[KishoreC]

We experienced Coastal Karnataka last June. We were enchanted by the beauty of Western Ghat and Karnataka's coastal region. But something was missing, we figured it was monsoon.

So we set out to experience the same again in first week of October, 2009. We took a five day trip to Mangalore, Karkala, Agumbe, Maravanthe, Murudeshwar, Gokarna and Jog Falls.

This is what we saw in June


and in first week of October.


I'll be posting details of the trip and lots and lots of photos in a little while.

[Morgul]

Wow, loads of water in Jog. I had been to Jog in the last week on Sep '09 and there wasn't a lot of water then.

Anyway, looking forward to more pics. ^^

~Morgul

[HappyWheels]

Kishore,

That was one hell of a comparison photo!

[pjay_in]

Impressive!

The only bad thing about Coastal Karnataka after the monsoons are the roads.

[KishoreC]

Cause :
1. New Vehicle
2. In-laws visiting Bangalore for few weeks
3. As if we need a cause

Effect:
Trip to coastal Karnataka

The group consisted of me, my wife and my in-laws. I was a little concerned about my in-laws as both of them are senior citizens. But when it comes to traveling and seeing new places, I always find them younger than me. They were both ready for a new kind of challenge, as this being our first family getaway in our own car.

My previous experience of this same trip was still fresh in mind, so planning was much more easier. We found out later that the experience of this trip will be rather different than that of the previous one.

Le me get on with it.

Day - 1 - 1st October 2009
Plan : Bangalore - Mangalore. Local sight seeing in Mangalore

I've been following the Bangalore-Mangalore threads for more than a month, so had a faint idea of what to except. After lot of deliberation and changing the routes 3-4 times finally gave upo and thought of taking the direct route through Shiradi ghat.

All 4 of us were up and ready by 5 Am on Thursday. We were filled with energy and looking forward to a great trip. The day was cloudy and rain was on and off throughout the day. We zoomed out of Bangalore through Kanakpura road and took NICE to go to NH4. Passed Nelamangala in no time. Dawn was breaking up and we were enjoying the cool breeze and clear roads.

I took it easy as I didn't want my in-laws to feel uncomfortable with my driving. We cruised at 80KMPH and reached Dosa Camp on NH4. It was not even 7 AM and that guy at Dosa camp was already open for business. We were his first customer. We had idlis and coffee there and spent a good one hour roaming and enjoying the area. The next door, Shark Tooth Dhaba has a toilet and a pretty good garden.

We started again at 8AM. Road condition was OK. Not too many potholes and we made steady progress. The next stop was at Cafe Coffee Day, 25KM before Hassan. There also we spent around an hour.

The lush greenery of the country side made us the eternal wide eyed wonderer. Anything and everything green looked beautiful. We were spellbound and wanted to suck in all the freshness and beauty around us.

Slowly made it to Shakleshpur. Everyone was so excited seeing the lush greenery of the mountains that they wanted to stop at every turn. We finally stopped at Ossur Restaurant in Shakleshpur for coffee.

Here are some of the photos we took on the road.




Can anyone tell me the name of these?







At Ossur I clicked away on my father in law's NIKON. Here are some more pics.













We reached Shiradi ghat soon after, and I came to realize how imminent and real the threat is. Haven't seen road this bad before. To top it off, it was raining heavily most of the time. You have to be very patient to negotiate this road without any incident (rather accident). Luckily there was very little traffic on this road.

Our progress was very slow mainly because of the condition of the road. Also we stopped frequently to enjoy the surroundings whenever rain subsided.

After a long struggle with NH48 we reached Bantwal Cross around 4PM and finally to Summer Sands resort at 5 PM. Bantwal was chaotic as usual. God knows when the construction will becompleted. I found the town of Mangalore drenched with so much of rain. Water, mud and slush everywhere. We planned to set out to see couple of points in the City in the evening.

Coming up next.. Roads in Mangalore

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by KishoreC

We reached Shiradi ghat soon after, and I came to realize how imminent and real the threat is. Haven't seen road this bad before. To top it off, it was raining heavily most of the time. You have to be very patient to negotiate this road without any incident (rather accident). Luckily there was very little traffic on this road.

This is the reason why there is a 1000+ post thread on the art of travelling to Mangalore/Udupi. If this road was as good as before 2006, that thread wouldn't exist.

Originally Posted by Morgul

Wow, loads of water in Jog. I had been to Jog in the last week on Sep '09 and there wasn't a lot of water then.

Funny thing is I have never been to Jog falls, despite being from the same state.

[darklord]

Thanks. I never saw Jog falls in such splendor, despite living in the vicinity and visiting there a lot of times.

The rains in coastal Karnataka has always been mesmerising for me, probably owing to the change in landscape it brought each time to the place where I lived; and I have never seen rains with such force or endurance either.

[pjay_in]

Good writeup, Kishore. Waiting to see Summer Sands and the rest of Mangalore through your lense.

[prince_pervez]

Beautiful pictures! Waiting for more. Well I'm kinda surprised you took the Shiradi ghat route.

[gadadhar]

Kishore - You have got some guts to venture through Shiradi after the numerous warnings in one among the most sort after thread in BHP. I am sure you would have taken a different route for return. Waiting for more updates on the rains in Mangalore

[KRRaj]

This looks to be a good travelogue. I had visited these places about 3 years back and had put up base at Sirsi and gone to all falls nearby and also Gokarna. Jog Falls was decent at that time.

Looking forward to further snaps. The places look very beautiful during monsoon.

[KishoreC]

After having coffee and snacks in Summer Sands we set out to see Mangalore. We had couple of places in mind. Mainly, Sultan Battery, Kadri Manjunath Temple, St. Sebastian Church and St. Aloysius Church.

Here are some photos taken at Summer Sands. Some of these were taken next day morning.


















We tracked our way back to Pump Well circle and took the main road going into the City. For a few minutes it felt like Mangalore roadwork has all been completed but soon we realized that it was far from being over.

I visited the same city twice before, last time was in June 2009. There was roadwork going on at the center of the city, but this time it was different. A major chunk of the roads were dug up. Some parts of the road were concrete and some places had one way in concrete and other way dug up. There was one junction near Kadri Manjunatha temple, where you get a full off roading opportunity. Anyway, the rain made it worse and we kept on discussing how the city people endure these bad roads everyday.

We reached the center of the city and got stuck in a huge traffic jam. I don't blame the vehicles, as there was very little space available on the roads, and too many vehicles, specially in the evening. We abandoned the plan to see Sultan Battery, as it will take us very long to reach there and it will already be dark by then. Also rain will not permit us to see that place peacefully. Instead we headed to Kadri Manjunatha temple and St Sebastian church. The temple was open and the church was closed. So we roamed around and took couple of pictures.

Kadri Manjunatha Temple












St. Sebastian Church





We called it a day with that and returned back to the resort.
Last time I loved the food in Summer Sands. So, we ordered a sumptuous dinner with 2 chicken sides, roti and dal and retired for early. I was a little annoyed not to see Chicken Chettinad in their menu anymore.

Tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day as we plan to see Karkala, Malpe and reach Maravanthe.

Coming up.. Karkala.. Maple and the day when thunder struck.

[KishoreC]

Originally Posted by pjay_in

Impressive!
The only bad thing about Coastal Karnataka after the monsoons are the roads.

Unimaginably bad roads. I must say I was scared to death the whole way and had several near misses and screeching halts. Especially NH17 near Bhatkal is really annoying. Couple of KMs of good road and then 200mt of potholes, make a really dreadful combination.

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is the reason why there is a 1000+ post thread on the art of travelling to Mangalore/Udupi. If this road was as good as before 2006, that thread wouldn't exist.
Funny thing is I have never been to Jog falls, despite being from the same state.

I've been glued to that thread for over a month. Thank you and others for providing very useful information on road conditions. If you want to see Jog, go now.

Originally Posted by pjay_in

Good writeup, Kishore. Waiting to see Summer Sands and the rest of Mangalore through your lense.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Beautiful pictures! Waiting for more. Well I'm kinda surprised you took the Shiradi ghat route.

Had planned to go through Belur-Chikmagalur but later changed it. Another option was through Agumbe, but was lucky to not to take that road. Road coming down the hill has deteriorated considerably, especially near the HP bends. Also there is lot of traffic on Agumbe route.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Kishore - You have got some guts to venture through Shiradi after the numerous warnings in one among the most sort after thread in BHP. I am sure you would have taken a different route for return. Waiting for more updates on the rains in Mangalore

Came back through NH206. Good road all through, especially when compared to NH48.

[pjay_in]

They are concretizing the city roads (in Mangalore) one by one, and by now the city folks have gotten used to this mess. And more often than not they know an alternative better route to reach point B from A

Right now most of the work is happening around Kadri, Bendoor, Kankanadi, Valencia and Falnir road. Unfortunately the spots you chose to visit are in Kadri (the temple) and Bendoor (the church).

You needn't have dropped the plan to visit Sultan's Battery. Once you go past Bunts Hostel and PVS, the northern half of the city has good roads.

But to reach Bunt's Hostel, you need to know the good route: Kankanady-Bendoor Well-Balmatta-Jyothi-Bunts Hostel. The road from Kadri (Mallikkatte) to Bunts Hostel is hell.

[KishoreC]

pjay_in, that is something positive to look forward to. Hope the construction finishes fast.