It’s the middle of the month..

It is the middle of the month..

I saw this strip in Yahoo comics (Arlo and Janis for 15th of July) and remembered its been more than a week since my last post..so what’s happening.

Well, we had Mohsin and team (numbering 10) who joined us on the 4th of July, of these folks 9 of them joined in rafting also.

Then we had Arun and team (numbering 4) who joined us on the 4th of July, again they too joined us for rafting

We had Kaustab and team (numbering 5), they were not staying with us but joined for rafting.

We had Sunil and team numbering 11 gentlemen who came to Bethel. This team was very different from the usual crowd that comes to Bethel, each of these gentlemen were 40+ years of age and had become friends over the years. What was common among them all ? How did they meet ? Well, all of them were morning walkers in the same park in Bangalore and became friends over the many miles that they walked there!!! — yup, some groups are special.. and we are lucky to host them.

Then we had Pravin and his wife Shalini who joined us on the 10th of July.
and Nagesh and his wife Hitha who joined us on the 11th of July.

Apart from the folks who stayed with us we also had Misha and Sarita who joined for rafting on the 10 of July

We also had Shiva and team (numbering 10) from Hyderabad whose stay we arranged in Ramcaud home stay near Iruppu falls joining us for rafting on the 12th of July

With this our rafting count has become 46 as of date!!

Again, To know more about white water rafting, please go to http://www.bethelestate.com/rafting.html
or you can contact us at the following numbers for bookings and any help
Anish: +91 9972361564
Rakesh: +91 9972362052
Rakesh: +91 9448201771

The tariff is Rs 1000 / head.

We are in the Financial Express!!

Check out the Sunday Financial Express ( July 5th) — we are there..
Read the article online http://www.financialexpress.com/news/at-home-for-a-price/485123/2

High waters and Nepali instructions!!

It is all happening now!!

We have had a few very good rains and the Barapole river is in the full spate…Rafters of the world — be there!!

Yesterday, we had Suresh babu and team at the Barapole, of the 12, 9 decided to go for it. We had three rafts hitting the water, guided by Dhawa, Mahendra and Rana. The fourth guide Subash joined our team of Rakesh, Manju and Mukesh in our raft.

Our raft guided by Dhawa was the lead and rescue raft — While we were at it, we decided to try something unique .. In our raft were three Nepali speakers.. Dhawa, Subash and Mukesh and the others Manju and Rakesh do manage a smattering of Nepali so it was decided that today, All rafting instructions will happen only in pure Nepali language. And we did it perfectly too

For the first time in his life, Dhawa guided a full raft giving white water rafting instructions in pure Nepali

What can I say, we love to do stuff..:-)

Well, our rafting head count is now 12.
To know more about white water rafting, please go to
http://www.bethelestate.com/rafting.html
or you can contact us at the following numbers for bookings and any help
Anish: +91 9972361564
Rakesh: +91 9972362052
Rakesh: +91 9448201771

The tariff is Rs 1000 / head

First Rafting Review!!

Vivek who was with us last weekend and was the first to go rafting this season has given us a review. Check it out here.
http://www.raahi.com/hotel-reviews/the-bethel-home-stay-coorg/close-to-nature-22740.html#rev

Strike one…

Last year, the 2008 White water rafting season started of on the 4th of July weekend, this year the season has started a week earlier.

The first batch of rafters that hit the water were all V’s.. Vineeth, Varun and Vivek! Vineeth was with us a year ago in peak rafting season, this time he was the first to hit the water..umm.. literally

The season has just begun and the water level has not peaked yet, low water levels means that the rafting is more technical and you bump into obstacles more often. You really need to buckle down and make sure you are strapped well — apparently Vineeth was not as careful as he should have been, he flew off the raft at the Grasshopper rapid as the raft bumped into a rock and needed to be rescued.

The Barapole river offers the wildest white water rafting experience in South India with rapids becoming level 4 in peak season. A successful run i.e a non eventful one, is a combination of great guides, proper training and gear and of course a whole lot of luck . Thankfully we have good quality equipment, great guides who conduct the rafting at Barapole, the training program includes rafting commands and even rescue techniques. Folks are amply prepared for the river ahead of them and the challenges it throws at them.

Getting thrown of the raft and being rescued is common and even a lot of fun — in fact, a part of the training and I think the most popular part, is making sure you are thrown off the raft and rescued by your team mates!!

Still, Barapole river is not a theme park and even experienced rafters need to be very vigilant at all times as Rakesh found out, after Vineeth was rescued, Rakesh started to explain the nuances of holding on to the raft..and before he could complete his statement.. he was thrown off the raft

All in all it was a great start to the season, with a lot of fun and lot of adventure!! For all the folks reading this, stop, and get there for the best white water rafting experience in the whole of south India!!

You can find details about rafting here
http://www.bethelestate.com/rafting.html
Tariff: Rs 1000 / head
Contacts for booking:
Anish: +91 9972361564
Rakesh: +91 9972362052
Rakesh: +91 9448201771

Coorg White Water Rafting 2009 Season begins!!

It’s here folks!!!

The 2009 White water rafting season has finally begun!!!
The first batch of rafters hit the water today. The tariff for the season has been set for Rs 1000 / head.
For folks who want to know more about white water rafting in Coorg, you can go here
http://www.bethelestate.com/rafting.html

Before we go ahead into the season,here are a few images from the 2008 season

White Water Rafting, Barapole River, Coorg – 2008

See the same slideshow here (with sound)

Back in action!!

Last week we got back in action, we had Hema and team who joined us, we also had Nirmal and Gill joing us.

Gill has give us a review in Trip advisor, you can read about it here

Taking a break..

The meterologists were all certain that the monsoon would be a week ahead of schedule and would reach Kerala by the 24th May… turns out it effectively didn’t

Monsoon is a big deal for us, Coorg receives one of the highest rainfalls in the country — the good is that this tropical rain forest springs to life with lush greenery everywhere, the waterfalls are in their full splendor, rivers rise and in spate….and the best of all, White Water Rafting in the best location of south India begins!!, the bad is well..it rains..and rains and rains..and guess what..it rains some more!!!!

For us preparing for rain means, well, buttoning the hatches!! Get protective covers for all the roofs, make sure everything is waterproof and well covered, generator rooms, kitchen, et. al is revisited in preparation of the anticipated rains

Bethel has been shutdown from the 1st of June, we will be back on the 19th of this month with Hema and family joining us..

All about reviews..

Just as we got the folks who don’t like us, we also have folks who enjoyed being with us, here are some of the new reviews we got.

Satish, from Chennai, was with us in April. He came with his wife and daughter, here is his review in HolidayIQ
http://www.holidayiq.com/Coorg-hotel-reviews-Bethel-Home-Stay-9611-14263-It-was-my-first-experience.html

The we had Ram from Hyderabad who, came with his wife Shoba and 3 year old son, you can read his review here
http://www.raahi.com/hotel-reviews/the-bethel-home-stay-coorg/great-place-to-unwindfantastic-host-22527.html#rev

Here are a couple of photographs from Ram and family,

The Ram family with Rakesh

The Ram family with our staff

You can see the complete set of photographs from their trip here
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYuGTVs0YuGLCOA

Finally we had Prasad, Prasad was our very first webby’s ..i.e. Our first ever guests who came to Bethel by finding our website!!!
he was with us, exactly a year later, he review is here
http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g503697-d1028241-Reviews-Bethel_Home_Stay-Kodagu_Karnataka.html

What do u do with old tyres ? You retrade them :-)

What to you do with old tyre’s ? Well, you, ahem, retrade (rethread) them

Re-Trading (Re-threading) Tyres