Date: April 2009
After my first trip to the hilly district in 2008, I returned to Coorg for a second trip with my then office photography club – Shutterbugs. We hired a Chevrolet Tavera taxi and left Bangalore city Friday night after work.
We'd stop on the way to give our driver a coffee break, because we were worried about him dozing off at the wheel
Not that we managed to sleep sitting inside the crammed vehicle
We arrived at our homestay in Madikeri town around 6am
Don't ask me for a name, for this massive hut belong to a relative of one our office mates. We still had to pay for it though.
After getting some sleep, at noon we went to Omkareshwara temple at the suggestion of earlier mentioned office mate
Our time at the temple turned sour when a priest came by and shouted at us for taking photos without prior permission. First of all, there was no sign at the entrance stating we couldn't, and we could even see a family with a video camera. Basically this "saint" was on an ego trip, so we just apologized and walked away.We decided to have lunch
... and some beer
After lunch, we drove to ‘Raja’s Seat’ in Madikeri town, famous for being a popular garden and viewpoint.
But then I found this stray pup an interesting subject
This easily became one my favourite photos ever clicked
We next went to Madikeri Fort
Quite a few old and damaged buildings inside
Good for photographers none the less
The view of the surrounding town
We left the fort and drove to our next sightseeing spot
Our Coorgi friend drove us to this hilltop where he said we could get awesome views
And he was right
It was past 6:40pm
So we took our last few shots
It was quite a viewpoint
Back at our rooms, we ended our night with some drinks and some local cuisine
But I kept trying out some photography techniques in the dark
Also tried long exposure light streams (That's me attempting to write Shutterbugs)
The next morning, we went to Talakaveri
I didn’t take too many photos from up here as it was my second time at Talakaveri .
With that, our trip was over and we headed back to Bangalore
Only to stop at this massive aqueduct on the way back
Not only is it used to transport water from the Harangi Reservoir, but two-wheelers can use it as a passageway (although I'm not sure if it was built for it)
There wasn't a whole lot of water that day, but villagers seem to make do with what was available
It was my first time seeing an aqueduct like this
I believe the area we were in was called Dubare
All in all, a pretty good photography trip
Also check out: First trip to Coorg: Thadiyandamol, Talakaveri and Abbey Falls