Trek to Kodachadri - Part 2

Alright, so we started off on our first leg of the trip. Destination, Maravanthe Beach. Its a beach just 50km from Udupi and is one of the most serene and tranquil beaches of the West Coast. The NH-17 is flanked by the beach at one side and the Souparnika River on the other side. We reached Maravanthe at around 1530 hours on 11-Feb-2011.

Maravanthe: 11-Feb-2011: 1530 - 1645

Time for loads of fun and pics in the beach. All 5 of us darted off into the sea and enjoyed as much as we could, took loads of pics, got super soaked playing in the water and were had an extremely brilliant time. My first moments of fun in quite a while as office has become pretty deserted of the term friends. A word of caution to visitors here, the people who beg here are extremely dogged and will never let you be until you part with your food or a bit of money. I'll leave it to your creative minds to devise a plan to dodge them.
Coming back to the fun part, it was loads of fun pushing each other into the water. Taking pics was even more fun as none of us were in the mood to just pose normally. What I mean, look no further.

I would not recommend going very deep into the water as currents are pretty strong 15-20m into the sea and can catch you unawares. So do exercise caution and have loads of fun here. Its never too crowded and you can have a gala time.

We started with no mood to leave, but we had another super beautiful place to cover, which is Murudeshwar. After a fun filled tea break in Bhatkal, we were en route. The roads were pretty bad and it was 1800 by the time we reached Murudeshwar.

Murudeshwar now has the second largest statue of Lord Shiva, which is situated right on the coast and provides a brilliantly pretty sight with the sunset forming a halo on the Lord's head. For the not spiritually inclined ones, its a haven for water sports, especially speed boating and paragliding.

Murudeshwar: 11-Feb-2011: 1800-2130:

It was speed boating time and we jumped into a pretty looking boat called 'Shambhavi'. We were to take a 1km ride into the sea and back. The feeling on the boat getting launched into the air due to the strong waves is one to be experienced. The boatmen here skid the boats by playing with the throttle and rudder and the seemingly out of control ride was brilliant and stomach churning at the same time. But all of us had some cool fun in the ride.

It was time for a visit to the lord overlooking us from the high pedestal after the high adrenalin ride. The temple has one of the tallest gopurams you can ever come across.

Done with our prayers, we grabbed a quick bite in the seaside restaurant, the sound of the gentle waves soothing our ears. Its an excellent stress reliever, I tell you. I was as relaxed as I have ever been, cradled in the arms of nature, in the company of people I love, I could really not have asked for more at that point.

We started back home at 2130. The return journey was pretty uneventful, each of us thinking back on the best moments of the day, dead tired but happy. All the others fell into a sleep of tiredness. I was tired too, but with a content smile on my face all along, letting myself fall into the bliss of the best I've ever felt in quite some time.

The actual trek log's coming up next... Stay tuned! ;)

Western Ghats Sojourn - Part 3

All those places covered and I returned back a weary traveller. Not to be satisfied with such a long trip, it was time to explore Udupi itself. Udupi has quite a few places to have a look at. Religious, if you look at it that way but pretty stupendous for the neutral eye which enjoys magnificence. Each and every temple is like that in its own way, but spare me of the cliche, the Udupi Krishna temple takes the cake for that.

Every stone carving in that temple cries out for your attention and gets it too. The sacred idol, of a young Krishna is out of this world in all its rich adornment. Again I run out of adjectives to describe this from a neutral point of view and I'll leave it to you people to visit it and describe it for yourselves. Having a picture of the entrance to the temple at night for your eyes to feast on, that is assuming you think this picture is good enough.

There are a number of other temples worth mentioning. There is the Mahakali temple at Ambalapady. The goddess is so imposing that you get the jitters on the first look. But a few moments in the temple and you feel as serene as you might have ever felt. Such is the spiritual influence here. Getting itself added to my list of must see temples is the Anantheshwara Temple, located just opposite to the Krishna Temple. The Shiva Linga is truly a sight to behold.

The best part of Udupi is the Malpe Beach. While the calm and serene beaches of the Arabian Sea are world famous, few have the silent and calming influence of Malpe. Its not so very famous, famous with the locals though. A very thin crowd. So if a silent and calm visit to the beach is what you desire for, Malpe is the place for you. The icing on the cake would be to watch the sun going down the Arabian Sea in the evening. You wont get more beautiful sunsets anywhere else, other than Goa of course. Posting one of my clicks here. Don't mind if the colors are not that very highlighted, these were taken from my mobile cam.

All good and bad things, especially the good things come to an end sooner than later. After 10 wonderful days at home, I had to head back to the city of Chennai where my daily bread and butter(read work :P) beckoned. Left with a heavy heart, bidding goodbye to everyone, promising myself, the next time I come back, I'd explore these picturesque Ghats all the more and fall in love with it over and over again. What wonderful places the Western Ghats have!! God surely was in his best of his moods creating this!!

P.S: Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing about them all.

P.P.S: Next trip coming up in July, so assure yourselves of more details and pics.

P.P.P.S: Brickbats and Bouquets always welcome :)

Western Ghats Sojourn - Part 1

It took quite a while to post this. But last Diwali I'd been to my parent's place at Udupi. Yours truly is in Chennai. Getting bored and restless sitting at home, decided to explore the pristine places of the Western Ghats nearby. Time to plan the route.

Came up with the following plan. A picturesque drive to Agumbe was first on the cards. To tell you about Agumbe, is one of the most scenic places on the Western Ghats and is about 60km east of Udupi. Added to the lush green view all around, the attractions for the visitors is the spectacular sunset and vast opportunities it offers to the trekkers.If you are looking for a peaceful break for a few days from the hectic city life, away from the crowded and commercialized attractions, then this is the place for you.

Agumbe is among the places here that receive very high rainfall and is rightly called the Cherrapunji of South India. Near to Agumbe is the relatively lesser known Hanumangundi falls. Agumbe now is a peak and the trek to the falls is a tricky one. Slippery and wild with snakes and leeches, its not for the faint hearted. A view of the Agumbe peak and the ever so beautiful Hanumangundi falls. One more place that is not known much and I could not visit is the Agumbe Forest Research Center, headed by the famous herpetologist Dr. Romulus Whitaker. It is an awesome place which researches on the flora and fauna of the Western Ghats, most notably the King Cobra. You can volunteer here if you're interested. Its on my bucket list, to become a volunteer here.

A click of the Hanumangundi falls.

The view from Agumbe.

The picturesque route.

From Agumbe I was off to Shringeri. It is home to the Shankara Mutt and the Sharadhamba temple. Not only its a religious spot, but its very pristine and scenic too. Its on top of a hill with a tributary of the Cauvery river flowing by the temple side. This only adds to the beauty of the place. The people are super friendly here. They'll go out of their way to help you around. Shringeri, as per legend was established by Shri Adi Shankara, the most famous of the gurus of the Advaita philosophy.

The Gopuram of the Sharadhamba Temple.

The old Shiva temple. Supposedly built by Shri Rama. There is a foot mark by the river that's apparently of Shri Rama washing his feet here by the river.


From here my route was Horanadu -> Subramanya -> Karkala and back to Udupi via Malpe.

That forms Part 2 of my journey. Update on that to follow. Hope you liked reading this as much as i enjoyed writing about. Comments as always appreciated. :)