"The first coffee tree was grown in Chikmagalur and it was brought from West Asia by Baba Budan, in whose name there is a shrine on top of the hills in the region" - as stated in Wikipedia.
Chikmagalur is probably the only "hill station" in Karnataka and it houses the highest peak in Karnataka - Mullyangiri at ~6600 feet. The town is around 220 kms from bangalore, so a drive of 4-5 hours via Hassan is
all it takes since the roads are great - though toll roads most of the
way.
I had been to this part of the world when we were younger and more adventurous several years ago. We had trekked all the way from baba budangiri to Mullyangiri over several hills with breath-taking views and some really scary climbs. But details of that can wait for another post. This time around, it was with the regular family gang - Wifey, Pavan, Rashika and of course - Shrish! So, it was to be a more calmer family-wala trip but it ended up being great fun nontheless.
Had booked a place called - "coffee bean homestay" for Friday - 28th february. It was not the first choice, but then all the first and second choice places had been full, even though I had tried booking them 3 weeks in advance. Left Bangalore early at 7 am and headed towards Hassan. At ~8:30 everybody was starving including Chotu. So, we stopped at the first place that offered breakfast. Only after some dosas, idlis, Vadas with gallons of sambhar and chutney had been downed, peace was restored to our worlds.
The resort was ~20 kms from Chikmagalur and after some help from google maps, we reached the place at ~12:45pm. We were allocated two cottages - "rocks" and "pebbles".
These were away from the main building and well covered by trees on both sides and were very cosy and tastefully decorated. You could just sit on the porch for hours and stare in to the wooded estates. But that would be for later- lunch first!
Nishcit the young owner of the estate along with his wife welcomed us and showed us around the house while the puris were being fried. There was
a 100 year old cactus which was now almost a tree. Some pet fishes which came up for bread and a large kennel of a variety of dogs and puppies. Also, a host of unique plants and trees - lichee, grapefruit, passion fruit, breadfruit (no kidding! there is apparently such a tree) ..
Lunch was Puris, chola, mix veg, pulav, "hollige", and of course some malnad-style tender chicken curry.
I loved the chicken curry and puris and made myself useful with lots of helpings of both.
Post lunch were sitting around and out came a beautiful pitch black pug-puppy - "lucky" which was only 40 days old.. Surprisingly no one in my group liked dogs too much, so they were happy to see it from far and not touch it.. But it was too cute to be not picked up and cuddled. The coat was shiny and very soft. Held on to it for sometime till it decided that it was time to go and explore the new world.
Some rest and in the evening we were driven to a sunset point a few kms away. The star attraction was the jeep ride (the good old original 4X4 - Mahindra jeep). It had an open top with handrails so you could standup and look around on the climbs. It was so much fun. Shrish also enjoyed it a lot. Once at the sunset point, we spent some quiet time sitting on the ledge and looking into the valley below. The silence was was lovely. You really learn to appreciate silence when you have lived in Bangalore for a long time.
The driver had packed coffee for us and milk and bournvita for Shrish. So we just sat there and enjoyed fresh and really strong coffee watching the sun go down. These are some of the small pleasures of life, which are getting so far and few in our busy lives. So, we enjoyed while we could.
Back at the cottage, we allowed Shrish to get a little sleep. His sleep-wake cycle was being disturbed, but he was as chirpy and active as ever. We adults settled down to a game of UNO and played a few rounds. I cheated a bit as usual, but it was simply not my day and I could not win a single game! :-)
Later, we dressed and headed to the main building where there was a camp fire and while we sat and chatted, Nishcit asked if we would like to taste some home brewed wine.We tried it out and it tasted very sweet and not bad. So, we had a couple of small glasses.. There were some nice hot starters to go with the fire and wine - baby corn fingers and some chilly chicken. Chotu wanted a green colored lays - for a 2 year old, he knows what he wants and insists on it.. Luckily the green wala is also my favorite - american cheese and onion and I had a pack lying in my bag which we could quickly fetch.
Sat around till the fire died down and it was time for dinner. Dinner was not very interesting. I had rice noodles and some more chicken curry and topped it off with some home made strawberry cheese cake(which were not impressive especially after having had cheesecakes in some of the best places in bangalore). The veg folks however had pumpkin - not a huge favorite apparently among vegetarians even!!
Got up early next day at 7 for a walk through the coffee estate. Niki decided to sleep in and logic was it was a Saturday and this trip was for relaxing and rejuvenating - could not argue with that !! Pavan, Rashika and even Shrish accompanied us. There were a few other folks also and all the dogs from the kennel - 3 pitbulls, 2 alsatians and 1 golden retriever and 1 daschund.
The property had a small lake and we rested for a few clicks and turned back. Long walk but pretty nice experience.
Back, bathed and dressed and post breakfast left for Chikmagalur. But on the way stopped at a very very beautiful and serene lake(Hirekolale). It was huge and we were the only folks around, so it was extremely silent and serene. Loved it.
Moved on to Chikmagalur town and checked in into the next hotel - which was more of a private house with a big backyard and a few cottages and rooms - Mountain valley! Rooms were tiny but cosy.
By this time, folks were starving, so with recommendation headed to the nearest best hotel - "Gowthami" and were pleasantly surprised with the service and food. Both were great!
Headed for the next destination - Baba Budangeri datta peetha. To say the drive was scenic and adventurous would be an understatement. Loved it. We had great view points - clear skies and mountains all around.
This is a place of worship for both muslims and hindus. It has a shrine for Baba Budan as well as an idol of lord Dattatreya and the pooja is done by a muslim priest. You walk down a flight of a couple of hundred steps and then you enter a small and dark caves inside which are placed the shrine and idol. Its dark and cool inside with very low ceilings. Next we pushed on to another place which is another 4 kms ahead and was a climb all the way to a viewpoint and falls called Manikyadhara falls. It was late afternoon by the time we reached there and there was a very nice breeze blowing - it was cool and almost chilly. Stopped for a few minutes at a fall that is right beside the road. Water was pretty damn cold.
Drove back and by the time we reached at the hotel it was already dark.
At the resort, there was camp fire and there was a big group of young boys and girls who were dancing and singing and having a pretty good time. But we were very tired and after having some starters sitting by the fire-side, we were eagerly waiting for dinner. Dinner here was pretty good. The owner's wife cooks the food herself and it was very good. Piping hot, since we were the first to get started. The parathas, chicken, dal, curry and of course the gulab jamuns were all really yummy.
Next morning, packed up and after vacating the resort, went to the famous and highly recommended - "Town Canteen" for breakfast and had some butter dosas. Boy, the dollops of butter were huge. The dosas were literally soaked once the butter melted! But, hey no one is complaining. At this point, we were planning to get out of CKM and maybe stop at Belur or something. But a local shopkeeper asked whether we had already seen Mullayangiri. He said, if you have come to CKM and not seen it, then its a blunder.. You must see it. OK, we thought - what the hell, lets do that also.
Again the drive to Mullayangiri was so beautiful in the nice clear morning, that you would like to stop at several places and just enjoy the view. You can drive almost upto the base of the peak and from there it is a climb of ~400-500 steps to the peak where there is a temple of lord Shiva. The wives stayed back at the base with the kid and Pavan and I decided to climb. Not being exactly fit - what I really mean is being so unfit without any physical exercise of any kind, we had to rest often before we actually made it to the top. But the mountain being barren, one could get a very nice uninterrupted view of miles of area around.
Back from Mullayangiri, we went for some local coffee and tea powder shopping - Panduranaga coffee works is the most famous among all and we bought some stuff there. Lunch at a place called "Arabian nights" and finally we headed out of town at ~3pm.
The broasted chicken and pulpy grape juice were the highlights!
Few kms away from Belur, on the way back, there is a place called Yagachi dam and its reservoir. Its huge and looks like a very large lake. A short 1 km detour from the highway took us to the water sports centre. Its a nice place and they have a lot of options - skiing, kayaking, boating, speed boating and a trampoline inside the water.
We chose the speed boat and Shrish was thrilled for the length of the 15 min ride. On the banks, they have a small hut with a few chairs. One can simply relax and enjoy the cool breeze in the shade while looking at the water.
Shrish's lunch was pending, so we decided to feed him before we moved on and I had a first hand experience of how difficult it is to feed a kid. To finish a small bowl of curd rice, it took 5-6 stories and maybe equal number of songs with equal amounts of threatening and pleading from all the four of us. Mission accomplished - we headed out and drove straight back to Bangalore.
Driving back is always the boring and most tiresome part of any trip. Once I am done with the trip, I would like to just flick a switch and just be home instantly to a waiting hot water bath and a nice warm bed. But in reality, we had to drive for another 4 long hours before we could reach Bangalore.
All in all, this was one trip that we enjoyed extremely. All the elements were great- stay, travel, site-seeing, activities and of course food - the entire lot!
Below are just a few more random pics from the outing !!
<-- View point
Gaalikere view point -->
<--- Shrish and Niki
The only decent pic I could find of me --->
<--- Shiva temple
Birds against a perfectly blue sky --->
And of course our savior - a map of local sigh-seeing places and routes/distances etc. Almost everybody in the town has a photo-copy of it and trust me it is pretty useful!
We washed the food with some fresh orange juice and a sparking lime.
