Skywatch Friday - World's tallest statue of Guru Padmasambhava

It was pleasant drive from Gangtok. We drove on the winding roads through the tea gardens of Sikkim to Namchi town. We were on our mission to see the world's tallest statue of Guru Padmasambhava, the patron saint of Buddhists in Sikkim.

At 118 feet tall on Samdruptse hill on the outskirts of the town, this is the tallest statue of Guru Padmasambhava in the world. It virtually soars into the sky as you can see in this picture. ( click on the picture to see it in original size) On a clear day, you can see lovely Kanchenjunga in the horizon from the hill .

 World's third largest statue of Shiva is on the opposite hill known as Siddheshwar Dhaam.

If you are visiting Sikkim, don't miss this small but interesting town. It can be easily covered on the way to Siliguri from Gangtok.

You may also look at this post which has details on Shiva statue in Siddheshwar dhaam

Skywatch Friday - Two tallest Shiva statues in the world!

While in Sikkim, we went for a spectacular drive to Nathula the border post on India - China border. The details of our experience is captured in this post. Please click on the link below.

Nathula - A Spectacular drive to China border in Sikkim

You may also look at other interesting posts in Skywatch Friday series here.

Skywatch Friday

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Munnar in Monsoon 1 - Going gaga over Ghats!

We told you that Munnar is mindblowingly beautiful. We also told you last week that we will come back with details of our recent trip to Munnar. Here we go.....

We are not sure when we visited Munnar last time. If  our memory is correct, it must be 18 years back when we had been just married. Our plans to visit Munnar was always falling through though we had planned it many times. This time we did not want to miss the opportunity to drive in monsoon and experience the paradise ourselves. The other motivation was to drive to magnificent Athirapally falls in monsoon. There we were. Burning the rubber and on the way to Munnar during Eid weekend.

Having driven on the National Highway 47 umpteen times, it has become too familiar an exercise. We left early to avoid the chaos in Hosur, stopping over on the road side for a cup of boiler tea - how we hate the tea prepared elsewhere boiled over and over again, then customary breakfast at Karur opposite bus stand and we reached Theni by 11AM. The roads are excellent.

We were disappointed with Theni and its surroundings which are generally green. The rains were absent and the fields were still brown. We could now see the mountains in the horizon.

Kannan Devan Hill ranges in the horizon as we drive through Theni

From Theni, we now deviated towards Bodinayakanur from where we started climbing to Munnar on Bodi ghat.

As we moved closer to the ghat road, we were excited as we had heard about lovely vistas when we climb it. We were not disappointed. The road was fantastic to start with. Winding road but not too many hairpin bends like you find in Valparai. Once we left behind the plains and started climbing, the landscape turned out beautiful. What surprised us was the height of these mountains. They are big and beautiful - obviously when you have tallest mountain of South India amongst them. The scenery started turning greener and stunning as we climbed to Munnar. At the border check post in the village of Bodi Mettu, you will get the first feel of what is in store in Munnar. It was a wow experience as you enter the paradise!

Let the pictures take over now. This is just like a trailer..... Click on them to see in original size.

We start the climb now.....beyond those peaks!

The ghat road......winding all the way up!

As you climb, you will have magnificent landscape to enjoy

The mountains are huge

The first look of the the valley. Munnar is still few miles away.

The peaks - reaching the sky!

Meadows on the hills

It became foggy and we could see glimpses of the greenery on the hills. Notice the tapering peak....

The first view of Munnar valley from Bodimettu. Stunning indeed!

Let us stop here.

Munnar can also be reached via Tiruppur - Udumalpet ghat road. This route is very picturesque. Especially in monsoon. You will be passing through Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary and Marayoor sandal wood forests. We thought we will do this on the way back. But since we were going to Athirapally falls and returning via Valparai, we missed this. Look at these pictures of the ghat road from Udumalpet from Jaseem Hamza. (Check out his pictures in this link Jaseem Hamza in Panoramio and his facebook page Jaseem Hamza on Facebook )

Amazing vistas! 

Rain drenched ghat road

A river gently flowing down the hills

Downstream sight of Thoovanam waterfalls in Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary 

Thoovanam waterfalls in Chinnar wildlife sanctuary

A waterfall on the ghat

Cloud covered hills with cascades  as seen from the road!

A stream flowing.....

Different hues of green!!

Another excuse for us to drive Munnar next time!

Travel Tips

Route from Bangalore

Bangalore - Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Bodinayakanur - Munnar (520 KMs and 10 hours with breaks)
or
Bangalore - Salem - Tirupur - Udumalpet - Munnar (475 KMs and 9.30 Hours with breaks)

Our suggestion - Go by one route and return through the other.

Road conditions

Excellent throughout. On the ghat road, you will find some bad patches and narrow roads. Nothing to worry as such.

Eating joints

Bangalore - Dindigul has many restaurants on the road for Breakfast and Lunch. If you happen to reach Dindiual at lunch time, then you should savour the famous Dindigul biryani at Thalappakatti (http://www.thalappakatti.com/)

Coming up next - First vistas of Munnar - Mindblowingly beautiful!

Do you want to experience Indian monsoon at its glorious best? Here is a list for you to do. Click on this post in this blog below.

Celebrating Indian Monsoon - A List!

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Monday Medley - "Niti Village and Pandava legend" by Girija

We are naming our Monday posts as "Monday Medley. Yes, this will be a potpourri of interesting articles, posts from fellow bloggers which we liked, interesting images of fellow travellers or images from our own portfolio. We hope it will be a good start to the week. 

This was  an interesting post we came across few weeks back. 

We had trekked to "Valley of Flowers" two years back. The back breaking trek to Ghangaria for 12 hours was a fascinating experience. We walked along Laxman Ganga river all the way from Govindghat to Ghangaria. On the way we crossed a small village named Niti on the banks of the river. We remember stopping for few minutes to drink a cup of tea. We never knew there was an interesting story attached to this village. 

It was only when we saw the post by Girija that we came to know about the fascinating legend of Pandavas attached to this village. We are not sure how this has come about. No one does. 

A quintessential traveller, Girija meets a group of Niti villagers on her way to Ghangaria - incidentally she trekked to Valley of flowers few weeks before us - and she is surprised at the Pandava legend linked to this obscure a village in the himalayas. She chats with them to know more about it. What comes out is the interesting linkage between the Pandavas and Niti. We enjoyed reading it.

Now it is your turn to take a look at it and read. Please click on the link below to read Girija's story in her blog.....

People from Niti village - Descendants of Pandavas

Postscript - The village was washed out in last year's flood. No one died as all villagers were evacuated in time. Since then it has been rebuilt and the legend continues.

Here is our trek experience to Valley of Flowers - A Paradise on earth. Please click on the link below.

Paradise on Earth - Trek from Ghangaria to Valley of Flowers

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Skywatch Friday - A view from the Top Station, Munnar

We were in Munnar last week.

Munnar in monsoon is mindblowingly beautiful.

One of the "Must see' places in Munnar is the "Top Station" on the Kerala - Tamil Nadu border in South India.

As the same suggests, it is one of the highest points of Kannan Devan Hill ranges @ 6170 feet. It used to be the highest station on the Kundala valley railway - now defunct - built by British to transport tea chest from hills to railway station in Bodinayakanur.  It overlooks a breathtakingly beautiful valley giving you a 180 degree view.

We went there in the afternoon. The fog was rising up. The sun was still shining. The shadow play on the hills was already on.

We clicked this picture. We liked the contrast of red roof of a building - a church - with surrounding green.

The blue sky with white clouds completed the frame. Click on the picture to see it in original size.

We urge you to go to Munnar now when it is raining. It is green everywhere disturbed only by the white cascades flowing from the mountains.

We will come back with detailed posts on our experience in Munnar. Stay tuned.

If you are interested to experience Indian monsoon in all its glory, here is the list for you. Please click on the link below.

Celebrating Indian Monsoon - A List!

For other posts in Skywatch Friday series, please click here.

Skywatch Friday

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Food Safari - Buttering lessons in Davanagere!

It is a known fact that Indians are fond of eating and India is a gourmet's paradise. The interesting aspect of Indian culinary diversity is the cuisine changes every 100 Kms or sometimes even every 50 Kms. Another curious aspect of India is that many dishes are associated with the place they come from. Thus we have Mysore pak, Dharwad peda, Machilipattinam laddu, Tirunelvelli halwa, Chettinad Chicken, Lonavala chikki, Bikaneri Bhujia, Banarasi pan and so on.

To that you add "Davanagere Benne Dose (pronounced as "dhosay")" or " Davanagere Butter Dosa".

This is unique. This is not a typical Masala dosa or neither is it a plain dosa. It is a combination of two. Let us explain. 

We are sworn gourmets savouring local food wherever we travel. Davanagere in Central Karnataka in South India has been our breakfast pit stop for a long time whenever we drive on NH4. Our regular adda is Sri Guru Kottureshwara benne dose hotel opposite the dental college. It is easy to reach from highway. Plenty of parking and plenty to eat!

You have only two items on the menu here. "Benne Dose" and "Khali Dose". Benne dose is slightly larger and has more butter than its smaller cousin and less buttered Khali dose! Our favourite has always been Benne Dose. A "Plate" of it means a pair. If you want only one, you have to order "Single".

These dosas are celebration of Benne or butter. This is the celebration of gluttony. Forget your dieting and indulge in the bliss of savouring crispy dosa with spicy "palya" and "chutney".

The benne dosa in Davangere is made on large "tavas" or "cooking plate" heated up by firewood. Yes, it is firewood which is still used in these places to cook dosa. The dosa batter is poured on the tava and then comes the fun. Dollops of butter is now thrown over it. Literally. The butter slowly melt merging into the batter. The batter now gets cooked. Crispy on one side and soft on the other side. It is now turned over and some more butter is thrown over it! Benne Dosa is ready now. Slightly thicker, crispy. The honey comb structure is visible when you open it. 

When we clicked this, they were preparing Khali dosa. 

Cooked over wood fire

Hot Khali dosa with palya and chutney

Ready to serve khali dosa

It is served with "Palya and Chutney". The palya is made of potato and onion mixed with ground green chillies. We are not sure of the recipe. It is not the same alu masala you find in Masala dosas served elsewhere. There is no seasoning for palya like in regular masala dosa. We think that boiled alu (potato) is mashed to which stir fried onion and grated chilli is added and mixed. The chutney is again simple. The chutney here is boiled, not fried with a tempering as is typical. It’s a simple mix of coconut, green chillies, salt, and just a pinch of cardamom.

When we went to Goa and Sirsi recently, we stopped over at this place for our breakfast. As usual we ordered a plate and the aroma lasted till we reached the destination!

A plate of Davanagere Benne Dosa

We saw this nice video on Youtube which will show how the Benne Dose is prepared in Davangere style. Just notice the amount of Benne or butter that is thrown on the dosa! Looks like it is the same place. Not sure.

Davanagere Benne Dose

Next time when you are driving on NH 4, take time to stop over at Davanagere to indulge in Benne Dose. Make sure you don't land up between 1 PM and 4 PM when the hotel will be closed.

Here is the Google map link for the hotel.

http://goo.gl/maps/Ue3Bg

Glossary 

Dose/Dosa - An Indian pancake made of rice and Lentil
Palya - A spicy potato dish generally served as an accompaniment
Chutney - A gravy made of coconut and chilly ground into fine paste
NH - National Highway
Benne - Butter
Alu - Potato

If you are a foodie like us, you may love to see the following posts

Food streets of Indore

A Check list for gourmet's on travel in India

In search of Suleimani chai

Momos in Mirik

Bhopali breakfast

Bahadura laddu and ghevar of Gwalior

For other posts in "Food Safari" series please click here.

Food Safari

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Skywatch Friday - Palace in the Sky!

When did you last see an Indian mythological on your TV screen?

We all would have seen the scenes of the palace in the sky in them. Those grand sets of Indra's palace floating in the sky with clouds moving around. How would you feel if you are offered a similar sight on the ground?

This is the first impression you get when you are driving from Belgaum towards Bangalore. You come out the hustle bustle of city traffic and enter one of the lovely stretch of highway in the country. You negotiate to the top of a high ground overlooking a fantastic valley of green expanse. Then you take slight left turn and comes the surprise!

You will see a palace kind of a building on a small high ground in the distance. Wow! you exult and you are now eager to come closer and see the palace.

Yes, this is what happened when we were driving back from Goa last week. Monsoon clouds provided a perfect background which made this building float in the sky from a distance.

This is the newest addition to fabulous public buildings in the country. A replica of fantastic "Vidhana Soudha" the assembly hall in Bangalore. This is "Suvarna Soudha", the assembly hall and secretariat of Government of Karnataka for Summer sittings.

We stopped and clicked the pictures of the building. Being a holiday there was no chance for us to go inside.

Here is what we saw. Please click on pictures to see them in original size.

This is how it looks from the distance....in the clouds!

We come closer and click at an angle. We loved the sky and clouds above.

This one shot in front and zoomed. It is just fabulous!

When you drive on this road next time, stop for a minute. take a pause and get awed at this lovely sight.

For other posts in Skywatch series, please click here.

Skywatch Friday series

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Magic of Monsoon drive in western ghats 2 - Awestruck @ Amboli!

We promised you with our memorable return trip from Goa. Here we are.

After a lovely get together on the previous day where we met many roadies and their families as part of HVK Forum, we got up early for the Monsoon drive with the group. This route was chosen with great care by HVK himself to take us through some pristine forests of Western ghats. As luck would have it, we were not destined to join them. There was an emergency at home and we had to rush back.

We had an option to go back on the same route we drove to Goa on the previous day. The other option was to drive through Amboli ghat.

It was five years back when we drove back to Bangalore from Panjim in heavy rains. We then drove through Amboli ghat. That drive was memorable. We had actually driven under the canopy of waterfalls. It had rained heavily in Goa for 36 hours forcing us to stay indoors completely. When we left Goa the next day through Amboli ghat - we did not have luxury of different routes then as other routes were bad - we had not bargained for what was in store. We just could not believe our eyes as we drove in fog under canopy of waterfalls. We can never forget that drive.

Refreshing our memories, we did our return drive through Amboli this time. We kept our fingers crossed as we had left early and Amboli is notorious for landslides and roadblocks. Heavy rain on previous day meant that we were in a treat. We left behind Sawantwadi and entered Amboli ghat.  We entered Amboli ghat to be treated to lush greenery all around. A quietude broken only by the sound of an automobile now and then. 

Rains kept pouring off and on. It was not ferocious like the previous day. It was foggy with sun playing hide and seek. Soon we were to see a spectacle. For next five KMs we were treated by myriad of lovely cascades. Each one different. Each with its own character. We had to stop and frame them in the camera. Every few meters of drive we were awed by a waterfall. The grand finale was reserved for the Amboli falls. The Tallest of all. 

Join us for a drive under the waterfalls. Did we say we were awestruck at Amboli? You can see why. We assure you that you will be left spellbound after this journey!

Click on the pictures to see them in original size.

We enter Amboli ghat! It is green everywhere with a light drizzle 

The complete ghat and valley was foggy. We had to drive real slow. 

A trailer of spectacle to unfold - the first of the waterfalls

Twins.......cascading gently over the rocks 

A canopy of water falls beckons us......

This stretch was lovely. A fall at every five meters!

........and the spectacle continues

........it gets increasingly beautiful

This was a bigger one. It was glorious!

--------Followed by a smaller cousin

........and this one seemed to be in a hurry!

This is how it was. We had to wait for fog to clear to get a better view of the cascades

This one was a beauty. Hidden in the woods and coming out roaring!

.......and this one too....

This was taller and gentle

This was a perfect setting. Canopy of trees, misty on the top, water cascading gently over the rocks. Can it get any better?

The grand finale when the mist lifted!

The tallest and the main falls called simply as Amboli waterfalls

How did you feel? We felt rejuvenated. We would have loved to take a U Turn and drive back to experience the bliss. But we had to go. 

A quick breakfast in the shacks near the main falls, held us in good stead till we reached Bangalore. Thanks to HVK that we were able to make it. We missed lovely drive through Kadra - Dandeli - Joida. But we were adequately compensated by the spectacle in Amboli.

Travel Tips

Route - Panjim - Sawantwadi - Amboli ghat - Belgaum - Bangalore

Road condition - Excellent through out. Stunning landscape through out.

Eateries - There are shacks near Amboli falls who provide basic Breakfast. Hot and nice. There is also a restaurant by Maharashtra tourism if you want more options.

Tips - The ghat gets foggy in the monsoon. Though there is no need for fog lamps, need to drive carefully. The series of water falls can be seen only when it rains heavily in the hills. The main waterfalls will be good till november.

Please check out the first part of the monsoon drive in Western ghats here

Magic of monsoon drive in western ghats 1 - Amazed @ Anmod!

For a complete list of experiencing monsoon in India - drives, waterfalls, places to god, treks etc. - please click on this link below.

Celebrating Indian Monsoon - A List!

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