Riding the Winds @ Horsley Hills

Horsley Hills... 1st July 2006... well, there are no horses here This place was named after a British.. don't remember exactly though. The place is around 180 kms from bangalore and is just a 4 to 5 hours journey i think...
We made this journey in a Scorpio and it was very comfortable. We left bangalore at 8pm in the night and my friend (Sujith) did all the driving (while the smart guys slept ). Anyways this place is in Andhra Pradesh and is very close to the Karnataka border. A kind of plateau and hence at a higher altitude, this place remains cool and windy all through the year...

We reached the place at 1 in the night or something... it was very cold and luckily the rooms were booked at the AP tourism guest house and so we didn't have to wait long to sleep... but hey wait my friend's aren't the type who sleep... i think we walked around for sometime before we slept...

I need good sleep during the night and usually feel good when i get up early, my mom made it a habit in me to get up and so i can't sleep beyond 7am... So usually i am alone early morning staring at the sun as most of my friend's get up late when on a holiday...

Have plans to back to this place, as its a nice place during summers to relax... Nothing much to see here... It has a zoo but nothing special here... lot of monkeys dwell here and you need to watch out if you are eating something in front of them
Due to the altitude, Horsley hills has a great view of the surrounding area... need to be careful while on the steep rocks...

We had a great time here, playing rummy and also some football... and having home made chapathis... mind you, horsley hills doesn't have a good restaurant... luckily in the morning since the tourist restaurant was closed as we were late for breakfast we went searching for food and some shop-cum-home vendors offered to make chapathi and alu palya for us and it was better than the food that we had later in the tourist restaurant...
There were also a lake-cum-forest area on the way back that we visited...
All and all a very peaceful place to stay for a day or two...

White Water Rafting @ Dandeli

Isn't it funny! Knowingly or unknowingly we make it a point to be late that too by 2 hours! This is what happens when we friends decide to leave early for a trip. We had decided to leave bangalore city by 7:30 pm or so... but it was 9:30 pm when we actually left for Dandeli. We make it a point to be late!

I was terribly sleepy that night as i was working for long hours for the last 2 days in office... But is it possible to sleep when such good friends are giving you company! hehehe! anyways they just couldn't stop me from sleeping... The problem was that since we were doing a night journey, if everyone had slept off, the chances were that our Driver would have also fallen asleep and I guess I wouldn't have been writing this blog! Anyways the ever reliable few didn't sleep and we made it through. It was the last week of dec 2006. I had got the full week for myself as my company had shutdown for christmas and new year.

Anyways morning came and we were in Uttara Kannada District and closing in on Dandeli. On the way we had breakfast in Sirsi. At Dandeli we stayed at a Guest house which was neat. Food was simple and good too. As one of my friend had contacts we got to see a better view of Dandeli, River Kali, Dam, Power Generation Plant, which the normal visitors don't have access to. So the first 2 days went in visiting these things.

We then went for a Wild-life Safari in the so called Dandeli Wild life Sanctuary in the evening. At the end of a 2 hour dusty ride, we got to see the Dorsal view of a Bison hehehe! We had shifted to a Jungle Safari Lodge which also had a tree house. I had a good night's sleep at the tree house, however initially it was a bit scary as my friend was being teased of ghosts and he was so scared that he wanted nobody to sleep in the tree house... hope he doesn't read this!!

Dandeli which is a so-called Wild life Sanctuary has been completely vanquished by human inhabitation! The River Kali that flows along is polluted by the Paper mills that exist alongside the river. Anyways this I found out while River rafting.

So our river rafting was guided by australians who were enjoying there time @ dandeli. It was very adventurous and its a real good experience! But very expensive. I say that cause when we were kids my cousin used to build a raft using bamboo and banana stem and we used have great fun! but anyways this kind of rafting is more of power and speed and you need to use safety equipments.

With the rafting done with, we started our journey back. On the way we had dinner at Dharwad i guess (not sure!)

Finally we were back in bangalore safe and sound. I had a few more holidays to enjoy... Though the rest of my holidays did go very fast. Anyways all said and done, rafting was an ultimate experience. Hope I do it again, this time our very own Cauvery!

Wedding @ Bidar

Bidar is located northern most part of karnataka and borders AP and Maharashtra... Initially when i thought of Bidar I really didn't know what to say...
7 friends left bengaluru in Hampi express... it was a pleasant 18 hr journey...
Now I can say one thing... Its a nice place :) liked it a lot... people are very friendly... and will serve you feed 24/7
Though a bit dusty and a little bit hotter than b'lore... yeah u got it right... software engineers never stop complaining when they are out in the heat!
Bidar's name comes from the 15th century Barid Shahi Dynasty...
Bidar boasts of Narasimha and Papnash temple along with the famous Gurudwara... It also has a fort which we didn't venture into as we were short of time...
Bidar is also know for the Bidri works (Black metal with silver art) and i did get really good art pieces!
We had a nice time dancing all the way at the Baaraat.
You can find nice food any time and people are very friendly...
We had also been to srisailam which is a temple town and is around 5 hours journey from Bidar. We went via hyderabad and the road was good.
Srisailam also has a dam and a ropeway...
All and all, it was a nice trip and I plan to go there once more to buy lots of bidri art and also visit the Narasimhji cave temple!