didn't get any. Guess thats the different between the guys who grow up in the forest side and the guy who grows up in the city side. Soon we spotted an elephant. The guy explained me about its movement and also told me relation between the age of the elephant to that of its ear being folded. I was wrapped..by just the knowledge that this guys had. I also saw peacock, Malabar squirrel, Blue wasp nest, languor and many more. And each had its description. When there were no animals to be spotted I broke into personal chat with the guide. Being an accountant, the guy rejected a white color job just to be with his friends and the place he hails from. But he also suggested that he might think of moving out of the place once he gets married, as the money he earns might not be enough then.
I was out of the sanctuary by 9. And after quick photo I was on my way, riding back to the homestay for break fast. By the time I reached it was 9:30. I decide to check out ram nala (suppose to be a small stream while iruppu is suppose to be Laxmana nala). Building expectation like even if the stream was not as big as to create a fall like irupu, it could be a decent stream which could tempt a person to swim. I was also told that it was at the foot hills of the Bramha giri forest.
The weather was just right. Drizzling on and off. It was the time when I could click photos at my wish. Beautiful green mountains with fog on top ( just like angles with white hallo on their head), the country side, people working on the fields wow.. and best of all not a single vehicle on the muddy road through the estate.

I crossed a small bridge (about 5 feet), I was able to see the mountains but not a sign of stream, I checked with the passer by, she pointed at the small stream which I had just crossed, as the only stream there .
I started to laugh at myself again. All the castles I had built in the air was gone. After observing the scenic beauty I was heading back. Looking at the different flowers, a though struck me, imagine when we plan to paint a house, the amount of pain that we go through, to select a color, is tremendous. Even after selecting the color we are not sure of it. What made me wonder was how effectively god had planned for different flowers and the color it needs to be filled in.
After a long walk, I was back in the home stay by 11:30. I didn't want to waste any time and soon was on my bike riding towards Irupu. On reaching there I was suppose to buy a ticket. The guys at the counter again were surprised. What made to think was, the people around this region have not clue about back packing and exploring the place. People here are so use to seeing tourists in group that if you turn up alone they will see you from head to toe. :-)
After a nice walk up for about 900 meters I was able to see the falls. I was consumed with the beauty of it. In no time I was in my swimming shorts and into the water I went. I had to keep an eye on my belongings as there were many people moving around. The pleasure of standing below the falls was amazing. Kind of a massage I would say ;-) When I saw more people coming in, I decided it was time for me to get out. I had been in the water for just over an hour. I was hungry like crazy and could not wait to get back.

For lunch, aunt had made a authentic corgi food. I lost the name of it but it was kind of rice cakes garnished with grated coconut. I knew I had a long ride back so could not eat at my will. As planned I was set to leave by 3.
I didn't want to change the route. I guess this was the first ride in which I took the same route back home. It was the same scenery that I had seen on the my from home. I didn't have to ask for the route as I knew it, so no surprises. The only thing I changed was having my dinner in nice restaurant in Mandya rather than 24hrs coffee day. For just over 100 bucks I had dosa, rava idly and big glass for milk. It filled my stomach. Sometimes we pay for things that we don't want and don't want to pay for things that we actually want.
I reached home by 10 as per planned. This was the story of my second solo ride.
If I were to go again, I guess I wouldn't go alone. Its a nice place were you can go with your friends or family have a camp fire, trek through the forest if you book in advance and booze till you drop. Enjoy the water fall and come back . Probably 2 day trip in my opinion.

Where is the Jungle yaar..!!???(Part 1)

This was something that was waiting to happen. It’s been 10 months since my last ride. When ever I had decided to do a ride I had always caught myself making excuses and backing out. The reason would be like.. "Dude... you have no company!! What if your bike breaks down??? What if you have a flat tyre when you are riding through the jungle!!! :-O “Or it would be like...” You are not feeling well... You will not be able to enjoy the ride... when you are not feeling good about yourself...”

This time around I didn't want to make any excuses and more over after spending about 4 days at home, I wanted to something that would make me happy. What better than riding solo?

Zeroing in on the place was not a problem. I wanted to do a safari, wanted to feel the smell of the Jungle. I wanted to do a 2 day ride. Monday- Tuesday and as Wednesday was a holiday I would have time to take rest too. With this criterion I decided it got to be Nagarhole. Planned to try out, a home stay. Which I had never done. I did some price shopping about it on Sat. Was it was about 1000 Rs. for a day.

My aim was to Reach Nagarhole by afternoon. Visit Irup falls. Do safari in the evening. Next day do a trek through Bramhagiri forest. Then head back home. Reach Bangalore by 10 PM/ Sounds fun right..?? ;-) So it was going be fun filled 2 days.

Sunday I started to scramble for the spares of my bike. I had nothing left from my previous ride. None of the shops where open to pack my spare kit properly. I still had many things missing in it. I could not even get my bike checked.

On Monday morning, 6th Oct 2008 , lying in my bed, one part of me, was praying to god to make this trip happen and there was other half of me that was telling me about the problem that I might hit on , reminding me about the longest ride back home ( Biking back from Goa). Making me feel that I was lucky then, for not having a major problem, this time it might not be the case. It was also reminding me that my bike was not checked and so was it could lead to the problem that I had when I was set out for Waynad trip, when I had to tow back my bull and take my Pulsar.

Somehow the former got better of the latter and I decided to do the ride. However I wanted to pay attention to the other half about the problem it had pulled up. So as a compromise I decided I would not start at 8 as I had initially decided, instead I would get the bike checked up and then start tentative time of leaving I fixed it to be 10.

Kannan was in the workshop by 9. For a change I was sharp on time. Got the basic checks done. He even fine tuned the tarpit. He said my bike could do over 1000KM hands down. Those words were like booster to me. Now no one could stop me. Due to the delayed start, I was able to fix the missing gaps in my spare kit. (including leg pump)

By 11:20 I has ready to rock and roll. I was singing "lets get it started" by Black Eye Peas. I have this strange habit of singing this song every time I start my bike trip.

I kept the speed steady at 60Kph -80Kph. I made it to 24hrs Coffee shop in good time. I picked up a sandwich and drink bill came up to 147/- The guy behind the counter promised to give me the change later (Rs 3/-), which he never did. The sandwich was not that good and the drink was filled with only ice. I was cursing myself for choosing the coffee shop for lunch.

I started off again. I didn't want to enter the city of Mysore as the traffic would surely reduce my pace. I took the deviation just before Mysore. I was almost lost. That’s one thing that I have noticed here in India. We hardly have milestones to help the travelers. May be because we hardly have people traveling on their own vehicle.

I reached Hunsur by 4. Another 2 hours I would have reached the place where I wanted to go. I bypassed Hunsur. Just out of curiosity checked with a passer by to reach Nagarhole. He showed me the opposite direction. I had to ride back into the city and at the junction I rechecked again. The passers by confirmed the route. However one guy was quick enough to tell me that Bikes are not allowed inside the Jungle. and also suggest that I call up. I called up the homestay I was planning to. The lady on the other side told me that I had to ride through Gonikoppa and would take me another 2 hrs to reach that would mean I would be reaching there by 6:30 and hence my waterfall and the safari idea was going down the drain. The other thing worth mentioning was that the lady asked me how many would turn up. When I told her I was the only one I could make out the change in aunties voice. However she told me call her back when I would reach Kutta.

With a disappointment, I started riding again. My mood changed when I was riding through the coffee estates. It was plain bliss riding thought the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. By 6:30 I reached kutta. I called up the lady again she told me to ride back 5km. I just wanted to reach someplace and crash. The problem with the area is that you will not find any lodging, you find only homestays. After failing to find any other place I decided to go back to the homestay that I had initially decided moreover it was also getting dark.

The lady was co-cordial. She usher me to my room. Later in the night after checking with me, I was offered cocktail before dinner. It was called coffee liquor, something that I had not tried before. Just tasted wonderful. Soon I had a simple dinner was getting ready to sleep that all of a sudden I had phone calls from my friends. (Casual calls) It was a bit strange I never had that many calls and didn't expect either. That was the reason that I had not carried my charger even. Before I went to bed I had a cellphone with drained battery.

That was an eventful first day. Not able to anything I had decided to do and drained battery. :-) I was just hoping that the next day would be better than that day.