Belum Caves, the second longest caves in India

 Another lovely place for a weekend getaway from Bangalore that can be combined with Gandikota. 

After a great experience at Gandikota on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, we headed towards 

Belum Caves at around 60 kms. We could see Belum Caves from a distance as it was marked with 

stones on a mountain. As we came closer we could also see the huge Buddha that is planted above

 the caves! 

Very well maintained place and unlike Gandikota, Belum Caves had some visitors.We got a guide who 

could speak English. He took us around 1.5 Km distance inside the cave that is available for tourists. 

Overall 3.5km have been explored till now. We got another surprise to know that Belum Caves are 

the second longest in India! They seem to be geographically, historically and spiritually significant 

as there were Jains and  Buddhist monks who lived in these caves centuries ago. 

Residents of the caves!

The underground water has washed out the soft lime and made patterns on these rocks

This is called Patalalinga where you can spot a stone in the shape of "Linga" near a water source.

We could feel the place getting more and more humid. The guide mentioned the interiors of caves are 

always at around 30 deg C and at 80% humidity! The AP tourism has done a good job with strong 

blowers and good lighting inside the caves.

While returning, the guide took us through a shortcut with a very narrow space. We had to crawl the whole stretch for around 2-3 mins. It was fun! :)

After having good lunch at a restaurant in Belum Cave premises, we headed back to home! Again a lovely drive!

We stopped on the highway to take a shot of the lovely sunset. 

After the wonderful experience at "The Grand Canyon of India" and the second longest caves of India, we are now more inspired to explore such places. 

Gandikota, the Grand Canyon of India

We were surprised that we did not know about the existence of such a marvelous place close to Bangalore. Very grateful to Arun and Mithun, for their detailed travelogues http://arunthetraveller.blogspot.in/2012/02/gandikota-visiting-indias-grand-canyon.html and http://mithunonthe.net/2011/12/24/weekend-drive-bangalore-to-gandikota-gorge-hills-fort-guide-photos/#axzz2g4NST9WZ. 

 The drive on the entire stretch was mind blowing. AH 43 and NH 7 are extremely beautiful. I felt like driving on autobahn. And there were hardly any vehicles on this stretch. Even SH 57 and the country side roads are very nicely maintained. 

Trummelbach Waterfalls, Switzerland

Neither words nor pictures can really describe the beauty of these gorgeous waterfalls. The loud thundering and roaring of the waters falling from a total height of around 450 feet is mesmerizing. The freshness of the just melt waters from the snow and ice around Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains freshens up your mind body and soul.

The guy who operates the elevator is simply amazing. Though his job is to just get batch after batch of people to the top, he greets everyone with such energy and enthusiasm, it feels like he is in joy all the time :) 

One of those places, I can go any number of times.. :) Been twice and would love to visit it again and again. 

The mighty waterfalls has carved it all..!! Try following the flow of water and it gives a sense of depth.

Best thing is you can climb the stairs all along the waterfalls. Its amazing! :)

The natural light from the top and the focus lights beautifully light up the sculptures carved by the waters.

Doesn't this rock feel like a thirsty man gulping all the waters?

View from the top. How I wish I lived in the house, the one closest to the waterfall :)

Jungfrau mountain peak viewed from the top of Trummelbach. You can also spot a couple of them paragliding in this pic. I with my sister and my friend wished so much to para-glide along these mountains. Unfortunately, we ran out of time.

Czech Republic: A paradise

I can call it a dream. Czech Republic is beauty beyond expression. I cannot imagine a particular place in the whole of my Czech Republic experience that looked less beautiful. Lush greenery,  smoky mountains,  mirror-like lakes were doubling up the beauty. It felt like every element there, like the trees, mountains, lakes, were connected with one another and shared something very deep. And being there, felt like those elements absorbed us into the beautiful oneness and our hearts were following the rhythm of the lovely song of nature. The impressions are so strong that just closing the eyes are bringing back the rich colors, the scents, the wonderful memories I had there. Though these memories are from the past, they are overriding the present and still giving the feeling of oneness with the nature. Can I call  this a timeless experience? Ain't it wonderful? :)

Thanks to Landal, http://www.landal.com/gb-en/holiday-park/czech-republic/south-bohemia/marina-lipno (exact location where we stayed) for the wonderful accommodation in lovely apartments facing amazing landscapes, and for the great facilities like bikes, pools, sauna, boats, restaurants etc. And with amazing prices and offers. 

Also my warm regards to the lovely bunch of dearest friends who share similar preferences in enjoying nature rather than plan crazy schedules to cover more places and stuff. Looking forward to more such landal trips dear buddies. :)

One amazing experience that made my thoughts stronger on " the journey being more important than the destination ". More than where we went to, it was the lovely drives that made our trip all the more beautiful.

Landal houses viewed from the lake.

View from our balcony. The scene that was just dark grey got dramatic in a few minutes as soon as the non-stop rain finally stopped and the clouds drifted. The colors got brighter and brighter and the whole landscape looked HDRish. This pic is a normal capture and not an HDR.

Another lovely view from the balcony. We  spent our mornings just sitting in the balcony, sipping coffee, enjoy long breakfasts and watch the endless beauty of these smoky mountains.

A close up of the houses on the mountains.

 This was my first ever experiment with long exposure after buying the remote controller. The image was taken during late night when there was absolutely no light. It was pitch dark. The awesomeness of long exposure is that it makes things visible even during complete darkness. I was totally lost in the "wowness" after looking at this pic.. :) Thanks to Raghu and Shruti specially for accompanying me with my crazy experiments amidst freezing cold and waiting for very long duration to release shutter and a lot of trail and error in fixing the parameters in getting a good, low-noise pic.

Fun-group! :) 2 cars with large spaces would run out of space in carrying our luggage for our weekend trips that had mainly lots and lots of  food items. Enjoyed cooking and eating yummy food with you all.

A perfect day for a motor boat ride. Each one of us took turns in driving the motor boat and traversed along the lovely landscapes for almost half a day.

Raghu peeping out of the cabin :). Was fun making pics of all such creative poses of all of us.

We din't plan much for Czech Republic as the weather forecast showed us continuous rainfall all through the weekend. Nevertheless, the rain would stop once in a while when we would  go out and roam around. Once, we accidentally came across the trampoline close to our apartment. That turned out to be one of the best moments where we had a lot of fun.

A creative shot from a rare perspective capturing all smiles :) Love you all!