Dehradun day1 and day2

I had week long trip to uttrakhand.i had planned to attend friends marriage in Dehradun on Sunday.othee days I had planned to cover Dehradun, Mussourie, Haridwar, rishikesh.
The Planning
I had booked my flight from Bangalore to jolly grant airport on 19 th of November.Return was on 24 November.cost for flight was 7.5k
I had booked a room in a beautiful hotel  paradise mansion in Mussorie which was around 2k.in Haridwar I booked a bed in 10 ppl dormitory in place called bedhubs.in Rishikesh I booked  a bed in 4 PPL dormitory which is awesome place.

 Troubled start and mobile wallet.
I started by 3 30 am with just 2 hrs of sleep.
I had left my wallet by mistake in home while I  started in taxi around midnight.In airport I used mobile wallet Paytm to pay taxi. I used Mobile Aadhar app to get entry into Bangalore airport.At one moment I thought I may not board flight but digital India schemes helped  me  in gaining entry into airport.
Plane friend
I was reading a book on operations to catch bandit veerapan book in plane.my copassenger was interested and our acquaintance grew.at end of journey I got some cash from him after paying him by mobile wallet.When plane landed in Dehradun I saw a basic small airport with lot of empty space around.There were few outstation taxi stand.buses were few kms away.So only option was walk to bus stop or to take taxi to Dehradun city.
Jolly grant airport to Dehradun hotel relax
I walked towards city in a shortcut via a small jungle.few men who were watching flight landing Interuppted me and requested me not walk alone in jungle as it unsafe.They were working as mechanic in BHEL Haridwar .They came to take care of friends daughter affected by dengue.They dropped me in their car at bus stop.i took bus to dehradun city.i got guidance from couple of college students on where to stop in city and auto services to my hotel

I came to hotel relax and rested for few minutes.I had my lunch in same hotel .I messaged my friend of my arrival.then I started going to place called mindrollling Buddhist monastery.i booked a auto there by Ola
Mindrolling Buddhist temple
Temple is central to Tibetan settlement.i got reminded on golden temple Tibetan monastery near Coorg.speciality there was stupa designed to depict main principles of Buddhism like Eight hold path ,seven limbs of enlightenment,five powers,Five knowledges,Five Fearlessness.There was also huge Buddha statue. temple is open on Sundays while the garden around was  open all days for public.

 FRIENDS MARRIAGE
It was first  time I went so far to attend friends marriage.I was also seeing  North Indian marraige customs for first time.By 8 30 pm we entered marriage hall.there were some starters made of mushroom, gobi,vegetables and panner and coffee.Me eating too much starters later reduced main food item intakes.Food were lavish. I was left amazed by amount of care and greetings the family members gave me.Groom arrived along with his baarat.Girls family welcomed him.Later some traditions followed. I was happy to be there.I gifted the couple with a beautiful silver coated photoframe .After dinner I left for room by 1 am.
Day2 Dehradun
I started day two trip with watching my dream destination in a auto .
Robbers cave.Its beautiful stream that runs from central section of cave .Most section  of cave is open  on top and central section closed.Here I walked in knee high water to reach a small water falls at centre.The rocks are naturally formed limestone giving a whitish look on surface.you can rent rubber slipper and walk into beautiful stream to  reach central falls. I even took bath in this waterfall making my clothes wet.I also helped taking pictures of couple of foreigners.

FRI
Forest research institute is a beautiful college on forest science.It also runs few musuems for public view.Construction of the present buildings commenced thereafter. Styled in Greeko Roman Architecture by C.G. Blomfield, the main building was inaugurated in 1929 by then Viceroy Willingdon. It is now a National Heritage site.

FRI also contains a museum on forestry. It is open from 9:30am to 5:00pm daily, which an entry fee of Rs 40 per person and a nominal entry fee for vehicles. There are six sections in the museum:

1. Pathology Museum
2. Social Forestry Museum
3. Silviculture Museum
4. Timber Museum
5. Non-Wood Forest Products Museum
6. Entomology Museum

           

Tapeshwar madhadev temple It is scenic cave temple near river.water drops on shivalinga from top of ceiling making a spectacular sight.on other side of stream there were Vaishno Devi cave temple and huge Hanuman statue faxing river.
I spent around thousand rupees for auto ricksaw to go around above three places. Later from room I went to market

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Dehradun market
I went to moti baazar to repair my couple of bags .later I had mix fruit juice with Himalayan salt.In dry fruits shop i purchased 12 gm Kesar for 3 friends whose wives were expecting new babies.There were kashmiri brand which was original and few others spanish import.
Later  in a textile shop I bought few woolen clothes for my friend who was traveling into Europe in winter.i used one of his sweaters bought for rest of trip

Kumar hotel
For dinner I ate awesome veg food at hotel Kumar near clock tower.few soft rotis and palak Kumbh(made of mushrooms),jaljeera Pani all were good North Indian foods.
With this my stay at Dehradun was over.next place was beautiful and cold mussorie.i am planning to write next blog on this.

Weekend trip to shringeri horanadu and Udupi

My travelogue on moonsoon trip to Sringeri, horanadu and Udupi
On long weekend by aug 22 I had planned a trip to Sringeri and nearby places.This was my first trip to this parts.I didn't book accommodation.

On Friday It was heavy raining in Bangalore as soon as I started from home.I took  bus and reached  yelachanhalli metro station to Kr market metro station.After reaching satellite bus stand in heavy rain ,I took my bus to Sringeri at 10 30 pm.Heavy rain and traffic jams took 2 more hours to reach out of Bangalore.In early morning bus was going through scenic hills in zig zag roads of western ghats for couple of hours while reaching Sringeri.
          Sringeri saradha peetham temple is build on banks of tunga.It is first matha established by saint adi shankara in 13 the century.river was in full flow due to rains.Sringeri mutt provided me with accommodation.They were initially hesitant as they don't provide rooms to single people.Then I spoke in tamil and told I was   from madurai.This convinced them to give a room.Room had a beautiful river view.After bathing I reached temple.Temple  is situated at beautiful and serene place.sharadhamba Darshan was very peaceful.Temple staff were not pushing or shouting on  people like other crowded temples. I went into vidhya Shankara temple which is in very beautiful and 1200 years old temple building.I walked across the bridge in Tunga which connects to other bank where there were few more ashram buildings and a temple.in temple there were statues and history about their mutt gurus in various time periods and their works.i walked across bridge  again. I did a darshan again of both temples.
I had my breakfast and purchased things like tea , pepper and spices.I walked across hanging bridge and reached Kali Bhairava temple in other bank.one thing I missed in shringeri was to dip my legs in cool waters of Tunga.Bathing was not possible due to heavy  water flow.I ate my lunch at 12 pm in temple.First they served hot rasam rice, sweet rice with jaggery and lentils,sambar and buttermilk .I bought a large umbrella.

  By noon I reached a place called agumbe by bus which is 35 kms away .it is place of highest rainfall in south India.I walked 3 kms through the village of few houses and forest checkpost to reach sun set point.A bike rider gave me a short ride to the sunset point.The valley was fully covered with mist.Sunset is not visible in these cloudy raining days . Streams were flowing through the mountains and on the roads.Monkeys were all around. there was also a lake filled with white fog and fishes .It was a serene place.I also had tea in small shop near lake.I again walked towards agumbe .I had darshan of annapoorneshwari in village temple..They did Ganesha Pooja and gave me sweets and boiled pulses.By 5 pm I returned to Sringeri by bus.I did another Darshan of shringeri temple in rains .I had my dinner in temple .
Next day by 10 am bus I started to horanadu.Bus took a long route through kalsa and reached only horanadu by 2 pm.way to horanadu there were beautiful ghats and rivers.Temple is in a valley  surrounded by mountains.annapoorneshwari temple was very beautiful.As per temple custom men remove shirt as mark of respect to God.I had again food in temple.Temple  management was providing decent accommodation.They refused accommodation to me as few singles did suicide in their premises in past after taking accommodation .only accommodation they provide to single traveller was a dormitory they open after night.Even private lodges were refusing accommodation due to these reasons.I asked the person in accomodation desk for  things to see around .He recommended a ganapathy temple on top of hill opposite to main temple.I took a road towards temple.There were beautiful paddy fields , a stream running towards main river.Rains were playing hide and seek when I was up the hills.worker I met on way was  a checking my   hometown.Hibiscus flowers were hanging in downwards direction in the hills.There was beautiful temple in top of hill .

.A local youth and me were only visitors in temple .priest was enquiring about me there.I took his blessings.I asked local youth about route to udupi.he told me there was no buses to Udupi after 4 pm and lodges rarely give accommodation to single traveller.His name was preetam Jain .He took me in car and showed me a Jain temple.I was again only visitor there.I again checked with accommodation in couple of places.i got one in a small room for 300rs backside a tea stall.I had another temple visits and dinner and walked for my night stay.In next morning I again had walk in misty mountain to ganapathy temple.I took bath near temple .I had  tasty breakfast of lime rice in a small eatery.

I took bus to udupi.way now was most scenic with more rains after kalsa.Again i saw beautiful mountains ,valleys and rivers between my travel naps.Bus reached Udupi by 2 pm.I gave my luggage in a shop in bus stand.I reached Krishna mutt.I had delicious lunch in a hotel  called woodlands.Udupi is known for its vegetarian  food.13 th century  udupi Krishna temple is very famous and established by guru madhwacharya.darshan of Krishna is to be done through windows of closed doors.Statue of krisha was very beautiful.some elderly women were making floeer garlands and and singing praise of of krishna.I donated 200 RS to temple .I received prasada of sweets.There was common dining hall where food was served.I missed this as I already had food.Temple was also maintaining cows in their goshala.i visited chandramoulishwara temple opposite Krishna temple which was filled yaga air .

  Then I took a auto to malpe beach which was 5 kms away.there were less crowds and  shops due to rain.It was good feel to visit sea again  week after my Andaman trip.I was  walking in a  beach in other side of india  so soon seeing  Arabian sea now.There were Ganesha festival procession in Udupi and mangalore.i returned back to Udupi in bus .I again visited woodlands restaurant.i choose leaf idly , biscuit roti and dosa for dinner.This was best food in this trip.i had booked car by bla-bla pooling app.We had to drive back 10 hrs to Bangalore due to challenging roads, weekend traffic,heavy rains in ghats.we had 4 to 5 stops in between as road back to Bangalore was challenging..With this my rainy weekend trip came to end.