A trip to Coorg!!

Last weekend,we headed out to Madikeri.
It was an unplanned trip and lemme tell u its best that way.Surfed a l'll bit to see which places are to be visted,took a print out and moved on.
We set out on a Friday evening ,travelling by our very own KSRTC Rajhamsa .
We stayed at a homestay called Maithili comforts ,but there are other good lodges there too.
Sightseeing in Coorg can be broadly covered in a span of 2 days .At one side of the city u have Nisargadhama,Kushalnagar,(Namdroling Monastery), Dubbare falls and Harangi dam and on the other side you have Talakaveri ,Orange county ,coffee estates and Bhagamandala.Coffee estates can be found all along actually. You can either hire a taxi and he would show you all the sites in a day or you could take private buses from Madikeri which will take you to these places.
Local places like the Raja's seat and Omkareshwara temple are at walkable distances from the town centre and they are best seen that way.Abbey falls is another major attraction but we didnt couldnt visit it.
On day 1 we took the bus to Bhagamandala :saw the Sangam of 3 rivers ,kaveri ,kanika and sujyoti.We ate some good chooda and curds and a masala wada at a local joint there.The same bus took out to Talakaveri,8kms,through the ghats , from that spot.Talakaveri is the place where the kaveri river originates.This is at the base of the brahmagiri hills which offers a breathtaking view of the mountain ranges.The feeling at the peak is indescribable and u must go there to feel it. Completely surrounded by misty mountains,you feel humbled by nature and there's an inner sense of peace and joy that grips you.
We decided to walk back to Bhagamandala,instead of taking the bus .As the weather was pleasant and the road was good .What's life if full of care if we dont have time to stand and stare --I think Keats said it ..
I think the long, slow,walk and the moments we shared were really worth the while. Stopping in between for a snack,listening to some songs,cracking stupid jokes all along the way to kill time ,chasing the stupid dog that kept following us,Guru and I had ample fun.
On day 2 we visted Kushalnagar :The extremley beautiful Namdroling Monastery with such an authentic Tibetian feel to it,the huge monolithic statues of the Buddha there .

Logistics by Guru :

Day-1:
There are frequent buses available between Madikeri-Bhagamandala - both KSRTC and private buses.
The private bus stand is 5 mins walk from KSRTC bus stand. Bhagamandala is on the way to TalaCauvery and
is approx. 40kms from Madikeri. The private bus that we took was to TalaCauvery. The bus stops at
Bhagamandala for 30 mins or so and then goes to TalaCauvery. There are only two places to see in
Bhagamandala - (1) �Triveni Sangama� - kaveri ,kanika and sujyoti and (2) Bhagundeshwara temple. They are
just 5 mins walk from the Bhagamandala bus stop. 30 mins is more than enough to see these two places.
After 30 mins or so, the same bus took off to TalaCauvery which is 8kms from Bhagamandala. The same
bus after 30-45 mins will start heading back towards Madikeri. Driver/Conductor will tell you how much time
the bus will stop at the place. There are very few buses between Bhagamandala-TalaCauvery. If you want to
be safe and dont like to walk 8kms, dont miss your bus :-)

There are steps  to reach Brahmagiri top from TalaCauvery - which will take about 10-15 mins i guess.

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Day-2:
There are again plenty of buses (i think every 15-30 mins) between Madikeri-KushalNagar. The KSRTC bus we
took was around 7am i guess. I think buses start even earlier than that (not sure). Cauvery Nisargadhama is
on the way to KushalNagar (4-5 kms). We went to Kushal Nagar and then took an auto to reach Golden
Temple (Namdroling Monastery). The Golden Temple is around 3 kms from Kushal Nagar bus stand .

Harangi dam is around 8-10 kms from Kushal Nagar i
guess (at the max 12kms). There are few private buses
which go to that place as told to us by the locals.
The locals also say the dam's view is very restricted
because of the Cauvery dispute between the two states.
We decided to skip this.

We took auto from Golden Temple to Nisargadhama and he
charged around 50/-. In Nisargadhama, you can see
Cauvery river (which is all over Madikeri and
sorroundings), Elephant riding, deers and rabbits and
plenty of bamboo shoot trees.
From there, we went to Dubbare by auto who charged us
around 100/- (there are again very few buses from
Nisargadhama to Dubbare as told by locals) - somebody
fooled us by saying there is river rafting in that
place. But we had a great fun in Cauvery river.
Visitors can also experience elephant riding here.
From dubbare, the main road where you can catch bus to
Kushal Nagar is around 1.6kms - either you can walk or
take lift(we took a tractor ride :) it was fundu
experience). As soon as you hit the main road, there
is a bus stop where private buses going towards Kushal
Nagar stop. Locals said frequency of these private
buses is one hour. We managed to get a bus around 3pm.
To go back to Madikeri from Dubbare, you have to go to
Kushal Nagar.

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