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When we hiked up the 620 stairs to the top of the mountain to see the "Gomateswara Monolith" we were surprised to find the scene in the picture. It is a metal detector. You can just imagine those dedicated terrorists climbing all the way up this mountain only to be disappointed that they have to turn back because they don't want to be found out by going through this metal detector! Of course, and don't tell anyone this secret(!), there was no one watching the detector when we were there! We also saw several people who took the easy way up the mountain. There are a number of relatively young men who spend time carrying these lawn chairs that are lashed to
poles up and down the mountain for the little money they earn. I think I read that it comes to about $2 each. The guys do a real service to the older people who feel they must get to the temple at the top, but like many jobs in India, it is very hard work.
On Sat. Feb. 7 we road from our hotel to the town of Chikamaglur. We didn't know much about this town and still don't, but we learned quite a bit too. We learned that it is one of the centers of coffee growing in India. Our driver got suggestions on places to see near here, so we let him guide us. We went through part of the city to the mountains and as we drove up we saw lots of what turned out to be coffee plants. They looked like shrubbery under a 
canopy of tall trees. More about that later. We didn't know exactly where we were going and the local people did not give the best directions to our driver, but we ended up on an 8 km drive up a very narrow road with lots of cliff on each side! Fortunately, there were very few cars coming down with which to contend for space on the road! The road was very winding too- did I mention? Winding AND narrow! We came upon a Hindu temple as we drove up and we stopped to look around. About 3 other cars stopped while we walked around. It seemed like a lonely place, but views were nice. The surrounding terrain was very nice. 
We continued up the mountain until we found a car stopped where the road turned to dirt. Scary red dirt. The last 1km or so was on this dirt road with some large pot holes- surely it is impassable by car in the rainy season. The other car had 4 people out for a little trek and they did not know that it was safe to proceed so they were about to abandon their car with it partly blocking this narrow, winding road with the scary red dirt! Our driver assured them they could drive on and they did. We followed at a safe distance. At the parking area ahead there were about 6 cars and one truck. The truck appeared to be leaving and we hoped they would be gone before we had to leave. Our driver said that they were on some sort of outing and the goat they had was to be their meal. We did not wish to participate. We began the long walk up. up, up many stairs- maybe not 620 like the day before, but enough to be painful. However, the views were great and there was a good breeze. We made it to the top of the mountain where we found an old temple with construction going on to expand it with a new temple. It was interesting, but not that much. We took in the views and walked back down to our car for the harrowing ride down the mountain on the scary red dirt covered winding narrow road. We were VERY happy that we did NOT meet any other cars on any part of the road where it would have been a problem. A couple days later we learned the name of the mountain is "Mullaiyanagiri" and that it is the highest peak in the state of Karnataka at about 6000 feet! 
We drove on down and down. The driver mentioned a water fall that was supposed to be not so far away. One of us said "Go"! The other said "only as long as the road is good"! Local people said the waterfall was about 22km away, which is a long way on a bad road, but we drove and passed a couple buses and cars going one way or the other until we got to a fork in the road. Here a guy said that while it was 22km to here, it is another 26km to the waterfall. We saw the lime green house shown in the picture on the hillside. The color IS bright! 
The food was mediocre, but the place was very nice. We also found that they could arrange a tour of a coffee plantation, so we did that. The guide took us almost all the way back t0 the scary red dirt. We walked around in the plantation and he told us about coffee and the history of it in India. The story is that a Muslim saint- "Baba Budan" brought 7 beans to India from Ethiopia and those were the start of coffee in India. The Dutch and later the British greatly expanded the coffee growing. The British bringing experts from Brazil to help and planting tall silver oak trees to provide the shade trees. There are 2 kinds of coffee plants- according to the guide- "arabica" and "robusto". The former trees producing for about 65 years and the later for about 90 years. The coffee beans are picked by hand and then dried on a stone platform for a few days then the outer hulls are removed. Inside there are normally 2 beans. When only one bean is present it is called a "peaberry". The beans are cleaned and sorted by size into 3 grades + peaberrys. The best are normally exported. We met the owner of the plantation and he said that 90% of his crop goes to ILLY in Italy. The beans are not roasted until they are ready to be packaged. "French Roast" or blend has chicory in 15-20% quantity. We left the plantation and went back to Chikamaglur to a coffee business where they roast the beans and package them. Knowing that the best beans may have been exported is not so encouraging, but we'll try the
coffee to see if we like it. In general, coffee in Bangalore seems good. We dropped off the guide and headed back toward Halebid. We wanted to see the place near sunset, and we made it just a little late, but got some good pictures anyway. We went back to the hotel to rest our weary knees and have dinner. The last picture shows a coffee plant- they trim them to be only about 5 feet tall since the women who pick the beans are generally no taller than 5 feet. The silver oak and other shade trees are all around. One of us said it was time to go back and we finally did. We went all the way back to town and then across town to have lunch at a nice hotel.
Note that you can double click on any of the images and get a larger view.Our human companions have not yet taught us how to make the black box light up so we can write when ever we want, so we have to wait until they make it light up and then we came write some about what we have been doing. They have not lit up the black box lately, so that is why we have not written. Oh! So much to say! We had lots of excitement when the little human like things came up to our balcony and wanted to play! They put a great little show for us, but they made a mess of things on the balcony! We wanted to go play with them, but maybe that would have been bad! Then just a few days ago the buzzing things that fly around outside came back and started to make a new home, but then they were gone again the next day and we don't understand where they went! Our humans went away last weekend and they want to write all about that. Maybe we'll say more later.
We humans did go away leaving fairly early Friday Feb. 6 and returning Sunday the 8th. We road in our car with our driver to an area west and a bit north of Bangalore to see some old temples and a coffee growing area. Bangalore is REALLY spread out and with the construction and traffic the trip to get outside the city was probably an hour's drive. The total time to reach our hotel was about 4 hours driving time.
Our first major stop was a site named "Sravanabelgola", but when you hear it pronounced it doesn't all that much like its spelled. The place is famous for 2 things. 
The first is the huge "Gomateswara Monolith" at the top of a solid stone mountain and the second is the number of people who die while climbing the 620 steps (count- 'em!) up to the statue! We were able to park close to the steps leading up. There were no lines of people waiting to watch the people dropping dead, so we checked our shoes (yes, you are expected to go barefoot or with only socks!) and began the long climb. We left the city about 45minutes late, so it was starting to feel hot at the mountain. We climbed and climbed... and climbed... and climbed and that was 80 steps... so we climbed and climbed. Finally, after a few more than 500 steps were were within an outer wall of the temples at the top. Up here there was a temple that we entered and were greeted by a guy who told us a little about it and then asked for a donation to support the repair of the temples. Our driver, Joseph, had told us the fees were very small- maybe 20 Rupees (40 cents). 
Joseph had not been to the temples in many years so he walked up too. He got into a bit of an argument with the guy asking for the donation and then told us to give him 50 Rupees. He later said that the donations are meant to be really donations, but the guy was insisting that we give 1500 Rs. Fortunately, we let him do the arguing and we found out later what it was about. In any case, we got a slip of yellow paper as a receipt, which came in handy later when another guy asked for a donation. we just waved the slip and he said "ok". The view from the top of the mountain was fabulous, though the sky was hazy, so it interfered with the view. After the first temple, we hiked up more stairs to the main enclosure where there were many more steps and then more steps until we reached the main enclosure. At the top we walked through a metal detector that was unmanned, but we felt safe enough. We didn't have the feeling there were many terrorists climbing the mountain at this time of day. Once inside the main enclosure we looked around a little and then walked inside the final enclosure and there, before us, was the 57 foot tall "Gomateswara Monolith" . It is impressive that it has been carved out of a single piece of rock- looks like granite- The date given for the temple and monolith is about 980AD, but we don't know if that is really about the time it was carved or if that date is based on some other event on the mountain. The facilities are set up to handle a lot more people because every 12 years there is a huge pilgrimage to this site for ceremonies that follow. The last one was in 2005. We walked around the monolith and then outside the temple to see the many carvings that appear to be very old. It seems obvious that the monolith was carved in place a very long time ago. We then walked down the mountain. There is another temple complex on a neighboring mountain, but we chose not to walk up and down that one. At the bottom we picked up our shoes and were inundated by the usual souvenir salesmen. We bought a couple postcards, but it is always risky- once you buy one, then other sellers smell the rupees and swarm around. We saw this in Cambodia a year ago.
We drove on to Hassan.
Our driver knew a bypass road so we missed the center of the city. He said we'd get stuck there and there was not much we would want to see. The guide books describe it as not having much to offer- except some h0tels. We continued west of the city on the "Belur" road to our hotel- the "Hoysala Village Resort". We picked this place based on the guide books which described it as very pleasant and with a good restaurant that serves some western style food. We had difficulty making the reservation. We had trouble reaching them by phone and the internet method of booking that they finally told us to use, failed miserably. We finally called and made the reservation by phone and took the guy's name. Check- in was no problem. We stayed 2 nights and found it pleasant. The restaurant was not so great, but adequate, and the staff was very friendly. There was a stone carver on the premises demonstrating his craft, which was interesting, but most of his examples were simple trinkets, though he had a few nicer ones. We wanted to see more, but he was not around when we were there at other times. The hotel also has a magician who plays a little music and does tricks. We saw hime 3 times as we passed by, but we did not have time to see his act until the last day- and then he was not there. We read that his act was worth seeing. Over the next couple days we learned that this hotel is a favorite stopover for tour groups. While we were there we saw a large French group and a small German group and an even smaller Italian group plus we two Americans. We read that there are not so many tourists in this area. We ate lunch.
We next road to Halebid or Halebeedu or one of the other variations. Here we came to a large stone temple with quite a few people around- including some school groups.
At first the place looked un- impressive but as we got closer we could see that it was nearly covered in carvings! As we got closer we were awed by to intricacy of the carvings and the depth of the carvings in the stone- it is remarkable! The Temple dates from around 1200 AD. Inside was also quite remarkable. We learned that this temple is different from one at Belur in that it is larger because it houses 2 shrines (Don't know the proper name, so we say "shrine"). There are numerous columns inside that seem to be perfectly round. The guide books say they were made on a "lathe", which makes sense, but lathes in 1200 AD had to be rather simple.
Most of the colums had carving that could not have been done on a lathe. We took lots of pictures!
The temple is an example of "Hoysala Architecture". The one at Belur and one we missed at Somnathpur- near Mysore are the other well known examples. We did not see stone carvings so intricate in Thailand or Cambodia. We learned that the stone is "Soapstone" which is easy to carve and this partly explains why they were able to carve to such depths. We road back to our hotel feeling tired from the climb up and down the mountain. Bad knees don't like walking on stone very much! It was great start to the long weekend!
Our driver spoke to the maid who was checking on Ziggy and Zoe and she told him that some monkeys were on our balcony and making a bit of a mess. We learned this when we returned. The driver didn't tell us at the time because he thought we'd find it distressing- and we would have been more worried. We don't think Ziggy and Zoe would win a fight with monkeys, though they might put up a good struggle once they recognized the dangers. We'll add more later.
A fee of Rs 150 was collected by someone else and this was probably shared. We later gave him a tip as well. In the first picture above- he is the guy in the striped shirt. He took us to the Hoysala temple at the center of the complex first- this is apparently the oldest part. He told us about some of the other buildings as well- and said they are newer additions though they looked quite old. One thing we have noticed is that it is very difficult to judge the age of buildings that we 
have seen. There are buildings in Bangalore that look like they should be 150 years old, but then we see a date of 1936 or something. There was a large tower at the entrance to the complex with all sorts of Hindu gods on it- these are what we are used to seeing. He said this is newer and dates from the 1600's. Our main interest was the amazing carved stone decoration of the Hoysala period temple. He pointed out that it has 42 finely carved sculptures. 39 are female figures. The intricacy of the carving seems even more remarkable than that at Halebid! The temple is on a platform or "plinth" which has a sort of "star shape"- apparent typical of the 1100-1200 period. Like the one at Halebid, this has finely carved columns inside. two of these columns are of special note because they have carvings all over the surfaces. The decoration is remarkable! One guide book said that this temple is older than the one at Halebid and in less good condition, but we did not notice that at all. We did notice that the government has installed light fixtures all over the Halebid temple and this detracts from it. We also learned that while they installed all the lights, then never had them connected to a source of electricity!
toward home in Bangalore. We stopped once on the return for a light lunch and the return trip took a total of 4 hours. On the return trip we saw a few interesting sights. In one picture we see a sort of tunnel formed over the road by some large banyan trees.
