One day trip to Gaganachukki, Barachukki and Thalakkad - II

Well, this is the continuation of the previous post.
Had a quick hangout with my friends at the Forum, Bangalore this evening. Ah, that was a fine eve once again.

Back to Ganganchukki, we've just reached the spot with the falls right in front of us. Ganganchukki, provided us only with a long shot of the falls. It's just a photo point, fed our digicam with a few shots of it. My cam is not a SLR, so the pics may not be of wallpaper type, but still it's the best in its class and has served me for almost 4 years, a solid loyal companion gifted by my sister !!!

As said, Ganganchukki, just a photo point, got ourself fried in the flash lights for a while, only for a proof of our journey. Oh yeah, the guy with the cap is me. ( Don't ever try to comment okay !! ?? )

Then we took our car to Barachukki, where we can actually get colse to the gushing waters and for which the tour is all about ! On the way, we were able to spot local residents, different from what we see in Bangalore, bullock carts, houses with clay-tiled roofs. Of course, I'm not the hi-fi type to say that I haven't ever seen a bullock cart, but that one was somthing definitely captive. We also came across a water clad landscape, a river may be, where we spent some time hanging on the twigs and branches of the low lying trees bordering the river. This pic below is a favorite shooting spot for films, where some kannada songs where shot, may be I didnt get this pic at the right angle.

The road being steep and iced with gravel, it took half an hour to reach Barachukki. It was nothing but the same falls from a different perspective. Meanwhile, my friends had found a spot where they immediately unpacked and plunged into the waters. It was a small falls-like formation on the rocks with height of about 15 ft. We had a good time in the clear and cold water. The Sun was kind enough to hide itself behind the clouds for the whole day, sparing most of our energy to help us keep up the rythm. Guys from chennai though from different domicile, were glued to the mini-falls, that it took almost a hour and a half to leave that place.
Pics ?? those are censored !!. Took our only food that we luckily got from Bangalore and proceeded to the lap of the falls. The day being a saturday, there was pretty decent crowd, keeping us occupied. Had snacks like Mirchi Bhaji and stuffs like that. Average. We reached the entrance of the falls, only to know that we have to trek down almost 500 mts along the steps cut on the rocks adjoining the falls. Thank God we already had our heads cooled !! We started trekking down the cliff, while about half way down, none of us were ready to get an inch further as we already were exhausted out. So, we turned back and reached the top and almost drank every drop of water we had with us. Felt like Wayne Rooney, after having played the whole 90 minutes.

One of my friends insisted in going to Thalakkad, where Cauvery would be in the form of a river. Guys, the road to thalakkad was ready bad. We had lots of fun there, had tea and few of my friends went again for a plunge. Finally we packed up and raced back to Bangalore to reach by 10 PM. Overall, we had a great time for the whole day, a tour to be remembered.


More travelogues to come, Watch Out !!

One day trip to Gaganachukki, Barachukki and Thalakkad

AUGUST 15, 2009 - INDEPENDENCE DAY - Jai Hindh.

Being in a metro, you must admit to the fact that the 'busy as a bee' city life is often weary. Same was the case until that friday, when some of my techie friends planned a visit to Bangalore only to hang out. A one day trip was all that we were looking for. Finally, we zeroed in on this place, since it met our planned time window and since my friends were desperately in need for a place which would be pleasent to the eyes and to rejuvenate as well. (You should be in Chennai to realise this anyway !) Though, I had not been to this place previously, a few key strokes in google search and I was there virtually. There were lot of other places that tried to steal our attention, yet we settled down with this one. We were a team of 8, 3 from Bangalore and the other 5 from Chennai. We managed to arrage a cab at the eleventh hour through SRS Travels. It was a Chevy Tavera. Had good travel experience with the car as well as the courteous driver.

We started around 10AM from kalasipalaya after having our break fast. Journey was along the all time busy 4 lane - Mysore road. H Took frequent breaks on the highways. 

Some blogs advised us to take parcel food as there are no/limited food in Ganganchukki. They were right, we didn't take it serious yet we got some packets of curd rice, the traditional item of South India. And that prove to be the only main course, that we were munching after going there. Food is not available in Ganganchukki/Barachukki. However, you can get some Bajji /Mirchi near the falls.

Finally, we managed to reach the falls at 1:30 PM exactly. The road was average once we left the Mysore road. You have to take a left turn somepoint at the Mysore road. This made the driver to pull back his speed to 65-70 who was easily hitting 90-90 in the Odo. Regarding the Chevy, Ppl at the back seat with lateral arrangemt had a bumpy ride, though I was excused to take the front seats, thanks to my back ache.

There is a toll gate at the entrance of Shivanasamudra and the path till Ganganchukki is aesthetic. There is a small dam and a man-made gorge that ferries the water along. Gorgeous to look at. As we near the falls, the cry of the falls started buzzing in our ears, increasing its audibility as we move towards it. This was our first glance of the falls.

Will continue, the rest of this travelogue in the next post. Watch out !

Intro

Got my system formatted very recently. Need to search all my tape drives for my travelogue photo collections. Will start posting soon, hopefully.

Ignition Key Set ON

Intended to create a blog to share all my travel experiences. I dont fly over the seas though, I believe there are numerous places waiting to be explored or atleast less explored. There are millions of parts in the world waiting to be touched (heard this somewhere ?? ;) ) Will try to update this space with atleast two travelogues per month. Watch out !