Anshu & Pallo - Travellog

Phillip Island, Victoria – 12 June 2010

2010-06-12T17:33:00.000+05:30

It being a long weekend, The Queen’s Birthday, we decided it was time we started exploring our new home state of Victoria. The main city in Victoria is Melbourne and we are in a small suburb north of Melbourne. We set off bright and early on Saturday morning for a lovely two hour drive to Phillip Island, the home of the Fairy Penguins and the Phillip Island GP circuit. We had our trusty new GPS, Tom Tom XL340 setup and ready to guide us on the motorways to Phillip Island.

Now, we were driving our brand new automatic Holden Cruze CDX on roads that had a speed limit of 100kms/hr. So naturally, we sped up to 100 and flicked on cruise control and relaxed for the entire journey, enjoying the sights and sounds around us.

The weather was perfect for such a drive. It was a chilly morning, with intermittent phases of light showers and bright sunlight! As a result, we got to see rainbows along the route.

To finally get onto Phillip Island, one has to drive over a bridge that connects it to the mainland. After the bridge, one can see the first tourist spot of Phillip Island on the right, called Panny’s Chocolate Factory. More on this later, as we did not stop on the way in, but stopped here on the way out! We drove straight to Cowe’s, where we checked into our fantastic hotel, The Waves. The room was large, it had basically two rooms, one with a bunk bed and kitchen (with stove and microwave and kettle) and one master bedroom.

After checkin, we decided to make our way to the Nobbie’s Center, which is basically at one end of Phillip Island, overlooking the Bass Straight.

The view from here is majestic and if you pay a couple of dollars, you can use the underwater binoculars to spot the seals. The drive to Nobbies was something to behold, providing breath-taking views of the ocean along the island.

Along the way, enthusiastic surfers were heading out to the sea, despite the weather! At the Nobbies Center, we decided to have a typical lunch of fish and chips. After having our fill of the beautiful sights of nature, and another rainbow, we went on to our next destination, the Koala Conservation Center.

We were quite excited with the prospect of being up-close-and-personal with koalas. However, when we got there, it was quite a big disappointment. Firstly, the koalas sit way way up on the eucalyptus trees and secondly, they sleep for 20 hours in a day!

As a result, we were only able to catch the backsides of a few koalas enjoying their siesta! So we walked around the park, coming really close on many occasions with harmless wallabies. After a quick walk through the park, we headed back to the penguin parade.

The penguins were meant to come back around 5:15 and we were advised to be there an hour early. So we got there an hour early and browsed the shops and also hired mp3 players to listen to audio commentary about the penguins. Personally, the audio commentary is not of much use because the same information is repeated by the park ranger. Slowly the sun began to set and an icy breeze started coming in from over the ocean. It got really cold, but we wore gloves, scarves and caps and even carried a small blanket! Within half an hour, the penguins, each about a foot high came and stood by the edge of the water. They seemed to be waiting, checking for dangers. Once they had a reasonably large sized population, and they were sure of the safety of crossing the beach, they proceeded, walking as penguins do! They looked cuter, because of their odd size. Sets of penguins, keep coming in to the shore to return home. Once we saw a couple of sets of penguins return, we went for a walk-about to see them walk home. The funniest moment was when a huge crowd of humans was crossing a small road to the exit. A ranger came out from nowhere and urged all humans to stop and make way for one little penguin that also wanted to cross the road! All-in-all it was a unique experience, but one that we would not have any photos for because photography is strictly prohibited!

Once the show was over, we headed back to the hotel. We quickly walked down to the main street and brought back some interesting gourmet pizza and were all set for a movie on the tele.

Next day, we woke up a early and went straight to the Nobbies Center once again. This time we explored it a bit more and took the walk along the coast to enjoy more of the views.

Once again we were treated to some mesmerising views of nature. Next we headed for the Phillip Island Grand Prix track, which is hosting a moto GP race in September. The race track as such is like any other race track. However, it is right along the coast, so the view is magnificent.

Also, there are many options as a tourist, like the walk around the circuit with a guide, the history of racing at the track and also some games. The history of racing at the circuit was interesting and there is a separate ticket to be purchased for that.

After a leisurely morning, we were on our way back home. However, on the way out of Phillip Island, we came upon Panny’s Chocolate Factory that we had skipped on the way in. So, we decided to stop there and maybe have lunch there as well. The factory is interesting because it takes one through the entire chocolate making process.

It also has some interesting artifacts made completely out of chocolate. We walked around and enjoyed taking photos.

We had our lunch here and headed back home.

Adieu Alto, Hello Cruze!

2010-06-02T16:48:00.000+05:30

It is with a heavy heart that we bid adieu to our wonderful travel companion who never complained and took us on all our road trips so far. Dear Alto, we will miss you. Having done 30,660 kms on the Alto in less than 3 years, its fair to say that we did travel a lot!

But we are very glad, that the amazing car stays in the family and will be very well taken care of.

It is also with great excitement that we welcome into our lives a beautiful Holden Cruze CDX. The Cruze will now be our travel companion, and it has already started notching up the kilometers, as we have started our road trips down under!

Manly Beach, New South Wales – 02 May 2010

2010-05-02T16:08:00.000+05:30

We had been in Sydney for almost a month and had not yet ventured out on our own to explore areas around the city. One of the most famous destinations from Sydney is Manly beach and the experience of travelling to Manly on a ferry is something to be experienced. We caught a bus from home and travelled to Sydney CBD in the morning. From there, we walked to “The Rocks”. Then we caught a ferry to Manly Beach.

The ferry ride is quite an experience. If the weather is good, like it was on the day we travelled, it is best to sit on the deck to enjoy the ride. The ferry left the Circular Quay, passed the Sydney Opera House, passed a lot of small boats and then finally docked at Manly Harbor.

At Manly, there are a number of interesting walks that one can do, depending on the time that one has on hand. Since, we were constrained by time, we did a small walk.

We walked on and on and even went exploring into non-walk friendly areas, until we reached the top of a cliff. The view from here was beautiful and we could see the waves hitting the rocks down below.

It was already time to walk back and we had a long walk in front of us. We managed to catch the return ferry, just in time to catch the sunset on the return journey to Circular Quay.

It was a mesmerising sight once again, as we sat on the deck enjoying the sunset.

HAL Helicopter Museum – 13 March 2010

2010-03-13T10:41:00.000+05:30

A little known treasure of Indian aviation history on the Old Airport road, between HAL airport and Marathalli junction, is the Helicopter Museum of HAL. It is a place that not many know of, and not many visit. Hence, it is always bereft of a crowd. However, we really enjoyed visiting it as it uncovered the history of the helicopter in India. There are a lot of interesting exhibits here.

On the outside of the building, there are a few old aircrafts and old helicopters, with a small writeup next to each exhibit. One can walk around the building taking in all the history. There is also a small cafe there.

There are basically two small buildings to cover in a visit there. The main building houses the artifacts, small scale models and blown up photos of historic significance to aviation in India. There is an interesting display of embles of the airforces of each country!

On the first floor of the main building is a small shop which sells scaled models of aircrafts. The model aircraft shop is run by HAL employees and the proceeds from that go for the welfare of them. The price of the model planes are cheaper than outside. The HAL employees are very helpful and informative. They can tell you anything about the plane that you are picking up. There is also a flight simulator, which is nothing but a small video game you play on a computer controlled by a joystick.

The other small building houses many many blown up photographs of historic significance to aviation in India. There are multiple rooms, taking one down the decades of aviation in India.

It was very interesting to go through the photographs and relive some of the events that we had heard of.

All in all a very very good visit. It certainly beats having to do what this guy was doing (up on a tree, looking at the HAL airport runway)

The Leela Kempenski, Goa

2009-11-01T14:25:00.001+05:30

Its not often that one gets a taste of luxury in the form of The Leela Kempenski Hotel. However, an anniversary also does not come along so often ;)

We managed to find an excellent offer online on our favourite travel site Travelocity. The offer included three nights at the Leela Kempenski Hotel and also return tickets from Bangalore to Goa.Naturally, we jumped on it. The fact that it was off-season for hotels, did help our cause.

So, off we were on our trip to Goa. Of course this trip was not planned to be like a normal Goa trip where one goes, hires bikes and roams around on the beaches. This was planned to be a totally relaxing holiday, lazing in the amazing Leela property and on the private beach. We started off with us having to catch an early morning flight to Goa. The aircraft was not the normal Airbus 737, but was a smaller aircraft, an ATR-72.

It was quite an interesting ride in a smaller aircraft, one in which you are closer to the runway. The seats in this Kingfisher Red aircraft were super comfortable. Although, the noise of the engines can get a bit too loud. The flight IT-4611 departs Bangalore at 6:15am and lands in Goa at 7:45am. This meant that we were well in time to check-in to the Leela.

The Leela did send a vehicle to pick us up from the Goa airport and take us to the hotel, about 20 kms away. They sent a Mercedes Benz Sprinter to pick us up as there were more families that were arriving at the same time.

We were welcomed by the hotel like royals, with garlands and a refreshing coconut water each.

Now what does one say about The Leela Goa? Its a fantastic property, very well and smartly built and its huge beyond belief. Each of the rooms is along three man made lagoons, making for a great evening sit out.

The Leela also has a very nice spa, gym and swimming pool. All in all its a complete resort with even a private beach patrolled on both sides by guards. One just needs to see some of the photos of the property to understand how words cannot describe what a wonderful resort the Leela Group have built in Goa.

The property is so vast, that they have golf karts to transport guests across the resort.

They even have a beautiful golf course, which is frequented by beautiful birds when not in use.

The Leela has a separate agency employed to provide water and beach sports to their guests. This agency is also responsible for the safety of the guests on the beach and in the water.

The Leela has put up rows of beach beds on the beach for the guests to relax and enjoy the beach. The sunset view from here is mesmerizing.

They also have a cute bar and restaurant right on the beach.

The Leela is very helpful in organizing recreational activities. One can even request to play directly against a trainer.

Of course, food in the Leela was very expensive! However, the breakfast was a very very lavish buffet, so one could not resist eating there in the morning. They had all types of cuisines for breakfast, and great variety too. Each day we stayed there, they had a unique buffet menu. However, we ate all the lunch and dinners outside. Just 2 minutes walking distance from the Leela is a wonderful seafood restaurant called the “Fisherman’s Wharf”. Truly tremendous authentic Goan food.

Fisherman’s Wharf has a great view of the fishermen going about their business.

The items on the menu were very reasonably priced and the helpings of each dish were very generous! They do also have a bar, so drinking Fenny here while eating seafood is a must.

As soon as The Leela came to know that it was our anniversary, they went out of their way to make us more comfortable and make our stay more enjoyable. They had a complimentary cake sent to our room on the day. Later on for dinner, they gave us complimentary champagne and another wonderful cake!

So, for three days we did nothing by relax and get rejuvenated. It was a truly memorable holiday for us, and definitely our best holiday to date. We can’t wait to get back to The Leela Goa for another relaxing holiday.

Chikamagalur – The Serai –17 to 19 Oct 2009

2009-10-19T10:20:00.000+05:30

Within the three years that we stayed in Bangalore, we had covered most of the tourist locations that are to be covered within driving distance. Two locations remained: Chikamagalur and Coorg. We were out to correct that before we left Bangalore for good. So, we got an opportunity one weekend in October 2009, when we took a break and travelled to the lesser known of the two destinations. We went to Chikamagalur. Due to the nature of this trip, we will post more photos than write text, because seeing is believing.

As is our norm, we set out bright and early, and were soon out on the highway, making our way speedily towards Chikmagalur.

And before we knew it, we were in Chikamagalur. We found out way to The Serai, the Cafe Coffee Day resort that we had an eye on for months! We checked in and were taken in a golf cart to our room. Already we knew that this would be a great relaxing weekend away from the madness of Bangalore. The room was huge, with all modern amenities and a swanky bathroom. In addition, our room also had a personal swimming pool, which we used a lot during our stay. The weather was perfect for swimming.

Because the resort was so great and self-sufficient, in the two days that we stayed there, we did not venture out to do touristy things.

We stayed within the comfortable confines of the resort, enjoying a really relaxing break.

Nandi Hills – 27-Sept-2009

2009-09-27T16:06:00.001+05:30

Nandi Hills is a small hill about 60kms from Bangalore. It is one of the easiest places to get to from Bangalore on a lazy weekend. As a result, there is always a huge crowd there on the weekends. With family in town, we decided that we might as well go to Nandi Hills so that we can tick it off our “to-do” list.

We left, bright and early and got onto the outer ring road, heading straight for the new airport road. We hopped onto the super fast airport road and before we knew it, we had passed the airport and were approaching Nandi Hills. The road signage is not very good once you turn off the highway towards Nandi Hills. Having been there before as a child, I remembered the route.

We drove straight up and parked at the top, from where one can start walking on foot. We walked around, taking in the sights, clicking out photographs. We went at a time, when we could catch the sunset from Nandi Hills. After a tiring hour or so of walking, we headed back to the car, had some coconut water and went back home.

Nandi Hills - tick

Innovative Film City – Part II

2009-05-30T14:39:00.002+05:30

Whenever parents are in town, we think of a place that we could drive away to for a weekend. However, due to time constraints, this time we decided to only make a day trip. Now, for a day trip there are fewer options and because we had already been to Innovative Film City our list was shorter. However, we had heard that a few new things had opened up at Innovative Film City, like the haunted mansion, a village style theatre, the wild wild west and a miniature city!

So decision made, we were off at a reasonably early time to avoid the traffic. This time, we decided to take a different route through the city and tried going to Mysore Road via the Outer Ring Road. It was a bad decision. There were way too many stoppages and a lot of traffic which caused us unnecessary delays. Finally, we were on Mysore road, and were making up time. We got to Innovative Film City so early that they were not to open for another half an hour! So, we went back to Mysore Road to look for a place to eat breakfast. Just before the turn off for Innovative Film City is a small south indian restaurant which makes amazing dosas, idlis and wadas. We had a really really heavy breakfast there and enjoyed the wildlife around us. There are live turkeys and ducks around there. One duck was very engrossed in its own reflection in a shiny black car.

After breakfast, we made our way to IFC. This time we were keen only to see those attractions which we had not seen last time. So, we had an agenda. We went straight to the Innovative Talkies, which shows really old movies in village style. We were the only ones in the next show, so we requested for a screening of Mughle Azam! We were to sit on tin chairs and watch the movie in a small hut. They don't play the entire movie, it's a short film with important clips from the movie. However, the experience is really authentic. Our parents were back to their college days when the theatre was full of the sound from the running projector with booming acoustics and the clanging bell to announce the interval! It was quite an experience!

Next we moved onto The Wild Wild West, which basically is an enclosure made in the style of the wild west.

In the wild wild west, you can check out your shooting skills by trying to shoot glass bottles with an air gun. Its fun, but really really difficult!

There is also a restaurant, styled like in the wild west.

You could ride a horse. We walked about a bit and clicked photos and moved on to the real reason we were here.

We went to the Haunted Mansion which was a new attraction. It is very well done and quite frightening.

You may think that just because you see what is scaring the people in front of you, you are prepared. But nothing prepares you for the persistence of the 'ghosts'! One 'ghost' stalked us for a stretch of time, and it got really creepy! Sadly we could not take pictures of our fear!

Finally, we headed to the Miniature City, which is quite a unique attraction. Everything is small and quite well made. It had a mini train track and a very realistic airport hanger.

This was a picture taking paradise. One could spend hours clicking photos here. Two things we could not understand were why the mobile phones were so large in a miniature city, and why did they have arms and legs? Still a fun place to see.

Innovative Film City continues to provide wholesome family entertainment, and there is constant improvement in terms of attractions and food options!

Hampi – 24th to 26th Jan 2009

2009-02-03T09:07:00.005+05:30

We have been on all kinds of trips: Nature, hill-station, romantic, adventurous, get-away-from-it-all-and-relax, beach, home-stay and hotel trips. So far we had never been on a historical trip. Trying to change that, we hit upon the idea of going to Hampi for this long break of the Republic day. So far, we had avoided it ‘coz it takes 7 hours one way. However, with our well-planned Ooty trip in mind, we realized that 7 hours is not that big a deal.

A word of advice here: if you’re not into history, then this place is really not for you. You will find nothing here except ruins, rocks and the sun beating down on you.

So, we set out at 6am on 24th morning. Getting out of Bangalore itself, we got stuck in truck traffic on the Tumkur road at a railway crossing.

We couldn’t find much along the way except a CCD at the 68th km from Bangalore.

After that it was a looooong long drive on the NH4. There are 4 toll booths along the way, hence 4 different kinds of road till Chitradurga at the 214th km. After that it’s one big mess on the NH13.

Interestingly, once you are near Chitradurga, you will see a lot of Windmills on either side on the hills.

If you are lucky you might even catch some trucks carrying the huge blades of a windmill. Below is the route map from Bangalore to Hospet.

View Larger Map

Traffic wasn’t very heavy and there were hardly any passenger cars, only many trucks. The going was ok till about 30kms before Hospet. By this time the road had turned into a two-lane road, one for us and one for the oncoming traffic. At that point, there was a long line of trucks. Most of the drivers had gotten off and gone for refreshments. A few brave passenger cars and us moved ahead in the gaps that came while driving on the opposite side of the road. After about 15 kms of stop-and-start-and-overtake, we came onto the ghat road, which is where the problem lay. An accident had happened and there was utter chaos. The good part about having to stop-and-go here was the amazing view that we managed to catch of the Tungabadhra River along the highway road.

Somehow, we managed to get through and were on our way to Hospet, one hour behind schedule. Finally, we checked into Hotel Malligi at 2pm. The hotel was very comfortable, service was great and the food was also great.

After a good lunch, we set out towards Hampi. Hampi is about 20kms from Hospet. The road is a good one taking you through fields. But nothing prepares you for the rockiness of Hampi. As soon as you drive up a hillock and take a sharp left turn, you are in the midst of many many rocks. There are huge boulders balanced precariously on other boulders. And in the middle of this are the many ruins of Hampi. In case you are planning on going to Hampi, make sure you are adequately armed with the Hampi map prepared by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and also do your background reading on the history and sites.

Hampi ruins are divided mainly in two centers. One is the Sacred centre. This is close to the old Hampi bazaar, which is also the current nerve centre of Hampi. Here one can park their vehicle and hire various other modes of transport. This market also has some eateries, but don’t expect value for money. Nor can you expect it to be dirt cheap. But the places are clean. On one end of the Hampi bazaar is the Virupaksha temple. On the other end is the beginning of the ancient trek to Vittala temple.

We started our day 1 by hiring bicycles and checking out the trek end of the Hampi bazaar. It contained a big sculpture of Nandi and a few mandaps.

The bazaar is being renovated and probably going to be used as a crafts bazaar. Since it was too late to start trekking that day, we went on to check the nearby places of interest. We headed over to the temples on the Hemakuta hill. These consist of primarily two images of Ganesh, Kadalekalu (Bengal gram seed) and Sasivekalu (Mustard seed).

Kadalekalu Ganesha - This giant statue of Ganesha was carved out of a huge boulder at the northeastern slope of the Hemakuta hill. The belly of this statue resembles a Bengal gram (Kadalekalu, in local language) and hence the name. See below

Sasivekalu Ganesha - Thanks to the resemblance the giant monolithic Ganesha statue is locally called Sasivekalu (mustard seed) Ganesha. In Hindu mythology Lord Ganesha (also known as Ganapathi or Vinayaka) is notorious for his food habit. One day he ate so much of food that his tummy almost busted. He just caught a snake and tied it around his tummy as a belt to save his tummy from bursting. See below. If you zoom in, you can see the snake tied to the tummy

Apart from this, Hamakuta Hills also contained several clusters of some really impressive temples.

From here, one can also get a really good view of the Virupaksha temple complex (which we did not visit), since we had to return our cycles by 6:30pm. After that we headed to the hotel and planned for the next day :)

Day 2 dawned bright and sunny (unfortunately!). We were in Hampi by 9:30 am and armed with better bicycles from the day before. Our plan was to check out the Royal centre, which was 5 kms away. This centre contained the living quarters of the royal family and promised to be more intriguing.

First of all, we wanted to check out the Archeological museum which was further off than the Royal centre. The museum was like any other historic museum. On display were several stone sculptures that were recovered during excavation. They also had some coins, weapons, pottery, manuscripts from that era. But the most amazing thing were the map models they had made. One was inside the building itself which showed clearly the areas of historic sites and the probable city structure. The one outside in the courtyard contained models of the hillocks as well and marked out the nearby areas containing the other points of interest. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside (though of course, some people had to break the rules).

This entire exercise went on till 11:30 and we were running late for our visit to the Royal centre. Hence, we speeded up and cycled away to our first stop, which was the Bhojnasala. It’s an eating place which actually had plates and katoris carved out into the rock. There were two kinds of carved plates, round and a banana-leaf shaped. The banana leafed plate had a small channel at its base for the water to flow down! In the middle of the two rows of plates was the famous aqua duct system of Hampi.

After the Bhojnasala, we headed across the road to the Octagonal water pavilion. It was what it says, an octagonal water pavilion!

It was time to explore the Royal centre now. We cycled over to the Queen's bath. The bath was surrounded on all sides by a nallah and had one small entry at the back from where one could enter. The bath did not have any water, but one could see the aqueduct pipes which fed the bath. The bath had small jharokas on all sides.

ASI had done much to restore the lost carvings of the jharokas. After seeing the bath, we cycled towards the next section of the Royal centre. This consisted of the main buildings of interest to the King. At the start was the Mahanavami Dibba. This was a rectangular structure with three layers to it. The east facing wall was heavily carved.

Moving on from that, we walked amongst the ruins of many buildings which consisted of the King's underground secret discussion room, granaries and other important rooms.

We then climbed onto the podium of the King's audience hall. The first step is a little wider and has a shallow trough in the centre, possibly for holding water to wash one's feet.

The podium overlooked onto a large platform which is where the audience used to sit. The platform has slots for holding wooden poles and the shamiyana. One can get a very good view from here of the entire Royal centre.

Just outside the audience hall is a large stone trough. It is carved out of one huge block of stone and was used to hold water for the horses to drink. On one side of this trough is a small drain hole.

Following the aqueduct, which went underground in places, we arrived at the Stepped Tank. This tank was fed by the aqueduct which was raised above the ground. The stepped tank is uniquely made of black schist and was assembled after having the stones carved out and brought from separate places. It is beautifully preserved.

Walking on, we followed to aqueduct to the very large public bath, which was like a huge swimming pool with steps leading down into it. The aqueduct was raised primarily to supply water to this bath.

It being around lunchtime, we decided to go back to the Hampi bazaar and eat some lunch. On the way, we stopped to take pictures at Akka Tangi Gundu. Two big boulders lean against each other to form an archway. It is believed that two sisters ridiculed the place and hence, a curse was placed on them and they were turned to stone!

After racing down the slope, we ate a hearty, if slightly uncooked and a bit expensive, lunch. Advice is that you should stick to the local food like dosa and idli, as that is freshly prepared. Everything else is stale. After lunch, we decided to return our cycles and explore the rest of Royal centre by our car. The sun was high up and it was getting really tiring.

Starting out at the Royal centre, we started Phase II with the Underground Shiv Temple. Curiously, it is built several meters below the ground.

Hence, its inner parts and the core parts of the temple are always under water.

From here, we drove over to the Band tower. Its a two-storeyed hexagonal lookout tower. From the tower, one can get a good view of the royal enclosure, some parts of which are still being excavated. Next to it is the Mosque which historians say might not be a mosque as it has Hindu motifs on the plastered wall. Just a short walk from this is the Mohammadan watch tower.

Across the road, are the Noblemen's quarters. This is where the aristocrats of Vijayanagar lived. One can still see the foundations of their houses.

After seeing the view of the quarters from a tall rock, we headed to the famous Hazara Rama Temple. It is so called because of the various carvings of Ram. Inside the temple was a square platform with ornately black stone carved pillars on all four corners. In the temple complex were several corridors which had unstable roofs! The aqueduct could be seen passing through this complex as well. At the back of the temple were two carved elephant heads. Water from inside the temple flowed out through their snouts.

Across this is the Pan Supari bazaar which was said to be have been a very popular bazaar. Currently there is only a large pillar in the bazaar!

Just a short walk from the Hazaa Rama temple, we came to the paid complex housing the Lotus Mahal, Women's Guard's quarters, Water pavilion, Queen's palace basement and three fairly preserved watch-towers. Next to this Zenana enclosure are the Elephant's stable and Archeology and gallery office. The ticket bought here can be used to gain entry to the Vittala temple for the same day. The Zenana enclosure was a private place for the royal women. The area consisted of a gated and walled area holding the Lotus Mahal and the basement of the queen's palace and a large water pavilion.

The Lotus Mahal was said to be the place where the King may have spent time with people versed in arts and literature. Next to it was one of the watch towers.

Further down the track was the famous Elephant's stable. It consists of several domed structures and a central dome. All the domes are differently carved and are symmetric about the central dome. Some of the stables were interconnected and some had small openings at the back for the mahouts to enter.

Right next to it is the Women's Guards quarters. This consists of a pillared corridor around an open courtyard. Some say it may have been the King's treasury as it has only one door and no windows.

Walking back to the queen's basement, we went to the Archeology gallery passing by one of the watch towers. Apparently the watchtowers are stand-alone structures, suggesting that the wall around it was built later. The Archeological gallery has a series of pictures taken during the discovery of Hampi and pictures taken at similar angles after the place was cleaned up by ASI. The work done by them is commendable though unfortunately, during the process, some structures lost some of their features.

Since, no trip to Hampi is complete without a visit to the famous Vittala temple, we decided to drive over to it. On the way we crossed Bhima's gate which was one of the many gates to the walled city. Next to it was the Ganagatti temple which means the 'oil women's temple'! After turning off the main road, we were on the chariot street of the Vittala temple. On either side we passed the Gejjala Mantappa and the Kuduregombe Mantappa. These were probably used to house the deity during the festival time. The Kuduregome Mantappa is so named due to the carving of horses on the pillars.

Further up the chariot street, we passed long rows of pillared corridors on either side of the road. It is said that these were the places where a thriving bazaar existed during the festival times.

Vittala temple itself is built in a sprawling campus of compound walls and gateway towers. There are many halls, pavilions and temples inside the campus. It also houses the iconic structure of Hampi, the stone chariot. The chariot still functions, but now it is cemented to the platform it stands upon.

The temple itself is an imposing structure with pillars that produce musical sounds if tapped correctly. One could see foreigners pressing their ears against the pillars while their guides tapped the pillars!

We walked around in the campus taking pictures and were ready to end our trip, when we thought of looking around the area a bit more.

From one side of the temple wall, one could see the Tungabhadra river.

A bit further on the temple was the King's balance, where the King used to weigh himself against gold, gems, silvers and precious stones and distribute them to the priests.

Further on, one can get a view of the Chandramouliswara temple. This temple was an important place of worship during the peak of the Vijaynagara kings. One can also see the Puranaradasa Mantapp. It is a small open pillared pavilion with a whitewashed top dedicated to the legendary poet Purandaradasa who lived in Hampi.

Finally, we headed back, exiting the way we came, passing under the Talarigatta Gate. Talarigatta (meaning Tollgate) Gate was one of the main entrance points into the urban centre of the capital from the riverside. This largely damaged structure still maintains its original intent, a gateway on the main road. A tiny shrine of Hanuman is located just in front of the gate.

Definitely the most impressive part about the Hampi architecture is the aqueduct system they had in place. It shows that they had a clear understanding of the laws of physics and also understood the importance of water. The aqueduct passed through every part of Hampi. If you don’t believe us, go check out the mini Hampi build in the Archeological museum.

Having covered 45 out of the 78 sites marked out by the ASI, we headed back home. We had skipped the ancient trek which was to take us through some temples and went from the Monolithic bull and ended at the Vittala temple. All in all, Hampi was a different and unique experience. It is not crowed like any other tourist spot and consists mainly of foreigners or local photography enthusiasts.

In the entire journey, we drove 707 kms and got 37.2 litres of petrol filled in, giving us a whopping mileage of 19kmph. This we believe is thanks to Nitrogen filled in the car tyres. Another effect of the Nitrogen in the tyres is shown below. Please don't try this at home!

Srirangapatnam, Mysore, Mudumalai, Ooty, Wellington, Coonoor, Masinagudi

2009-01-08T23:25:00.000+05:30

Yes, we covered six places in 3 days. One set of parents were in town so it was imperative that the trip be economically viable. Hence, staying in expensive hotels/resorts was out of the question. After a lot of research and planning, we set forth on our journey.

Time: 05:55 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 0.0 kms

Our first stop, as has now become our routine, was at Cafe Coffee Day on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, at Maddur. There are huge billboards to warn you in advance of the Cafe Coffee Day stop. The advantage is that it has a Pizza Corner on the ground floor. The CCD now has quite an impressive breakfast spread including omlette and toast!

Time IN: 07:42 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 91.6 kms

Time OUT: 08:42 A.M. (27th December 2008)

After spending a leisurely hour eating breakfast and drinking hot coffee, we set off for Srirangapatnam. Srirangapatnam is a little town just outside of Mysore, made famous by Tipu Sultan. He had a summer palace built there with the walls depicting paintings of his exploits against the British. Its clear that Tipu Sultan preferred Srirangapatnam over Mysore as both he and his father lie buried there. First stop in Srirangapatnam, just off the highway is Tipu Sultan’s summer palace, also known as Dariya Daulat Bagh.

Time IN: 09:20 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 140.2 kms

Time OUT: 09:55 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Dariya Daulta Bagh is a nice small summer palace, now maintained as a Museum. There isn't much to see there, except for the paintings on the walls and the artifacts in the Museum. Interestingly, there is a painting of Tipu Sultan a la Mona Lisa, such that the eyes seem to follow you wherever you go!

Next stop, further into Srirangapatnam was Gumbaz, the final resting places of Tipu Sultan, his father and his mother. The architecture there is quite impressive and the main structure is maintained very well. One thing to mention here is that the road signs in Srirangapatnam are very good. Clear indications of where to go.

Time IN: 10:00 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 142.6 kms

Time OUT: 10:10 A.M. (27th December 2008)

After a short stop at the Gumbaz, we were ready to head on to Mysore and see the main Palace there. There are four palaces in Mysore, i.e., The Ambavilas Palace (also known as Mysore Palace), the Jaganmohana Palace, the Jayalakshmi Vilas and the Lalitha Mahal. Since we did not have a lot of time, we decided on visiting the main Palace. What a good decision that turned out to be. The palace is huge and we ended up spending an hour and a half going through the entire palace, admiring the artifacts. Unfortunately, the Romeos and Juliets of today have not spared this palace even, as one room had walls adorned with "Sri loves Lata", "Naresh was here", etc. Disgusting.

Time IN: 10:45 A.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 162.8 kms

Time OUT: 12:10 P.M. (27th December 2008)

The Palace grounds also house a couple of temples which can be visited. Photography is not allowed in the Palace and hence we can only take photos of the exteriors. Shockingly, elephant rides and camels rides are provided in the Palace grounds for a nominal fee.

After a fantastic lunch (at 3:00pm), we left Mysore and headed towards Ooty. There was no other planned stop on the way and we expected it to be a three hour journey from Mysore. Once we reached the Madumalai Sanctuary office, there was a road leading to the left and one road going on straight. From here, people going to Ooty can either take the left (it's a shortcut and takes about 3 hours with 36 hair-raising hairpin bends) or go on straight (longer by about 30 kms and 1.5 hours). Since it was nearing dusk, we decided to go straight on the broader and safer road.

We stopped at Gudalur on the way for a quick cuppa tea before proceeding to Ooty. Unfortunately, we were informed at Gudalur that the drive to Ooty would take another 2 hours!

Time IN: 17:50 P.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 280.7 kms

Time OUT: 18:05 P.M. (27th December 2008)

Night driving on this highway was not difficult at all, as the road was broader than normal hilly roads, and the traffic was also sparse. We reached Ooty quite late and quickly checked into our place of stay. It was very chilly in Ooty and with the windy conditions, we were glad that we had brought our jackets along!

Time IN: 19:50 P.M. (27th December 2008)

Kilometer reading: 334.6 kms

The next morning we planned on going to Wellington and Coonoor. We drove from Ooty and easily found our way to the highway that would lead to Coonoor. In reality, there is a cut from this highway that takes one to Wellington. However, we somehow missed it, and luckily found a route that lead straight into Wellington station!

From there, we went past Madras Regimental Center and onto Gorkha Hill (these things, one can identify with, if one has ever stayed there).

After a few nostalgic hours in Wellington we went sight-seeing in Coonoor.

After a varied lunch buffet at the Taj Garden Retreat, we were back on the road, ready for some more sight-seeing.

First on our list was Sim's park, which is a huge botanical park with all sorts of trees. Finding it is not easy, as the entrance is hidden on the fork of a road.

We saw some really interesting and very old trees in Sim's park. From there, we found our way to Lamb's Rock and Dolphin's Nose.

Beware1: The road is quite thin and not easy to drive on. At one point, while returning, we were stuck as a bus was on the road, heading in the opposite direction. There was not enough place on the road for both vehicles to pass. So, we had to back our car and somehow make way for the bus to pass.

Beware2: There are a number of tea stalls which have sprung up on this road. These are points from where one can see the look-out points!

Proceeding on, we reached Lamb's Rock and Dolphin's Nose, from where the view is simply breath-taking. As such, do not except to actually see a Lamb or a Dolphin's nose. Just enjoy the view and return before dusk.

If the weather is good and the timing of the visit is good (like ours was), you get to see a picturesque panoramic view of the Nilgiris at sunset.

Since it was getting close to dark, we decided to head back to Ooty in time for dinner. We wound our way back from Coonoor to Ooty and settled down in our guest house for dinner.

24.23 liters of petrol were filled at an IOC petrol pump @ 50.41 INR per liter. 422.2 kms, giving a mileage of 17.42.

The night temperature in Ooty was really low. It gets really really cold there at this time of the year. The day temperature, however, can feel quite high as we face the direct heat of the sun.

The next day, we were to explore the sights of Ooty. Two very good products of Ooty are:

1. Tea - Ooty produces some very interesting flavours of tea. There's Masala tea, Chocolate tea, Cardamom tea, Lemon tea, etc.

2. Chocolates - Ooty produces some fantastic home-made Ooty chocolates. Every shop in Ooty can be seen selling "Home made Ooty Chocolates".

As part of our plan for exploring Ooty, we set out in search of the Botanical Gardens. We both have memories of a Botanical Garden with vast open spaces and a lot of greenery and few tourists.

However, there were a lot of people there (this being the tourist season) and to top it all, the trees were not "in season". However, we trekked all the way up to the Toda Village (a small settlement of the Toda tribe, protected as part of the Botanical Garden). The walk through the botanical garden was quite heavy on us, and we were now ready for lunch!

After asking around, we found a decent lunch spot, where all the tourist buses stop. On the previous day, while returning from Coonoor, we spotted a small wax museum in Ooty. This seemed like the perfect after lunch thing to do. The wax museum was not hard to find, as it lies on the Ooty-Coonoor highway. It is a small wax museum with very realistic wax statues. This museum has mostly Indian personalities.

After a nice stroll through the wax museum, we headed to the famous Ooty lake. Once again, we were taken-aback with the sight. We remember (and have photos from childhood) an Ooty lake, bereft of tourists, green grass embankments. Everything has changed. There are now amusement park rides on the lake, and there is no greenery to speak of. We took a ride on a row boat and even when we were on the farthest edge of the lake, we could hear the shouts of kids on the amusement park rides. It was not the peace and tranquility that we had imagined. It was loud and painful.

One good thing about the lake trip was that we noticed that there is a small deer park right next to the lake! Having seen that from the row boat, we asked for directions to Doddabetta from our rower and set off for our next destination.

We had been warned that the entry to Doddabetta closes at 5:30pm, so we hurried as we had only half an hour. The drive up is currently not good because part of the road has been dug up, so really there is place for only 1.5 vehicles to pass on the road. Extremely difficult navigation. Having reached the gates of Doddabetta, we were informed by the guards there that the closing time is actually 5pm! So we turned right around, and headed back where we came from.

On the way back, we saw the board for a "Tea Museum". Unfortunately, that too was closed for the day. So we stopped at a tea stall to try some different varieties of tea. Interesting...

That was the end of day 2 in Ooty. The next day, we set out from Ooty at 7:20 A.M. and decided to take the shorter route down. This route has 36 hairpin bends and is quite steep and thin. We were very glad that we were taking this route down, and did not consider coming up on this route. The drive is extremely picturesque though, and since it was early in the morning, the on-coming traffic was nearly absent.

We stopped for a short time at a place called "Bison point". Maybe its named such that one can look down into the jungle and spot Bison. The view was majestic.

Once the 36 hairpin bends were navigated, we entered the plains, i.e., the Madumulai Wildlife Sanctuary. We stopped at a small Tamil Nadu Guest House (run by the government) for breakfast. From this vantage point, depending on the time of day, one can either see the elephants of the sanctuary being bathed or see the elephants of the sanctuary being fed. We managed to catch a sight of a few elephants being fed.

After a nice stop, we were once again on our way towards Mysore. Our next stop, for lunch was at another Cafe Coffee Day in Mandya district. This Cafe Coffee Day is part of a petrol pump sponsored by HolidayIQ.

The drive from here to Bangalore was smooth. We were back home by 3:30pm. Not bad for a days work! Kms covered in the return journey: 273.1

After a few days, 25.19 liters of petrol were filled at an Bharat petrol pump @ 51.71 INR per liter. 463.4 kms, giving a mileage of 18.39.

Long overdue

2008-12-15T23:15:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time since we set out on a drive outside of Bangalore (of course we do not count the new Bangalore International Airport as being outside of Bangalore). So its time we prepared for, and made a trip within driving distance.

After a lot of research (once again), we shortlisted Coorg, Chikmangalur, Ooty-Wellington-Coonoor. Since we have a nice long break in December, we decided to make full use of it and cover Ooty, Wellington and Coonoor in one trip. They being within 30 kms of each other really helps :)

So we did a lot of research, because the place we stay in is extremely important to us. We need to be comfortable and pampered. We browsed HolidayIQ all night searching for the best resort. We shortlisted a few, but were not totally convinced. As of today, we are still not sure where we want to stay!

That apart, we have done some research on Coonoor (most likely that would be our base). Here are some places to visit in Coonoor:

Sl. No.	Place	Description
1	Sim's Park	It is a 12-hectare park, having a collection of over 1,000 plant species, which include magnolia, pines, tree ferns, and camellia. Incredible variety of flora including the magnolia, pines, tree ferns and camellia, lending a special charm to the park
2	Pasteur Institute	The institute can be visited only on Saturdays. However, on other days, one can visit the institute with the prior permission of the Director of the Institute. The tour of the Institute is guided.
3	Pomological Station	Carries research on different fruits, which are grown here. Prominent among them are apples, plums, peaches, persimmons, lemons, apricots and pomegranates. Surplus fruits are sold to the public.
4	Lamb's Rock	5.5 Km from upper Coonoor is located the extremely charming picnic spot of Lamb's rock. Named after Captain Lamb who made a narrow path to this spot, the Lamb's Rock offers mesmerizing views of the Hulikal spur, Hulikal ravine and the Mountain Railway.
5	Law Falls	7 Km from Coonoor are the scenic waterfalls of Law's Falls, located on the Coonoor-Mettupalayam Road. An alluring picnic spot, the falls gushes down from a height of 180 feet. Huge stretches of undisturbed sholas make the place a veritable paradise for nature lovers.
6	Toy Train	Must do
7	Dolphin's Nose	Another major nearby attraction is the viewpoint of Dolphin's Nose, located 10 Kms from Coonoor. An exceptional rock of incredible proportions, the place offers the marvelous panoramas of the Nilgiris.
8	Droog	Another beautiful picnic spot, which can be visited for a day trip from Coonoor, is the historical place of Droog, once Tipu Sultan's outpost. Situated at a height of 6000 feet the place can be approached only if you can opt for a 3 km long trekking path.
9	Ooty	Ooty also known as Udhagamandalam and Ootacamund. 19 kms from Coonoor, the spectacular hill station of Ooty offers something for everybody.... relaxation, fun, adventure… (a) Ooty Lake (b) Dodabetta
10	Tea Plantations
11	Lady Canning's Seat	Lady Canning's Seat is about 8 Kms. from Coonoor bus stand and further along the same road as that to Lamb's Rock. It is perhaps the loveliest point in the heart of the woods. Lady Canning, wife of the Viceroy was fond of this spot, which commands a panoramic view of the numerous tea estates.
12	St. John's Church
13	Wellington	Permission might be required
14	Kotagiri

Our planned dates of travel are 27th December to 29th December.

Hotel Sky Roca - Yercaud

2008-07-02T11:19:00.006+05:30

You can checkout anytime you like,
But you can never leave...

- Lines from the song "Hotel California", by The Eagles

Those were the first lines that came to our mind when we stayed at the Hotel Sky Roca. But wait, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let us start at the very begining.

We had planned our next trip for August'08, but there was a lot of time for that to come. We were getting restless, we wanted to travel. We racked our brains to think of a place thats not far from Bangalore, and is a good weekend destination. We also did not want to take any leave. We hit upon two options, Yercaud and Yelagiri, both hill-stations in Tamil Nadu. Both are within about 5 hours of Bangalore and the weather at both places is ideal for this time of the year. I decided to do my research on both places, starting with Yercaud.

Off I went, pointing my web browser to HolidayIQ to check out reviews written about Yercaud. I searched for good hotels to stay in there, and I came upon this. Our decision was made. This was where we would go, and since it happened to be in Yercaud, that became our next destination. I went to the official site of the Hotel Sky Roca, to find out more about the Hotel. It looked majestic. I immediately started the process of contacting the hotel to get my booking done. That was easy. I checked the tarriff, and my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. It was a steal! We had booked ourselves the Roca Royale Suite.

Having booked a room, I started on the research about Yercaud. What were the touristy things that we could do there? I prepared an extensive list of tourist spots that one could see while in Yercaud. You can read about it in this post. It seemed like another great trip in the making. What we were most concerned about was that we wanted to spend as much time as possible in the Hotel, and even planned on reaching Yercaud at 9AM on Saturday, so that we could see some tourist spots before checking in.

We finally left Bangalore at 6:30AM and were headed towards Electronic City. After asking a bit for directions, we somehow found our way to the Silk Board flyover, from where it is straight to Electronic City. Having passed Electronic City, our next landmark was Hosur in Tamil Nadu. We were soon on the toll road, and the toll is Rs. 25 for a one-way trip and Rs. 37 for a two-way trip. This toll is valid for 24 hours. The NH7 is very beautiful in parts and is still under-construction in parts. It's a smooth ride for sure.

Once past Hosur, we came to a BP Petrol pump which had a couple of restaurants and a small, nice park for kids. We stopped there for half an hour and were soon off on our way to Krishnagiri. In Krishnagiri, we were stuck because there was a lot of truck traffic. After getting out of Krishnagiri at a snail's pace, we were on our way to Dharmapuri. From Dharmapuri, we went on towards Salem, once again on a fantastic highway road. At Salem, we had to take a left turn into the city. From there we had to take another left to get onto the Ghat road for Yercaud.

View Larger Map

The ghat stretch to Yercaud is about 30kms and would take an hour. It's a very steep road, with 20 hairpin bends.

Pls drive with care, if you are going to be driving on this road. Once stuck behind a truck or a bus, be extra careful while trying to overtake. The ghat road also offers some excellent sight seeing opportunities on the way, so make sure to park your car properly if you want to see the town below.

The Hotel Sky Roca is at the 20th hairpin bend, about 3 kms before the actual town of Yercaud.

The first gate leads to the restaurant, called Uncle Sam's Kitchen, and is open to the general public and not just for the guests. There are two tables along the glass wall that overlook the valley below. These tables are always booked in advance. To get to the reception, go past the 20th hairpin bend, and enter the main gate (two gates down the road). Watch out, because it is a really steep decline. The first impression of the Hotel was great. It looked like a beautiful setting, and the hotel looked really good while not being over-done.

Total Time Taken - 5 hours, 15 minutes

Total Kilometers Driven - 259.5kms

We checked in at 11:45am, and were taken to our room, one of the three Roca Royale suites available. We went to the room in a glass lift, which gives an awesome view of the valley down below. We remember reading some place that not a single tree was cut in the construction of the hotel. We have heard that the hotel is just built around the natural fauna, without disturbing anything. The room we were in was large. It had a large living room space

and an equally large bedroom space. Just beyond the living room space is an expansive, personal balcony.

We were floored. The bathroom is also extremely comfortable and fitted with a shower cabin and a jacuzzi!

We rested for a while and then decided to go to Uncle Sam's Kitchen for lunch. We checked out the rest of the Hotel on our way to the Restaurant. The Hotel is large, very esthetically built within the dense greenery of the mountains. They have a conference room as well and a skywalk. The skyway is a glass walkway above the valley. It is quite an experience to stand in the middle of the glass walkway with the view of the valley far below you.

After lunch, we relaxed some more. In the evening, we decided to go for a walk and see the hotel in its entirety. We were treated to the most beautiful sight of nature. Down in the valley, in the distance, we could see dark clouds and could also see the rain fall.

We kept our eyes on the rainfall, and we could actually see the movement of the rainfall towards us.

Within 15 minutes, the rain clouds were over us and we were getting drenched. 5 minutes later, it was all over. The clouds had passed over us at amazing speed.

On our way back to the room, we stopped by their library, where they have a Sony PS2 and a good collection of books and magazines. We picked up a couple of books and continued onto our room. We were enjoying the stay here so much that we had not yet stepped out of the Hotel, even for sight-seeing!

Dinner was once again in Uncle Sam's. We tried to get the tables next to the glass wall, but they were already booked. The restaurant was getting quite crowded and the service was suffering. We placed our orders and headed back to the room so we could eat in peace. Even before we reached the room, there was our food waiting for us! The food in Uncle Sam's might seem a little expensive at first, but their quantities are humungous.

After dinner, we relaxed in the living room area, reading our books, watching the Asia Cup 2008 on a great 32 inch plasma TV. The next day, we planned on getting up early so we could catch the sunrise. We were up early around 5:30 and it was dark.

It seemed like the time at which sunrise would take place. We went onto the balcony to see the sight and once again we were treated to a sight of nature. There were clouds in our face. We were actually in the clouds!

We sat on the balcony, trying to capture the scene in our camera and we bagan to notice the cloud cover clearing up. Within half an hour, it was all clear, and bright and sunny. Unfortunately, the sun rose on the other side of the hill, and so we missed that sight.

It was such amazing weather that we decided to go for a walk. We headed out to the main road, which is really the highway heading to Yercaud. We walked in the direction of Yercaud, hoping to maybe hit the city and see what we had missed so far.

We walked for a couple of kilometers, before turning back. It was after-all time for breakfast! Breakfast was once again in Uncle Sam's, a good buffet spread before us. We enjoyed the breakfast buffet, quite heavy I must say, and then got ready to pack up and leave.

We packed up and planned on doing some sight seeing so that we could have something to report back about Yercaud. We got out our list of tourist spots and zeroed in on a couple. We would go to the lake and then to the Shevroy temple. We set out from the hotel after checking-out and we were at the lake in 5 minutes.

Had we walked 100meters more in the morning, we would have reached the lake. The lake, at this time was crowded and seemed like no fun. We instead went to the flower market and picked up a couple of saplings for home.

After about half an hour, we headed towards the Shevroy temple. The road to the temple is quite a sight. It is thinner than the highway and probably steeper, but the views it offers are quite majestic. The Shevroy temple is on top of a peak, from where one can see 17 villages down below. There was so much wind blowing, that it was difficult to walk straight. After clicking some pics, we were back on our way. On the way back, we stopped at Uncle Sam's once again for lunch.

A quick lunch, and we were on the road to Salem by 2:15pm.

The drive back home always seems shorter. This time however, we decided to look for the Dharmapuri bypass. Dharmapuri is a small town that comes on the way. On the way to Yercaud, we were stuck in a lot of truck traffic, and did not want a repeat of that. Parts of the Dharmapuri bypass road is under construction, but it is open for traffic. This road however, does not take you back to the toll road which is part of the Golden Quadrilateral. This road, leads to the old highway to Hosur. This highway road is much thinner (one lane on either side, with no divider in between), but is very green. We enjoyed driving on this road as well, lots of bends and ups and downs.

The old highway road, opens up at Hosur, and meets at the point just after the toll tax booths. So in case you don't mind spending Rs. 25, you can use the new highway. However, if you want to save on that, you can use the old highway.

Once we were in Hosur, we felt as if we were back home. It still took us more than an hour to get home from that point. We were back home by 7:00pm, a drive of 4 hours, 45 minutes. That brought another wonderful trip to an end.

Yercaud, Tamil Nadu

2008-06-28T11:40:00.000+05:30

This is a compilation of things to do in Yercaud

The route - Bangalore - Electronic City - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmagiri - Salem - Yercaud (222kms).

En-route - Just before the road begins to climb up the mountains to Yercaud, do look out for an interesting group of brightly coloured idols to the left of the road. These guardian deities, found only in Tamil Nadu, are worshipped as protectors of villages and are often known as Aiyanars. On the way up the winding hill road with its 20 hairpin bends, stop at a thatched wayside stall selling 'Fresh Garden Produce': packets of cloves and pepper. Then come the coffee plantations before entering cottage-dotted Yercaud.

Sky Roca - is where the lush, verdant delights of nature surround you, where exemplary service and modern comforts are at your beck & call. Hotel Sky Roca is situated on Salem – Yercaud main road at 3 km before Yercaud town. The hotel has 23 rooms with spectacular view of the valley, impeccable privacy and the most modern in-room amenities like Flat Screen Plasma televisions, DVD players, in-room Coffee makers, mini-bars, shower cubicles, etc. Uncle Sam"s Restaurant serves multi-cuisine, there is a mock tail bar and barbeque lawns. There are conference and banquet facilities. Sunset from Sky Roca. Uncle Sam's Kitchen.

From The Hindu newspaper: Buildings that seamlessly blend the old and the new, clouds that glide past, your own terrace lawn, and birds that sing to you from the stately silver oaks around the coffee plantations below – The Sky Roca, has all these, and some more.

The best part is the location. It is so near Yercaud, (altitude 1,500 MSL), but not fully there. So, it happily lacks the hustle and bustle that tourists bring to a hill station. The resort, developed by the Sekar Coffee family, is set amid 60 acres of coffee plantations and silver oak in the Shevaroy hills.

Care has been taken to not fell a single tree while building the resort. So, the rooms are at different levels. Antique carved iron and wood chairs from Karaikudi grace the common sitting areas, while the interiors are tasteful with a lot of wood and glass. Tribal paintings hang in every room, and the bathrooms are very fancy, with a Jacuzzi and shower jet cubicle.

Every room has been built to provide a great view of the still unspoilt hills, and the plains below. So, at night, one gets a breathtaking view of the dancing lights in Salem, on the foothills. A wonderful surprise is a section of glass flooring in some rooms that allows you to look down into the valley below.

Best of all, each room opens out into a private lawn, lush with grass. Benches have been put up on either side, and bamboo screens separate the terraces. Perfect for an intimate party with friends.

On the way to the restaurant is the Sky Walk bridge that spans the deep valley. Sheer glass sections underfoot let you know just how deep the valley is. And, the faint whisper of water greets you everywhere, thanks to the artificial cascades that thunder down in front of the suites, across three levels.

Places to see:
In Yercaud -

The Big Lake Or Emerald Lake: The first thing one sees as you enter the Yercaud town is this placid lake in a wonderful surrounding of hills and natural shoals. Also a beautifully landscaped garden on one bank. It has boating facility. This lake is the only natural lake among all the hill station lakes in the South. A floating fountain is constructed by MALCO, at the center of the lake. The lake is surrounded by a "Deer Park" and " leisure park" and "Tamil Nadu Hotel". Boat services are available at reasonable rate [Rs. 75 /- for 2 seats and Rs. 95 /- for 4 seats ]. Self Pedaling [15 min] and Rowing boats [30 min] are available. You have to pay the same amount as caution deposit. The safety measures are followed strictly. The minimum time can be spent: 20 min.

Deer Park: Situated in the Lake. Suitable for Kids to playground. It will be closed by 5.00 p.m.

Kiliyur Waterfall: This is 3 km from the Yercaud Lake. The best time to visit this place is immediately after the monsoons. The surplus water from the Yercaud Lake and the other reaches of the Shevaroys Hills fall deep into the Kiliyur Valley in the form of a 300 feet waterfall. This delightfully breathtaking water falls is 3 km from the Yercaud Lake and should be visited after the South West or North East Monsoon. The views from the bottom and top of the falls are breathtaking. The view from the top of the falls into the Valley is heart stopping. The trek to the bottom of the falls is only for hardcore trekkers as it takes about one hour from the lake to reach the bottom of the falls which is heavily wooded, but a good 2½ hours to get ones breath and trek back again. 7 km from town.
NOTE: The road to the falls is very narrow and only one vehicle can pass at a time. It is advised not take a vehicle to the falls. If you do so, park it at the big platform after about 3 km. Beyond that the road is very narrow & steep and you cannot turn your vehicle back. The only way back down is to drive it in reverse gear on steep and winding slopes: that is life threatening.

Anna Park: The park is situated next to the Lake. It is typical park used to host the "Flower Show" in the month of May. The "Japanese Park" inside Anna Park is a must see. Children can play around and elders can take rest. The entrance ticket will be Rs. 2/- for adult and Rs 10 /- for Camera. The minimum time can be spent: 30 min for laymen.

The Natural shoal: seen around the Petrol Bunk, Round Tana and adjoining the Anna Park are about the oldest shoals of natural species of trees that one can see around the Shevaroys. Another shoal of this type can be seen adjoining the Orchidarium. In the interests of conservation this last stronghold of original trees should be preserved and replenished for the future.

To the North -
Arthur's Seat: This is a vantage point, which can be reached by taking a steep road going north from the center of the town, 1 km from town. It gives a bird's eye view of the Big Lake, Yercaud Town and the Shevaroyan Peak.

The Servarayan Temple: This temple is situated on top of Servarayan hill. The temple itself is a narrow and dark cave and seated inside are the god Servarayan and the goddess Kaveri representing the Shervaroy Hills and the Cauvery river. The local people believe that the god Servarayan is the guardian angel for the 67 villages in and around Yercaud. It is believed that the temple's cave is so deep it touches the Cauvery river. The local tribes celebrate their annual festival in this temple during May.

Bear's Cave: This is situated within a private coffee estate owned by a Mettur based business man. The main part of the cave is situated about 7 feet below the ground level and contains a deeper gorge which is believed by the local people to lead up to the cave situated in the Shervaroyan Temple.

To the South -
Lady's Seat: This is a cluster of rocks on the south west of the Yercaud hills overlooking the ghat road and the city of Salem to the south. There is a sheer drop of about 200 feet at this point into a private estate in the valley below. It has a telescope house with a panoramic view of distant Salem and the winding road up. On the right of Lady's Seat are Sterling Resorts, Gents Seat and Children's Seat. During the night, the Lady's Seat offers a spectacular view of the lights of Salem city. There is a natural rock formation in the form of a seat where reportedly a white English Lady of yester years spent her evenings viewing the magnificent panorama before ones eyes. There is a mini park and it is a breath taking spot for a picnic. 2 km from town.

Tipperary View Point: One can reach this southern most view point of Yercaud by taking the Tipperary Road. From there one can see the Elephant Tooth Rocks. Which are reportedly said to be the remanants of a meteorite which fell to earth. It is pure white rock compared to the Black Granite available on these hills. The Estate adjoining known as Tipperary Estate was once a posh hotel catering to the elite of British India from 1930 to 1940. The night view from this spot-with the lights of Salem in the distance is mesmerizing. 2 km from town.

White Elephant Tooth: One is located on the Southern Spur of the Shevaroys below the villages of Guntur and the other is located in the east overlooking the Ghat road, above the 60' bridge. The larger one next to Guntur has two rocks about 120' high and consists of pure white quartz, which is in stark contrast to the greenery around and the black of the granite available around. Easy to climb up but hard to climb down as the material is soft and crumbles beneath your feet. 9 km from town, it is a days trek up and down. Alternatively one can trek down to the plains and catch a bus to return to Yercaud. The Smaller one which can be reached on the short cut to the 60' bridge from Tipperary Estate is said to have seen some Gold Mining Activity. It can be reached in about 2 hours time and from there another 1 hour to the ghat road, from which one could catch a bus to Yercaud or Salem.

To the East -
Pagoda Point, also known as Pyramid Point: This is on the eastern side of the Yercaud hills. The name comes from four piles of random stones in a pagoda or pyramid formation, made by the hill tribes. Today there is a Rama temple situated between these pagodas. One can get a grand view of Attur and Ayothiapattinam from this picnic spot. 5 km from town.

And Misc -
Grange: This is one of the oldest buildings in Yercaud, built in the 1820s by M.D. Cockburn, who was the District Collector of Salem District at that time.

Botanical Survey of India: Well maintained Botanical Garden by the BSI contains a rich collection of plants. It is a treat for "Botany" Students. A "Bell Rock" in the BSI campus makes bell sound when you hit with stone. You have to climb to reach the rock. The entrance ticket will be Rs. 3/- for adult and Rs 10 /- for Camera. It remain closed on Sundays and National Holidays.

Horticulture Farm: It has "Rose Garden" and "Children Seat". The Rose Garden is filled with various verities of Roses from Button Rose to Very Big Rose. A "Green Rose" plant is grown along with beautiful rose plants. Saplings of various plants are available at reasonable price. The entrance ticket will be Rs. 2/- for adult and Rs 10 /- for Camera.

Silk Farm & Rose Garden: One can see the cultivation of Mulberries, the growing of silk worms and the method of spinning silk. The Rose Garden – one can see a good collection of colourful Roses and also purchase nursery plants from here 2 km from town.
Kottachedu Teak Forest: The hills tribes who cultivated these lands are said to have abandoned this area after plague struck the area. These lands were than utilized by the Government for a Teak Wood plantation. Vaniar River passes through this Teak forest and leads to the Vaniar Dam. Bisons are frequently seen in the Teak Forest. 11 km from town.

How we prepare for a trip

2008-06-27T10:40:00.007+05:30

What with us visiting so many places (averaging one every month), we have developed a sort of mental checklist of things we do before we set off for our travels. Our preparation for a new place goes thorugh many phases:

1. Introduction: Since we are living in a part of the country that we are not familiar with, we usually hear about a place from a multitude of sources -
(a) Friends/Relatives
(b) Travel blogs (especially the rediff travel blogs)
(c) Outlook 52 Weekends from Bangalore
(d) HolidayIQ
Once we finalise on a place, or maybe even keep a couple of places as options, we move to phase two.

2. Research: Kudos to Anshu for that! Extensive research goes into making a great trip. Things like where to stay, what to do there, how to get there, etc. is all done well in advance. Sometimes, an excel sheet is also made :) Apart from the usual research on the place itself, we also pay attention to these pointers -
(a) what is the best route to take. For that, we sometimes refer to Ok Tata Bye Bye.
(b) what we can see along the way. One can refer to Wikipedia or any of the tourist websites or travellogs.
(c) places to eat and catch a break en-route. This can sometimes be tough, but there is always information available on the net.
(d) whats the weather like at our destination. We certainly don't want to be stuck indoors, if theres lots to see and do. For weather, we check weather.com, and other travel sites.
Once again our sources for this research are mainly travel blogs and HolidayIQ. After we have finalised on which hotel/resort to stay in, we move to phase three.

3. Plan freeze: Once we know where we're going, we book our stay and then eagerly count down the days! Since, during our planning, we keep more than one option open, if a place is over-booked, we can always fall back on another option.

4. Preparation: This is my favourite part! Apart from the usual travel stuff, we never leave home without -
(a) Digital camera
(b) Video camera
(c) Charging cable for the video camera
(d) Cell chargers for the the digital camera
(e) Ipod - to hook into the car stereo for places where there is no FM reception.
(f) Jackets
(g) First aid kit - mainly some odomos (mosquito repellent), avil (for allergies), disprin (for headaches)
(h) Snacks
(i) A 5 litre cannister of drinking water
(j) Google Maps/MapMyIndia/Yahoo Maps printouts!

5. Car servicing: For any long drive, it is important that the car be in tip-top condition. If required, we give the car for servicing one week in advance. We fill up the petrol tank, get the tyre pressure checked, and check the coolant and wiper fluid. Once everything is upto the mark, its onto phase six.

6. LIFT OFF!

Genting and Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

2008-06-18T11:31:00.003+05:30

It's been more than a year since we went on that truly memorable trip to Malaysia and Singapore. We had very few days before we both started work and so the trip was shorter than what we would have loved (isn't that always the case?). The iternary was clear and planned out well. We were to fly to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and from there be taken to Genting Highlands. After a couple of days there, we were to spend a day in Kuala Lumpur and then travel by train to Singapore (a unique experience in itself). We were to head home after two days in Singapore.

It was my first international trip, and I was totally pumped up for it. Pallavi on the other hand had travelled to Germany for her M.S. and so was the more sedate of the two. We reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi a couple of hours in advance, and began the long check-in process. Pallavi knew her way around the airport, and so I was not as tense as I tend to be when I fly! We checked in and browsed the few shops around just to spend some time. Soon it was time to board and I was very excited about travelling on an international flight. I was a little apprehensive, because I had never been in a flight that took more than 2 hours.

After takeoff we decided to catch up on our sleep, so that we could spend more waking hours in our destinations. It was the wee hours of the next morning that we landed in Bangkok. Since I was on my first international trip, I forced myself to wake up and see where we were. The same plane was to fly onto Kuala Lumpur, so we were not allowed off the aircraft. Sitting in the cramped seats can get quite tiring, but we were soon asleep again! We next woke up when the flight began its descent into the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

We were on the ground again, and we were glad for that. Interestingly, we were transported in a airport metro from the landing area to the baggage claim! The airport was huge and so very impressive. Now thats how an international airport should be like! After our baggage claim, we headed towards the exit, where we came across an interesting person shouting out "Bhuchar" and some other names. I walked up to him and introduced myself and it turned out that he was the guide who would take us to Genting. He thrust an itenary and some other touristy documents into my hands and continued shouting out names of the other tourists.

After getting all the required families into his Mercedes van, we set off for the drive to Genting. En route, we stopped at a couple of duty free shops (We have realised that if we go on a package tour, we are bound to get stuck with this!) and at the Batu Caves. There are 272 steps to climb to actually get into the cave and it is quite a towering sight.

We were already quite tired from our long flight (I say it was long because we were travelling against the sun!) and did not quite have the energy to climb the steps. We performed our ritual of taking some pics and then got ready to move to Genting. Now adrenaline was flowing through us. We had read a lot about Genting on the net and were really excited about going there.

Now the first thing one notices about Malaysia is the infrastructure. The roads are majestic, and there is greenery on both sides of the roads. Their road network is very well developed. However, what is slightly surprising is that the roads which befit a Mercedes or a BMW or a Audi are filled with the idegenously produced Proton cars.

Straight away the guide took us to Gohtong Jaya from where the world's fastest and South-East Asia longest cable car took us to Genting Highlands. This cable car is called Genting Skyway. The drive up was fantastic. Never before had we seen such wide mountain roads. It would have been a pleasure to drive on those roads.

View Larger Map

The guide sent us on the cable car and told us that he would meet us outside the Highlands Hotel. It was a majestic ride through some hills and straight onto the market foyer of the Highlands Hotel. Below the cable cars, one can see some fake animals put there to give the tourists the impression of travelling above the jungle.

As we approached the end, we saw the Highlands Hotel looming up through the clouds. We actually passed the clouds in our cable car and entered the hotel.

On meeting the guide, he drove us to our hotel, The Theme Park Hotel.

Now, our guide was quite a hilarious one, even though he did not intend to be! Some of his statements were just so funny, that we nearly laughed in his face many times. One of the most memorable moments of the entire trip was his famous statement. He pointed at The First World Hotel and said "This is the world's second largest hotel. It has 6118 what Bhuchaaaaar?????" The answer: Rooms! What I said was BEDS! :) The guide found that pretty amusing, because its not really a hospital!!!

We settled into the hotel well, around lunch time and decided to check out the place. We had heard that there was an Indoor Theme Park, an Outdoor Theme Park and a Casino. On day one, we decided to roam a little in the Indoor Theme Park and enjoy a bit. We went on the following rides:
- Venice Gondola - A slow moving gondola, travelling near the roof of the indoor theme park. It gives an amazing view of the entire theme park from above.
- Euro Express - A fast moving open-top-mini-train ride that zips through the main attractions of the indoor theme park at the height of one-storey.

- Adult Bumper Cars - This wasn't much different from what we had already experienced in India.
- 4D Motion Master - A small 4D theater. One needs to wait in line for entry, because the theatre is pretty small. We were given special glasses to wear at the entrance. They showed us a short nature movie, in which we could see, hear, feel and smell.
- Archery - Real live archery! It was not as easy as I expected.

We ate some amazing Chicken Satay at one of the many restaurants there and after roaming around a little more, we headed back to our room.

After a short rest, we went out again. After eating dinner (again it was delicious), we went for a walk around the other hotels. There is a connecting walkway above the streets, that connects all the hotels and leads tourists to all the important points in Genting. We did a little bit of exploration, but the walk was quite long. We walked as much as we could and then went back to hit the sack.

The next day we woke up early, and looked out of the windows of our hotel to see the most majestic sight. We were actually above the clouds!

For the next day, we had entry passes into the Outdoor Theme Park. Unfornately, it was raining in the morning and so most of the rides were closed. We waited till the rain subsided and the rides opened up and we went in with child-like enthusiasm. The outdoor theme park was a lot of fun. We experienced the following rides:
- Monorail - A slow ride that takes one around the entire outdoor theme park at an elevated level. Once again the view is fabulous.
- Antique Car - Since I love antique cars, this was not a ride we were going to miss! We got to drive a really really old car around the outdoor theme park, this time at ground level, so the view is different. Of course the cars would not go very fast.
- Grand Prix Fun Kart - That is exactly what it is, fun kart! The karts are painfully slow for a person like me. The track was nice and long though.

After another fun day, a lot of photo taking and a lot of walking, we decided to go eat dinner at Burger King and have some late night coffee at Starbucks. We roamed around some more in the Indoor Theme Park and later when we felt we had seen enough, we decided to call it a night. That was the end of the Genting leg of the trip.

Early next morning we checked out and were driven down to Kuala Lumpur. It was a tearful bye that we said to Genting because we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there. The drive down to Kuala Lumpur was again very comfortable and scenic. We were driven straight to our hotel, The Mapel Suite. After settling in and having had a relaxing lunch, we were taken on a half day city tour of KL which included some duty free shops, a distant view of the Petronas Twin Towers, and some more duty free shops.

We were also taken to see the Palace from outside, which is quite a tourist attraction because the guards don't even smile all day!

We also went to see the National Monument, which is a structure that commemerates all those who lost their life in the freedom struggle of Malaysia.

After that we also saw a museum where we picked up some knick-knacks for our families. Our last stop was the Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur where we saw the World's tallest flag pole!

On the way back to our hotel, we were taken for some more duty free shopping, this time to a chocolate shop and a leather shop. The chocolate shop was interesting because we saw chocolates made out of patato chips, green chillies, and many many more things! After another tiring, but exciting day, we were driven back to our hotel where we ate and slept early as we had an early train to catch to Singapore.

Singapore

2008-06-12T14:18:00.008+05:30

We were up early to catch the train to Singapore. We had heard a bit about the ride, that it was a very scenic one. The KL central station was large but was bustling with activity early in the morning. We found our platform, got onto the train and found our seats. Very soon the train was off, leaving at about 7:00am. The train journey to Singapore was a 7 hour journey through a lot of vegetation and coconut groves. It was indeed a scenic ride from the capital of Malaysia on to Singapore.

At one station, we were to get down, go through customs, get our visas checked, and re-board the train for the final leg to Singapore. It was a very enjoyable and comfortable ride from one country to another. The seats of the train were very comfortable and large.

The Singapore railway station is very antique. We had to hunt around a lot for our guide here, but having found him, were led away to our hotel. Our hotel, The Grand Central was very well located. It was walking distance from Orchard Road, the retail and entertainment hub of Singapore and was also very close to the Singapore metro station Dhobi Ghaut. By the time we had checked-in, it was already late afternoon. We decided to relax a bit before we plan what to do in the evening. We already had a half day city tour of Singapore planned for the next day.

In the late evening, we decided to roam around the Orchard Street and look around for fun things to do. We walked around looking at the shops, looking for a decent place to eat (the Hotel seemed too expensive). In a small lane, we came across a long line of international eateries. There were Indian, Mexican, Oriental, and many more. After a lot of thought and moving from one joint to another, we decided to try the Mexican fare. It was quite delicious and spicy. There was a particular salad made of onions, tomatoes and some spice which was quite delicious. After enjoying a hearty meal, we headed back to the hotel.

For the next day, we had a half-day city tour lined up. We got on the tour bus which would take us around the city-state. We only hoped that we would not be visiting too many duty free shops again! The tour operator had different tours line up for the tourists, there was the half-day city tour, then the full day tour including Sentosa and some other tours. We were on the hal-day city tour which did not include Sentosa. However, we were very intrigued by the thought of visiting Sentosa Island and having a look at the famous underwater world. Anyway, we got onto the bus and the tour began.

As we started out, we were shown the Raffel's Hotel from the bus. The guide explained its significance to us. Our first stop was a visit to the Esplanade, where we were introduced to the Merlion and were also shown the Singapore Theatre.

After a short 10 minute session, we were again on the bus travelling around Singapore. We were taken to the Financial hub of Singapore where all the banks and other financial institutions had built their towering skyscrapers. We travelled through quaint China Town and headed upto Mount Faber to get a great view of Sentosa Island. Actually at the top of the Mount Faber, there are arrows on the ground to indicate in which direction the various neighbouring countries are.

After that began the torture for what we were not ready. We were taken away for duty shopping, first there was jewellery and then there was another shop with jewellery and watches and other accessories. We were quite sick of that and decided to explore Singapore entirely on our own! So we took out our trusty notebook and asked the guide for all the information on how to get to Sentosa Island and what is a good place to eat dinner and roam around in the evening. Anyway, the next stop was to a Tiger Beer factory for a free tour of the place and also some free beer! The tiger beer factory we went to was right next to the Vivo City Mall, which is one of the largest malls in Singapore and provides very easy access to Sentosa Island (via monorail and cable cars).

The tiger beer factory folks welcomed us in warmly and showed us around the place. There was also a short movie shown to us. Imagine a room designed in the shape of a hexagon and some scenes were shown on one wall, and some on another. So we kept moving around, trying to see the entire movie. Quite an experience. the movie was about how Tiger Beer came about and how it grew. There were also some interesting facts about the growth of beer as a drink. After the movie, we were led to a bar, where we were explained the nuances of pouring beer for oneself.

The person who was guiding us asked everyone "What time is it?" Some people actually looked at their watches, but we answered "It's tiger time"!! And that was the right answer :) Interestingly, the glasses are stored at a temperature of -4 degrees celcius. Also the tap from which the beer is poured is also maintained at a similar temperature. We were taught how to hold the glass while pouring beer, because you don't want your body heat to be transfered to the beer and heat it up from it's chilled state! After going through the entire demo, someone was to volunteer to "go behind the bar" and pour himself a beer. There were no takers! So I volunteered to go pour myself a chilled beer.

I held the glass as was instructed, tilted it at 45 degree to the horizontal so that minimum froth is formed and started to pour. As the beer fills into the glass, the angle of the glass is increased, till 90 degrees to the horizontal. I did it pretty well, but did manage to waste some beer. After this exhilarating experience, it was time to drink the mug of beer which I had poured for myself. The beer was amazing. It was perfectly chilled and had such amazing texture. It was the smoothest, most chilled and yet not frozen, and the best beer I had ever had. Pouring it for myself added a lot to the entire experience.

Finally it was near lunch time and time to move on. We left the tour bus, because there were some more duty free stops on the way, and entered Vivo City Mall. First, we walked around in the Mall. There was a bit of rush, and it seemed like any large mall we had seen in India. There were some beautiful, shiny cars lined up on the ground floor.

Since it was near lunch time, we headed to the top floor to the food court so that we can have something unique to Singapore. Believe us when we say that being non-vegitarian was an advantage because there were so many options to choose from.

Once lunch was done, we picked up some brochures of Singapore and Sentosa and were ready to head out to Sentosa Island. The only reason we were going to Sentosa was to visit the Underwater World. To get to Sentosa, we chose the monorail over the cable car, because there seemed to be too long a line at the Cable Cars. The monorail was a very comfortable and short ride from inside the Vivo City Mall, passing over the Singapore Port (currently the world's busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage) and finally entering Sentosa Island.

We got off at the last stop and set foot on Sentosa land. There are multiple transportation options within Sentosa, but we chose the Tram because it look more interesting. As we passed along the beach, we saw some international beach volleyball competition in progress.

We got off at the last stop, and walked over to the Underwater World entrance. The ticket is slightly expensive, but it is a great place to go. There are a variety of fish, turtles, crabs, etc. that one gets to see. One of the most interesting sights was the sword fish, which actually looked like it was smiling.

After looking at and admiring a huge variety of fish, we decided to head back towards our hotel because it looked like it was about to rain.

We quickly caught the tram back to the Sentosa Monorail station and boarded a monorail back to the Vivo City Mall. The monorail station is on the top floor of the Mall and in the basement is the MRT station! We went down to the MRT station and boarded a metro towards Clarke Quay.

Clarke Quay is basically a quay with a lot of eateries along the water. At night time, this place is very colourful and lively. After a lot of walking around and a lot of indecision on which place to eat in, we settled for some good old Italian Pizza! We took a table right next to the water and enjoyed the sight as we eat our Pizza. We walked back to the MRT station and got a metro back to our hotel. This was our last day in Singapore, and we had utilised it to the maximum.

The next morning a cab took us really fast to the Changi Aiport. The Airport is quite majestic. It is huge, to say the least and boarding for our plane was to happen from Gate 42! We had a little time to spare, so we spent some time in the viewing bay watching planes land and take off. By the time we were to take board, we were both quite sad that our amazing holiday was over. We silently boarded, both absorbed in our thoughts, recollecting our experiences from the past 5 days.

Innovative Film City, Bidadi - Wholesome Family Entertainment

2008-06-09T11:00:00.016+05:30

My parents were in town and they were to leave on Sunday. So we planned for a nice one-day outing from Bangalore for Saturday. We asked around and had zeroed in on the Innovative Film City at Bidadi, just outside of Bangalore. The thing that was making us consider our decision was the fact that it was not complete, and open only for a trial run. For a change, we did not make elaborate plans to leave at 7:00am because the Innovative Film City is just 42.5 Kms from home! So we woke leasurely and left home at 9:00am. The traffic was dense in spite of it being a Saturday. We took the Mysore Road route, headed to Kengeri satellite town and were in Bidadi by about 10:45am.

View Larger Map

The complex was open and there were only a few cars parked outside. The flow of people was just a trickle. The entry looks very impressive. Mind you, there is still some amount of construction going on and things are not complete. However, it provides wholesome fun for the entire family. The entry ticked is INR 50 per head and to take a camera inside one must shell out another INR 100. At the entry desk, you are handed a detailed map which also marks out the major fun points, that is, Dinosaur Land, Fossil Museum, Haunted House, Mirror Maze, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Cartoon City, Aqua Kingdom, Go Karting, Mini Golf, Miniature City, Fun Plex and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum. Some of these are still being completed, but some are open and fully functional.

The entire place was so huge that we got tired walking and could only see a few of the things. We walked in through High Street, which when completed will be the main market place. One can visualise the sellers selling their wares in the crowded market place. As you walk on, you come to a sign board that directs you to the various entertainment points in the Film City. We will describe to you the points that we visited.

Haunted Mansion:
We wanted to visit this. However, it was still under construction. We could visualise how it would look once completed. It looked really interesting.

Ripley's Believe it or Not:
This was the most talked about and was suppossed to be really good and entertaining. We decided to go here first because the crowd was still thin and we could spend some good quality time in there. We actually ended up spending one hour inside this maze of unbelievable things. At the entry, the walls are lined with some of the amazing facts from the World of Ripleys. Each one is worth a read. As you walk along, you hear a voice saying something, but you cant quite point out what it is. You are so engrossed in the facts written on the walls. The most interesting sight here is the magic tap. It is suspended in mid air with nothing to hold it up. Below it (about a foot and a half below) is a cask that is being filled up by water from this tap! See it to believe it.

Now you walk on and come to know the source of the voice you heard. Inside a room, you see Robert Ripley welcome you into his world. This is a must see. You walk on through this maze of amazing and sometimes repulsive facts. The world's tallest man, the world's fattest man, longest moustaches, 12 cigars smoked at the same time are just some of the amazing things you come across. Room upon room of fascinating facts welcomes you as you walk along this maze. There is even a small theatre which shows non-stop shows of Ripley's believe it or not. You exit from this building partly educated and excited and partly tired.

Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum:
Right next to Ripley's believe it or not is the Wax Museum of Louis Tussaud. He is the great-grandson of Marie Tussaud (of the fame of Maddam Tussaud's). The wax museum is not the best in the world. It was average, with some of the celebrities not looking like themselves! There were even some wax statues of cartoon characters like Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast, etc. Only the Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi looked like themselves. We passed through here, taking the cursory pictures. In fact, the wax statues look more realistic in the photographs than in person.

The Food Court:
Very often we are told not to judge a book by its cover. On this occasion however, we suggest that you do. The food in the food court IS as bad as it looks! There are many options, from Rajasthani to Madrasi to Chinese, but nothing looked or tasted any good. The good news is that many more eateries are coming up, one we saw was McDonalds. It is better to get your own packed lunch and eat it here.

Ripley's Mirror Maze:
Next stop was the Mirror Maze. Actually its very small, but the mirrors are placed in such a manner that it is difficult to make out where you are headed! At the entrance we had to wear plastic gloves so that we do not leave our fingerprints on the mirror. That way, another person coming through would know that there is a mirror there. We had a lot of fun trying to find our way through the maze, so much so that even after we found the exit, we decided to go back in to explore some more! There were a couple of people (or maybe just one person!) inside the maze cleaning the mirrors. That definitely added to the confusion.

Dinosaur World:
Our next stop was the Dinosaur World and the Fossil Museum. Now on the surface of it they might seem the same, but they are not. The Dinosaur World is a theme park with Dinosaur models, some large, some small. The Fossil Museum contains replicas of the actual fossils of Dinosaurs. Once in the Dinosaur world, you are led to a small theatre in which a movie is shown. We were least interested in that, and so exited ASAP! We walked through the Dinosaur World, enjoying the sights and sounds. All the dinosaurs were making their characteristic noises (or so we think) and some were even moving their heads a little. This was a good fun place to see. We spent about 10-15 minutes inside, clicking a lot of photos. The greenery here was real, and that added a lot to the atmosphere.

Fossil Museum:
The second of the Dinosaur series, it was not as interesting. It is a large hall that contains replicas of real fossils of Dinosaurs. There are even a couple of PS2 games that one can play in here. In the center of the hall is a huge replica of the bones of a Dinosaur put together, similar to the one in Jurassic Park.

Velocity - Go Karting:
It is a very short track with about 4 bends. However, what is interesting is that there is a choice of two types of karts. There is the family kart that seats 2 people and then there is the racing kart which seats one. The family karts are much slower and the racing karts are much faster. However, at one time only one type of kart is on the track. We decided to try out the family karts. So there were 4 family karts on the track, we started last. We managed to overtake all other karts and infact even lapped a couple of them! It was a total of 6 short laps, but thoroughly enjoying.

Funplex:
The Funplex is a building which houses the 4D cinema hall and also a lot of interesting video games. There was even a football simulation, which sadly was under maintenance while we were there. We were anyway quite tired and wanted to see the 4D movie before we left. There is a 4D movie every half an hour. The 4D movie was very entertaining and was much better than we have ever seen (we have seen one in Genting Highlands, Malaysia). The movie shown is an Ode to Mankind, and is about evolution. It is very interesting and "interactive". Basically 4D not only shows the objects in 3D, but also includes a dimension of feeling, where the viewer gets to feel the sights and sounds of what is being displayed on screen. For ex: if a lion roars at you, you feel it's breath on your face!

After doing so much we were very tired. We stopped at the Cafe Coffee Day to freshen up a bit and get ready for the drive back. It was only 42.5 kms, but the Bangalore traffic made it a 1hour 30 minute drive back. It was a real fun day. We will surely go back there soon and see the attractions that we missed out on. We hope it is completed soon, because it will be a great destination for families.

All-in-all it was a really enjoyable day. All the entertainment centers were very well done. They were all realistic and aesthetically arranged (for ex: The marine section of Ripley's believe it or not was arranged in a dark blue room, with a shark model). It's a must-visit.

Jungle Retreat - Mudumalai Forest

2008-05-26T13:47:00.028+05:30

It started as a hunt to find the perfect destination. It involved a lot of confusion and frustration because all good resorts we came across were over-booked. There was nothing out there for us, and this was when we were looking to book a month in advance! We spent nights on the net, searching for the perfect destination to celebrate our first anniversary. We wanted the place to be out of bangalore (most important), quiet, beautiful, confortable and mostly available for two days! We checked out many places, most of which were booked to capacity. We searched all around, starting with Coorg, then looking at Nagerhole, moving onto Banerghatta forest, scanning Yercaud and Yelagiri, but sadly either there was no place to stay, or it was not highly rated on HolidayIQ.

Then out of nowhere, someone suggested Jungle Retreat. They had just one Deluxe Cottage available for the period which we wanted to travel. Was this the making of the perfect anniversary? We believe so! We wanted to really relax, so we did something we have not done before. We took Monday off, so that we could enjoy our Sunday at Jungle Retreat! We decided to plan the trip properly, and hit a few "touristy" places on our way there. The route is quite straight-forward, head to Mysore, travel onto Nanjangud, go through Gundlupet and travel towards Ooty. See the travel map below for more clarity.

View Larger Map

So we set out on Saturday morning, map in hand. As has now become our custom, we set out at an unearthly hour of 5:00am and were in our favourite Cafe Coffee Day by 7! We had a nice heavy breakfast there (CCD now serves eggs and toast for breakfast!) and set out for Mysore. We had done our research well. The Mysore Zoo opened at 8:30am, and we were in the parking lot by 8:45! There was very little crowd, just as we had wanted to see it. The visit to Mysore Zoo was a memorable experience. We had a lot of fun walking through the 2.9km walk-way that has been designed in the Mysore Zoo.

At the very entrace of the Zoo, one comes across the gigantic girafee, which I must say are much taller than I had ever imagined. After walking past the birds, one reaches the tiger cages. After that are the monkeys, chimpanzees, deer and gorilla. Subsequently one comes across the bison, the elephants (both Indian and African), the lions and finally the exotic bird cage (through which one can walk!).
We enjoyed ourselves so much in the Zoo, that we picked up a t-shirt each :) and ended up spending so much time there that we would not have any time to visit the Mysore Palace. So we moved on, and decided to get to Jungle Retreat in time for lunch. In no time, we had passed through Mysore, driven through Nanjangud and reached Gundlupet. From here, there is a right turn which goes straight through Kerela onto Kozhikode. At this juncture, we went straight towards Ooty. Now we must warn you that the next 10km (it's exactly 10kms, we measured it!) stretch is a horrid piece of road. One cant go beyond second gear even.

Once past that, however, the road enters the jungle. The road is then majestic, meandering through the green jungle. If you are lucky, you might spot some deer or some elephants. We did come across a wild elephant on the side of the road, while driving through the Tamil Nadu side of the jungle. Once you cross the border into Tamil Nadu, you are into the Mudumalai forest. Driving for another half an hour, through thin meandering roads, we reached our destination.

At first sight, it looked like any other resort to us. We walked in to the reception area, and were quite in shock to see so many foreigners there, seated around the bar and on sofas. This suddenly looked like a very happening place to us. We were now a little skeptical because we just wanted to relax and have some quiet time alone. We decided to first see the room before we ate lunch. We were led away to a beautiful cottage, a fair distance from the reception area, which was very spacious on the inside, and had a beautful view of the Nilgiri mountain range on the outside. This was the perfect place to relax!

We went back to the reception area, which doubles up as the dinning area, and triples up as the bar, to have a taste of the cuisine. The food was decent. There was a nice buffet spread before us. On day one, the menu was Chinese. On day two, the menu was Continental and later Indian. At lunch, we were met by one of the caretakers of Jungle Retreat, who explained about the resort, some common rules and regulations (because after all we were in the Jungle!). Also during lunch, we were met by Daniel, the activities incharge. He told us about the various activities that were on offer and the cost of each. After much thought, we decided on the elephant camp trip coupled with the evening safari. This, we were told would take four hours in totality.

After relaxing a while outside our room, we set off at 4pm for the elephant camp. Now as part of that, we were given an open top mahindra jeep with an able driver and a guide with an excellent eye! The guide took us to a spot on a little river where three men (one aged above 50, one between 20 and 30 and one below 10) were ferociously scrubbing a 520 ton, 52 year old elephant! What a sight that was. Very curiously, the elephant seemed to be enjoying his bath a lot.

We snapped a lot of pictures and while the elephant was getting ready to get up, the jeep driver came and whispered something in the ears of the guide. Our guide was now excited. He turned to us, and told us that a horde of wild elephants had wandered near the highway and he wanted to show us the scene.

So we rushed off, towards the horde of wild elephants. On reaching the spot, we had a police jeep in front of us, guarding the animals, protecting them from trigger happy photographers. "No stopping". "No photography". After admiring the jungle animals for a while, and simultaneously avoiding the eye (or rather the hand) of the law, we headed back to the elephant camp. The camp now was abuzz with excitement. It was feeding time. The 24 tame elephants that are part of the camp are fed together. It is indeed a wonder sight to see the large animals enjoy their food. It is, however, quite a disgusting sight to see the mahout actually make the meal.

When we thought we had seen enough, we told the guide so. He seemed more excited than us to move on, as his main interest was in spotting the wild animals from the jeep and showing them to us. We spent nearly two hours on the main road, looking around to spot wild animals. We did come across a lot of wild elephants, some distant wild bison, a couple of wild boar and some spotted deer. After a very tiring, and eye-sore-making safari, we decided we had had enough and wanted to rest. We ate a quick dinner and decided to call it a night.

During the nights, the place gets very dark. Having been there and seen it, I now know what darkness means. Somehow we gathered up the courage to see beyond the curtain in the darkness, and the sight we saw was majestic. The sky was studded with brilliantly sparkling stars, the light of which made the Nilgiri range look eerie in the dark.

The next day we spent sitting in the deck chairs outside our cottage. Having spent a couple of hours on the deck, we looked to our right and saw a couple of monkeys jumping about in the trees, searching for food. We retreated into the cottage, so not to disturb them, and quietly observed their mannerisms. After lunch we went to sit by the pool, which is quite a sight! The pool is at a place, from where one can see jungle on one side and the Nilgiri range on the other side. It's a sight to be seen. We enjoyed watching the sun set from this vantage point, hearing the birds chirp all around us.

It was Monday soon, and time for us to pack up and leave. We wanted to leave a little early, so that we could visit the Mysore Palace on the way back to Bangalore. Immediately after breakfast, we said our byes to our hosts and began our journey back to Mysore, passing through the jungle, Gundlupet and finally Nanjangud. We asked around for directions and got to the Mysore Palace, but seeing the crowd there, we chickened out and rushed on by. We found our way back to the Bangalore highway, passing from in front of St. Philomena's Church.

We were back in Bangalore by about 5:00pm, enough time for us to relax and get ready for work the next day.

Wayanad, Kerala

2008-03-31T11:54:00.024+05:30

It was a long weekend ahead of us. Friends (Deepak, Ashish and Reena) had come from Delhi to attend a wedding. After a lot of deliberation and discussion, we decided to travel to Wayanad district of Kerala.

Uncertain of what to expect, we set off at an unearthly hour of 4am on the 28th of March (Friday). It was a brilliant decision to do so, as we covered Bangalore and set out onto the Bangalore-Mysore expressway in no time. We stopped at a 24 hour cafe coffee day for some refreshing coffee and a nice pit-stop.

When we set off once again, it was still not sunrise! However, in a little while, we began to see the sun rise from beyond the plains. By the time we hit Mysore, it was early morning. We took another pit-stop outside the South Gate of the Mysore Palace, before heading out to Kerala.

We took a right off the Mysore-Ooty highway at Gundlupet and headed into the Jungle (See the route map below).

The jungle road was beautiful and serene. The time of the day was perfect to be driving through the jungle, with minimal traffic. Since it was early morning, we were lucky as we saw the jungle wake up with us. We even managed to spot a few deer!

We were literally counting down the kilometers once we got out of the Jungle, and after our last set of route instructions to our resort, we entered Wayanad.

To get to our place of stay, we had to pass through Sultan Bathery, a quaint little town, with a lot of auto and bus traffic! We proceeded to our destination in Kalpetta, another town in Wayanad.

We were to stay in Green Gates Hotel, and one cannot even begin to say what a wonderful stay it was there. The hotel is very pleasing to the eyes, with a lot of greenery and the staff is very polite and courteous. We stayed in the cottages, which are a little sperated from the main hotel, and ensconsed within dense greenery.

What a wonderful place to stay! The cottages were very spacious and very nice, and right next to the pool. But we were not in Wayanad for the stay.

We got ready, ate lunch and went straight to business. Off we went to enjoy the Pookode Lake, Chain Tree and Lakkidi Point. The Lake was quiet and serene, although there was an abundance of monkeys! The boat ride around the lake was a lot of fun, and took about 20 minutes.

We went on to find the Chain Tree and Lakkidi point, and almost ended up at Kozhikode! So insignificant are those two "tourist attractions"! The Lakkidi point, is just a turn on the highway from where one can see the sunrise and sunset.

Who in their right mind would want to stop on a highway which snakes over the hills? So we stopped there so some pictures! After all, we had come around 300kms already. Next was the more insignificant chain tree, which was so hard to find, that we had to ask about 3 locals within the space of a kilometer. Finally we found a tree on the side of the highway with one chain dangling off a branch! The story of the Chain Tree is more interesting that the Chain Tree itself.

On the way back we decided to check out the much-hyped Vythiri Resort. Now dont get me wrong, the Resort is beautiful, set in the jungle (literally). However, it is for those folks who want to go to Wayanad and not go sight-seeing. The road to the resort is just a jungle path, full of cobbles and dust (their justification is that they dont want to ruin the jungle experience for their guests). However, we were 5 full grown people in a Maruti Alto. The "road" is just wide enough for 1 and a half cars to pass by side-by-side! So when we reached there, we were already very irritated, and left after just seeing the Hanging Bridge. We headed back down the horrid road and went back to our wonderful and easily approachable Resort. We enjoyed a nice snack in their tree top restaurant, where they only serve dosas. After some relaxing (in the gym!) we had a nice buffet dinner, and decided to call it a night as we were up since 2:30am!

The next day, we decided to travel 25kms further into Wayanad to go see the Soochipara Waterfalls.

The parking is about a km away from the actual falls, so its basically a nice steep 1 km trek. The trek was a good exercise, and was very good for the senses. We were surrounded by greenery, and could constantly hear the waterfall. The falls as such was not very majestic, but it was less crowded when we went (Saturday, before noon). We enjoyed the falls, and before we went back decided to eat maggi and drink some fresh juice.

Finally, it was time to head back to Bangalore. We left by about 3pm and drove back to Bangalore. En route we stopped at another Cafe Coffee Day to eat dinner (this one served Biryani too) and drink some refreshing coffee.

By the time we got home it was midnight, and perfect time to celebrate Deepak's birthday!

All-in-all a wonderfuly trip, great driving experience, relaxing holiday enjoyed with wonderful friends.

The French Riviera of the East

2007-10-06T10:55:00.001+05:30

Pondicherry or Puducherry, also known as the French Riviera of the East, was a place we had been excited about visiting for quite some time now. And with the Mathurs in town, we made a plan and decided to make a weekend trip of it.

Now anyone going to Pondicherry, should ideally drive down from Chennai on the East Coast Road. We wanted the full experience of "visiting" Pondicherry, and so we decided to travel to Chennai on an overnight train, and then drive down to Pondicherry. To help us in that, we did some research and found out that one can easily rent "self-drive" cars through Avis and Hertz, and for a very nominal price.

We got to Chennai early in the morning, and there was the Avis car we had booked, waiting for us at the Station. It was a black Ford Ikon Flair (1.3), with all papers in order. So we set out. On the way, we made a small detour, taking us through the heart of the city, so that we could pick up another fellow passenger, Shishir. Luckily we had a print out of the map of the entire road route from Chennai to Pondicherry, and so once we were on the ECR, driving was a piece of cake.

View Larger Map

We drove through Thiruvanmiyur, and stopped for a very slow, long, distasteful, and very expensive breakfast!

Moving on, we drove along the coast, contemplating driving off the road, and straight into the beach! Luckily we did not do that. Our next stop was the Crocodile Bank.

There were many different varieties of crocodiles, turtles and snakes. After spending half an hour there, we decided to move on, and stopped 10 minutes later for the "Coast View Point"

After a few photos, we drove on, quite sure that we would not stop again untill we get to the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram. And sure enough, we stopped next only at the Shore Temple, which is actually a temple on the shore at Mahabalipuram, built during the reign of the Pallava King Rajasimha (c. 700 - 728 A.D.)

After spending nearly another hour here, we drove on, untill we got to Pondicherry at about 4pm. Pondicherry as such is a small, quiet town with thin roads and lots of people. Other than that, there is nothing else that one would really notice about Pondicherry.

We spent some time walking around, looking for a nice place to eat, and surely enough we found a "Daily Bread". After a nice meal, we decided to hit the "Rocky Beach", which was a nice walk.

Now the interesting thing was that at 9:30pm, India was to play Australia in the T20 World Championships, and we were in the mood to watch the match on a big screen! Hence we maroed fight and got ourselves a table with an excellent view of the big screen in one of the most posh hotels in Pondicherry, called The Promenade.

And what a match it turned out to be! We had great fun, watching the 1st innings on the big screen and cheering the 2nd innnings from our hotel room!

The next day, we decided to visit the Auroville Beach in the morning, before the sun got too hot for us. We spent some quality time wading in the water, although the waves were quite pugnacious!

After the beach, we got back to the hotel, got cleaned up and headed out to "explore" Pondicherry. We went to visit the Aurbindo Ashram, which was quite quiet, except for the sound of the car reversing on the street outside!

We had some time to kill in Pondicherry before we left for Chennai, so decided to try and visit the Pondicherry pier. We were very fortunate that day, because the pier was opened to the public as it was Ganesh Chathurthi. We got to take part in the Ganesh immersion of Pondicherry!

Soon it was time for us to head back to Chennai, if we were to catch the train back to Bangalore on time. On the way back, we decided to stop at the Hotel Ashok (on the ECR)

which was quite majestic, right next to the beach. The drive back, was after sundown, so there wasnt much we could see, except for the headlights of on coming traffic. The ECR, beautiful as it may be is just a single lane on either side, without even a divider in between. Thankfully, the traffic was down to a trickle in the evening, and so driving was not that bad.

Since we had an hour or so to kill, we decided to stop at a Karting track called "Kart Attack", and what a wonderful decision that was. We raced around the track, which was a nice long one, with some great turns and a wonderful straight! The Karts were peppy, and great fun to drive. Soon it was time for us to head back, and drive through Chennai to get to the Trident Hilton Hotel to drop the car off, before we went to the Station to catch our train back to Bangalore.

All in all, it was a very fun trip. The company was awesome, and made Pondicherry a fun place to be. Lastly, we must thank India for winning the match against Australia and making our stay even better!

Bangalore Live Traffic Map

2007-09-07T12:35:00.001+05:30

Georgia Sunshine Village

2007-08-20T14:31:00.001+05:30

It had been 3 weekends since we had stayed put in Bangalore, and the weekend of 18th and 19th August 2007 wasn't to be any different!

With one set of parents visiting, we decided to plan a drive to some place outside Bangalore, someplace not too far (so that we could make it back before Sunday evening), and yet not too close (to get away from the madness of Bangalore). We all wanted some peace and quiet.

We dare say, we did find the perfect setting, although we did come across it rather innocuously. Browsing through the book "52 weekends away from Bangalore", we came across the Shivasamudram falls. Digging a little deeper, we came across the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, and thought that would be near perfect. Digging still further, we hit on "Georgia Sunshine Village", which we might define as जन्नत!

We found out the details, and voila, we had a booking for the weekend.

The drive there was about three hours, partly because the route that falls on NH 209 (Bangalore to Coimbatore) was not constructed at all! Anyways, that was the only bumpy part of the journey. Even the road through Hebbani Village (ever heard of it?) was better than the NH 209. For a route map, you can refer to:

Georgia Sunshine Village was a very well setup little village with modern amenities. It was the perfect get-away from the mad cities of today. There was so much peace and quiet there, that one could stay there for weeks (you can refer to the Georgia Sunshine Village website).

We got to stay in huts, with attached bathrooms, that were partly open to the sky. It was a very different experience, one that we can say we really enjoyed. The food served there was very good, and there was a lot of variety. There is an open swimming pool, which one can even enjoy in the night. There is so much greenery around to savour, and so much fresh air to take in, that we feel that the trip, although very short, refreshed our bodies and minds.

For viewing the entire album click here.

Part of the package includes, "fun-fishing". A guide took us down to a lake, where he gave us bamboo sticks with fishing ropes tied to them. He put a small blob of आटा on each and handed it to us. All we had to do was dunk the आटा underwater and enjoy the sight of fish, feeding on it!

Next day, early in the morning we went for a nature walk. A guide took us for a nice long walk lasting an hour, in which we saw some farms, rustic huts, cows, goats, cocks, and a great variety of plants.

Post breakfast, it was time to leave. None of us really wanted to, but we knew we had to. We drove back to Bangalore, reliving the experience that we had all shared and enjoyed so much.

Back in the mad city rush, we all miss Georgia Sunshine Village.