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The last trip of our schooling years had finally been planned. The moment had come and we were nothing but excited. We’d planned about this for a while with a whole lot of surprises and things to do while we were out together, forget all record work, upcoming tests and just have fun.
It began on the cold morning of Friday, the 23rd of November. We were asked to assemble in the school at 3:30 AM and of course, no one was late. Ms. Sonali, Ms. Devika, and Ms. Livija were going to accompany us. The bus arrived and we all bid goodbye to our parents and left for the journey. We were so excited that no one acknowledged the fact that it was 4 in the morning. We played music and danced. Everyone brought a lot of food and chocolates to nibble on.
It was around 10:30 AM by the time we stopped for breakfast at a cute little place called “Cute Resort” near Ranganathittu. Fueled up for the rest of the journey everyone was energized and danced all way to Coorg where we checked into a place called “The Minister’s Kourt” near Kushalnagar.
We were asked to freshen up and rest for a while before we started our sightseeing. All of us checked in and made sure our rooms were close to those of our friends- how could they not? We had lunch at the hotel and left for our first tourist spot – Abbey Falls. The long journey to the mesmerizing falls was completely worth it. Even after reaching the falls we had to walk down a park to view the falls. Its one of the early reaches of the river Kaveri. A nice little place with amazing scenery, one of the must-see places in Coorg.
We then continued our journey to this place called “Raja’s Seat” which was more or less a sunset point, situated on a hilltop giving us the most breathtaking view of the majestic western ghats. The hilltops and blue color of the sky were just mind-boggling. All of us took loads of ‘instagram’ worthy pictures and made quite a few memories.
A few minutes away from the park was a famous temple, Omkareshwara Temple, which was a historical place. It was a large place with a holy lake in between. Lucky for us, it was Karthik Purnima (Karthikai Deepam) and we considered ourselves blessed to be present there on such an auspicious moment.
With the shining white full moon above our head, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we all got together in one room and spent some quality time together. Despite our teachers’ warning we only slept later after midnight.
The hotel was ‘kind’ enough to give us a wake-up call at 6:30 AM. Everyone took their time to freshen up and came down for breakfast by 8.
Our first stop for the day was the famous Dubare Elephant Camp. The most awaited part was the boat ride to the camp. We got in line for our turn and took the boat across the water body to look at some of the most fascinating animals to walk this earth. A whole bunch of elephants, some young, some old. We saw them involved in various activities including one trying to save its friend from a maze and another having lunch. It was something we enjoyed looking at. Some of us were also lucky enough to feed the beautiful creatures while the rest of us were dying to take one home.
This activity took a lot of time, and we made it back to the hotel for lunch at around 1 PM. Whilst we were there, we all checked out of our rooms and packed ourselves up for the journey back to Bangalore. This, of course, doesn’t mean we were done with the sightseeing.
We continued to two places after lunch – Kaveri Nisargadhama and the Tibetan Monastery. Nisargadhama is a beautiful park full of bamboos plants. Watching herds of deer sleep and chilling in the park was somehow the happiest moment of this trip. After some shopping (chocolates, coffee, hats) we made our way to the rides and games- The Columbus, 360 spin ride and the mirror maze to name a few. Some of them even managed to get temporary tattoos on their hands.
The second place was one of the most peaceful and beautiful places we’ve ever seen. Pictures don’t do justice to such a mesmerizing place. The monastery’s full name is Thegchog Namdrol Shedrub Dargyeling, called “Namdrolling or Namdroling” for short. We all learned a lot about Tibetan culture and had one of the best momos.
This marked the end of sightseeing and we started our journey back home. It was a fun filled 7 hours we spent on the bus with all the dancing and the food. We stopped at McDonald’s for dinner. It was around 1 AM when we reached school and had to bid goodbye, this time to our friends. It was a much-awaited trip for us and a much-needed break from all the stress. A shoutout to Amazing Holidays who planned the package and kudos to all the people involved in making this trip the best we’ve had.
Written by
Manali Tanna and Rishab Dhotrekar, Grade XII-A, Ekya School ITPL
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