Kettekanu (ಕೆತ್ತೆಕಾನು)

Kettekanu is moola naga kshetra, located on the way to Hunsmakki from shiriyara, via Guddattu. Shiriyara is on the way from Brahmvara to Shankaranarayana. You have to take diversion to Guddattu at shiriyara, and then cross guddattu ganesh temple and go further for a Kms or so, you will see a side board in front of a big house, that's Kettekanu. Moola Stana of Naga.

You can ask the bramhin family settled there to offer a pooja to god Naga (Serpant). Many families believe in this god, and they always give a visit whenever possible. In my family the mother has to visit with her first kid to this temple after the child is born. Variety of pooja's offered to god, mostly Naga pratista, Tanu are main among them. When people face problems in life, or trouble in having a child then they give a "Harake" to Kettekanu, and its believed that their wishes are granted by the god.

This is a very old temple, and you can see a "Hutta" inside the temple, believed to be the place where Serpants live. Recently it's been renovated according to new architecture, with pauli etc. We appreciate any help from people.

CLUB DAY - Hongik University

The last friday of every month is celebrated as club day in Hongik university area. This event has promoted the Korean club scene and indie culture to both local and foreign visitors. A Club Day ticket offers access to a number of different clubs. We started at 9.30 PM from suwon take subway line 1 and reach Sindurim, and change to Line 2 and get down in Hongik University station. You walk down the main street, you will find many clubs such as NB-2, DD etc.

For 20,000 won at any of the 22 participating clubs, you will receive a paper ID bracelet and a beverage coupon that you can use at any club for a beer or soft drink. Clubs usually open between 8pm and 9pm. However, there aren’t many people at this hour. The peak time to go is around 11pm, but you might have to wait in a 30-meter-long line to get in. Clubs like ‘M2’, ‘MI’, offer electronica-style house and break beat genres; ‘DD’, ‘NB’ are mainly hip-hop. For those who like rock, try the ‘M2,’ and ‘NB.’ They are the biggest clubs and they have the most colorful lights.

The night life in Hongik university area is very lively and you wont be able to make out at any point that its late night, so many people, so many vehicles, its like a fest!. Most of the people visiting here are either college students or the youngsters working in different companies. The mass is good, and guess more than 10000 people over all, and inside club, you just cant find a space for youself, The time flies when you strat dancing to the hip-hop music, and by no time it will be morning. Catch a train to reach back to suwon! Even though it was early morning, the train was ful and harldly few seats left, I could not understand where these old people travelling this early morning.

Legs were tired os dancing and so does the body, I was so sleepy and slept in the train itself on the way back, got up only when Pandey said we have reached suwon. Coming out of train station, it was raining heavily, it was kind of unbearable to see it raining, because I was dreaming of getting on the coach as soon as possible, and get a nice nap.

More information about the place can be found on Korea tourism website

Talakadu Temples, Cauvery River Bank

This is an historic place, once upon a time in history this place had more than 30 temples, and now all of them are buried under the sand. Archaeological department had done some work to uncover the sand, and five of the temples have been uncovered so far. This has been ruled by Hoisala dynasty, Ganga and Chalukya, and Mysore Vodeyars. It is said that the present state of Talakadu is because of curse by a lady, the curse is “May Talakad turn in to a barren expanse of Sand and May the Kings of Mysore not have children for all time to eternity” We can still see the traces of this curse in Vodeyar family and Talakad.

If you happen to come from Gaganachukki falls to here, as it is close by place, one thing you should remember is that it is not a worth place for all the trouble you take to come in that dam bad roads. Roads are so pathetic that you will feel like coming back half the way leaving the idea of visiting the place. If you wish to make a mark in your travel list you can visit this place. I had this strange feeling of being cursed after visiting this place, lot of people begging around you, and you don't enjoy this place, unless you are not sensitive to these things. Temples are also being surrounded by beggars. When you walk on the sand you will have this strange feeling that you are walking over one of the ancient temple. When I came back from here back to Bangalore I met with a Major Accident, I can't say whether accident happened because of the curse or I am saved because of visiting this temple. But then it was a very bad experience visiting this place. Taking a dip in Cauvery River is all that you can do visiting this place. If you ask me, I don't recommend this place.

Gaganachukki and Barachukki (Shivana Samudra)

These are the two falls formed by Cauvery River near Sivanasamudram. Cauvery river splits itself and makes these two Amazing waterfalls. The best time to visit this place is in the Monsoon, or just after the monsoon till October, I visited this place is in the 3rd week of August, it was wonderful at that time. We can either take Kanakapura road or Mysore road to reach this place, I preferred mysore road, as I heard that Kanakapura road condition is not good. We need to take a diversion near Maddur, and then proceed towards Malavalli. Shivanasamudram is about 20kms from there.

Gaganachukki falls has an amazing view, we reached early in the morning, when we reached there were no tourists at that time. It was all only us, tourism department had built a nice view point from there you can enjoy the water falling from, it is a falls which is spread over a width. It’s difficult capture the beauty completely in camera at one shot. We can't walk down to the place where waterfalls, all we can do is enjoy your time watching the falls and taking some nice snaps, that’s what we did. They had put up some boards mentioning the names of the people who dies in last few years, most of them being software engineers from Bangalore, so I did not dare to do any adventure there. There aren’t any good restaurants in the nearby vicinity, so better pack all your breakfast from home, we did pack from home, and had it there.

Barachukki falls is a few kms from there, just go back in the route you came here, you will get a junction and there you can see the board, you will find the way to Barachukki falls. I bet, you will enjoy more here than in the twin falls, as here you can go to the bottom of the falls, by stairs and even hire a “Teppa” (round shaped floating boat) for a reasonable price and have a wonderful ride in the water till the place water falls down. You can enjoy the water splashing on you from the falls. It will be very good experience, if you happen to go there don't miss this boat ride. Talakadu is few kms from here, may be you can visit Talakadu once you are done with Barachukki falls. But the road condition is very very bad and if you don't enjoy visiting temples and taking a bath in the river, forget about this place.

Karkala Jain Basadi

Karkala is a wonderful place, and can be easily reached from Udupi or Hebri. You can either come from Agumbe via Hebri or from Udupi via Manipal. I had been to this place many times on the way from my native to Bangalore. In college once we had a dedicated trip to this place. Karkala is famous for its Jain temples; there are lot of temples built by Jain kings. This is one of the holy pilgrimage centres for Jains. Bahubali at Karkala is the second largest in the state and it’s about 42 ft height and is a monolithic statue installed in 1432 AD, on the instructions of the pontiff of Karkala, Lalitakeerti. The other statues of Bahubali in the state are at Shravanabelagola installed by Chamundaraya, which is 57 feet tall, at Venur installed by Timmaraja, which is 35 feet (11 m) tall, and at Dharmasthala installed by D. Veerendra Heggade, which is 39 feet (12 m) tall.

Mahamastakabisheka happen here every twelve years and the statue is bathed with milk and saffron paste, lot of Jain pilgrims come here at that time, next Mahamastakabhisheka to be held on year of 2014. This place is ruled by Jain kings in 14th century but even then they have treated all religions equally and they even have built Hindu temples such as Venkataramana temple. The first name of this town was Pandya Nagari during the Jain regime but afterwards it was changed to Karikallu because of black stones. Slowly as the time passed by it was called Karkal and then to Karkala.

The other important attraction of Karkala is the Chaturmukha Basadi, which has four identical entrances on all sides with three human size statues of three thirthankaras. There is another temple Padutirupathi Venkataramana temple, this temple's architecture being an ancient and one of the finest is built in a traditional style. Every year, a large number of devotees pay a visit to Lord Venkatramana temple in Karkala with the firm belief in the deity’s power to grant peoples wishes, it stands majestically in the heart of the city.

Sowthadka Mahaganapati

Sowthadka is famous for its Ganesh temple, it offers a unique experience, the uniqueness of this temple is that there is no proper structure of the temple, instead the idol is istalled in a open place under a tree. In Kannada "Sowte" means cucumber and "Adka" means field, it's said that the cowherds in this place use to offer cucumber they grow in their field to Ganesh, and worship, and hence the name. The temple is decorated with lot of Bells mainly, offered by worshippers who have special wishes. One can find lot of Monkeys inside the temple.

The place is located at a distance of about 3-4 kms from Kokkada in Belthangady Taluk of South Canara. One can reach Southadka, on the National Highway 48 from Uppinangady towards Bangalore, first left turn after Nellyadi, on Dharmasthala Road. I had been here on the way from Darmasthala to Kukke, it's about 16Kms from Darmasthala. Now this temple has got its own website

Guddattu Vinayaka Temple

Guddattu Vinayaka is the only Jaladhivasa Ganapathi available in the country and is unique of its kind. The temple stands on the foot of a huge granitic rock, which itself looks like a sleeping elephant. On the eastern portion of the rock, at the ground level there exists a cave and the ‘swayombhi’ (emerged on its own) Ganesha with his legs folded, trunk twisted towards sight, is sun in a sitting posture. The cave will always be kept filled with water which submerges the emerged god up to neck level. The Idol of lord Ganesha is about 3 feet and is in black stone sculpture with little gap around it. The lord is visible through a hole when the Aarathi is preformed.

Even though the hole sanction sanctorum is natural one, Mukhamantapa, Thirthamantapa, Hebbagilu, Pauli etc were constructed with granitic structure as per temple vastu and is very attractive one. On both side of the rock there is forest and lush green paddy fields and the place is Arene and picturesque. Even though nobody knows as to when it came to existence, the temple is believed to be very ancient, I heard from my dad that, long back Ganesh came in the dream of someone and said that I have emerged out from the stone near that big rock, and asked him to build and small temple for him and continue worshipping him.

The special pooja here is a unique as the idol itself, called ‘Ayarakoda’ which means ‘Sahasrakumbabhisheka’ starts with draining the water from the cave and performing various such as Tailabhyanjana, Panchamrutha, Rudrabhisheka etc and aarathi to the idol inside the cave first section of the pooja contains abhisheka with water chanting ‘Paramana Sooktham” till the water overflows from the cave, that is up to neck level of the idol. All those performance requires about thousand pots of water and hence Pooja is called “Ayarakoda” (Ayara means thousand in Tamil & Malayalam). Then Mahamangalarathi will be performed and lunch will be served. This is very famous seva and devotees have to book their dates at least six months in advance apart from this, Ganahoma, Mudiakkikadabu, Kayi Moodaganapathi, Panchakajjaya etc will also be performed.

Guddattu Vinayaka Templle is about 35 k.m. from Udupi via Brahmavara - Barkur, Shiriyara, about 15 k.m. from Kundapur via Koteshwara - Hunsemakhi -Guddeangady, about 10 k.m. from Shankaranarayana via Halady - Bidkalkatte - Shiriyara.

Kumbashi Ganesh Temple

This temple is one of the seven Parashuram Srasti Saptha kshetras. Temple lies on the top of a hill on the way to Kundapura from Udupi, pretty much close to Kundapura side between Kota and Koteshwara towns. All express buses stop here, so reaching the place won’t be difficult. There are two more temples of Harihara and chennakeshava, and Sooryanarayana at the bottom of the hill. This place is also called as Anegudde (Anigudde) by locals

It’s said that drought hit this area sage Agasthya came here to perform Yagna to please the rain god. During the yagna demon Kumbhasura started bothering the sages. To rescue the sages Bhima killed the giant Kumba at this place with the help of a sword (Asi) blessed by Lord Ganesh, so the place is named as Kumbashi and Ganesha is being worshipped here. Lot of people visit this temple every day, the crowd is very much on Ganesh Chaturthi. I remember coming to this temple every year on Ganesh chaturthi with dad, mom and my sister. It’s a nice place to visit and have some peace of mind. eautiful sceanary,a peaceful climate,tall green trees ,a far away vision of the western ghats on one side and on the opposite side a sight of the arabian sea increases the attraction of this area. The harihara and suryanarayana temples are also beautiful with a pond in Harihara temple.

Mandarthi Durgaparameshwari temple

Mandarthi is a holy place for Hindus, Shakthi devi, Durgaparameshwari is being worshipped here. The temple is ancient, with a huge “Gopura”, and a “Dwajastambha “ in front of the temple. There is a small lake called Nagateertha is just next to the temple. Durgaparameshwari is been praised as Naga Sundari, as she is said to be one of Nagakanya “Mandarathi”. Daily “Annadana” happens here for all the devotees visiting the place. Mandarthi Yakshagana Dashavathara Mela is one of the famous Yakshagana troupe with many experiences artists serving, and upholding the traditional folk art. Devotees host Yakshagana at their house, as a symbol of thanks to god for all the good things they are blessed with. You don’t believe me if I say that with 4 troupes this Yakshagana is being booked for few years from now. I myself have a booking, which is supposed to come soon in few years.

The Sthala Purana has woven these religious perceptions and notions into a legend according to which five naga kanyas (serpent maidens) by name Devarathi, Nagarathi Charurathi Mandarthi and Neelarathi are cursed by Nandi to remain unmarried and to suffer in a forest fire. Subsequently a rash behaviour on their part subjects them to anthor curse by a sage called Vyagrapada that they would be entangled in a bamboo grove. Their prayers to siva and parvati against these curses are answered in the form of a saviour called Devavarma the king of Avanthi who rescues the serpents from a blazing fire using a bamboo basket. He later releases these maidens into places of their choice and while the first three serpents crawl back into their pits, Mandarthi is deified acquiring fame day by day. Devavarma marries Jalajakshi who is coveted by mahisa, born of malini a Kirata girl and Vyagrapada Risi. The demon chases Jalajakshi to the palace; a battle ensues between him and the king in which huge snake pits swallow all the arrows of Mahisa. At the behest of Risis, the prays to Devi and she ultimately kills the demon with the help of virabhadra, Hayguli,kalkuda and bobbarya. In doing so, she also calls upon chamundi to kill all the rakshasas and Vyagresvari to kill giants hidden in animal bodies. This legend accounts for the shrines of hayguli, kalkuda, bobbarya and Chamundi around the sanctum of Durga Paramesvari as her parivara Devathas.

Every year on the day of Kumbha Sankramana the car fest is held at the place, mostly will be on the second week of February, around 13th. It is a three day programme, on the first day is "kenda seve" and second day is the car fest and other rituals near the temple, and on the third day is Deepostava, Yakshagana Seve by all four troups will be held at the temple on that day night after 11pm.

Udupi Krishna Temple

Udupi is a devine place in the costal districts situated about 60Kms from Managlore, it is a fairly large and rapidly growing city. Its district headquarter once Udupi become a district. The statue here is said to be installed by the great saint Madhwacharya in 13th century. There are other two temples here in Udupi, Chandreshwara and Ananteswara, which are said to be the oldest temples in Udupi. The attraction of this temple is "Kanakana Kindi", this is a small hole through which devoties get the darshan of Sri Krishan, it is on the back side of temple's Gharbha Gudi, it said that in 16th century when the Kanakadasa, the great devotee of Krishan visited Udupi, he was not allowed to get inside the temple for Darshan, instead he was tied to the pillars of stone, on the back side of the temple, and was beaten like hell by the brahmins, for the very reason of entering the temple. Krisha then truned back, the back side wall got a hole to give darshan to Kanakadasa, since then it is called "Kanakana Kindi", and even now people get darshan through this Hole.

There are different storied behind the installation of this statue here, one popular goes like this. The main statue of Sri Krishna at Dwaraka got completely covered by gopichandanam ( holy sandlewood). A sailor from Dwaraka loaded this heavy lump in his boat as ballast, in one of his trips along the west coast. The ship was caught in a terrible storm while sailing in the western coast of Malpe. When the meditating Sri Madhvacharya sensed this by his 'aparoksha' or divine jnana (knowledge), he got the ship safely to the shore by waving the end of his saffron robe and quietening the storm. The pleased captain of the ship offered Sri Madhvacharya anything in the ship in return. Sri Madhvacharya asked for the sandlewood peice containing the statue of Sri Krishna. Later as the story goes, Sri Madhvacharya took it to the lake, purified it and installed it in the matt.

There is another interesting place nearby, it is the Malpe beach and Saint mary's Island, one can visit these places of visiting the temple. Saint Mary's should be visitited before 5PM in the evening, after that it is closed. One can also visit a Rama-mandir built on the way to Kukke Subramanya.

Kukke Subrahamanya Temple

Lapped in the luxurious abundance of the beauty of the nature the village of Subramanya lies in the Sullia Taluk in south Kanara with a sanctity which very few places can boast of. The temple is situated in the heart of the village. Nature reveals herself in all her unhidden beauty in the rivers, forests and mountains which the temples is surrounded by. It is about a 100 KM from Mangalore and 386 Kms from Bangalore and can be easily reached by buses or taxis.

I had been here almost every year from my childhood. This place is called to be the “Moolastana” of Naga. So any Dosha related to Naga can be solved by doing the relevant ritual here in Adi Subramanya. So lot of people come here to get out of Naga Dosha every day. This place is close to Darmasthala, about 40Kms. There are few guest houses here which are affordable to stay and are maintained very well. Last time I went there I stayed in Temple’s guest house, I found it very good.

The Kumaradhara rivers flows close to the temple, devoties take bath in the river before visiting the temple. It’s said that this river’s water has medicinal values and all your skin diseases are cured if you take a dip in this river. Not to forget to visit the Ganesh temple close to the temple, where installed is the a big monolithic black Ganesh looks awesome in the night.
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The tirtha of is the abode of Karttikeya, the son of Lord Siva. It’s glories are described in the Sahyadri Khanda of the Skanda Purana wherein it is described how during the Satya-yuga Karttikeya was installed as the ‘senapati’ (commander-in-chief) of the demigods on the banks of the River Dhara (or ‘Kumaradhara’ as it is commonly known). Also, after killing the demon Tarakasura, he washed the demon’s blood from his spear in the River Dhara. Admiring the beauty of this place, Karttikeya decided to reside here. In the Treta-yuga, Lord Parasurama came to this place and bathed in the River Dhara in order to absolve himself of the sins of exterminating the ksatriya-race twenty one times over.

This place is also a good place for trekking, Kumara parvata is one the best place for trekking, and I always dreamed to go for a trekking here, we need to start the trekking for Subramanya, and there is a house on the way to the top of the hill where you can stay for the night. I wish to go there sometime soon.

Dharmastala Manjunateshwara Temple

Dharmasthala is the perfect embodiment of the word "Dharma" for it displays every shade of meaning with which the word is imbued. The greatness of Dharmasthala, however is the fact that it has added an active element to "Dharma", such that it touches the lives of people with a transformational directness that is unique.

To those that come for worship, Dharmasthala represents religious tolerance wherein caste, creed and faith of pilgrims are no bars. For here, the Jain Theerthankara is worshipped on the same consecrated grounds as the native Daivas and Lord Manjunatha (Lord Shiva). The priests are Vaishnavite Brahmins and the guardian of the temple is Heggade, a Jain by faith. Altogether forming a confluence of faiths that harmonize in belief of the omnipotent.

To those that come for justice, Dharmasthala is the scale that does not tip in favour of a lawyer's glib tongue. Here, without any legal formality or argument the Heggade dispenses justice, acting in the tradition of his ancestral role as the Heggade and representing the presiding deities.

The position of the Heggade of Dharmasthala is a unique one, unknown in any other religious center in India. In the tradition of this Kshetra, he represents Lord Manjunatha. He is a pious grahastha or householder with numerous religious, social and cultural responsibilities. Sri H.D.Veerendra Heggade is the present Heggade.

' Maatubida Manjunatha ', The name of the Lord Manunatha shall not be uttered in vain. So great is the belief of the people in Lord Manjunatha, that they invoke his name when they reach the end of their tether to find a solution to a dispute without remedy. At such times, the injured party literally throws up its arm and with closed eyes stops the opponent from going any further by invoking the name of Lord Manjunatha. The strange thing about this practice is that it is adopted by people of all faiths, all creeds. Once the affected party has uttered the Lord's name, both parties cease to make any contact with each other until they appear before the Heggade who settles the dispute acting as an emissary of Lord Manjunatha. The Heggade's decision is never questioned and is accepted with reverence.


The 600-year-old Pergade tradition of generous hospitality to all those who enter the portals of the Kshetra continue even today. Every one of the thousands of pilgrims who daily visit Dharmasthala is an honoured guest irrespective of caste, creed, culture or status. As always free food and shelter is provided to pilgrims who seek the blessings of Lord Manjunatha, the exponential growth in visitors notwithstanding.

The Yakshagana troupe of Dharmasthala has been performing for the last two centuries. And for Shri Heggade, yakshagana is specially close to his heart. He has been instrumental in bringing about a revival of this ethinic dance drama by starting a school for Yakshagana. Here budding artistes are trained in the intricacies of this highly demanding folk ballet. The most interesting part of this Yakshagana troupe is that its performances are booked by devotees as an expression of their thanks giving to the Lord Manjunatha for the favours the god has bestowed on them. And believe it or not, the troupe been booked for years in advance.

Send offerings by sms to Lord Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy with your Airtel Mobile Phone SDM TO 54655

Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple

Situated on the banks of River Nandini, amidst beautiful surroundings, is the spiritual energy center of South Kanara district. Goddess Durga is the loving and caring mother of the people of South Kanara. Surrounded by lush green fields and beautiful hills, Kateel has become a famous pilgrimage and a tourist center over the years.

Kateel is located 30KMs North of Mangalore. Traveling to Kateel in the winding roads amidst green hills and valleys is a very pleasant and memorable experience. Thousands of devotees visit Kateel daily to seek the blessing of goddess Durga.

There is a story behind this spiritual place. A severe draught hit this place, it did not rain for years. Even Brahmins were forced to eat meat and the people were on the verge of giving up their principles.The great Sage Jabaali was disturbed by this situation. Through his 'Jnana Drishti', Jabaali realized the root cause of all this. He found that Arunasura the 'rakshasa' who escaped from death and fled when Goddess Durga killed Shambasura had increased his life span by following the teachings of his Guru. He had made the people stop all yagas and yajnas as a revenge against the 'devas', and this has resulted in drought and scarcity for years.

Jabaali wanted to put an end to human sufferings and decided to perform a yajna to please the devas. He requested Devendra to permit him to take Kamadhenu for the yajna. Devendra asked Jabali to take Kamadhenu's daughter Nandini instead. Nandini refused to accompany Jabaali to the earth where evil was prominent. After a lot of arguements, Jabali, in his anger, cursed that she be born as a river on earth. Realising the mistake, Nandini prayed for mercy. Relenting, Jabali advised her to pray to Goddess Durga to redeem her from the curse, Nandini appealed to Goddess Durga who appeared to her and informed her that though Nandini would be born as a river in fulfillment of the curse she, Durga, would be born as Nandini's daughter at the center of the river, and in the process, Nandini would attain purification. On Magha shudda Poornima, Nandini emerged as a river from Kanakagiri. Jabali performed his yajna. The devas were pleased and the earth was once again happy.

Elsewhere Arunasura acquired a boon from Brahma that he would not suffer death from any two legged or four legged being or from any weapon. Brahma also powered him with Gayatri Mantra. After acquiring these powers, Arunasura defeated the devas and conquered heaven. The Devas prayed Goddess Durga for help.

One day Goddess appeared in Arunasura's garden as a beautiful woman. Seeing the lady, Arunasura approached her. The beautiful lady reminded him that she had killed Shambasura and from whom Arunasura had escaped death. Arunasura got angry and tries to kill the woman with sword. The Goddess suddenly turned into a stone. Arunasura slashed the stone with the sword, then a vast swarm of bees emerged from the stone and stung him.

The bees ( dhumbi) stung him repeatedly till his last breath. Devas led by Jabali performed abhisheka with tender coconut water and requested the Bramarambhika (Queen of the bees) to bless the world. Goddess Durga then appeared in her 'Soumya Roopa' in middle of the river, where present structure of the temple imparts its glory to the world. 'Kati' being the word which means 'center' (midway between the 'Kanakagiri' the place where the river was born, and the end, Pravanje, where the river joins the sea) and 'lla' means area. Thus the place is called 'Kati + lla' Kateel.

Devotees and followers from all over the world come to Kateel every year in huge numbers to participate in Simhamaasa, Navarathri and other holy occasions. Several educational institutions are also run through the temple's trust.

The temple's trust also encourages several forms of arts. Notable amoung them is the Yakshagana dashavathara mela which was started as an offering to the goddess. During dussera, navaratri and other annual celebrations several sacred rituals like, Chandika havana, thula bhaara, veda parayana, hari kathas etc are performed.

Mookambika Temple, Kollur

Kollur is a holy place, close to Kundapura, there are buses from Kundapur to Kollur very frequently. On the way is the Maravante beach, if you happen to come back on this route in the evening, it’s a nice place to spend an evening. Kollur is close to Kodachadri hills, people going for trekking in Kodachadri hills can visit this temple.

Epics say that Long ago when a demon called Kaumasura obtained a boon from Lord Shiva was reigning pompously; Kodachadri became the hiding place for all the gods and divine beings who became helpless against his harassment. While the Saptarishis were engaged in prayers and poojas to bring about the end of demon kaumasura, Guru Shukracharya enlightens him about his impending death at the hands of a woman. Learning this, kaumasura performs an austere penance t please Lord Shiva. When Lord pleased with his prayers, appears before him and asks him to name the boon that he wishes, Vagdevi, the Goddess of speech senses that this could lead to a greater devastation and makes him speechless. The dumb Kaumasura then becomes unable to verbalise his wishes and then onwards he is called Mookasura. Soon after, on the request of Kola Rishi, the goddess creates a mystical power by bringing together the individual powers of all the gods who had assembled. This Divine Power wages war on Mookasura and brings about his destruction, thereby granting him salvation. The place where devi killed Mookasura is known as "Marana Katte". Since that day, the Goddess has resided at this holy place Kollur by the name Mookambika, fulfilling the wishes of all her devotees. Here resides Sreedevi in the Padmasana posture, of a serene countenance, and with three eyes, bearing always a shankha, a chakra and with a pleasant appearance as the embodiment of mantra to bless the devotees.

There is Lunch (Prasadam) served in the temple, better to have lunch here only, there are hardly any good restaurants near the temple. Temple is closed in the afternoon after pooja and will open only after 5.00PM in the evening, so don’t go in the odd time. You will miss the chance to get the Darshanam.

Ever Land Fantasy Park

This is the largest fantasy park in Asia. It is maintained by Samsung, so to avail discount try contacting someone who holds Samsung Credit cards. You get about 50% off, other wise it cost 35,000 KRW. There is a bus from Suwon station to this fantasy park, but better way to go there is to get in to a taxi if you have 4 or more people. It costs about 25,000 won to reach there in taxi. The route is awesome, and you will enjoy the drive if you happen to go in winter or early summer.

It was drizzling when I went there, so there wasn’t much crowd, and that was good, otherwise you may have to wait at least half an hour for each ride. One you have taken the ticket you don’t need to pay for each ride, you can go on taking the rides.

I enjoyed the 4D movie, where in you actually feel that you are in the place where the movie is going on, and you feel everything from breezing air to splashing water from the falls. It is an awesome experience. Other things you can enjoy are the rotating haunted house, roller coaster ride, the water ride over falls. The clock ride, where they take you to a great height on a rotating wheel and you can have a nice view of the fantasy park. There are many funny rides where you really go crazy, you must be very daring to take all. Some rides are only worth for kids, and we even gone in some of those to recall those childhood days.

There is a water ride on an artificial river, like river rafting. It is one of the enjoyable rides. We took this twice and it was raining so heavily that time, we all got drenched but the enjoyment it brought is not comparable. The drive through the wild life in a bus, so called Safari is also good. But animals looked to be very much trained and you don’t feel that wildness in them, they will mostly be lying on the sides of the road under some shelter or upon rocks. On the way back we took bus as we could not find any Taxies, it took about an hour and a half, so tiring it was to come back in bus. But at the end we enjoyed a lot, and that’s all it matters. This is a must go place in Korea, and I heard Lotte World is also same as this but it’s smaller and easily reachable in Train.

Suwon Fort and Namun Market

If you happen to have enough time before you return back to India, just give a visit to this Suwon fort, Its not all that great, but you can click some pictures on top of it, a nice view of Suwon city from there, when I went there I forgot to take my camera along as it was a visit in hurry to get some traditional Korean items from the Namun Market, a small market place near the fort, where you get lot of traditional Korean Items for sale.

The fort is not very big, you need to climb lot of stairs before reaching the top, and on Top you won’t find anything that makes you feel worth that effort. A long wall built few centuries ago, and a wishing tree, it’s believed that whatever you wish will come true.

There is a museum also, which showcase the dresses and the weapons used by Koreans in war and by ancestors, but I could not visit that as it was already late. Getting there is very easy, take a taxi from Suwon and ask him to take to Namun Market. May be you better write it down on a paper in Korean and show him as most of them don’t understand English.

Yangson Electronics Market

This is one of the best place to buy any electronics items from Korea, place is very easily reachable from Suwon station, take the train to Seoul and get down in Yangson station, from the station just take the escalator up to get inside this big electronic mart.

There is wide variety of electronic items available here, I have not seen some of them before in my life, and they have electronic gadgets for every aspect of daily life. Most important thing is the price and the quality, you need to very careful about this here, Price is not fixed, it will go on reducing depending on the your skill of bargaining. Check in at least 4-5 shops before buying any items, otherwise at the end you may find that you have paid more than the price of the Gadget.

As I heard from someone in Korea, they believe that the electronic items, especially serviceable items produced for Korean domestic market are of cheaper quality than the International ones as service industry one of the biggest in Korea. So better not buy laptops and all in Korea. They sell products made in Japan, Korea and China and the quality is in the same order, so be careful while choosing any product, see where it is manufactured.

Coex Aquarium, Samseong

This place is amazing if you like watching fishes, and nothing great about this place, but will make a nice weekend plan, just take a train and get down in Samseong station and when you exiting the station just follow the signboard to reach this Mall. There is lot of things to shop in the mall other than this aquarium. But aquarium is the main attraction. You can see a wide variety of fishes, from small tiny fishes to big sharks all under one roof. The aquariums are room sized and you will enjoy the fishy world, and sometimes I wishes if they could give a fry of them!! But one thing I did not appreciate was the price you pay for. It seemed a little high compared to all the other attractions in Korea.

Han River Cruise and 63 Building

Everyone who visits Korea must go for the Han River cruise, it’s such a wonderful experience, and you will never forget in your life. You need to plan it properly and be there near the river side by 5.30 to 6.00 or so, so that you can get tickets for the 7.00 PM cruise, and I am telling you must get into this 7.00 PM one, as it would be just the right time to enjoy the cruise on the river, while the sun is setting in the east and the cold breeze makes your body chill, and you can chill out.

May be after taking the ticket you can just go to building 63 and go to the top of it, It’s called sky deck, there the view of Seoul City and the Han river is amazing, In the night the bridges across the city and the city looks awesome. There is a place called Sky thriller, where the floor is made of glass and it feels like you are standing on the transparent glass above 63 floors, you must have that daring to look down through that floor to see the ground. It’s a wonderful experience.

Here is a blog page of my friend had written on how we enjoyed that evening on the banks of han river, if you find sometime just go through it, may be that makes you feel not to miss cruise in Korea.

Seoul Grand Park, Dolphin show

This isn’t that great place to enjoy, especially if you happen to go in summer you will get tired walking. Best thing about this place is the Dolphin show, and I think better thing to do is go in the afternoon and get the tickets for this Dolphins show and sleep under any tree, you will get a sound sleep under the tree in the soothing wind. Get up before 4.00 PM and go to the Dolphin show and enjoy the show, and once you are back it will be evening and then you can walk around in the shades and enjoy seeing all animals. Rides are not that great, Cable car is moderate, may be you will enjoy. Tramp is one thing better not get into, they will just take you one round around the grand park. May be you can use this as a way of transportation to get in to the other side of the park.

It’s one of the biggest parks in Korea; don’t forget to see different animals. To go here you need to take train from Suwon and get down in Seoul Grand Park station. It’s pretty easy.

For more information check this link.

New Seoul Tower

A place for a weekend time pass, a nice view from the top of the tower is the amazing thing about this tower. It seems it was opened first in 1980 and then it was renewed with better facilities in 2005 and hence the name New Seoul Tower.

You can easily reach this place, take train from Suwon, line 4, and get down in Chungmuro station, and go out of Exit 2 to the right of Daehan Multiplex entrance. You will reach a bus stop; get into the yellow bus, which takes you to the tower.

The things you must see and enjoy are, The view of Seoul city from the top of the tower, the locks put in the grills as a symbol of love, the sky rest room, the revolving restaurant (you need to book in advance, else you may have to come back like without entering the hotel like us) and the light garden. There is a laser show after 7 in the evening, where they illuminate the tower with different colors and it looks amazing at that time, and even a show is setup in front of the tower with nice music. You will enjoy this part. You must enjoy the green tea sherbet and other sherbet flavors you get in the tower, I am sure you will like it. Don’t forget to take a picture at the New Delhi point, and view of 63 building from here; it looks like a small match stick!!

More info can be found here

Namdaemun Market, Seoul

A crowded market place, with lots of retail shops where you can find almost everything you need from fancy items for your girlfriend to clothes. There are few Malls too, but you will enjoy more on the market side. You get yummy sea food too. It’s really a worth visit to this place, especially at the end of trip when you want to get some things for your near and dear ones, there is lot of choice here.

This place is called as Bombay of Korea, as some shopkeeper told me. You find clothes at very cheap price here; quality is not that great, but pretty good. Girls will definitely enjoy shopping here, for guys it’s not disappointing although. You get nice jackets for 5000 Wons! You can get here by train, either by getting down in Seoul station and walk a little distance, a 5 minutes walk, or get down in Hoehyeon station, whose exit enters market directly. There you start shopping. It takes about an hour from Suwon station to here.

More info can be found here
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KREC beach, Surathkal

This is a very nice place to spend your evening. There is a Shiva temple too near the beach and a light house. You can take Darshan at the temple and then go to the top of the light house and have an aerial look around the place, which covers KREC campus and temple and surrounding places. You have to pay a little entry fee for this tower and they will allow you only before 5.00 PM, not sure if they have changed the timing these days.

The beach is very beautiful, but very risky one as it gets deeper soon and there is no much flat land where you can get into water and enjoy, so better not go much into water, rather just wet your legs and enjoy outside water. This is not much developed commercially as compared to Malpe, as you don’t find any wave runner or parasailing. This beach is actually the property of KREC and a kind of un-touched beach, where one can enjoy the natural beauty of the sea. Crowd is not that heavy.

There is a Ghost road, which was so scary in our college days, this road starts adjacent to the KREC STEP, and joins you to the beach, but now they have cut all the trees on the side of that road, and it no more scary, I have put a picture of the same for your reference here.

To reach here, you need to get down right in front of KREC, engineering college and walk some distance towards Mangalore until you find the fifth hostel block gate of KREC, and right in front of that is the road which leads to the Shiva temple and right beside the temple is the road leads to the light house and the beach. It won’t be that difficult to find the way, you can ask anyone there, people are so kind by heart and anybody would help you.

Irpu Falls and Nagarahole

Tumbling through the hills, The Lakshamanatirtha River thunders 51.8m into the valley. Flowing northwards from here to join another rivulet, the Ramatirtha, it changes course northeastward to join the Cauvery in Mysore district.

This is a wonderful place for a weekend trip. This one is little far from Madikeri if you happen to come via Madikeri, about 80+ kms, you need to go via Virajpet, Gonikoppa. If you start by afternoon from Madikeri you can reach by 3.30 PM or so, takes about 2+ hours to reach there.

You can spend the evening there and then if you are coming back to Bangalore come via Nagarahole reserve forest, where it’s really soothing to your mind, you need to drive slowly and watch the animals in the Natural Habitat. Depending on your luck you can see many different animals, mostly you will see deers, and if lucky you can also see elephants, Wild buffaloes.

This is also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park" extend to 647 Sq. Kilometres. An excellent opportunity to witness wild animals of different kinds, from the majestic elephant to the Deer, Tiger, Cheetha, jackal etc. The forest comprises of valuable wealth like the teak, rosewood, sandal wood trees etc. Though plying of private vehicles is not allowed inside, the departmental vehicle takes the tourists.

Talakaveri and Bagamandala

Talakaveri is the birth place of river Cauvery, its said that Cauvery was wife is Agatsya, when Agatsya did not allow Cauvery to become river for the betterment of people, she jumped out of the Kamandala in which he had imprisoned her, from the top of Brahmagiri(A peak in Talakaveri) and transformed herself to river and flowed out. For some distance she flows as “Guptagamini” (hidden river) and then she meets her friends in Triveni Sangama and speeds up to reach Bay of Bangal.

This place is a sacred place, and its said that if you take bath in the sacred water of the pond all that sin made from all last life will go. Lots of people from all over Karnataka come here, and even from Tamilnadu too. As a place also it’s a very nice place to visit, either in the early morning, or in the evening. Brahmagiri is a nice peak to climb and have a nice view. You can feel the clouds passing through you at that height.

Bagamandala is place where Cauvery meets two more rivers, one of them is very difficult to imagine as a river, it’s a small steam coming out near the Banyan tree, it’s said because of the curse she become like that. People take bath in the Sangama where river meets. There is Bagandeshwara temple, which is said to have Kerala architecture, you get lot of Ayurvedic medicinal plants and herbs in the near by shops. The books describing the story of Cauvery can be obtained from the this temple. There are many temples inside the “Pauli”. This is a peaceful place to spend some time after giving the Pooja. You can see the attacks by Mughals ruining the temple, which you can see in the statues made of stones.

Bagamandala is about 40 Kms from Madikeri, you need to take the road to M’lore and on the way you find a board showing the way to Bagamandala. From Bagamandala you need to climb up the hill for about 8kms to reach Talakaveri. On the way there are many view points where you can stop for a while and enjoy.

Kaveri Nisargadhama

A beautiful ecological park, where Cauvery Rivers splits forming a island and bamboo forest. A hanging bridge, boating, elephant ride, tree top shelter, deer park etc. are worth to enjoy with dwelling cottages named, Brahmagiri, Lopamudre, Kannike etc. Travel of 30 kms from Madikeri. Reservation to be done for cottages at Forest department, Madikeri

Frankly speaking this place is a kind a just visit and come out if it’s on the way, and a one time visit place, and not worth going all the way. This can be covered on the way back from Golden temple or Harangi Dam back to Madikeri, which seems to be best option for me.

There are some animals inside, deers, monkeys, and rabbits and don’t expect more than them, if you see all of them that means its time to return from there.

Golden Temple, Tibetian Colony

A recently built "Namdrolling Monastery" a world famous Tibetan Golden temple a toast to the eyes is in Bylakoppa, also the second largest Tibetans settlement in India, just 6 kms away from Kushalnagar. Three majestic Gold coated 40 feet hight idols of Buddha & Padmasambhava, Amitayush Statue inside the temple

This place was handed over by the Karnataka Govt to house the Tibetan refugees when they fled the Chinese invasion of their country. They were housed in some three places all around India. We can see well cultivated fields for miles around. A number of their beautiful temples dot the landscape. It looks as if all the males become monks, since everywhere we see males in the robes of Tibetan monks

Dubare Forest, Elephant Safari

Dubare is a natural island with cool and pleasant view. Boating and fishing makes a wonderful experience. There are 12 tamed elephants which are maintained by the forest department. Tourists interested to know details about these mammals can be obtained here. This is ideal place for nature lovers for spending a few hours with the nature, elephants, and the cool Cauvery River. Weather and best season to visit: Monsoons are fairly heavy but one can be assured of a unique interesting experience during the rains (July to mid-September) in Dubare. The post-monsoon months (mid- Sept to beginning March) are the best time to visit as the entire district would be enveloped by a cloud of green and the climate would be very pleasant.

The route from Bangalore is via Mysore, Kushalnagar, Gudde Hosur (4km from Kushalnagar on Madikeri Road), then a left turn towards Siddapura. About the 15 kilometer on the Siddapur Main Road visitors would find a JLR Dubare Camp board. A left turn at the board and about kilometer drive would take you to dubare.

Harangi Dam, Coorg

Fact: A dam built across the tributary of Cauvery with a length of 2775 ft. and 174 ft height. If you happen to visit during rainy season this makes an awesome place, at that time they open the dam doors giving a mind blowing view of water flowing out. It flows at such a high power that you will be thrilled to see it. The back water creates an impression of ocean; it is spread across acres of land.

The place can be reached easily, if you are coming from b’lore to Madikeri via Kushalnagar, you can find a Y junction, where one leads to Kushalnagar and then Madikeri and the other to the Harangi Dam. From Madikeri you need to travel in the direction of Kushalnagar to reach here. It’s about 8 kms from Kushalnagar

Iggutappa temple, Kakabbe

Iggutappa is another name lord shiva, Igguthappa temple, one of most important temple of Kodavs the tribal inhabitants in Kakkabe, is dedicated to Iguthappa another name for Lord Subramanya. The devotees believe in the miracles by Iguthappa, where any one can ask for anything from this super power God. Farmers in and around this area usually offer prayers and offerings for rains during the famous Annual festival in the temple conducted during the month of March. Tulabhara, weighing oneself against fruits, sugar, coconuts, rice etc, is an important offering here. This temple governs significant role in the cultural and traditional life of the place.

This place is quite deep inside Coorg, the way to this place is very scenic, and you will enjoy the drive. This place is about 45Kms from Madikeri. There are bus services to kakabbe. Best way is to drive.

Abbey falls, Madikeri

This is a beautiful falls close to Madikeri, about 7-8kms from the city. Many boards are there inside city which point you to the falls, you won’t find it difficult to get there. There are enough parking spaces, after you park your vehicle you have to walk about 100 meters so reach the falls.

The madikeri stream, also called Muttaramuttu, falls 21.3m between huge boulders to a deep rocky vally to form this picturesque waterfall called Abbi falls(abbi means waterfall in Kodavatak). The British called it the Jessey Water falls in memory of Jessey, the daughter of Madikeri's first chaplain. Every year a few unwary people meet an unfortunate end over the slippery rocks here.

Abundant in this region, Madduthoppu (Justicia wayanadensis) is attributted medicinal value believed to peak on 18th of Kakkada(July-August), when it is used as an ingredient in various delicacies.

There is misconception that this is of Cauvery River, but its not. But it’s a falls made by group of small streams called Madikeri streams. The falls is quite simple yet so beautiful, when there is enough water, i.e. between June to September it’s amazing, you can feel the cold breeze on the hanging bridge made by the forest department. The water is not deep under the falls you can get close to falls and even climb the falls with little risk. I had been on the rocks many times when I visited before 2006, now police will always be around and they won’t allow you to get into the water. But you can always enjoy the beauty from the hanging bridge.

Madikeri, Coorg District

Coorg is a wonderful place to spend your holidays and I have been there a many time, in fact at least once in a year or more than that whenever I get time. Madikeri is the capital; it is a hill station with beautiful climate like Ooty. Coorg is called as Kashmir of Karnataka. It’s such a wonderful place with forests, coffee estates, hill stations, falls, temples, and trekking places.

Madikeri is around 250 odd Kms from Mandya you can reach there by taking mysore road from Bangalore and take deviation on mysore road to Hunsoor, then next town you will see is Kushalnagar, and then Madikeri. It takes about 5 odd hours in car to reach madikeri from Bangalore. If you are starting from Mangalore then take the route of Puttur, Sulli. Madikeri is just 50 kms from Sullia. The things to enjoy in madikeri are the stay round the year, during rainy season you can enjoy the heavy rains, and winter will be too cold, and summer will be pleasant. If you plan your stay at madikeri then you can see almost all the tourist places in coorg.

The things to see in Madikeri are Rajaseat, a view point where you can see landscape up to miles, with mist in background. This place was used by Kings in ancient time, and thus the name. There is fort where you can see the ruined fort, now it is converted to govt offices. There is a museum which is not worth visit.

There is pretty old temple in the city Omkareshwara temple, which is a worth visit. This was built in 1820 by Lingarajendra the then ruling King to ward off the evil caused by "Brahma Rakshasas". The Shiva Linga is said to be brought from the holy place "Kaashi". This temple has an unusual architectural combination of 'Indo-Sarsenic' Style. Nearby is the holy tank. Regular poojas are performed in the temple for the different deities like Lord Subrahmanya and Ganesha.

The other place to see in Madikeri is Gadduge or three tombs with their Islamic style building domes and minarets with gold coating built in Indo Sarsenic style, The entrance to each tomb has Carvings of Hindu Deities. The Central largest tomb more ornate than the other two, contains the graves of Virarajenda and his wife Mahadevi Amma. The medium sized tomb is of Lingarajendra and the simplest tomb contains the grave of Rudrappa Virarajendra's Guru. A bird's eye view of Madikeri can be had from here.

You will find lot of home stays in Madikeri which is the best way to enjoy the beauty of the hill station, even resorts are available where in you get an estate for yourself to enjoy for a day, but it’s not a budget plan.