Getting 4 days off from office is a rare commodity and not going home by clubbing leaves is even rarer. Friday 7th August was a holiday in office and we took a leave on Thursday. We had planned it a long time back, this visit to Southern parts of Maharashtra. The monsoon being the perfect season for a trip to the ghats filled with numerous waterfalls. Spending all 4 days in the jungle would have been boring, so we decided to visit a near by beach in Malvan too.
Well as the trip was long so I want to break the blog in parts so as to concentrate on each day.
While planning, we were 9 people but by the end 3 were not able to make due to different reasons and one person got added in the group. Among those who didnt make were Ravi, Sonal Kachru and Tanmay. Tanmay had to leave for home on Rakhi, Ravi left for GErmany on an official trip and Sonal was sent to Italy by GE for some High profile training. The addition was that of Prashant Patil, a colleague from another team. This mention was necessary as the trip wouldn’t have been enjoyable without him. He made us realize that we did some wacky things which he had never thought he’ll be doing. We had planned to leave Bangalore for Hubli on Wednesday night, reach Hubli by early morning, have breakfast at Arun’s place and leave for Amboli in a taxi already booked from Hubli. Last moment cancellations of Arun made us rethink our plan.
The train was to leave at 2115 hrs from Bangalore, so we decided to be there by 2000 and have dinner. Plans are just plans, so separately we managed to reach the Bangalore railway station by 2030. We had reached before all, so we decided to get our dinner packed. Everyone joined and we boarded the train by 2100. Two of the seats were scattered in the bogie so we started making arrangements for all to be in one place. The trip started with chattering around and making fun of all. Prashant was introduced to Shilpi bhabi (Saket’s wife) and we were constantly making him acquainted to our environment, as we didn’t want him to come under any shock. We finished our dinner and lay there chattering through the night. Prashant was made aware of the change in plans. Now instead of making a breakfast halt at Hubli, we were to reach Belgaum (Prashant’s place) and have our breakfast there. We reached Hubli by 0545. Found our driver, Subhash and after having some tea left for Belgaum. We had to reach Belgaum before 9 so that Bhaskar could be served by breakfast before 0930. This is his official time for breakfast and he cant bear any delay in having food. No one in the group wanted to upset a 6’3” giant, though all know he is a child at heart but still, who wants to take risk.
We reached Belgaum within the next hour and were easing out at Prashant’s place. This stretch of Karnataka comes at the foothills, so the road was surrounded by small hills scattered to eternity. The landscape, marked with Sugarcane plantation and Mango trees. The reddish soil soaked in water from last nights rain looked mesmerizing. The weather was still damp, and was about to stay the same for some days to come. Everyone took a bath and got ready for some breakfast. Can’t stop myself from mentioning that, the Poha I had there was the best I had ever eaten in the past 4 years (I had poha for the 1st time in july 2005). Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the seera (halwa in hindi, kadda in punjabi), poha and upma followed by a hot cup of exceptionally good tea. The breakfast combination is traditional in North Karnataka and you’ll be treated with it wherever you go.
We started with the journey at around 11 and went to visit the Belgaum fort before leaving the place. There was a small temple in an area called kamal basti within confines of the fort. A jain temple made a long back ago. I being an atheist was more interested in the architecture. It was supported on many pillars, which seemed like loosely put beneath the whole structure. The pillars were quite distinct from the roof. There were engraved images all over the walls and the temple was divided in two chambers. The nner chamber was for the deity. It had a top opening for natural light which also worked as an exhaust during hawan. The outer chamber was open from 3 sides and had some place for worshippers to gather.
We left for Amboli within another half hour. It was a stretch of 70 km, with hilly area near to Amboli. The journey was enjoyed with
songs and bakar. Within another 2 hours we were near to Amboli. Just on the outskirts was a water fall, Nangartas falls. Named after a person whose temple was also erected there. There was a concrete bridge built to have a better view of the fall. It was quite steep and fell into a very narrow ridge. It was running with around 50% capacity as was evident from the surrounding. In low flow also it was splendid. We waited there for some time, had vada pao and a cup of tea and left for Amboli. Reaching Amboli, first we checked into the hotel, “Whistling Woods”. In the true sense, it felt like the woods were whistling there. Dumped our luggage into the rooms and got ready to explore the nearby places. We decided to see around 3 places with the major attraction being the Amboli falls. Everyone wanted to bathe in the fall, so we decided to visit it in the last. First we went to a valley, though a point was promised but we were not able to find anything. What we found was far beautiful than anything else. We stopped in the middle of the way; it was a narrow land with greenery all around. Surrounded by fog covered mountains and a sunless s
ky. We made full use of the time at hand and clicked some beautiful pictures. Some quite sensible while and some a little out of the box. Found a lonely tree and reached on to it. Made some fun of Gandhiji’s monkeys, giving them a new shade in the present era. From there we left for Mahadev Garh, a hill top view point. Saw the spectacular view from a mountain top and clicked some more pics. Not wasting much time, we left for lunch and decided to move to the waterfalls. For lunch we chose a local dhaba, instead of a flashy restaurant. We are of the idea of being Roman in Rome. Asked him for the traditional veg thali, with Konkani fried fish and a maharashtrian delicacy calle Missal Pao. Missal pao was one thing, we had heard a lot about. During our lunch time discussions about food we had come across this. It was supposed to be very chilly but very good. To mention, the missal pao was not what we had in mind, but we thought it was good. It had a little moderate chilly effect for all of us to manage and was sufficient to put it into the hot category. The fish was good, perfectly fried and the masala used was delicious. The veg thali, or to say the Konkani veg food was something I didn’t like much. It was made in coconut oil, which is a big repellant for me but all in all the lunch was fulfilling. It topped with a sweet ladoo made from sev and jaggery and another one called marunda in north. This is made from rice (fried or roasted I dnt know) and jagegry. After filling ourselves we left for Amboli Falls.
The Amboli falls are a
round 3 km from the city on the Savantvadi road. The falls are gigantic and fall from a good height. For better access steps have been made to reach the bottom of the fall. It comes straight down, so the force of water and the loudness is too much. There was no stopping us, once we saw water. Everyone jumped in except for Mayank, who was feeling a bit sick. This also happened for good as he clicked some outstanding pics of not only us but others too. Well the crowd was comfortably enough and I should saw, “quality crowd”. It was a real treat to eyes and the water was giving a cooling effect. After around an hour of enjoyment, we decided to call it a day (for roaming around) and left for the whistling woods.
We had gathered some Vodka, Whisky and Beer for the night. It was cold and foggy, somewhat like the moth of November in North. It made me a little nostalgic. We all gathered in the Verandha, just in front of our rooms and made ourselves comfortable on the chairs. A table was placed and cards came out. Coins were brought specially to act as tokens for a game of 3 patti (flash) or poker. The gamblers had there rounds for sometime, while the others enjoyed watching the exciting bouts. It was 7 and glasses were laid on the table. All had something, vodka, whisky, cocktail of vodka whisky and beer, sprite (neat) and beer alone. It was fun being away from the stressful workload and the worldly worries. Some cell phones were switched off, some didn’t have signal, while some were used as there was no running from callers. The drinks became a little too much for some and the discussions took some interesting, funny and knowledge sharing turns. All had there dinner before to retire for the day. The day was fulfilling, with minuscule amount of tiredness.
The journey will continue the next morning on a different page..........
Well as the trip was long so I want to break the blog in parts so as to concentrate on each day.
While planning, we were 9 people but by the end 3 were not able to make due to different reasons and one person got added in the group. Among those who didnt make were Ravi, Sonal Kachru and Tanmay. Tanmay had to leave for home on Rakhi, Ravi left for GErmany on an official trip and Sonal was sent to Italy by GE for some High profile training. The addition was that of Prashant Patil, a colleague from another team. This mention was necessary as the trip wouldn’t have been enjoyable without him. He made us realize that we did some wacky things which he had never thought he’ll be doing. We had planned to leave Bangalore for Hubli on Wednesday night, reach Hubli by early morning, have breakfast at Arun’s place and leave for Amboli in a taxi already booked from Hubli. Last moment cancellations of Arun made us rethink our plan.
The train was to leave at 2115 hrs from Bangalore, so we decided to be there by 2000 and have dinner. Plans are just plans, so separately we managed to reach the Bangalore railway station by 2030. We had reached before all, so we decided to get our dinner packed. Everyone joined and we boarded the train by 2100. Two of the seats were scattered in the bogie so we started making arrangements for all to be in one place. The trip started with chattering around and making fun of all. Prashant was introduced to Shilpi bhabi (Saket’s wife) and we were constantly making him acquainted to our environment, as we didn’t want him to come under any shock. We finished our dinner and lay there chattering through the night. Prashant was made aware of the change in plans. Now instead of making a breakfast halt at Hubli, we were to reach Belgaum (Prashant’s place) and have our breakfast there. We reached Hubli by 0545. Found our driver, Subhash and after having some tea left for Belgaum. We had to reach Belgaum before 9 so that Bhaskar could be served by breakfast before 0930. This is his official time for breakfast and he cant bear any delay in having food. No one in the group wanted to upset a 6’3” giant, though all know he is a child at heart but still, who wants to take risk.
We reached Belgaum within the next hour and were easing out at Prashant’s place. This stretch of Karnataka comes at the foothills, so the road was surrounded by small hills scattered to eternity. The landscape, marked with Sugarcane plantation and Mango trees. The reddish soil soaked in water from last nights rain looked mesmerizing. The weather was still damp, and was about to stay the same for some days to come. Everyone took a bath and got ready for some breakfast. Can’t stop myself from mentioning that, the Poha I had there was the best I had ever eaten in the past 4 years (I had poha for the 1st time in july 2005). Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the seera (halwa in hindi, kadda in punjabi), poha and upma followed by a hot cup of exceptionally good tea. The breakfast combination is traditional in North Karnataka and you’ll be treated with it wherever you go.
We started with the journey at around 11 and went to visit the Belgaum fort before leaving the place. There was a small temple in an area called kamal basti within confines of the fort. A jain temple made a long back ago. I being an atheist was more interested in the architecture. It was supported on many pillars, which seemed like loosely put beneath the whole structure. The pillars were quite distinct from the roof. There were engraved images all over the walls and the temple was divided in two chambers. The nner chamber was for the deity. It had a top opening for natural light which also worked as an exhaust during hawan. The outer chamber was open from 3 sides and had some place for worshippers to gather.
We left for Amboli within another half hour. It was a stretch of 70 km, with hilly area near to Amboli. The journey was enjoyed with
songs and bakar. Within another 2 hours we were near to Amboli. Just on the outskirts was a water fall, Nangartas falls. Named after a person whose temple was also erected there. There was a concrete bridge built to have a better view of the fall. It was quite steep and fell into a very narrow ridge. It was running with around 50% capacity as was evident from the surrounding. In low flow also it was splendid. We waited there for some time, had vada pao and a cup of tea and left for Amboli. Reaching Amboli, first we checked into the hotel, “Whistling Woods”. In the true sense, it felt like the woods were whistling there. Dumped our luggage into the rooms and got ready to explore the nearby places. We decided to see around 3 places with the major attraction being the Amboli falls. Everyone wanted to bathe in the fall, so we decided to visit it in the last. First we went to a valley, though a point was promised but we were not able to find anything. What we found was far beautiful than anything else. We stopped in the middle of the way; it was a narrow land with greenery all around. Surrounded by fog covered mountains and a sunless s
ky. We made full use of the time at hand and clicked some beautiful pictures. Some quite sensible while and some a little out of the box. Found a lonely tree and reached on to it. Made some fun of Gandhiji’s monkeys, giving them a new shade in the present era. From there we left for Mahadev Garh, a hill top view point. Saw the spectacular view from a mountain top and clicked some more pics. Not wasting much time, we left for lunch and decided to move to the waterfalls. For lunch we chose a local dhaba, instead of a flashy restaurant. We are of the idea of being Roman in Rome. Asked him for the traditional veg thali, with Konkani fried fish and a maharashtrian delicacy calle Missal Pao. Missal pao was one thing, we had heard a lot about. During our lunch time discussions about food we had come across this. It was supposed to be very chilly but very good. To mention, the missal pao was not what we had in mind, but we thought it was good. It had a little moderate chilly effect for all of us to manage and was sufficient to put it into the hot category. The fish was good, perfectly fried and the masala used was delicious. The veg thali, or to say the Konkani veg food was something I didn’t like much. It was made in coconut oil, which is a big repellant for me but all in all the lunch was fulfilling. It topped with a sweet ladoo made from sev and jaggery and another one called marunda in north. This is made from rice (fried or roasted I dnt know) and jagegry. After filling ourselves we left for Amboli Falls.The Amboli falls are a
round 3 km from the city on the Savantvadi road. The falls are gigantic and fall from a good height. For better access steps have been made to reach the bottom of the fall. It comes straight down, so the force of water and the loudness is too much. There was no stopping us, once we saw water. Everyone jumped in except for Mayank, who was feeling a bit sick. This also happened for good as he clicked some outstanding pics of not only us but others too. Well the crowd was comfortably enough and I should saw, “quality crowd”. It was a real treat to eyes and the water was giving a cooling effect. After around an hour of enjoyment, we decided to call it a day (for roaming around) and left for the whistling woods.We had gathered some Vodka, Whisky and Beer for the night. It was cold and foggy, somewhat like the moth of November in North. It made me a little nostalgic. We all gathered in the Verandha, just in front of our rooms and made ourselves comfortable on the chairs. A table was placed and cards came out. Coins were brought specially to act as tokens for a game of 3 patti (flash) or poker. The gamblers had there rounds for sometime, while the others enjoyed watching the exciting bouts. It was 7 and glasses were laid on the table. All had something, vodka, whisky, cocktail of vodka whisky and beer, sprite (neat) and beer alone. It was fun being away from the stressful workload and the worldly worries. Some cell phones were switched off, some didn’t have signal, while some were used as there was no running from callers. The drinks became a little too much for some and the discussions took some interesting, funny and knowledge sharing turns. All had there dinner before to retire for the day. The day was fulfilling, with minuscule amount of tiredness.
The journey will continue the next morning on a different page..........
For pics visit http://picasaweb.google.com/devilish102/TripToSouthMaharashtra#
