[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Darn we should have met up, could have had a mini tbhp meet in coastal karnataka.

And am in Mangalore, so we surely could have had a coastal meet for sure

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

WOw another good logue from the "expert"

Thanks Lohith

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Liked the pics, but few the colors look a bit unreal/overdone...but your framing of you pics is super!

Aaaah !! How do I explain now. Listen I picked up polarizer's for both the 18-135m and the 12-24mm. Never used the UV at all except for the 70-300 mm VR(nobody uses one for this). Read here about a polarizer and its effects.

Ideally when I shoot landscapes, I take a min. of 3 exposures of the same shot and pick what is ideal when seen on my LCD at home.If a single image doesnt do the trick I simply follow the idea of merging them to create a HDR. The images of the rocks are 3 exposures merged to create one.

Sometimes you are successful and most of the times I tend to fail .
Thanks for the critic, next time will keep that in mind. Once again its difficult to satisfy everyone's eye and I can only present what pleases my eye.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Daddamane did you say ?

Oops my bad. It's Doddamane.
Doddamane = Big House
Daddamane = Fool's house
Anyways, where's the remaining part ??

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Thanks starvegabond. Take it up as a hobby your patience levels will increase by leaps and bounds.

Yes sure, i had anticipated that photography would need lots of patience.
these digital point and shoot camera's have make people (including yours truely) very impatient.

I think, there are lot of experts here in the forum from whom naive pphotographers like me can learn a lot.

[rjstyles69]

Day 4 : 29th Dec

Its a beautiful morning. Today we have planned to visit KArkala and Moodabidri. Karkala is renowned for its single stone statue of Gomateshwara



With nothing much to do, I wake up slowly. I have taken enuf pictures of the beach, sea and the fishermen. We lazily step outta Turtle bay to head towards to Karkala. Maggie is visiting his friend today in mangalore.
I deviate from Ambagilu into Manipal and maggie continues his drive on NH-17. For the 1st time I see proper sunshine in the last 3 days. Today has to be the HDR day coz I knew this was gonna be an easy drive with minimal traffic and pulling over often shouldn't be a problem for a few clicks.

The distance is hardly about 35+ kms from Manipal and the drive is pretty un-eventful. What caught my eye during today's 150+ kms drive is the old thatched houses that I saw en-route.

Karkala is a town of historical importance and a pilgrim centre for Jains. The single stone 42-foot (13 m) statue Gomateshwara (Lord Bahubali) is located about 1 km from the center of the town and is the second tallest in Karnataka . There are about 18 Jain basadis here. The Bahubali statue is the second tallest in the State. This statue of Lord Bahubali was installed at Karkala on February 13, 1432 on the instructions of the pontiff of Karkala, Lalitakeerti. There are several other temples, mosques and churches in and around Karkala. Several jain temples were constructed namely Chaturmukha Thirthankara Basadi, Hiriyangaddi Neminatha Basadi and Anekere Padmavathi Basadi.

Moodabidri is known for the 1000 pillars temple.

Moodbidri is also known as 'Jain Kashi'.Thousand Pillars Temple is one of the most famous and holy shrine of Jains across the country. There are several Jain temples are situated in Moodbidri.

Both places were a real let down. Not much of architecture and nothing great to harp about. They somehow failed to bring in any form of interest in me. Maybe my expectations were too much and was expecting the place to be in the lines of Belur or Halebeedu. The sun is real harsh today and its next to impossible to drive without AC.

Well the drive compensated for the loss. Excellent picturesque location and the houses were to die for. Darn I never people were so rich in these places. I am posting a few pics of the old houses I shot during my drive back.









A by-lane in Moodabidri











Somewhere near the Karkala bypass.



What I found really interesting is that most of the old houses have been retained by their owners.Am sure quite a few of these houses are close to 100 yrs old. The owners have retained the old houses and constructed huge mansions in the adjoining land or in the backyards of these ancestral houses.

[rjstyles69]

continued.....

We enjoy the drive back and have lunch by about 3pm in Manipal. Wifey wants to go swimming today in the sea. With no options I had to budge and ensure we got back by 5pm tops. Well am there almost and we spend the evening playing at the beach.

Never did much today and it was more of a pretty lethargic day wherein we did nothing much other than some driving.Time was in plenty and we decide to sit back and read something thru the evening. Fix my tripod I go click click click











By 9pm or so Maggie is also back and we gossip quite a bit and go for a walk by the beach after dinner. Tonight will be our last night at turtle bay and from tomorrow we go different ways.

Its going to be an interesting day tomorrow since I plan to drive to kasargod and I have no booking at any hotels .

more to come...

[rjstyles69]

This is taking longer than expected, sorry folks.

Day 5 : 30th Dec

Today we are off to visit Bekal while Maggie and his better half are driving back to Bangalore. We check out of turtle bay by 10:00am and hit NH-17. Tank up at the 1st IOC enroute and bid our adieu's to maggie and his better half near Ambagilu.
The drive to Mangalore is pretty uneventful. The roads are pretty ok just a few rough patches here and there, but then I don't feel a thing. I blast my way thru the pot hole and uneven roads.
By 12:00 or so we in Mangalore and to me it looked like CHAOS-GALORE . We plan to visit St.Aloysius Chapel and Rosario Chapel today and offer our prayers.Enter Balmatta and am in for a big surprise. I see 3 lanes of chaotic traffic in 3 different directions. I have a tough time making my way thru to the chapel.



Apparently after we reach the chapel I am told no pictures inside. Am a bit heart broken coz the paintings inside can leave you in awe. I decide not to break the sanctity of the place, though I see other people using their cell cams. Drive back to balmatta and seeing the mad traffic, I decide to give a pass to Roasario chapel. Check with my better half and she is also ok.

At 1:30 pm we start off to Bekal via NH-17. The road is a bit nightmarish, but we manage it without a fuss. The sweltering heat wave can be felt once you roll the windows down. I am not exaggerating but thats how it was. 1st glimpse of kasargod and we are greeted with good roads.
Another 10kms and back to square one with bad roads.

We reach Bekal and I feel that the heat is way too much compared to what it was in karnataka. With no choice we carry enough water and enter Bekal fort.








The sun is real harsh and I manage to get a splinter from the dry grass into my right foot. I don't feel like walking and just want a place to rest. All this because of the harsh sun huh !! BTW my wife is all enthu and exploring the place. She is a history buff and is fond of Indian History. I don't wanna play spoil sport and stick around there till about 4:30pm.
Loads of construction work is taking place here. I think they are trying to restore the place back to its old glory.

Some resort coming up at the beach



A different look at the beach



View of the coastline from where I am perched













Silhouette of bekal


Now before we reached Bekal I had called Nalanda Resort asking if they had any rooms or cottages and the answer was a big NO !! With no accommodation, I think to myself that the only choice I am left with is to drive back to Bangalore/Mysore. But wait a sec we are supposed to be visiting Muzhappilangad also.Its too late today unless we find some accommodation.

We take a stroll along the side of bekal which leads to the beach and I find this place :Nirvana @ Bekal- Bekal Resorts, Resorts in Bekal, Bekal Hotels, Cottages in Bekal .
Its right next to Bekal Fort and is about 50 mtrs from the sea. Walk in and speak to the manager who quotes 3200/- per day + taxes extra and a complimentary breakfast.
I bargain and bring it down to 2800 inclusive of taxes and a complimentary breakfast. Not a bad deal and the place is also really clean and well kept.

View of the room



The restaurant



Our cottage



Its a start up place and the restaurant people take their own time to serve orders. Well anyways we are in no hurry and spend time relaxing thru the evening. A quick walk to the beach in a pathway which is by the side of the fort walls and we are greeted by the ocean. The pathway looks haunted with a well bang in the middle of the way.

Have an early dinner and hit the sack. We plan to start early tomorrow so that we can cover Kannur and drive back to Mysore for the New Years eve.

[s3va]

Nice pics again !

Nirvana-Thats a good find at the Bekal. Thanks for the pics, brought back memories of our visit to Bekal on 29 Dec.My son was the least bothered human among the lot when it came to the heat that you have mentioned at Bekal. In fact he wanted to stay there longer and take a dip in the ocean. Since we had to reach Calicut before dark, we skipped taking a dip in the ocean.

The 10kms of bad stretch at Kasargod that you have mentioned, was the last stretch of rough patches during my drive from Kundapur to Calicut. Restwise the roads in Kerala were far better. I hope you noticed the same too.

[yajaman99]

Great Pics, love the one of the church. Any HDRs? I think they is one of the fort but not sure.

[anshurao]

Awesome Pictures and great Travelogue

[Nutty Nair]

@rjstyles69 - Awesome pictures, Riju. Really enjoyed viewing them.

OT, this one seems to be awfully close to the beach. Is construction allowed so close to the beach?
Some resort coming up at the beach

Attachment 263549
Ranjith

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by yajaman99

Great Pics, love the one of the church. Any HDRs? I think they is one of the fort but not sure.

I have exposures which can be merged to make HDR's, since its time consuming I decided not to do it.

Originally Posted by anshurao

Awesome Pictures and great Travelogue

Thanks anshu.

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

@rjstyles69 - Awesome pictures, Riju. Really enjoyed viewing them.

OT, this one seems to be awfully close to the beach. Is construction allowed so close to the beach?
Some resort coming up at the beach

Attachment 263549
Ranjith

Yeah Ranjith that's the same thing which was on my mind too.Apparently in coastal karnataka most of the resorts are at close proximity to the sea.The folks at the resort where I stayed confirmed that it was something on the same lines which was coming up.

[rjstyles69]

Day 6 : Dec 31st

I am up early today. The cozy room gave me a good nap and I was all fresh and ready to drive another 500kms today if needed. Its the 6th day today since I left bangy and we have been asked by my in-laws to make it to mysore for the new years. Duh !! Its only 31st today and I have another 4 days at my disposal before I get back to the sweat shop.

Somewhere deep within my mind I feel like driving all the way to Kochi since its only 345kms or so from Bekal. I am actually thinking if I can convince my better half and drive down to Kochi. I simply hint at this plan and YES is the answer. Ok now we are in a real dilemma, do we head to kochi or back to Mysore. For now we will visit Kannur and decide from there where our next destination is.

We have a nice typical south indian breakfast with hot dosa's and filter kaapi being served. Bellies full am done with the check out formalities bid our adieu's to the staff who were really nice and hit the road to Kanjhangad. Bekal fort isn't on NH-17 for those of you who dint know.
We deviate after Kanjhangad towards NH-17 and cross Nileshwar. Roads are pretty good and am driving at full blast.

In no time we are kannur and I decide to visit the Parassinikkadavu temple. Speak to a friend who is a local and he says " dude you cant go there in shorts and a tee ". Ok there goes my 1st plan for the day through the window. I havent carried anything on the lines of the so called Temple Attire. Well its a good thing that they have such a practice in place. Imagine what an eye candy it would be to find every single person dressed in the typical nadan kasavu mundu.

With no choice we make a dash for the St.Angelo's fort in Kannur. This place is in the heart of the town and is next to the army cant' . Easy to find just that you need to take a few round abouts to get there.

St. Angelo's Fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India and is on the Arabian sea about 3 km from Kannur town. It was attacked in vain by the local Indian ruler in the Siege of Cannanore (1507).

On August 1509 Almeida, refusing to recognize Afonso de Albuquerque's as the new portuguese governor to supersede himself, arrested him in this fortress after having fought the naval Battle of Diu. Afonso de Albuquerque was released after three months' confinement, and become governor on the arrival of the grand-marshal of Portugal with a large fleet, in October 1509.[1]

The fort changed hands several times. In 1663 the Dutch captured it and sold it to the Arakkal Royal Family in 1772. The British conquered it in 1790 and transformed it into one of their major military stations on the Malabar Coast. It is fairly well preserved as a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India. A painting of this fort and the fishing ferry behind it can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Dutch captured the fort from the Portuguese in 1663, then later sold the fort to king Ali Raja of Arakkal. In 1790 British seized it and transformed it into their chief military station in Malabar.

The horse stable





Canon's used to ward off/attack enemies





Another quote from Wiki

Among them one Policeman Sathyan Edakkad has detailed knowledge about this fort and the surrounding places. He wrote and published a book in Malayalam language named Vasco da Gamayum Charitrathile Kaanapurangalum (Vasco da Gama and the unseen pages of history).

Satyan happened to be my guide for the day at the fort. He even showed me his book which was published in Malayalam and I shamelessly had to tell him I dint know how to read malayalam. Asked him to publish a book sometime in English and promised him that I would buy one.
Satyan infact left me in awe when he spoke Dutch and french fluently to a few foreign visitors. We thanked him and left the place.

The chapel inside the fort after the restoration. You can also see the early oil lamp lighthouse in the background.



The house where the viceroy stayed and is inaccessible to tourists.



Restoration in full swing to save the fort from the Arabian Sea



Something that caught my attention here was the kerala govt' had stationed TOURISM POLICE. Haven't seen such a practice at-least here in Karnataka. Good show by the govt'.

There is lot of restoration works in progress. Looks like it was left to rot there and then someone from ASI was enlightened to save this piece of architecture.

Muzhappilangad Beach

Now this has been on our mind since yesterday and both of us are smiling looking at each other.From NH-17 take a right and then there is an unpaved road winding through coconut groves leading to the beach.You wont get lost, just keep a watch out for the signboards en-route Thalassery.The road leading to the beach is quite really narrow.Had to make quite a few stops to let oncoming traffic pass through. So what I knew there was something wonderful awaiting ahead to greet us.

shot en-route the beach



I have to admit that both of us were waiting to get here and have a blast and we sure did. Drove quite a bit on the beach and my better half too had a blast. The coastline is close to 4kms long and you can even see trucks plying along the beach.











Now its time to decide which way do we go ? We wanted to go the Kochi way and our family wanted us back for the new years. With no choice I take the Kuthuparambu--Mananthavady route towards Mysore.

From Mananthavady , drive to bavali-- HD kote and then Mysore. The roads from Bavali towards HD kote is undergoing widening and repair work. Actually they are laying a new road itself. After about 10kms from the bavali check-post you gotto deviate into the forest and drive for another 10kms or so thru the forest and small villages to join back at the Jungle Lodges entrance near Kabini.

I was in familiar territory and then find nature at its best. Its only 5:30 pm and home is another 50 kms from here. We pull over for a last few shots









The road ahead



By about 7pm we are back home at my in-laws place for the new years. Look at the scorp' and I feel like kissing her, but then shezz gonna be salty . In-fact some kids in Wyanad commented " looks like the scorp' hasn't seen water for the last month or so " . What the heck she is meant to be dirty and I have kept it so.

My trip never ended here, on the 1st 4 of us join hands and give the scorp' a nice wash which lasts for good 3 hours. Give her a coat of wax and I cant stop admiring her. Come Jan 2nd we are off to Masinagudi for another small trip. I am not posting pics from Masinagudi since my road trip was broken at mysore.

The odo' once we reached Mysore was reading 1850 since we left Bangalore. I had a blast driving the monster and demanding my way. The mileage averaged out at about 13.xx kms for the whole trip with AC on 80% or more . I did some spirited driving on NH-17 and a few other places .

For me it look's like my investment has been fruitful. The ATS were again pure bliss on the highway and otherwise. Will put up a thread on the ATS maybe by the next weekend. Until then ciao and thanks to those who went thru the travelogue.

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

And am in Mangalore, so we surely could have had a coastal meet for sure

Yes indeed. Probably we could plan a meet sometime soon

Raj
Great trip log with some fantastic pictures. Turtle Bay is one great place to wind off on weekends

[redrage]

Lovely travelogue and nice pictures Riju. Enjoyed it.