Well we’re coming up to the half year mark (already!), and I’d made pretty grand travel plans in the beginning of 2007.

Among, my ambitious plans was the North East, Ladakh, Gujarat, Kerala backwaters, Hampi, Bandhavgarh, a coast-to-coast road trip and one destination out of Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Lakshadweep! Now that I look at it, except the North East, it’s looking ambitious all right.

I’ll be happy if I can at least do Gujarat, the Kerala backwaters and Lakshwadweep this year.

But on the bright side, I’ve spent almost every other weekend on the road in the last two months after coming back from the North East and covered quite a bit of travelling in and around Bangalore.

The country side is lovely this season despite the heat. Though the temperatures are rising and you’re probably thinking that it’s the wrong season to travel, it’s actually quite pleasant when you’re on the move and there’s a cool refreshing breeze in the air. So those of you who are quite fazed by the heat, I’d encourage you to hit the road and not worry too much about it. It simply can’t be hotter than where you already are!

The countryside is resplendent with red gulmohar blooms

It’s time to put your feet up and enjoy the scenery going past : I’m happy that I’ve gotten some time to do that this year. But having no Internet connection at home, means that I have a huge pile up of photos to post of all the trips and a lot of pending travel tales yet to be completed.

Watching the world go by: it’s a nice lazy feeling!

After the North East in March, I did a trek to the Bandaje Abbe waterfalls in Chikmagalur district.

That was followed by a drive to Sangama and Mekedattu. We spent a long lazy weekend in the Goa Karnataka border in a small village called Nersa where I totally pigged out on the lovely food that our hosts served. And of course, living on a machan with an open bathroom was quite an experience.

Back to the basics @ Nersa

In May, we visited Terahalli (near Kolar), the Kaivara caves (near Chintamani) & Lepakshi temple town (all in a day’s work!). The next weekend, we drove up the Nilgiris and spent some time in the lovely laid back town of Wellington and went for a ride in the cute toy train that runs on the Coonoor-Ooty route. I’d recommend Wellington any day over the crowded Ooty, except that the staying options are really limited.

The town of Lepakshi is home to a beautiful temple and also the Basavanna bull

An over view of Wellington from our hotel

And June began with a trip to the tea country of Valparai, tucked in the folds of the beautiful Annamalai range in Tamil Nadu. I hope I can catch up with all the travelogues soon! Before that, I probably need to catch my breath…