First surprize visit to DSCE

After all the travel tales, here is my first post about us ;-). I had planned to go to her college long time back on her last exam day (Jan 2nd 2010), but had no idea of what to do. My plan was to meet her in college, spend some time and drop her close to her home ;-).

I went to her college by 4 30, bought red roses and stood near the college gates waiting for her. 5 30 and still no signs. 10 minutes later and finally she arrived with her friends. Obviously exhausted and she was not carrying cell fone and she had told that her friends should not know that we are committed.

I just walked behind her, but had told her to call me after spending time wid her friends. They reached a bakery and she tried to call me and I made sure that she dint notice me. Luckily there was some problem in the fone and she walked alone and came to another street and went inside a telefone booth. My job was very easy. I followed her and knocked the door. She was all smiles and the expression on her face I remember forever ;-).

Then she informed her friends and joined me and we boarded my *Rolls-Royce Ghost. The plan was to go to some place nearby and then drop her in the close proximity of her home. We went to McD in Gopalan mall and we ordered French fries, Coke and a burger.

We had the burger bite by bite. Her mouth is small and she took small bites and I took large bites ;-), well so much fun. On the way back i gave her the red roses. Below you can find us and Deepu.

*Rolls-Royce Ghost = Maruti 800

Us ;-)

Deepu

Goa, Konkan railway, Picturesque ghats, HOTTT everywhere

Oh yeah, HOTTT I meant the temperature in GOA, the conditions were very humid. It could be HOTTT drinks available everywhere for cheap rates or the HOTTTies in the beach ;-).

On the way to Mangalore

Before anything, I need to mention that I have to update my trek to Shivagange, Beach trek to Gokharna and Sringeri Horanadu trip. But, As I have got the pics of GOA trip, I am not able to resist myself to write about this trip and its HOTTT ;-).

This is gonna be a long story with amazing pics to keep you going. We (Myself, Abs, Laks, Gir and GJon) started from Bangalore to Mangalore on August 12th Wednesday night. We reached mangalore @ around 8 AM and had our breakfast, it was not good.

Delicious Icecream

As Abs knew abt mangalore, he took us to a icecream parlour (In Mangalore, local icecreams are more popular) named Pabbas. The icecreams were not only very economical but very delicious and the ambiance was too good.

Gir missing ;-)

From Mangalore, our journey started to Goa. The bridges and tunnels were interesting. We reached Madgaon in the night at around 8 PM and headed to Panaji and reached Panaji at 9 30 PM. Then we took a room in the GTDC guest house in front of the Mandovi river. The food in the hotel was yummy. We had our dinner and were off to bed.

A Street in Goa

Next day we were very enthusiastic to go to the beach. The main reason was WATER SPORTS. But, unfortunately, we din't know that it was off season for water sports. But still, we spent the entire day in the beaches and later in the evening, we did some shopping and already the HOTTT sun had burnt us and all 4 of us were like charcoal.

River Mandovi

Next day we went to see Fort aguada and Sinquerim beach and the famous DCH shooting spot. Some of the photos below.

Where are you looking?

No no !!!, I am not blind

Group photo finally !!!

Dil Chahta Hai (Kya?)

Sinquerim beach

Posing differently

In the night, we went on a cruise: Goa by night. Some of the pics:

Our Boat

The silent river

Other Boat

All good things come to an end. So, we had to pack up on Sunday for return journey. The trip was good but not as expected. Little we know about the Madgaon to Londa railway trail. It was really a surprise. The train was at 3 30 PM. So we went to see another beach nearby called the Colva beach. Following pics would summarize our trip.

Colva Beach

Beautiful Ghats

Train in the Mountains

Under the Clouds
Dudh Sagar Water Falls - 1

Dudh Sagar Water Falls - 2

Dudh Sagar Water Falls from train - 1

Dudh Sagar Water Falls from train - 2

On the edge

Shot from train - 1

High peak

Pitch Black

Trek to Savandurga

This is my 2nd backlog which I had not updated in my blog.

Savandurga is a hill 33 km west of Bangalore (Karnataka, India) off the Magadi road 12°55′11″N 77°17′34″E / 12.919654°N 77.292881°E / 12.919654; 77.292881, in India. The hill is famous for a temple and is also believed to be among the largest monolith hills in the world. The hill rises to 1226 m above mean sea level and forms a part of the Deccan plateau. It consists of peninsular gneiss, granites, basic dykes and laterites. The Arkavathi river passes nearby through the Thippagondanahalli reservoir and on towards Manchanabele dam. Ok, This is from Wiki ...

We started early in the morning at around 5 30 AM and hit Magadi road. No need of directions, its off Magadi road. We parked the car near a big tree and started our trek towards the hill. My first impression was that we could just walk on the hill and reach the top within a few minutes. I climbed a few steps and looked back Oh Man!!! I was just scared and my heart was beating faster than ever. One slip could send me down the uphill. I started back very slowly and we took the regular path.

Misleading direct path

Regular path

The hills

This was a tougher trek considering the steepness of the hill. We reached the fort which can be assumed base 1 :). The journey from just below the fort upto the fort was very tough as the hill was very steep.

The fort

From Base 1, only 2 of us started to the peak spot. There is a
N A N D I on the peak. There we shooted some pics and started our descent back.

Nandi in the peak

Me at the peak

View from the peak

Considering the energy, this was a very easy trek, but considering the steepness, this was tougher. We started our descent back and climbed down the hill.

On the way back

Another one

Different pose

How it really looks

We left to Bangalore as early as 1 PM and reached Bangalore at
2 30 PM. This trek can be covered in half a day. One more backlog is Trek to Shivagange and then there is big one coming up :).

Trip to Kodaikanal way back in 2006

This was a weekend getaway to Kodaikanal in 2006. It was just a refreshing trip than anything else. We came to Madurai from Chennai and some of our friends joined us from Bangalore.
We finished "N I T H Y A K A R M A" in railway station and got into local transport to reach Kodaikanal.

Oh and there, we just stayed in some hotel recommended by a cabbie.

Our Hotel

DAY 1: We visited Dolphin’s Nose located about eight km from the lake, which is a flat projecting rock from where one can have a breathtaking view of the yawning chasm below. Oh yes, only one place and we went back to the hotel and there had very good dinner and some of the friends boozed and all of us slept tight for the day :)

On the way back from the spot

Near the spot - 1

Near the spot - 2

Day 2: We started off the day cycling around the lake. The scenic beauty was fantastic. The weather was sunny. And then we went around boating in the lake. By then, it was afternoon.
We had good lunch in a D H A B A and packed and started back to Madurai.

Cycling around the lake

Boating - 1

Boating - 2

Back in Madurai, we visited the famous Madurai Meenakshi temple and then had dinner and started our journey back to
C H E N N A I. This completes my one of a few backlogs which I will be updating soon :).

What did we do during the recession ... ???

2008 was very bad ... economic downturn had hit the whole world ... We take life as it comes ... So what did we do??? Trip to Singapore ... ;-)

I had selected SLS Tourist (Heard from my colleague) for our trip. It was perfect and all of us enjoyed a lot. We enjoyed night safari, Singapore city and Sentosa island. Under water world and Song by the sea in Sentosa island were awesome.

I never imagined Singapore would be like this. I was a bit skeptical initially about the people. But, the people there were very friendly and very helpful unlike Americans and Europeans. One incident when returning to airport is worth mentioning. The cabbie was a native Singaporean and he worshiped lord Ganesha and he was interested in bollywood songs :-).

The people there are not obese unlike Indians as all guys have to undergo commando training as per government rules. Some of the cabinet ministers are Indians. Singapore is a wonderful country as there is no corruption anywhere and its very clean.

SLS Tourist, Bangalore

Contact Person : Mr. R. Madhu
# 120,3rd Floor, Pamadi Chambers, Dr.D.V.G Road, Basavanagudi
Bangalore - 560 004, Karnataka, India
Tel. : +(91)-(80)-41533745 / 41533746 / 41533747 / 41533748 / 41469036
MObile : +(91)-9342104499 / 9845181507
Email : sls@helloindya.com

(This is pasted from their website)

Here are some of the pics.

Hotel

This is singapore, different from Namma bengaluru

Somewhere in the Singapore city

In front of merlion in merlion park

Shot from cable car