Day I and a Half
One friday evening at 7:30pm, the other AquaSafi intern, some interns from another start-up, their marketing and sales manager and I decided to bounce for the weekend. We decided to go to a place called Chikmagalur, where coffee was first planted in India and home to some of Karnataka's highest mountains.
While packing, I asked my friend from the other start-up "What should we bring?" He said "Good shoes, jeans and shorts..." he didn't mention a rain jacket or even an umbrella... and damn, would I need those.
Nevertheless, we somehow managed to catch a train an hour and a half later. We were on our way. My friend also picked up some Dal Fry and Roti... we ate it on the train, which made it taste that much better.
Roti and Dal Fry
Soon, I fall asleep in an awkward position
At 6 am, we arrived in the city of Hassan, and got some chai... we must have had chai about 18 times this weekend. It was another hour and a half to Chikmagalur by bus, so we get there at 7:30 a.m., and check into a hotel.
The beautiful town of Chikmagalur
The beautiful town of Chikmagalur II
We shower and sleep, and at 10 am, we catch a bus to a nearby mountain (the mountains in the area are about 2000 metres high). The bus takes us up the majority of the way, and from there we have to trek... but driving on these mountains is like a ride at Wonderland. The bus is two metres away from the edge of the hill with no barricades, swerving at 60km/h on a road large enough for one vehicle and neither you or the driver have any idea what is around the next turn. Here is a video:
I did my best to capture the craziness, but a video just doesn't do justice.
And even if I could capture the craziness, this ride in Northern India would top that.
Not sure what the driver is thinking here... on the left is a drop of a few hundred feet
View from the bus door - why is it even open?
We get off the bus and start trekking towards a waterfall... but the problem is we don't know exactly where it is. Also, there is a lot of fog at that height, so we can barely see 50 metres away (This is how people get lost... and why their bodies are found months later). We eventually find a road, and keep walking. However, it is raining heavily now, and it is extremely windy. I am freezing... and we still don't know how far it is to the falls. My friends laugh at me... how can a Canadian be cold? To warm up, I try to rub my chest like Bruce Wayne does in Batman Begins but it doesn't work... I am soaked to the bone and really wish I had a jacket. Cars pass us by, and I secretly hate them.
Finally, after what must have been a few kilometres, we see some small huts... and they have CHAI! This chai was sent by the gods (old and the new #GoT) to save unprepared travelers. As I drink it, I feel my body temperature rising. I then take off my shirt and squeeze it... FOUND THE WATERFALL. We get some bread omelets, and warm up. The lady who serves us lets me dry my shirt by her stove.
The Stove
I eat a lot, drink a lot of chai... and start to feel better. The rest of the group decides to go to the waterfall... but I am still freezing. They head out, while I stay and get to know the owners of this little restaurant and eat and drink some more. This is my buddy:
My friends return and we head back down in a jeep (apparently the falls weren't that great... woohoo!). All of a sudden, the sun comes out so we stop to see the view and it's absolutely beautiful!
Hills on hills
We hop back in, continue down and then head back to the hotel to shower, warm up and get dinner. We chill for the rest of the night, watch Argentina beat Belgium and head to bed.
Day Two
The next day, we head out for another walk up a hill where there is a temple located on top. We get wet again... and the wind is just as strong. We climb and climb, and some travellers tell us we are going to freeze... but whatever. We get to the top and there is no chai... I am slightly disappointed. Anyway, the temple is warmer and so I squeeze my shirt while one of the other interns teaches us some Bollywood dancing to help us warm up. Going down is even worse as there is what feels like hail and the wind is stronger now. We take shelter behind a rock and my hands are shaking. Part of the way down, a jeep passes by... The only logical thing to do is to jump on. It is already packed with a dozen people, but in India there is always room for five more. We climb aboard the moving jeep, I am hanging on to the outside, and we head down! What a feeling! The breeze in my face is refreshing but I am having a hard time holding on because my hands are so cold. The jeep stops, so I let go for a second, and end up in a ditch. They make room for me to sit the rest of the way.
Couldn't get a selfie while hanging on to the jeep, but the jeep looked something like this.
We get back to where our rental car was parked, and there is chai! Phew. We start to warm up, and start dancing again. Before we know it, there is a group of 30 of us just dancing in the rain #BollywoodMovie
I change into my friend's dry t-shirt and we head to the waterfall. It's another 1km walk, but I am dry now and it's not raining! We get to the waterfall, and climb up.
The water is absolutely FREEZING but I am immune to cold at this point. If you stand directly in the falls, you get a nice massage.
If the water was warm, this would be heaven
Anyway, it's time to leave. We get back to the hotel, and shower. But first, I need to buy some underwear.