Total
Distance Covered: 2572
kms
Total
Duration: 6 days
Total
Expenses (for 3 people): Rs. 93000
Places Covered: Gokarna, Coorg, Hampi
Snapshot of the Trip:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pB2h0WL7RWRh7t4QhkYV7n6o5tU_wSGjMC9FbcuKlBI/edit?usp=sharing
Route Map
Mid
October, 2017 (whatsapp):
Motabhai:
Suno na
Me: ?
Gray
(after 2 hours): Bolega BC
Motabhai:
Dec end mein Goa aur Coorg ka plan banate hain na...2 days in Goa 2 days in
coorg something like that...Drive of around 2000kms...it will be a great
vacation covering beach sun and hill station coolness
Gray:
Mujhe Gokarna mein jyada interest hai
Me (in my
mind): BC kaisa insan hai? Never been to goa? Such people should be banned from
India.
Motabhai
to Gray: Tu in hai kya? I dont think Kapoor ka kuch issue hoga.
Gray: I
am in. I will confirm the dates but let's do Hampi also.
Me: I am
in but it's not possible to cover so many places in such a short time. Nahin ho
payega.
_____________________________________________________________________
Day 1
(Mumbai to Gokarna):
After having a cup of kadak chai at Tejas's place, we
began our journey at around 3 am.
(Small point to be made here - Yesterday I had gone home for the New
Year eve and my mom informed me that she also reads my blogs. Owing to this new
development, I shall be modifying the language that Gray, Motabro and I had
used in our journey. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. Gracias!)
We got stuck in a really bad traffic on the Lonavala Ghat which slowed
us by an hour or so which was followed by another setback which kept us on our
toes (kinda) till our journey ended.
Morning chai while bidding adieu to the
moon
Gray has a thing for milestones
Mala marathi mait nai
Once we entered Karnataka, we headed towards the RTO in Kognali to get
the necessary permit for the vehicle. The problem was that the Karnataka
government doesn't issue day permits but a permit which has a year long validity and costs Rs.
16000. Myles had not taken care of this beforehand, and they had not informed
us about this either. So the only option at this point was to pay 16k and hope
Myles would reimburse the necessary amount. Myles plainly refused to do so. We
were stuck and had absolutely no idea as to how to get out of this situation.
We tried to plead the officials there to give us some sort of a make do
permit which can save our asses for the next few days but their hands were
tied. However, these people, may God shower them with love and kindness, told
us that we can continue our journey without any permits. Although this was
quite a risky move but they told us the penalty for this is going to be lesser
than 16k. They told us to have faith in God and just continue on our journey
and that's exactly what we did.
Failing to pose
The roads to Gokarna were lined up with beautiful trees on both the
sides. By the time we reached Zostel, Gokarna, we were pretty tired. We ate and
roamed around the place for a while. Since it had become to dark, we decided to
visit the beaches early morning.
Me loves graffiti
Kudle beach as seen from Zostel
My my :D
Much to my chagrin, I found Zostel of Gokarna to be quite boring as
compared to the Zostel of Jaipur. I shall not go into the finer details but
let's just say that it did not live up to my expectations. Motabro was highly
disappointed by the sizes of the bed. This is what happens when you get too
used to alishan hotels. When we were exploring the place
during the night, we encountered the birth place of Hanuman and his mom
Anjani.
Day 2 (Gokarna & Coorg):
Motabro being a huge devotee (literally) decided to wake up at 4AM and
visit these places. Gray has his own sets of gods and I am not much of a theist
so the two of us decided to catch up on our sleep while Motabro was
chanting Hanuman chalisa at 4 in the morning near the birthplace. Fun fact -
This is 1 of the 4 places where Hanumanji is supposed to have been born. And
yes we did visit one more birthplace later in our journey.
One of the people working in Zostel informed us about this largely
ignored beach called Belekan which gives an amazing view of the sunrise. So we
headed there and were absolutely marveled by the beauty of this place. The calm
that we experienced is something which I wont be able to pen down quite well so
I will let the humble pictures do the talking.
After clicking a decent number of pics and having an average chai at
a cute shack here, we headed towards the famous Om Beach (because it is in the
shape of Om)
Notice the OM shape???
Notice the OM shape???
Please do visit Namaste Cafe at Om
beach. The food is just fantastic
After a sunptuous breakfast, we set on our long and beautiful jounrey to
Coorg.
An amazing stretch en route
We decided to have lunch at Udipi and since I was familiar with the area
we went to Woodlands. Motabro loved the sambhar of this place
so much that he wanted to parcel a good amount of it. No, but seriously, visit
this restaurant. It's pretty good. Veg only though.
I miss Udupi and Manipal :(
If you visit Udupi/Manipal/Surathkal and don't go to Pabbas in
Mangalore, it is a BIG CRIME. What is Pabbas you ask? It is an ice cream
lover's paradise. PLEASE PLEASE do visit this place once in your lifetime.
I am not sure whether you are able to
read it or not but it says - "Please Wash". Genius, I tell you
From Mangalore we moved towards Coorg and when we reached quite close to our
final destination, we came across a jam on the ghats because of an accident which
had happened 3 days ago. The municipal corporation was towing away the truck
after 3 days of the accident.
After a few kms of this stretch, we entered Madikeri where we found a really nice cafe called Big Cup Cafe. Do try out their chicken samosa and various coffees. Once we had sipped on our piping coffees, we headed to Coorg Jungle Camp Backwater Resort which is just another name for serenity and picturesque scenery.
Day 3 (Coorg):
There are 2 amazing USPs of Coorg Jungle Camp Backwater Resort: 1) It's actually in the jungle and is cut off from the shor-sharaba 2) It has its private backwaters (oh yeah!). Of course we couldn't admire the beauty of this place to its full extent because we had arrived quite late in the night. After having a sumptuous dinner, we just dropped dead on our respective beds.
There are 2 amazing USPs of Coorg Jungle Camp Backwater Resort: 1) It's actually in the jungle and is cut off from the shor-sharaba 2) It has its private backwaters (oh yeah!). Of course we couldn't admire the beauty of this place to its full extent because we had arrived quite late in the night. After having a sumptuous dinner, we just dropped dead on our respective beds.
Ze good life
It was decided that we would wake up early in the morning to check out the 2nd USP of this place and check out we did.
I thought I would meditate but these 2 idiots couldn't let me be in peace for even 10 mins
After breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the greenery, we headed out to explore the neighbourhood. We decided to stop at a tapri for a cuppa. As I was talking to the guy at the tea stall, he told me something amazing which blew my mind. "Today Namdroling Monastery would be visited by His Holiness Dalai Lama". JAW DROPPING news for me. Fine, those of you who don't know me may not understand my excitement but that's okay. Namdroling was on my TO SEE list anyway but now I just absolutely had to go there. Once we reached the hotel back, I verified this news from the hotel manager, but alas, he told me that Dalai Lama was going to visit the next day, and not today :( (Inner peace, Inner peace). C'est la vie.
We finished our breakfast and headed towards the Dubare Elephant Camp because Gray had never seen an elephant in his life up close (Goa and now elephant. I mean seriously, what is wrong with these people? :P)
We finished our breakfast and headed towards the Dubare Elephant Camp because Gray had never seen an elephant in his life up close (Goa and now elephant. I mean seriously, what is wrong with these people? :P)
Look at that idiotic smile :P
Next destination on the agenda was the Namdroling monastery which is the largest teching centre of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Wiki says that the monastery was carved from the jungle that the Indian government generously granted to Tibetan exiles, initial challenges included rampaging elephants and other tropical dangers. Pretty much the entire place was called as renovation of buildings had happened and Dalai Lama was supposed to inaugurate it. Monks from all over the world had come to this place for the auspicious occasion. I met monks from Mongolia, Bhutan and of course, the local ones too.
From a shop in the monastery we bought the much sighted Om Ma Ni Padme Hum mantra flag and adroned our Honda BRV with it.
Mongolian monk with a swag
From a shop in the monastery we bought the much sighted Om Ma Ni Padme Hum mantra flag and adroned our Honda BRV with it.
From the monastery ,we moved towards the Madikeri fort which let me warn you, is a complete waste of time. This is the 'Lovers point' of Coorg.
After a major disappointment, we opened Zoamato and tried to find a nice restaurant in the vicinity and boy did we find an amazing place. Head to Raintree restaurant which has authentic local dishes. We noticed that the restaurant has its own coffee shop as well and since Gray wanted to visit a coffee plantation we asked around for a plantation visit. So the next stop for us was Mercara Gold Estate which is about 45 mins away from Madikeri. But before that, I insisted that we visit at least one waterfall since we are in Coorg. And Abbey falls it was.
The drive to Mercara Gold Estate is quite scenic and it's quite easy to completely miss the plantation; so keep an eye ;)
The good part is that in just 150 bucks, you can get a tour of the plantation where you get to see the 3 types of coffee plants, various spices. and a piping cuppa.
Coffee bean
Bird eye chilli. DON'T, I repeat, DON'T try this anywhere. It's hotttttt
Coffee beans after they have been dried up in the sun
The Roasting machine
We purchased quite a few packets of coffee which got roasted and packed in front of us (yayyy!) and headed towards the hotel. The plan was to reach a bit early and enjoy the back waters again but alas, Gray slowed us down as he was trying incredibly hard to book an airline ticket back to Delhi. By the time we reached the Jungle camp, the night had dawned upon us. Once again, the drinks were ordered but today there was this with us:
Ah man, this song; them feels bruh :'(
Day 4-5 (Hampi):
As usual, we woke up early and stopped at a chai shack on the highway. I am not much of a tea fan and hence I was just looking at the cars that were passing by and all of a sudden I saw this entourage of 3 modest cars. I don't remember the models but the 2nd one was Scorpio and in all three of these cars there were Buddhist monks, and a lot of luggage. The second car, the Scorpio however got my attention because sitting next to the driver, I think was His Holiness Dalai Lama. WHATTTTTTTTT??? Ya, I was shocked but at the same time unsure because it is very difficult to believe that a man of his stature would be travelling in an entourage which doesn't involve any security. It is extremely strange and I will probably never be able to verify this but I choose to believe that I had seen Dalai Lama. (Yassssssssss! :D )
During the course of many journey, you visit places which you really can't tell your parents about lest they ban you from any more such 'adventures'. As we were inching towards Hampi, we reached one such place where we had boiled eggs. Now, let me tell you something interesting, it took me about 5 minutes of Dumbcharadic movements to explain to him that we don't need an omelette or egg burji or egg curry but 4 freaking boiled eggs. Have a look at this:
The next stop after this 'sumptuous' meal of boiled eggs and chai was Hampi, the road to which passed through umpteen beautiful and green hamlets, and a plenty of avocado plants (these look weird to be honest). But you know what, at this point of the journey I had begun to get really irritable because most of the time was being spent just on moving from location A to B. When do we really see the actual stuff?
It was evening now and poor Motabro had started developing FOMO (fear of missing out) so he called us up to tell us about this light and fountain show that happens daily at Tungabhadra Dam. So we picked him from the hotel and headed towards the dam. By the time we reached there it was pitch dark and hence we couldnt see the dam. Please make a note - DO NOT bother attending the fountain show as it is a sheer wastage of time.
During the course of many journey, you visit places which you really can't tell your parents about lest they ban you from any more such 'adventures'. As we were inching towards Hampi, we reached one such place where we had boiled eggs. Now, let me tell you something interesting, it took me about 5 minutes of Dumbcharadic movements to explain to him that we don't need an omelette or egg burji or egg curry but 4 freaking boiled eggs. Have a look at this:
Gray inspecting the boiling of eggs :P
Chill scenes on a khatiya
The next stop after this 'sumptuous' meal of boiled eggs and chai was Hampi, the road to which passed through umpteen beautiful and green hamlets, and a plenty of avocado plants (these look weird to be honest). But you know what, at this point of the journey I had begun to get really irritable because most of the time was being spent just on moving from location A to B. When do we really see the actual stuff?
Before I could sulk further, something interesting happened. We reached a particular area which had huge security walls with electrical fences and armed security personnel all around. We could find the presence of the army as well and the warning signs of 'photography not allowed'. Of course, we had found the Area 51 of India, or was it an area having uranium mines, or perhaps an arms factory, or an army target practise area maybe? Much to our chagrin, it turned out to be JSW steel factory. Bah, boring!! Once we crossed Bellary, reaching Hampi didn't take much time. After having a quick bite at the hotel in Hampi, Gray and I decided to have a look at the ruins of Hampi, and as usual Motabro decided to stay back (laziness I tell ya!).
Hampi is an expansive area of 16 square miles with around 1600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in south India. It was the capital of the Vijaynagar empire in the 14th century. Remember Tenali Raman and king Krishnadevaraya? Well, this was their city.
Queen's bath
Queen's bath
Liked the fact that Braille has been used for a better experience for tourists
Royal Enclosure
Royal Enclosure
Royal Enclosure
Royal Enclosure
Royal Enclosure
Mahanavami Dibba
Mahanavami Dibba
Hazara Ram Temple
Hazara Ram Temple
Hazara Ram Temple
Hazara Ram Temple
Hazara Ram Temple
Lotus Mahal
Elephant stables
Boulders of Hampi
It was evening now and poor Motabro had started developing FOMO (fear of missing out) so he called us up to tell us about this light and fountain show that happens daily at Tungabhadra Dam. So we picked him from the hotel and headed towards the dam. By the time we reached there it was pitch dark and hence we couldnt see the dam. Please make a note - DO NOT bother attending the fountain show as it is a sheer wastage of time.
The next day, for a surprise, Motabro showed an inexplicable interest in having a look at the remaining ruins oh Hampi whereas Gray took a backseat. We proceeded to Virupaksha temple which is quite a famous place here.
Ruins of Hampi
Cos sharing is caring
Khandani information
A monkey stole a woman's purse and climbed atop this building
Remember earlier in the blog I mentioned about the 4 supposed birthplaces of Hanuman? Well, it was time for us to visit the 2nd birthplace of the monkey god. Living up to his reputation, Hanuman chose his birthplace to be a very tricky and difficult place for ordinary mortals like us to reach - Anjana Hill. The trek to this place is moderate but requires serious cardio capabilities. Motabro was in two minds after discovering that the climb consisted of 575 steps but like a true devotee, he decided to take the plunge (of course, serious motivation was required here). Gray decided to stay back.
It really doesn't matter whether you are religious or not, but the climb is super fun. And the view at the top is simply exhilarating so I strongly recommend this place. During my research of Hampi, I had come across this place in Sanapur lake where you could do cliff jumping and enjoy a coracle ride so that was the next place on our list. As we reached the lake, I noticed the swimming is prohibited signs all around. The locals informed us that due to water levels receding, it has become dangerous to jump so the government decided to scare everyone by putting up Crocodile Insides signs :P
Sanapur Lake
Coracle ride costs just 150 bucks
Insanely difficult to manoeuvre
There is an island nearby which is called Mini Goa which can be reached only through these coracle boats. Since we were running short on time, we decided to skip it. The journey was coming to a close now :( as we were moving to Kolhapur for our final stopover. No, there was nothing we planned to see there but it was just the right place in our route to take a night's rest.
After Kolhapur we moved towards Pune the next day so that Gray could catch a flight. But before that, we thought we should pay a visit to the German Bakery which has some really good stuff.
Once we bid adieu to Gray, Motabro and I headed towards Mumbai which was the final destination. All in all, we clocked 2572 kms in 6 days and visited quite a few exciting places. None of us wanted to go back to our lives and we just wished that this trip would never end because that's the thing with travelling I guess, the adrenaline pump from facing the unknown becomes addictive. But then there are things that have to be done in order to maintain a good bank balance which will be required for our next trip. Where will it be, we are not really sure. Although we have a grand plan in our minds, and only time will tell whether it will really get executed or not. Until then, adios amigos :D
Wandering Wheelz of the Trip:
Eshan Kapoor
Gourab Ray (aka Gray)
Tejas Shah (aka Motabhai/Motabro)
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