Kanyakumari Trip

I cannot get over Kanyakumari.
The beautiful ocean view lingers in my mind
The thriving waves echo in my heart
The colors of the ocean paint my vision
A voice from the nature calls my soul

And this post gets delayed forever. My life has become hectic. I am not sure about what to give priority. Naturally, the one that does not pay but gives satisfaction got a backseat. It is around 12:50 in the night of a weekend. I am in front of my computer, staring at windows and suddenly got that urge to write with a delusive imagination that there definitely will be atleast one future reader : myself :-) And I am not sure if I will be able to complete it this time either.

And again a fortnight later, another attempt to add more details.

Introduction
Well. We had been planning for the kanyakumari for a long time. That beautiful image of southernmost tip of India used to linger in our minds. Finally, we decided to jump and go on a travel mission. This, we decided soon after we came back from Pondicherry.

Planning for the Trip
We looked at differen options of going to Kanyakumari. Naturally, two prime ones were by bus and by train. After some thought, we decided to go by train. Next was the search for the trains available. The train that we found was Kanyakumari. We went ahead and booked the tickets.

The Journey
I must say that Kanyakumari express is one of the slowest train and it can be extremely boring. The train left the Bangalore Central station in the night around 9:30 p.m. And it reached Kanyakumari only the evening of the next day. But the scenery of the journey is awesome. All over the journey were scenes of backwaters. What a heavenly sight it is.











At Kanyakumari

• Stay

We reached Kanyakumari around 6:00 p.m We had a booking at Vivekananda Ashram at Vivekananda Puram. We heard that it is a simple and inexpensive place and yet pretty good. So we wanted to try that out rather than a usual hotel. After getting down at railway station, we headed out for Vivekananda Puram in an auto rickshaw. Cost us Rs. 20. The station is around 2 kms from the Vivekananda Puram.

• Vivekananda Puram

We stayed in a small 2 bedroom accomodation. I must say that the room is pretty ordinary and like a hostel. But who cares? I didnt as loong as the environment is good. And we were not disappointed. The campus is awesome. It is quiet, simple and full of greenery. There were museum, temple, canteen etc. Even they have their own beach area.

• Sunrise
  

Vivekananda puram folks have their own beach from where sunrise could be enjoyed. So we woke early in the morning and walked through the nice garden of Vivekanandapuram and waited for the sun rise. I must say the sea was ferocious. The sunrise view was brilliant.

• Vivekananda Rock
  

There are ferries that take people to the rock. It feels like meditating here. The ferries take Rs. 20 per head to go to Vivekananda rock. It started raining as soon as we were about to catch the ferry. But thankfully, the clouds cleared. And we could enjoy the beauty on the rock.

• Other Places of Interest : Kumari Amman Temple, Wax Museum et al
  

Kumari Amman Temple is right on the shore. You have to drop off your cameras outside, open your shirts and then go in. Wax Museum is a place recently opened in Kanyakumari and hosts the wax statues of some celebrities.

• Return Journey
  

After two days of fantastic stay at Vivekanandapuram, it was time to bid adieu. The time was at around 10:00 a.m in the morning. A slow train, moving through the beautiful parts of the country. All along the route were backwaters, mountains and everything that make you dream and think "If I had a house here" :-)



The train finally reached Bangalore early in the morning.

• Epilogue

A great trip, a great place. Makes you feel like go back and enjoy the peace in the beauty of the Vivekanda Rock and the peace of Vivekananda Puram

Part V - In Mangalore and Return

In Mangalore
After reaching mangalore around 10 a.m in the morning, we were thinking what to do? As expected, nothing was planned for this leg. Lots of things to do though. First and the foremost was to try was a train reservation to bangalore. Folks told me that the bus journey is horrible and should be avoided. But well we couldnt be choosers at that moment and decided to just book some reservation and try our luck. As expected, it was on waiting list. Once that done, the next most important thing for the hungry souls was breakfast. Went straight to taj Manjuran without realizing where we are headed to. Ordered some idlis. I am not sure what special were these but 2 idlis definitely cost me Rs. 180. :-) Just so you know I am not a miser. But I cannot justify certain things too.

After breakfast, we decided that we will not roam around to all the places possible. Rather, we wanted to go to one place where we can peacefully sit. Without knowing whether we will get peace or not, we decided to go to Kadri Manjunath temple. As we got down the autorickshaw, we started looking around to see where is Kadri Manjunath temple that was so much talked about in travel books. It was a small gopuram from outside. We looked at each other and thought what a hype this could be.

BUT WE WERE WRONG. This was a huge complex inside. That explained why this temple is talked so much about. There were many temples inside this complex. And it was not crowded. It was peaceful. It was like the playing compound of a house that reminded me of my grandparents house. We slowly walked around, visiting each and every temple in the complex, resting under the trees wherever possible. Some of the beautiful aspects of this temple were :

• No restrictions on cameras and camcorders
  
• Not crowded
  
• Peaceful
  
• Lots of shades to take rest
  
• Awesome free lunch

After lunch, we rested in a shade inside the compound for some time and went into the contemplative mood. Soon it was time to get back to the railway station to check our reservations were confirmed or not.

As we were stepping out of Kadri Manjunath temple, we were thinking that may be this has been the best place we have visited. Where there was so much of peace and tranquility. And we thought, no visit to Mangalore could be complete without visiting this blissful place.

Return
Well!!as we were expecting, we could not get our reservation confirmed. So rather than waiting long, holding hands of TT, greasing his hands, we thought we would rather come back by bus. And guess what, we got the last two seats of the last Airavath bus that was available from Mangalore to Bangalore. Holiday return rush huh!! And man that was one painful bus journey. Throughout it seemed to me as if the driver was on a suicide mission with all of us rallying behind him :-) No it was not fun. All the body parts went for a toss. My wife's sandals skid and went to the front of the bus. There was this AC exhaust or somethign that was right under my leg. And throught the night I would step on it, burn my leg , wake up and then go back to sleep. :-) Believe me, that was not fun. So go for a train if you can.

Summary

• Overall fun trip. But tiresome
  
• If you visit Mangalore, make sure you drop by K M temple and spend some time here in introspection
  
• If you are returning to Bangalore, return by train.
  
• This travelogue ends here. If you are planning a trip to the regions I have shared my experiences with, please feel free to contact me if you need any more information. Adios on the travelogue till my next travel.
  
• Keep reading this blog for other topics and my intelligent view points :-) Yeah Right!!
  

Part IV - Bekal Fort Trip

Murudeshwar to Mangalore
Verna - Mangalore passenger train passes through Gokarna and Murudeshwar on its way to Mangalore. So when leaving Murudeshwar, we decided to catch the same train to Mangalore. The train was 1 hour late when it reached Murudeshwar. It was supposed to take around 3 hours to reach Mangalore but it delayed further and by the time we reached Mangalore I think it was almost 10:00 p.m. We were definitely very tired due to constant roaming around and extreme heat. The fact that the remaining part of the journey was pretty much open ended and unplanned was making it further difficult in deciding what to do. What ensued was a high voice debate with hungry stomach. First we thought we will just stay the next day in Mangalore and then come back to Bangalore. But it was already very late and the hotels were charging too much. So we thought, to hell with staying in hotels tonight. We decided to move ahead and travel to Bekal Fort.

Mangalore to Kanhangad
Once decide, I went to the enquiry to find out if there is a train to Kanhangad. The next train was only at 4:00 a.m and that was Parashuram Express from Mangalore to Trivandrum. Kanhangad was the third stop after Mangalore. So we waited at the Mangalore station till 4:00 am. What was comforting was that, unlike other stations, here there were no repeating advertisements on TVs. Rather, there were some nice songs playing on FM radio. That was nice time pass. But one horrible thing was too many mosquitoes. Good that we had Odomas with us. So I put it on everywhere on my body and was very happy to see the mosquitoes getting repelled away :-) . Throughout the night we were half asleep and half awake. By the time, the train left at 4:00 a.m, we were unable to open our eyes and were scared that we might miss Kanhangad. But thankfully, I could keep my senses alert and got down at Kanhangad after around an hour of departure from Mangalore. With whatever eyes open, I knew for sure that this journey was fantastic with full moon lighting up the vast sea like a silver plate and coconut trees decorating the sea coast. Oh what a view it was. Just plain brilliant and the only feeling was to just to sleep on a boat in the middle of the sea in that beautiful full moon.

In Kanhangad
We reached around 5:30 a.m. It was pitch dark, the place completely unknown but the station, though small was sweet and well lit. As we came, there was only one auto. All we said was Hotel Bekal International. He nodded his head in NO. But it was actually a yes. So we got in having no clue where we are being taken. But pretty soon, we were brought to Hotel Bekal International. The hotel room was around Rs. 300. But it was pretty ordinary. After taking a short nap, waking up, freshening up, having breakfast, we took a small stroll in the hot sun to reach a bus that was to take us to the Bekal fort. It took us around 20 minutes by bus to reach the Bekal fort. The place huge. We got excited to see the fort and I started clicking around with my camera :-) Then we reached the gate and there you go. Rs. 25 for camera and Rs. 25 for cam corder. The Government has to squeeze money out at every chance it has. Well we paid and went in. Aww!!! did we come at a wrong time? Where is the green grass? Why is it all yellow? May be Maniratnam shot his movie in the rainy season. Thats true!! The hero and heroine were all seemed to be drenched in that movie :-) Well, the fact is, it was not as close to how it was portrayed in the movie. So the smart thing is to go during monsoons and get drenched. Thats when the fun is. But the beauty was the view of the ocean. After the fort, we went to the beach. And here again, Rs. 25 for camera and Rs. 25 for camcorder. :-( Later we came to know that there is a side way to escape this pain. :-) So if you are visiting the beach, look for the side way. We came out via the side way.

By the time we finished visiting the fort and the beach and came out, it was almost 3:00 p.m. Tired, no food, hungry. Went to hotel and took some rest. We were now like in the mood to just get back home in Bangalore. That was 24th December. Christmas eve.

Return to Mangalore
On 25th, we took the early morning train from Kanhangad to Mangalore. Now it was daylight and a beautiful train ride along the sea coast.

Summary

• Murudeshwar to Mangalore by Verna passenger train
  
• Mangalore to Kanhangad by Parashuram express or some earlier train. Just find it out.
  
• To come back from Kanhangad to Mangalore, there are tons of trains
  
• Bekal International is Ok. Not that great.
  
• Dont go in summers. By the way, we went in winter and winter is literally undefined. :-) It was so hot that it does not qualify to be called winter.
  

Part III - Murudeshwar Trip

Gokarna To Murudeshwar
As I mentioned, the train from Gokarna to Murudeshwar was supposed to reach Murudeshwar at 5 p.m. But the train got delayed and we reached Murudeshwar around 7:30 p.m. It was dark enough. We thought it will some good size enough railway station that will have some autorickshaws waiting outside. To our surprise, it was pitch dark outside and the railways station was right on the highway. So all we could see were the trucks breezing away. With many other passengers we came out of the railways station and stood on the highway with a hope to see an autorickshaw guy. Luckily we saw one coming and got it since we were standing closest top him :-)

At Murudeshwar
The RNS Guest House where we stayed was pretty close to the railway station. So, the auto guy breezed to the RNS guest house. The majestic Shiva statue was right near the RNS guest house and surrounded by sea. After the formalities, we quickly checked into the hotel and freshened ourselves up.

Naveen Restaurant was adjoining to the guest house on one side and sea on the other. We had some good but very little food there. Not because we wanted little. We were desperately hungry. But you have to have the food there to believe how little they serve. :-)

It was already around 10 p.m by the time we had dinner. So we spent some time just sitting and relaxing at the footsteps of shiva statue.

Next morning, we took some snaps, moved around the Shiva statue, had lunch and then left in the afternoon. The place was under construction. So we could not completely go around the statue. I must also say that Murudeshwar beach is not that impressive. To be frank it was dirty. May be because it is much more commercialized and too many people with little sense of maintaining clean surrounding. So half a day was enough for Murudeshwar.

Murudeshwar to Mangalore
We took the Verna-Mangalore passenger at Murudeshwar for Mangalore. The train was moving fast enough in the beginning but slowed down gradually to reach Mangalore only at around 10:00 p.m. What to do next? Should stay overnight at Mangalore? Should we continue our trip further to Bekal Fort? What happens when in dilemma? An obvious argument and a fight . Thats what happened between me and my wife :-) And it is a very wrong time to argue with her when she is hungry. :-) After trying some hotels in Mangalore (with an obvious wish not to get any room), we decided to go to Bekal.

Summary

• Gokarna to Murudeshwar by Verna Passenger in the evening
  
• Enjoy the sea and Shiva statue at Murudeshwar
  
• Murudeshwar to Mangalore by Verna Passenger
  

To be Continued...

Part II - Gokarna Trip

Jog Falls to Gokarna
After the Jog Falls visit it was time to catch a bus to Gokarna. We came to know that right outside the Jog Falls gate there would be a bus to Kumta. It was supposed to come at 11:30 a.m but finally came at around 12:45 p.m. Because it was Gorvernment bus it seems :-) To make things worse, there was no seats available. To make things further worse, it was hilly and curvy road so the bus could not move at more than 20 k.m per hour. And we were getting the taste of the hot sun. I wa afraid that my wife might faint in the bus. Thankfully, some people got down at Talguppa and we got to sit. I kept taking some photographs in the middle of all this. It took almost 3 hours to reach Kumta. We got down and immediately took a bus that was waiting to leave for Gokarna. This was more comfortable since we got a seat and also the road was flat enough for the bus to go fast. We reached Gokarna in around 1.5 hours. The natural beauty started showing itself as we were nearing Gokarna. Beautiful lakes, nice agricultural fields, mountains were the ornaments of nature in this stretch of land. Gokarna bus stand is a small one.

First Evening at Gokarna
After reaching Gokarna in the afternoon with hot sun burning over our heads, we quickly checked into Hotel Gokarna International (HGI). This hotel is very close to the bus stand and walkable i.e., it is around 1.5 Km or less. But since we did not know, we had to take an auto and the auto would take Rs. 15. We were kind of doing things on a roll since it was a jampacked trip. So without wasting much time, we freshened up and wanted to go out. The hotel guy suggested we go to the Main beach since it is the closest and it was almost evening time. Main beach is also called Gokarna Beach. So we decided to go to Gokarna beach that evening. By now it was slightly cooling down as the sun was setting. What a time to go to the beach isnt it? We walked through the narrow lanes of Gokarna with kachha roads, towards the Gokarna beach. On the way we found that the Venkataraman temple and Mahabaleshwar temple were there. We decided to visit these temples next morning. So we kept walking towards Gokarna beach. It was around 2 Km from HGI. Wow what a beautiful view when you look at the sea and then see the sun taking a nice dip into the sea. It is breathtaking. All this is fine only if you see straight and up and not down. The moment you see down will you realize how qualified we human beings are at dirtying the beautiful nature. Throwing stuff everywhere even though there are dust bins. I see this and think "We the biggest A**H****" :-( The sea view was beautiful but we were starving. So we went to a small restaurant on the beach and enjoyed some nice dosas. We decided then to sit on the beach for a while until it darkens. We bought a couple of coconut water and sat on the beach, sipping the sweet coconut water, eating the nice soft coconut inside it, and enjoying the dances of the waves on the lap of the sea. Little kids playing around was adding music to this beautiful dance.

Next Morning at Gokarna::Temple Tour
We woke up pretty early since we had so much left to cover and we only had half a day in hand before we set off for the next destination town of Murudeshwar. The early morning was beautiful. A nice small temple in view from the balcony and the sun rising over the head of the temple and from within the hills was making it splendid. By around 7:00 a.m we started walking out in the streets of Gokarna. The streets were awake with little kids on their way to schools. And these tourists (ourselves) were randomly roaming around. We went to Venkataramanan temple, Maha Ganapathi Temple and Mahabaleshwar temples. These temples were nice. But beware of the priests at Mahabaleshwar temple though. We nicely got ourselves ripped off by Rs. 1500. It may not be about money but the way we were cajoled, I feel like a dumb idiot in perspective. So you dont be the next. I am just not habituated to temples where you are just pushed around by tons of people. For me, a temple is a calm silent place where I get some peace and an opportunity for introspection. Well Mahabaleshwar temple could have been but the priests there are definitely not letting it be. They were all commercial agents. Thats how I felt. So next time you visit, if you just want to walk around and nothing more, just pay the Rs. 2 and gently say I am not interested in anything. Dont be in a state of confusion as we did.

Gokarna :: Om Beach
After the temple tour and royal rip off , we decided to forget about it and rather focus on the better part for the day and went straight to Om Beach. The auto rickshaw took Rs. 100. The drive was pretty neat going way up the mountain and stop there only to walk down to the beach. We realized that there were many huts on the beach that could be rented. We wanted to have breakfast and found this place called Namaste Cafe. The typical breakfast there is, Bread and Egg, Bread and Egg and Bread and Egg :-) The one that was not was Paratha. We had paratha and curd. Everything cost around Rs. 150. The view was beautiful. After having the breakfast and a glass of coffee, we started walking on the Om beach. Pretty soon, a boatman approached us and asked if we would be interested in having a boat ride to the Half-moon and paradise beaches with other folks. We hopped into the boat since boat rides are cheaper if there are more people. The guy cruised in the sea and went past the half-moon and paradise beaches. But he went from a distance though and did not embark on those beaches. These beaches were kind of desolate and I am sure more peaceful. I also kinda got a hint that half-moon might be one of those beaches where there was no clothes on body freedom :-) The boat ride cost us Rs. 150. After coming back to Om beach, we decided to go to Kudle beach, the last one to be covered in the series of 5 beaches of Gokarna.

Gokarna :: Kudle Beach
This was by far the best beach at Gokarna. That is what I would say. Clean water, beautiful horizon, bright sunlight, nice shaded restaurant to have a cup of fresh lime juice and a vast stretch of beach to walk on. What a pleasant walk it in the morning. The feet getting wetted by the waves hitting the beach. Cooling our heads from the burning sun. Crystal clear water. How beautiful would it have been had we rented a hut on this beach. The night would be spectacular I am sure. We had a nice lime juice at a beach restaurant here. The water was so clear that we saw starfish, crab, sting ray only at this beach. After a nice 1 hour at this beach, we took another exclusive boat ride for just two of us to the Main beach.

Gokarna Streets
Once at the Main beach, we had to go back to our hotel so that we could pack up. This time we started walking through the other streets of Gokarna. These were beautiful streets giving us a glimpse of what ancient Indian society would have looked like. I mean it. A lot of antique feeling was there to these calm tree shaded streets. Almost every house had a well in the front yard. The roads were like bricklaid. While walking, we came across KothiTeertha.

Gokarna Wrap-Up
This was great place to visit I would say. Except that it was very hot. Soon we had to pack up our bags and leave for the Gokarna railway station to catch our train for Murudeshwar. The train was almost 2 hours late. But when it came, we couldnt locate our coach. And when we did, it started running. My wife almost got stuck in the station. The Ticket Collector was extremely apologetic for not stopping the train until we had boarded. We were surprised to see such nice behavior. He was a very friendly man from Andhra Pradesh. His name was Mr. Venkateshwarulu. Throughout the journey to Murudeshwar he was talking to us, asking about us, telling about himself, his family and so. And when Murudeshwar came, he ensure that the train stopped long enough for us to alight. Well, I wouldnt mind going again to Gokarna but this time it would be an exclusive Kudle beach trip.

Summary of Travel

• Bus from Jog Falls to Kumta . 1 bus that goes directly from Jog Falls. Leaves around 11:15 a.m . Takes almost 3 hours
  
• Bus from Kumta to Gokarna (around 2:00 p.m) Takes around 1 hour
• Enjoy Gokarna
  
• Gokarna To Murudeshwar (Train. Verna-Mangalore Passenger at 4:00 p.m)
  

Part I - Jog Falls Trip

Planning
I must say that planning for trips is some gigantic task in India. Either because of my lack of experience, lack of ample information on the web or some unknown reason. This has been precisely the situation when we started thinking about this 5 day trip. Several questions in mind. Several blogs in hand. Several websites with incomplete information.

How do I reach Jog Falls? How do I reach Gokarna? What is the best way? Where to stay? What places to visit ? And this needed lot of time searching the web. And then there is lack of time to invest in researching. So my dear wife was doing lot of research on this. Finally we could plan a part of the trip and we left the remaining unplanned and decided to plan as we reach the place and accordingly adjust.

Bangalore to Shimoga Town :
After lots of thinking, we took the Bangalore-Shimoga Express that left Bangalore at 23:40 hours. So all you do is get into the train and sleep :-) And in the middle of that I managed to lose my umbrella. Not that it is a comfortable sleep anyways in the train. So I was turning left and right and once in a while waking up thinking if I have fallen down from the upper berth. But I am not sure when I again slept off because soon I found someone shaking me and telling me "Hello this is the last stop. ". :-) Realized that we have reached Shimoga Town (SMET, different stop from Shimoga (SME)).

Shimoga Town to Jog Falls:
It was around 6:00 a.m. We were heartily welcomed by bunch of mosquitoes. These mosquitoes would not leave us for the rest of our journey. So carry Odomas with you all the time. We did by the way. We wanted to take a Toy Train from Shimoga Town to Jog Falls. But on getting down we came to know that the train is not in service now due to some work. Repair works are perennial in India arent they? You always see roads repaired, drains repaired. OK OK. Back to topic. We came out of station and took an auto. Being in a different town, you never know what is a reasonable rate. So you accept what you are told :-) I think the auto guy took Rs. 30 to take us to bus stand. The first difference I notice was people are very friendly. No I mean it. And it was the same observation for the res of our journey. The auto guy talked with me a lot and I continued the conversation with my "Swalpa Swalpa Kannada Gottu (i.e., Little little Kannada)" concept. As we reached the bus stand a bus was leaving. The auto guy stopped the bus and got us in. The bus guys gave us a seat and told us the bus would go to Jog. After we got in and the bus started moving, they said it will go till Sagar and then we have to catch another bus. We could not do much anyways. So we sat and enjoyed the countryside as the bus bumped and jumped and moved over the roads. It was a nice experience. The bus brought us to Sagar in 1.5 hours I think. Soon a bus was there for Jog Falls. The bus was pretty empty. We got in and reached Jog Falls in around 2 hours.

At Jog Falls
It was a bright sunny morning when we reached Jog Falls. We were very hungry too. So before even thinking of visiting the falls, we decided to have our breakfast first. There was this Hotel Mayura run by KSTDC. It was OK. Had some idlis to fill up our stomach. Then asked the guy which way is the falls. The falls were right opposite to Mayura. I couldnt believe it. Not in awe but was thinking what a let down. There was almost no water at all. Then why does the Government blow of the trumpet of largest falls? The falls that is not always in its vigorous form cannot be called falls. I heard most water is diverged to the dam. Karnataka Government should put up notice on the website on when the water will be there and when not. Otherwise I felt it is blatant cheating of the tourists. Imagine the let down when you go all the way and u find nothing. IMagine you go to Niagara Falls and you see a narrow stream falling. I for sure was upset with the way Government did not ensure that it maintains a place where it provides updates on the status of Jog Falls. I did not find it. And this according to me is cheating. After a few photographs of narrow streams, we decided to continue our journey to Gokarna.

So be careful about when to go to Jog Falls. It seems they release water on sundays and mondays. So those are good days to go. Otherwise, you may want to consider going during the months of July-August-September i.e., monsoons. That is when you will feel your visit is worth it.

Summary of Travel

• Train from Bangalore to Shimoga Town (11:40 p.m at Bangalore Central)
  
• Auto from Shimoga Town Station to Bus Stand (around 6:30 a.m)
  
• Bus from Shimoga Town to Sagar (Around 6:45 a.m at Shimoga Town)
  
• Bus from Sagar to Jog Falls (Around 8:45 a.m at Sagar)
  
• Enjoy Jog Falls if there is water
  
• Do not go arbitrarily. Call the folks there and ask if there is water
  

Jog Falls, Gokarna, Murudeshwar, Kanhangad, Mangalore Trip

Coming Soon.... The complete travelogue

Part I - Jog Falls Trip
Part II - Gokarna Trip
Part III - Murudeshwar Trip
Part IV - Kanhangad Trip
Part V - Mangalore and Return

We (Me and my wife) just finished a 5 day long tiring exhaustive trip to the above places. Will write as much as possible so that I can include our complete experiences. It was fun and lot of learning.