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Members: Gopi, Ratish & Us
Day 1 (5th Apr):

Our next stop was near a lake not very far from there, for photography. The sheep being herded by shepherds, the beautiful lotuses in the water and the birds feeding themselves in the lake was quite alluring for taking snaps. We hit the roads again quickly after taking snaps for some thirty minutes.

By the time we reached Meppadi, everyone was completely tired. While re-fueling the car, we realized that we forgot to withdraw cash before leaving Bangalore and cards are not accepted at all at Meppadi. We desperately needed to withdraw cash from some ATM and managed to do that in a Federal Bank ATM. The hotel that we had booked looked a bit shabby. While we were waiting in the car, Gopi & Ratish went ahead and checked out the rooms and completed the check in. We got a room in the 3rd floor which was 'supposed' to be a deluxe room (with torn window screens). To park the car we had to do a bit of hiking and finally managed to squeeze the car through narrow lanes to park it behind the hotel. Everything here closes down by 8:30 pm, so we freshened up a bit quickly and started for dinner at 7:30 pm. It was a small restaurant just beside the hotel but the food was awesome. We had soft Kerala parathas, egg curry, fish curry, biriyani and mango juice. The fish curry was really tasty - typical Kerala style, made with tamarind and Kerala spices.
We decided to drop the idea of going for a walk after dinner since the roads were already very lonely. Back in the room, we called up couple of people in Kalpetta to arrange for the trek and camp on Chembra peak the next day. We were planning to trek half way through and put up tents for the night. Early morning we would have enjoyed the sunrise from those heights and climbed to the peak. Nothing concrete could be arranged as unfortunately the next day was a Sunday. We decided to try our luck the next day at Kalpetta and made a backup plan anyway, if we couldn't stay back on the mountains the next day, was to go to Edakkal Caves instead and splash in some waterfalls before coming back to Bangalore. We played cards for some time and watched the TV before going to bed early, looking forward for the next day.
Day 2 (6th Apr):

The path to Chembra peak is through a private estate. We had to drive through the estate to a bungalow, park our vehicles for a fee of Rs.20 and walk through the coffee estate for some distance till we hit the base of the mountain. There was a small watchtower at the base of the mountain from where the trekking path starts. By the time we started off from there, it was already around 11 in the morning. After the initial getting used to phase, we climbed at a steady pace till the lake. The area around the lake was pleasant and perfect for camping. The lake was heart shaped - nature's tribute to matters of heart. We went further up to the next level where there was a nice plain land where we took some rest and took some photographs. We could see the clouds hitting the Chembra peak and rolling over. The lake below looked like a jewel surrounded by the green grass.
It was already 2:30 by that time and we had 2 more peaks to go before the highest Chembra peak. We quickly climbed up the first one. Leepsa decided not to continue further from there. So I stayed back with her while Gopi & Ratish went further. It was decided that once they come back, I can go to the top and then come back while they stay with Leepsa. We (Leepsa & me) relaxed there for some time and experimented with the camera. It was getting darker and still there was no sign of Gopi and Ratish. I knew I can go to the peak anymore, so Leepsa & myself started climbing back slowly. Mobile phones were working even at that place! So it was a relief to be able to talk to them. Once at the base, we washed ourselves in the refreshing cool water flowing in a stream and waited for them, while watching the sun set.
Once back, we rushed back to Kalpetta to find some place to stay overnight. Most of the places were full, but found a small place after some searching to stay. Booked our rooms, went straight for dinner - similar spread of parathas and birianis. Once back in the room, had a nice clean bath and slept off. Gopi went on his night stroll.
Day 3 (7th Apr):

At Edakkal caves, we had to park our car at the foothills and take the jeep service up to the top at Rs.70 per jeep for a round trip. The road till the top has been cemented recently and the jeep just flew on those roads. From that place there is another short climb till the most popular cave with ancient cave drawings and writings. This is considered to be one of the earliest centers of human habitation, around 7000 years old. There are some inscriptions in a language similar to the ancient Pali language. After the tiring cave exploration, we had refreshing lime soda while waiting for the jeep to take us back.
Back at the parking lot, we also had ice creams to beat the heat and started off in the direction of Bangalore. We did not see a single wild life while coming back through the Bandipur forest roads. But we quickly forgot the disappointment as we watched a spectacular sunset just after we entered Karnataka, still quite some distance from Mysore. At Mysore, the palace was lit up that day, it being Ugadi. We did visit the palace for a short time before rushing back to Bangalore.
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