Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta- Weekend Trek

Vachana's loyal hunting boots!

You guys will no longer believe me if I tell you I’m not a trekker. This trek to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta (let’s shorten it to BR Betta) was my third trek in the last five months; the first one being Kurinjal (read about it here) and second being Skandagiri (read about it here). That’s weird because I believed that I’m not one of those enthu-fit persons. I’m still not. Yet, I have finally found out why I keep saying yes to Vachana (the one who insists on such physically demanding routines). It’s not the trek, it’s the view.

The thrill of being on an elevation, to feel the gusts of wind, to inhale deeply the oxygen and intoxicate oneself with the vistas that the peak provides. That’s why the climb is worth it. And as I realized this time, it’s even more fun when the company you climb with are fun-loving people.

For the first time, I trekked with the Bangalore Trekking Club. I was so skeptical of going on a random trek with random people. I was just being stupid (which is so me!). These trekkers were the most down-to-earth people. A common tie- the love for treks- bonded them together. They are hands-on people, fun-loving, and it was jolly, good fun trekking with them.

The organizer, Sangamesh, did a pretty good job. Early by 7:15am, we, 21of us, were bundled in a Tempo Traveller and whisked away to BR Betta. On the way, we watched the Indian-entry-for-Oscars this year, a Kannada movie called “LUCIA” and yes, I lapped up the movie completely. Go, watch it… It comes with English subtitles!

The trek to the top

Coming back to the trek, halfway through, we stopped for breakfast and parceled our lunch and we reached BR Betta by 10:30am. The sun was a bit merciless, the trek was said to be 7-8kms and we walked on the well-beaten track to the top, ‘interluding’ with water-breaks, shade-breaks and story-breaks!

Fire-wood food!

I guess by 12:30pm, we reached the top. There’s a temple at the top and we saw people cooking lunch on firewood (lovely smell!). It so happened that someone had bought a new tractor (“Sarpanch” brand, no less!) and there was a puja and a feast in progress. The villagers eyed us and we eyed them and then we talked to them and they talked to us and then it was “aa… gale lag jaa”… the pleasantry of Indian “fraanship”.

We fooled around for a while around the temple and they invited us to join in the feast! Awfully sweet of them. We were 21hungry beasts by the time we reached the top. We didn’t want them to exhaust their supplies and insisted that we eat our packed lunch but they had good persuasive skills and after a while, there we were, sitting on the temple verandah, eating and reveling and thanking. Lovely, hospitable people! Such heartfelt warmth you shall not find in the best places that money can buy. Bet on it!

Now, coming to the view that I yearn for while trekking, on the other side of the temple, is a water tank and a view that is so pristine that all I wanted was to sit on a rock and meditate. The clouds made weird shapes on the green valley that spread all around us. We were at the top, of course, and the wind embraced us and the sun warmed us. I laid on a rock and took a mini-nap. So did Vachana (poor girl was running a temperature), the others sat around and joked about. We sat there for a while and around 3:45pm, we began our descent.

Descending was easy, we strutted along, talked, made each other the butt of jokes (all in good zest, my dear) and in an hour’s time or so, we were comfortably back to square one, back in the Tempo Traveller, watching the rest of LUCIA, playing Antrakshiri and singing ourselves hoarse!

Comrades

What a fantastic way to spend a Sunday! Thank you, fellow-trekkers, for being you and being so comradely! And thanks, Bangalore Trekking Club, for organizing a successful event!

Dead Tired

Vachana and I do the shoe-pose!

P.S. Take sunscreen and shades (which I forgot again!)

P.P.S. My face has swollen; the cause being the sun. Normal people get sunburn, I get sun-swollen. Damn! :/

For more information on this not-for-profit trekking group, visit http://www.bangaloretrekkingclub.com/

Skandagiri: Conquered

Won't you love being here?

For starts, I'm no trekker. I'm lazy. I'm hedonistic. I am not interested in trekking but I love seeing new sights.

So obviously, I must have been bored out of my brains by city-life when I said 'yes' to a trek to Skandagiri. Before going, I did my usual research online and found that Wikipedia mentioned the trek as 'moderately difficult' (which sent shivers down by spine). Also, my friends' account of their trek to Skandagiri filled me with dread. But braced with a lot of self-motivation and false courage, at 5:30am on a Sunday, I bundled into a car. Yawning, doubtful, worried and sleepy. My biggest worry was death on the mountain, the second worry was slipping and losing some of my front teeth (I have my own marriage to attend in a few months and losing a tooth or two would create havoc on my already jittered family).

Anyway, you'd be glad to know that none of the bad things happened. I survived to tell the story of my trek.

I know that Skandagiri appears to be a favorite for night treks. You start the climb at 3am and try reaching the peak in time for sunrise. But we did a day trek. We weren't sure if night treks were still allowed after a mishap (re: murder? fall?) happened last year and treks were banned in Skandagiri.

Reaching Chikballapur took us an hour and a half from the city, with breakfast in between to boot ourselves up. It was 10am by the time we reached Chikballapur. At around 10:30am, we started on the incline. Lucky for us, the day was pleasant. Sun and shade in parts. The first 30 minutes of the trek was the most difficult for me. My body is not used to climbing huge boulders on an incline. But we were taking frequent breaks. After the first 30 minutes climb, I was feeling so sick and giddy that I let one of my co-trekkers carry my stuff. Yes, I felt miserable that he had to carry extra load from me, but I'm, as it is, a fat female and carrying another 6kg on my body was too much on my constitution! I think my head would have burst if I were to carry that load for another minute. After shifting the load, it was easier to carry on. The frequent stops gave me enough time to steel myself and motivate myself to carry on.




Besides my self-cribbing, the views that the trek provided was gorgeous. The clouds shifting through the valley, the fields at the distance, the constant breeze... it felt good. At one point, we came across a sort of cave, naturally formed by three huge boulders. We sat there, chit-chatted and sheltered from the sun for a while. Then again we went... Aage Barho! The higher we went, the higher my spirit soared. I knew I would be reaching the top soon and hopefully, in one piece. It gave me josh! With our snail-slow climb with very frequent rests, we managed to reach the peak at 1pm.

At World's Edge

The Roof was our Picnic spot

The view at the top was absolutely mesmerizing. All the fatigue we carried to the top disappeared in a jiffy. The peak had ruins of a fort along with an old temple. It was green all around with the ruined structures providing added beauty to the place. There was no one present except our group. Earlier there used to be vendors at the top selling food at exorbitant rates but the police stopped these activities after the mishap. In a way, this was good for us... we had the peak all to ourselves!

After enjoying the green panoramic view, we climbed on top of a ruined structure and had our lunch. We had carried our lunches; bread-omlet, puris, biscuits, beverages and Vachana's Kaya (all the way from Malaysia) with bread.

After that satisfying a meal, who doesn't want a nap? Some of us fell flat on the rock and rested our tired bodies. We laid down on the flat rock and let the breeze blow across us. It is a feeling that can't be expressed, but only felt. I remembered feeling this sort of serenity when I laid on a rock at Athirapally falls in Kerala. These moments are so rare, so tranquil, they make you forget every worry and just be in the moment.

The Wind chimes...

While meditating on my thoughts, I must have dozed off a while; when I did wake up, I realised Vachana was clicking pictures of me! Bad, bad girl!

Afterwards, we explored the area for a while longer and at around 3pm, we started our descent. The descent was, of course, faster. Notwithstanding a few slips here and there, we were intact when we reached the base at 4:20pm.

We were at the top!

At the base, we looked at the hill that we had climbed. 1350 meters... it towered like a giant... I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe mixed with pride. Awe at the hill and proud that I conquered it!

If you are looking for a moderately difficult weekend that is very, very rewarding (in terms of views and calorie-burning), I suggest you take the trek to Skandagiri. ;)

While on it, you might want to carry (i) light jackets (ii) water and (iii) food. Happy Trekking!

Encouragement note # If I, a lazy slob, can do it, then you can definitely do it!

I want to turn the whole world upside down!

And if you require musical motivation, the song "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson should give you a nice, comforting push to the top.

Who's to say/ What's impossible/ Well they forgot/ This world keeps spinning/ And with each new day/ I can feel a change in everything/ And as the surface breaks reflections fade/ But in some ways they remain the same/ And as my mind begins to spread its wings/ There's no stopping curiosity

I want to turn the whole thing upside down/ I'll find the things they say just can't be found/ I'll share this love I find with everyone/ We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs/ I don't want this feeling to go away

Who's to say/ I can't do everything/ Well I can try/ And as I roll along I begin to find/ Things aren't always just what they seem

The Family Visits-Part I-Goa

I have been complaining to my mom for close to eight years, bi-annually, of not coming and visiting me in Bangalore. I mean, people just don't dump their wards in Bangalore; people come and visit their wards once in a while. Yet this was not in my case. I have been living here since eight years and the only time she came to Bangalore was during my law-school admissions. Once admitted, she never bothered. Or rather, she did bother and felt guilty, but she is a working woman and she couldn't find the right time to visit me.

Goa: anticipating rain

But now, in a few months time, I shall be leaving Bangalore and so I told her to visit me and see Bangalore before I leave. For some weird reason, she agreed this time.
And we booked her ticket (#happy)
... along with my brother's ticket (#incredulous)
.... and my brother's friend's  ticket (#twomangateens?!)
... and my brother's friend's mom-and-dad's tickets!  (#facepalm)

After tickets were done, there was a frenzy of plans happening in Guwahati. All wanted to go to Goa. Brother wanted two days to be with his friends, the other family wanted to visit another place besides Goa, mom wanted to do some wedding shopping, auntie wanted to go for saree shopping... they had five days in hand and I had a handful of hair in mine!

This vacation was NOT going to be my vacation: I was to be their guide. I don't make a good guide.

Nevertheless, this is how it happened:

It so happens that Indigo airways have started operating a direct flight from Guwahati to Bangalore that lands at Bangalore right at 8pm. The flight landed 20mins early (which is unheard of!), yet my group trickled out at the very end of the flight-crowd.This was a warning of how things could get hold up when there are five people from the "land of laahe laahe".

There was no time to lose because we had a bus scheduled for Goa at 11pm. I packed the entire bunch in a hired Innova and asked the driver to speed it up to Orion Mall for a quick dinner. On the way, we caught up on the news of everyone from Assam, from Assam politics to neighbours' politics and reached Orion Mall by 10pm. They gaped at the Mall like it was a thing from another planet. Frankly, I had never been to Orion Mall and damn, it was huge! I would have gaped too, but I pretended as if every other mall in Bangalore is just as big (*grins*).

For the next 45mins, I became the ring-master of my group, keeping a timer by which they need to finish the dinner and arrive at the bus stop. And sharp at 10:45pm, we reached the bus stand. And the bus? It was late!

Customs Govt. Guest House- Rs. 100 a night!!

The bus showed up a good 30mins late; however, we were all too tired to complain. They were impressed once again seeing the cleanliness of the "night-super" and the cleanliness of the public toilets in Karnataka!

By noon the next day, we were in Goa, settling in the Customs Guest house that my uncle had booked for us. It being August, the Goan rains were in full swing. The rain came and cleared for brief periods. For people getting scorched in the Guwahati heat, Goa was a blessing!

The first day, we decided to visit the Baga and Anjuna beaches. At Baga, I took them to the famous Britto's and made them taste the Pepper Prawns. That was a huge hit! Another bigger hit was the shandy I prepared. A crowd-pleaser everywhere!

The famed Pepper Prawns @ Brittos

The beach had a crazy effect on The Bunch. I guess it is the fact that they don't get to see the beach that often that made them go so crazy! Because of the monsoons, the waves were huge and the beach was wet. Yet it didn't stop them from enjoying the sea. It was just lovely seeing my mom and aunt screaming their lungs out to the sea... the sea must have turned partially deaf :/

Anjuna

Dona Paula

After the beaches, auntie voted that we go on a Goan cruise. I was extremely skeptical but 'course, they voted me out of the vote. So we all went. It was my first time on a cruise and it was extremely bad. The MC sucked, the music sucked and for the cultural experience, they provided three Goan dances with the same dance troupe. Well, it didn't suck for the families present there. They were dancing on stage. Brother and his friend (let's call them the Manga teens) gave one look at the stage and went upstairs on the deck and never came back. The cruise was an hour long excruciating affair; nonetheless, in the end, I was actually beginning to enjoy the part when auntie went up onstage with a group of married ladies to dance. Painful for her son, yes, but fun for us! ;)

The next day, we covered Dona Paula, Basilica of Bom Jesus, Fort Agoda and Calungute Beach. I haven't been to Dona Paula before and I quite liked the place in the early morning. We were almost alone, without tourists around, with the sea surrounding us. It was nice.

We wrapped up the Basilica and Fort Aguada as fast as we possibly could and headed to the beach. There, the Bunch went mad, once again... Knee-deep in water, screaming, plunging... they didn't mind the rain... they loved the sea!

Nuts

For lunch, we went to Souza Lobo's in search of authentic Goan cuisine and we weren't disappointed. The shandy was becoming part of lunch ritual now. Later, we went to a cashew-nut and fenny wholesaler and bought "souvenirs" for people back home.

Late that night, we caught the bus back to Bangalore. They looked at the sea and made promises to come back and visit Goa soon!

Footprints in the Sand

On the 3rd day of their 5 day trip, weary and beaten by the sea, The Bunch reached Bangalore. Continue>

My first trek- Conquering Kurinjal Peak, Kudremukh

Obviously, destiny had better things in store when it decided to cancel my Chikmagalur trip. Destiny had decided that I shall go beyond Chikmagalur to reach the heart of Kudremukh and do my first, ever trek!

Like all good travel plans, this plan happened at the eleventh hour. Knock. Plan. Pack. Go. At 5AM, I met my friend's brother, who rode his bike at neck-break speed to reach the other end of the city where the others were waiting. It was one of those rides where your nose amazes you by still functioning while speeding against cold, freezing winds.

By 6AM, we four were seated comfortably in my friend's car and off we drove to Kudremukh. The landscape was beautiful and at one point, the view was so pretty that we stopped the car, walked up a small hillock and admired the windmills on the green valleys at the distance.





On our way, we also decided to stop by Belur and visit the Belur Temple. I had been here before but this temple's architecture can never satiate me. The extremely intricate designs, the flawless sculptures, the stories behind... It's one of the most beautiful temples I have seen till date.

Belur Beauty

Ek Garam Chai ki Pyali ho

For lunch, we stopped by a small, road-side restaurant serving Fish-thalis. I had to mention this because their hospitality amazed me. They knew we were not from their area, so they made us sit in the adjacent room which was their living room and served our lunch on their private dining table :)

After lunch, the next two stops were a tea-stop with a friendly dog who ran across the park in lightning-speed-rounds and rolling tea estates where we posed before the camera.




With all these breaks, we managed to reach Bhagawati Nature Camp, Kudremukh, by 5PM in the afternoon. It was my first experience of tent accommodation and I was super-duper excited!

But my excitement was nothing in comparison to that my friend who hurried us up as she took us for a "surprise". Ta-daaa....!

I have been here :)

Isn't this beautiful?! She discovered that the River Bhadra runs through Bhagawati's estate. We loved the quaint waters, glistening in the twilight and the serene silence of the woods. It was so very peaceful.

There was also a small 'activity' area where these guys climbed, jumped and swung about from nets, bars, tyres and what not!

At night, we entertained ourselves with dumb charades and  a 'crab' dance recital. Of course, like all night camps, it had to include the telling of ghost stories!

Dinner was simple and tasty, though a bit late. We slept like logs that night.

The next day, by 8am, we were good to go on the trek. Water bottles, eggs, bread-jam et al. We passed through grasslands, dense forests, carcass of a bison... The only rests were the ones that started with "Leeeeeeeccchhh! Remove!!" Yes, nasty leeches of Kudremukh. Blood Suckers! We donated quite a lot of blood to the forest. Salt water hardly helped to keep them at bay. At one point, I had around 20 of them rolled into a globe, inter-twined, partying on my sock. Yes, it was quite a sight! Woman v. Wild!

I walk alone...

The trek was long, but was easy. The only tough part being the last 5mins where the climb becomes really steep. By the time, we reached the peak, it was raining and I was miserably hungry. I felt faint. There, on top of the peak, we ate bread-jam-bananas-eggs with a ravish! We sat there for a while, enjoying the view, watching the dense white fog around us.

As we ascended

After a while, we started our descent. The rain never stopped pouring. Three hours of a continuous drench. Bheegi Billi!

We started trekking at 8am and returned to the camp at 1pm... From our site to the peak and back, it must have been a total of 20kms. I'm not too sure of metrics. But I'm sure my first trek was a whole lot of fun!

I am glad I did this trek... It was an experience I shall never forget.

Never wanting to leave for the city

Guys, let's do one more soon!

Kuala Lumpur on a shoe-string budget: Part I

Fish School, School of Fish

The last time I visited KL, it was a week-long trip, stopping by Penang, reaching Langkawi and back. This time, I went to KL for a really short period of time: 3 days.... to be honest, it actually came down to 2 days since I  couldn't do anything but rush to the airport on the 3rd day.

Last time, I had traveled in semi-luxury... I had some time to save quite a bit of money; however, this time things were very "last-minute" and we decided to go the back-packers way. Well... excluding the tickets and my shopping, we spent a total of around 16k (INR) for the trip...that's 8k per person (inclusive of stay, transport and food). We are quite proud of this achievement. How did we do it? That's what I shall spill now:

Before I flew from Bangalore, Neel and I decided to meet at the Old Town White Coffee shop at the KLIA (airport). Neel was already there for the past five days for a meet. Why we decided a meeting point beforehand is simple... Airtel (my telecom carrier) charges Rs.100 for an incoming call while traveling abroad and I had no intention to spare such cash. In fact, I turned my data services off as soon as I landed in KL.

My flight landed at KLIA at 1am, and by 1:45am, we were comfortably seated in one of the many shuttle buses to KL Sentral. The cost: Rs. 180 per person (cheaper than Bengaluru Intl. Airport to Jayanagar).

Once at KL Sentral, we haggled with a couple of taxi drivers and soon found one who was willing to drop us at Jalan Angsoka for 25 MYR (Rs. 450). We still feel it was on the higher side, but night charges are double of day charges and we didn't want to haggle too much.

The Guesthouse we booked, Orange Pekoe, is located well within the Golden Triangle and it is one of the few reasonably prized places. A room there costs approx. Rs. 1800 per night. Complimentary breakfast, free wi-fi, free internet terminals, unlimited free tea/coffee. It suited our location and our budget and once we saw the guesthouse, we knew we made the right decision. Read more on our right decision here.

By the time we checked in, it was 3:30am and we slept as soon as we hit the pillow.

The next day, after filling our tummy to the hilt with the complimentary breakfast, we decided to take a walk to the Petronas. It's a 20 mins walk from our Guesthouse. The POA was to visit Aquaria, check the Petronas and have lunch at KLCC. Halfway through, we sorta got lost but it's not very difficult to find your way in KL... the place is quite well-marked... nonetheless, the 20 mins walk became a 35 mins walk. We digested our heavy breakfast and almost drowned in our own pool of sweat in that 35mins... KL is very, very humid!

Anyway, we reached Aquaria and was glad the walkway was air-conditioned!

And the Jaws theme plays in my head...

The Aquaria visit set us back by Rs.900 per person (MYR 50) and frankly, I didn't enjoy 70% of the creepy creatures there. But once you are in the tunnel with the sharks, sting-rays, turtles and colourful fishes around you, you sorta forgive yourself for being there! It was my first time in a walk-in aquarium and I totally loved it!.... Umm, but one time is more than enough.... not going there again...

Feeding the Fish

Adorable fishes@KLCC Aquaria

Petronas piercing the sky

The Aquaria is situated in KLCC which is behind KL Suria (the home of the Petronas). We walked through the perfectly manicured lawns of KLCC and to our luck, we found that the Symphony Fountains (on the Symphony Lake) was dancing! Yes, it was 2:30pm... the fountains start at 2pm and dances a while in the afternoon. We roamed around the gardens and clicked a view shots of the Twin Towers. Then we decided we had enough of the sun and went inside Suria to get some air-conditioned air! (All these for free, people!)

The Symphony Fountains

Set Meals@RM15

Now the Suria mall is H-U-G-E! You can spend hours there, gaping at all the stores. However, we had a plan! We were there to lunch at Little Penang Kafe... it is a Lonely Planet recommended place for Nyonya cuisine in KL. I am a sucker for Nyonya cuisine and I wanted Neel to try it too. Moreover, inside KLCC, this is one of the cheaper options. A meal for two came around Rs. 650. And the food?! Not as good as some places I tried at Langkawi but decent food and a cute ambiance.

On Lonely Planet's recommendation

Beyonce looking sizzling hot@Bukit Bintang

Pink is my favourite crayon

After lunch, we walked to Bukit Bintang, shopper's paradise! We were scheduling drinks in the evening at Sky bar, Traders Hotel, for a good night view of the Petronas and I was adamant to not go there wearing my crocs! So, we loitered around for a while, checking the streets and finally, I found a pair of heels at BB Plaza for a mere Rs. 360! KL is a dream for shoe-aholics!
We walked the 10-15 mins stretch from Bukit Bintang to our Guesthouse. It was still 6:30pm when we reached and we decided to rest a while before we go to Traders.

Pool Deck@ 33rd floor, SkyBar, Traders Hotel

At around 8:30 pm, we headed to Sky Bar, Traders Hotel. Earlier, I had tried to call for reservations but it was full... so we decided to try our luck. And luck was in our favour! We were asked to be seated in one of the tall tables at first, but after 10minutes, we were placed in one of those brilliant red divans facing the gleaming Petronas!

Gleaming Diamonds

Petronas looks gorgeous at night, and for a few drinks and a breathtaking view, there's no better place than Skybar. Earlier, we had planned to go to The View Rooftop but since Sky bar was closer to our guesthouse and I could vouch for the view (having been here before), we decided to scrap going to any other place.

We took a long while (2 hours actually) staring at the Petronas and watching the Symphony Fountains dance at a distance. When we had our fill, we generously gave our seats to the long queue waiting for seats. :P... An evening at Skybar costed us Rs. 1800.

The Symphony Fountains dancing at a distance

Satays, anyone?

After another change of clothes (from heels to flats!), we headed to the famed food street, Jalan Alor. We were to walk down the street and take a left. And as we walked down towards the junction, we figured that to our right was the hip pub-street, Changkat Bukit Bintang! Double Hit! We took a stroll around the pub-street, soaking up the lively night scene and then headed to Jalan Alor.

Bleh Brothers

Weird-tasting Dumpling

Jalan Alor was a totally different scene. Tables and chairs on the road and food everywhere.  The street is open till 4 AM in the morning. We entered the street at 1 AM and it was filled with people. Half of what was written was incomprehensible to non-Malay us! We randomly picked a place called Beh Brothers and ordered our dinner: Dumpling of chicken, mushroom and glutinous rice for me, Nasi Goreng for Neel, a raw mango salad and two beers. My dumpling was yuck! I frankly didn't know what I ordered... but the salad was a saviour and I combined the two and downed it with beer. Our dinner came to Rs. 700.


At 2:30AM, we were back in our room, happy, filled and lulled into sleep.... The next day...