Apr 05, 2011 03:39 PM
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A long weekend was knocking at the door and as most Bangaloreans do we too decided to get disconnected from the city stress and venture a place where even the cellular services cannot reach. What better place can it be than Kemmanagundi: the perfect weekend getaway. Me my wife and my power packed family(totally seven of us) left for Kemmanagundi on the 2nd of April 2011.
Accomodation: After much research on the net I had booked a homestay known as “Valley of Birds”. The governor of the house was Mr. George Bird. What a nice and affable person he was. The rooms were neat and tidy and the homestay was right in nature’s lap.
Journey: We left Bangalore at 4:30 am as we had heard that it takes around 5 to 6 hrs to reach Birur from where Mr. Bird was supposed to receive us. But we had and advantage. my brother in law was in the driving seat! we reached in 4 hrs, yes 4 hrs it is! Considering the fact that we were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio and me along with my friend were sitting at the extreme back seats, the ride was quite a pain in the… well whole body!
The Stay: After reaching Birur we were received by Mr Bird and he took us to small canteen in the neighbourhood. The breakfast at the canteen was amazingly tasty. After that we directly went to the homestay and had 3 glasses of lime juice each as the weather was quite dehydrating. Since it was the cricket world cup finals and India were playing so we wanted to make sure that we don’t miss the action. The tv was not working at the homesaty but the kind of contacts Mr Bird had he made sure that the tv was up and running by the time we are back after seeing the valleys. We decided to visit Hebbe falls first. It took us an hour’s drive and 15 mins track to reach the falls and boy! That place is amazing. We took a dip in the water falls and let the water fall on us, it made us forget all the hardships we had to undergo to reach the place. Thankfully we had carried food along with us while going to the falls. After playing in the falls we were famished jumped on the food. Mr. Bird knew the place inside out and its amazing that he comes to this falls almost every alternate day without any boredom. Its like another day in office for Mr. Bird.
After this we came back to the homestay and spend the night soaking in some classic scotch with delicious snacks as we cheered India all the way in their journey to win the world cup. The whole experience was absolutely out of the world. Next day after having lip smacking poori and sabzi we bid adieu to Mr. Bird and left for Kemmanagundi and Mullayanagiri. The stay was fantabulous and it was highlighted all the way by Mr. Bird’s impeccable hospitality and love. We would definitely come back some day Mr. Bird.
We left at around 10:30 am and reached “Mullayanagiri” the highest peak of Karnataka by 12:00 pm. It was a breathtaking view. I had never seen valley so magnificent ever. The roads were good too with small waterfalls punctuating the beauty of the valley. We were lucky to spot a wild deer too. After having our lunch at Chikmaglur we started our journey back to Bangalore at around 3:30 pm and hit the traffic jams of Bangalore by 7:30 pm and got lost. But the experience was unforgettable, an experience which was made only better by my lovely family and friends.
