Slow Living in Coorg

Coorg, a nature escape near Bangalore

Coorg was chosen as the birthday destination of our soon-to-be teenager son. Not very far from Bangalore, yet it is very much the quintessential dreamy, peaceful, and verdant Kodagu land nestled in the Western ghats. We decided to take our Nemo (pet beagle) with us to complete our birthday celebrations and hence chose a pet-friendly AirBnB to accommodate us. Our family celebrations wouldn’t have been complete without our little Nemo 🙂

The Cottage

This is the very name of our AirBnB property where we stayed over the weekend and indeed the cottage was a charming one – a picture of serenity, surrounded by tall trees and sweet smelling coffee blooms spread acres and acres around it. It is a wonderfully maintained property with good service, good home made food and smiling attention. No wonder the host is termed a super host with 5-star ratings. Away from the city centre, the cottage is a wonderful place to experience slow living in earnest.

Slow Living in Coorg…

We were experiencing slow living in Coorg.

Slow living is an antidote to the modern fast-paced living which we city-dwelling humans often seek when on such a vacation.

Taking a deep breath, chatting with your loved ones over peals of laughter; taking long walks in the blooming coffee plantation enjoying the green vistas all around you; admiring your pet for all the innocence and zeal for life that he displays, relishing delicious healthy food with your family thrice a day, cherishing the variety served, starting a book to find out if you like it enough to be glued to it till the very end or tossing it away to find another interesting one, counting the blessings from the Almighty and being thankful…..

This is what we did…

We did not strive to go out and cover all the tourist spots by driving from one spot to another, neither did we book any activities that would have demanded punctuality or focus from us. We just decided to linger on in the Kodagu land aimlessly and enjoy ourselves to the hilt.

The birthday started with no definite plan in mind. We just knew that we would be pampered with a sumptuous breakfast soon by our host. Delicious home-made rice balls with sweet Coorgi style coconut-yogurt chutney had already tickled our taste buds and if that culinary delight was not enough, our walk in the plantations presented us with another equally delightful surprise.

The Plantation Walk

As we went deep into the plantations we were struck by a rather wonderfully sweet fragrance that left us wondering as to where this is emanating from. And soon we were in the midst of these pristine white blooms that had covered the plantations around us. They looked so pretty white in colour against the deep green of the plantations and the dark brown of the muddy path below.

Weren’t we supposed to be in a coffee plantations whose beans have a strong bitter taste and a strong enigmatic aroma. Yes, the coffee plants had bloomed! The coffee blooms are in absolute contrast to its beans. It had never occurred to us that coffee plants too can bloom. Obviously they can, but we had never given a thought to it. They just bloom for 72 hours or so and then wither away. We had always associated coffee with names like robusta, arabica, Starbucks, CCD and even civet but never ever to such beautiful blooms.

We enjoyed the walk the entire rest of the morning admiring nature all around us and returned a little hungry, a little enthralled, and just happy 🙂

Lunch @Evolve Back

The rest of the day was staring down at us and we decided to step out of our cottage. Well, we drove with an intention to find a temple nearby to get some blessings for our dear birthday boy and were heading towards a well-reviewed restaurant when we were stopped in our tracks by our sweet old memories. We passed a board by Evolve Back which a decade ago was known by the name of Orange County.

Rings a bell, doesn’t it? Click here to access my old blog when it was known by its old name.

Evolve Back beckoned us and we booked ourselves a table by the lake at its Peppercorn restaurant. But before that, as luck would have it, we spotted the Chamundeshwari temple signboard right next to the road leading to Evolve Back. A narrow dirt lane took us to a vast open field surrounded by tall trees and in the midst of all that greenery was this serene temple. Nothing much to boast about its architecture (appeared to be a modern temple) but the place was full of positive vibes. The pujari (priest) did an aarti for us and gave us prasad. That was all I wanted for my boy that day… God’s blessings 🙂

The birthday boy and us were then pampered by a six-course lavish meal by the banks of that lake adjoining the Dubare forest reserve. These pics and videos will do justice more than words. So here you go:

So when is your next vacation in Coorg to experience the slow zeal of life 🙂

Adios…