Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

We came across this amazing place by accident. On one trip to Mysore during our courtship days we were on the way to Brindavan Gardens and spotted birds on the road. It was a group of peasants or so. It was quite odd to see a group of birds on Indian roads. And this was no forest route. And later in the near by fields we spotted more birds. And then on our right we say this one of a kind Bus stop . Indian villages barely have proper bus stops let alone such a cute and pretty one. It was the best I have ever seen. It was a concrete blue structure with statues of birds on top. Right after the bus stop there winded a road towards the right and the road was mounted by an arc of the same pattern and it said the entrance to "Ranganthittu bird sanctuary".

I have come across many wild life and bird sanctuary in my life and in most of them you spot something if you are lucky enough. This one was welcoming and so we changed our plans and decided to visit this place instead. I didn't expect to see any birds. But what I saw was something I have seen is something I had seen only in the discovery channel.

The sanctuary was around this group of islands formed in the Kaveri river and there were hundreds of thousands of birds flocked together in these islands. These were breeding grounds for a large number of migratory birds. This place is a bird watchers and photographers haven. This trip was supposed to be included along with our Mysore trip but this is too good . Good enough to deserve a separate post.

THE RANGANTHITTU BUS STOP

THE ENTRANCE TO THE SANCTUARY ROAD

A POND IN THE SANCTUARY GARDENS

THE HANGING BRIDGE AND THE WALKWAY IN THE SANCTUARY GARDENS

MORE STATUES! BIRD ISLAND IN THE SANCTUARY GARDENS

VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Boating is the main attraction in the sanctuary. Tourists are taken extremely near the birds in boats and the birds are quite used to the admirers that they are least bothered and go about with their business. The islands and the waters are also inhabited by crocodiles and tortoises. Its a thriving ecosystem.

PICS FROM THE BOAT

BREEDING ON THE ROCKS

FLYERS

CROCODILES BASKING IN THE SUN

Sake, Zuri , Whitefeild ,Bangalore

It was our first date after the baby. A well deserved one. We wanted to be special. And we wanted to go to a good place. We left at about 9 and wanted to go to some star hotel , some place that serves 24/7. Krish wanted to go to either Lalit Ashok or ITC Gardenia having gone  ITC Windsor the last time and loving it. But once it the car I started getting nervous about leaving the baby , although my mom was baby sitting. I insisted on going some place close to home and we decided on Zuri , Whitefeild.

Zuri is a go to place for parties in Accenture, were I used to work then. We went in and sure enough there was a party going on in the ground floor restaurant. We wanted to go to the roof top one . It was called Sake - Pan Asian restaurant and Lounge. The expectations were very high from the pics online. and the moment we entered I was thoroughly disappointed. It was a dark dungeon like place. No ambiance. And no customers for that matter. Just us and another couple busy smoking, probably a joint cause they were a little off the hook.

 We took the last table and i was facing a broken generator of me sorts and a small waterfall which didn't work. I didn't like it a bit. The service was that of a star hotel though. But even the food disappointed. We ordered a crispy fried lotus stem that was honey glazed and mai tais. The mai tai was a bit too stiff and had cheap rum and the lotus stem was good the first bite and then tiring. We were served plain Wontons with the drink and that was the best of the lot. We left quite soon without finishing out food or drink cause it was too sober . This is not how a star restaurant should be kept. A big no no.:(

CRISPY FRIED LOTUS STEM AND PLAIN WONTONS. THE POOR CLARITY IS CAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE LIGHTING IN THERE.

THE HONEY GLAZED LOTUS STEM- WAS A BIT TOO SWEET TO EAT AFTER THE FIRST FEW BITES.

Kobe Sizzlers, Koramangla ,Bangalore

Believe me when i say we discovered this amazing place by accident. I had been to the Lakme Salon in Koramangala to get my hair done. I was supposed to be done by noon and it got late. Krish , being the extremely calm,soft spoken, low tempered guy he is, gets really cranky when is hungry. So as we walked along the streets of Koramangla in the scorching heat the first place we came across was Dominos Pizza and I really didn't  wanna have pizza for lunch. Krish was getting more and more pissed and right when we saw this Kobe sizzlers we went in.

I knew we are gonna get only sizzlers here but anything edible was fine at that point. The place seamed to be really popular among the cosmopolitan crowd of Koramangla. This wasn't my first sizzler. But it was one of the best. The veggies melted in the mouth .And we scrapped the plate clean:).

ITS SSSSMOKING!

THE VEGGIES MELTED IN THE MOUTH

AND OF COURSE KRISH GETS THE BULLS EYE

Trader Vic's,Pheonix Market City ,Bangalore

We went to this place when all of Krish's friends came down from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cochin. We had a blast. In our figo some 6 people cramped in  and the 2 took our scooter. We went to Trader Vic's that day for a drink. Now the place is called the Big Kahuna but everything is the same. We ordered a couple of their exotic drinks. They didn't have the regular cocktails. They had their own version.And we decided to order the food later. Later that turned out to be a good decision. Cause the ambiance of the place totally sucked. It was neither a pub or a restaurant. It was some gloomy place in between.

The drinks came in and we were shocked. They served a small tumbler sized portions . It was more of a family drink type. How would you feel like if you were served half a liter of cocktail in crushed ice. The drinks though weren't that impressive I and we decided to leave quickly so that we can make it into some other place before closing time.

Krish and I put forth a fool proof plan. The 13th Floor in Brigade road!. The food is awesome , drinks are the best and the ambiance is superb!. We left.

OUR TROPICAL DRINKS!

EACH ONE HAD THEIR OWN SIGNATURE MIX OF FRUIT JUICES AND ALCOHOL AND EACH HAD QUITE FANCY NAMES TOO

DON'T MISS THEIR CUTE SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS

Hogenakkal Falls

This one was an other of the most unplanned trip of ours. All we wanted to do when we got into our car on fine Sunday morning was to simply have breakfast from The Koshys. We were dressed casually for breakfast and didn't have plans for that Sunday. After breakfast we decided to check out Bannerghatta National Park, may be take a trip in their caged vans through the enclosures. We drove to Bannerghatta and took the van ride. It was a good trip. We had lunch from their canteen and were about to leave when a sign board pointing the opposite direction said Anekkal 80kms. I didn't know what was so special about that place but Krish wanted to take that route real bad and I agreed. Some crazy routes later we ended up in a road towards Hogennakkal.

Now I wanted to go to Hogennekkal but I wanted it to be a relaxing trip.It was already 4. It would be around 6 when we reach there. But again Krish just wanted the drive. We drove through the beautiful yellow foliage covered hills to the falls.We reached there by 5:30 and the last coracle for had left. It was 6 people per coracle and 100 per head. Seeing us one particular guy offered to take us around if we agreed to pay for the entire boat. Krish agreed . I walked down towards the falls through a river and we started the ride.

VIEW OF THE GORGE FROM THE CORACLE.

The falls were made by the river Kaveri as it fell down the carbonate rocks and cuts it to make a gorge. The rower told us that one side of the gorge was Tamil Nadu district and the other was Karnataka.We boarded from the Tamil Nadu side.

THE HOGENAKKAL FALLS

Boating was allowed only in summer when the Falls were in low intensity.The coracles took us close enough to touch the falls. He also told us that earlier when you toss a coin from the coracle to the water local kids would jump from the top of the gorge to pick up the coin from the river bed!.

TOUCHING THE WATERFALLS

There were food and drink coracles taking loops in the gorge, They were loaded with chips and soft drinks. They would row down to your coracle and serve you on the spot!.

PHOTO SHOOT!

Taking an exclusive boat had its perks. He let us climb on to the gorge and click pics and everything. He also did a rotation of the boat in mid water and even let Krishna row for a while.

ROWING ALONG KAVERI

PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE GORGE

We rowed towards the other side of the gorge to the sandy banks and let us spend some time there. It was around 6 then. We walked down to were the river was flowing really shallow but with a huge current. It was fun to play in the crystal clear waters during twilight.

TWILIGHT

SPLASHING AND FISHING :P

There were make shift stalls in the bank which sold fried fish. I didn't want to try it out from the look of it but the lady there played her sentiments as it was closing time and we ended up buying the last plate. I regretted it later on. The fish is kept coated in some bright red masala and the oil was old and black. The fish wasn't even cleaned properly and it stank. I threw it away wit. Whathout eating:(. What a waste of resource. Coming from Bangalore where we got only frozen fish caught days ago, here they make a disaster out of the fresh fish they have.

FRESH FRIED FISH

It was nearly dark when we reached the banks. On the walk back to the car along the river I was attacked by a monkey !.I threw the 7 up bottle I had at it and grabbed the bottle opened the cap and started drinking out of it. The bloody monkey scratched my leg .:@.

Srirangapatna

The second day of the Mysore trip we left early to explore the least explored historical city of Srirangapatna. Once we reached there we realized why it was least explored. It wasn't much. Not from a normal tourists point of view. Nothing much appealing. No feast to the eye sorts. There were the remains of the Srirangapatna Fort build by the Tipu Sutan . And further that route the Sri Ranganathaswany Temple.

SRI RANGANATHASWAMY TEMPLE, SRIRANGAPATNA

We then left to see the Triveni Sangama the meeting point of 3 rivers namely Kaveri, Kabini and Hemavathi. The sangama is auspicious for Hindus as a point to do the death rites. And that is exactly what is was. A completely spiritual place where people came to do the death rites. There were small Shiva lingas in the exapanse of the visible river.

TRIVENI SANGAMA, SRIRANGAPATNA

Throughout our journey through Srirangapatna we had to pay in many places to park , to enter or just to pass by . And we were kind of getting pissed. We decided to visit the Gumbaz of Tipu Sultan and his Summer palace. But again we had to pay so we chucked the Summer Palace and decided on just the Gumbaz. It was an  good place . Quite small structure but huge well kept gardens . Had a mosque inside and it was prayer time .There were many devotees around.

TIPU SULTAN GUMBAZ

GARDENS,TIPU SULTAN GUMBAZ

THE GUMBAZ AND THE MOSQUE

THE REMAINS OF TIPU SULTAN,HYDER ALI AND FATIMA BEGUM

REMAINS OF OTHER RELEVANT ROYALS AROUND THE MAIN GUMBAZ.

On the way back to Bangalore we stopped at Channapatna - the land of toys, to check out their infamous wooden toys, at the stores on the roadside.

CHANNAPATNA WOODEN TOYS

Mysore

We have been to Mysore many times. We drive home via Mysore sometimes. I like everything about Mysore. The Bangalore Mysore highway , how it is kept to feel like you are going on a holiday when you drive through, and the well planned city of Mysore . The sheer number of historically important tourists attractions stuffed together into one tiny city.

Must be the active presence of the Wodeyars still in the city when you are there at least for a moment you feel taken back to the age of the Wodeyars and Tipu sultan. It is truly the land of palaces. There are more palaces here than modern buildings. The only thing we see properly during our Mysore trips was the Mysore palace which is soo big that you cant help but see it when you pass by.

We decided to make a proper trip to Mysore and we did. The only places we missed were the high tea from the Lalit Mahal Palace and the Mysore zoo visit. I remember from the school days trip that they used to have a white tiger.:). So we went to a few places and went to Ranganthittu and Srirangapattana all in 2 days. This post covers only the Mysore part starting with the Brindavan Gardens.

THE VIEW OF BRINDAVAN GARDENS FROM THE ENTRY POINT

A STATUE NEAR THE DAM

THE KRISHNARAJASAGAR DAM

FOUNTAINS OF BRINDAVAN

WATERWORKS

MORE WATERWORKS

The fountains and pools here spell the abundance of water from the reservoir .We visited only one portion of the gardens which is towards the left of the dam . There are more attractions in the right side park including a Musical fountain. I remember it from my school days. Tourists are not allowed over the dam to see the reservoir. Wonder why. I remember going on top when i came around 6-7 years back. The employees of the dam and some official vehicles were allowed on top. I really wanted to go and see but i am usually spooked by large water bodies anyway.

A VIEW FROM THE TOP

THE KAUVERY RIVER

THE CHAMUNDESHWARI TEMPLE ON CHAMUNDI HILLS

MYSORE CITY VIEWED FROM THE CHAMUNDI HILLS

I personally felt the chamundi hills visit is not worth it. I was awed when I came here for the first time . That was during school days .But this time I felt it was a waste of time. I could have visited the zoo.:(Any hoo as per Krish's wish we went there and spend quite some time there too.

ST PHILOMENA'S CHURCH

NEO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Mysore had a lot of historical places , palaces and everything but it was the last place I expected to see a Gothic style church. There weren't many tourist around here . Made it even more scary. And the chapel was quite small for the church of this size and really dark. Scared much. And we visited around twilight . Scared a little more and we visited the underground catacombs. Scared out of my wits and wanted to run away.

PALACE GUARDS OF THE MYSORE PALACE

THE SIDE VIEW OF THE PALACE, THE TOURISTS ENTRANCE AND THE FRONT ENTRANCE TO THE PALACE

THE PALACE GROUNDS AND THE TEMPLE

Ooo the palace. The Good old Mysore Palace which completely blew me over when I first visited as a kid. Each rooms were soo elegant I imagined the kings and the the queens and the guards in every room I saw. And half of the palace were not open to the visitors and my imagination ran wild picturing what could be in the other half. and then the locals stood in every corner demanding money for each and every step we took brought me back to reality.

THE MYSORE PALACE

HELLEWW TIGER :P