Blogs from Coorg, Karnataka, India, Asia

We left the dusty, dry desert of Rajasthan and flew 1,125 miles south to Bangaluru. From Jaipur to Bangaluru, our flight took a little over 2 and a half hours. Once we arrived in Bangaluru, we drove over 6 and a half hours to reach Coorg, India. The roads were rough and winding along our drive and every village had speed bumps so it was difficult to move at a very fast speed. We are officially in the southern part of India. This is apparent to us because: * The landscape has changed dramatically. It looks more lush and more tropical. There are flowers, crops and fruit trees everywhere you look. The horizon is dotted with palm trees. * The locals have slightly darker skin coloring than those in the northern parts of India. *There seems ... read more

By Vishnu. Have you ever Coorghed? If you haven’t, do it now. It doesn’t matter whom you go with- its a place of Liveliness, happiness and craziness. Very recently, I (Vishnu) traveled to Coorgh with six of my besties in Innova. Due to the long weekend (October 2nd to October 6th, 2014), Coorgh would obviously be crowded, but my experience was amazing nonetheless. It all started on October 2nd. I started with six of my friends from Bangalore (they deserve to be named here- Harsha, Varma, Roopesh, Chaitanya, Anil and Muni.) Our trip started at around 11 in the morning after a small McDonald’s brunch on the way to Mysore. We reached Mysore at around 3'o clock (we underestimated the traffic, because of the long weekend.) We also had lunch at Parklane hotel in Mysore; they ... read more

Coorg Travel-log (21/10/13 to 24/10/13) by Aravind Prelude It’s after more than 12 years that I am at writing a travel-log again. Not that, in 12 years we haven’t travelled, but for one reason or other, it simply didn’t happen. I dedicate this to the dearest family! When I make a comparison between ‘the then’ and ‘now’, I realise that slowly I have distanced myself from making detailed planning and preparation for the trip. As for everything else, this approach has its positives and negatives. Many of them revealed themselves during the trip. We hope to learn from these experiences and get better for next trip, which of course will be next year. We have forced ourselves to be in the bus... read more

12 January 2013 Our first and only full day in Kushalnagar and we have a busy schedule. First stop is the Dubare Elephant Camp. The twenty elephants here are owned by the Karnataka Forestry Department and used to help move wood in the forest. After the initial excitement of seeing a forty year old daddy elephant and a two year old baby (too cute!), we are a bit shocked to see that they are chained together and struggle to walk far. Their eyes are also watering which makes them look so sad. They each seem to be assigned a handler; some are just young boys with sticks which have a metal hook on one end. They use these to drive the elephants and move them down towards the river. Some sit on the back of the ... read more

I Still remember that drizzling cold midnight, it was in the end of year 2012, winter probably. I had a shower that late night and then got my bull ready, warmed up the engine, held the helmet in the hand and slowly started riding bullet in a zig-zag way on the empty outer ring road of Bangalore humming an old hindi track, " Pukartaa Chala Hun Main Gali Gali Bahaar Ki Bas Ek Chaaon Jhulf Ki Bas ek nigaaah ho pyaaar ki Pukaartaaa….“ I was on my way to my friends' room to join them for a whole new chapter of ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ on my Royal Bull. The worst thing happened as I reached friend's room, could not wake my friends up from their dead sleep as they hear neither my voice nor my mobile call. ... read more