Agra - The City of Taj

 I was quite excited in the next day because I was going  to visit most famous mausoleum in India. The 'Taj  Mahal' known as the 'symbol of eternal love' is in Agra.  This time also I opted for a tour package which covers Agra in one day. That seemed to be the easiest and most comfortable mode of transport.

Taj Mahal

 We started at 6 o'clock in the early morning from Delhi and reached Agra at around 11 am.   The journey was comfortable although it was in a bus. And I was

In the Capital City

The first location in my tour plan was Delhi. I weighed on the possible means of  roaming around here. The best option available  was a one day sight seeing package from a private tour operator. My friend, Vinod had also agreed to accompany me till noon.

Qutub Minar

 The tour started around 9 o'clock from Karol Bagh. The first destination was Qutub Minar. It took around one hour to reach there. We could see many tourists there since it was a Sunday morning. Apart from the minar, there are some ruins around it known as Qutub complex. The minar together with the ruins around is a good sight seeing location.

Iron Pillar near Qutub Minar

Qutub Minar

  Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minar at 72 m. It is constructed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak in the 12th century and was completed in the 13th century by his successors. One part of the minar is constructed in Muslim architecture, while the other part is in Hindu architecture. There is a watch tower on top of the minar, but entry is not allowed now. 

 Another interesting thing is the Iron Pillar in the Qutub complex. It is a wonder that, this pillar has not corroded for centuries. Nobody has ever found out the exact

Beginning North Indian Safari

 I was never been to north India before. Bangalore was the north most point I had ever ventured out, you believe it? And then came an opportunity. I was doing a part time MTech course from BITS, Pilani, Rajasthan. For the completion of the course I had to visit the college for a viva. For me, it was like an opportunity to visit new places. So I decided to make it a tour.

Rajasthan map: Taken from here

 Pilani is a place equidistant from Delhi and Jaipur. And we can say, these three places are in an equilateral triangle. We can visit this place either from Jaipur or Delhi. This map helped me in planning the tour.  You can see the main places in Rajasthan here.

 The viva at Pilani was scheduled on a Tuesday. I took one week leave from my office. I had around ten days. I could start from Friday evening from Bangalore. And I had to return by the next Sunday. I can make the onward journey to Delhi, and the return trip I can make from Jaipur. In between i have to spend one or two days at Pilani for viva.

 So I made the following plan after consulting some of my friends.

Adios to Wayanad

Lakkidi view point with nothing viewable

  Thus the final day at Wayanad arrived. The plan was to start to bangalore in the morning and visit some places on the way. In the last two days, rain was our biggest enemy disturbing our plans throughout. Today it turned out that there was no rain. But we had not made any plans for this day. 

After some thought, it was decided that first we should proceed to Lakkidi, which is the entrance to wayanad while coming from Calicut. You will be surprised to know that wayanad is a plateau like area situated at great height from other areas in Kerala.  The wayanad ghat pass(wayanad churam in malayalam) which starts at Thamarasseri in Calicut district and ends at Lackidi in wayanad is the connecting point between these. This pass goes through eastern ghat with around 9 hairpin bends and climbs directly up till Lakkidi. 

Karappuzha dam 

 So Lakkidi is supposed to be a very good view point over the ghat pass. Another interesting aspect about Lakkidi is that, it is the place where highest rainfall occurs in Kerala. It is quite close to the hotel we have stayed in. May be that was the reason why there was fog all the time there.

 When we reached at Lakkidi view point what we saw was only fog. There was supposed to be grand view of the pass and valley beneath. We couldn't even see things at a distance of 10 meter. We decided to go

Wayanad - Contd

On day 2, we woke up a little bit late, around 8 o'clock, as everybody were tired of the travel. The hotel was situated at picturesque place near Vythiri.

 The place was filled with fog and it cleared only in between for a few time. It was raining, so the view was outstanding, but it played spoil sport with our plans. We had planned to visit  Chembra peak, the highest peak in Wayanad. But with rain, it was impossible. So we decided to change our plan.

View From our hotel

 Our first destination was decided as Banasura Sagar Dam, an earth dam built on mud only. And we planned to visit some tee plantations on the way.

As expected,