Silent Valley - Chikamagalur

Exactly a week before, during this time I was busy packing for a trip, not knowing that exactly after a week , I would be missing it.. Sounds confusing?? Well you would be in the same state , had you been a part of it...
Ok !! Ok!! So here is a small note on an experience I would want to share with all of you..
2 months back, a sudden plan popped up in the head of Subhajit and Chitra for a small team outing, and with inputs from various sources(ahem!ahem!) it was decided that all of us would be going to Chikamagalur(well the original plan was Belur). To avoid drop-outs, we already booked the places and the cabs and the weekend that was chosen was the 6th March weekend.
So after all the planning and the speculation and waiting, the weekend finally arrived.. and we were all so excited that we were all actually going. Each of us were to be picked from our respective abodes. And thn at 12 my journey to Chikamagalur began.
Well let me introduce all my colleagues to you.. Shrawan, Sriram, Rouls, Prakash,Chitra, Simil, Anurag and Subhajit.. After picking Anurag from Malleshwaram , we started our journey through the Tumkur Road. As Anurag had bought a movie CD, we started watching "The Recruit".. The movie wasnt very interesting and all of us slowly dozed off... Only to get up when it was about to end.. [Prakash slept off when the movie had started and gt up with the ending credits :P].. And then deciding that we would not sleep.. the guys took the task of keeping us entertained with Ghost stories..[I still wonder wht is the charm of frightening ppl.. I dun believe in ghost stories.. bt then they ensured that they would continue telling till a point that I got really uncomfortable].. And then ppl were like oh.. look.. there is a lady in the saree.. and ppl were discussing how modern the ghosts have become and all.. [Chitra was dozing happily and when asked she said she just had her eyes closed and was listening.. And Prakash wanted a recap so that he was nt "out of page" .. :) ].. This continued for some time after we were done with our coffee somewhere in some town.. and then slowly when it was dawn and I was really sleepy we reached Kemmanagundi[Only to realize that we should have stuck to our planning and not listened to the driver :(].. Okay now a lil trivia.. we took kinda 6 hours to reach Kemmanagundi.. For the distance maybe look for the comments.. :)
Hmm.. So on reaching Kemmanagundi we decided we would go and capture the sunrise from the view point.. Which did not really happen.. we were happy loitering and clicking snaps.. bt then we did manage to capture the sunrise.. and the so called waterfall.. anyways after happily roaming around and clicking pics and a sumptous breakfast[M sure Simil would agree to the sumptous part :D].. we started our journey to the next star attraction of the trip.. Kalathgiri falls..which we reached in an hr.. i guess it was kinda 60-70 kms from Kemmanagundi.. And too our dismay.. there was nothing worth seeing there.. :(.. Then we decided that we would directly head to Silent Valley-Chikamagalur where the stay was arranged.
We were travelling in March and let me tell you, its nt the right time to travel to Chikamagalur.. coz its pretty hot in Chikamagalur as well.. Also please ensure that u keep ur tummy light coz the drive around the hill can cause sickness..
Now we realized that Silent valley was almost 100+kilometers from Kalathgiri and was on the other side of Chikamagalur district, ahead of a village called Kalasa, on the Kudremukh road.. So we kept travellin , only to reach Chikamagalur town by 12 and Silent Valley by 2.30 pm.. And man were we pleased to see the place[actually we were scared that the place might not turn to be good enuf.. bt we were nt disappointed].. After reaching the place , one thing was for sure, we were not travelling any more !!!!!
All of us were dead tired..
Ok now a lil about Silent valley.. Its this nice resort which is 4kms from the kalasa village towards Kudremukh.. It has nice huts and some decent facilities like a swimming pool, volleyball court,badminton court and is surrounded by some beautiful hills.. U have tree houses and swings and dorms and decent food!! what more could a tired person ask for.. Also the huts were pretty neat.. All in all a decent option ...
Once all of us reached, we decided to freshen up.. So while we gals were getting ready, the guys had their share of fun in the pool.. After a decent lunch..[Trust me the food was good..less spicy and edible.. and not at all costly.. Suggest that u have ur food in the resort].. we decided to play a game of carrom.. [i was the spectator.. M bad with carrom.. m sure i have a lot of support on that :P].. and then a game of badminton.. The experience was awesome.. Just imagine.. being surrounded by hills on all the sides.. Breezy.. and playing badminton.. making hulla..running around.. sadly some ppl were dozing happily and missed all of this.. :P [When Chitra woke ppl up, they said plz disturb when its dinner time :P. Papa rouls, he tried waking up ppl with rackets and shuttle cork , only to fail.. :(]...
After the game exhausted us.. we decided to relax at our huts and decided to play Dumb C.. It was fun.. with movies like Ballistic:Sever vs ecks[I knw.. It was subhajits idea!!] and haivaniyat ke dushman...[ u should have seen Anurag enact it.. Man!!! was it fun!!! ]..
And when we finished with the Dumb C and some rummy..(card game)and it was time for dinner.. And after a nice dinner.. it was time for some bonfire.. yippee..and some dumb c.. [I never seem to get bugged off this game.. Do u!!].. With names like Willy wonka and the chocolate factory, double indemnity and spidwick chronicle.. chitra and gang had a really tuf time.. and sipping some nice filter coffee and having fun, we never realized it was 12.. and so we decided to move to the next plan.. rummy..was fun.. and then somethg happened..
A power cut .. and becoz our cottage was secluded.. the guys decided that we shd nt stay alone.. and so while chitra dozed.. simil,sriram , prakash and me kept chatting.. from college stories to love stories to theories and wht nt... it was fun.. [also anurag went clicking pics of a doggie.. and there were stories on tht as well :P].. Thanks guys!!!.. Till I finally could nt keep myself awake and collapsed on a bed.. papa guys.. they managed on the two cots they had..till the power came back at 7.. and when me and chitra finally returned to our hut to sleep[how can i forget the attempt to wake chitra for the keys, when she threw a pillow and then again hugged it and slept back :P]..
After capturing some snaps of the misty mountains, we slept off till 9 till we were woken up by Subhajit.. and after freshening up and badminton.. we finished our breakfast and were all set to leave[all those plans to see the coffee/tea plantations went for a toss.. nobody really wanted to!!!].. So after some snaps and some quick games.. we set off on our way back to bangalore..
It was fun back to bangalore.. for there was some nice music[I really appreciate the collection our cab driver had.. it was amazing].. and some awesome fun.. teasing Subhajit with ahem ahem.. the gal in his life, it was real real fun.. and i really appreciate him for being so so sportive... and some dancing and drama by Simil and Sriram.. we reached Belur..
Belur is on the way to bangalore from chikamagalur and shd be a distance of 100 kms.. We reached Belur at around 4 .. And decided to spend nt more thn 15 mins[ ended up spending an hr.. thts a different story!!!]..
Now some quick facts.. belur is known for its famous temple of chennakesava.. It has some beautiful architecture and was built during the hoysala rule somewhere around the late 1300 AD.. for more details please google!!! :)
We did spend a lot of time there.. Clicking pics and searching for Anurag!! :P[Prakash even named a kid anurag!].. It was lots of fun..U shd see the pics and u wud knw...
Quick facts: Dun carry a mobile inside.. its nt allowed.. And u shd also plan Halebidu.. Somanath temple and Sravanabelagola.. They are beautiful when it comes to architecture...
And then it was back to our sweet home .. bengaluru.. which was 220 kms.. and with a pit-stop at Kamat..
And while we were on our way .. we had some thanksgiving from simil.. some judaai pics from simil sriram shrawan subhajit and chitra.. some planning for the possible next trip.. some part theory from Shrawan and Subhajit.. and loads and loads of fun..
I surely have lots of memories from this trip.. somethg i will always cherish..
And for the pics of the trip.. please refer the link below:
Pics

So till the next blog post.. bye bye..