Trip to Mudumalai National Park :)

   I have been to Mudumalai National Park twice. The first time was quite a thrilling experience. It was probably four years back, and we had hired a mini bus. We were 8 of them. From Coimbatore to Masinagudi it took probably 5 hours. The sanctuary is divided into 5 ranges - Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota. Here one can often spot herds of endangered Indian elephants, vulnerable Gaur and Chital. Mudumalai is also a Tiger Reserve.

   

Journey Begins:

We had started our journey by leaving at 10 a.m. The route which we preferred was Coimbatore-Ooty-Gudalur-Mudumalai-Masinagudi-Mavanalla.

  We reached Ooty by 1p.m and had a halt there to have lunch. We had in a local restaurant which was mediocre.

Madness

 Then we head off to Masinagudi, and we were all set with the cameras to capture any animal which was sighted. All were keenly looking outside and we all spotted a herd of elephants. Enthralled, we began clicking pictures and taking videos. But then our vehicle was caught by the forest officials and fined us Rs.1000, which was uncalled for. We started arguing that we didn't know about such things, and then we showed our Id card to the officials which resulted in reduction of the fine amount to Rs.500. The video below will give you a glimpse of how we were caught.

herd of elephants

 

  Moving on, It was around 5p.m, we had reached Mudumalai and then we had to search for a decent place to spend the night. So from there we head towards masinagudi which was around 7 km, but still couldn't find a place which was fine, so we moved to Mavanalla and we found a place called "Beverly hills-eco camp". 

Eco camp - (you can see our mini bus and 2 of my frens)

        There we decided to go for night safari, so after having our dinner we were all ready and stuffed ourselves in a local gypsy. It was pitch black and we could not see anything except the lights of our vehicle.

Initially we were frightened and numb but then got use to the dark. We saw spotted dear which were harmless.

And then we moved further and saw a Indian Bison (Gaur), standing alone and provoked.

After that, we saw two elephants fighting each other and by that sight our driver had instructed to leave before we jeopardize ourselves. So we left from there and we moved on. We all were hoping to see a leopard or a tiger and we were told that if your lucky you could probably find one. But we were unfortunate.

               Next day, we left to Pykara lake which was around 30 km and it took us about an hour to reach. We went there and the water was freezing cold.

Pykara lake

     After that we were aimlessly loitering around the market in Ooty, we did purchase a lot of home made chocolates and Nilgiri tea. There are a lot of places in Ooty which are botanical garden, rose garden, ooty lake which are places to look out for.

Ooty

 

 One of the distinct places to see if you like nature, wildlife, safari and trekking. This was one different adventure and it was a "rejuvenating experience".

BURGER! :O

    In India, Burgers are not being ate on a daily basis but yeah one would love to have occasionally. Burger is one of my favorites and in Coimbatore city there are big names like KFC, Marry brown, but Mcdonalds yet to come. Other than that, there are a few of them who can make a stand.

BURGER HUB:(Veg/Non-Veg)

  

 One of my friend had come over from Chennai and he asked me I want to have a "Burger" and the only thing i could think of is Burger Hub because it serves "cheesy delicious burgers". Its been more than a year and over this period they are improving. Initially the place had seats which were uncomfortable, but now they replaced it. If you love cheesy burgers with mayo then definitely this place should be on your list.

The different variety of burgers available are Regular, Jumbo chicken, Double cheese & Burger ki Baap. Chicken Shawrma & hot dog also available, but my verdict burgers taste better.   

Fries are soft not crunchy. They taste good with the garlic sauce.
A Combo includes 4 jumbo burger, with 2 fries and 2 pepsi pet bottles just for Rs.370

Ratings:

Taste: 8, Value for money: 9, Ambiance:6,

Total: 23

Specialties: Burger ki baap, Jumbo chicken/veg

Contact:(91)-9789108881   

My Trip to Heaven! :) GOA!

   I am living in Coimbatore, which is the Manchester of South India. I have got few amazing friends. I was in my first year of college and it was pretty good. One day i had gone to watch a Tamil movie which was called "Goa" and after watching that movie, I and my friends decided that we ll surely go to Goa and have a wonderful time.
     
Initially we had decided to go in the summer vacation, and we had to convince our parents at home for money and stay in Goa. We had searched for it in websites like makemytrip.com etc and finally we stayed in a decent hotel with good facilities.

 Journey Begins :)
     It was 4 of us. And everything was ready, tickets booked and hoping for no last minute cancellation *fingers crossed*. We had left to Shornur (a place in Kerala) and there we got our train which was Okha express and reached our destination Madgaon, then we had an hour journey towards Calangute. We stayed in Ondas Do Mar Beach Resort, which was close to the Calangute beach, is just an extension of Baga beach and had checked in for 5 days.

St Francis Xavier Church

    The first day we had gone to see the Church which was St.Francis Xaviers Church which was built in the 16th century. It was a massive structure which had very old artifacts. Then we had food in a local restaurant, and went to our hotel and had a nice swimming session after that we steered ourselves to Calangute beach which was beautiful.
By the night we were aimlessly loitering in search for some more fun, but then we visited a local pub, called Rio, It didn't give us what we wanted.   

    We wanted the second day to be adventuresome, So the second day we decided to go for adventure sports and we did. Para-sailing was the best experience. Banana boat ride, Jet skiing was also good. Then in the night we decided to go sailing in a cruise which was called "Princesa". There was a tribal dance and they showed us all the exotic places which were pretty nice.

  
   Third day, we had been driving across and it was tough to find a petrol station in Goa, so we had to purchase it from a kirana store who sold for twice the prices. Then we found one petrol station around 10 kms away and fuelled it and then we went to see the Fort Aguada which was in the Sinquerim Beach. It was a fine structure built by the Portuguese.

Aguada Fort

Then while we were returning back to our hotel we saw a poster that there was a live concert which starts of by 7.30 @ Miramar and K.K was the singer and we planned that we will surely go for it. And we reached the place by 8 it was crowded and i was amused and we had realised that we dont have the passes to go inside.
And we were waiting outside hoping someone could help us out, we waited for a while and thought we should leave and all of a sudden there was a person who shouted "hey you want tickets" and i said "yes sir, how much is it" he said "its free Go! Enjoy" And there it was K.K singing all his super hit songs.
That was a beautiful night! :) 

@ Tito's :)

 But the night wasn't over yet. It was 11pm and we head to Tito's which was an electrifying experience.There was a dance floor and the music was mind boggling. We danced and grooved all night and it was a nice experience.

Relaxation :)

 Fourth day: We usually had our breakfast in our hotel and then lunch and dinner outside. And as usual we use to go to beach and rest in the beautiful sands. The day was usual and then night we had gone to Baga beach, which was lively in the night and we had our dinner there watching T20 finals England vs Australia.

Me and comedian Srikant Maski

 After watching the match we were walking on the streets and i met the comedian Srikanth Maski and clicked pics with him. Clicking pics with a celebrity is rare chance and we got that chance. And then our beautiful time in Goa had come to an end. Next day morning we checked out and left. Did not feel like leaving this beautiful place but had to :(

I had the best experience of my life. Goa is famous for its Beach, Resorts, Sea Food, Clubs and Casinos.

"Goa surely one of the places to see before you die".