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Chikmagalur - an offbeat hill station

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The trip was organised by our friend kishore. Me, christo, vivek, kishore and ravi set off on a sunday morning. There was a lot of hype among the locals about this place and the driver added vocal touch to the already hyped up imagination. Although we never expected it to be this awesome. This place is ideal for both family as well as with friends and is an ideal getaway for those who want to take a break from the hectic corporate life. Forests on the way Sometimes journey will be more beautiful than the destination. The route to chikmagalur was so beautiful, we could not do justice with our artificial lens. You will have to capture the scenery with the lens given by god. Enroute to chikmagalur[/caption] You cannot reach this place by bus. Although there are lot of buses to chikmagalur from both bangalore and mangalore, the hill station is situated in a remote place. Even the vehicle which you travel with cannot reach the top. There are plenty of jeep services which take yo

journey into the borra caves

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Borra caves  lies in the coastal district of vishakapatinam, in the southern state of Andhra pradesh in India. Being the largest cave in india, this place has developed into a tourist spot.  Daily tourist buses ply from vishakaptinam to cater the tourists need. The nearby areas are also beautiful particularly the arraku valley tourism circuit. A beautiful hill station and water falls en route, it makes a nice trip along with family. Cave entrance view from inside the cave You can size of the opening of the cave comparing with the trees visible outside. People look like ants in the background and it is really pitch dark inside the cave, during broad day light, right near the entrance of the cave. rock formations Another opening in the cavern. Sure cannot escape through this one in times of flood. An overcrowded  cave(holiday) . Another view to picturise the magnitude of the cave. some snaps. Another picture showing the Magnitude of the cave

Kakaban islands - A close encounter with jelly fish and my underwater photography experience

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Welcome to kakaban islands   A close encounter with jelly fish Kakaban island is located in the celebes sea. A photo from water facing sky   Stingless jelly fish As read in the blogs, there were countless jelly fishes , swimming all around us. It was a real sight to wonder, To appreciate the process of evolution. Me swimming with stingless jelly fishes at kakaban islands   Fishes in the lake Lessons learnt from the underwater photography experience Do not take photos near the shallow end, as you dig up sand and dirt causing the photo look like a poor quality one.     Use additional lighting when under water, as many of our photographs lacked lighting when shot from distance.     Position yourself and the photographer friend before going under water so that your face is visible clearly.     Use remote connectivity cameras as someone at land can help you capture excellent moments, because once you hold your breath, and under the water,

Visit to island of Kaniungan kecil

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"Pull Kaniungan kecil" is the name of a small island located in the biduk-biduk region in berau, East kalimantan Indonesia. One of the extremely offbeat place in the world and soon to become a over-crowded tourist spot in quite a few years, this island is unheard off even to many native indonesians. "Kecil" in indonesian means small. "Pulau Kaniungan besar" is another island located nearby. "Besar" in indonesian means big. "Pulau" in indonesian means Island. As the name implies the small island when viewed from boat. With only the boat driver along with two of us, the island looked deserted. The local fishermen are well aware of the receding tides. As you stand in the waves you can feel the drift of water from the island towards the sea, as if water is continuously flowing like a river from the island to sea. There are no waves and the water is crystal clear about a km surrounding the island. This makes the island an ideal p

A tale of two cities - Goa in India vs Bali in Indonesia

Ever since i visited bali, my thoughts ran back to GOA, which is one of my favourite destinations. A comparison between Goa and Bali would be ideal in my point of view since both these have many many similiarities. And from the readers perspective who want to choose between Goa and Bali from the table they can come to a clear conclusion of what they are looking for. All other things about these places is available on the internet.     GOA BALI Country ·          India ·          Indonesia Geography ·          Coastal town ·          Island Reaching there ·          Road, Rail, Air, Sea ·          Air, Sea Local commuting ·          Bikes, Taxi available for renting. ·          Bike squads available to drop you at desired location. ·          Bikes, Taxi available for renting Traffic withi

river rafting at bali

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For me  year 2014 ended with a rafting session at Telaga Waja river at Bali, Indonesia. This was my third rafting experience besides barapole and kali rivers in India but definitely the longest and safest experience. Welcome to river rafting at bali We arrived at the rafting spot, with a welcome drink, we were given safety jacket, helmet and paddles. As usual stuff like 'have you been to rafting' , 'I have been many times' , 'Do they take photographs' , 'Is it risky', 'Do i need to know swimming?',  ' Where to collect photographs' , were discussed with new friends. The starting point had a small waterfall sort of. We rushed in water to get accustomed to and soon immersed. Visually appealling Prior to this i have done rafting twice in india. The places aroung Telaga waja river was so scenic, surrounded by mountainous forest, numerous waterfalls(waterfalls in Bangalore-Mangalore Train journey were more numerous), highly rocky,  pr

Tenggarong - Where there is will there is a way

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Before the flight journey across borneo, i went on a trip to the Samarinda city. We reached a place named Tenggarong, (Tangga + Arung = house of king). The story goes like this, there was a bridge to cross the mahakam river to reach the town Tenggarong. During a repair work in 2011 the only bridge connecting the town collapsed. And the arrangement made for local transportation really surprised me.  Our car was loaded into a ferry along with few others. After an half hour journey the ferry dropped us at Tenggarong. The journey itself was quiet good. The story of a man eating crocodile in the river, which was caught and killed , of size five metres long was terryfing. Soon ferries carrying cars and bikes beacme a common sighting. Lot of them were passing us from the other side. And cost of transportation is IDR 60,000 only. It made me realise if there is a necessity,  nothing can  stop you from doing what you want. I have been to many places where non availability of boat to cross