Oyster Opera Island Resort - Kasargod

Trip Route: Bangalore -> Mysore -> Madikeri (Coorg) -> Kasargod

My search to visit an unknown beautiful island ended up here. Oyster Opera is a small island resort located at Padanna, near Kasargod, Kerala (South India). 

After a delayed start on Friday night (as usual), we finished the dinner at Empire hotel at Maddur only at 12 A.M. As the road from Coorg to Kasargod takes into forest ghat section, we took the Virajpet route from Hunsur and reached the resort at 7 A.M. Damn tired :(

Though the entrance of the resort was not impressive, lot of surprises were waiting The resort has 8 beautiful wooden/bamboo cottages facing the backwaters and a houseboat. 

Unfortunately, the houseboat was not in a working condition so we didn't prefer to stay there. We stayed in the below cottage that has fantastic view of the backwaters.

After taking a quick nap and yummy breakfast, we are taken on the boat for a ride. At the middle of the backwaters, we are asked to jump into the water. First i thought the guy is kidding, but actually that place was not deep enough (just 5 feet). 

Spent an hour in playing games and drinking beers :) Good fun though. The lunch was so delicious, authentic kerala food with Fish curry, Prawns fry, dry fish and what more... My tummy was full :) Slept for some time before getting into the boat again. 

He took us to the place where the backwater meets the sea. Had a pleasure walk, some played games and back to the resort by 7 P.M

Now the fun time starts... We had big plans for the celebration - camp fire, drinks, dance etc :) Enjoyed to the core till 2 A.M. 

As my friend wanted to reach back Bangalore early, we had to leave the resort by early morning. This time, we took the good route. The 68 KM stretch from Panathur to Coorg is very scenic, the ghat road goes inside the forest for few miles.

Though we did not see any animals, there are many water falls seen on the roadside. We saw the signboards that Elephants and Bison would reach this place to drink water.

But we couldn't resist us taking bath in one of them :) So chill and refreshing but i was a victim for the leeches :( I could not realise the blood loss for a long time...

Finally back to Bangalore on Sunday evening taking with us the unforgettable memories and fun we had. Really a good adventurous trip.

Raviz Resort - Calicut

Trip Route: Bangalore -> Mysore -> Wayanad -> Calicut. 

It takes approximately 8 hours by car to reach Calicut from Bangalore. The Raviz resort is located in the outskirts of Calicut, Kerala, South India. The most unique thing about this 5 star resort is it's surrounded by backwaters and coconut trees, not so crowded resort. 

It has got 12 independent cottages facing the backwaters. Ideal place to spend a weekend with your loved ones :)

The best part here is the calm yet beautiful boat ride for an hour in the backwater, so relaxing... 

If you are a sea food lover, i bet you will never forget the food in this place, esp the masala fry fish. Mmmm,Yummy....

We were told there are few families are living in this small island. Though they might be disconnected from the rest of the world, i should say they are living a great life with the Nature.

The boat ride ends with a beautiful sunset... Though there are some other places to see in Calicut, we  wanted to enjoy every minute staying in this place and stayed back here... Beautiful moments...

1000 Years old BIG temple - Tanjore

The 1000 years old BIG temple (also called as Brihadeeswarar/ Rajarajeswaram/ Peruvudaiyar) in Tanjore (Tamil Nadu, India) is truly a brilliant architectural marvel of the Chola kings. This temple was built with 130,000 tons of granite.

View of Nandi and the temple - typical example of Dravidian style of architecture

The conical shape tower is built in 16 storey measuring 216 ft. It is among the tallest of its kind in India. The amazing thing is the shadow of this tower never falls on the ground. 

Right side view of the temple. The tower has a hollow structure inside, similar to the pyramids, interlocked with ball and socket joint technique with no binding material used.

With no machines or cranes that time, the 81 ton stone at the top (shikara) was moved to the top by building an inclined plane of 7 kms from a village which still exists by the name 'sarapallam'

                                                                                                                                   Mandapam showing ancient scripts on the walls

Beautiful elephant carving on the walls

                                                                                                                                  Sculptures of hindu idols in different positions on one side of the tower

A lost Island - Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi - A small island in South India that was completely washed out by a cyclonic storm on 25 December 1964, killing hundreds of people. The pics below shows the remains of the island after 46 years.

This van is the only access to the island. No other vehicle can go due to loose white sand

A boat submerged in sand

Scary sea water seen after the shore

Remains of a school

Ruins of a church

Some building

Skeleton of a boat

A temple

Beautiful Rameshwaram

Some of the pics taken at Rameshwaram, South India. Top angle shots are captured from Pamban bridge that links the island and the mainland.

Fishermen on the move. This photo was published in CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/11/uniquely.india/index.html

India's first sea bridge, parallel to the Pamban bridge. Until 1988, railway bridge was the only link between Rameshwaram and India.

Central part of the railway bridge can open up to allow ferry movement. 

View of Pamban and Railway bridge

Amazing Andaman

 

  


   

Scuba diving, Havelock Island

Trek to Attukal falls, Munnar

Munnar, a hill station in Kerala is around 450 KM from Bangalore. Though there are different routes to reach, the drive easily takes 8 hour to reach. One of the major attractions here is the Attukal falls. 

Little closer look

2 hours trek to the bottom of the falls inside dense greenery 

Spiderman :) 

Tree without leaves

We exhausted...