Never thought that just a random unplanned trip could change many things in my life. That was the night before Christmas. Me along with my colleagues and their friends started off from Bangalore. Even though I have been staying in Bangalore, for more than 4 years, I never found Bangalore so scintillating, elated, before that night. May be that's the pre-Christmas effect :) . The bus finally left Bangalore to Shimoga. I was totally tired, pedal's down, no control, powerless and slept tightly as soon as the bus left Bangalore, while my friends are up all night chatting in KANNADA :p. * Do not judge me here, wait for it :p.
Waking up in Shimoga, I'm a loaded gun. What give's me that energy? may be the air over there has too much oxygen in it. who knows. We went to YR's house to fresh-up and a big thanks to their parents for their hospitality early in the morning. The van that we have booked for this trip, has arrived and we all started, Our first destination being Nagara fort.
Reaching kodchadri hills foot @1.30, we found a long queue of Jeeps waiting for their turn to take the passengers, of-course not for free :p. Amithab bachhan is far better than these Jeep drivers, he provides atleast 4 options to choose in KBC but these jeep drivers gave us only two options to choose. a) Kodchadri peak b) Hindlumane falls. We thought for so long...(damn.. there are no lifelines also). Fortunately we found a localite who was passing by, we stopped him and asked his suggestion. Guess what..?? He turned out to be our guide for the entire day. He suggested that instead of going on to the kodchadri peak on a jeep, trekking to hindlumane falls through the thick forest would be more awesome and exiting. He got us.. That is exactly what we are thriving for since we stepped on to our van. We gave him a big "YESSSS...." The trekking through that thick forest is a once in a lifetime experience. Everyone of us had mixed feelings of excitement, fear, tiredness. On the way, well there was no way actually, we felt like we were the first bunch of Vasco-da-gamas, discovering a hidden land of nature's beauty. LOL :p Walking through the trees, my friends looked like gaint gorilla king-kongs who devour on 100s of snacks packets :p (No offence if the reader is one of the co-traveller). We didn't loose the courage inspite of all the difficulties, obstacles and fears. We got attacked by centimeter long thread sized leeches. We fought with them bravely and escaped them (Sheke Jaasthi aithu guru,, :p). Finally upon reaching the Hindlumane falls we gave ourselves a high-five and decided not to waste time, took out our camera phones and started posing. Jokes apart, that falls is a perfect example of god's creativity. Oh my god, one of the most beautiful falls ever. It looks like a shankar's movie song setting, no no no,.... 100 times better than that. After spending an hour @ the falls, we fall back since we have to reach the starting point before it gets dark. Saying a big thanks to the guide, with a little money of-course, we left kodchadri to Udupi for a night's stay. On the way to udupi we unexpectedly ran into an Ice-cream shop in Kundapura. That is where I fell in love for the first time. The Gudbud, Dil-kush and Rasayana were eternally tasty. It was so tasty that I actually wanted to ask that Ice-cream parlor owner to give me a small job over there, so that I can have them every-day. Guess what "dhusra laddu be phoda.." they are very cheap in cost. What else does a poor Indian-kid like me want?? If I were to stand in elections, I will promise all people of my constituency, the same ice-cream as a meal everyday.. LOL :p :p. On reaching Udupi, we started searching for rooms in the lodges. But this time luck was not in our favour, all the rooms were full. So we had to go to Manipal for a night's stay.
Waking up in the morning, after a sound sleep, our level of enthusiasm is twice greater than the day before. We got ready as quickly as we can and started off to our next destination St . Mary's island. On reaching the small town over there called 'Malpe', from where we have to catch a ferry to reach the island, we saw hundreds of fishing boats, hundreds of seafood vending shops. We waited beside a huge ship building factory for about half an hour for the ferry. We got on to the ferry and travelled in the sea for half an hour to reach St . Mary's island. That was the first time we have ever visited an island. The scenic beauty made us forget how to breathe..! It is just better than the best. The morning sun shining like a golden ball, added to its beauty. The thing that puzzled us over there was the formation of rocks in exact hexagonal shapes. There is no one more creative than god in the world..! And that island is a perfect example for that. We being photo freaks took 100s of photos, well that was one thing we didn't want to miss, no matter what..!! After spending the unforgettable 2 hours we had to leave the island with a broken heart and 100s photos to fill our fb wall.. :p. Upon reaching the shore back on ferry, we had sumptuous seafood as lunch and set on for our next destination "Marvanthe".
Hmmm... "Maravanthe..!!" What should I say about it..?? Even if I speak day-long, It isn't enough. The sun-set at maravanthe... So romantic.. so serene....It made me feel the deficiency of having a girl-friend. LOL :p After spending an awesome evening there we were to leave to Murudeshwara.. But the sea waves touching my feet kept on saying, "come on.. come on.. don't leave me like this..!!" But time is the biggest enemy.. I had to leave the place with a heavy heart. We left to Murudeshwara for the Night's stay.
That was the third and final day of our trip. Even though I was very tired, my lust for it's (I mean canara's) beauty.. is one thing that kept my zeal up.. all day long. We went to sea the Murudeshwara beach and temple at the sunrise time. Even though it was good, to be honest, it didn't touch my heart as maravanthe did. It has got a huge shiva statue sitting on a hill which is covered on three sides by the sea. After spending an hour there we left to the most beautiful and my personal favourite place in the whole trip... "Apsara Konda".
In Karnataka nature’s beauty is similar to Hyderabadi Muslim
girl. The real beauty is hidden in the nooks just like Hyderabadi Muslim girl’s
beauty lies under the burqa. All that we need is the zeal to explore such
places and grab that loads of excitement and joy. When karthik suggested us to visit Apsara konda, we agreed hesitantly,
coz no one of us had a clue on what we are gonna experience within an hour. The
road to Apsara konda is a short and steep ghat road. Our mini van started
cursing itself for its fate to pull this overloaded bunch of idiots “:p” all
the way to the top of the hill. We stopped the van in front of the temple entrance.
It was a very calm and mind refreshing place. The small waterfalls is definitely not the best part, because of poor maintenance or whatever. A well maintained garden over the top of the hill adds to its already stunning beauty. Of course we took many pics with crazy poses. It is an awesome view from the top of the hill, when the waves try to kiss the feet of the hill.. tries.. tries.. restlessly... A beautiful stream of water flows from somewhere and the amazing part is it reaches the small pond which is exactly on the shore of the sea, but couldn't make its way to the sea. "Poor stream.. :p". The name itself suggests that it's beautiful like an "Apsara". After spending about 3 hours there, we set on to our next destination "Yana", with a heavy heart of course. Ever since I left the place it was my worst distraction and my Rhythm in blues.
We have a travelled for a pretty long time through the tangled Ghat roads and reached Yana in the afternoon. Well it is a perfect place to go for people who love to trek. We trekked through the forest and reached a point where we got a good sight of amazing pointed tips of Yana hills, which resemble Ice-less mountains. Yana being the last place of trip plan, our super-tired team, decided to fall back to shimoga ASAP to catch the night bus to Bangalore. Ohh...Almost forgot to mention..!! On the way back we halted in Sirsi a beautiful petty town to visit Marikamba temple in sirsi.
All along, the journey was memorable, left us loads of beautiful, unforgettable memories. Inspired by the godly beauty of Nature, "YR, KV, me and nag" decided to do something back to this mother nature. We decided to introduce this unexplored places to the people who haven't seen these places before. At that moment an Idea struck our mind... "Why don't we turn this adventure into a venture..!!" So that is the root story behind the inception of "ALONG THE WAYWE".
Reached our first destination @8.30AM in the morning. Nagara is a historic fort in the shimoga district. Thanks to our luck coz we have visited this Malnad beauty in the end of monsoon, a perfect time to visit it. There were two tanks which looked like royal bathing pools called akka kola and thangi kola. Funny names right..?? The water in them is in the colour of Coca cola. LOL :p. The beautiful stream of water flowing beside this fort, is an eye-feast. Got to know the following details from a bunch of guys playing cricket 'inside the fort'. :)(cool... right..??)
- It was the last capital city of keladi rulers.
- Somewhere around 16th century, Hyder ali has captured this fort.
After spending 2 hours @ Nagara fort we decided our next destination to be "Kodchadri" and set on our journey. It would be quite unfair if I miss on mentioning how beautiful and fun that road journey was. Greenery every where,, Nothing but greenery... and the petty food-stalls.. countless water bottles.. ahh... life saviors.. honestly... Playing songs in the van's speakers and singing along..
Reaching kodchadri hills foot @1.30, we found a long queue of Jeeps waiting for their turn to take the passengers, of-course not for free :p. Amithab bachhan is far better than these Jeep drivers, he provides atleast 4 options to choose in KBC but these jeep drivers gave us only two options to choose. a) Kodchadri peak b) Hindlumane falls. We thought for so long...(damn.. there are no lifelines also). Fortunately we found a localite who was passing by, we stopped him and asked his suggestion. Guess what..?? He turned out to be our guide for the entire day. He suggested that instead of going on to the kodchadri peak on a jeep, trekking to hindlumane falls through the thick forest would be more awesome and exiting. He got us.. That is exactly what we are thriving for since we stepped on to our van. We gave him a big "YESSSS...." The trekking through that thick forest is a once in a lifetime experience. Everyone of us had mixed feelings of excitement, fear, tiredness. On the way, well there was no way actually, we felt like we were the first bunch of Vasco-da-gamas, discovering a hidden land of nature's beauty. LOL :p Walking through the trees, my friends looked like gaint gorilla king-kongs who devour on 100s of snacks packets :p (No offence if the reader is one of the co-traveller). We didn't loose the courage inspite of all the difficulties, obstacles and fears. We got attacked by centimeter long thread sized leeches. We fought with them bravely and escaped them (Sheke Jaasthi aithu guru,, :p). Finally upon reaching the Hindlumane falls we gave ourselves a high-five and decided not to waste time, took out our camera phones and started posing. Jokes apart, that falls is a perfect example of god's creativity. Oh my god, one of the most beautiful falls ever. It looks like a shankar's movie song setting, no no no,.... 100 times better than that. After spending an hour @ the falls, we fall back since we have to reach the starting point before it gets dark. Saying a big thanks to the guide, with a little money of-course, we left kodchadri to Udupi for a night's stay. On the way to udupi we unexpectedly ran into an Ice-cream shop in Kundapura. That is where I fell in love for the first time. The Gudbud, Dil-kush and Rasayana were eternally tasty. It was so tasty that I actually wanted to ask that Ice-cream parlor owner to give me a small job over there, so that I can have them every-day. Guess what "dhusra laddu be phoda.." they are very cheap in cost. What else does a poor Indian-kid like me want?? If I were to stand in elections, I will promise all people of my constituency, the same ice-cream as a meal everyday.. LOL :p :p. On reaching Udupi, we started searching for rooms in the lodges. But this time luck was not in our favour, all the rooms were full. So we had to go to Manipal for a night's stay. Waking up in the morning, after a sound sleep, our level of enthusiasm is twice greater than the day before. We got ready as quickly as we can and started off to our next destination St . Mary's island. On reaching the small town over there called 'Malpe', from where we have to catch a ferry to reach the island, we saw hundreds of fishing boats, hundreds of seafood vending shops. We waited beside a huge ship building factory for about half an hour for the ferry. We got on to the ferry and travelled in the sea for half an hour to reach St . Mary's island. That was the first time we have ever visited an island. The scenic beauty made us forget how to breathe..! It is just better than the best. The morning sun shining like a golden ball, added to its beauty. The thing that puzzled us over there was the formation of rocks in exact hexagonal shapes. There is no one more creative than god in the world..! And that island is a perfect example for that. We being photo freaks took 100s of photos, well that was one thing we didn't want to miss, no matter what..!! After spending the unforgettable 2 hours we had to leave the island with a broken heart and 100s photos to fill our fb wall.. :p. Upon reaching the shore back on ferry, we had sumptuous seafood as lunch and set on for our next destination "Marvanthe".
Hmmm... "Maravanthe..!!" What should I say about it..?? Even if I speak day-long, It isn't enough. The sun-set at maravanthe... So romantic.. so serene....It made me feel the deficiency of having a girl-friend. LOL :p After spending an awesome evening there we were to leave to Murudeshwara.. But the sea waves touching my feet kept on saying, "come on.. come on.. don't leave me like this..!!" But time is the biggest enemy.. I had to leave the place with a heavy heart. We left to Murudeshwara for the Night's stay.That was the third and final day of our trip. Even though I was very tired, my lust for it's (I mean canara's) beauty.. is one thing that kept my zeal up.. all day long. We went to sea the Murudeshwara beach and temple at the sunrise time. Even though it was good, to be honest, it didn't touch my heart as maravanthe did. It has got a huge shiva statue sitting on a hill which is covered on three sides by the sea. After spending an hour there we left to the most beautiful and my personal favourite place in the whole trip... "Apsara Konda".
In Karnataka nature’s beauty is similar to Hyderabadi Muslim
girl. The real beauty is hidden in the nooks just like Hyderabadi Muslim girl’s
beauty lies under the burqa. All that we need is the zeal to explore such
places and grab that loads of excitement and joy. When karthik suggested us to visit Apsara konda, we agreed hesitantly,
coz no one of us had a clue on what we are gonna experience within an hour. The
road to Apsara konda is a short and steep ghat road. Our mini van started
cursing itself for its fate to pull this overloaded bunch of idiots “:p” all
the way to the top of the hill. We stopped the van in front of the temple entrance.
It was a very calm and mind refreshing place. The small waterfalls is definitely not the best part, because of poor maintenance or whatever. A well maintained garden over the top of the hill adds to its already stunning beauty. Of course we took many pics with crazy poses. It is an awesome view from the top of the hill, when the waves try to kiss the feet of the hill.. tries.. tries.. restlessly... A beautiful stream of water flows from somewhere and the amazing part is it reaches the small pond which is exactly on the shore of the sea, but couldn't make its way to the sea. "Poor stream.. :p". The name itself suggests that it's beautiful like an "Apsara". After spending about 3 hours there, we set on to our next destination "Yana", with a heavy heart of course. Ever since I left the place it was my worst distraction and my Rhythm in blues. We have a travelled for a pretty long time through the tangled Ghat roads and reached Yana in the afternoon. Well it is a perfect place to go for people who love to trek. We trekked through the forest and reached a point where we got a good sight of amazing pointed tips of Yana hills, which resemble Ice-less mountains. Yana being the last place of trip plan, our super-tired team, decided to fall back to shimoga ASAP to catch the night bus to Bangalore. Ohh...Almost forgot to mention..!! On the way back we halted in Sirsi a beautiful petty town to visit Marikamba temple in sirsi.All along, the journey was memorable, left us loads of beautiful, unforgettable memories. Inspired by the godly beauty of Nature, "YR, KV, me and nag" decided to do something back to this mother nature. We decided to introduce this unexplored places to the people who haven't seen these places before. At that moment an Idea struck our mind... "Why don't we turn this adventure into a venture..!!" So that is the root story behind the inception of "ALONG THE WAYWE".
...To be continued
