Yelagiri Hills & Ambur Biryani

Route : Bellandur - EC - hosur - krishnagiri - yelagiri hill - vinayambadi (off-road) - ambur - krishnagiri - hosur - EC - Bellandur

Round trip distance : 386 KM

Trip Time : 5:30 AM to 4:30 PM

Riders & horses:

   1. Praveen CJ on Thunderbird

   2. Myself on Thunderbird

        This trip is very important for both of us. As CJ leaving INDIA for his MS on July 7th, so CJ wanted to enjoy his ride and I am riding to Vijayawada (700 KM) next week, so I need to test my endurance on saddle. This trip helped both of us very much. How this trip was planned...? WhatsApp friends group. Its just finalized with 4 chats...

Me : Guys Saturday planning for bike trip.... will go early morning and come back by evening.... who wants to join....

Me : place is ur wish...

CJ : Lets go Saturday

CJ : Yelagiri

We knew it's not a good season to visit yelagiri... but who wants the destination? we just need a name to ride. Till now I did 4 trips but never got a chance to use my riding gear which I brought a month ago. Eagerly waiting to ride with full gear.

      Yesterday filled 1000/- oil, tires inflation with nitrogen and 20 days back 2nd service done. So my bike is ready to ride. CJ has given his bike for basic checkup and got fixed headlight wires loose issue. We both are ready to go and decided to meet at silk-board junction at 5:30 AM. As we planned, CJ called me at 5 AM before he starts. For me just 10 mins ride to Silkboard...so I started 15 mins before and going slowly as the engine needs to heat up. sharply at 5:30 AM CJ joined me and decided to go through EC flyover and next stop is for breakfast. I have not removed my thermal lining from my brand new DSG NERO jacket... I am feeling horrible heat even at @80 speed. At EC toll gate I told to CJ about jacket issue, he said we can remove thermal lining. After removal, I felt so comfortable. We were riding @80 constantly and reached Anand Bhavan after 60 KM ride at 7 AM around.

    We had lite breakfast and cleaned our helmet visors as they filled with butterfly dead bodies. CJ having magnetic water proof mobile pouch from his riding club. It helped greatly for continuous navigation. I have decided that I should get something like that. Ride resumed after 30 mins break. Next break is only for photo session at ghat roads and reached yelagiri lake by 9:30 AM. Roads are butter smooth 2 lane till natrampally diversion. From there single lane village road, but in good condition. There is railway crossing in this road and some old dirty AC train is about to cross. Even a tortoise can go faster than that train.

   No.of turns in the Ghat section is less, but the hill view is superb and everyone should stop for few pics. Eucalyptus trees given real beauty to the entire hill and smells like ZANDOO BALM. Entry ticket for Lake is 10/- and extra 5/- for camera. Nice weather near the lake at 11 AM also. There is no security inside the lake compound. Local kids are going into lake edge and catching fishes/crabs. We played "Stones skipping" game for some time and then just sat on side wall of lake. We felt for a movement that we are in heaven. 

     I heard about another lake, paragliding and small waterfalls, but we thought  it's not a great season to visit those places. Around at 11 AM, we started for Ambur. It was not in our yesterday plan, it's just decided after breakfast while checking for route map. Took nearly 1 Hr to descend the hill because of long photo shoot. 

   Ambur comes directly on Highway road, but GMAP cheated us and routed through some lengthy off-road. Somehow off-road through villages also good, as we have escaped highway heat at mid day 1 PM. We inquired locals for best Biryani Hotel, they suggested STAR BIRYANI. lucky it is on main road only. Though its small hotel with AC, Biryani taste is awesome. We both finished 3 Biryani in 10 mins, yes we are in a such a hunger.  Chicken Biryani price is 110/- and the quantity is not sufficient for single person. Mutton Biryani is not that good. Took 15 mins rest and started at 1:30 PM. we checked the route, its a direct route of 160 KM till Bangalore from hotel with only one diversion at krishnagiri junction.

 We reached EC tollgate by 4 PM exactly with two 15 mins halts in between. We covered 150 KM in 2 Hrs. We were literally on clouds with a zooming speed of 120 KMPH. We took 10 mins break to say bye bye to each other, as we both go different ways from silkboard.

We told each other "one day in our life's we are going to meet and going for another ride"

CJ and Me:

That's CJ in Mirror:

Beautiful Eucalyptus Tree lanes:

From here we played "Stones skipping" game:

Nice Shot of myne:

Again me while descending the hill:

We tried hard to take this photo without any other vehicle in frame.

Ha That's great view:

Local boys finally got one crab:

Dogs taking a nap on hotel tables near lake:

Random Shots:

Nature random pics:

 My babeeeee:

 

Pyramid Valley, Banagalore

Route : Bellandur - Bannerghatta road - NICE road circle - boothanahalli - kanakapura road - piramid valley
Round Trip distance: 92 KM
Time to visit : 9 AM to 5 PM
Time required to cover entire place : max 1 Hr + meditation time.

       This Saturday planned to go for Yelagiri Hills,  but postponed to tomorrow as my friend having some important meeting. So I thought of going for small trip in 100 km range. Without any delay I came up with idea of Piramid valley. I read about this place in some blogs... and got impressed by the pics. Me and my friend decided to go there by 10 AM and return back by 2 PM.

       We filled our tummy's and also my bike tummy. I put 1000 bucks oil as tomorrow going for long trip. As per the best route given by GMAP, we reached NICE ringroad in Bannerghatta road. From there we have to go to kanakapura road by paying Toll fee. I don't want to pay toll fee so, did off road through villages. This route is shorter but we cant go fast. Entire off-road is good other than 2 km distance, which is a gravel road with small chips. I guess Govt forgot to put tar on it. View on this road is amazing because of hills and forest. Yes this road is completely through the about to die Forest area. Most of the place, trees have been cut down and hills have been drilled to build houses. I guess no need to tell about single-lane mysore road. 

        We started at 9:30 AM and reached there by 11 AM. Place is wisely selected in the forest area in a village surrounded by full greenery. We parked the bike under trees after signing in entry register. Good point is there is no fee at all for any thing including parking, entry, and even meals. I have not believed, how can they give free meals for everyone....but it can be possible by donations from heart'd people. 

What is this place by the way? is it a tourist place or park ? Pyramid Valley international is an Meditation center founded by the Brahmarshi Patriji.

Few facts about Pyramid : pyramid wall is constructed  51 degree to each, so that it can absorb cosmic energy. cosmic energy helps greatly to heal the diseases. Meditation helps to absorb cosmic energy to human body. That is the reason why Egyptians buried dead bodies in pyramid, so that it never decompose.

     Single huge pyramid constructed beautifully surrounded by a lake and greenery.  Once you enter inside the pyramid, small demo will be given for first time visitors. They will brief about what is pyramid and meditation and it's benefits for 5 mins. We decided to do meditation  for 20 mins, but finished in 5 mins :). inside the pyramid its completely hallow and made seating arrangement for meditation. Huge tower constructed in the center of the pyramid. 20 people can do meditation  on that tower for better cosmic energy. while leaving from pyramid building, they will give you free meal coupons. Don't forgot to take this. Three view points arranged to see pyramid in better view... Buddha statue is the best attraction in front of pyramid. Lunch timing are 12:30 PM to 2 PM. Finished lunch at 1:30 PM and returned to home after taking 30 mins rest under the trees. Lunch is very simple but tasty. Though it is an meditation center, most of the people visiting this place as holiday spot.

We can visit this place with family at least once for a weekend relax. suggest you to visit in early morning or evening to avoid the hot sun.

Map:

Pyramid view from left side:

Pyramid view from rear side:

Pyramid view from right side:

Pyramid view from front side:

Few random shorts:

That's me:

Divine Kolar Trip

Another Weekend... This time wanted to go for 200 KM trip. Goggled many blogs for travelogues, finally found these Divine places perfectly for my trip.

Places Visited : Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple, Ramalingeswara Temple and Lava-Kusa Hill

Route:

            1) Whitefield - Kolar - bangarapet -  Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple   : 100 KM

            2) Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple - Avani : 21 KM

                while return  : Avani - NH4 directly - kolar - hoskote - whitefiled : 96 KM

Distance Travel  (Round trip) : 217 KM

Trip Time  : 7 AM - 5 PM

Road condition :  

Once you go-off from NH-4, complete road is village single road.

Kolar - bangarapet -  koti linga Temple road is excellent, moderate traffic but many speed bumps near to villages and crossings.

From koti linga Temple to Avani, I took short-cut route as shown in map below instead of lengthy main road given by GMAP. Around 5 KM road condition is worse.... not even shifted to 3rd gear and took nearly 30 mins for 5 KM. Suggested you to go by main road as per GMAP.

Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple :

       Morning started at 7 AM with my colleague/friend without breakfast...thought of having tasty village food near temple. Reached Temple at 9 AM without any break other than GMAP checking. Route is simple direct road and directions given for Temple all the way from Bangarapet. Parking is GOOD, looks like lot of people come everyday.... parking fee only for 4-wheeler. 

      Wrong thing we did is not having breakfast in the village. Few small hotels available inside the temple compound. We went to one of the hotel and ordered idly first... I am full hungry.... thought of ordering dosa next. He said no chutney as no power from 4 days... what the hell.... We just had 2 idly with sambar ... sambar is worse.... yaak..... all my epithet gone with that taste.  

      Ticket cost for temple entrance is 20/- per person. Camera ticket is high ...100/-. Inside no security to check camera ticket but few photo studio guys not allowing anybody to take photos without ticket, but not objecting for mobile camera. I am not talking about temple and 1 crore lingas.... instead below pics talks to you. Nearly 1 Hr spent in Temple and started to Avani at10:15 AM.

108 ft shiva lingam:

35 ft Nandi:

Avani : ( Ramalingeswara Temple and Lava-Kusa Hill )

Ramalingeswara Temple:

    Reached Avani in 1 Hr through the horrible road which I choose madly. Avani is a small village having less than 100 houses. First reached Ramalingeswara Temple. No parking place here and not many people surrounding including villagers. There is no shoe stand, we can leave at the side of the entrance, nothing to worry. No entry fee for the Temple/Hill.

      Temple architecture is simply superb. Priest briefed about the temple as no devotees in the temple at that time. Temple constructed 1400 years ago by Chola king. Look at the beauty of temple in below pics. Around 30 mins we spent in temple. Lava-kusa Hill is walkable from Temple.

Lava-Kusa Hill:

       There is one small shop opposite to temple... thought  of buying some biscuits, but again thought there will be good shops on the top of the Hill  There is no shoe stand near the Hill. One point I should mention here .... this path is like real hill climbing unlike famous temples with good security and roads to the top of the hill. I don't see a single person other than one priest at the top of the Hill temple. I heard guides are available to explain the history, but we don't see any one .....maybe we went at wrong time.

         We kept our shoes behind one big rock secretly and started climbing steps. Initial few steps are made with separate stones and arranged neatly but step size is bigger. Later some 100+ steps are carved on the steep hill. After reaching to mostly end of it.. nearly 80+ steps....something wrong with my friend... We haven't had food other than 2 idly and traveled nearly 120 KM and walked so much.... now climbing steep hill. He settled on the middle way only and not able to move single step. Waited for 10 mins.... I told him if we can climb 20 more steps we can reach top and we can find some food... but he was not able to move single step. So I decided to go down and get some food without even thinking of climbing for next 20 steps. Dropped back pack with him and returned to Temple place where I saw small shop. No patience to wear shoes so...walked with barefoot. 

        Took some biscuits and maaza bottle and started climbing fast.... That's the mistake I did.... I can hear my heart beat after climbing half way and my legs started vibrating. I just stood for 5 mins to take the breath... Now felt like I am not able to move a single step, but somehow I managed and reached slowly. by the time my friend  recovered and climbed the other 20+ steps. we settled for 15 mins under a big stone to finish the snacks. Now we got fully charged and ready to move.

       We looked at the surroundings... entire place is covered with huge stones....temple is not visible from there. We saw valmiki cave/temple... where valmki had written ramayan  and sita had  given  birth to lava-kusa. Now got little confused where to go ? tried all the paths finally found one. We saw the temple over the top of the hill and it's a long way to climb. Time is 12:30 PM and no one is going up other then us. Stones are getting hot and we are sweating like anything. we took another 2 halts before reaching to the top. We climbed total of 694 steps totally ( we did counting while return) and a  lot walked on steep stones. minimum of 3 halts required for any person. We reached top of the hill temple, its so simple and other than one Priest no one there. we took another 10 mins rest after darsan and visited few historic stones on top.

     There is no food/water available on top even no Prasad, started going down at 1:30 PM. Stones are burning with sun light and we can't stand for 2 secs at one place. But we were able to move fast without any halts other than photo pose. In the midway, we need to walk on sand path... that's really horrible like a fire-walking  and we saw the real GOD.  within 20 mins we reached to base of the Hill and shoes are safe :). 

Steep Hill steps :

People say : If you pray by arranging the stones like this, your wish will come true

People say: This is the place where sita gave birth to Lava-Kusa and valmiki wrote ramayan..

Sita temple on top of Hill:

Sita kept ornaments in this rock, key to open the rock is Hanuman finger through a hole....

When Sita not able to resist the stomach pain, rolled over this rock and stone got bent......

Few random pics:

It's not some baba.....Thats me :)

There are few shiva lingas placed next to the Hill place, 1 minute walk. Took few pics and left. From this place Ramalingeswara Temple view is good.

     With in 20 mins ride, we reached NH-4 and looking for hotel with 1 crore eyes. Found one milk dairy shop nearby and finished lunch with badam milk and butter milks.... Time is 2:30 PM, without any stop we reached home by 4:30 PM after crossing the huge kundanahalli signal. Too much windblast while return journey....so,  limited to keep meter at 80 KMPH on highway.

Entire journey having few side kicks but stored lot of beautiful memories from all 3 places. worth of watching.  So guys, if you are planning to go.... remember below points:

1) Carry food from home.
2) First go to Avani and then to  Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple if you are starting at early morning. so that you can avoid hot stone climbing.  If you are planing from afternoon then first go to Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple and then in the evening go to Avani, so that you can avoid hot stones and also you can enjoy the sunset from hill view.
3) Try to get guide at the hill otherwise it will be just like a hill walk.
4) From Koti Lingeswara Swamy Temple to Avani,  take main road instead of short cut like I mentioned in my route map.
5) Be ready to bare leg (gastrocnemius muscle) pain  for next 2 days... why not, if you climb 1400+ steps in a single day.