February 16, 2007

Destination : Sandakphu

Me going on a 7 day trek in Eastern Himalayas - to a place called Sandakhpu. This borders Nepal and offers best views of the four of the world's five highest peaks - Everest, Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Lhotse in a continuous snow-clad arc; and also Kancendzunga.

We will be trekking at an altitude of 10,000-12,000feet.

We will be following the route as mentioned in this map : http://www.geocities.com/bhuniahoo/sandak_map.ppt (Check out the views in this ppt).

We will try to stick to this route , but if the weather changes, then we might have to reconsider this. More details w.r.t Sandakphu can be found here and here.

Hope the weather god co-operates and we have a clear sky and an amazing trek.

Will be leaving on 16 Feb,2007 and back to Bangalore on 28 Feb , 2007.

February 14, 2007

Andhra Tour : Temples and Caves

Starring : Me & Krishna
Per head expense = 1500 INR
Start Time : 6:30am, 10th February, 2007
End Time : 6:30am, 13th February, 2007

Pics :
Lepakshi
Belum Caves
Mahanandi
Alampura

It was a long w-end. Monday was a bandh in Blore - due to the cauvery dispute. Cannot afford to spend 3 days in Blore and do nothing.

TN was not probable due to the dispute ; also did not want to try Kerala - hence the only viable option was AP.

Entered AP on Sat morning and visited some places over the next 3 days(sat+sun+ mon)
Saturday - Lepakshi
Sunday - Belum Caves , Mahanandi
Monday - Mantralayam, Alampura


Costs
Day - 1
----------
Majestic to Hindupur =104
Hindupur to Lepakshi =12
Lepakshi to Hindupur =10
Hindupur to Anantpur =96
Anantpur to Kurnool =146
Misc =457

Day - 2
----------
Kurnool to Banganapalle =76
Banganapalle to Belum Caves =28
Belum Caves to Nandyal =68
Nandyal to Mahanandi =16
Mahanandi to Nandyal(auto) = 16
Nandyal to Krunool =68
Misc =339

Day - 3
----------
Kurnool to Yemmiganur =60
Yemmiganur to Mantralayam =22
Mantralayam to Kurnool =82
Kurnool to Alampura Chowraste =12
Alampura Chowraste to Alampura =12
Alampura to Kurnool =24
Kurnool to Bangalore =720
Misc = 577

TOTAL =2945

February 09, 2007

Somnathpura and Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

Starring : Me & Arvind
Total Cost : 1400 INR
Start Time : 4:30am, 4th February, 2007
End Time : 6:30pm, 4th February, 2007
Somnathpura pics Photos here
Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary pics Photos here

Bitten by the "no-more-weekends-in-Bangalore" syndrome myself and Arvind decided to ride to Somnathpura and Ranganthittu on SUnday.

Somnathpura is situated on the left bank of the Cauvery river. The keshava temple was built in 1268AD by Somnatha Dandanyaka, an illustrious General of the Hoysala king Narasimha III(1254-1291 AD) and named after him.

This temple is a perfect example of the Hoysala style of architecture. It has three sanctums on the West,South and North to Keshava, Venugopala and Janardhana, all connected. It is an ornately carved temple of magnificient craftmanship depicting Vishnu, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, Rathi-manmatha and mahishasura. The ceilings and door jambs leading to the sanctum sactorium are exquisitely carved.

There are inscriptions engraved on a slab standing at the entrance,inside temple , dated from 1269 to 1550 AD that detail the consrtuction of the temple and grants made to it.

The temple stands on a raised platform in the center of a spacious enclosure having 64 cells. This three celled (trikutachala) structure consists of three garbhagrihas, three antaralas and a navarang. It has a mahadwara standing on the east.

The basement of the outerwall is highly ornamented with friezes of elephants, scrolls, epic and puranic scenes, small images with intervening turrets and columns with fugures in between , number of gods and goddesses and their attendants adron the walls. The lathe turned pillars and delicately carved 16 different types of ceilings are the characteristic feature of the hoysala art. The names of a number of sculptors are carved on the pedestal of the images. It is observed that Mallithamma has not only carved the maximum number of images but also carved the northern sikhara that of Janardhana cell.

Inscriptions engraved on a huge slab standing in the mahadwara and on the beams of the navaranga ranging in date from 1269-1550 AD give the details of the construction of the temple and several grants for the upkeep of the temple.

Ranganthittu was ok...not many birds though. I could spot only around 3-4 varieties.

Costs:
Petrol = 850 INR
Breakfast = 110 INR
Lunch = 130 INR
Misc = 40 INR

At Ranganthittu
Entry = 20 INR
Bike parking = 10 INR
Camera Charges = 20 INR
Boating = 20 INR