2006 trips.. Taj Kuteeram, Yercaud, Yellagiri, Coorg, Wayanad, Delhi and Nainital

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April 22nd; Our trips this year again started with Jag's birthday.. this time not a surprise however.. 😊 Since both of us were running short of privilege leaves we decided to go just for a weekend to a nice closeby resort. After quite some research on the net, Taj Kuteeram looked like a good option as I wanted to see Nithyagram also (it reminded me of my Bharathnatyam classes... lots of friends and lots of fun.. 😊). Our hero (who thinks he is the guru of directions) thought of taking a short route via Hesargatta and we went all around the world!! 😊 After a longg drive, we finally reached the resort but it was worth the drive.. Totally lovely place.. and the room was amazing.. The beds are made of red oxide raised platforms and so is the sit out outside the room. Everything was very traditional and Indian. And.. Nithyagram was lovely.. unfortunately the dance school was closed on that day and hence we couldnt see any performances, but we were very impressed with the place itself!

April 29: Summer time and we wanted to go to some near-by hill station. Since Ooty and Kodai were pretty far, the next place which came to our mind was Yercaud! Since both Jag and I prefer resorts to hotels I started my resort search on the net and found the Grange Resorts! What a nice place to stay.. there are just a few cottages in between a mini forest. The rooms open into the forest and we could hear birds chirp all through the day! They had a lovely sit out as well and the resort was in the centre of Yercaud! Yercaud being a small place.. that is not surprising anyway. As usual with the help of our 'Lonely Planet' and '52 Weekends' books we drove around and saw the interesting places. We enjoyed the not so crowded spots like hill tops and woods and spent less time in the boating area (it was over-crowdeddd!!) The highlight of the trip was however the resort and our mini treks through it in the mornings!

July: After a series of trips just by ourselves, this time it was friends time!! The REC gang (especially the women 😊) wanted to desperately go somewhere.. anywhere!! The responsibility was on Jag and his friends still think he does a good job of it 😊 If it involves showing off his skills, our man would anyway go out of the way 😊 Ravi and Jag found Yellagiri on their '52 weekends' book and then Jag found this fabulous resort .. Zeenat Taj Garden Retreat.. he booked it and arranged for everything! Yellagiri as a place is pretty boring.. just a lake with a few boring boats 😊 .. but this resort had absolutely fantastic food. They charge Rs.900 per person for all meals + stay and all 3 meals of the day are awesome! We just ate ate and ate.. and when we were bored of eating we went boating and walking around the lake. In the evening the boys wanted to have beer.. and this place doesnt serve alcohol .. hahhah!! After successfully convincing their respective wives (a massive task) the boys took the car and went all the way down the hill to find some liquor shop 😱 Luckily it wasnt much a struggle and they did find one roadside place and again we drove up all the way. I anyhow enjoyed the drive.. not for the liquor 😊 but for the view while driving up and down the hill !! We reached the resort and realised that the bottles were super warm! 😊 They then borrowed ice from the resort guys, but in a bucket and then dipped the bottles in it!! Finally they could have their chilled beer and watch the cricket match! Yellagiri is a lovely place to visit .. just for this resort... and only if you want to just eat, talk and relax with friends/family!

August: Appa's Shashtiabdapoorthi (60th birthday) - one of those beautiful Hindu ceremonies where children can get to see their parents getting married again in the traditional way. Neer and Arun came down for the function and thus we planned a trip to Wayanad with Amma and Appa as well. Being used to Jag and my taste, I made the mistake of assuming that my family would like staying in resorts as well.. and thats the biggest mistake I made!! I booked 2 rooms at Orchid Resorts, Sulthan Bathery- which is a nice cozy resort in the middle of woods, but unfortunately due to the continuous rain and "resort" feeling (which is very different from staying at hotels), my family didnt like the whole experience.. and it resulted in a total flop plan 😊 ... for the first time!!! I learnt my first lesson then.. "Never to assume that others would like what you like when you travel" and my second lesson- which is more of a 'thank you' note - "Thank God, Jag's likes/dislikes are just like mine 😊.. at least when we travel". Keeping the stay apart, the city is very nice... Driving through the Thamarassery Ghat, taking a romantic boat ride with Jag on Pookote lake, shopping for Kerala special salwars and the jeep safari with Amma and Appa (without seeing any animals 😊) were all super fun! Wayanad is one place where I feel we have really not explored it enough.. we will surely make another trip and should hopefully stay in the much hyped - Vythri Resorts!!

September: One evening Jag tells me that his team is planning a trip to Coorg with family and I was all excited about it, not knowing that the only "non-team family member" in the group was me 😊 They had booked the whole of "Coffee Country Resort" which is a nice duplex house just opposite coffee plantations. The weather was awesome with light showers through the day and the best part of the trip was the trekking. Trekking to Tadiandamole through the lush green trees with leeches creeping all over you was a totally different experience for me. We spent the whole evening playing Dumb charades ... and I still cant forget the way we were all rolling with laughter... 😱 This game is one of those fews games where its a lot of fun to play with people who dont even know the rules..

December: Yehh!! Annual shutdown time again.. this time I had a lot of miles accumulated again and we thought we should use it to the fullest by going to some distant location.. and the most distant interesting place we could think of was Delhi 😊! I then started looking for scenic destinations around Delhi. After 3 days of research, I selected this route Delhi - Jim Corbett National Park- Nainital - Delhi. We knew that the following year onwards we couldnt make such trips again as we were planning our little one, and hence we used up all miles for a Business Class ticket for our flights from Bangalore- Delhi. 😊 I normally fall asleep as soon as there is any vehicular movement.. be it a car, train or flight 😊, but this time I stayed awake to make full use of our ticket 😱 In Delhi, we had one whole day and hence thought of seeing quite a few places which were printed out on our "Things to See in Delhi" printout and started with Akshardam Temple.. least did we know that we would end up spending the whole day just there. 😊 We were awestruck on seeing the temple and the beautiful shows inside. One awesome experience!! We took the evening train from Delhi to Ramnagar and on reaching Ramnagar at around 4 in the morning, we almost frooze to death.. MY!! it was so damn coooold and we were not at all prepared. I assumed the temperature would be around 10+ degrees as that was what the internet said but didnt realise that that was day temperature (not night 😊). Our driver from Forktail Creek resort was waiting for us at the station with a blanket and we wrapped ourselves inside that and tightly held each other on the way to the nature resort and didnt exit the room till sunrise. Once the beautiful sun was out, it was really beautiful- birds chirping outside the hut, and all kinds of other creatures making sounds as well. We then got ready for our safary ride and were all excited about it... this must have been the only safari ride were everyone was so exicited before and after the ride.. even though we didnt see a single Tiger 😊 All that we saw was.. tiger's paw marks, scratches on trees and sounds of the tiger from behind the bush 😊 Anyhow, the bonfire that evening, the free drinks and the wonderful hosts at the resort made the rest of the stay at Corbett amazing. Next day, due to pressure from my side Jag agreed to take a shared taxi to Nainital.. hahah.. what an experience.. he will never step into one again for sure.. We were almost on each other's lap all through 😊 and that guy stopped a km away from Nainital. After a km walk which then seemed like 10km we reached our hotel and thereafter it was only bliss.. what a lovely hotel just opposite the Naini lake and in the centre of the city. The next 3 days were one of the best moments of our life.. we went trekking to all the peaks possible just to see the Himalayas from different angles. The food was out of the world at all the resturants and we would try different places every time. On the last day we had 6 hours extra and didnt know what to do.. so we took a taxi to Kasauni to have another view of the Himalayas 😊 and it was great! This taxi driver had just one sadddd song playing all through and guess which one "Acha Sila diya tuna mere pyar kaaa!!!" ufffhhhh... and inspite of that, the journey was beautiful. He took us to one spot where we could see the 3 peaks - Mt.Trishul, Chota Kailash and Nanda Devi sooo clearly. We just sat there dumb struck having numerous hot teas in the cold. from a small shop for 1 hour. On the way back, we also went to the Shiva temple there (which one a very unique experience). After returning to Nainital, we sat in front of the lake for quite sometime, thought of the wonderful time we had and then headed towards Delhi, with the intention to cover the rest of the places on the printout 😊 and this time we did manage to see quite a bit in our rented taxi 😊 All tired but with wonderful memories we boarded the flight back. This was undoubtedly our best vacation so far! Waiting for Vedh to grow quickly 😊 to make our next trip to North India.. again!!

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Photos

the flower girl :)
Nainital!!!!

Comments

[vyom]

Misty Coorg
I like Misty season of coorg, this is one of the great place to feel nature in karnataka. thanks anyway i like your pictures. You may get some here - Coorg