the light baggage

  Overview: Niagara Falls would probably be on top on any visit to Canada. We decided to drive all the way from Detroit, MI to get a feel of cross-country driving. It was almost mid day by the time we reached Niagara. The roar of the falls could be heard from a distance and the famous Horseshoe falls could be seen from the road itself. It lived up to its reputation of being one of the top waterfalls in the world. We took the 'Maid of the Mist' boat to the base of the falls and the view was amazing.          After visiting the falls, we proceeded towards the city of Toronto. The city has a large Asian population with many from the subcontinent. We drove through the city, visited the famous CN Tower which was once the world's tallest tower. One gets to see the panoramic view of the city from the top of the tower.          References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls http://en.wikipedia.org/w...

  Overview: Chunchanakatte is around 15 kms from KR Nagar and is known for the waterfalls where the Cauvery cascades from a height of 20 meters. The roar of the river can be heard from a distance and especially during monsoons when the river is in full flow. Chunchanakatte is also known for many interesting stories from the Ramayana. It is believed that Lord Rama stayed here during his exile and Lakshmana, with his bow and arrow, fired at a rock from where different colours of water started gushing out so that they could have bath. It is believed to be of Turmeric, oil and shikakai which can be seen even today during monsoons. This place looks so out of colour during summers as you can see the last pic below.   Another interesting place near the falls is the ancient Kodandarama temple which belongs to Lord Rama’s period. It seems that a sage who was a devotee of Lord Rama wished to see Rama and Sita together and hence a temple was built at the very place. An interesti...

Overview: I had been to a family function in Periyapatna, so decided to extend my trip to Nagarahole and Irupu falls. As the safari starts at Nagarahole at 6am, we decided to halt at Srimangala which is around 24 kms from Nagarehole at a relative's place. We left early morning the next day for the safari. The safari started at around 7:20am and went on for around 1 hour. But it was disappointing for us not to spot any wildlife in the jungles. We saw herds of deer but no sign of any other wildlife. On our drive back we saw a couple of peacocks just on the side of the road. We then proceeded towards Irupu falls which is around 19 kms from Nagarahole towards Srimangala. We were running out of fuel and were getting tensed as there was no fuel station on the way. One person told that the petrol pump is at Srimangala around 12 kms from there but we can get petrol from local shops in Kutta. To avoid any risk, we took around 5 litres of petrol at a mechanic shop in Kutta. A ...

   Overview: Visiting the Jog falls in monsoons was always my wish. Luckily my friend from Shimoga got married in August. But unfortunately it didn't rain as it usually does in 2009. Nonetheless, as we had to visit Shimoga, we chalked out a separate plan to visit a few places around Shimoga. Took the night train to Shimoga from Bangalore and reached early in the morning at around 6am. First in the list was Jog Falls. Didn't want to miss that. So started after having breakfast at friend's place. Shimoga is surrounded by tourist places. We were aware of this so didn't want to plan beyond Jog Falls as there is a never ending list of places beyond that. We did want to cover everything on the way though. We reached the Jog at around 12pm and it was very cloudy. We could see decent amount of water but not the best of Jog Falls. There are 4 falls next to each other named 'Raja', 'Rani', 'Roarer' and 'Rocket'. This happens to be the second hi...