Belur and Halibid

Belur – Chennakesava Temple

In the earlier post I had put my experience in Chikmangalur, but while going to Chikmangalur we also visited Belur Chennakesava temple. The temple is simply extraordinary, though the architecture was build and developed in soapstone but making those magnificent structures is one of the best I should say. For each statue they give great amount of details like ornaments, style they pose etc are simply great. Rather than telling them in words it is good to see some the pictures. 

The temple has many statue and there are no identical statues, each of them is unique. There are about 106 elephants in which each of them show different mood and position. 

Some statue which I liked a most are the Narashima statue it shows the anger of lort vishnu in that avatar. Lord Krishna statue with floot is another unique structure which shows the how the Krishna completely involved in floot playing and the girls around krishna watching them. 

This temple is built during 1117 CE by Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, the temple shows predominantly Karnataka Dravidian structure.

Halebidu – Hoysaleswara temple

This temple in Halebidu is something we visited when our way back to Bangalore to Chikmagalur. It has the similar structure and design pattern look the same like the Belur temple. This temple is dedicated to Hindu God Siva. Great design and really wonderful architecture around the temple. The temple is now very cleanly maintained and it is been announced as world heritage center. 

Also when I was reading an article recently by Lakshmi Sharath in yahoo life style where I see she gave a great insight on this temple. 

In the lost kingdom of Dwarasamudra

You would get more information and also some more cool snaps in the above link. 

Chikmagalur

It is been very long that I went for any outing with my family or friends. To my surprise I made a last minute decision to go to Chikmagalur. There are many nearby site seeing places in Chikmagalur but we just wanted a break and take test in Home stay which is located inside a coffee estate.

Chikmagalur is a place in Karnataka located near to Bangalore. I had to drive from Chennai to Bangalore and then we halted a day in Bangalore, the next day early morning we started to Chikmagalur. The best route from Bangalore is NH 75 which takes you to Hassan. The road is good and there were some national highway construction going on after Belluru. So if you are going from Bangalore try this route via Nelamangala, Kunigal, Belluru, Channayapattana, Hassan, Belur then Chikmagalur. 

On the way to Chikmagalur, you have many tourist attractions like Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebeedu(I’ll put then in my next post). We have tried and covered these places. For morning breakfast you can go to Hotel Mayura near Belluru cross, which has very good food and you get authentic Karnataka food like Dosa, idly vada, pongal etc.

We stayed in a Chikmagalur in a Home stay called Athithi Home stay, I should say this place is very nice and the cook there called Krishna made delicious food. The food was amazing and we had been the whole day enjoying his food and roaming around the coffee estate. The homestay is a old house and renovated with all new amenities, where they kept the tradition alive and it was comfortable too. The place is completely surrounded by coffee plants, trees and great view of mountains.

I am planning to make next visit soon to this place, I didn’t had much time to see the attractions nearby Chikmagalur.

The other places you can visit are

•        Baba Budan Range

•        Dattatreya Peetha

•        Kemmanngundi

•        Kudremukh

•        Gangamoola

•        Ayyanakere

•        Hebbe Falls

•        Kalahatti Falls etc..

Summer vacation Holiday Planner Part 1 (Hill Stations - South India)

The exams getting over in another few days, the kids and children’s are awaiting their summer special vacation plan. Now, I could think as parent how much it is difficult to plan such a beautiful trip. To my knowledge, I can suggest some places that would get a top priority for this summer vacation.

Most of us know few places and few more plans you might have in mind. The plan might be visiting a Hill station or a forest trekking or a River base. My choice is to go and visit the Hill station and enjoy the mighty heat buster weather. When I say hill station, I would say Ooty, Kodaikanal, Coorg, Munar, Valparai, Yelagiri hills etc. These places are in south India and would be more preferable place with good reasonable cost. Ooty (Ootacamund or Udhagamandalam), Yelagiri, Kodaikanal, Valparai, Coorg and Munar out of these places, Ooty, Yelagiri, Kodaikanal, Valparai are part of Tamilnadu. Coorg or Kodagu (Origin place of river Cauvery) or Madikeri is in Karnataka. The mighty Munar is in Kerala.

Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munar have the same type of money expenditure and the weather would be awesome. Munar, you might have to afford little more from your pocket since it has become a honeymoon destiny and become more commercial.

To reach Munar, you can either go via Coimbatore or Madurai from Tamilnadu. Ernakulam or Cochin or Kottayam are places which are near to Munar from Kerala. The nearest Airports are Madurai and Cochin. The nearest railway stations are Ernakulam and Kottayam. Munar is in Idikki District, also if you are great lover of trekking then you can go to Anamudi the top point of Western Ghats of the same Idikki district of Anamalai hills. Anamudi is at the peak point of 2695mts higher than the sea level

To reach Ooty you can go from Chennai to Mettupalayam using Niligiri Express, which you can board from Chennai Central railway station. Most of the time this train would be full as the season is already started. The nearest Airport would be Coimbatore. From Coimbatore, Ooty is less than 100Kms where you can take a bus or book a cab in advance.

If you have a plan to go to Kodaikanal from Ooty, you can try the below route if you are going by your own travel by a Cab or own Car. From Ooty get down to Kothagiri, then Mettupalayam, Annur, Somanur, Palladam, Tharapuram, Palani, Kodaikanal. Since I visited few times Annur and I thought this route would be useful too.

To reach Kodaikanal, you can go from Chennai to Madurai by Air or by train you can reach to Kodai road junction. From there Kodaikanal is less than 80Kms. The world famous Palani temple is also the nearest location which you can visit and have Dharsan of lord Murugha or Subramanya.

To reach Valparai, it is again very near from Coimbatore about 95Kms. I would say Valparai is kept undisturbed and the tourism is less in Valparai. Those who want to stay for a week in peace without much noise and disturbance can choose Valparai. If you are planning to go via Coimbatore, do not miss the beauty of Pollachi, Aliyar Dam. If possible please also try and visit Athirappalli falls which is near to Valparai.

There are some details which I have shared in my other post on Munar, Coorg, Ooty, etc

PVR in chennai

The much awaited PVR (Priya Village Road show) cinemas in all set to rock in Chennai. I personally went and checked when it is opening. 
The great cinema experience PVR is ready to start their show on this Friday i.e. 9-Apr-2010.
I stay very near to this Ampa mall in Chennai, I could say it is very much a walkable distance. So all my movie thirst is all set to get over now. The PVR in Bangalore is the only place which I visited most in the last five years when I was in Bangalore. The next place, I missed a lot is the Start Bazzar which is very close to Form Mall in Bangalore all my weekend expenses would vanish here. Now, I would say this is a fortune that both Star bazzar and PVR are now at the same place Ampa Mall. The much awaited opening of PVR is all set to launch grand opening on this Friday 9th Apr 2010. I should say now one of the Icon place in Chennai. The ticket rate would be maximum of Rs. 120. Now PVR is going to be a major competitor for INOX, Satyam and other multiplex theaters. The theater is located in heart of the Chennai near Aminjikarai and Nelson Manikam road junction. The important thing is that there are no theaters near by and the great residential layout Anna Nagar is also near to this. People those who stay near Anna Nagar, Aminjikarai, Arumbakkam and Nungambakkam can reach PVR cinemas quickly, I would say not more than 5 mints drive even in peak traffic hours.