A road-trip to Coorg & Mysore

3 states, 3 days and finally Coorg off the wishlist!

The same old mundane life. The same feeling of fernweh keeps surfacing. The desire to explore new places never goes away. On one such normal (same ol’ as people say) day, a couple of colleagues and I decide to go to Coorg. After all, I was back in Kochi after almost 2 years and now itched to travel in the south. Coorg has been on my list for so long – for its monasteries, for its natural scenic beauty, for the elephants (I’d read a lot about how you get to see elephants being bathed) and well, because we knew that Club-Mahindra has one of its most beautiful properties in Coorg. This was going to be one hellova road trip. We ended up going to Coorg and Mysore – and driving through the absolute lush green Bandipur National Park and Mudumulai National Park.

All cottages are named after a fruit – Ours was Avocado !

We drove a Tata Aria (must say it was quite comfortable) and obviously used GPS as non of us knew exactly the route. The GPS went kapoot somewhere in the middle of nowhere – when we actually needed it the most. Technology, pfft! We reached in the morning with high expectations of how our resort would be. The resort was beautiful. I must mention the swimming pool. Amazing ! In spite of the cold, the pool looked irresistible. The view from our rooms of the tea plantations was bliss.

We went to the top-view point in Coorg in a jeep (I believe most hill stations have these points – from there the view looks the best). After a long enough photo session, we roamed around a bit in this small town. We then went to Abby falls. We also went to the Dubare Elephant camp – you ought to go early to catch the elephants bathing. Our last point of interest was the Namdroling Monastery. We found it to be very peaceful except for the noise that tourists make (us included); this was my first time being surrounded by so many monks in their red and yellow robes. We sat inside for a while.

The top point – The view was majestic

Abbey Falls

At Dubare Elephant camp

The quintessential pic – in front of the Namdroling monastery

We decided to return via Mysore - as none of us had seen the Mysore palace. I must say I was very impressed with the interiors. Sadly, photography wasn’t allowed. The palace was the official seat of the royal family – the Wodeyars – who ruled until 1947. We did not forget about the famous Mysore Masala Dosa. We are all foodies at heart

The grand Mysore Palace ( Amba Vilas Palace )

While driving back – we crossed 2 of the famous wildlife reserves – Bandipur and Mudumulai. We did not spot tigers to our disappointment. But the drive was so green !

In 3 days, we had crossed 3 states, we were tired but we were refreshed. Coorg is beautiful indeed.

Original article here