Ermai Falls

During our trek to Dudhsagar, few of our friends suggested us to visit this falls near Ujire. It was one day plan and hence we thought it best suited for Nov 1^st holiday. 5 of us started by early morning 6 from Mysore. We were late to start but we had the best one handling the steering wheel. We stopped at Hassan for breakfast and another pit stop for tea at Sakleshpur. While here we saw the hotel served hot akki rotis but since we just had our breakfast we planned to visit the same hotel for dinner. Sumanth made a special note of this place.

We reached Ujire by lunch time and made calls to our friend to reach the falls which is not so easily reachable without someone guiding you. Our friend guided Raja so well that he actually saw the falls right over the phone call. He was more than confident to miss this place after hearing the so-very-detailed lefts and rights to be taken and the name of the places there gets easily volatile from your cache. Still we managed to get hold of bits and pieces of the names he uttered while speaking over phone and reached the destination. Locals too know of this falls, so it is not so difficult reaching this place. Around 15-20 kms from the Ujire town drive towards charmadi and take left on Didupe Road till you see Bhuvan stores towards your right. 

A small distance of walking you will take a right and enter the forest and after walking for a while there is a hanging bridge across a small stream, crossing this you will see clear path into the forest which will reach a small falls with water falling over sloped rocks and this was occupied by a set of human like monkeys. We decided to continue to the main falls which is not too far from here. I stopped every other step trying out some new acquired skills on macro shots while I spotted a leech which had just landed on my foot and was caught just before it could release an anesthetic. I warned the rest of the group to keep an eye on them. By then we were watching a small angle of this huge falls behind the trees and tall rocks.

We got down a little and hopped over a few rocks to reach the base of this falls and we stood stunned by the sheer beauty of this silent falls hidden in this place for so long. The water falls over in stages and there is a den like created at the base of the first stage. The water droplets raise above and forms a fog like layer just at the base. The next stage is a short and wider fall and drops into a wide pool. The water is clear with small fishes and beautiful stones very easily reached. Its knee deep water if you stand watching the falls at a distance. Fishes play around your legs sending tickles on your tender skin. Spend some time sitting and play with them.

We had packed rice for the 5 of us and puliogere gojju. It is suggested to take food along with you as you will not find any hotels close by. We got into water playing and clicking pictures. I tried playing with my prime lens capturing few close up while they enjoyed playing in the water. Every time you see the falls it looked so different and so much more beautiful. I went on capturing it. A Lovely formation of rainbow colors framed near the den was blissful to see. We easily spent more than an hour watching it and clicking some self timer shots with the group.

It was time to return. We reached the place where our car was parked. The lady at Bhuvan stores was busy packing tobacco leaves into roles and there were packs of them ready to puff. We drank tender coconut to compensate for the little water we drank so far and finally headed towards Mysore in the same route. Sakleshpur ghat was the most difficult stretch with horrible roads at this point of time. Few among us felt that this was not the route we took in the morning. May be tired bodies found it more difficult to dance with the tune of our car tumbling on those bad roads from one corner of the road to the other. Most of the stretches, we stopped to survey which part of the road was better and never found one and just followed a pothole. It was really tiring for the person driving. We tried hard to keep ourselves awake by singing songs till we reached a point when it became impossible to keep our eyes open.

It was 12:40 am reaching home and still had the energy left to watch the remaining 20 mins of Bigg Boss repeat telecast. I was excited to see the pics and without copying them to my laptop just saw them on the card to copy it later in the morning. This exercise took us almost half of the next day to install all possible recovery software and finally a friend of mine shared a paid version of the software to recover majority of the pictures.

Day 3 @ Doodhsagar

It was so cold the next morning, we preferred sleeping in our warm tents before taking a look at the falls. It looked so much more wonderful even without much light around. The chilled breeze dint let us stay near the falls for a long time. I made myself comfortable inside my sleeping bag again. We had to start as early as possible to cover a distance till Kullem by foot. Packing our tents & bags we started walking on the track. Most horrible part of walking on these rail tracks is you can’t see anywhere other than the track while walking. You try to see anywhere else even for a moment and there are all chances that you will walk on shit. So we dint really enjoy this part of the trek. We reached Sonalium station after trekking for almost 4kms. We stopped here to have our packed breakfast. Some bread, butter, jam, roti, chatni pudi and some milk all went in without complaining. Just when it was time to be back on track trekking, a goods train stopped by at the station and we dint want to miss an opportunity to experience a ride on it. The train master wasn’t very happy having us onboard, he strictly made us sit and monitored us through the journey just to make sure that we don’t bump over the train bogie joints when it gave a jerk. We enjoyed our ride till Kullem singing songs and taking pictures. The train master was now happy to get rid of us & then we suggested to take a pic with him and made a smalltalk for which he was more than just happy. After saying cheese with us he gave us free advice to wait there for Chennai Express to go to Madgoan. It was 9:30 in the morning and the train to Madgoan was scheduled at 11:05am. We decided to get out of the station and explore other means of transport available to reach Madgoan. There was a bus after half an hour, we roamed around and settled down at a tea shop to kill some time. One among us also found a handsome barber in his shop and realized that they need a haircut :P

When it was time for the bus to arrive we just surveyed the number of people waiting for that poor bus which dint arrive yet and felt it was better to walk back and wait for our super hit Chennai Express to do the honors. The train was delayed by close to an hour but we had all entertainment one the platform to deal with it. I got onto a train for a quick demonstration on the James bond style machines our trains still have. The train master was sweet enough to bear our “What is this….?”, “Why is this used….?” kind of questions. After this interesting session we got onto discussions about trekking with few guys who had missed their morning train to DS and hence had nothing to do till evening but wait for the train towards Madgoan.

Our train finally arrived and I happened to sit with a friend of Jyothi Sir. He went on sharing his experiences of his visit to Mt.Everest base camp and Manas Sarovar. When he realized that I too had similar interest in travelling and we read similar books he kept in front of me all his suggestions and advices. It was nice listening to him and getting to know someone so deep.

Picture taken from google images.

Back in Madgoan we dint have much time before catching our next train to Mangalore at 2pm. We rushed for the tickets and hogged something in the railway station restaurant and boarded the passenger train to Mangalore. The journey is fantastic and this time even better as we had a big group. We enjoyed sitting near the door watching the sun go down. Someone was really very happy being there.

I took a nice nap and a wonderful aroma woke my hungry tummy. I see everyone around me having something delicious. I could not resist and took a bite followed by several servings of the pulav. One of those guys whom we met in kullem platform had got this prepared from his relatives nearby. How nice of them. We got down at Udupi station at around 7:30pm and Murali anna was waiting for us to drive us home. It was raining heavily by this time. Another 15mins drive to reach Manipal where Murali anna is put up. He kept us guiding all the way with different landmarks. After a round of fresh up we were ready to go out for dinner.

Picture taken from google images.

Raja’s friends joined us over dinner. While we had some really nice ice creams at Manipal. Body was too tired to keep any more awake when we reached home. Within no time we heard people snoring at different intensities. Next day morning we met our old friend Raghu Ram who had just arrived from puttu. We leisurely packed our bags to start our journey to Mangalore. There are Volvo buses from Manipal every half an hour to Mangalore. It took us 1hr 30mins to reach Mangalore and the bus stopped for us right in front of Urva stores where our car was parked. Driving in Mangalore board roads is a nice experience. We next headed for some shopping in a mall and had lunch there itself before starting to Mysore.

Journey to Mysore took pretty long. We reached quite early at Madikeri from where the ghat started and it took really long reaching Mysore. We dropped Sumanth home. On reaching home, the volume at which dad was snoring indicated we were way too late. 

Day 2 @ Doodhsagar Falls

Mornings in Goa are generally lazy unlike margoan railway station which was crowded with passengers and trains. I & Sumant scanned all the shops on our way looking for bread but all we found was Pav which our taste buds often dismiss. Sumant had to venture lil more deeper into the city to fetch some sweet wheat bread while I headed towards the station to meet those men from Mangalore. Met Jyothi sir after a long time near the ticket counter with his 3 other young-at-heart friends.

There is only one train from Margoan to Doodhsagar in the morning. Howrah or Amaravathi Express at 7:40am. Miss this, you miss the falls for the rest of the day and don’t even try to waste your money and energy trying to reach there on a bike.

The rest of our group reached after us to the crowded platform where we waited for the train to arrive. The train is crowded with long distance passengers and hence you will find it difficult to fetch a seat in general compartment. We managed to make some place for few of us and our luggage. It is also fun to sit next to the door peeping outside the train and enjoy the dark rides inside the tunnels. We waited near the doorstep with our luggage for Doodhsagar Station as the train unofficially stops for very short time. When the mighty falls arrived on the scene everyone in the train roared with bedazed expressions. 

The train crossed the bridge across the falls with a dull pace and continued for almost a kilometer to stop at the station. We had to walk back to reach the falls. While walking on the track we found a vendor selling pav bhaji and each of us hogged a couple of them. Back on track with happy tummies. While trekking its quiet common to see several goods train passing by while you are trekking on the track, it is real fun to stand close and watch a train pass by.

We stood near the falls to click few pictures and fill the sight in our eyes. Falls was at its best. Just as the name suggests the falls is milky white and truly a mesmerizing sight. My previous visit to this falls was during December and there was very little water. Since then I waited to visit this place again when it is in its full grandeur.

After spending some time relaxing near the falls we trekked in the forest to reach the base of the waterfall. The recent rains had made the path very sludgy and slippery. Tricky part was crossing the streams. We struggled to balance ourselves and more importantly the gadgets from getting wet. We made a chain and started passing our stuffs from one bank to the other. Few of us still enjoyed a free fall into the chilling water. As we trekked deeper into the forest we realized we had entered the monkey kingdom. The trek seemed never to end and we started giving reasons not to continue but on reaching the spot where we could view the waterfall in full length we were more than glad for all the merry-go-round we did to reach here. Our hungry stomachs craved for some nourishment but those monsters covered us in all directions not letting us get even a single bite. We had to convince our tummies to wait for some more time. We tried to fool our ancestors by getting into the middle of the water and without flaunting our food reserve, we made small rolls of roti and gulped  them but no sooner we were caught.

 While the stream was so welcoming and tempting, each one of us enjoyed a relaxing swim and a kneading under a natural Jacuzzi. With evening getting closer it became cloudy and we felt right to reach back to our campsite. Back near the falls, we were trying to make friends with tea shop guy and during our conversation he mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan had visited his shop during the shooting of Chennai Express. Someone in our group was now super excited. Rumz could not miss a single step in that place, the chai, not even a single thing that the tea shop guy said SRK did during his visit.

We sat watching the falls sipping hot tea. A truly magical moment of the whole trip. And suddenly from nowhere it started pouring like a cloud burst. It rained so heavy that everything outside got mute except for the rain lashing. With the rains outside, we enjoyed several servings of hot Maggie and boiled eggs cooked at the tea shop, so thoughtful of Suhas for suggesting carrying Maggie packets. There was another batch of 10 people who were planning to tent there for the night. Rains flooded everywhere and it looked difficult to pitch the tent if it rained the same way whole night.

Once the rain stopped, it was a whole new world outside. The water quantity in the falls had doubled and all those small streams in the morning were now flooding. As it got darker, the sky got clear and what a wonderful scene it was to watch full moon on the backdrop of the falls. It was stunning with the moonlight spread over everywhere. We refused to get into our tents while it continued to rain lightly. The other group was struggling to bring up a campfire as we continued to hum on some old songs to make the night more soothing. We sat out as long as we enjoyed being out in the open air and then go into our warm tents.

Track Trek - Doodhsaagar

Plan : For all those who complain for time, this is a brief of our plan. Hope this helps.

Day/Date Oct, 2013	Start time	Start Place	Reach time	Dest Place	Transport	Other details
Wed/16	3:30pm	Mysore	9:30pm	Puttur	car	Approx for 20kms after sampajje the roads are bad rest are excellent
Thr/17	10am	Puttur	11:30am	Mangalore	Car
Thr/17	12:50pm	Mangalore(MAQ)	7:15pm	Margoan(MAO)	Mathsyaganda express (only train that was booked)	This is the only train which reaches on time
Fri/18	7:40am	MAO	9:30am	Doodhsagar	Howrah express	Only train towards DS till evening
Sat/19	11:50am	Kullem	1:00pm	MAO	Chennai exp	Train is usually delayed
Sat/19	2:00pm	MAO	8:00pm	Udupi	Mangalore passenger	Not crowded, Fare is just Rs65/- to Mlore
Sun/20	3:00pm	Mangalore	11:30pm	Mysore	Car

My way,  

Having been to all those well planned treks and trips had started getting too monotonous and less fun for me. Doodhsagar was the one followed with this mindset. I posted on my wall to know if anyone out there were interested in joining me in this trek. I & Suhas were still trying to tweak the plan to accommodate it over weekend. Sadly weekends in a spot like Doodhsagar is extremely crowded and I hated to end up in such a noisy & messy situation. So by the time we freezed the weekday trek plan it was late and naturally train status showed big numbers of waiting list. Four of us from Mysore, two of our friends from Bangalore and an interesting bunch of 4 people from Mangalore finally packed our bags.

Wednesday, it must have been late noon we started in our car to Puttur. Me & Raja both being beginners took our sweetest time driving to Puttur by night. It was a very long time meeting Harianna & his wife. It’s always a pleasure being with their company and I was way to glad that this trip gave us time to meet up. After a stomach full of delicious dinner we gave rest to our bodies till morning. Their house is at a higher land than the rest of the houses around, sipping a hot tea in the balcony watching the greenery around make me feels these people are damn too lucky to be there. This also reminds me that my dad and mum too spent their early years of married life in this very place Puttur. Lot of things might have changed but Puttur is still remote-like n fun!

After bidding bye to them we continued in our car to Manglore. On our way, we stopped for Kalladka tea aka KT. It’s a nice technique to pour the tea syrup on a layer of milk and it tastes unique. I mean good :P. We rushed to the Mangalore central station after making an unnecessary trip to the Mangalore Junction station. Dropped our luggage at the station before parking the car at a fren’s place near Urva Stores. Mathsyganda express chugging its way through the green spread on both sides of the track. It was post lunch & we struggled to keep awake in that heat outside, mangalore weather was humid as always. As train gets close to Murudeshwara, Kumta, Ankola, Gokarna and Karwar there is endless greenery, numerous hills, long tunnels and endless water joining the sea close by. It’s definitely a treat to your eyes. The huge statue of Shiva in Murudeshwara is visible from train and with that we can make a guess of close we are to those beautiful beaches. It was close to dusk when the train was passing over Karwar & I loved it, surrounded by hills on the east and the beach towards west. It was spellbinding. We sat near the doors enjoying the sun going down.

Reaching Margoan by 7:15 in the evening, we had to look for a hotel for the night. Heavy bags and tents forced us to take an expensive ride to a nearby hotel. The place looked good but the sight outside the hotel looked like a dumping yard. By the time we ordered our dinner at a Veg hotel, two of them from Bangalore joined us. Managed to get a hot water bath back in our room and had a good night sleep with AC ON.

Tomorrow was fun ... 

Day 3, 4 : Riding on the curves

Next day started early for all. Most of us managed to take bath as we were not sure if we could get a chance till we reached Leh. The homestay charged us very liberally thinking we were students. I guess it was me who went to look for the rooms and no doubt they were sure that we were still college-goers. KaramChandji was on time as expected. Those roads climbing up the mountains were calling. The bikers ready with their gears and we started our journey on those zig-zag road towards Rohtang. Fortunately for the bikers, it was not a sunny day. They seemed to enjoy the ride. Manja slipped off a little while taming his bike climb up on a curve and realized life is not the same as on plains. He learnt the technique soon. A little distance ahead we encountered the first block, a landslide. My mind cribbed thinking about the delay this might lead to and the plan getting upset. But I was wrong, it was soon cleared off and the road was all ours till we stopped for late breakfast at a petty shop on the road side.

It got sunny as we drove over keylong, Jispa, Darchu, Zingzing Baar. And we felt cramped inside the vehicle. Pavan couldn’t resist from riding the bike and he offered some rest to Manja. We soon reached Baralacha La pass. It is a high mountain pass in Zanskar range. After having lunch at a road side hotel we continued our journey. We dint want to stop till dusk or till the bikers wanted to. Our driver made our life very easy even for the back-seaters.  Hats off to his driving skills, he often joked at other vehicles which took its commuters for a roll-a-coaster ride on these roads. He showed us important landmarks on the way and by now he was a part of the group despite the language barriers he laughed at our jokes making us wonder if he was really laughing at the joke or at us :D.

Inspite of many frens suggesting that we should not ride very long on a single day and gain sudden altitude, we did ride up till Sarchu. We were amazed that even at 6:30 in the evening it is absolutely bright days up there. We were cheated when it got dark all of a sudden by 7:10pm around and became extremely cold. Sarchu is plain land with mountains surrounded in all directions. Extremely windy and very naturally it was cold beyond imagination. There are several camps in Sarchu for night’s stay. Charging around Rs600 – 650 per head. The tents were very cozy with an attached bathroom. They provided hot water if demanded and food was not all that great. But all we needed was a warm bed to kill the night. Before getting into the warm layers we took some time to enjoy the deep blue sky filled with stars. The landscape looked dark right below and the sky was lit up here and there with bright stars. Cold breeze forced us get into our blankets and we slept tight. Things were no different the next morning. It was freezing cold. Few among us had headache, vomiting sensation and few felt uneasy as they could not sleep the whole night. They blamed the suffocating tents. Altitude also seemed to be doing its job. We assembled for breakfast which was half toasted bread with jam and butter. It dint help us feel any better but a hot cup of tea was heavenly. We came out and magically we were not feeling cold anymore. Fortunately all were good to go.

The journey started on a sunny day. By now every one of us inside the vehicle were equally tempted to enjoy a ride on the bike and mean while the bikers needed some break. Few stretches were the most beautiful sights to watch and ride and few patches were terrible for the bikers. It was late afternoon we stopped for lunch. KaramChandji made sure that he stopped at good hotels all along. 

After filling our stomach we must have rode for 5-10kms, karamji received a call from hotel we just left. Pavan had left behind his wind jacket with wallet in it. They went back to collect & the hotel owner was humble enough to check for his belongings and clearly mentioned how much cash he had kept in his wallet and safely handed over it to Pavan. She also showed him a bag full of items left behind by people visiting her hotel. That’s the beauty of this place. We were bowled over by their modesty.

Next few hours we rode over few of the best roads laid by Border Road Organisation. The sign boards put up were really interesting and de-stressing. The best one I saw was “Smile please”. It actually made me smile. J Interesting few I can recollect here “Drive Slowly”, “One my curve, check your nerve”, “Darling I like you but not so fast ” :P, “Drive like hell and you’ll be there”, “Are you going for a party? Then y drive so dirty” Really interesting people out there at BRO haa;)

It was close to dusk when we reached Karu from where Leh is just 35kms more. But we preferred spending the night at karu and leave the next morning. The city looked almost shut and it majorly has the army settlements than civilian population. We settled down with the cheapest accommodation as it was a matter of one night. Two huge rooms with lots of dirty beds and blankets spread all over the floor. We were too tired to look for anything better and easily spent a night. Right outside the window, the moon who was close to his full that night was glowing bright in the sky. 

Day 2 : Manali... Day to wallow in nature !

 Time must have been 9:30am, we reached Manali. It was an uneventful journey. Our cab driver KaramChandji was already at the bus station waiting for our call. We left it to him to take us to a good stay outside the busy streets of Manali. After driving a distance to leave the busy crowd behind we reached a beautiful home stay “Apple House”. As the name suggests it was amidst apple and pear trees, bordering at the end of the view were those tall mountains. The house/cottages are designed so beautifully that you feel as if you are part of the wonderful nature outside.

                                                View of the valley from our home stay

A day to wallow in nature, chill out and visit a nearby temple. Manu and Manja had to look for bikes as they were to ride from here. They left hunting for good bikes. We postponed our daily chores till evening when finally we were ready to visit the temple which we had missed during our previous visit to Manali. Hadimba devi temple, a beautiful temple amidst tall trees. A unique structure with several layers of square tombs and a small note on the history of this temple is worth reading. (http://bharmourview.com/himachal-tourism/manali/hadimba-devi-temple-manali ). The temple has a small entrance and you see a cave inside without an idol but a footprint which is worshipped. The pandit serving the Prasad was generous enough to brief us about this temple. Little away is the Ghatotkach temple.

 I was a kid when I watched Roja movie for the first time and by now have watched it countless number of times and this is one place which comes to my mind every time I think of this movie. And the same thing happened when I saw this temple. The scenes shot in this temple started playing in my mind. It was Roja feeling. Such an amazing movie and a brilliant place to shoot it.

After shooting few pictures with the group we strolled in the evening market of Manali. A bust street filled with shops, restaurants, hippies and cool breeze filling your lung. A group of people who carried various colored oil in a kind of custom made bottle holder roamed around the visitors waiting for a chance to do the magic with their oil on your body. It’s a common sight of people getting their tired legs or a heavy head massaged albeit the chaos of market. They seemed to be in no ecstasy. When someone among them asked one of us if he wanted a body massage I wondered how someone would get a body massage done, I mean where … there…. :P 

It was almost dusk when we raced back to our home stay. KaramChandji was a generous man, he offered us tea at his house. We were surprised by the hospitality he presented for a bunch of new faces like us. We accepted the invitation not to make him sad but I personally never wanted to put his folks into uncomfortable situations. But he insisted that we all go. A small family with a beautiful wife and two sons doing their schooling. They were preparing their house for a festival in the village and hence the lady of the house expressed her dissatisfaction for the condition of the house. We enjoyed the world’s best pudina tea (At least for me this was the best) and lil snacks. The super champ, younger son was busy pretending to study while the elder son, her mother said was very studious. He studied in the town and was not around.

Back home, the home stay chef had prepared the best of cuisines for the non-vegetarians while the  rest almost starved with left-over’s of the afternoon lunch. Lil cribbing, we hit the bed soon to start the next day early.