the light baggage

Overview: Wales is known for its vast open space and its natural beauty. We set off to Breacon Beacons National Park for some caving experience. We started our drive from London and after covering a few places on the way, we entered Wales and were greeted by amazing countryside. We saw several castles on either side of the road, and some lovely lakes and waterfalls. The following day we started towards the caves at the Brecon Beacons National Park. We were briefed about the safety norms and were asked to wear the caving suit. We had a nice guide who was very friendly and explained about the geology of the caves. The caves are known to exist from several million of years and have been used by the pre-historic men as well. At some places it was so dark that its impossible to see without a torch light and there were alternate routes so it was very important to be in sync with the guide. The guide explained how the Stalactites and Stalagmites are formed and how some rocks glow after be...

  Overview: Magadi taluk is known for lot of history and being close to Bangalore, it is easy to explore. But lot of places around Magadi are still less visited by people from other towns. Ranganathaswamy temple: This is a 11th century temple built by Chola kings which was later renovated during Vijayanagar rule. This temple has carvings inside the temple and inscriptions about the history. More details and pictures here - http://www.thelightbaggage.com/2011/06/rock-climbing-series-i.html Someshwara temple: This has resemblance to the Someshwara temples at Ulsoor and the one in Kolar. So this must be initially built by the Cholas and later expanded by Kempegowda. There is also a watch tower built by Kempegowda which is similar to the Kempegowda towers in Bangalore.           Fort: The walls of the fort built by Kempegowda can still be seen near the bus stand area.   Kalya caves: Around 10 kms from Magadi, we come across natur...

  Overview: We continued our exploration of hidden Hoysala gems into interior Karnataka. This time we did Kikkeri and Govindanahalli. Kikkeri is a very small village in Mandya district. The pillars and carvings of the Brahmeshwara temple are typical of Hoysala architecture. Though the overall structure looks even older, like the ones built during the Ganga dynasty. As per the locals its a 12th century temple. It has a dried out 'kalyani' and a small lake just outside the temple adds to the beauty.       From Kikkeri we went to Govindanahalli, known for Panchalingeshwara temple. Its a small and beautiful temple with exquisite Hoysala architecture, built around the same time as the temple in Kikkeri. The temple was not crowded and we were the only visitors to the place for the morning.        Next we went to Hosaholalu, 20kms south of Govindanahalli. The Lakshminarayana temple was the best for the day as far as the stories car...