If anybody who has visited Mysore, didn't like the city, then I really doubt about his taste. It is probably one of the most planned city in India. It is heaven for the travellers and you need minimum 15 days to cover the places around Mysore. I have already mentioned about the beautiful places like Mysore palace, Sri Rangapattana, Nanjana gudu, Chamundi hills, Shivana Samudra, Ramanagara, Belur. Here I have written about some more places and I will continue to share much more experiences.
Himwad Gopal Swamy betta was one of the to do list of this year. It is one of the scenic place you could visit near Mysore. Planning for Himawad was little difficult because of lack of information. After Kodachadri, everyone was tired, so I and Basu decided to go together. Even after visiting Mysore many times , I couldn't get time to visit Zoo. Even Karanji lake was missed. I called Ananda, who is one of my closest buddy. He is from Mysore and gave a lot of information about what are all places we can cover. As per his instructions we visited Zoo first and then Karanji lake. We even went to Chamundi hills.
We left Bangalore on Morning 7 AM. You need to catch Mysore bus from Satellite bus stand. We reached Mysore around 11:30 AM. From Sub-Urban bus stand to city bus stand is of around 1 Km. We reached bus stand by walk. You can taste street foods on the way. I liked the grape juice in Bescom shop near city bus stand. From city bus stand we took Chamundi hills bus which goes via Zoo.Since we knew that we will be roaming around Mysore we took bus pass for 95 Rs.
Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Garden.
Probably one of the biggest zoo in India which had more elephants than any other zoo. A must visit place in Mysore, has extended to even Karanji Lake. We paid entry fees and camera fees.
Zoo started with beautiful birds. We can find many species of birds ranging from eagle to parrot. This zoological garden is not only a normal visit place but also a study tour for kids and adults. I specially liked the Peacock and Flamingo bird. When we visited Kutch we came across Flamingo as a migratory bird. Seeing these birds I wanted to study more about birds. Poorna Chandra Tejaswi, a Kannada author was more interested in birds and wrote many books about birds. Since he is my favourite writer in Kannada, I am having more affection towards birds. For Basu, this was 3rd visit. So he was moving faster than me. But I took time to explore and see the behaviours of birds. You find different kinds of parrot with different colors. Probably we can write more about birds in a specific section. But what I didn't like is keeping them in cages. Probably the bigger area where they can move freely would have been a great for them. But I am not sure about how we can implement those kind of places where we can study the birds also.
After birds section, your eyes will definitely move towards Bengal tiger. One of the most beautiful creature you could see in the zoo. But whichever thing is beautiful is always dangerous.
To the left side of the Bengal tiger, in the corner, you can find leopards. One of the most dangerous and opportunistic hunter in the forest which has dominated the forest of different kinds due to its adoptability. Also it can climb the trees which makes it more dangerous among the wild animals.
Then comes the white tiger which you can also find in Bannerghatta national park, Bangalore abundantly.
You might also like Indian bison. They are big and well built and mostly seen in groups. The older one you will find it alone and it looks like it is staring at you.
Do you know which is the biggest bird in the world? The answer is flightless Ostrich. You can find it in this zoo. It would be walking slowly like a king of bird. Even you might have seen how it runs in National Geographic channel.
You find different kinds of monkeys in this zoo. You will get entertainment also looking at what they are doing. Sometimes the ladies walk away looking at the gesture it does.
I am always confused between the Cheetah and Leopard. Probably you could find the difference here in this link. It is all about spots. Cheetah have uniform dotted spots where as leopards have a flower kind of dots. Generally taller than leopard and smaller than lions, Cheetah is the fastest land animal.
One common animal you find in Indian zoo is Zebra. We have learnt letter Z with Z for Zebra. So we know little information about this animal. Kids will be very happy looking at this animal because Z is for Zebra for them always.
Then you find water fountains and also the study about drainage model by name Standard Box Drain model which play a vital role in preventing floods.
After seeing the big elephants you will find reptiles sections. Different kinds of snakes and crocodile you will find. Beside crocodiles , you find water birds.
There is a butterfly park which is at a few distance away. But due to lack of time , we couldn't cover it. Instead we went to see the birds which was kept in open space with a cover all around. This was the same extension of Zoo. We could see peacock within few inches distance. And since there is no cage, it is responsibility of us not to disturb and harm them.
This is the highest peak in Bandipur national park. The name himawad is because it is covered my mist and cloud most of the time. Surrounded by deep forest it houses wild elephants ,deers and other animals. That is why trekking is not allowed here. As we reached the temple, we noticed that there was drop in temperature. Now we were feeling cold. We were literally thrilled when we saw the top view from the right side of the temple. As we read in blog there was no restriction of 1 hour stay. From 9 AM to 4 PM buses are there. After that it is not allowed.
With my 36x optical zoom camera, I was able to see a group of deers also. After spending more than an hour we went inside temple. There was a small queue. Gopal swamy temple is dedicated to lord Krishna built by Hoysalas. It dates back to 13th century.
Venu gopal swamy temple has long history. During KRS dam construction, Kannambadi was submerged. Even the Venu Gopal Swamy temple was also submerged in water. When the KRS dam's water level came down, temple was visible. Villagers who were relocated to hosa Kannambadi wanted this temple to be rebuilt. So with the help of Government and villagers, Khoday foundation built this temple with the same architecture and stones. Though it doesn't look like the Hoysala architecture, but the location behind KRS dam and and huge temple makes it one of the must visit place around Mysore.
Don't get shocked when you search for idol of Lord Venu Gopal. The idol still has to be placed inside the temple and there is more work to do inside the temple. But still lot of people visit the place to enjoy the evening in this beautiful location.
Himwad Gopal Swamy betta was one of the to do list of this year. It is one of the scenic place you could visit near Mysore. Planning for Himawad was little difficult because of lack of information. After Kodachadri, everyone was tired, so I and Basu decided to go together. Even after visiting Mysore many times , I couldn't get time to visit Zoo. Even Karanji lake was missed. I called Ananda, who is one of my closest buddy. He is from Mysore and gave a lot of information about what are all places we can cover. As per his instructions we visited Zoo first and then Karanji lake. We even went to Chamundi hills.
We left Bangalore on Morning 7 AM. You need to catch Mysore bus from Satellite bus stand. We reached Mysore around 11:30 AM. From Sub-Urban bus stand to city bus stand is of around 1 Km. We reached bus stand by walk. You can taste street foods on the way. I liked the grape juice in Bescom shop near city bus stand. From city bus stand we took Chamundi hills bus which goes via Zoo.Since we knew that we will be roaming around Mysore we took bus pass for 95 Rs.
Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Garden.
Probably one of the biggest zoo in India which had more elephants than any other zoo. A must visit place in Mysore, has extended to even Karanji Lake. We paid entry fees and camera fees.
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| White peafowl |
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| Flamingo bird |
Zoo started with beautiful birds. We can find many species of birds ranging from eagle to parrot. This zoological garden is not only a normal visit place but also a study tour for kids and adults. I specially liked the Peacock and Flamingo bird. When we visited Kutch we came across Flamingo as a migratory bird. Seeing these birds I wanted to study more about birds. Poorna Chandra Tejaswi, a Kannada author was more interested in birds and wrote many books about birds. Since he is my favourite writer in Kannada, I am having more affection towards birds. For Basu, this was 3rd visit. So he was moving faster than me. But I took time to explore and see the behaviours of birds. You find different kinds of parrot with different colors. Probably we can write more about birds in a specific section. But what I didn't like is keeping them in cages. Probably the bigger area where they can move freely would have been a great for them. But I am not sure about how we can implement those kind of places where we can study the birds also.
After birds section, your eyes will definitely move towards Bengal tiger. One of the most beautiful creature you could see in the zoo. But whichever thing is beautiful is always dangerous.
To the left side of the Bengal tiger, in the corner, you can find leopards. One of the most dangerous and opportunistic hunter in the forest which has dominated the forest of different kinds due to its adoptability. Also it can climb the trees which makes it more dangerous among the wild animals.
Then comes the white tiger which you can also find in Bannerghatta national park, Bangalore abundantly.
You might also like Indian bison. They are big and well built and mostly seen in groups. The older one you will find it alone and it looks like it is staring at you.
The deers are one of the most mildest creature which likes to live in troops. You can find different kinds of deers ranging from Sambar to spotted deers. You can also find some of the endangered species like Four Horned Antelope, Mouse Deer, Civets, Caracal, Chinkara.
Do you know which is the biggest bird in the world? The answer is flightless Ostrich. You can find it in this zoo. It would be walking slowly like a king of bird. Even you might have seen how it runs in National Geographic channel.
You find different kinds of monkeys in this zoo. You will get entertainment also looking at what they are doing. Sometimes the ladies walk away looking at the gesture it does.
I am always confused between the Cheetah and Leopard. Probably you could find the difference here in this link. It is all about spots. Cheetah have uniform dotted spots where as leopards have a flower kind of dots. Generally taller than leopard and smaller than lions, Cheetah is the fastest land animal.
One common animal you find in Indian zoo is Zebra. We have learnt letter Z with Z for Zebra. So we know little information about this animal. Kids will be very happy looking at this animal because Z is for Zebra for them always.
After seeing the big elephants you will find reptiles sections. Different kinds of snakes and crocodile you will find. Beside crocodiles , you find water birds.
The zoo is too big that you will get tired covering all the places. But you can find a restaurant in the end. We had an ice cream there. We wanted to go to Mylari Dosa, so we didn't have any other food. Finally The Zoo ends with the big Giraffes. They look amazing and we look like a small ants in front of them.
Mylari Dosa
It was already 4 PM when we left Zoo. Ananda told me Mylari Dosa is only few distance from Zoo. We walked nearly 1.5 KM. Then we saw a board "Mylari Dosa , the original and we don't have branches". It is a old and very small hotel in the corner. But the Dosa is the best I ever had. I mean it. The soft and tasty saagu made it more special. Even chutney is good. We had 2 dosas and a filter coffee. That was the second best part of this journey. I, being a foodie love to taste different kinds of food.This was my best experience when comes to dosas.
Karanji lake
We went back to city bus stand. Our plan was to visit Venugopal Swamy temple in KRS back waters. But since we were little late and Taxi people were charging more than 1500 Rs, we decided to visit Karanji lake. It was drizzling and we took the Chamundi Hills bus again to reach Karanji lake. It is near to Zoo and it is told that it is an extension of Zoo.
Once you enter , in few meters you can find a boating entry point. We didn't go for boating instead we went to bird view point from where you can see the top view of the lake and also the birds which occupy the lake.
There is a butterfly park which is at a few distance away. But due to lack of time , we couldn't cover it. Instead we went to see the birds which was kept in open space with a cover all around. This was the same extension of Zoo. We could see peacock within few inches distance. And since there is no cage, it is responsibility of us not to disturb and harm them.
While returning back, we saw the kids playing in the garden in front of the boating entrance. You could also find few of the parrots in the cages beside the playing area. This will definitely an opportunity for kids to see different varieties of birds.
After Karanji Lake we went to Chamundi Hills. It was dusk already. By the time we reached Chamundi hills, it was closed. But there are many things you can do in chamundi hills. Other than enjoying the beautiful view from top, you could taste some wonderful snacks. I have visited Chamundi Hills more than 5 times. But each time I enjoyed the spicy and tasty snacks especially masala mandakki and Bajji.
Youth Hostel Mysore
It was already late and we decided to leave. We were not sure about where to stay. But we had information about few places. Once we reached city bus stand I called youth hostel , established in collaboration with Both Central and State govt. For students they charge less than 75 Rs and for others they charge 125 Rs. You will get only dormitories. You will get locker and mosquito net. They provide you clean bed sheets and pillow cover. Rooms were clean and even the rest rooms. You will get hot water and drinking water. If you want to have food there , you have to inform them earlier. It is little away from the centre of city but affordable. You need to vacate the rooms in the morning.
Next day
Next day we decided to leave early. We had hot water bath in the early morning and left hostel by 6:30 AM. We reached sub urban bus stand, with some circus. We took Ooty bus and got down in Gundlupete. Conductors are very helpful and they will guide you properly. In Gundlupete we had breakfast and took Gopalpura bus and got down in Hangala village. From Hangala village we took a goods auto. They might charge you more and they rarely allow us to bargain. We paid 150 rs and reached forest entry point. We were not having change to pay the auto driver. We asked for a change in a hotel near by, but they were also not having any change. Instead they gave 150 Rs and told us to return it back when you come back from temple. I was really impressed with the trust and generosity of the people. We took bus to Himawad Betta and with that the 2-3 hours of wonderful experience started.
With my 36x optical zoom camera, I was able to see a group of deers also. After spending more than an hour we went inside temple. There was a small queue. Gopal swamy temple is dedicated to lord Krishna built by Hoysalas. It dates back to 13th century.
After coming out of temple, again we roamed around the temple. We were not even ready to leave the place. But we wanted to visit Venugopal swamy temple also. Around Mysore I rate this place in top 3. A must visit place if you are around Mysore. With reluctant mind when we took bus to Check post, we enquired about the possibility of visiting BR Hills also. But we decided to skip the idea and instead we decided to go back to Mysore. Before taking goods auto we had dosa in the hotel from where we took the money for auto. This time goods auto took only 20Rs.
Venu Gopal swamy temple
Visiting Venu gopal swamy temple near KRS is one of the best experience in terms of decision making and meeting good human being. Basu was a reluctant starter but I insisted we should visit this place. We took bus to KRS. From KRS we took auto. We paid 150 Rs for 8 Km.
Venu gopal swamy temple has long history. During KRS dam construction, Kannambadi was submerged. Even the Venu Gopal Swamy temple was also submerged in water. When the KRS dam's water level came down, temple was visible. Villagers who were relocated to hosa Kannambadi wanted this temple to be rebuilt. So with the help of Government and villagers, Khoday foundation built this temple with the same architecture and stones. Though it doesn't look like the Hoysala architecture, but the location behind KRS dam and and huge temple makes it one of the must visit place around Mysore.
Don't get shocked when you search for idol of Lord Venu Gopal. The idol still has to be placed inside the temple and there is more work to do inside the temple. But still lot of people visit the place to enjoy the evening in this beautiful location.
We spent more than 2 hours in this place. We had bajji , masala mandakki and started walking. We had to walk 8-9 km to reach KRS. From there we need to catch bus to Mysore. It was already 6:30 PM when we started. We thought we will get some auto or some van. It was getting dark and we were in a remote place.
That time, a person stopped the bike and asked where we were going. We told about our situation. He told us to sit in back seat. I asked him how 3 people can go ? He told us to not to worry and he said he will drop us to near by place. I and Basu with no choice went with him. Throughout our ride he talked about various topics. He was very generous and gave a suggestion to take bus to Sriranga pattana instead of Mysore. He dropped us to a bus stop near Pandavapura. We were standing with him, 15 km away from the place where we met. Isn't it a strange thing. Sometimes strangers help us in reaching destination. Our own people back stab and stop us from reaching the milestone. With this experience I learnt one thing. Serve the people without expectation. Love the people without any hesitation. We will be leaving this world one or the other day. Live your life without bothering what people can think about you. With lot of positive memories , we said goodbye to him. We had dinner in Sri ranga pattana and got the bus without much delay.
Probably I will remember this journey because of Kaveri Gowdru, a raita sanga member for his great gesture. That is why I suggest people to travel. Some times go solo. You will get to know your strengths and weakness. After I started travelling seriously there is a change in me. I am not bothered what people will think about me. I started doing the right thing. Even my best friends didn't support. But I listened to my heart. Even professionally it has given me a lot of confidence. It has enhanced my imagination and knowledge. Even it has helped me in decision making.
Travel is not just a time pass. It is a continuous learning. I prefer to die doing the things I love rather than sit in an AC cabin and live for many more years. Travel to understand yourself and to dream more.
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2 comments
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