Monday, September 30, 2024

Chennai to Coorg on Car

This is my Second trip to Coorg and most of places i have  already visited but for my Kids it will be cherishing memory to their life.

Lets get into, How we planned our trip, We have started on 22nd Sep 2024 at 2:30 Pm from our home(Chennai) to Bangalore via Hosur (NH48) most of road under maintenance and road expansion was on progress so traffic was very slow and heavy traffic on certain areas but Toll plaza department didn't stopped charging. 

Day 1 - 22-09-24 - Destination Bangalore (electronic city)

Tolls Plaza                                                   Cost

SriPerumbadur                                         50

CHENNASAMADURAM TOLL PLAZA 45

Pallikonda Toll Plaza                               110

Vaniyambadi Toll Plaza                               105

Krishnagiri Plaza                                         90

ATTIBELLE                                                 35

We had stopped at Krishnagiri for our dinner and it was good with right price. Though Toll Plaza charge heavily but wont maintain any Toilets properly. So plan your trip, I have been forced stop at Petrol Bunk to use the Toilets for our kids.

We have reached Electronic City by 9:30 pm and we have already booked Treebo Celebrity Hotels and Suites via Agoda App for our Night Stay with good deal.

Day 2(23-09-24) - Coorg -> Channapatna->Coorg-Madikeri Raja Seat View

We have started by 7:30 AM to avoid Bangalore traffic, Since we stayed close to NICE Road it help us avoid travelling in City Traffic but my bad, i have missed Mysore Express deviation, If you missed this deviation you forced to go till NICE road end and you will be charged unnecessary so cautious on this NICE Road. I have been charged Rs.300/- 

Tolls Plaza                                             Cost

Magadi Road (P6) Plaza                        235

Mysore Road (P5) Plaza                          65

KANIMINIKE TOLL PLAZA              170

GANANGURU TOLL PLAZA            160

We have stopped at Navaneetha Krishnan Temple(Sri Aprameya Temple) in Channapatna,We use to go regularly while we are in Bangalore Stays. Still its maintained by Tamil Iyengar's and still performing all pooja's in Tamil as well. 

After Temple visit we have stopped nearby Hotel to have our breakfast. Due to Mysore Express road most of Shops are gone. If you are taking Mysore Express road plan your Stopping accordingly.


Don't forget to renew your Emission Certificate, you will notice lot of Emission Certificate Center like Tea Shop while you reach at Mysore area, We have Filled our Tank Full at Chennai and its almost going to be reserve so we filled our Tank and took Emission Certificate to avoid unnecessary stuffs. 

Mysore Express road really awesome but it will be difficult to maintain 100 KM speed but you will be monitored with multiple Camera's and Multiple Speed Display boards. So you have to Maintain your Speed and be responsible Driver on this roads. Our next stop at Kushalnagar for Lunch its not great but it ok to have our Veg Lunch here.  After Mysore Express Road, Road are Crossing the Village so you  have to slow down. 

We have reached around 3:30 PM at Green Nest Plantation(Kingmaker's Plantation) Coorg. We booked Three nights here. 
Superb Location and Climate also awesome almost 19* and cloudy. We just got refreshed and ready for our Sightseeing. 

Raja Seat view : It was raining and to much fog, you cannot see anything because of the Fog but my kids enjoyed. 

We had our Dinner Nearby Raja Seat Hotel. We got back to Hotel Room due to Rain and to much fog. Climate really awesome.

Day 3 (24-09-24) - Coorg->Sri Bhagaandeswar Temple->Tala Cauvery->Abbey Falls

We had our breakfast at Hotel and Started our Travel to Tala Cauvery but it was raining . Roads are very much damaged, So drive very cautiously. We have stopped Sri Bhagandeswara Temple.
Temple Entrance
Triveni Sangamam

After temple visit we have started to Tala Cauvery you will be charged Rs.50/- parking and road toll fee. Zero visibility on Hills very scary for our kids but they loved . You need to slowdown because of fog. Really Zero Visibility very difficult to drive.
Tala Cauvery Entrance

 

After Tala Cauvery, We have reached Abbi Falls while coming from Tala Cauvery to Madkeri there is Glass Bridge walk but due to Raining, we skipped and went to Abbi Falls. 
Greenish .....from Thala Cauvery to Madkeri
Abbey Falls...
Wow ...what view on Abbey Falls...there is lot of crowd in Abbi Falls but we manage to take our pic for memories ...don't mis this place.

Due to bad weather and raining, we have moved to Hotel and had our Dinner at Hotel itself.

Day 4 - Coorg (25-09-24)-Madikeri(Omkareshwara Temple)->Nisargadhama Reserve -> Namdroling Monastery Golden Temple ->Dubbera Elephant Camp

After having our BreakFast we have moved to Madikeri to visit OmKareshware temple which  it's a unique temple with Hindu islamic architecure ,After darshan slightly raining in  Madikeri.

We have stopped at Nisargadhama Reserve where you can chill out on Bamboo forest and you can  Exotic Bird park you can feed food to birds. 
Nisargadhama reserve entrance








Nisargadham will be good to take pics. We had our Lunch close to Nisargadham Reserve Park. We next went to Golden temple.



After Golden Temple, we started to Dubbera Elephant camp which will open at 4PM. 



Dubbera Elephant Camp they charge Rs.180 per person during week days. They will take you into boat short ride and Elephant camp you feed as well but they charge Rs.50/-

Our kids are Happy on End of day and started back to Madikeri City to have our dinner though we didn't have much rain but more fog. Really adventure one,  CAR AC suddenly make noise, so we don't know where the noise come from to be safer side, we switched of the AC but fog make our trip more adventure and unforgettable one.

Day 5 - Coorg - Chennai(26-09-24)

Our earlier plan to stay at Mysore and spend some time at Sri Chamundeswari temple, Palace and Zoo but due to some Political rumors spreading, we don't want to risk, so we thought of reaching Bangalore and take rest and start to Chennai next day. 

We have checked out Green Nest Plantation(Kingmaker's Plantation) Hotel by 9:30 am started and we are in Bangalore almost 3.00PM and made us to think to drive at stretch to Chennai. 

This time we taken route from Mysore express to KR Market and reach Chennai via old madras road because this route know route and more driven route but its surprise, i got stuck in Bangalore Traffic very badly and some road works are going on until Hoskote. 

Mysore express -> Old Madras road-> Hoskote->Chittor->Vellore->Home(chennai) and reached our home by 12:10 am on 27-09-24. More then 2-3 hours we spent in Bangalore traffic.

One of memorable and cherish able trip for my daughters.

Toll Plaza                                               Cost 

GANANGURU TOLL PLAZA         160
SHESHAGIRIHALLI TOLL PLAZA 170
Hoskote Toll Plaza                                   25
Mulbagal Toll Plaza                           90
Nangli Toll Plaza                                   35
Mahasamudram                                 100
Chennasamaduram Toll                          45
SriPerumbadur Toll                                  50

For this Trip for Four people we spent around 28K

Budget Details:

Hotel - Bangalore -Rs.2356 (1 nights)

Hotel - Coorg - Rs.8750 ( 3 nights)

Petrol : Rs.8500 ( it vary depends on drive and car make)

Toll :Rs.1740

Food : (it depends on you)

Parking & Entrance Ticket : Rs.2400/-

Thanks for your time for reading our trip experience.



Monday, July 29, 2024

Chennai -> Baba Baidyanath Temple (Deoghar,Jharkhand) -5th Jyotirlingam

Baba Baidyanath Temple ( Vaidyanath Temple 5th Jyotirlingam) Deoghar(Jharkand) on 27th and 28th July 2024.

Day 1:

Chennai -> Deoghar(Jharkhand) via Flight 

We have booked IndiGo Flight on 27th July 2024 05:25 hrs from Chennai through Kolkata 07:45 hr and our connecting flight Kolkata to DeoGhar at10:00 hrs  and reached 10:55 hrs


                                                 Above Flight details reference to plan your trip

Once you reach DeoGhar Airport (Small terminal) outside you can get Cab's,we got it for Rs.350/- really it was good deal. 

Inside view of DeoGhar Airport

Since we traveled during July end and we didn't know, it was Shravani Mela time, Lakhs of pilgrims converge at the temple, creating a vibrant and spiritual atmosphere. The Kanwar Yatra, the pilgrimage with the kanwar, reaches its peak during this time, transforming the town into a sea of devotion.

We already booked Hotel near to temple. It was decent hotel (Girija Sunrise Hotels).

Cab driver told about Basukinath temple which is 43km from Deogarh while coming from airport to Hotel, It was around Rs.2500/- he quoted, we have agreed because we didn't have any plan after Baba Baidyanath. We got refreshed went to Baba Baidyanath on VIP ticket which Panda only get for your per head Rs.600/- Panda or Gurukal will join with you on existing from Baba Baidyanath, we did Ganga water pooja but too much crowd.

Baba Baidyanath Temple.

We are not sure due to crowd or Management really very poor administration on handling the crowd.



After Baidynatha Dharsan we called up our Cab driver for Basukinath Temple . Every where we can see people presence due to yatra.

Baba Basukinath Temple management managed crowd very well and we took special ticket which is cost of Rs.300/- (Three ticket,one ticket for panda).We really had wonderful darshan. while coming out of temple rain started heavily. But our Cab driver try to cover most of place on this route.


We had dinner at Balaji Bhavan at Deogarh it was good one and reached hotel around 9:00 pm. 

Day 2:
On 28th July early morning we went to Baba Baidyanath Temple to do pooja for Paravatha madha, we got good dharshan, After dharshan outside we did some purchase for our kids, Try peda which is special here. We checkout our hotel at 12:00 PM, Called Same Cab guy to drop us in Airport.

Cab driver charged Rs.500/- for Drop.

Above Pic his reference on return flight details.


Cost per person for this trip:

Flight up and Down :15585
Hotel : 1470(2940)
Cab package : 1300(2600)
Airport cab pick and drop :425(850)
Baba Baidyanath ticket : 600
Baba Basukinath ticket : 300
Other : 400

Thanks .......

Monday, July 22, 2024

Chennai -> Phuket -> Phi-Phi Island (Thailand)

 As my previous post - short and crisp i am sharing our itinerary and budget trip details on below

Our trip starts on 10th July 23:20 pm from Chennai


 We have booked Thai Air Asia Flight via Bangkok through Trip.com

Our flight from Chennai to Phuket via Bangkok where we have only 2 hours to do Immigration check and Terminal Transfer this is risky, Even i wont recommend for my friends duration is not sufficient we are lucky got our Phuket flight at last minute after immigration and Terminal change from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2.

Once you reached Phuket, you have multiple options like taxi and prepaid taxi for transportation but i recommend Bus which cost you 100 Baht only really economy one, you need to come out of Airport where you can notice bus will waiting for you.
We have booked our Hotel in Patong at Phuket, So our plan Two days in Phuket and One day in Phi Phi island and return to Phuket and get flight on  15th July 2024.


We have booked Club Bamboo Hotel(11th & 12th July 2024) at Patong which is close City. Since its Monsoon season we got good deals on our Hotels as well but some times it rains as well. Phuket you can find lot of Renting Bike and cars shops everywhere even our hotel had but you must have international license to drive in Phuket. Strongly recommend to have International license to avoid 2000 Baht fine.

We tried some native Thai Food on day one itself 
Thai Food

Madras Darbar hotel(We didnt try anything here just noticed our Tamil language)


My first stop at Tiger Kingdom which cost baht 900- 1000 based on availability of Tiger slots.If your visiting Thailand then dont miss playing with Big Cat




After Tiger Kingdom we went to Big Buddha, Really Beautiful view of the City.
In Phuket you can notice Massage Center every 50 meter's along with Cannabis shop.


Day 2(12th July 2024): We have booked James bond Island package trip. If you didn't plan on your initial plan no worries your hotel can help you on this, We have booked our package at midnight there is lot of tour operator in Phuket city.  We have completed our Breakfast and we got picked up by tour operator at our hotel around 9 am. It took 2 hours from our Hotel to James Bond island though it was raining but we got amazing view and climate as we are lucky .










Package which include lunch as well which is buffet, If you are planning Phuket don't miss James Bond Island package, Tour operator will drop you at your hotel.

Local Market

Day 3: Phi Phi Island(13th July 2024) : We need to transfer from Phuket to Phi Phi Island via Boat. 


Beach are very beautiful clear where you can do scuba diving and snorkeling 



We booked P.P Casita hotel in Phi Phi Island at very good deal 






We booked boat Package to explore Phi Phi Island Beaches 
















Day 4 (14th july 2024) We return on 14th evening to Phuket via Boat and booked Airport Resort  which is close to Airport.

Day 5 (15th July 2024) I have booked our return flight via flyscoot airways, We had booked because of 10 long hours in Singapore and thought of exploring Singapore with one day Transit visa.

If you want to explore Singapore on 10 long hour stay, you need to obtain Singapore visa or US/Japan/Australia visa to enjoy one day free transit visa. Since we didn't know we have to stay in Singapore Airport Itself and Flight slighter delay and we have reached Chennai on 45 minutes delay.

Budget details for per Person:

Flight Ticket : 20568
Hotel (11 & 12th ) : 2441
Hotel (13) : 1416
Hotel (14) : 1328
Expense (Food & other) : 19733 roughly we have spend Rs.45K

Chennai -> Bhimashankar Lingam (6th) (Pune,Maharashtra) & Grishneshwar Lingam(12th) (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar,Maharashtra)

Three Days Trip to Maharashtra cover the Bhimashankar and Grishneshwar Jyothirlingam Day 1: Chennai -> Pune via Flight  We have booked Ai...