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Asia, Travel Blog

Temple trails of Kollur, Sringeri & Halebeedu

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We were on a 4-day road trip in Karnataka. After an exhilarating Bangalore to Jog Falls road trip, we continued our journey on a spiritual and architectural trail through the Western Ghats – from Kollur to Sringeri and Halebeedu, before concluding in Mysuru. The falls were in their full glory and we really enjoyed the views. You can read about it in detail in the earlier blog.

This part of the trip was all about temples, ghats, and history – a perfect blend of serenity, devotion, and scenic drives.

Karnataka road trip map
Road trip map – today we cover Kollur, Sringeri, Halebeedu, Mysuru

Day 2: Jog Falls – Kollur – Sringeri (200 km)

Our day began at the homestay. Parth found another kid to play the ball with. While he enjoyed the yard, we packed our things, had piping hot idlis and poha for breakfast and started.

Homestay near Jog falls
Morning play time!

Our first stop was within 10 minutes – the other side of the main viewpoint that we saw yesterday. A hidden Jog Falls viewpoint was near the Circuit House, which offered a unique side-angle view of the four cascades – Raja, Rani, Roarer, and Rocket. We were closer to the mist and got a side view of the waterfalls.

Side view of jog falls
Side view of the falls

Here was the biggest catch. The previous day, it seemed like all 4 falls were in the same line when seen from the other side. This side showed that they were all at different depths – like when you discover a different perspective while seeing the front-view and side-view in 3D. We were quite early and there were hardly any other people.

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Asia, Travel Blog

Bangalore to Jog Falls Road Trip – A Scenic Drive

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It was Parth’s fourth birthday. My parents were coming over to celebrate with us. They wanted to go on a short road trip from Bangalore – the plan was to cover Jog Falls and Sringeri. I hadn’t been to either of them and I invited myself to the plan. Nam had a workshop to attend (which couldn’t be rescheduled) – so it was my parents, Parth and me. We started prepping for the first leg of our Bangalore to Jog Falls road trip. 

I sent a message to a friend who I believed would have good recommendations for our route – and he came through! Using his inputs, we planned the Bangalore to Jog Falls road trip itinerary.

  • Day 1: Bengaluru – Tumakuru – Chitradurga – Shivamogga – Jog Falls (420 km)
  • Day 2: Jog Falls – Kollur – Sringeri (200 km)
  • Day 3: Sringeri – Chikkamagaluru – Halebeedu – Hassan – Mysuru (300 km)
  • Day 4: Mysuru – Bengaluru (160 km)
Bangalore to Jog Falls road trip
Our route map for the trip

A total of 1025 km in 4 days. We were going in my dad’s new car – a Honda Elevate. He wanted to test out the car as well – it was the first time he had got an automatic car. They would be going to Kochi via Coimbatore after Mysuru – a total of 1300 km in 5 days.

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Africa, Travel Blog

Seven Coloured Earths and Seaplane rides – Hidden Gems of Mauritius

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The only Jyotirlinga outside India

After visiting Casela Nature Park, the next part of our journey took us to the mountains as we drove towards Grand Bassin – home to the Mauritiuseswarnath Jyotirlinga (yup, it is actually called that!). There are temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Durga next to the Ganga Talao – a volcanic crater lake. We were greeted by a sight of the giant statues of Durga and Shiva as we got closer to the temples. The Durga statue here is the tallest statue of the goddess in the world. We stopped, offered prayers and continued on our way.

The temples in Grand Bassin in Mauritius
The temples in Grand Bassin

Where to go for lunch?

We started driving towards Bois Cheri for lunch. It was in the opposite direction of our next destination – Chamarel. So we ditched it mid-way and decided to go straight to Chamarel instead. The route to Chamarel was through the Black River Gorges National Park. At the junction where we had to turn towards our route, we could see cars making U-turns and coming out.

Apparently the road was blocked and no vehicles could go through. However, there were cars coming out of the same road – it looked like it was operating as a one-way. We hoped this was not a regular phenomenon as we were planning to pass through this National Park over the next few days as well.

Our next plans were suddenly thrown in the air. We stopped and checked the map – the road to Chamouny was open. This route would go through Bel Ombre and then turn inwards to reach Chamarel. We could still get there in time for a late lunch. What should have been a 28 mins drive ended up being a 1 hour drive. We drove through small towns, got some beautiful views of the ocean from the hill and even saw a beach with waves crashing near it – there are very few such beaches in Mauritius.

Keep reading for the best photos and moments from the trip.

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Africa, Travel Blog

Breakfast with Giraffes and (not) Swimming with Whales

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Day 4 – The journey to the south

After a couple of relaxed days, we had an early start at 5 am. We packed up and said goodbye to our lovely room. We had a couple of unique places planned for the day. The first one was a 45 minute drive away near the town of Flic en Flac. The road took us back to Port Louis and we drove through and crossed the city – it was early morning on a Sunday and the roads were empty.

We reached Casela Nature Park at 7:15 am, well before our reporting time. The park had not opened to the public yet and we were among the first people to reach. We had booked a special excursion – breakfast with giraffes! This was a package they offered based on advance online bookings with limited slots – we were lucky to get this! 

Rushing to see the giraffes!
Rushing to see the giraffes!

Breakfast with Giraffes

A bus took us to the giraffe feeding deck. It was a raised wooden platform with two giraffes on one side. The other corner of the deck had a table with food for the humans. Overall, there were around 6 families. Each group took turns to walk up to the giraffes to feed them. As we waited for our turn, other visitors arrived to greet us. A couple of zebras walked by and a peacock flew up to join us on the deck. It walked from table to table hoping that someone would feed it – with bad luck.

a peacock at the giraffe feeding deck
A peacock joins us for breakfast
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Africa, Travel Blog

Ile Aux Cerfs, a Chateau and Finding Paradise in Mauritius

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Day 2 starts with a hearty breakfast

We had a slow start on day 2 – catching up on the missed sleep from the previous day. (The links to the entire series are at the bottom of this blog) There was a cafe called Flynbos Meeting Place we had identified for breakfast. The eggs benedict, pancakes and breakfast spread was just too good! Perfect way to begin the day!

A fly repellent
A fly repellant

The agenda for the day was to visit Ile Aux Cerfs – an island to the east of the mainland. It was 1 hour and 15 mins away and we had to pass through a bunch of small towns to get there.

road to Ile aux cerfs
The road to Ile aux Cerfs

As we got closer, Nam warned us to disregard any street signs which pointed to the public ferry port and just follow the map. This was much needed – the signs were made exactly like the official signboards to trick tourists and lead them to a port where they were overcharged.

The best way to get to Ile aux Cerfs

How to avoid this scam? Well, you’re at the right place to learn that! Look for a place called “Point Maurice” on the map – it is very close to the Shangri-La hotel. As you keep going along that road (it looks like a private road), you will reach a gate with a barrier. Just make an entry on the register there and mention the name of your hotel. This leads you to a dedicated parking area.

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Africa, Travel Blog

Mauritius Travel Blog: First Day of Island Life

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It was an early start from Bangalore. Our flight was at 4 am from Kempegowda International T2 and was a direct one to Mauritius. Thanks to Indigo, a lot of international routes have opened up from Bangalore – very convenient instead of taking long layover flights via Mumbai, Delhi or another country.

Quick side tip: 4 am flights mean hardly any sleep which usually translates to acidity and discomfort for me. After many such flights, I made sure I was prepared this time – eat light the previous day, pack luggage one day in advance with checklists and sleep at 8pm to get 2 hours of deep sleep.

sunrise on the way to mauritius
4 am flights also mean beautiful sunrise views from 35000 feet

Journey and arrival – first sights

The flight was almost 6 hours long – that’s a long sitting for an Indigo flight with its hard seats, no entertainment system and no food. The good part was the weather – we got beautiful sunrise views and there was no turbulence throughout the journey. As we reached the island, we could see how huge it was – our reference point was Seychelles (you can read it after this story). There were hills strewn across the island with plains in between and we could see the weather changing every few kilometres.

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A Special Note for My Amazing Subscribers

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This post is exclusively for each and every one of you – my incredible subscribers!

A few days ago, I received a notification that this blog has crossed 250 subscribers. It took me a couple of seconds to register that! Two Hundred and Fifty people have chosen to follow along on this journey with me – I never imagined that I would be able to reach out to so many people. I know the number may seem “small” by today’s social media standards, but honestly, numbers have not been my driving force. What really matters is the connection. Analytics of the blog shows me that in the last year, over 13,000 people have read my blogs. I am super grateful for each and every one of you who chose to subscribe and be part of this community! This post is my way of saying THANK YOU!

Immersive Storytelling

My mission has been to capture my stories in as much detail as possible, so that you – the reader – gets a sense of experiencing the journey along with me. In this age of videos and live-stream vlogs, this is my attempt to keep the power of imagination alive through words.

It takes me back to my childhood, reading stories by Enid Blyton and JK Rowling and more recently by authors like Ken Follett. They had the magical ability to make me “see” entire worlds unfold in my mind. I could feel the stones beneath my feet as I wandered the corridors of Hogwarts, heard the plane engines roaring in World War 2 and could practically taste those warm scones in the Famous Five (not a fan of them after actually tasting them!).

My attempt here has been to replicate that effect through, what I call, “immersive blogs” – painting each moment with a lot of detail to transport you from wherever you are reading to wherever the story unfolds.

Gratitude to my pillars

For a large part of my initial blogging journey and even now, the most loyal readers were my family and friends – really grateful to them! They were my pillars – consistently offering feedback, engaging with posts and sharing their thoughts. What might seem like a simple reply to an email or a quick comments means much more to me. These interactions silence the inevitable doubts that creep in from time to time (things like – who am I writing this for? Is anyone even liking any of this?) and keeps me going.

So, next time you come across a blog or post that you particularly enjoyed, do drop a note. That small gesture can make an enormous difference in someone’s creative journey 🙂

Looking forward

As I continue on this journey, I’d like to request a favour from all of you. These insights would be invaluable for me:

  1. What draws you to this space? What do you think sets it apart from other content out there?
  2. What would you love to see more of? Is there anything you’d like me to write more about? Any new formats, directions, topics etc?

Excited to hear your thoughts and ideas 🙂

And with that, I’m off to write the next blog series about the enchanting island of Mauritius….

Europe, Travel Blog

Discovering Lisbon – Food and Sights

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The Spain leg of our Western Europe trip was done and we landed at Lisbon, the capital of Portugal (you can read the Seville and Barcelona blogs after this one). We left our bags at the airport itself and only carried the backpack. We had to get back by night for our flight to Ponta Delgada.

A short day in Lisbon

The plan was to spend the day in the Baixa area of the city. We took an Aerobus from the airport which is a convenient way to get to the city and got down at Martim Moniz.

First sights of Lisbon
First sights of Lisbon

The plan was to explore the district by foot. We saw the famous egg custard tarts (pasteis de nata) at one shop and tried it – it was really good!

Pasteis de nata in lisbon
It might look weird for someone who has never tried it. Once you try it, you’ll look at it differently

We continued walking and saw the old trams – a historical symbol of the city which started in 1873.

Another historic structure which is worth a visit is the Elevador de Santa Justa – an elevator walkway to negotiate the hilly terrain of the city. It was constructed in 1900 and originally operated using steam!

The giant old escalator of Santa Justa in Lisbon
The giant old escalator of Santa Justa

It was a cold, windy yet sunny day and the sun provided relief from the chilly breeze. As we reached the large town square at Terreiro do Paco, we saw that a music festival, Eurovision, was ongoing. On the other side of the square was the Tagus river.

We quickly grabbed dinner from a restaurant called El Rei dom Frango (amazing sangria and lasagna). Initially, we weren’t sure if it was a good restaurant – the tables were empty when we entered. But we finished our meal and stepped out to see a long queue of people waiting to get a table.

el rei do frango in lisbon
Apparently it was a popular place

In case you are wondering why we didn’t just check the ratings on Google Maps, we were travelling without SIM cards and going “with-the-flow”.

With happy tummies, we took the next bus back to the airport for our most unique experience in the Azores. We would be back in Lisbon for part 2 of discovering the city (below).

Another day in Lisbon

We were back from the Azores. The luggage we had left in the airport locker was still there. We unpacked and re-packed our stuff, took essentials for a 1-day stay and put the bags back. It was super convenient to have a system like this – all that lugging around had been prevented. This time we took the metro instead of the bus.

On the way to our guesthouse, we entered a cafe for breakfast – the worst food of the trip so far. We checked into our room and immediately left – looking for better food.

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Europe, Travel Blog

No Entry in Barcelona

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It was 5:08 pm and we boarded our train to Barcelona. We had just completed the France leg of our trip and got on the train from Nimes – a lesser known town in the south of France. The train sped along the coast as we passed the cities of Montpellier and Perpignon and we reached Barcelona at 8:45 pm. It was a trip unlike any we had done before.

Navigating a maze

There was a direct connection between the train station and the metro. However, it felt like an underground maze as we went up and down different floors, crossing platforms and getting into confusing lifts which had doors on multiple sides (you may enter through one door but exit through another one on the side). I had never seen such lifts before and it was very disorienting.

We got into the metro station of Sants Estacio and evaluated getting regular tickets vs passes. Among all the options, the T-10 ticket seemed best for us as we were only here for two days – we could use the same ticket for multiple people.

Our stay for 2 nights

Finally, we were on our way to our Airbnb which was on a street named Carrer del Camp – the closest station was called El Putxet. We checked into our apartment – an old Argentine lady owned it. She lived on one side of it while she had let out the other side – the entire place smelled of cigarettes. We quickly left our stuff and took the metro back to Catalunya.

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