Thursday, May 26, 2016

Day 2 in Coog - Mercara (Madikeri), Kushalanagar

The second day we drove to Mercara (Madikeri). It was a delightful drive through the many coffee plantations and lush mountains to Mercara.
Picture perfect - Coorg
Once in Mercara we parked on the main road and lunched at the Coorg Cuisine as suggested by Kaveri. Lovely Coorg food.

We walked up and down a bit the curving, sloping road and picked up stuff you'd pick up in Coorg - spices, honey etc.
A map of the place - courtesy Brig Ponappa
Then we hopped on to the car and headed to Kushalanagar, some 40 kms away. It started raining and that made the drive so much more magical.
Mercara 
Another lovely road
Kushalnagar is where the Buddhist Golden temple in the Tibetan settlement is located. It's a twin town for Bylakuppe - though they are situated in different districts despite being only 6 kms away. What's with me and the Tibetan settlements I wonder.
Golden temple

The drive back home through the plantations also took me close to Dubare, the elephant camp where one can go and feed and bathe elephants. But I did not stop and instead headed straight back home.
The gulmohur tree

Drive back on a nice village road
The return journey was beautiful too with a light rain in the hills and some Beatles on the car stereo. I spotted this lovely gulmohur tree and stopped and got a picture. What's with me and gulmohur trees?

2 comments:

Rajendra said...

First gulmohur in my front yard has flowered for the first time. I will learn to value it.

Harimohan said...

And jacaranda trees and those ones that bloom in yellow. Lovely.