A Traveller's Journey

The breathtaking images of picturesque railway route from Sakleshpur to Kukke Subramanya captivated us to go for this trek. We had been planning to do "The Green Route trek" - that's what it is called, from last few months and then finally the day has come and we started for our journey to Sakleshpur - also referred as "Poor Man's Ooty". We read some news about the ban on trekking in western ghats. But we were not sure if it is really banned. Before the conversion of the railway line from meter gauge to broad gauge along the Sakleshpur railway line in Karnataka’s Hassan district, it was one of the most sought-after trek routes. 1, 2, 3 - Smile 1, 2, 3 - Smile We started our journey from Bangalore on Friday evening, had dinner enroute in a dhaba near Hassan and reached Sakleshpur at around the Midnight, Checked into Hotel. Next morning, We talked to some local people and We came to know "The Green Route" Trek is banned for sure. Bu...

Usually the trips we plan gets finalized at the last moment - making all the bookings a day or two before. But, For this trip we just changed the usual way. This was a well-planned one. We had booked train tickets and stay almost a month in advance. We boarded the train from Bangalore City station. We had our reservation in  Rani Chennamma Express  till Londa Junction. We reached Londa Junction at around 8:30 AM. We had breakfast at the station - Vada Pav and Idli Vada - were only things available there. Then, we bought General tickets and boarded  Chennai Vasco Express  at around 9:00 AM. We reached Castle Rock at around 10:00 AM. Bon Voyage - @Bangalore City Railway Station We started our expedition From Castle Rock at around 10:30 AM. Weather was awesome - drizzling with cool breeze. View was awesome all the way - full of Jungles, Mountains, small and big waterfalls. The rail trek was an ultimate experience amidst the beautiful Western Ghats. ...

Last year we went to pondicherry for a weekend trip, just after Christmas (26th -28th of December 2014). It all started with "Yaar ! Is weekend toh kahin ghumne jaana hai ? Kuch plan kar bhai !".(Yaar ! Let's plan for a weekend trip.) We were planning for a trip on 25th December for the coming weekend. Friends put forward few suggestions and ultimately we decided to go to pondicherry and the main reason for this decision was the availability of tatkal tickets in the only train from Bangalore to Pondicherry (16573/Yesvantpur-Puducherry Weekly Express). Thanks to IRCTC and everyone else who didn't book a ticket in this train otherwise tatkal tickets vanish in few seconds. After we zeroed-in on a destination, we started asking friends and colleagues to join for the trip and finally 4 of us were in for the trip and sadly, the numbers were the same as it was at start. It was peak season for tourists in Pondicherry and It was very difficult to get a hotel room b...