Korigad - How to go, places to visit, things to do

Oct'2 2010 : Frequent travel on official purposes, especially during the monsoons meant, missing out on the monsoon treks for quite some time now. However, thanks to the extended spell of rains this year, made it possible to make one trek in this year's monsoon. Easy access, popular and last but not the least an easy trek were the parameters considered for the choice of the destination. A friend who had visited the place recently had some good words for the place.It was an easy choice. It was Korigad. After much deliberation, train was the mode of transport and it was going to be a one day trek.Korigad, here we come!!! 

How to get there : Korigad is situated close to Lonavala. If you are travelling by car, reach Lonavala via the Mumbai-Pune highway. Once you reach Lonavala head north and take the Jalvayyu marg. Pass the Simbi point and then take the Vayyu marg. It would be better to ask passer's by for the route to Amby valley. Korigad is on the way. Its around half hour drive from Lonavala. Make sure you carry a copy of the map, directions from google maps.The place to reach is Peth Shahapur We traveled by public transport. Must say, it was a hectic journey, as we had to travel some part of the journey, standing, with barely any space to stand in train. We booked our tickets on the Intercity Express from Dadar to Lonavala. As luck would have it, we got our tickets on the waiting list. We purchased additional Gen tickets and got on the over crowded train. And there began our 2 hrs of hell. Standing, pushing, hanging was the order of the journey. No wonder we cursed ourselves for not taking a private vehicle.  We reached Lonavala around 9.00 am. All over the web, while doing research for the trip, we found that, there was only a single bus for Amby Valley, which leaves at 9.00. Obviously, we missed that, as we didn't know where the bus station was anyway. On inquiring from locals, we reached the Lonavala bus station.There was another bus which left at 10.00 am for Amby Valley. We had a quick breakfast - Misal Pav. It was just routine fair, nothing special. Then, we got on the bus. Along the way, there were quite a lot of army vehicles passing by. There seems to be a cantonment near by. We reached the Peth Shahapur around 11.00 am. The conductor informed us that the return bus arrived the same place around 3.00 pm. So we could catch it then on our way back.

Reaching the base of the fort : Staring at the fort on top of the hill, some of us wondered, if we could scale it in under 45 mins. (Well that's the time it would take us to reach, as was informed by my friend). The hill-cum-fort is on the left of the road to Amby valley. Now, there are two routes to reach the fort. One that is right ahead via Ambavane village and is presumed to be steep and difficult to climb. By nature, we took the easier one! i.e. the one to the left. So, we started our trek on the left hand side. To make things more clearer for you, from the S.T. bus stop you need to take a left. Right ahead, you would find a temple. You need to walk towards the temple. With the fort on your right, when you are walking towards the temple. Just as you cross the temple, take a right. You would find a huge water tank.Walk past the water tank. The road gets quite muddy during the rains. Luckily, there weren't enough rains on that day. The trail from there onwards is pretty clear  which leads up to the base of the fort. After a good 20 mins walk, don't be surprised to see a road. Not sure, where this came from. In fact, there was some construction going on in the area. The sight of the road does turn you off for a moment. Anyway, now, we were minutes from the base of the fort. The fort being on the right. We were at the footsteps of Korigad!

The fort :  The ascent to the top was rather a steady one. There are stairs made of cement along the way to the top. Its good to have the stairs, however, not sure it would last for more than 3-4 years. The steps seem to have withered due to millions of footsteps that must have travelled on those stairs over the years. The government or even the local people must do something about these stairs before the Korigad fort goes out of reach of the trekkers.The stairs neither too steep nor difficult in any way, go spirally upwards. Watch out for some portions of the climb. There are sections missing on sides of the stairs, as they seem to have lost due to landslides. Mid-way to the top, there is an idol of Lord Ganesha.It seems to be well maintained by the locals and trekkers alike, as puja items like oil and kandil (lamp) are present next to the idol. There are certain water reservoirs on the way to the top, not sure what their purpose might have been. But, the water does not look anywhere close to potable. As we climbed higher, the view was just awesome. It gave a great view of Amby Valley. Soon, a few turns and climbs later we were up at the large entrance.The entrance was around 10 feet high. Can't recall if there was a gate as such. This is called Ganesh Darwaja. However, we did capture some pics at the entrance, celebrating our efforts.

What is there to see :  

The top of the fort is a large open green area almost equivalent to two Shivaji Parks, (excuse me for the vague comparisons ;) However, the centre of the area is split up into two ponds. Obviously each having its own microcosm universe inhabited by frogs, small fishes etc. There were a lot dragon flies, plenty of them on the top. There were a few cannons too, one to the left seemed quite prominent. The fort itself is actually in quite good shape, especially the perimeters of the fort. Trekkers could actually walk along the perimeter. We were not the ones to try that option though. Right ahead, from where we entered the fort, one can see the road where we got down from the bus,i.e the road to Amby Valley. On the right i.e across the two ponds, if you can make efforts to climb up, one can see the helipad and a small runway. There is a hutment in the vicinity and a few cows on the top. The fort does have a care taker.There is a temple on top of the fort. It is said to be of Korlaidevi. We never prayed at the temple, cannot say much about the temple. After, spending a few hrs at the top, we decided to head back.

Places to Eat : There are no places to eat at the Korigad. Just a few shops near the bus stop, where you can purchase water, some cold drinks, chips etc. So, its better to bring some food along. No wonder, we found many picnickers bringing their huge picnic baskets and having sumptous meals at the top.

Return Journey : The return journey was rather quick one, as decents usually are. We got down and reached the bus stop in less than 40 mins. Luckily in time for the 3.00 pm bus back to Lonavala. The bus was quite empty and inspite of the twists and turns we managed to doze off on our way back. We had our lunch at one of the restaurants at Lonavala. For our return journey we headed back to the Lonavala bus stand. After a few bargains with private taxis walas and looking for buses to Mumbai, We were lucky to find a bus to Borivali, which meant easy, relaxed return back home.Although,overall the trip was a short, relaxed one, it went as expected. It was pretty much a budget trip under Rs. 500. Would recommend first timers or people who wish to have a relaxed one day outing, Korigad would definitely be the place to be.Hope this helps you on your trip to Korigad. 

Some useful links :

http://thepunekar.com/2009/08/29/korigad-fort/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korigad

Smoky Mountains - How to go, places to visit, things to do

 

Smokies



Aug13'2010: "How to celebrate India's Independence Day in a foreign country ?" , was the question on everyone's mind. In fact, even more important question was, "How do we make it memorable ?".Most people in the group had already visited the usual places like Chicago, New York, Niagara - the places Indians must visit.Not sure who made that rule.We wanted to spend the weekend at a more peaceful place, a more natural place - Smokies was the destination chosen.Six of us left from Cleveland. We were to supposed be joined by another friend who was on his way from Atlanta, which was just 3 hrs away from Smoky Mountains. Was the trip memorable? Read more to find out.

How to get there : Smoky Mountains a.k.a. Smokies is one the many national parks that exist in the United States. Vast in size,with over 760 sq.kms spread out forests makes this national park a mighty one in terms of size alone. In fact its actually called as "The Great Smoky Mountains National Park". I would discuss how to reach Smokies from the city we resided in i.e. Cleveland.However, it would be of useful only to readers residing in the northern part of United States. But, having well laid out maps and having advanced GPS capabilities, you don't really need guidance while travelling in the U.S.We took the I-71 S route from Cleveland till Cincinnati.Then we took the I-75 S.The major cities on I-71 S were Columbus,Cincinnati(Ohio). The major cities on I-75 S were Lexington(Kentucky), Knoxville, Pigeon Forge then our final destination Gatlinburg(Tenesse). Gatlinburg exists in Tennesse state.Any GPS or maps from Google Maps can help you find the route.We left around 6.30 pm on Friday. After having an interesting dinner and even more special indian drink near a popular local restaurant, we started off to a rather slow start to our trip to the "The Great Smokies".



Kitchen



Places to stay / eat : We reached Gatlingburg, thanks to our loyal GPS which guided us way inspite of the forests and mountains almost accurately.GPS's in the past have had this habit of breaking down mid-way. Since most of the journey was overnight, except for the guys driving the vehicle,rest of us dozed off. I guess we had taken just a couple of breaks since our dinner.We had booked a cottage with Mountain Laurel Chalets Inc. We reached the office around 5.30 am. We took cottage keys from the main office and from there proceeded towards our cottage. they even provided a map to the cottage along with the keys.With two storeys and a basement, made it ideal for staying in these parts i.e in forests. There were signs to keep doors closed. We wondered why? The reason was simple. To keep the Wild Bears out!!! Gulp!! Our friend had already checked in. I mean the friend from Atlanta and not the bear ;) After spending couple of hours checking the house all over, around and within ;) it slowly sinked in that we are actually staying in a huge cottage with a lot of amenities. Just read this - 1) Two bedrooms on each floor including basement - Six in total. 2) A vast drawing room with a large dining table. 3) Neatly arranged kitchen with all the cutlery one might need. 4) Fire place on every floor waiting to be lit up. 5)Toilets, bathrooms with all the towels,soaps, etc. 6) Balcony at each level with table and chairs 7) A pool table 8) jacuzzi 9) Two Huge LCD Monitors with a massive sound system, enough to shake the cottage.There were books, maps and novels, DVDs  too. And finally the view from the cottage - staring right down the valley with huge forest trees all around. The highest peak in Gatlinburg in sight, right across. The atmosphere too helped create an aura around the place. Being early morning meant being greeted with the birds chirping, the entire smell of freshness spoke volumes about the place. Just too enchanting.

Dining Hall



Breakfast



What is there to see / Things to do :

Breakfast @ River Road Pancake house & Grill

After everyone got ready, we decided to have a brunch. We went to the main busy area in Gatlinburg and tried some of the local delicacies available especially in breakfast. We tried out this place called River Road's Pan cake house. It was run by some Thai immigrants. So much for local.:) We tried out some of the omeletes. Does sound very regular breakfast, but it wasn't anywhere close ot being regular. Omelette's made of 4 large eggs with filling of America's most famous accessory - cheese. There were fillings of two different cheeses - Mozzarella and cheddar. Top it up with some nice sauce.Hash browns and some toasted bread with salted butter. Boy!!!! Was that some brunch ? I wondered if any of us could finish that kind of breakfast.Well, we did finish it though.And what more there was enough space in our tummies to order some more stuff.How about some Waffles?Why not? Brunch almost became a heavy meal. It cost around 10-12 $ per person. Well, now it was time to sleep..oops I mean to do some sight seeing.

Site seeing tips :

Smokies offers a lot of activities - white water rafting, rappelling, rock climbing,mountain biking, etc. The lazy guys we are- we couldn't do either. ;) we tried the usual stuff - simple hiking. And there are plenty of options for that too. Smokies has lot of trails spread across. In fact hiking is the prime activity.Simply because people of all ages can take this up.Most trails are well planed with a proper walkable road and signs to the place. There are variety of options too - river, waterfall, mountain peaks.etc. There are different visitor centers in the Smokies. The centers are often the starting points for all these trails. We went to the closet one - Sugarlands visitor center.They have friendly and experienced staff who can guide you the trail to take up according to your liking.There is also a store there for memorabilia or stuff you might need on the trail - ponchos etc. There are maps available for 1$. The maps are really informative which tell you all about all the trails - how to go, difficulty level, distance,the duration etc..In fact, that helped us plan better.



Trail to Laurel Falls



Trek@Laurel Falls :

We chose to go to the nearest one - Laurel Falls.As expected, the trail was well maintained- a proper walkable road leading up to the falls.On the way,we could see many people - young, old, families, couples all enjoying the walk in the nice weather. There were even forest officers patrolling the trail for any incidents, just in case.There were signs everywhere to guide you to the place. The weather was a bit cool because of the light drizzle, but manageable. We reached the falls in around 1/2 hr. However, the fall was a bit of disappointment. It was just too small to be considered as a fall. Anyway, it was a nice walk.If you are visiting the smokies, make sure to have enough time to explore various places. We were on a short trip, so there wasn't any time to explore. Also, if you plan to do whitewater rafting, make sure you do it early morning. We were too late to try that, and the next day being a Sunday, it was closed.Missed!!!

Trek @ Clingman's Dome :



Way to Clingman's Dome

Next, we tried the highest peak in Smokies - Clingman's Dome. (6643 ft.) We need to reach the base of the trail by car. It was an interesting drive to the base. Lots of turns and low visibility due to fog meant the skill of the driver getting tested, especially as we were ascending the mountain to reach the trail. In almost an hour or so, we reached the base of the trail. the trail was around 5 miles.It was a steep trail. So it took a lot of effort to reach the top. However, it didn't take us more than 40 mins to reach the top.It was fog all around us - no wonder it was called the smokies.

Shopping@Walmart's

On our return, we ate food at the restaurant - No Way Jose's which offered pretty good Mexican food. In case people want to do any shopping, you would find almost every store in Gatlinburg. We did some shopping at Walmart. It was nice to have walmart close by. So we did spend some extended time at the Walmart shopping. We reached the cottage around 10.00 pm. After some interesting and unique attempts at lighting up the fire place, we had a little party before we retired for the day.

Horse-riding@Cade's Cove

The next day, we packed up and left around 1100 am. We had to hand over the keys to the cottage authorities as we were checking out. We then proceeded to Cade's Cove horseback riding center.It was far from Gatlinburg. Spent most of the way listening to some memorable and now unforgettable numbers.It almost took an hour to reach there. All of us took horses - they provide helmets. The ride cost around $75 per person. The ride was going to be of one hour. Obviously none of us had done horse riding before. They gave us horses of varying heights may be depending on our heights. They took us through the jungle.Almost 8-10 horses following each other, with the expert horse leading the way. We spotted some deers in the jungle. Riding on the horses and observing how they handled a rabbit, or a car or even a stream of water was a good experience.  The horses were well trained. Still the moment they found some grass, they would stop and grab a bite.Did learn a thing or two on horse riding.The ride was one of the highlights of the trip.



Scenic Views



Lunch@Thai Thani :

Our last stop in Smokies was the hotel Thai Thani. The restaurant had variety of oriental food including Chinese,Japanese and Thai. Mostly non-veg. Luckily for me, they agreed to make a special vegetarian lunch.The food was as usual.I guess the non-veggies enjoyed more.Well, that wasn't really the last stop - we did stop at a couple of places more before bidding the smokies a warm good bye.We visited some local shops. Please Note - Tennessee is the state of Pepe Jeans. So you would find lot of jeans stores here in Smokies.

 Return journey : Return journey was rather smooth - most of us dozed off. We had a couple of breaks in between. However, it was a nice journey back home. We reached around 6.30 am. With that our little trip came to an end. Hope our exploits mentioned above guide you on your trip to Smokies. 

P.S. Things 'not' to do in smokies :

1. If you have ordered dinner on phone, when you visit the restaurant to take your parcel, it is perfectly ok to eat at the restaurant itself. - You don't take the parcel and eat it in the car parked just outside.
2. Never order tea at the time of dinner - especially if you are in a hurry and the restaurant has run out of milk.
3. You shouldn't be waiting for an hour for tea.
4. When  you are briefly checking out the place you are going to stay - you don't open every cupboard and every drawer hoping to find if someone has left something behind.
5. When you go out for a picnic - Walmart shouldn't be on your must see places
6. On a picnic, if you do end up going to Walmart - make sure you don't end up buying a whole load of stuff almost as if its the month's groceries.
7. Never try to light the fire place during summer.
8. Never use petrol to light up the fireplace.
9. While lighting up firewood stand away from it doing so - if the fire lights up suddenly you might end up burning your eye brows.
10. Make sure the chimney is open before trying to light up the fire place or else your room will end up becoming smoky mountain.
11. If the fire turns big, its o.k. to use water to extinguish the fire. You don't blow air tiring out your lungs out.
12. "Jungle Jungle baat chali hain pata chala hain" from Mowgli is not supposed to be on the list of most memorable songs.
13. When you go to places like Starbucks especially if the there is a huge queue, make sure you buy everything at one go - You don't keep going back and standing in queue for everything.
14. Last but not the least - when you go out for a picnic, the places you visit should be the highlight of the trip - not the food!!!
15. The question on your mind should be "Which site shall we visit next?" and not "What shall we eat next ?".

Site seeing places visited 3 - (1) Laurel's falls, (2)Clingman's Dome, (3)Cade's Cove

Restaurants visited on trip 6 - (1)Delhi Darbar, (2)River Road Pancake House, (3)No way Jose's, (4)Thai Thani, (5) Starbucks,(6)Apple Bees

Btw the above 15 were points were lessons learnt from our personal experiences learnt on the trip. Yes, it was truly a memorable one. Enjoy@Smokies.

Kolhapur - How to go, places to visit, things to do

12th June'2010 : Kolhapur - a destination that usually would find it tough to get on most travellers' must-see list. However, a friend's marriage prompted us to have a visit to this southern Maharastrian city. Googling Kolhapur gave as an overview of places to visit, things to do. But, we weren't sure if we would get enough time to visit those places. Our plan was to leave on Saturday night and return either early Monday morning or late Sunday night, depending on the availability of buses. Private bus transport was chosen to be the mode of transport.

How to go : There are lot of private buses available to reach Kolhapur. redbus is a good place to book your tickets.It is the premier site for booking tickets for private transport(buses). You can purchase tickets to and from all parts of India on buses provided by different transport companies.Konduskar Travels was the transport company chosen.They provided Volvo buses to Kolhapur at regular intervals. It cost around Rs. 525 per ticket. The site sends you a confirmation e-ticket which you need to produce while getting on bus.

     The bus started from Borivali picking up commuters from all across Mumbai. Cannot tell which route the bus traveled, had dozed off almost immediately. I guess the bus traveled via the western express highway before moving on to the eastern side.

     If you are travelling your own vehicle, there are two routes that you can take to reach Kolhapur. NH4 or NH17. If you take the NH4 you would have to go via Pune, Satara, Karad.  If you take NH17 you would go through Panvel, Roha, Khed till Karad.

Places to Stay :  Reached Kolhapur bus stand around 5.30 am. Our friend had booked rooms for us in a nearby hotel named Majestic. Since others were arriving in a different bus, I checked into a room. Others who were on a different bus, were meant to arrive an hour later.Went to the bus stand after an hour to receive others.Had a cup of Kolhapuri chai' at a local tea stall.Was surprised to find that Kolhapuris love their tea sweet.Or was it just me.Anyway,The room was big one with four beds, a T.V. and bathroom attached.There was a provision for hot and cold water. Must say that the location of the hotel being central with bus stands(most private buses had starting points to various destinations just below the hotel), railway station and a lot of restaurants nearby to choose from made the hotel favorable.Rest, I would suggest you to check out the place on your own.

Places to visit : Autos seemed to be the common mode of transport in Kolhapur. We found ourselves an unusual auto to travel in. Behind the customary three-seater bench, there were two benches laid perpendicular on both sides. The structure was similar to imagine a Tata Sumo with an auto like portion in the front seat.The auto rickshaw costs were found to be nominal.We traveled a lot of places, the fare never went beyond Rs. 40-50.Perhaps, not being a huge city reduced the distance too.But then not every city is Mumbai.Also,There is no meter-system here. The fare depended on the deal you made at the start of journey.After attending the marriage, we visited the famous Mahalaxmi temple.

The visit started with purchase of some offerings.There was huge queue, but it was manageable.One noticable thing about Kolhapur is the heat. With Mumbai, being close to the sea, there is a lot of moisture in the air which helps to reduce the heat, but here in Kolhapur that's not the case.The Kolhapur heat really hits you. A prolonged moment out in the sun would probably cause some heat burn.Although there were shades provided in the queue, still, there were some unshaded portions.As a result, there were some occasions where we had to stand in queue in the Kolhapur heat on barefoot.The stoned tiles didn't help either.Must admit, it was not the most pleasant moment.

The temple was built during the shivaji times. The architecture of the temple is breath taking, pristine, ancient, it tells more about the Shivaji times. No wonder, you find a lot of devoteess turning up at the temple here.Although, the temple is still intact, there are some portions that are being restored.  As we approached the temple, the queue split into two - one for male devotees and the other for female.Even after entering the temple, the queue extends till the main diety statue. The pushing around only gets more intense as you approach the main diety. And its not even a moment that you pray that you are pushed away. Did make me think, visiting a temple should offer serenity and peace of mind and not this struggle.The temple authorities have tried their best to manage the crowd, I felt there could have been a lot more that could have been done.May be they could learn a thing or two from Shirdi.

After our visit to the temple, we decided to take a break and travel back to the hotel to have a s-nap (short nap:).  It was around 4.30, all of us got ready to visit another famous place in Kolhapur - the Rankala lake.It took us 20 mins to reach the lake by auto. In tems of size it was slightly smaller than the Powai lake. However, there was a lot more activity happening out there. There was a lot of crowd. People of all ages enjoying the nice atmosphere around the lake.There is a walking track around the lake. The lake looked clear by normal standards. There was a stretch near one end of the lake, which extended almost to the middle of the lake. People could walk almost upto to the center on that stretch.Then there were the eateries at one end. Bhelpuris, Panipuris, Baloon shooting stalls, bubble sellers. Almost all the elements that make up a normal indian mela were present there.After our share of shooting ,We tried out a special bhel known as the "Indian bhel". We asked the vendor to make it spicy. And boy!! Was it spicy !!!We then had one of the most popular items - "The Falooda" from one of the Mewad icecream walas present there. There were options for chocloate, vanilla, stawberry, mix.Truly Mewad originally from Rajasthan have some sort of monopoly on faloodas and icecreams in these parts and now we knew why? The falooda was just too good.Each one of us had an extra helping.It was around 6.30 pm we left for hotel again.  

 Places to Eat : We decided to have an early dinner.Just near the hotel, on the other side of the building across, there was a restaurant named "Saawan".The non-vegetarians in the group tried out the special non-veg thali, which seemed to be a specialty there.And they tell me, it was just yummy - the kheema bhaji, the masala in each of the bhajis had an entirely different taste, probably a special kolhapuri touch to it. No wonder they just enjoyed it thoroughly.Also, there was  a special thaak (kind of buttermilk), they really seemed to enjoy it.I had to contend with regular veg. mixed bhaji and chapatis.After we completed our sumptuous dinner, there was hardly any time to do anything else. We had to just pack up and leave.Reached hotel, packed up and off to go.

Return Journey : The return journey was a rather short one. We again traveled by Volvo, this time it was a brand new Neeta Volvo.They charged us around Rs. 800. The journey started around 10.30 pm. Most of the journey was spent in dozing.The bus reached Borivali around 6.30 am.An rather short trip - a few places missed out - the Panhala fort, Vishalgad..probably some other time. Hope this helps you on your trip to Kolhapur.