[lohithrao]

laluks lovely travelogue... you seem to be in love with the west

good going dude!

[laluks]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

laluks lovely travelogue... you seem to be in love with the west

good going dude!

My hometown is Trivandrum, the extreme south of the west coast .
Living in Bangalore, I miss the beaches a lot. The beaches are the only places I feel you can be around any time. Now you know the reasons why on any given instance I hit out to the west coast

[lohithrao]

Now i get it, anyone from west loves the charm

Now reading your travelogue started to miss home am sure will head out very soon

(First trip) btw did you learn why the alloy and the tyres got damaged, i remember reading that you went through some ruff patch..

Originally Posted by laluks

My hometown is Trivandrum, the extreme south of the west coast .
Living in Bangalore, I miss the beaches a lot. The beaches are the only places I feel you can be around any time. Now you know the reasons why on any given instance I hit out to the west coast

[akroy]

Lalu, I cant believe Summer Sands had gone so costly. Way back in Jan06 I went there by bike. Although didnt stay there but had lunch at their restaurant and utilized their private beach.
The price there was in the range of 1000 - 2500. 5K for a room means its indeed robbery.

Abhi

[lohithrao]

WOw 5500 thats damn expensive! remeber staying there in 2004 when i had been there had taken a cottage with 3 rooms and i think it costed us 1800bucks...

Tannerbhavi is not very safe, would suggest Pannambur or Kaupu which is closer to Udupi.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Now i get it, anyone from west loves the charm

Now reading your travelogue started to miss home am sure will head out very soon

(First trip) btw did you learn why the alloy and the tyres got damaged, i remember reading that you went through some ruff patch..

Go home soon!!
There was a medium sized stone on the road surface and the high speeds have done the rest of the damage.

Originally Posted by akroy

Lalu, I cant believe Summer Sands had gone so costly. Way back in Jan06 I went there by bike. Although didnt stay there but had lunch at their restaurant and utilized their private beach.
The price there was in the range of 1000 - 2500. 5K for a room means its indeed robbery.

Abhi

Originally Posted by lohithrao

WOw 5500 thats damn expensive! remeber staying there in 2004 when i had been there had taken a cottage with 3 rooms and i think it costed us 1800bucks...

I now checked makemytrip which claims to give the cheapest rates. I have attached a snapshot showing Summersands rates.

[kingshukt]

Only one query on your 1st trip....

When you travelled from Goa to B'lore on the Sawantwadi , Amboli route - did you join NH4 at Nipani i.e Sawantwadi - Amboli - Gadinglaj - Nipani (NH4) ?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by kingshukt

Only one query on your 1st trip....

When you travelled from Goa to B'lore on the Sawantwadi , Amboli route - did you join NH4 at Nipani i.e Sawantwadi - Amboli - Gadinglaj - Nipani (NH4) ?

I think Sawantwadi and Amboli route connects to NH4 at Nippani only, just after Gadinglaj. I took this route while travelling to and fro from Hyd-Goa

[kingshukt]

That is what I thought.

That road is quite bad in parts and in the afternoon / evenings all the villages on the route pour out on to the road forcing you to reduce speed.

[laluks]

I have not realised of Nippani in my travel, I reached Belgaum without much hassles like you mentioned. I thinK I reached somewhere between belgaum and Bagevadi on NH4. Roads were decent too. My route was sawantwadi-amboli-chandgad-belgaum.

I realise that once I reached belgaum getting the directions to NH4 was confusing. After spending few minutes discussing with the traffic cop I got the sense of it.

[laluks]

Day 3 - May 3, 2009

Since almost all the places we had in the list in Mangalore got over, we thought we will just drive out to the ghats and return by afternoon. What happened was at Karkala we saw a board telling Chikmagalur, Kudremukh, Horanadu etc. and then there was no stopping and a dynamic plan evolved like this Mangalore - Mudabidri - Karkala - Kudremukh - Horanadu - Shringeri -Agumbe - Udupi - Mangalore. Though we planned to return back from Karkala in the afternoon, and do Shringeri and Agumbe next day.

The views were just amazing and we just drove and drove in the green like crazy.

Mangalore - Mudabidri - Karkala - Kudremukh - Horanadu - Shringeri -Agumbe - Udupi - Mangalore


We left from Mangalore to Mudabidri by 10AM and reached Mudabidri by 11AM. Muda means eastern portion and bidri means bamboo. Could not see any bamboos though!

The 1000 pillared temple -Tribhuvana Tilaka Chudamani basadi was very good. It was built by wealthy jain merchants around 1430. Each of the 1000 pillars are carved in a different way. It was quite cool inside due to the stone construction. Sat there for a while and enjoyed the good breeze.



We left to Karkala and reached there by 12. We skipped Venur. Venur also has a 38feet Bahubali statue consecrated in 1604 by the then Jain ruler. Karkala has a majestic bahubali statue which was built in 1432. Every 12 years there is a mahamastabishekha which is a very pompous celebration. last one was in 2002. Watch out for 2014. It was a steep climb to the statue. The place was calm. Lots of breeze, and less crowded.



Kambala water buffallo race is famous here. No idea whether it is still held.

We reached a junction near Karkala and stopped for some tender coconut and my kids spotted a board which showed directions to kudremukh, chikmagalur etc, with reasonable kilometer figures. The curiosity in us grew wild, and lo! there we are heading to nowhere. Reached Kudremukh national park, and the guard asked us where to, to issue as a pass. I surprised him by asking him - where all can I go passing through this park? He told me Horanadu, Kalasa, Sringeri. Decided to go to Horanadu, as Sringeri was any ways planned for the next day.

There are very less photographs taken here, since any photo would not do justice to the beauty that this place is. The drive is simply worth it and must be enjoyed with our own eyes..

The drive was very good through the forest, and every one enjoyed it. We saw a board showing directions to Gangamoola.



Ganagamoola is the place where Tunga, Bhadra and Nethravathi rivers originate. But we did not want to trek - so continued. Saw the Kudremukh peaks. Visited the Lakya Dam. Lakya Dam was built by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd to deposit the red sludges from its mines. The place looks beautiful, but be aware that the sludge is dangerous and can swallow you in it like quick sand.

Continued all the way to reach Horanadu Annapurneswari temple by 3PM. This temple also is concretised and no architectural stone stuff, but famous among the believers.

Left Horanadu by 3.30PM and on the way back just before the road to through the national park, saw a board showing Shringeri 60Kms, and guess what we just took that road to reach Shringeri temple by 5.30PM. This temple is an architectural beauty.



And guess what it is almost 6PM when we decided that anyway we are here why not Agumbe sunset point. We reached Agumbe in time to see the sunset. It was hazy though. Agumbe is considered to be the wettest place in South India - though it was not raining on the day!



After all hell went lose on this day, it was a successful and fruitful ghat section drive. Roads are good,though the stretches are narrow and sides deep.

We drove through the narrow road tou Udipi to get the NH17 to Mangalore. Just before reaching Udipi, the roads widened with date palms on the middle of the road, Hifi educational and medical building on the sides, roads well lit. I was like what the heck! Where am I. Guys this was the 2Km in Manipal. The place looked amazing in the night, particularly because you are driving the ghats which was almost untouched by development to a sudden contrast. Colours everywhere!!

We reached Mangalore by 9PM. Had dinner and through out the dinner we were just chatting about what has happened on this day - we were amazed at a day unplanned turning out to be so good. with that smile on our faces we retired for the day.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by laluks

We reached Mangalore by 9PM. Had dinner and through out the dinner we were just chatting about what has happened on this day - we were amazed at a day unplanned turning out to be so good. with that smile on our faces we retired for the day.

Why did your return back to Mangalore? You could have halted somewhere in Kundapur instead !!

Abhi

[laluks]

Originally Posted by akroy

Why did your return back to Mangalore? You could have halted somewhere in Kundapur instead !!

Abhi

Unfortunately we were booked in Mangalore for that day too, and this drive was just instinct!!

You know what the next two days we are booked in Udipi!! Things just happen on its own - plans kept dynamically changing

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by laluks

And guess what it is almost 6PM when we decided that anyway we are here why not Agumbe sunset point. We reached Agumbe in time to see the sunset. It was hazy though. Agumbe is considered to be the wettest place in South India - though it was not raining on the day!

It is summer, wait another few weeks for rains. The sunset, I always warn people not to expect much. I live less than 50Kms away, been there so many times, never seen the sunset.

Originally Posted by laluks

Just before reaching Udipi, the roads widened with date palms on the middle of the road, Hifi educational and medical building on the sides, roads well lit. I was like what the heck! Where am I. Guys this was the 2Km in Manipal. The place looked amazing in the night, particularly because you are driving the ghats which was almost untouched by development to a sudden contrast. Colours everywhere!!

Heh, heh, that's my town for you.

[navpreet318]

Thanks for this travelogue.I'll refer to this as i'm really inspired to go to goa in my civic now.Will defnitely go.just a couple of friends and we'll rewrite Dil Chahata Hai.