Because my friends have to work during the week, I did a little
trip to a place called Chikmangalur in the western ghats.
I took a 5 hour sleeper bus which left Bengaluru around midnight.
I really like traveling in sleeper buses. They have 24 beds
on two levels. Though the bus ride is very bumpy, not comparable
with a ride on German roads, I am still able to sleep.
After the shaky ride, I arrived at my destination at 5 am.
With my hotel booked from 12 o'clock, I decided to just walk
for a while. I started going towards Mullayyanagiri, the highest
peak in the state of Karnataka. This is the main attraction of
Chikmangalur located about 30 km outside the town. Once the sun had risen,
I decided to try to hitch hike
my way to the hill. This turned out to be much easier
than expected. I ended up reaching the peak at 8 am.
All the thinking the night before about how I would reach the
top at all turned out to be superfluous. Having completed my
task of the trip, I made my way down to the hotel.
After relaxing for a while, I walked and hitchhiked to the very
beautiful lake Hirekolale. I enjoyed the stunning view for quite
a while and met a few locals there.
To finish off that day I visited the coffee museum. In this small exhibition a very nice lady explained the process of making coffee and how it came to India. Afterwards I agreed to her taking a selfie with me. I get asked for a photo fairly often. I guess after some time I will be annoyed by that, but currently I think it is nice.
