Phi-Phi Islands, Thailand

Oct 22nd to 25th Oct

An hour and half of ferry time from Krabi took us to Phi-Phi. It has two main islands - Phi-Phi Don, the bigger one which has plenty of accommodation and Phi-Phi Leh, the magnificent one. Leh doesn't have any accommodation except for the night camp in Maya bay organized by a single operator. It also only allows limited number of people.


More photos on facebook

On the day we reached Phi-Phi Don, the weather was clear and we decided to camp at Maya bay. The trip started in the evening with 20 of us in a big motor boat. En route to Leh was beautiful with small fine sand beaches. If you can kayak to them, you can have those amazing beaches for yourself! On the way, we stopped at a couple of places for snorkeling. It was wonderful to be in such clear blue waters! However, I didn't find the marine life to be too exciting. Later, I heard from other travelers that places near Bamboo island are better suited for snorkeling.


'Viking cave' on Phi-Phi Leh is one of the attractions. We saw the place from the boat and didn't make any attempt to explore this place! Our tour guide also seemed least interested, however, he mentioned that the cave is filled with bird's nest and the nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.

Just before sunset, we reached Maya bay. It was a back door entry and had to swim for a small distance to get to the shore. We then walked for about couple of minutes before the beach could unveil in front of us. With gleam of light on the beach, Maya bay was stunning, breathtaking and it felt like a heaven on earth. It is truly an other-world experience. I was floating in the water viewing the sunset and I would cherish this memory forever.


In the evening, we were served with delicious supper and bucket of alcohol. Me and Jomy donated the bucket to an American who later showered us with blessings! Later in the night, we set our sleeping mats on the fine sand beach and laid watching countless stars on clear dark sky. It felt like paradise and we slept peacefully on the beach. In the morning, we woke up to the fine misty tropical rain and headed to Phi-Phi Don after the breakfast.

Trivia : The movie "The beach" was shot in Maya bay.
hi-Phi Don
For the next two days, we rambled around the island hoping from one beach to the other. We tried out the local cuisine in different restaurants and it was delectable every time. Papaya is one of the popular local restaurant serving good and cheap food and we liked it too. One of our favorite snack was the thai pancakes sold at the road side food stands. We tried it with different fruits, but banana turned out the best. They can also be topped up with some chocolate syrup for the extra yum-yum!

This island is overly developed with every inch converted to shops, resorts and restaurants. The place was more crowded than I had imagined. Also, some of the beaches were totally covered with the long tail boats! But, our resort was at the far end of the beach and it attracted very less crowd. Good for us! Among all the beaches on this island, I liked Long beach with very less crowd and very few resorts around.

In the nights, the island was very lively with loud music and parties going on in many places. But, we kept ourselves away from all the urban rituals and chose to enjoy the nature and watch the clear skies on both the nights.

Phi-Phi would always hold a special place in my heart for we celebrating our 5th marriage anniversary with a beautiful beach side dinner.

South East Asia : Krabi, Thailand

19th to 21st Oct 2009

More photos of Krabi @ My-Facebook-Album

From Langkawi, we took a ferry to reach Satun, Thailand. After getting our passports stamped at the port, we headed to Krabi by a pink double decker bus. Good roads, beautiful paddy fields view along the roadside, entertaining Thai comedy video played in the bus and a little nap in between helped me pass the time. It took us about 4 1/2 hrs to reach Krabi and it was about sunset.

Krabi has two very popular and beautiful beach areas. One is Ao Nang, a hustle bustle place with long beach and the other is Railay, a calm and more scenic beach. We choose to stay put at Railay first.

Railay beach


Railay beach is surrounded by huge limestone cliffs and is cutoff from the mainland. It is accessible only by sea and we took a long tail boat to reach here. It was already dark when we reached this place and had traveled the whole day. After relaxing for a while in the resort, we went for a brief walk along the dimly lit narrow path. The entire East Railay beach is only about a Km long and the interesting part about this path is that we need to walk through many restaurants and cafe. This place was very relaxed and less crowded, though every inch of the place is developed. It felt like we were in a small island.


The next morning, we went to Railay west to take our long tail boat for the day tour to near-by four islands. The west beach was stunning with huge cliffs on either side, calm clear blue water and fine white sand. It deserves all the praise given by the fellow travelers on other blogs. The four islands tour included Phra-Nang beach, Poda island, Chicken island and Tub island. Phra-Nang and Poda were breathtaking and I went crazy looking at the beauty. We went snorkeling near the other two islands and found variety of fishes. We had enough time to explore the under water life and go behind some fishes! Coral life wasn't exciting enough as many of them were dead and the live ones were not colorful.


In the evening, we sat along the west beach side restaurant and watched the sun set while sipping the hot Cappuccino. The color change in the sky and its reflection on the water was brilliant. We kept watching till the place went dark.

The huge cliffs in Railay makes it the one of the best destination for rock climbing. We initially planned to take a day for rock climbing. But, Jomy had twisted his leg the previous day and he couldn't do it. I for some reason decided to drop it as well (Shame on me!) and ended up watching experts climbing the rocks!!

Ao Nang beach

The next day we spent our time in Ao Nang beach. The place was bustling with people, numerous resorts and other shopping centers. The beach coastline was very long, clean and very good for swimming.

At night, with scores of bars and restaurant, Ao Nang was a party scene. But, we peacefully sat along the beach side benches and munched chicken satay bought from the late night street food shop. Ao Nang was different from Railay and I enjoyed the experience in both the places.

South East Asia : Pulau Langkawi

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On 17th day of Oct, while rest of my family & friends were celebrating Diwali in India, Me & Jomy set out to enjoy the beaches of Malaysia & Thailand. We reached KualaLumpur in the evening and flew to Langkawi after couple of hours wait.

Langkawi, one of the most popular Malaysian islands is said to have many good beaches like Cenang, Kok, Datai bay, Tengah. Without really doing much pre-work on things to do in this island, we had planned to spend only a day & 2 nights here. Only after reaching here, we found that a day was just too little to explore this island. But, I think it gave us enough time to get a feel for this place and people!

The nights were very lively with rich lights along the clean streets. Many restaurants displayed variety of fresh sea food waiting to be cooked in the style we prefer. On both the nights, we tried Malay cuisine and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found that Malay food generously uses coconut milk and is spicy with good flavours. The culinary style here has very good influence from India & China.

In the day, we went around the island on a motorbike. Motorbike & car are available for daily rental and is the most common way of going around the island. With intermittent rain and clean roads, it was pleasure driving along the coast lined up with dense trees.

We were staying in Cenang area, one of the bustling places in Langkawi. It has many good resorts and restaurants lined up along the beach side. It also offers plenty of budgeted stays for the backpackers. We started our day trip from Cenang towards Kok beach holding a detailed Langkawi map in our hand. On our way from Cenang to Kok, we stepped into the tropical forest which didn't have any proper route. While wandering here, we caught a glimpse of monitor lizard, which quickly slipped into the dense forest sensing our movements. This lizard is not as big as Komodo dragon, but it was big! Also, unexpectedly we found access to a very small beach. On this isolated beach, we met a small group of Malaysians from mainland who were camping here for few days. After chit-chatting with them for sometime, we continued our drive towards Kok.


As mentioned in many travel sites, Kok was certainly more beautiful with pristine beach and very few people. After spending some time here, we proceeded to Datai Bay in the north west corner of the island. It took nearly 30mins of bike ride to reach this place and once we reached, we found that we need to pass through a private resort to access the bay. As expected, the resort doesn't allow outsiders to stroll on their own in their premises. But, we managed to talk with the resort folks and they agreed to take us to the beach by their mini electric car. They also gave a tour of their resort! The resort is "Datai Bay" and is filthy luxurious. The cottages are build in the unspoilt natural tropical forest aging 50 million years, with clean river flowing in its backyard. They looked Superbb! The resort also has two swimming pools with one being on the beach side! And above all, the beach was an absolute beauty. I totally believe this is one of the must stay place in Langkawi, if you don't mind the pinch in your pocket.

Later in the evening, we took a cable car ride over the Machincang moutain range. The view enroute was breathtaking. With clear sky, one is expected to see a 360-degree view of the islands around. But, the time we took the ride, the sky was filled with clouds and we couldn't see the 360 degree panaromic view. But, surely the ride itself was enthralling when it glided above the virgin tropical forest and it was a unique experience.

After sunset, we decided to visit Kuah town without any plans in mind. We just ended up driving up to this place and returned doing nothing. The duty free shopping malls had closed by then and we couldn't shop!:(


In the next morning, before leaving Langkawi, we went for a early morning walk along the Cenang beach. I was totally flattered at the first sight of the beach; it was vast, fresh and clean as if new. I felt very peaceful and calm while I inhaled the pollution free clean air.

Then the time came for us to leave Langkawi and head towards Satun, Thailand.

End of Langkawi.

The Unstoppable Stopped

An unexpected, but the most awaited result came out of Roland Garros's Philippe Chatrier. Rafael Nadal was stopped from his unbeatean 31 match winning streak at French Open. The King of Clay was dethroned by the Swede, Robin Soderling 6-2,6-7, 6-4, 7-6. Soderling's best so far in any grand slam was reaching 3rd round. Today, he was totally different and played splendidly superb and stunned Nadal at many points in the game.

Soderling's win in the first set, especially breaking Nadal's serve twice made me feel that the match would be an interesting one. As part of true Federism, I supported Soderling and wanted him to stretch Nadal as much as possible. But never expected him to crush the defending champion and create a history today!

He outplayed Nadal many times and was consistent in attacking Nadal's backhand. He played marvelous cross court shots of his forehand and served well. It was a spectacular display of talent by Soderling and with his impeccable forehand shots, he demanded Nadal to pull out all his best clay court shots. Nadal might have not displayed his deadly best, but he was surely in a mood to defend his championship and put up a good fight. But, Soderling was playing the game of his life and Nadal couldn't respond to many of Soderling's immaculate forehand shots and was forced to make errors. Soderling ended up with 61 winners as against only 33 of Nadal, which many players haven't managed to do on clay court. With his scintillating game, he demolished the dream of the Spaniard to create a history at French open by winning 5 consecutive titles.

Finally, the wait is over and the Spaniard's reign on Roland Garros is over. Now, the tournament is open to any one and Fedex has a very great chance. This year, some one other than Nadal is going to lift the trophy and kiss it. I wish it is the great artist on tennis court, Fedex! Isn't this the true Federism?! :)

Kotebetta Trek

Over the May 1st long weekend, six of us (Jomy, Roop, Girish, KumarG, Abhi & Me) planned for a trek and decided to climb Kotebetta in Coorg. Kotebette is the third highest peak in Coorg standing at 5451 ft. The grade of this trek is easy and I was fine with it since I hadn't trekked in a long while. KumarG took care of organizing vehicle for travel from Bangalore.

Enroute to Coorg

We started from my place around 12 a.m and then picked up Abhi. As soon as Abhi took his seat in the taxi, he wanted a stop over in one of the CCD on Mysore highway. We stopped at CCD in Maddur at 2 a.m and the place was too crowded! After going through the menu card, each of us came up with cool names like Mochachillo,Tropical Iceberg, Cafe Frappe, Cold Sparkle except for Jomy. He ordered Cafe Mocha. After a long wait in the queue, KumarG found out that only Cafe Frappe is available. We all sincerely agreed to take it. After another long wait, we got our Frappes and found that they were warm! So, we got it exchanged it cold frappes; rather not warm frappes. Even they were pathetic; the worst cold coffee we all ever had. Only Jomy had good experience with his hot Mocha. Rest of us felt it would have been better off having Chai on the road side shop.

Along the way, most of us didn't sleep till 5 a.m. We were yapping on many things and one of the most interesting topic was the places we all wanted to travel in the world. After some time, we realized that we wanted to travel most part of the world! :)

We reached Coorg about 6 in the morning and then we rented a hotel room to sleep for couple of hours and refresh ourselves. We had our late breakfast in Coorg and then started towards Madepura village, about 16Km from Madikeri. From Madapura, we caught the jeep trail to Kotebetta at 12:45 p.m and our trek started from that point.

Climb to the top

On the jeep trail, we walked for about 2-2.5 hours through the coffee plantations and the forests. Along the way, there were lots of jack fruit trees with plenty of fruits. Yummy! We couldn't even attempt having one as the riped fruits were on the top! The route to peak has steep gradients along most of the path; the hot weather made the climb difficult. We walked at a slow pace with good number of breaks. While walking along the trail, we could see Kotebetta standing tall amongst the other small hills. It then seemed very far from the point we were looking at it.


From the jeep trail ending point, we needed to take the forest trail and cross about 3-4 hills to reach Kotebetta. At this point of time, we had run out of most of the water we had carried and was not sure if we would find water at the peak. We didn't find any water source along the way. All we saw were dried out streams. So, we were debating whether to camp at the top for the night. We all then agreed that we would leave our bags at this point and start our climb to the peak. Without our luggage, it would be faster and would be able to be back from the peak, the same evening. We had started our trek only in the afternoon as we had planned to camp on the top!

Meeting our decider

On our way to the top, we spotted movement of some cows; then we looked for some human presence there and could spot a man at far. We knew he is going to be our decider; help to decide whether we can stay at the top or not. We checked with him about the water availability on the top and he mentioned that there are two small ponds. One of it is drinkable and the other is not. We were very thankful to meet him and we decided to climb down to get our bags and then trek again through the hills to reach the top.

Rain Showers

On top of a small hill, we stopped for 5 mins to take a break from the summer heat. It was raining in some parts of the forest which we had already crossed and there were some dark clouds above one of the hills which we had crossed. What we saw then was truly amazing. The huge dark cloud above the other hill started rushing towards us and stopped right above us. We were suddenly encircled by it and it started raining immediately. We all ran towards one of the nearby bush to protect ourselves from getting drenched. The bush couldn't protect all six of us. So Jomy , Roop and me proceeded walking in the rain and started progressing forward. But, as soon as we saw another bush to hide, we three hid there. The other three guys didn't know that and they thought we had already left. So, they came out of the bush and started walking in our direction, only to find we were hiding under some other bush :) They obviously cursed at us! Then we all started walking in the rain. It didn't shower for long; but we all got drenched and it helped us to cool down from the summer heat. We reached the top around 5:45 p.m and it was completely covered with mist. The visibility was too low and we really didn't have any view from the top.


At the top of Kotebetta

On the top, there is a small Shiva temple with short stone wall boundary and a small tree within its boundary. The temple is still under worship and we could see the coins offered to Lord Shiva and his Nandi. But, obviously as soon as we reached the top, before exploring the temple, the boys went in search of water and found two small pond like water source next to a small white building. After a short analysis, they found which one could be used for drinking; but, it is drinkable only after it is boiled. Anyway, Abhi had carried a small gas stove.

We then pitched tents and then went in search of some dry woods for the camp fire. Since it had rained for sometime, it was difficult to find dry wood. After some search, we managed to find some wooden boards. KumarG broke them into right sizes for the camp fire.

Out of 6, we made 2 groups of 3 each, one for cooking and the other for setting up the camp fire! KumarG, Abhi & Me took charge of cooking dinner and Jomy, Roop & Girish started working on setting up the camp fire. Due to heavy winds, they couldn't set up the fire. So, they wanted to use the gas stove for getting started. We then found out that, gas stove is malfunctioning and we can't use it :( We hoped that we can somehow setup camp fire and use that for boiling water. But, then it started raining with heavy thundering & lightening and we couldn't do anything. We only had 1.5 litres of water for all 6 of us and we used it meagerly. After couple of slices of bread, we all went to sleep with rain pouring heavily outside.


Refreshing morning at the top

In the morning, the guys managed to find some dry woods and could make fire. We used that for boiling about 5 litres of water for our use while climbing down from the hill. We also cooked MTR 'Ready To Eat' Bisi bele bath and Khara bath and made some tea for us. I must say it was luxury! We then relaxed for a while there walking around the place. The sky was clear and the view from the top was vivid. We could see few villages around and obviously quite some hills. It was a good view, but not stunning in any way. I really loved this place when it was misty and when I could only see the clouds and mist from the top. With this, I could imagine whatever the view I wanted it to be! :)

We then started to trek back around 9:30 a.m. Before we left, we offered coins to the temple. It took us about 2.5 hrs to reach back the point at which our taxi was waiting and it was a easy walk except for the scorching sun's heat.

On the rocks, in the water

We then reached Hattihole. We all were hungry and ate stomach full of good food at a small hotel in Hattihole. After our heavy lunch, we relaxed for a while in the front porch of the hotel and then went to the river in Hattihole. The river didn't have much water, but it was sufficient for us to calmly lie down under the shades, on the rocks, in the water. We were playing stone throwing! Fixing a rock as target and throwing stones at it! :) We then moved to about 5feet deep water point where Abhi, KumarG & Jomy were trying to swim. It was lot of fun staying in the water for so long. The place was very calm and soothing. After spending more than couple of hours at this place, we started back to Bangalore.

Trek Planner
Route :
Bangalore - Madikeri - Madapura - Hattihole - Jeep trail which leads to Kotebetta (Jeep) - ~20Km
From Hattihole, you can check for the Jeep trial which leads to Kotebetta
To reach top : 4 to 4.5 hrs for slow to normal pace trekkers to reach the top
Return : 2 to 2.5 hrs for slow to normal pace

In summer, carry lot of water. Based on information from other trekkers, I have heard that the water might not be always available on the top. However, we could find water on the top.

Bhandavgarh National Park, MP

From Kanha, we moved on to Bhandavgarh and stayed there for 2 days. Bhandavgarh was our last chance of spotting tiger in this trip.

Bhandavgarh National park (26& th 27th Dec)

For the first day morning safari, we didn’t have the vehicle booked by the hotel. In the morning, we went near the park gate (Tala) to find if someone can share their safari vehicle with us. After a hard search, we found an American who was ready to help us. We thought that we were lucky to get the jeep, and now our luck of spotting the tiger would soon follow :) After 3 days of safari in Pench & Kanha, I was not very keen in experiencing the forest. The forest here is very much like Kanha with Sal trees & Bamboos and I must say that the scenic beauty of this park didn't impress me. My only interest was in spotting animals, especially tiger since that was one of the biggest reasons for this trip. It is commonly said that, in Bhandavgarh the chance of spotting tiger is 99%. Before we planned for this trip, we heard from many people that there is no way that anyone could come back from Bhandavgarh without spotting a tiger. At least, we can spot the tiger in the ‘tiger show’. All these words made me feel very hopeful about spotting tiger in at least one of the three safaris that we have planned in Bhandavgarh.

We did all the three planned safaris in Bhandavgarh and in each of the trip we came out of the forest without spotting a tiger. I must say that I was disappointed after each trip and the hope of spotting the tiger was gradually wearing out. Every trip we made, we were always close to the tiger, but could never spot it. There was a time that a small tiger cub moved into a bush (spotted for very brief moment by a guide in another jeep) and didn't bother to come out for more than an hour of our waiting. It had two other siblings and the mother Tigress was not around. All of the jeeps waited there with the hope that mother would return in the evening. But, she didn’t come. May be she chose to take a different route that day! There was another time, when we heard a loud growl of the tiger - The guide mentioned that the sound is arising not from too far, and it should be within 100-200 meters off the road. It was really thrilling to hear the wild growl of the tiger. I wished that he comes out and gives me a look :) But, that didn't happen. Some other time, there was a deer in the meadow which got alerted and started making the alert calls. We waited there for a long time only to watch the paranoid lone deer.

Anyway, after 3 safaris we didn't spot a tiger in Bhandavgarh. The reasons mentioned by many were - It is winter and the tiger can easily settle inside the forest as the water reserve is high. Due to peak season, there are too many vehicles and many more such obvious reasons. But, how can all these be true only for Tala zone in Bhandavgarh? In the same forest, due to peak season, another zone named Magdi was opened up. The general idea is that the spotting of tiger in Magdi is difficult as it is denser than Tala. However, in one safari, there were 3 sightings of tiger and all the jeeps could spot them! So, the reasons quoted are just means of convincing people and does not really apply to the happenings. I say, it is mere luck! So far, we had 7 safaris in total in this trip and the luck didn’t bother to pass by my side. I went through height of disappointment and convinced myself that I would visit in summer again. Our driver was mentioning that "In winter, people ask if you spotted tiger, whereas in summer, people would ask how many tigers you spotted!".

After all the disappointing safaris, we were just wandering in the streets of Bhandavgarh. We had another half a day in Bhandavgarh and then our plan was to go to Khajuraho. The disappointment was really bothering me and decided to take another safari in Bhandavgarh, not wanting to miss a chance. I didn’t want to blame myself for just freaking out on the Bhandavgarh roads, instead of spending the time in the forest. But, the problem was we neither had permission nor the safari vehicle. Anyway, after some hassle, we ended up sharing it with few MBA students who had come from Pune. Now, in this final trip, I didn't have any expectation. I took this trip so that I don't later regret that I should have made another try somehow. Anyway after 3 hours of safari in the last trip, I didn't spot any tiger. We were coming to the end of our safari number 8 and all I saw was wild cat and mangoose! yee... But, wait! suddenly things changed. There were hoards of jeeps waiting in one area and our driver immediately understood the cause and rushed towards it. There she was! I saw a tigress doing her 'cat walk'. It was an absolute beauty. After walking for some time, she attempted to climb a tree - All her four paws on the tree and her tail waving in the air. What a scene to watch in the wild! It was one of my dream come true. The excitement maddened me for few moments - My luck was pushed to the last 5mins of my 33hrs of total safari time. Never mind, I got her in wild and it was an extraordinary moment (No photos though, since it was slightly dark and slightly far). It is one of the most unforgettable moments in my life and we moved out of Bhandavgarh with a success story to tell!

Our next stopover was Khajuraho and we headed towards it. Rest of it in the next posting.

Kanha National Park, MP

After Pench, we visited Kanha National Park and stayed there for 2 days.

Kanha National Park (23rd & 24th Dec)

On both the days, we went around the park in the morning. The park is about 2000 Sq.Km. and each safari lasted for about 6hrs. The mornings were really cold and I was typically quivering in the first hour of safari. After an hour, with sunlight passing through the tree gaps, the temperature in the air rose and the cold became manageable. Kanha is undoubtedly beautiful with lush green forest and huge meadows. Sal trees and bamboos are the prominent vegetation here. Anytime, Jim Corbett National park is the best park in India. Anyway, who can deny Kanha was the inspiration for Kipling's classic Jungle book and it reserves a special place among the Indian national parks. After all, it is one of the well maintained park in India.

For the safaris, Saleem and his friend Anand joined us. Saleem manages few safari vehicles in Kanha and he is also a naturalist. Anand is the manager of the resort we were staying at. Both of them are nature & wildlife enthusiasts. In the first few hours of our safari, we spotted lots of birds - Some of them which I still remember are Rocket tail Dracon, Seven Sisters, Woodpeckers, Golden Back Kingfisher, Parakeets, Plum Headed Parrots, Kites, Owlets and the rare Snipe. Lots of peacocks were freely moving around in the meadows and we spotted lots of Chital, Sambar, Barking Deer and Bison. We also saw the not so common Wild dog and Barasingha . Barasingha is present only in Kanha and is preserved here from extinction.


Here, in Kanha, I wanted to incentivize myself by spotting tiger in the wild. This was a highly motivating reason for me to visit the national parks this season. At many times, I came very close to spotting a tiger in this park, but didn't manage to see any. We saw fresh pug mark of a big male tiger which according to our guide, should have just crossed the road & moved inside the dense region. I also saw deers alerting each other with their alert calls - It was in a meadow and I was dreaming that a tiger is gonna come pouncing at the deer :) There were other missed chances like in the interior forest camp area, the male tiger was walking around freely for about an hour. We missed it by about 15mins. While going along a trail, first of the three jeeps spotted a tiger crossing the road. But, our jeep was 5th in the line and we couldn't watch that.

After such a long search for the tiger, I became desperate to spot the tiger in "The tiger Show". In tiger show, elephant mahouts spot a resting tiger and take people to that place by elephant so that the tiger don't get disturbed. On the first day of safari, Saleem had very high hopes of spotting the tiger in wild and we reached late at the centre where we need to register for the tiger show. We were 58 in number and the jeeps till 55 got to see the tiger! On the second day, we were a little proactive and enrolled for the tiger show earlier and were 13 in number. But, the tiger show didn't happen that day since the forest rangers couldn't find any resting tiger! There were many such instances happening through out our presence in Kanha national park. However, these didn't disappoint me as Bhandavgarh was next in our list.


In Kanha, other than the safari times, we spent our time walking around the small village. While walking around, I saw couple of trees with all its branches, full of butterflies. They belonged to same family (same color & pattern) and they were eating the tree leaves. It is the first ever time, I saw thousands of butterflies in one place! It was truly interesting to watch.

We had some of our meals at Mohan dhabha near the Khatia gate. Parathas & Lassi were very tasty. While you are there, I suggest you to try out this place. We met Mr. Yadav while we were traveling from Pench to Kanha. He is the owner of Pugmark resort in Kanha. He had invited us for evening tea and we visited him. He is very friendly, but very talkative too. He is an ex-army and police service man and was mentioning about his service experience to us. His resort is pretty good with fine rooms charged at nominal Rs.1200/- In Kanha, there are many resorts in this price range. For people caring for budget and cleanliness, these resorts are of good choice.

Kanha to Bhandavgarh

From Kanha to Bhandavgarh, it is about 400Kms and we had all of it to be covered in a day by regular local transport buses. We took the first bus at 6:30 a.m from Kanha and had to switch over to multiple buses at different points of our journey. The experience was all tolerable till 3p.m, after that it became really frustrating. The body started giving up and the back started complaining. But, I chose to travel by bus and got to do it. It is part & parcel of experiencing the local culture. After a long day of travel, we reached Bhandavgarh at 8:30 p.m and then came to know that Gypsy for the next day safari is not booked (though we have the permission to enter the park). We tried through different people to get a Jeep booked, but couldn't. We were too tired to do anything further & decided to take care of it in the morning.

Stopping here for now. I will post my Bhandavgarh experience in next posting.

Brief details on route to & accommodation at Kanha are at How to Reach & Where to Stay