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-   -   This Trip Have Emotion,Drama& Tragedy.. But a Happy ending. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/20965-trip-have-emotion-drama-tragedy-but-happy-ending.html)

"ES KAHANI MEIN EMOTION HAI DRAMA HAI TRADEDY HAI.. But A Happy Ending"
My Wife have never seen a Seashore and beaches so I was planning for this kind of trip for a long time but for some reason or the other, I was not able to make up mind. Finally I decided that I will make use of the 26 Jan long weekend.
Had a few options in my mind.
1. North Kerala Beach (bekal fort).
2. Pondicherry.
3. Coastal Karnataka (NH17).
With these three destinations in my mind, I started collecting info from fellow Bhpians, first I sent a PM to hvKumar (Kumar of IndiaHighways). He gave me some good suggestions about places which I can cover and present state of highways around South India. I decided to visit Coastal Karnataka (But the place was decided yet).
Sent a PM to Samurai (Godfather of writing Travelogues in this Forum) to give some Idea about how to reach Places like Bhatkal, Kundapur or Udupi. He sent a reply asking me to call him on his Cell. At night 9:35pm, called and talked with him for 20 minutes and got some useful information which came really handy while traveling. He gave me some Idea about the places and asked me to come prepared with Daily Stuff like Soap, towel & Blanket etc, which I anyway carry whenever I go for a Trip.
I was looking to stay at Turtle bay resort so called them up. Bad luck... It was fully booked till 30 Jan.
Holysh*t.. I thought probably I have to miss this weekend also.
Went to google search for Staying options In Udupi and found some good budget hotels. Called a few off them and found that I can get a decent room if not a beach resort. So I decided to visit an Open beach (Malpe)
Decided to take a route from Bangalore- Tumkur- Shimoga - Udupi and start early Morning Jan26th at 5:00am.

EMOTION & DRAMA
Went to bed early at 9:30pm to wake up early morning, but....... It was not over ... got a call from my boss at 10:30pm. My Boss told me that there is a serious problem at customer in Netherlands (T-COM, Biggest customer of our Product) and I have to work/Coordinate with the team there and investigate and come up with a solution. Dialed my Companies VPN from home and started investigating the problem, some how I found the problem and called the concerned developer to take a look at it. It was 2.30am by then.
Dropped the Trip plan, woke up my wife and told her that we are not going and went to sleep. I woke up 8:30am.
Saw my wife was very disappointed, while she was preparing our breakfast. I thought for a while and went to kitchen and asked my wife to start preparing for the Trip. I told her that we will start at 11:00am. I was glad that she was happy to hear that
Checked my Car for coolant, brake oil etc. seemed fine for this long trip and started at 11.45am from home.
I took peripheral ring road from my home (BG road) to reach NH4 in no time. Reached Tumkur, refilled my car on HP club and stopped at the adjacent coffee day for some snacks and then Started for Shimoga on NH 206. This road 2 lane and has really some bad patches in between (around Bhadravati).
Reached Shimoga in the evening, Asked for Directions to reach Udupi. Turned to NH13 towards "Tirthahalli"50km from Shimoga, Drive was very nice with not much traffic on the road. There was big Lake on the way and dense forests around with temp difference of as much as 5-6 degree than city.
Picture of that Lake


Reached Tirthahalli and asked about Way to Udupi, Local people asked not to drive as it was already dark and the Roads have a Ghats section in Agumbe (Hill Station). Gott a decent room for Rs400 in a hotel and stayed there for that night.
Left Tirthahally and headed for Udupi early morning at 6:30am. Reached Agumbe and clicked some Photos with Sun rising thru the mountains.
Picture of Agumbe( ghats)



TRADEDGY
Drove down the Ghats and reached the plains, Saw a milestone showing 15 km Manipal, Just then I felt that something is wrong, stopped the car to find that rear right tyre is flat. This was my first Car puncture in my life, 35000km in M800 and 9000km in my Petra. I was very disappointed, some how Changed it and headed for Udupi. Reached Udupi and left the flat tyre to a puncture repair shop and went to look out for a restaurant to have my breakfast. Came back to the Punturewalah to know that Tyre had 2 big Punctures and he wanted me to bring a new Tube. Looked out for Bridgestone shop in Udupi, Bought a Tube (175/65/R14) for Rs375, Got it fixed.
Started looking for a Hotel and found Hotel karavalli on NH17. To our surprise, Hotel was full. Went to another Hotel (Durga) and got a Non -AC Deluxe Room for Rs350. Room was pretty decent with really good service and was just 3-4 kms from Malpe beach.
I am sure that same room in Bangalore will cost Rs2250 + taxes.
Picture of Hotel room.



HAPPPY ENDING...
Took rest for next 1 hour and headed for the beach. (WOW!….. some how we made it to reach till here....)..
Beach was nice and big enough to have privacy if you walk down towards north.. with few couples roaming here and there.
Stayed there for next 3-4 hours, Overall My wife and my Son Enjoyed the most and I was very happy to see them enjoying. I Went neck deep into waters... tried to swim for sometime but it was very tiring. I realized that its lot more difficult to swim in a sea than in swimming pool Let the pictures say the rest.
Some pics of Malpe beach






Came back to our room at 5:00pm, had some Coffee and snacks and left again for the beach to see Sunset, to our disappointment there were clouds so could not get that view.
Stayed there for next 1 hour, since my Son was fast asleep, decided to come back to hotel.
Pics in the evening


At night, I thought of changing the return route. I decided of going back via Mangalore- Hassan.
Checked out of hotel at 9:00am and headed for Mangalore. Had our breakfast in Mangalore, Lunch at Kamat (Hassan) and reached back to Home at 5:00pm
Picture at Hassan (reliance petrol bunk)


Overall I enjoyed the whole trip, though it was a bit tiring but I enjoyed driving my Petra.
It gave an Average of 15kmpl for this whole trip. (Odo clocked 950km) .
Once again thanks to HvKumar and Samurai who gave those nice tips.
Cheers…..
Keep Traveling..

grt write up GD, the pictures are good too and methinks you all had a grt time.

hey GD nice write up and sure is a wonderful way to give your better half the best gift after calling quits on the trip initially.
Did you drive up the Sakleshpur ghats :Shockked: ? My point here is, has the condition of the roads changed ?? Am curious because I have plans to drive sometime soon to Mangalore.

Yes, I did.. Roads are pathetic and work is still in progress to fill those BIG-BIG Holes.. But Its just 3-4 kms... rest of the Road is better.

Excellent Travelogue GD, and nice pics too...

Most importantly thanks for the update of NH48 (esp Shiradi ghat road)...I feel really nostalgic about its conditions....it is one of my favourite roads...Now, i can try that route whenever there is program to go to Mangalore...

Abhi

Great report Pitamaha, you could have called me while you were here. As you were passing by my house (yup, you did) I was calling up Byndoor beach for availability.:)

Good, honest writeup. The pics of Agumbe ghat & Tirtahalli are excellent. We look forward to more of such visual delights

Thanks you all for your motivational Comments

.
This was really an honest attempt to make this trip possible, I do like to travel a lot because that gives me a chance to Know different Places and take my car on highways..
Samurai, People like you and akroy are "Pitamah" of this section.
There were 2 reasons that I could not call.
I didnot have your No, in my Mobile becauseThat night I called you from my Land line.
But I could have managed to get your No. from nearby CyberCafe and check my PMs, but thought you might be busy in making use of this long weekend.
Just a Question?? Where do you Stay? In Manipal or Udupi?

Abhijeet, You have always inspired evreybody in TBHP to go for these long Drives. Your Reports have always been a motivating factor for driving long distances. I am planning to do a Banglalore- Agra(My Native) sometime this year.

Nice writeup gD. Liked the emotion and drama part of the story.

Come on gD, you call this a tragedy, i would say you were lucky all these years not to have a single puncture that too running on Indian roads....



Dont ever do that again please. Swimming in the sea can be extremely dangerous.

called it a tragedy because it wasted my very important 2.5 hrs, in fixing it. Changed it by myself and had to look for a new Tube at a unkown place. Could only get this tube on the 3rd Shop I asked. Travelled back 10 kms to Puncture wala to get the Trye Fixed.
I could have used this time staying on beach or visit some other place like Koppa or Kundapur.

.
Though I learnt Swimming when I was 9 yr old, But Still I agree what you say. will never try that again.

Good one!

You scared me with the title "DRAMA HAI TRADEDY HAI", then the puncture story made me rather happy.
It is a good idea to carry a spare tube, which I always do. If you run the car with puncture for a few meters, there is a good probablity that your tube gets damaged beyond repair.

Yes, I agree and I learnt it the hard way... Never thought that Tube can burst or get punctured on a long trip. Never had any Punctue in my Four wheelers post yr2002( for Almost 45K km). I was so frightened of thinking :what if another Trye is punctured before I get a Puncture Repair Shop.

btw.. what should we do if your 2 or more tryes gets Punctured and you don't have a Puncture shop very nearby.

greatDrive - a really heartwarming tale. Great stuff.

Thanks GreatDrive, Blr - Agra should be a nice drive...you can also give us update on NS corridor work by NHAI, I think Lakhandon - Narshinghpur (on the sagar route, NH26 i think) is in bad condition (i think some work has started) otherwise roads are decent till Agra...Well, you can give us update on that....
Actually was planning to drive to Hoshangabad to attend a friend's marriage but couldnt get enough leaves so had to cancel, hence did some small research on this route....

Abhi

Really great pics there GD.... looks like you had a nice weekend. Just curious, have you been taking photography lessons from our Rudra Sir? ;)

Coastal K'taka does have some impressive spots, just wish the govt would pay more attention to tourism like other states.