Coorg (Oct 9-11)

This weekend we took a trip to Coorg.  To get there, we took a flight from Chennai to Bengaluru.  Then a flight to Mangaluru.  Then a four hour drive to Coorg.  The city is in the state of Kerala which is in the central part of India.  The state is predominately Christian in a country that is primarily Hindi.  We saw many Christian churches when traveling around that state. 

We stayed at a hotel in the mountains.  I call the place a "hotel" but it felt more like a bed and breakfast.  We were fed breakfast and dinner every day; there were only six rooms in the entire place.  It was quite intimate.

The first stop on Saturday was in a park that was on a man-made island.  It had elephants roaming about although w didn't see any.  There were many deer and we did see them.  We visited for a time and then left for the more adventurous portion of the trip.

We went to another park where we could get an elephant ride.  The elephant was obviously domesticated but it was fun anyway.

The next excursion took us to a rafting trip.  There were a total of seven of us in the boat including the guide.  It was overall tame but there was a few tricky spots where we had to hold on tight.  During the tamer portion, we were able to get out of the raft and swim in the river.  I did.  While floating down the river at a later point, I had he opportunity to see three water buffalo cross the river.  Just like in a nature show but in this case, it was real.

Afterwards, we took a drive to a water falls.  The falls were very scenic. Additionally, we got to rappel down the falls.  How many people do you know who have rappelled down a water falls in India?  I know at least one: me.  It was probably not the safest thing I've ever done but you knowing the saying "when in India...".

After that we went back the hotel for a late dinner.  We wanted to get an early start the next day.

On Sunday, we took for a safari through a national preserve.  After driving for a couple of hours, we reached the destination only to discover that because of some recent rains, there were no safaris occurring.  We drove through the park and saw many deer and that was it.  From there, we drove several more hours going straight to the airport. We retraced our flight path: Mangaluru to Bengaluru to Chennai.  

A fun weekend was had by all.  The car riding was a little challenging though.  (Previous blog entry discussing driving conditions in India.)

Now back to work!