It was monsoon time and it was time to visit one of our favorite monsoon destinations - Chikkamagulur r Coorg. This year we decided to go to Chikkamagulur Aug 9th happened to be a long weekend and with one search in Google, we decided on Thippana Halli Homestay (
http://www.thippanahallihomestay.com/).
 |
| Thippan Halli Homestay - With Mulayangiri Betta in the backdrop |
Definitely the best home stays in Chikkamagulur Located just few kilometers away from the Chikkamagulur town, midst of 200 acre coffee plantation with backdrop of Mulayangiri Betta (Karnataka's highest peak), this red colored heritage bungalow is just beautiful. There are 5 rooms available as homestay - 2 facing the Mulayangiri Betta (best rooms), 2 facing the garden (little old and views are not great), 1 room in the main bungalow (Partial view of the betta but huge room can comfortably accommodate 2 adults + 2 kids. Has 2 Queen sized beds).
TIP: The Home stay is perpetually booked. Need to plan well in advance
We booked the room in the main building (as the rooms with Mulayangiri Betta views were not available) and we were not disappointed at all. Huge room with 2 comfortable Queen sized beds. It was perfect for our family. This place is about 5 Hrs drive from Bangalore. The roads are pretty good. There aren't many options for breakfast on the way. There is one place about 3 hrs from Bangalore. we had our breakfast at a small joint - once we exit at Nelamangala towards Mangalore Highway. We reached the home-stay around 12:30 PM well in time for lunch.
The drive itself was very relaxing and treat to the eyes. Monsoons bring with them the freshness and greenery which automatically rejuvenates the mind. Once we reached the home-stay, the place was beyond our expectations. Huge Heritage bungalow, surrounded by coffee plantation and then as we walk to our room, there the huge Mulayangiri Betta - green all over partially covered in mist right infront of you. We had not expected it to be so close. Superb view. With small drizzle, greenery all over and the Betta playing hide and seek among the clouds - all we wanted to do was sit and watch.
 |
| View from the Dining Area |
Lunch was served around 1:30. The lunch was simple but very tasty. The dinner room has the best views. We had a relaxed lunch chatting with the hosts. They mentioned that it was the first day in last 15 days that they had seen sunshine. It had been raining continuously. The place has a TT table. Kids had a gala time playing TT. I decided to have a nap and had a good one. At 4PM we decided to go visit the Mulayangiri Betta. The hosts advised us to go early as the road at the top is not in good condition and it is not very safe to drive once it gets dark.
Mulayangiri Betta is just 12 KMs from the home stay. It was great and a bit scary drive to the top. It is a single lane road and is very scary when their is a vehicle coming on the opposite side. When we reached the parking at the top, we were fully into the clouds. Felt really chilly and at the same time we were excited. We had to climb around 300 steps to the top. We decided to climb the steps, though it was drizzling and freezing. It was really fun climbing the steps where the visibility was so low we could see only a few steps ahead of us. But whenever the clouds cleared for a few seconds, the view was awesome. As usual there is a temple at the top - we took some pictures and did not wait there for long as it had started raining and also it was very windy and it was getting difficult to stand in the cold.
 |
| Descending the steps from Mulayangiri Betta |
We walked back slowly to the car parking. Wereally had a gala time. On the way down hill, there is an old temple. The scene was like that of a scary movie with the old temple covered in fog. We spent some time here and started driving back down hill. By now, it was raining heavily. We stopped for some hot tea at a small tea stall. We were shivering and a small glass of hot tea was a treat.
 |
| Infront of a old temple - on the way to Mulayangiri Betta |
By the time we reached our room, it was pitch dark and was raining heavily. Sometime having no TV on your trips is a great advantage. We spent some time playing cards and reading our favorite books. There were 4 other families in the dining room and the hosts Arpita and Nitin were chatting up with each family. Since the place is not very big, it felt very homely and the hosts made us feel very much at home. After a hot and yummy dinner, we headed to our room. A walk around the coffee plantation was planned at 7:30 AM next morning and we were looking forward to it.
Next day morning, we were all ready to go around the coffee plantation. Nitin lead us giving us a brief on how his family started the coffee plantation and showing us the different trees and patiently answering all the questions we asked. By the time we finished the trail, it was 9 AM and we were tired and hungry.
 |
| Small falls on a trail in the coffee plantation |
After break fast, we planned to visit the Herekolel Lake. This is supposed to be very scenic and we were not disappointed at all. Though there is a short cut to the lake from the home stay, the route is not recommended during monsoons as the road is not very good. Hence we had to go to Chikkamagular town and then go to the lake - which tool us about 40 min. But definitely worth the visit. The lake is very scenic and I guess the monsoon added more glamour to the beauty. There weren't many people and we could enjoy the lake by ourselves. We spent some time feasting on the beauty of the lake. After we had enough, headed back to the room. We spent the afternoon lazing and playing TT.
 |
| Scenic - Herekolel Lake |
Around 3 PM, we decided to go to Baba Budangiri. In the hindsight, I think it would have been best we had not done this. It was very foggy, because of which the drive was slow and for some reason there was huge rush - I think it was because of Ramzan. All this increased the drive time. Last time we had visited, it was during April month and the views were awesome. But since this was monsoon, we could not appreciate the views much and also because of the huge crowd could not enjoy much. By the time we reached back our room it was pretty late.
 |
| Belvadi Temples |
Next day morning, we went by ourselves on a different trail around the plantation. We came across a small stream - water of which was being used within the farm. We had our breakfast, we took the tour of the homestay - "The Bungalow". It is no less than a museum. Very well maintained and there are artifacts from all over the world. The bungalow has 28 room and each room is of different color and the furniture, decor is matching the room color . Nitin's grand-father was a great personality and has done lot to the society. He has got many awards from the Maharajah of Mysore, which are all on display in the house. After this we checked out. Instead of driving straight back to Bangalore we decided to visit the Heremagulur Temple which is very close to the Chikkamagulur town. The main temple is pretty old, but enough renovation has been done to keep the temple running. After this we visited the Belvadi temple. ASI has done a good job on maintaining all these 100s of year old temples in good condition. These temples don't get their limelight as most visitors with only a day in hand will prefer to visit the famous Belur and Halebedu temples. From Heremagulur temple to Belvadi temple, we took the village route. Enroute, we came across lot of interesting farms. We stopped at lot of farms to check out the different vegetables, grains, flowers. It was fun. There was no place around to have lunch. We survived on Bananas and Biscuits. Enjoyed every minute of this trip. By the time we reached B'lore it was late evening and we had another great trip to Chikkamagulur.
