Daman- Upcoming Goa??

Daman is at a distance of about 167 kms from Mumbai. One would have to get off the Mumbai- Ahmedabad highway few kilometers short of Vapi, towards your left. This is the entrance to Moti-Daman. Daman is divided into 2, Moti (Big in Gujarati) Daman and Nani (Small) Daman by the river Daman Ganga.

Our first impression of Daman was very nice. We entered Daman from Vapi side and passed the area at 11 in the night. It felt we were passing through a forest. Dense vegetation on both the sides of the road with not a single soul on the road. Then there is a huge gate with a big statue of a fisherman welcoming you to the Union Territory of Daman. The roads are broad, well maintained and well lit. This was Moti Daman, where all the administrative offices are located. Ahead on the road, is a church (It is Basilica of Bom Jesus, I think) and many old houses reminding you of the Portuguese occupation of Daman. Along with Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Goa, Daman was a Portuguese colony for over 300 years and was liberated in 1961.

Well-lit Daman Fort also looked formidable. You pass on the Rajiv Gandhi setu(bridge) to reach Nani Daman. This bridge again was very well maintained, which got us thinking if it was a general phenomenon being a Union Territory maintained under the aegis of the President of India himself. After crossing this bridge, you enter Nani Daman.

We stayed twice at Daman both ways, while going to and coming back from Gujarat. We stayed the second time because the first time, we felt there was more to explore at Daman. The first stay at Daman was at Silver Sands Beach Resort just off

Sunset @Daman Jetty

Devka beach and the second one was at Hotel Emerald near Daman jetty. These fare among the affordable range of hotels at Daman. There are more luxurious ones too, along the Devka beach, near the Coastal Highway like Hotel Miramar, Ocean Panorama etc.

Daman has many similarities with Goa, the Portuguese influence being the obvious one, beaches and beach shacks are the other ones.

However the beaches of Daman do not have the usual brown sand. Instead they have black sand and due to the beach shacks and incessant use of plastic, the beaches are quite filthy, especially Devka beach. As we stayed right in front of Devka beach, we went for an early morning walk and found plastics wrappers and covers strewn all over the beach. The water too seemed quite dirty. Moreover, there are lots of rocks preventing you from swimming.

Empty shacks at Devka beach 

Rocky sea

The scene at Jampore beach at Moti Daman seemed much better. There are beach shacks here too, but the beach looked better maintained. These beach shacks serve all kinds of alcohol (at a premium) and sea food, like fried fish, prawns etc You could also pick the sea food you like at Daman markets and ask one of the shack owners to prepare it according to your taste for a fee. We tried some seafood and found the preparation quite good. This beach also offers rides on camels, horses etc. One interesting feature at Jampore beach is that, waters does not flow to the beach, instead you would have to walk in soft sand ahead to reach the sea.

The most popular thing at Daman is liquor. Daman lies sandwiched between Maharashtra and Gujarat and the latter one being a dry state, there is a steady inflow of people from Gujarat to quench their thirst. There is good variety of liquor available at Daman, which is not generally available anywhere else. The prices are also cheaper. In fact, liquor shops at Daman open much before any other shops.

Relaxed pace of life at Daman

All said and done, Daman is a place where you can spend a day or two in leisure, as it is not as crowded as Goa. The roads are relatively empty and the town still retains the old world charm, especially Moti Daman, with its fort , churches and old Portuguese architecture. 

Beginning of the Road Trip to Gujarat

A road trip is something that I have always enjoyed, new roads, new landscapes, the people along the road everything seems so exciting. Something, that I enjoy more than this is planning for the trip. Having done many weekend driving holidays in and around Bangalore, sought for something more this time. A long holiday was overdue and the holiday season in December meant non-availability of seats on flights. So what could be better than a road trip.

Amitabh Bachan's ad for Gujarat Tourism had definitely enticed me and wanted to make it to Kutch. Tried lots of, route permutations and combinations and depending on availability of accommodation, finally decided on Bangalore-Mumbai-Daman-Ahmedabad-Diu-Gondal-Hodka-Bhuj and return.

So it was December 22, left at the decided time of 5am and just a kilometer or two from home, our well behaved Safari started making some problems, steering vibration, clutch not returning. Not wanting to lose the initial momentum, we drove till Hiriyur and stopped for breakfast at Hotel Aroma. Note there are hardly any decent places to eat after you cross the usual Kamat Upchars and Coffee Days before Tumkur. After breakfast the problem with the vehicle seemed more pronounced and we decided to get some help at Chitradurga.

It was a Sunday, and a call to the Toll Free Tata Motos number gave us the number of a Tata authorised service center in Chitradurga. Call to the manager and he asked us to wait at the workshop while he would send in a mechanic. That wait lasted for 2 hours and the mechanic finally arrived. He did something and the vehicle seemed fine. We were planning for lunch at Belgaum with my brother, which looked far fetched now.

At 1130 am we started from Chitradurga and manged to reach Hubli by around 3. Lunch at Rajasthani Ghar Dhaba just after Dharwad high court. It was a cuisine not explored, by doing so, it marked a start of our road trip in the true sense. Excellent panner tikka masala, Dal tempered with red chilly and oil and hot rotis were really needed. Finally ordered Sev Tomato which was the icing on the cake. Some buttermilk to go with it and the meal was complete.

It was my turn at the wheels and with some temporary arrangement at the clutch, I was not very comfortable and loads of tractors and trucks carrying sugarcanes to the factories on the road added to it and finally gave up little after Belgaum as we didn't want to lose time. It was getting dark and we hoped to reach Satara/Karad by 2000h and halt for the day.

As we bid farewell to the roads of Karnataka, the condition of roads did not remain all the good. Lot of bikers on the road after Kolhapur and the roads were only 2 laned on each side. Finally we decided on Hotel Alankaar at Karad for our night halt. A decent hotel right in front of the Bus Station with good food.
We decided to start early the next day as we had a booking at Daman for the night. We could start only by 9 after  a tasty breakfast of Misal Pav.

The New Katraj tunnel

Fully loaded for the trip

By 1130 we were in Pune and looked around for authorised workshops to find a proper solution to the problem in Tata Safari. We spotted Concorde Motors and went in. Amazing facility and excellent staff. Safari got a quick fix there where we realised that there was a problem with the clutch plate and it would have to be used very carefully. We get our vehicle back at around 5. So the entire day was gone. We had two options either halt at Mumbai or drive till Daman. Went with the second option and drove till night 11 and reached Daman. It was the first time we had ever driven after sunset on the highways. The road from Mumbai to Daman, being a part of Mumbai-Ahmedabad road was very good, once we got on to the highway. However crossing Mumbai and getting on to the highway does take a good 2 hrs.

See you in Daman!!!!

Far away in the hills

As the travel bug begins to itch, the  search for newer destinations begins. This time around we settled for a known destination only to enjoy the beauty of monsoons.  It was Kodaikanal.  After exploring many wildlife destinations continuously this was exciting and different.  We had visited kodai on for our honeymoon and revisiting the place after 11 years seemed nice. Also this journey meant travelling on some new roads, the best part of the entire trip according to me.

The white building is Country Club

Kodai is a good 450 odd kms from Bangalore. We took the Bangalore Salem route and subsequently turned right to reach kodaikanal passing through karur, namakkal and dindigul and then the climb to Kodai. The ghats section to reach Kodai spans for around 45 kms and takes a little more than 2 hrs. However the roads bends are not as much as Ooty and they can be easily negotiated. The road conditions throughout right from Blore to Kodai is excellent. 

We chose to stay at Country Club Valley Vista Kodaikanal situated a around 5kms from Kodai.  To reach this place, take a left turn before you reach the main town. The signboards are not very evident. This is a village called Shenbaganur. The roads leading to the resort are quite narrow for 2 vehicles to simultaneously pass by. However,  once you see the views available from the hotel, you are bound to forget everything about the distance from the town.

Service and other facilities at the hotel are nothing to boast about. The food is also pretty average. They arrange for some activities during the day like fishing, trekking night safari etc, but charge exorbitantly for the same.

The charming Shenbaganur Museum

About the sights at Kodai, the usual hill station staples like a lake, a couple of falls and some view points are on the tourist circuit.  We did not do much sight seeing,  except for a couple of sights like the pillar rocks, upper lake view, walking around the lake etc. Cycles on hire are available, it is nice to cycle around the lake. Shenbaganur Museum was something I loved, its settings appeared out of the world. It felt quaint and lovely.Being far from the city did not allow us to do more though we had our own vehicle.

View from our resort

 However,  just sitting by the window of our room and watching the clouds gather in and move away was a great experience by itself. The roads near the resort pass through the villages and it is a good place for some long walks, not knowing where the roads lead to. An occasional vehicle passing by could seem a disturbance given the tranquility of the place. Mesmerising and a kind of haunting sound wafts through the air, caused by blowing of wind trees? I really do not know the right name of that tree, but in Kannada,  its called Gaali Mara,  so just going in for  a translation.

One great find there was a great eat-out place called the Cloud Street. When your taste buds appear tired of the usual south indian fare and crave for some pastas, steaks, hum

Upper lake view

Pillar Rocks

mus and pita bread, wood fired pizzas, this is the place to be. I just loved their lemon cake and expresso, one of the best that I ever had. They are open for breakfast too. Closed on mondays.

Kodaikanal is a small hill station, but there is much to explore outside the city. Couple of trekking tracks are available, which could be explored. Overall a nice place for a short holiday.

Midst of wilderness

I started my blog to make my treasure my travel memories, but off late, I have become to lazy to write my travelogues. So let me write this one, as the memories are fresh enough.

 

  Of all the trips, road trips excite me a lot. For me it is not only about the destination,  it is also also about the roads that I travel on. I would never like to take the same route again and again. I am bored of the Blr Mysore Bandipur road, having travelled many times on that route. This time around, it was a new route, we were going out of bangalore through kanakapura. We were off to BR Hills, a serene, less explored wildlife destination. It is at the confluence of the eastern and the western ghats.

An eco friendly bin

Our Loghut 

Finally we decided to make a visit to the Jungle Lodges and Resorts. This resort is situated right in the middle of BR Tiger Reserve. Built it the most nature friendly way from wood and very less of concrete. It felt really adventurous and thrilling to stay there and to be able to hear all sorts of wild cries, especially at nights. K gudi (kyathadevarayana gudi) wilderness camp runs on generators in the evenings and there is power only between 6pm and 6 am. Lanterns are placed at all the cottages, to scare away any wild animals and to show you way incase of a power failure. It is a great sight to see hordes of deers roaming around freely within the campus. Also there is a forest department elephant camp right next door. Kids love to see the mahouts bathe and clean these huge animals.

Indian Gaur

A safari stopover

Nature's artistry

The resort runs a safari into the Jungle twice a day, morning 6 and evening 3. Sighting of animals is a matter of pure luck. The naturalist kept mentioning of seing a tigress with her cubs just 2 days back, but we had to be satisfied with just a bear and many many birds. Well, bears are also said to highly reclusive and sighting is more difficult. Jungle lodges also took us to the famous Biligiri Ranganatha temple situated around 10 kms from the camp. All along the way, the drive, the naturalist provided us little snippets about nature around, birds, animal behaviour etc.

The elusive bear, we had to maintain our distance

Crested Eagle

The biligiri Ranganatha temple is  a quite temple, dedicated to the lord balaji. Its location gives a great view of the forest below. I was reminded of the Himgiri gopalswamy betta located near the Bandipur forest. Just at the foothills is located the Girijana vikasa kendra specially built for the upliftment of the Soliga tribals. Its a good place to buy some forest products like amla and sogadu sherbets , shikakai (soapnut) powder etc.

I would be really wrong not to mention about the impeccable service offered by each staff of the resort. They take good care of their guests. I hear this is a norm at all Jungle resorts. Worth every pie you pay. Food is also good, with good variety.

Water trickling down at Barachukki

You have two routes to reach this place, one via Kanakapura taking you through Malavalli, kollegal , br hills and K gudi or one through Mysore taking you through Chamrajnagar.

Lot of attractions dot the road through Malavalli,  Shivanasamudra, shimsha, Gaganachukki

and Barachukki falls to mention a few. We visited the Barachukki falls, however summers are not a ideal time to visit these falls. There was hardly any water in the falls.

This was one of the shortest holidays that we have done, but a very fulfilling one.

An unexpected holiday to the Niligiris

I was sad as Saju left for Jakarta on a long trip and this call from my chilhood friend Suchi inviting me to a holiday at Masinagudi couldn't have come at a more opportune moment. I jumped at the prospect of going on a holiday all by ourselves,of course our kids could'nt be left behind. This was something I had never done before.
We left Bangalore around 10 and there was peak holiday traffic on Mysore road. A breakfast stopover at Mac Donalds and we reached Mysore. There was a confusion on which road to take after reaching the Columbia Asia junction, I am always used to taking a right turn there and take the ring road to reach the ooty road near the mysore airport. This time we took a left and roamed through the city and reached the highway. Quick south indian lunch at Gundlupet and we were set for the forests.
It was just after the rains and the entire stretch of Bandipur forest was green and fresh. As we passed through we were on the look out for some wild animals, but as usual we could spot only deers and monkeys. After the Bandipur forests, we entered the Tamilnadu, end of the same forest, known as the Mudumalai.  Our destination Masinagudi, is just around 17 kms from Mudumalai. The winding road is a pleasure to drive with forests and the Nilgiris in sight.
We were booked in at the Zest Casa Deepwoods, a branch of the Club Mahindra holidays. The property is almost at the end of the road in the Masinagudi town. The town is a small place made famous by the tourists. However,  the place has still maintained its freshness. The surroundings are pristine, close to the famous Nilgiris. The imposing mountains are just lovely. The resort is located almost at the foothills of nilgiris. As any Mahindra resort, the ambience is kept as natural as possible. The resort is not very big in size and may have around 10 cottages I feel. A lovely feature of the resort is a stream that flows on one end of the property, though it is not a part of the property. It is just nice to spend sometime there, especially in the mornings. There are some stream facing cottages, they must be nice to stay.
There is nothing much for sightseeing at Masinagudi.  Most people visit Ooty which is just around 28kms away or take a elephant  safari at Mudumalai . We just drove towards Moyer dam, but couldn't find it, so we stopped near a temple, which was near a canal of the dam. With two kids constantly bickering, there is not much one can focus on exploring. We had some burgers etc at the only decent looking place, I do not remember the name of the restaurant though.
The resort doesn't have much to do in terms of activities, some two hammocks,  a badminton net and an unoperational swimming pool is all they have. They have some activies for the kids like finger painting etc. So we thought that would keep the kids occupied and we booked ourselves for a traditional massage. The resort people couldn't keep the kids occupied for 10 minutes and they were back, knocking at the doors. Nevertheless,  the massage was also nothing great and I felt as if we bathed in oil.
The next day, we checked out in the morning after breakfast. Masinagudi is an apt location for relaxation in midst of some sylvan surroundings. The combination of weather, sunny mornings and cool evenings also give a soothing touch. There are ample number of farm stays and resorts at Masinagudi, suiting budgets of all ranges. Enjoy the fresh air and the laid back atmosphere.

Holiday by the Mangalore coast

The first thing I looked forward to after the completion of my fellowship was a trip to my maternal home town (wonder if it is the right term). It has been long overdue and I was eager to take Saksham there for the first time.  It made me more excited because it turned out to be an all women holiday like women on wanderlust. Accompanied by my mom, her sis, my sister in law and two kids we set out to Gopady. That is the place to which my grandfather belonged to. It is around 30 kms from Udupi little short of Koteshwara and Kundapur. The best landmark would be the famous Anegudde temple.

Old vessels at maternal grandmom's place

 It was the end of May and we hoped to be welcomed by some rains but it wasn’t to be. It was hot but the breeze from the fields made it a little better. It is a pleasant feeling to be amidst the greenery, never ending views of paddy fields and the faraway roar of the seas in a calm peaceful village.

This is the closest we could get

Though there is none of the utilities that we normally are used to like internet or a host of television channels, it turned out to be one of the most fulfilling holidays ever. A perfect mix of sun,sand, culture and heritage. The most interesting part of the day was the morning walk to the Beejady beach, which was probably 2 kms away. Witnessing the sun rise and the local fishermen at work was a sight to behold. The walk took us through a number of paddy fields often frequented by peacocks on the hunt for some small insects. It was the first time that I saw these beautiful birds anywhere other than the zoos and forests. The neighbors there tell me that peacocks often dance at their front yard at the onset of monsoons. I was lucky to indeed see a few; sadly they felt the audience was not worth the performance.

Footsteps of Shri Vadiraja Guru of Sonda

Temples are a big draw here. Among the famous are the Anegudde Ganapati, Kollur Mookambika, Kateel Durga parmeshwari, Udupi Shri and the list goes on. We too went temple hopping for a day and visited many of them including Huvinakere, the birthplace of Sonda Shri Vadiraja (one of the 8 mutts of Udupi),Mangaladevi temple of Mangalore which boasts of a unique architecture, which is a delightful combination of the coastal and the Maharashtrian temple architecture and many others including the one at Saligrama. My memory is too limited to remember the names of each of the presiding deities at these temples, for me what matters is that it is a divine power, not the specifics of names. Another interesting feature of this area is temples dedicated to the evil, it is said that each house has an evil character associated with it and it is also worshipped. These places are called as Bhootada Mane (House of a ghost). It is something similar to what I found at Bali, where the evil is given offerings at each house step, the intention being, to appease the evil and bar its entry into the house and the temple.

Lovely view of the Arabian Sea
 from the lighthouse @ Kaup

How can I talk about the coast of Mangalore and not talk about the pristine beaches. There are a dozen of them which are famous and many of them known only to the village folk. A popular beach that we visited was Kaup or Kapu as it is locally known as. A beautiful beach with shiny sand, rocks, a bit of back waters and a lighthouse. You can actually climb up the lighthouse and witness some outstanding views of the Arabian sea and the western ghats. There is a small fee charged for that and the last entry is at 1800 h. The beach also has some water sports activities like the motor scooter etc plus some camel rides for the kids. Kapu is a great beach to spend time at.

Art and culture are indigenous parcels of any region; the coastal part of Karnataka is no different. The months of summer see a flurry of cultural activities like singing of Bhajans(devotional songs) or Yakshagana plays. Yakshagana is an art form enacting the Hindu mythological stories and is very popular in the coastal districts of Karnataka State. It often likened to an opera, due to its elaborate costumes, song and dance sequences, narration etc. The performance begins at night and goes till wee hours of the morning. I got an opportunity to watch a performance based on the story of Mahishasura and I must say it was amazing to watch those characters play in front of you. Due to its popularity, Bangalore and other cities also sees a lot of Yakshagana plays these days.

Thus ended a week long holiday but gave me memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Yet another wildlife encounter

It is my third post and the common link in all of them has been wildlife. By chance or by plan, can't say, but it is enjoyable definitely. Every time we go on these holidays I keep thinking to myself, what if someday, all these animals develop the kind of mental abilities that we possess and gang up and put us behind the bars in those cages. It is only our mental abilities that make us powerful, just imagine a lion with its prowess and add a pinch of mental ability, visualize the kind of mayhem they could unleash!! Scary right? I am also not a great admirer of seeing caged animals, but in spite of all this, I just read somewhere that wildlife and zoo trips are actually good.

Anyways let me leave all these thoughts behind and relive that day at Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), Bangalore. Its been quite a while since, we had promised Saksham a visit to BNP, and he has been excited about it and looking forward to see some "white animals" (I mentioned to him, that there were white tigers). Finally we get instigated by someone's trip and decide to make good use of the holiday on Good Friday.

We managed to get going by 1130 from Kundalahalli and reach BNP by 1245. Go straight after you hit the Bannerghatta road until you reach Bannerghatta Police Station junction, there is a misleading sign board there or rather we mistook it. BNP is ahead on the road with a slight left, but we took the road to Anekal and Jigani. That stretch is quite barren and we wondered if BNP was set amidst a barren land. Got directions from some localities and turned back and lost 1/2 hr. Anyways we reach there and devour the lunch we carried from home and getting going.

There are combined tickets for the Safari and the zoo, or rather it was like we get a free entry into the zoo with safari ticket. It costs you Rs 210/-  (weekend\holiday price) per adult. The safari timings are from 11am to 4pm, while the zoo remains open till 5:30 in the evening. The place has good facilities for parking and is also well connected by BMTC buses. Volvos(365) and Big 10(G4) buses ply regularly on this route.

There were lot of people waiting for the safari, BNP has provided good facilities for waiting and the whole process is done in a orderly manner, no people rushing and no standing for a long time. There are some 5-6 huts constructed with seating facilities. Appreciate that! The wait for Safari lasted no longer than 1/2 hr and we were soon seated in the safari bus. We managed to get seats just behind the guide, so manged to get a good view. The bus took us through the herbivore enclosure where there were some deers, sambhars and bisons (this is what we get to see in any wildlife safari) and move further ahead to the Bear enclosure and then move to the enclosures with tigers and lions. We could see a White tiger cooling off in his\her private pool, but the lions were busy dozing off in the summer heat. We could not manage to get a frontal view, and had to be satisfied with mere glimpses of sleeping lions, which was quite sad. These animals are so used to seeing buses whirr past them day in and day out, that they show no reaction and remain sleeping.

Well that was about the safari, which took about one hr or so and then we moved to the zoo. There is quite a variety of animals and birds like the white peacock,zebra, leopard, elephant, giant indian squirrel, hornbill, hippopotamus, cobras,king cobra and many more (my memory hasn't remain as strong). We got an opportunity to see a cobra gorging on a chick, it literally gulped it down. We probably would not get to see such events elsewhere other than on Animal Planet\Discovery, so I guess zoos are a form of education. The zoo has enough of outlets for snacks, coffee, tea, ice creams and soft drinks and a children play area too. After all this animal viewing, we left the zoo, though Saksham was quite reluctant to come out. 

We thought it would be a good idea to visit the butterfly park too, having come this far. By the time we reached that place, it was closed for the day. The butterfly park closes by 5pm and there is a separate entrance ticket for that. So if you are short on time or reach the park late, it is a good idea to finish the safari, then the butterfly park and keep the zoo for the end as it remains open till 5:30pm.

With that, we ended our one day wildlife odyssey. So till next time... I plan and plan and wait for another day, another place and some lovely memories.