We decided to head to Coorg on the long weekend of 2nd Oct, 09. There were 6 of us – my hubby Rishi, myself and our 2 yr old son Shubhang, Rishi’s cousin Vivek, his wife Devi and 2.5 yr old son Aaryan and our friends Vinod, Lekha and their 3 yr old son Gautam. We took 2 cars, Vivek and family in their SX4 and rest of us in our brand new Punto car. This was the first long trip with our new car, hence we were honestly excited and nervous too!
We planned to start early in the morning at 6 am, knowing that it may not be practical especially with these naughty kids around! We finally left Bangalore around 7 am, sulking about being late.
We took the Mysore road, from Srirangapattna turned right to avoid Mysore. It was an enjoyable drive most of the way but we did have few unpleasant moments like huge rush at the Kamats hotel where we had breakfast, few bad stretch of roads etc, but all that did not dampen our spirits.
Day 1
We finally reached the ‘homestay’ which we had chosen to dwell called ‘Mayura’ near Irpu falls, Coorg at about 3 pm. We were greeted warmly by Prasad and Jamuna, the owners of the homestay. We were impressed with the beauty of the place and their hospitality. After having a late sumptuous lunch, we decided to go out for sight seeing but to our dismay the rain gods were not kind on us. So we settled to stay back and laze around the place.
Day 2
Next day morning, after a heavy breakfast we started off for sight seeing. We had hired a Qualis so that all of us can travel together.
Our first destination was the Irpu falls, located on the high way to Nagarhole National park. The tributary o
f river Cauvery, the Lakshmana Tirtha River has its source in this falls. The walk towards the falls was a tough one again for the reason that the rain gods were playing hide and seek with us. Yet, we made up till the end to sight the falls and truly enjoyed the lashing water falls. More than us, I think it was the kids who went mad after seeing the galloping waters.
After having a quick lunch, we moved on to visit the Wayanad wild life sanctuary. We reached the place at about 2.45 pm and decided to take the jungle safari. Because of the rainy climate and bad roads, they were only allowing their authorized semi-covered official jeeps for the expedition. We started the ride at around 3 pm and were very disappointed in the initial 15-20 minutes to spot only deers. But later we were lucky to see several peacocks, stags, chitals, antelopes, langurs etc. 
But the main highlight was that we could see two elephants within a gap of 5 minutes. First, we saw a female elephant walking near the road and later a huge male elephant breaking the bamboos with it's strong tucks. That sight was indeed a visual treat to our eyes. We also faintly caught a glimpse of a tiger speeding to pounce on a group of deers, but unfortunately could not have a clearer view of it. This was my first experience on a wild safari and needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the jeep ride.
Our next location was the Thirunelli temple devoted to Lord Vishnu in Wayanad. Yet again, it was a picturesque and pleasing drive to this place. We got a great view of Bramhagiri hills from this place.
After a tired but exciting journey on the first day, we reached at our homestay at around 8pm. For dinner we enjoyed the typical Coorgi cuisine consisting of pappettu(not sure if I am spelling it correctly), chicken curry, but the surprise treat were the home made wines made up of pineapple and chickoo!
Day 3
On the third day, after a heavy yummy breakfast of akki roties, idlies, dosas etc, we checked out of the homestay. After exc
hanging good-byes with Prasad, Jamuna and their mother and thanking them for their excellent service, we left for our next spot the Raja’s seat at Madikeri. Raja Seat is a small garden beyond which is a beautiful valley. It was an amazing view from there, initially foggy with the clouds enveloping the scenic mountains and gradually clearing it to unveil an incredible view of the valley.
Since it was past lunch time by the time we left Raja’s seat and we were far away from our next target Kushalnagar, we chose to stop for lunch on the way and that’s when we spotted at a resort and spa called ‘Amanavana’. This place had great aesthetic look and ambience, but the food was just ok, not remarkably good and the service too was poor.
After the elaborate lunch with deserts, we moved our journey to the Tibetan village and monastery in Bylekuppe. We (Rishi and me) had visited this place on one of our earlier visits to Mysore, but liked it so much that we suggested this to others. This place has the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet, complete with a Tibetan monastery with 7,000 monks, a Tibetan village and a market where you can shop lot of handicraft articles.
We left this place at about 6 pm, already concerned about reaching late to Bangalore and thinking about going to office the next day. There was a huge rush at Mysore road with everyone getting back from their holiday. This drive back was the worst part of the trip. After reaching Bangalore, we had to take diversions at many places due to some construction work, we lost our way couple of times and finally landed home only at 12 am.