The Christmas Vacation

A long christmas vacation and my hands were itching to plan for a long drive. But thanks to my previous experiences with long weekends, decided to keep couple of things in mind. First, was to head towards a rather offbeat destination rather than an out and out travel destination, and the second was to head back to Bangalore on a non-holiday , so as to avoid the huge traffic mess one can encounter on the highways leading back to the city.  Therefore keeping these 2 major pointers in mind I had a very relaxing drive and holiday, even though more than half of Bangaloreans had abandoned the city for a vacation spot.

The 600 odd steps climb

In total it was planned to be a 4 day drive with the last day being reserved for a family function in my native place. Hence that left us 3 days to explore the places in the vicinity. On the first day we left Bangalore quite early in the morning, but still had to encounter a lot of traffic, which were trying to make their way out of the city for the long weekend. Our first destination for the day was Shravanabelagola, which is off the Bangalore – Mangalore national highway. We took a left deviation at a small village named Hosur and got off the main highway. Even the condition of this particular deviation was good, and we reached our first destination taking close to 2.5 hrs after leaving Bangalore. We could see the grand Bahubali statue from quite a distance, even before entering the town. Parked our vehicle nearby, and it was time to climb the 600 odd steps of the Chandragiri hill to reach the main attraction of this place, the Bahubali statue.

There are certain restrictions when climbing up the Chandragiri hill. One has to let go of any type of footwear, and this might be an issue if the temperature rises especially during the middle of the day, considering that this huge monolith hill is void of any shade. Hence it is advised to commence the climb either early in the morning, or in the evening. Even though any type of footwear is not allowed, one is allowed to climb with their socks on. Hence it makes sense to bring along a pair of thick cotton socks. When we started the climb, even though the sun was shining bright, it was quite pleasant, thanks to the winter morning chill. Since my mom was accompanying us we completed this climb taking frequent breaks in between. For those who are fit, this climb will just be a piece of cake. For the sick and old there is another option of getting carried to the top in a palanquin by 4 men.

We reached the top after climbing for an hour or so, after encountering a lot of gopuras and Basadis en-route. The giant statue looks quite imposing from close quarters, and it was worth it to climb all the way up the hill. The views from the hill were breathtaking too, especially of the pushkarani pond of the town sandwiched between the 2 hills. We climbed down the hill quite quickly, and were back on the highway. Had our lunch at an A2B restaurant just before Hassan.

No space in the canvas : Halebid

Our next destination for the day were the historical sites of Belur and Halebid, which are actively vying to get the UNESCO world heritage site tag. We first visited Halebid temple i.e Hoysaleshwara temple built in the 12th century AD. We hired a guide and she took us on a tour of the temple and explained the various intricacies of the place. The carvings on the outer wall was just mind blowing, and unlike anything I have seen before. I don’t suppose the intricacy with which they have sculpted the various scenes from the  mythological texts, can be achieved today even with the help of modern technology that we possess. These sculptures looked like they had been 3D printed to be precise.

Door to Heaven : Belur

Chennakeshava temple complex

From Halebid we moved on to Belur, which was about half an hour’s drive from Halebid. Both the temples were brimming with tourists, who were awing at the fabulous visuals. Even though Belur is much famous in comparison to its sibling, I somehow felt that Halebid was the better of the two. For starters, the level of intricate carving of Belur dulls in comparison. It somehow gave a feeling that there was lot of empty space in the outer wall of this 12th century temple after having been to Halebid. Nevertheless this temple has its own charm. When in direct comparison Halebid has some mind-blowing carvings on the outer wall, but Belur takes a lead when comparing the carvings inside the temple. Hence one should not miss either of the attractions. Belur temple complex is also much larger, with a huge gopura entrance and various other temple complexes flanking the main temple. We spent some peaceful time in here , witnessed a glorious sunset and then it was time to move towards Chikmagalur, our final destination for the day.

Mullayangiri Peak

The next day we got up quite early, at the crack of the dawn and made our way towards Mullyangiri , the highest point in the state of Karnataka, at an altitude of 1930 m above sea level. Even though I had trekked to this place using a different route , I had heard about the thrilling and narrow motor-able route leading to the roof of Karnataka. We started early in order to avoid the crowd and thankfully it did get crowded as the day progressed. A piece of advice for those attempting to climb all the way to the top, is to be confident of your driving skills and your ride, since at many points you would be tested, with scenarios such as reversing uphill on a narrow road with steep drops to hell and on top of that void of any crash barriers. My wife and mom were scared to the core !!!! :P.  Reaching the top is one achievement, parking there is another, reversing your vehicle and coming back is yet another. Two cars can barely cross each other at most of the locations, and if a much larger vehicle comes then you are done for :). Anyway after reaching the top it was worth all the effort. Even though we couldn’t get any views, it was totally engulfed in mist , gale winds and was totally worth it. We visited the temple on the top, guided my wife and mom to the secret caves I had explored when I had trekked to this place and then it was time to return back.

Sitallayangiri

While returning back we came across a place Sitalayangiri, which is 3kms short of the Mullyangiri peak and most of the taxi guys dupe their customers saying this was Mullyangiri. This place was also good, and by this time the sun was out, and we got some great views of the surroundings hills including the all imposing Mullyangiri peak, which was playing hide and seek behind the clouds. We returned back to Chikmagalur, had breakfast and then it was time to leave the town, and move ahead in our journey. From Chikmagalur we went to Horanadu, passing through some thick vegetation in form of Kudremukh wildlife Sanctuary. But unfortunately Horanadu was crowded like hell, which was surprising since in our entire road trip, this was the most crowded place we encountered, which was infact in the middle of nowhere. Visited the temple for a darshan and completed ours from the entrance itself, since there was a huge line to get inside the temple. Left Horanadu and moved along the Kudremukh Wildlife Sanctuary stopping at some tourist spots such as Lakya dam, tea gardens and so on.

By nightfall we reached Sringeri, and we faced some issues with the online hotel booking, but it was resolved soon enough. There is a dearth of decent vegetarian eateries in Sringeri , which is  surprising considering the huge footfalls this place gets. First thing the next morning we decided to head towards Sirimane falls. Quickly had our breakfast and then headed towards this falls situated close to 15 kms from Sringeri via the temple town of Kigga. We reached just after the opening time at 8.30 and by the time we got into the beautiful falls, we practically had it all for ourselves. We had a nice massage session sitting under the gravity assisted water droplets. By the time we were done, it was already crowded. This particular water falls is regulated by the forest department, which has provided toilets and changing rooms, and hence collects an entry fee for the same. After returning back from the falls we went to have darshan at Sringeri temple, which has a very unique and an ancient architecture dating back to the 14th century AD. Went to the riverside where constant feeding by the devotees has resulted in a school of fish of giant shape and proportion. Had a free prasadha lunch at this place and then we moved to our next destination.

Sirimane Falls

Entire falls to ourselves !!!!!

Next on our list were the little known temples of Inna and Mundkuru which were built by my ancestors. Since these temples were void of any crowd, it was a very peaceful and calming experience visiting these places of worship. On our way back to Uppinangadi we visited the 1000 pillar jain Basadi at Mudabidre, but this was a big let down, since for starters there were hardly 80-90 pillars in the temple, and they seemed to have hyped it up to increase the popularity. We were in and out of it within a matter of 10 mins. Finally we reached Uppinangadi by nightfall. Attended the family function the following day, and then a relaxing drive all the way back to Bangalore on a non-public-holiday – weekday :).

Shringeri

Moodabidre: “1000 pillar” temple

Thumping Nice Road Half Marathon !!!!!

Having missed the Bengaluru Half Marathon in the month of October, thanks to a 104’er viral fever, I was raring to participate in a half marathon. And the next possible opportunity I got was in the form of the Ajmera Thump Bangalore Celebration marathon, conducted in a section of the NICE ring road after blocking vehicular traffic.I didn’t register for this event until just 3 days leading to it, because I didn’t want history to repeat and myself  getting disappointed again, sitting in the sidelines and unable to participate.

In comparison to the previous 2 half marathons which I have completed, this looked comparatively easier in terms of the elevation profile and the running surface and obviously the finishing time does conform with this. The half marathon was started early in the morning at 6 am and I was just in time to start the race. The initial section of the run was through the 2 lane concreted road and the early morning weather was favoring the runners to maintain a good pace. One thing I learned from this race is proper hydration and nutrition early in the race, goes a long way in helping to maintain the stamina in the later sections of the run. Hence at every aid station I would stop and have a mini refill of salts and glucose infused into my blood stream.

Thanks to the smooth road, I had finished half of this race within 1 hr clock time and  was raring to finish the other half. Never have I experienced such energy reserves in my previous long distance runs. Therefore I think it might be because of the physical shape and also the nutrient intake leading to the race. BTW I had a cheese filled pizza dinner the previous day :P.

Only when there was 5 km left to finish the race did the sun come out of the cloud cover, but thankfully by that time majority of our run was completed. As usual did a sprint to the finish line and finished off the race with a personal best time of 2 hrs, 7 mins, 39 secs. This is close to 11 mins better than my previous half marathon finish time. So end of the day was very happy for inching closer to my short term goal of a sub-2hr finish time.

Rank	BIB	Name	10.55K	Chip Time
145	1525	Nithin Uliyar	0:59:48	2:07:39

Pitstop At Srirangapatna !!!!

On a single day trip to Mysore had a pitstop at Srirangapatna, the land of Tipu Sultan and off late a figure of controversy here in India. Spent close to 3 hours exploring the sites of religious and historical significance. This town is situated on the Bangalore – Mysore highway, and reaching this place is a no-brainer at all. As soon as we entered the town we had to pass through narrow gate opening, which is part of the huge fort wall encircling the town of Srirangapatna. The first stop was to the Ranganathaswamy temple. According to the ASI board near the entrance, this temple has its origin dating way back to 980 AD, making it more than a millennia old temple. The main gopura of the temple is quite impressive, but the interiors was like a mixed bag. Apart from the certain lathe made pillars the interiors were not so impressive. Had darshan within a 10 min wait were now off to other destinations of the town.

The next destination was the Colonel Bailey Dungeon. It might sound surprising that the rulers of Srirangapatna named this particular place after an officer of their nemesis, but when we get to know the details of this place it pretty much becomes clear. During the second Anglo-Mysore war this particular officer who was leading the British army was captured as a prisoner of war and it was in here that he was held for close to 2 years till he breathed his last. The security guard at this place also acted as an unofficial tour guide explaining the significance of the place, the architecture as to how these dungeons which are just next to river Cauvery has various water ducts in order to bring water from the river and flood this place as a means of torturing the prisoners, who would be tied up in neck deep freezing water. Other points of interest was the cannon which sits in the middle of the dungeon and supposedly weighs more than a ton. One also encounters the place where Tipu Sultan was found dead just next to the road when going to all the major attractions.

The next stop was the Daria Daulat or the Summer palace. This place has a huge garden and fountains adorning the wooden summer palace of Tipu Sultan. The interior walls of the palace has some beautiful and delicate paintings, but unfortunately photography is completely restricted once inside the building. There are lot of exhibits within this palace including clothing, weaponary, canvas paintings , sketches, memorabilia and so on. After the tour of this place our next and final destination for the day was the Gumbaz structure which is the final resting place of the sultan. This building, just like the summer palace has a huge garden surrounding the place and the structure looks like a mini Taj Mahal, and once inside there are coffins of Tipu, his father Hyder Ali and his mother. Apart from the impressive structure there is nothing much of interest. Overall a good educational trip and explored some more places, having visited Srirangapatna already in the past.

Summer Palace

Gumbaz- Final resting place of Tipu and His parents

Kodaikanal, With A Stopover At Madurai

Silent Valley Viewpoint

This trip was more of an impromptu trip without much of a planning involved, thanks to the long weekend for Dasahara. But I had one of the greatest enlightenment of recent times, “Never to visit a traditional travel destination on a long weekend especially during the school vacations”. Kodaikanal does fall under this category of a “traditional holiday destination” and hence we had to endure the wrath of an overcrowded place , going totally against the concept of vacation wherein one is expected to relax and unwind. Further it was my second innings to these hills, after a gap of nearly 6 years and I could see drastic changes everywhere. Since I was the only one on driver duty it was decided to split the journey into smaller manageable legs and hence we left for Salem once I was back from office.  We rested for the night at the Raj Residency at Salem which was a well maintained service apartment. It was big. It was neat. It was totally worth the money spent.

We left Salem in the morning after having breakfast at one among the innumerable “Saravana Bhavans” dotting the landscape within the city and its outskirts. It seemed that naming their eatery anything apart from “Saravana Bhavan” was a great blasphemy :P.  Also found that the servers at this particular restaurant were ladies, which was the first time I have experienced in a not-so-high-end restaurant giving a vibe that women are much more empowered in these parts of the country. Once you are out of Salem travelling towards Madurai which is at distance of close of 240km there is an immediate dearth of any decent eateries along the highway. The highway between these 2 Tamil cities was smooth and we reached there just in time, before the Meenakshi temple closes at 12.30 pm. Infact we were among the last few people allowed in and my wife was literally the last person allowed in. But one complain is that the streets of Madurai leading to the temple are narrow , congested and pothole ridden. It didn’t make sense that they couldn’t maintain or improve the infrastructure to one of India’s most famous temple !!!!

The temple on the other hand was spectacular. Mammoth in size and even though the gates of the temple were closed, we were allowed to spend our own sweet time exploring the temple and no one forces you out of it. One of the unique feature of this temple is the usage of bright colors to decorate majority of the sculptures and not even sparring the roof from it. The inner sanctum can be accessed only by Indians and foreigners and strictly prohibited from entering this place. And a funny thing happened in here. There are entrance doors with different entry fee starting from 20, 50 and 100. So the general perception was that the higher you paid , faster the darshan would be since all these queue’s would ultimately join the same general Q at some point. We took the 20 Re ticket since it didnt look like it was crowded in there and to our surprise there were more people in the 50 and 100 Rs queue than the 20 Rs Q :P. Had a good laugh seeing their surprised faces on seeing the much short er 20 Rs queue :D.

Silver Cascade Falls

After exploring the main sanctum, we explored the other parts of the temple which included the 1000 pillar Hall museum, the super tall gopurams and so on. Spent close to 2 hours exploring this place and then we left for Kodaikanal our main destination for this trip. The route from Madurai to Kodaikanal is a well maintained 2 lane highway. But at the checkpoint of the hills we were stopped by police officials, who basically wanted us to prove that we were husband and wife. Had some comical turn of events because of that, which I wont be describing though :). Had a small break at Silver Cascade falls which one encounters couple of KM before the town and is very gorgeous. We had booked rooms at Kodai Sunshine Hotel and had also got a good deal. Hence once we entered the town of Kodaikanal we first explored the area around the Kodaikanal lake. But thanks to the long weekend and school holidays it was a chock-a-block in the heart of Kodaikanal. Our hotel was in outskirts of the main town and it was very peaceful over there.

Upper Shola View

The next day we were to explore all the major sightseeing spots of Kodaikanal. But due to the tourist rush it was really a painful experience trying to navigate through jams on these hilly roads. We first went to Upper Lake view wherein one gets a good view of the entire town especially the lake. Following this we went to the observatory. Even though it was govt run organization it was pretty informative and I saw solar spot for the first time in my life . All the major sightseeing places of Kodaikanal are situated in a loop sort of road which begins and ends back into the town. After the educational tour we encounter the beautiful pine forest , but looks like due to heavy footfall there was a lot of garbage strewn across the place.

The Jam !!!!

Berjam Lake from a distance

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The best part of being in Kodaikanal was the weather , which was close to freezing even though the plains were simmering with heat. Once we were fed up of navigating through the heavy traffic and we reached the Suicide view point we saw the board as the entrance to Berijam lake. This lake is highly restricted and “supposedly” only 25 vehicles are allowed in per day (But we saw a lot more during our 1 hr wait at this place :)). For those who cannot take their vehicle there are minibuses run by the forest department for every hour or so and we caught the last bus for the day at 2.30 pm. The tour lasts for a couple of hours and this was the most peaceful part of our sightseeing trip in Kodaikanal. Found some breathtaking view points inside this reserve forest, the most exciting among them being the Silent Valley view point. Other major stopovers are Caps fly and the lake itself. It is more like a guided tour and the driver provides some interesting background information regarding each individual places.

Once we were back to the entrance of the this park the traffic had reduced and we proceeded with our traditional tour covering Pillar rocks and then back to the town. Since we had skipped our lunch thanks to Berijam lake excursion,  we were starving like hell and surprisingly none of the eateries were serving any food and it was just 6 in the evening. Finally we went to a Bangalore based restaurant “Woodys” and once they came to know that we were Bangaloreans they prepared food from scratch including chutney to serve us. In process they got all our gratitude and a fat tip :). Later we had shopping for home made chocolates to be taken back home.

Pillar Rocks

The following day after having our breakfast and checking out of our room we decided to visit the Bear Shola falls which is pretty much within the town limits. There was not much water flow in this particular falls and it was just ok. From there started our return journey back to Bangalore. The initial part of the return journey was good and we had a stopover at Salem for lunch. After that we got caught within the huge rush of vehicles trying to make their way back to Bangalore. We literally encountered a 2 km jam before the Dharmapuri toll gate. After this ordeal we checked google maps for the traffic updates and saw that there was a huge 4-5 km jam at Krishnagiri tollgate. Hence decided to take a detour and took the lesser used state highway. We took the route Dharmapuri-Rayakottai-Hosur hence avoiding the Krishnagiri stretch and probably saved fuel, toll fee and a lot a frustration. Reached back home after an exhausting drive back :).

Malaysian Chronicle : Kuala Lumpur With Batu Caves

After bringing to conclusion our Singapore leg of the journey, we proceeded towards our next destination, Kuala Lumpur. One piece of advise for those planning to club Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in a single trip is to visit KL in the beginning and then proceed towards Singapore, unlike what we did. Once you are used to the efficiency with which things are run in Singapore, KL appears to be a bit of a let-down. The way the city is run appears a lot similar to an Indian city rather than its southern neighbour. Therefore one would be finding shortcoming in each and every thing right from public transport to local mannerism to general hygiene.

Fountain opposite Petronas Towers

We took a late morning flight to KL from the top of the class Changi Airport. Once we reached our destination we took the 40 min non-stop express train into the heart of KL, named aptly as KL Sentral. KL Sentral is like the Majestic area of Bangalore, THE HUB. You get transport from here to all the places in KL. We took a mono-rail to our hotel in Bukit Bintang, the shopping destination of KL. The plan for the day included visiting the icon of Malaysia, the Petronas Twin towers. Again we took the metro to reach this place via the KL Sentral station and we specifically wanted to view these towers all lit up, hence we reached this place post sundown.

KL Bird Park

The tallest twin tower in the world looked majestic all lit up against the night sky and a hint of mist floating around the topmost section of the tower. It kinda reminded me of the clouds engulfing a Himalayan peak. We decided against going to the observatory floor since the entry fee is quite steep and there would nothing interesting to view from the observation deck since we would be already inside the most interesting building in the vicinity !!!!. Further we had already visited the Skydeck of Marina Bay Sands and were not much interested in repeating the same. After spending close to an hour in the vicinity of the towers including witnessing the musical fountain we went inside the KLCC mall in search of food. Found a Saravana Bhavan outlet and that settled our search for a vegetarian meal.

The following day was dedicated for exploring the KL Bird park, Sentral Market and Petaling street. Again we took a train to KL Sentral and from there to Kuala Lumpur station. From there its a 5 minute taxi drive to the bird park. The bird park was just OK and nothing in comparison with the zoos etc in Singapore. There was whiff of stink in the air with all the bird poop in the vicinity. Spent close to 2 hrs exploring this park which included a Bird Show which was mildly interesting, but kids would enjoy it.

Sentral Market

From there we took a taxi again to Sentral Market which is one of the prime souvenir market in KL. Its an indoor and air conditioned market and a perfect place to spend the hot afternoons hunting for souvenirs to take back home. One can find all sorts of local jewellery, handicrafts, cloths, accessories and even chocolates. After spending close to 3 hours at this place we moved to Petaling street or Chinatown which is just a 5 min walk from this market. Petaling street is more of a street market with cloths, shoes etc at dirt cheap prices. Post-shopping we waited till the lanterns were turned on post sundown, which was pretty nice. After that we left for our hotel.

Batu Caves

The final day of our trip in Malaysia and we had plans to visit the Batu caves. After checking out of our room we caught a train from KL Sentral which takes close to 45 mins to reach the destination. After that one has to climb nearly 270 steps to reach the top which can be quite taxing.  Batu caves can be logically divided into 2 sections. First is the religious section wherein one can find Lord Murugan’s temple within the cave and the other part is the conservation area wherein they are trying to preserve the unique ecosystem of the caves. The temples within the caves were decent and there is no restriction based on ones religious beliefs unlike in Indian temples. But the most interesting part of Batu caves was the “Dark Caves Tour” which involves a guided tour into the restricted conservation area. We were guided by a very enthusiastic and passionate person named as Don and he explained in great detail the fragile and unique ecosystem of these pitch black caves. We found various types of bats, spiders, and other insects along with formation of the stalactite and stalagmite into works of art. This tour lasted almost an hour and it was worth the RM 35 entry fee.

Dark Cave Tour

Post the cave tour we returned back to KL. Since we still had some time left before our evening flght we decided to explore the area of Bukit Bintang for some last minute shopping. We came across a restaurant serving authentic Malaysian Veg and organic food and hence we decided to taste the local malay cuisine for the very first time. I ordered a rice dish based on the attractive display photo and after tasting it felt that I still had a long way to go before I start to like South East Asian cuisine :P.  Finally in the evening caught the express train back to airport and hence it was a curtain drop on the Malaysian leg as well. 

Singapore Journal : Flora and Fauna Tour

The final day of our trip in Singapore was dedicated for exploring the the flora and fauna parks. The first stop for the day was the National Orchid Garden which is a part of the much larger Botanical Gardens. By now we had become pros in traversing the streets of Singapore using the MRT system. We first took a train to the Botanic Garden station and from there it was a fairly long walk to the National Orchid garden.

The Botanical garden was huge, but with it being devoid of any flowers, it can be a bit dull looking place. The National Orchid Garden is in complete contrast with its parent and according to Trip Advisor reviews this is the best place to visit in the whole of Singapore. Even the entry fee of $5 is tourist friendly. One can easily spend an hour or two exploring the various types of orchids that this garden has managed to produce. On this particular day it was drizzling and making the walk through the gardens all the more romantic.

Apart from the various orchids which come in all the shapes, texture and color there was a section wherein certain subspecies of the orchids have been cultured and named after famous celebrities around the world. The only Indian connection we could find was the one named after Usha Narayanan, wife of the former Indian president K R Narayanan. Further there were certain sections of the park which were simulating unique ecosytems found in various parts of the world, such as the mountainous regions of the South American continent wherein we can find the carnivorous plants which feed on unsuspecting insects which get caught in their tubular structured flowers.

After exploring this unique garden we decided to head towards Singapore zoo, considered one of the best zoos in the world and it actually lived upto that reputation. In the vicinity of the traditional zoo there are other animal exhibitions with different themes such as the Night Safari, River Safari and the Jurong Bird Park. We initially took a train from the Botanic Gardens to Ang Mo Kio from there we caught a bus to the Singapore zoo (details). These attractions are infact the farthest from the downtown areas and one has to consider the significant travel durations to reach these places. We reached this place around noon time. We had decided to visit the main zoo and Night safari post sundown.

The zoo was unique in comparison to those I had visited so far. It didnt feel like the animals where put up in cages and on the contrary it felt like they were free to roam around. And in fact they did, herbivorous animals were allowed to roam around the park. So one wouldn’t be surprised if we came across orang-utans, lemurs, kangaroos etc roaming around freely without any restriction. The other showcase animals were the giant polar bear lazing through its climate controlled pool, a white tiger couple, leopard, cheetahs and so on. We attended shows performed by elephants and a seal wherein the animals  are “trained” to perform in front of a cheering audience. But I cant complain because no matter what , we were still in a zoo. The zoo closes at sun down and from there we moved to the Night Safari area which opens at 7.30pm.

There was a huge crowd waiting for the Night safari area to open up and it was not even a weekend !!!!. We were welcomed into the safari by a couple of tribal fire dancers which was breathtaking. The Night safari can be divided into 2 themes. First one is where they take you around in an electric vehicle around the park. The second one is the foot trails which takes a completely different route than the one taken by the vehicle. We enjoyed both of these sections. The basic premise of this Night safari is to view nocturnal animal behaviour, wherein they are the most active , unlike during the daytime when they just laze around to avoid the heat. Each animal area is illuminated by minimal light , mimicking the light emitted by a full moon, hence one can expect close to near darkness when moving from one area to another. The initial tram ride lasted for an hour, followed by the creatures of the night show where they give educational information on the creatures of the park such as raccoons, hyenas, pythons etc.

Followed by which we took the foot trail exploring the section of the lions, tigers, hyenas, leopards, wolves, flying squirrels, owls and so on. But the only complaint is that sometimes the lighting will be too dull to view the animals in case they decide to hide away in the bushes. Anyway by the time we were done with the foot trails we were dead tired and it was close to 10 pm and we were able to get a direct bus from here to our hotel in Little India operated by a private entity and costing us 5$ and saving close to an hour over using public transport back to the hotel.

Singapore Journal : Sentosa Island With Universal Studios

Sentosa Island was the most exciting and fun part of our Singapore trip. This island has so many attractions packed into one tiny area that it takes a minimum of 2 days to cover all of them. Some even go to extent of recommending 3 days for these islands. But based on the 2 day pass we had obtained we decided to go for a 2 day tour. A small piece of advise for those planning to visit these attractions is to avoid the weekends like hell. After seeing so many reviews in Tripadvisor we decided to visit in the middle of the week when the crowd and the waiting time would be minimum.  We had booked a 2 day fun pass which includes a full day pass to the Universal studios. This costs 139 $ /head (link), and value for money if planning to spend 2 complete days in here. Else it is better to select individual attractions and pay for those.

After having breakfast at Little India, we caught a train to Harbourfront station. From here one can either walk the distance to Sentosa island or take a monorail to the centre of the island. I would recommend taking the monorail since it saves time and energy. Day 1, we decided to explore universal studios for the entire day and reserved the attractions of Sentosa island for the next day. Universal studios is divided into various sections based on unique themes and each theme is inspired by some movie/s. For adults the most attractive regions are Ancient Egypt, Sci-fi City, Lost world and for the kids its Far-Far Away and Madagascar.

Transformers

As it is obvious that we loved the first 3 theme areas with the best rides being the Transformers, Battlestar Galactica and Revenge of the mummy. In these rides they have gone miles ahead of the usual 4D experience that we usually get in the Indian theme parks and they give an almost life like experience. The transformers ride has us trying to escape megatron and effects were stunning. Battlestar galactica has 2 duelling roller coasters the first being the human and the other being alien simulating the dog fights between 2 fighter jets. The g-force endured during these rides makes one actually believe that they are in a dogfight. The human coaster even though much faster than the alien counterpart doesnt go upside down unlike the alien, hence we decided to go for the “human” coaster and it was without a doubt , downright awesome. Revenge of the Mummy has an indoor roller coaster running completely in the dark !!!!!.  Each of these rides had waiting times of lesser than 30 mins and we went through the Transformers and Mummy ride twice. Had wanted to go through the Alien version of the Battlestar Galactica ride , but by then the park had closed.

In front of Revenge of The Mummy Ride

Had our lunch in a eatery in Ancient Egypt, wherein one can find the only pure vegetarian items in the menu. Checked out lots of other rides of the park notably the live stage show of the Waterworld enacted by live actors, Rapids Adventure, Lights Camera and Action show and other rides in the kiddies section. Overall a must visit place in Singapore.

Shark Tank

Day two of exploring Sentosa island we went beyond the Universal studios. The fist stop of the day was the S.E.A Aquarium which houses mind numbing number of species that delve in the deep oceans right from the ferocious Sharks to the glowing jelly fishes. The first thing that greets you when you enter this place is the underground glass tunnel right through the shark tank which houses all types of sharks including the bizarre hammer-head shark and easily one is impressed. There are lots of colorful fishes held in smaller tanks and finally in the end is a super huge water tank almost twice the size of the cinema screen holding innumerable number of sea creatures including  giant stingrays and super huge fishes. Following this area is the area of creatures which have made the bottom of the ocean floor as their home such as jelly fishes, octopus, star fishes etc. We spent close to 3 hours exploring this place.

Jelly Fishes

Dolphins

After this we went to trick eye museum where one can take funny pics in front of some painting or installation which almost looks life like. After this we went to Madam Tussauds museum and Images of Singapore LIVE and the later show was one of the few shows/rides wherein we actually felt bored. The other things we tried was trying to ride the Segway, which was fun but difficult to do at the same time, the bit hair-raising para-jump wherein one leaps off a 5 floor building in order to simulate landing from a parachute, tiger sky tower which gives birds eye view of the entire island, luge ride wherein one rides a engine-less kart down a hilly slope, 4D Adventureland which had 3 4D rides including a log ride, ride based on Journey 2 movie and a interactive shooting ride and finally the Combat Skirmish which was super fun and very similiar to paintball fight but instead lazer tags are used and hence completely painless. Two teams were formed with 4 and 3 in each team and surprisingly all of us were Indians :D.

Trick Eye Museum

The day ended with the Wings Of Time show , which includes lights, lazers, projections on mist, fireworks etc and was stunning to say the least. This lasted for close to 15 mins and by then we were tired and done for the day. If one has just a day to explore this island then the recommended place is the without doubt the Universal Studios.

Singapore Journal : Marina Bay Sands

In order to celebrate our first anniversary we decided to go for a weeklong trip to Singapore and Malaysia. Thanks for booking very early prior to the travel dates, we got a very good deal on the flight tickets. This was a self planned and executed trip and according to my rough estimates the cost of self planning resulted in close to 40% saving when compared to similiar package tours offered by the popular tour operators such as makemytrip etc. We had planned for 4 days in Singapore and 3 days in Malaysia with a customized itinerary based on our interests.

Supertree Groove @ Gardens By the Bay

We took an overnight Airasia flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur and took a connecting flight from KL to Singapore. Landed in Singapore close to noon and took a metro service to a station closest to our hotel in Little India. One general piece of advice for everyone planning to go to Singapore is that , everything is damn expensive. A km ride from the metro station to our hotel room costed us close of 250 rupees (converted to INR). Therefore carefully select things and places you want to visit instead of visiting a place irrespective of your interest. Further Singapore is well connected by metro trains so it is advisable to use them extensively like we did.

Marina Bay Sands From The Gardens

According to me Singapore is the only country in South Asia which can be termed as developed. Developed in terms of not just the great infrastructure or the the service provided , but also the attitude of the local population to work for the greater good of the country rather than their individual selfish motives. So you would expect lot of young and healthy Singaporeans standing in public transports irrespective of whether seats are available or not, so that when someone who is actually in need of them can directly occupy those and for the fact that they take instantaneous feedback right from the immigration process to the person who cleans the toilet, so as to provide flawless service.

Gardens By The Bay From the Skydeck Of MBS

 Landed up at our Hotel 81 situated in Little India, checked into our 10X10 windowless room at a cost for which one can easily afford a 4 or 5 star room in India. However we got a 50% cashback for our room rents, hence making it much more easier thing to digest. The room eventhough was small was neat and clean and perfect for a couple who would be utilizing it just for resting in the night. Further if one is looking for access to good vegetarian food in Singapore then Little India is the place to be with options like Ananda Bhavan, Woodlands, Komala Bhavan etc. Little India is the hub of the Tamil population who had been brought by the British in the heyday.  After resting in the room a bit we left to check-out places situated around the Marina Bay Sands or the Bay area or the downtown area.

Singapore Downtown Area From MBS Skydeck

Took a metro to this place and at first we explored the Gardens By the Bay. It can be described as a modern garden with a generous servings of the sound and light effects especially in the night. We strolled around the garden for much of the afternoon , exploring the most notable icon of these gardens, the Supertree Grooves which look stunning especially in the night. There are some indoor flower gardens which we didnt explore because of the mindnumbing entry fee and also for the fact that we would be visiting the much older and better graded Botanic Gardens much later in the trip.

Ongoing preparation for Singapore Night Grand Prix

When it was close to sunset we decided to go to the skydeck of the stunning Marina Bay Sands hotel. The skydeck is actually situated in the part which is projected and hanging outside the 3 main buildings holding the ship shaped platform. Incidentally Marina Bay Sands is the second most expensive building in the world with a construction cost of close to 6 Billion USD. With a 23$ entry fee the view from the top was stunning. Birds eye view of the entire downtown area is something which shouldnt be missed. We were able to see the downtown area against the setting sun and stayed long to view the brightly lit downtown area with countless number of skyscrapers. From the top we caught the 7.45 show of the Garden Rhapsody where the Super Grooves are lit up brightly and synced with some lively music. At 8pm we caught another light show, the Wonderfull show filled with lazer lights, projection on mist and so on. Even this was stunning.

With the Symbol of Singapore: The Merlion

After the show we came down the building and walked by the banks of the reservoir which is a pleasure to do so in the evening. Preparations were going on for the Singapore Night Grand Prix wherein F1 cars would racing through the streets of Singapore. Our walk finally ended at Merlion statue, the symbol of Singapore with a couple of mandatory pics clicked with it in the background. We again caught the 9.30 slot of Wonderfull show but now with a different perspective of the Marina Bay Sands in its backdrop. Even then it was stunning. With the quality of the infrastructure provided in order to attract the masses we can only assume their emphasis on tourism. After this we caught train from the nearest station and thus ended our first day in Singapore.

Jazz One : Shivanasamudra and Talakad

Took my Jazz on its first long spin to Shivanasamudra and Talakad. Having visited these regions way back in 2009, it was a trip down memory lanes. Was accompanied by my wife and my parents on this day trip, but unfortunately the falls were still not in their full glory, thanks to deficit monsoons this year. There are 2 routes to this area from Bangalore , one via Kanakpura (NH 209) and the other one via Maddur (SH 17). Both these routes have their own pros and cons. The route via Kanakpura is a good 2 lane road with minimal traffic but one doesn’t have access to good eateries like those available in Mysore road. Hence it was decided to take Maddur route in the morning and while returning take the Kanakpura route in order to avoid the Sunday evening Mysore-Bangalore maddening traffic rush.

Gaganchukki

Selfie @ Barachukki

The morning drive was good till Maddur, within which we had our breakfast and packed our lunch. After Maddur the route to Malavalli is kinda ok with a lot of construction activity and road widening going on. At Malavalli we joined the Kanakpura National highway and after this it was a smooth drive. Normally at many instances a person who doesnt know a local language would face some difficulties in navigating through an area, but in my case it was the exact opposite !!!!. At one place we say a huge kannada board showing a left turn towards “Shimsha (shortform of Shivanasamudra)” and without thinking much we took the left turn and within no time we were lost :P. This route was actually the access road to the “Shimsha” Hydroelectric plant (the oldest in Asia !!!) and not towards “Shimsha” falls. Hence after riding through a lot of deserted and restricted roads (but scenic 🙂 ) we finally managed to join the main road to the falls without any untoward incident.

The first falls one encounters from Bangalore is the Gaganchukki falls. In this particular falls one just gets a bird eyes view of the falls and nothing else. From Gaganchukki falls we came back to the main road and after travelling 10-15 kms on this picture-some road running along the river Cauvery, we took a left towards Barachukki falls which is synonymous with the “fun” falls since its in here one can get down to water. Initially we had a coracle ride wherein one is taken till the mouth of the falls and gets lightly drenched with the suspended water particles in the air. But the major disappointment was that they have cordoned off the area where one can directly walk to base of the falls and get drenched. That was one of the highlights of our previous trip, but still anyhow we still managed to play in the water and had a good time.

From Barachukki falls our next destination was Talakad. For this one has to come back to the main road (NH209) and then take a left which is clearly marked by the tourism department. Overall the roads everywhere were great and not a pain point unlike the experience the previous time around. We parked our car by the riverside and were approached by a guide who said that he would guide us to all the temple attractions of the place. This guided tour was very good, recommended and lasted for an hour or so. The guide clearly demarcated the facts from fiction and this impressed me the most since many guides elsewhere try to “masalafy” their stories in order to attract more customers.  The pancha linga temples are Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara, Arkeshwara , Vaidyanatheshwara and Mallikarjuna temple.

Talakad

After the interesting guided tour it was time to travel back to Bangalore. There was another direct route from Talakad to Malavalli instead of taking the route we had taken earlier in the day to visit the falls. The drive back was eventless and the Kanakpura road even though was a 2 lane was great to drive in. Finally reached home at around 8.30 pm. Overall a great first drive experience on our new Honda Jazz.

Nandi Statue : Observe the torso in shape of a bulls face

Total Travelled Distance >  310 kms.

How To Buy A Car ????

Finally I got my very own car !!!!. This blog is primarily a description of my experience in short-listing and buying a car.  The first thing any prospective buyer must decide on is the budget one is willing to spend on a car. Remember that buying a car is not an investment and based on ones need , the budget should be set. Once that is done the next step is to list out the cars which comes within that budget and something which is intuitively pleasing to the owner. In that aspect I had narrowed down to 3 cars. Hyundai Elite i20, Volkswagen Polo and Honda Jazz. Frankly speaking earlier I had shortlisted only i20 and Polo, since during this initial process Jazz was yet to be released in the market. But having seen the great reviews in the abroad market decided to postpone my decision till July 8th when the car was to be launched in India. Hence on the release day and after the test drive Jazz just swooped down and vanquished all its opponents !!!!.

Apart from the below process of shortlisting a car, another factor which steered my decision towards buying the Jazz is that Elite i20 off late has become very common and even after buying my Jazz, I have never come face to face with another Jazz (apart from test drive cars) on the road making it unique and exclusive, atleast for the time being.

Another major aspect which went against elite i20 is that in the mid variant dual airbags are not present , and for me the safety is one of the top priorities. The other determinant which went against i20 was the huge waiting period for the car delivery, apparently 3 whole months (Jazz was delivered to me in 1 week :P). On the other side the factors which went against Polo was the cost of maintenance and spare parts. Hence Jazz emerged the winner , even-though it might not be an undisputed winner in any of the individual evaluation criteria, it was a winner overall, when all these criteria are put together. In summary it was the jack-of-all-trades :P.

The steps one must follow when buying a car (This is not 100% original, I read other blogs too before buying a car 😛 )

1. Decide on Total Budget
2. Device whether petrol or diesel. Rule of thumb is if driving more than 1500 km/month go for diesel.
3. Shortlisting the final consideration list.
4. Test drive the cars
5. Create a quantitative table with parameters and weightage given according to ones preference.
6. Winner of this table is the BEST CAR FOR YOU.

Below is the sample weightage chart I had created for my choice.

	Jazz SV	Polo Comfortline	Elite i20 Sports
Looks exterior (25)	20	16	22
Looks interior (5)	4	4	4
Safety (15)	15	15	11
Price + ownership cost (15)	12	12	13
Waiting period (5)	5	4	2
Power/Performance (10)	7	6	7
Mileage (5)	5	3	5
Ease of handling (10)	9	8	9
Interior space/headroom/rear legroom etc (10)	10	7	8
Total	87/100	75/100	81/100

Once the car has been selected these are the follow up steps:

1. Pay a token advance and book the car.

2. Do a pre-delivery-inspection of the car, once a car has been allocated to you by the showroom. Bcoz once the car has been registered in your name there is pretty much nothing which can be done to undo it.

3. Simultaneously process the loan if planning to apply. Banks now provide loans for upto 85% of onroad price or 100% of ex-showroom price. 

4. Once loan is processed the paperwork from the showroom will be completed and you are good to take delivery of the car. 

5. You would receive the registration smart card in mail within 40 days of registration.

This entire process right from the budget allocation till the car delivery took around 1.5 months and went like a breeze for us thanks to the showroom guys.