Coorg

Coorg is a scenic place except it was perpetually raining while we were there and because it's situated at a higher elevation, I was freezing most of the time. Nonetheless, it was a great weekend retreat from the busy Bangalore and both Ar and M, though asleep most of the time, were great travel companions.

A bench at Raja Seat, Madikeri.

We hired a driver and it took us close to 6 hours to reach Madikeri but I think it would have been a shorter drive if farm animals are less suicidal.

Coorg is known for its lush coffee plantation and awesome forest trekking, which we didn't do much of because of the rain and rain makes wet grounds and wet grounds attracts leeches and both Ar and M are terrified of them.

So, the little trekking we did was down to the Abby Falls. Check out the leech-protected gear.

Abby Falls

Ar reminiscing.

Tiny cups of steamy hot coffee after Abby Fall sprinkles.

Madikeri roundabout and traffic police.


Our hotel room at Capitol Village. We had our meals at the balcony overlooking paddy fields.

Our hotel server, also our butler, waiter and plantation tour guide. Arabian coffee tree.

Cardamom plant

Cardamom seeds

These trees were planted around coffee plants to provide shades.

We stopped by Dubare Reserve Forest in hopes to see some elephants (bathing time: 9am-11am) but we were late and got instantly distracted by people who were approaching us to go for white water rafting. When we finally got out of our rafts, M stepped on elephant or buffalo poop. He washed his feet with Bisleri (premium bottled water) and then hung it out to dry.

Locals can't keep their eyes away.

Meanwhile, Ar had a burst of energy and went running barefoot.

On our way out of Coorg, we stopped by a Tibetan settlement, but that itself deserves an independent post.