When it comes to drives, instant decisions work more than anything. Anirudh was very keen on driving down to Coorg, I was a bit skeptical about the time to start due to constraints at home. He was insisting on leaving on the Friday night, but he eventually ended up bowing to my pressure and decided to leave early morning on Saturday just before the dawn break. It was just the tow of us in a truck(Qualis). We set upon the journey and hit the Mysore road, the only stretch in Karnataka which is still in good condition, surprisingly. We cruised on the roads with hardly any traffic and pleasant music to keep our ears engaged so that neither of us fall asleep. As we were heading southwards, the Sunrise gave a respite to our gloomy eyes and woke us up completely. After an hour, we ended up taking a short break in Coffee Day near Maddur. Now we were entirely recharged and all geared up for the long drive to coorg.
We took the ring road of Mysore to avoid the city traffic and reached the Coorg Highway. The more distance we were covering, the more pleasant and green it was turning into. Never ending cultivated fields accompanied us throughout. With cool breeze brushing our faces from one side, the harmless sunrays fondling us on the other side it was indeed a drive in waiting. Kushalnagar was the next halt where we had yummy breakfast and then proceeded ahead. 
Now was the turn of the Ghat roads which crawl all over the Western Ghats cutting them across in length and breadth. There is nothing like driving on a ghat road, I just love it. With so many curves, variety of them in fact, ups and downs, it keeps you on tenterhooks. With two budding photographers, its difficult to just cruise along nonstop. We were in no hurry, so we stopped as many times as we wanted and took a number of pics en-route. Finally we made it to Madikeri and checked in a hotel.
Talacauvery is the birth place of the river Cauvery which is considered to be a holy place by the locals. People are often found taking bath here. A little ahead from here would take you to the top of a hill where you get a fabulous 360 Degree view of the entire range. It’s a whole set of Hill ranges covered with grasslands on top. The time of visit was May but even then it was lush green all around. The sun had turned nasty now, which made it difficult to open our eyes. We proceeded towards Bagamandala to visit the temple and then to the Fort in the hill town.
I had visited the Raja seat almost 10 years ago, I could hardly remember anything other than the Raja seat itself. It was a pleasant evening which added flavor to the place. The weather started to turn chill as the sun was setting down. Apart from us there were a lot of other people waiting for the sunset. We all got ready with the cameras and started our usual routine of taking pics. The sky gradually turned red and then the sun went down bringing darkness everywhere, but the locals had planned something different. A musical fountain started playing almost immediately which attracted and cheered the crowd as the curtains were downed for the day. Suddenly it struck to us about the sunrise. We decided to be here before dawn.
Early morning we started walking towards Raja seat. As we approached the view point, we were stunned by the view. It was jaw dropping. The mist had engulfed the hills all over, they resembled like floating islands, only this time it was a sea of clouds. I was so happy to look at the view, it was just spectacular. Quickly we got into shooting mode forgetting the chill weather which made us shiver. 
We couldn’t get a glimpse of the sun cause of heavy presence of clouds and mist, about which we never complained. Later in the day a visit to the Omkareshwara Temple reminded us of the spiritual life which we had amply forgotten in the abode of the nature. The blessings of the Almighty were sought and we set out to the next location, this time to a waterfall. Abbe falls is pretty close to the town. Here we were slightly disappointed cause of very less water. I am sure had we been here in Monsoon, it would have been a delight.
The rains were lashing while we drove down towards Nagarahole. Driving on a few stretches was indeed challenging cause of very poor visibility. Nagarahole is an island on the river. The forest department officials maintain a zoo here. We went around finding a lot of rabbits, deer, elephants and monkeys, of course. A walk in the area was very refreshing. It was time for us to leave as we had to visit Bylkuppe. Its pretty much close to Nagarahole towards Bangalore falling en-route our return journey.
Bylkuppe is a Tibetan Refugee Campsite. Thousands of Tibetans have settled here. A Golden Temple stands in the midst of this camp. Tourists throng this place quite often. Any direction you look around, you would spot a monk easily, there are that many. 
When we visited the temple, a mass prayer was going on which silenced us. We quietly moved around the temple and were trying to figure out what exactly these monks were doing but were not that successful. It was time for us to leave.We came via Mysore city to catch a glimpse of the lighted palace. The Authorities switch on all the lights on Sunday evenings. The illuminated palace was simply standing out of the darkness and projected its glory. I simply starred at the massive illuminated structure and admired the beauty of the Mysore Palace. That was the last stop of our Drive to Coorg and returned to BLR.
