One
fine evening, when all of us as in me, my wife, my bro, his wife, mom
and dad – were sitting and chit chatting, my bro was like – lets
go for a trip. We said ‘yay’ almost in unison.
“where? When? How?” I asked, knowing my bro, and being kind of the less risk taker.
“Mangalore, Udupi, kollur..kudajadri..murdeshwar..gokarna” he continued.
“vaaoh, well how ? and when?”
“Tomm evening, we rent an innova, and lets go.
Almost all were OK, except me. What? I said. Almost all eyes on me. The dramatic moment.
Like, its close to 500 odd kms to gokarna, and like we are going tomm, we haven’t booked the room and all.
That’s OK, we shall not book the room, and find any random hotel on the way and stay there. I resisted.
I insisted that, we book the rooms and then that would ease our travel burden. I took it upon myself to take up that task. By next day morning, our rooms for that night and the next day were booked.
By evening, we were all set, and then came the sad news. The Innova we were planning to rent, met with an accident and wont be available. So we immediately decided that we travel in 2 cars. Me my wife and mom in our Swift and my bro his wife and dad in Wagon R.
We started off by 5.30 on 9/9/2016 and being the holiday weekend, we were in for a huge traffic block. It took us close to 2.5 hours to reach Thrissur, there in we halted and had our dinner from Thrissur Food mall. We then realized that we had booked our rooms in kasargod, and getting there would be a hectic task. So we changed plans, we decided that we shall drive till, Kozhikode and then stay there, and early morning head towards our destination.
By 12 we reached Calicut, there we found a relatively budget hotel accommodation, we slept like logs because all were pretty exhausted by the journey. Next day morning, we got up pretty early, we were all fresh, and then continued our journey. We went directly to Kasargode Ananthapura lake temple. I was longing to visit this temple because of the news I heard about babiya, the vegetarian crocodile.
Sorry guys I am taking over from here from my hubby ;) Yes, we were visiting the Ananthapura lake temple. The temple had a unique beauty, it was constructed in the middle of a lake. Once you enter the you will feel the divinity. The pujari who was in charge for the day explained us about the complete history of the temple and also about Babiya, the crocodile. He told us that ‘Prathista’ or idol is not made of 70 medicinal materials. And long back this idol was thrown in a lake and they replaced it with another metal idol but those idols didn’t stay there for much. They replaced many idols but nothing worked out. When they searched for the reason they found out that only the medicinal idol could be placed in this temple. So they searched for the old idol and repaired this idol and placed it back in the temple. Apart from this pujari told us that many years back a boy came in this temple and he sat at this temple for many days. And when the pujari of that time waved him off he felt down in the lake and escaped. A cave formed in the place where he fell down. The cave is preserved there even now. It is believed that this cave leads to Padmanabha swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The boy was none other than Lord Vishnu and when pujari waved him off he left Ananthapuram and went to Padmanbhapuram. The other story he explained us was about the vegetarian crocodile. He told us that the crocodile is there for past 1000 years. When one crocodile dies another one comes out of nowhere. No one is aware from where and how. He took us to another lake nearby and he called babiya many times and the crocodile showed his head after a long effort from him. This crocodile only eat the rice which the temple authorities gives it. After such a wonderful experience we started off from there and went to Bekal fort.
I
know almost what will be ringing in your head when you hear about
Bekal fort. Uyire…Uyire.. song from Bombay movie. This is the place
where their film song was shot. We parked our cars in the parking
area and took tickets which costs Rs.90 for 6 of us. We walked into
the fort and started taking snaps here and there. We found that this
is one of the biggest forts available in Kerala. The Fort was spread
over the whole area and the sun was hitting hard on us with his hot
rays. Even though we walked in the hot sun enjoying ourselves. We
could hear the distant voice of waves so we walked to the end of the
Fort to enjoy the beauty of Sea. Kannan wanted to go to Sea shore but
it was difficult to get down to the beach from the Fort so we decided
to go to the beach after the Fort visit. After visiting the Fort we
came out and we could see people selling tender coconut and juices.
We were feeling thirsty so we bought tender coconut and ice creams.
After rehydrating our self we paid the parking fee and off we go to
Bakel beach. While we rested at the park Rakeu and Kannan went and
took a dip in the sea. After spending some time at the beach it was
time for our lunch. We were new to the place and didn’t know any
nearby hotels. So we decided that on the way if we find any good
hotels we can have our food from there. And yes, we found one hotel
and had a good meal from there. We didn’t had any other plans
for the day. Our next destination was RSB Bhavan, Manipal where
we have booked our room. It was a long drive to Manipal and on the
way we took a tea break. Finally at around 9 PM we reached our hotel.
Everyone was tired, so me and Rakeu decided to go and parcel our
dinner. We went in search of a good restaurant and found a good one
at a walkable distance. We got some rice items, roti, etc. and apart
from this we got into a fast food center and got 2 wraps. After
finishing our dinner we had a good night’s sleep.
The next day early morning we got up and drove to Uduppi Sreekrishna temple. There was a long queue to enter the temple. We stood in the queue for some time and found that it was to see the idol from nearby. We satisfied ourselves by watching god from a little far away as we didn’t want to miss our Kudajadri trip. After having our breakfast from there we went to Mukambika temple. We brought ladoo prasdam and after that we came out of the temple. Outside the temple we saw there was a bid going on for Saree. We went there out of curiosity and Amma brought one Saree by bidding for 300. After that we came out and enquired about Kudajadri. There were many Jeeps which was going to Kudajadri. So we enquired to a Jeep driver about the same. He offered us a trip for Rs.3000. And off we go to Kudajadri in the Jeep. When we started the journey we felt that it was better to take a car and come instead of going in the Jeep because the drive was smooth. He took us through forest and we reached a spot from there he took a turn in to a road. You can say that there is no road, then only we realized that this is why we should take Jeep and not car :P The journey to Kudajadri was a real adventure, we were amazed by driver’s skill. On the way driver told us that he gets 2-3 trips a day. While we were moving up the slope we could feel the cold breeze. We reached the spot at around 1PM and driver asked us to be back by 3:15PM. We walked up the steep slopes, on the way a guy gave Amma a stick which will help her on her way. We split up into teams and started our stroll. We went for the hiking journey and when we reached a spot there was abyss on one side and I felt bit afraid. We hiked for some more time and rested there and started capturing the beauty of nature. Dad was the only one who went the whole way up. We waited there for Dad to return, after a while Rakeu became restless and went in search of Dad. By that time Kannan and Dhanya reached the spot I was standing. We enquired to people coming back what is there up and they informed us that there is one Shiva temple and Ganapathy temple. So we thought of going up as well. We 3 started off and found that Ganapathy temple was very nearby the spot where we were standing. In between we found a person selling lime juice and cucumber, as we didn’t had our lunch we grabbed the cucumber as well as lime juice. As we were thirsty we felt lime juice to be so yummy. The shop keeper showed us way to Ganapathy temple. You can’t exactly say it is a temple but an idol of Ganapathy was placed inside a cave. The ambiance was superb, it was so calm and quite. When we kept out bare foot on those rocks we felt a chilling feeling. We prayed there and thought we will go up and visit Shiva temple as well but by that time Rakeu was back and it was time for us to return. So we started downwards, and our Jeep was waiting for us in the valley. We started our adventurous ride back and reached Mukambika. From there we set off to our next destination which was Mangalore.
We drove straight to Mangalore City Centre. We came out of city Centre thinking that we can find a good restaurant outside the mall but as it was Sunday market was closed down. So we went back to City Centre food court and had our dinner. The food was really tasty and we tried different variety of items from different shops. Finally after our dinner we went to ‘Sun Royal Residency’ for taking rest. The next day early morning we started off our journey back to Cochin. We have the to cover 400+kms to reach our place so Rakeu and Kannan wanted to cover maximum distance before the traffic starts. On the way we had our breakfast from a hotel at Payyannur. My home was on the way so Achan called us and asked us to have lunch from there. We reached my home at around 11, it was too early to have lunch so we packed our food. We spent around half an hour there and started off. We reached our home at around 8PM and after such a long road trip every one of us were damn tired but all were happy about a memorable trip.
“where? When? How?” I asked, knowing my bro, and being kind of the less risk taker.
“Mangalore, Udupi, kollur..kudajadri..murdeshwar..gokarna” he continued.
“vaaoh, well how ? and when?”
“Tomm evening, we rent an innova, and lets go.
Almost all were OK, except me. What? I said. Almost all eyes on me. The dramatic moment.
Like, its close to 500 odd kms to gokarna, and like we are going tomm, we haven’t booked the room and all.
That’s OK, we shall not book the room, and find any random hotel on the way and stay there. I resisted.
I insisted that, we book the rooms and then that would ease our travel burden. I took it upon myself to take up that task. By next day morning, our rooms for that night and the next day were booked.
By evening, we were all set, and then came the sad news. The Innova we were planning to rent, met with an accident and wont be available. So we immediately decided that we travel in 2 cars. Me my wife and mom in our Swift and my bro his wife and dad in Wagon R.
We started off by 5.30 on 9/9/2016 and being the holiday weekend, we were in for a huge traffic block. It took us close to 2.5 hours to reach Thrissur, there in we halted and had our dinner from Thrissur Food mall. We then realized that we had booked our rooms in kasargod, and getting there would be a hectic task. So we changed plans, we decided that we shall drive till, Kozhikode and then stay there, and early morning head towards our destination.
By 12 we reached Calicut, there we found a relatively budget hotel accommodation, we slept like logs because all were pretty exhausted by the journey. Next day morning, we got up pretty early, we were all fresh, and then continued our journey. We went directly to Kasargode Ananthapura lake temple. I was longing to visit this temple because of the news I heard about babiya, the vegetarian crocodile.
Sorry guys I am taking over from here from my hubby ;) Yes, we were visiting the Ananthapura lake temple. The temple had a unique beauty, it was constructed in the middle of a lake. Once you enter the you will feel the divinity. The pujari who was in charge for the day explained us about the complete history of the temple and also about Babiya, the crocodile. He told us that ‘Prathista’ or idol is not made of 70 medicinal materials. And long back this idol was thrown in a lake and they replaced it with another metal idol but those idols didn’t stay there for much. They replaced many idols but nothing worked out. When they searched for the reason they found out that only the medicinal idol could be placed in this temple. So they searched for the old idol and repaired this idol and placed it back in the temple. Apart from this pujari told us that many years back a boy came in this temple and he sat at this temple for many days. And when the pujari of that time waved him off he felt down in the lake and escaped. A cave formed in the place where he fell down. The cave is preserved there even now. It is believed that this cave leads to Padmanabha swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The boy was none other than Lord Vishnu and when pujari waved him off he left Ananthapuram and went to Padmanbhapuram. The other story he explained us was about the vegetarian crocodile. He told us that the crocodile is there for past 1000 years. When one crocodile dies another one comes out of nowhere. No one is aware from where and how. He took us to another lake nearby and he called babiya many times and the crocodile showed his head after a long effort from him. This crocodile only eat the rice which the temple authorities gives it. After such a wonderful experience we started off from there and went to Bekal fort.
 |
| Kudajadri |
 |
| Bakel Fort |
The next day early morning we got up and drove to Uduppi Sreekrishna temple. There was a long queue to enter the temple. We stood in the queue for some time and found that it was to see the idol from nearby. We satisfied ourselves by watching god from a little far away as we didn’t want to miss our Kudajadri trip. After having our breakfast from there we went to Mukambika temple. We brought ladoo prasdam and after that we came out of the temple. Outside the temple we saw there was a bid going on for Saree. We went there out of curiosity and Amma brought one Saree by bidding for 300. After that we came out and enquired about Kudajadri. There were many Jeeps which was going to Kudajadri. So we enquired to a Jeep driver about the same. He offered us a trip for Rs.3000. And off we go to Kudajadri in the Jeep. When we started the journey we felt that it was better to take a car and come instead of going in the Jeep because the drive was smooth. He took us through forest and we reached a spot from there he took a turn in to a road. You can say that there is no road, then only we realized that this is why we should take Jeep and not car :P The journey to Kudajadri was a real adventure, we were amazed by driver’s skill. On the way driver told us that he gets 2-3 trips a day. While we were moving up the slope we could feel the cold breeze. We reached the spot at around 1PM and driver asked us to be back by 3:15PM. We walked up the steep slopes, on the way a guy gave Amma a stick which will help her on her way. We split up into teams and started our stroll. We went for the hiking journey and when we reached a spot there was abyss on one side and I felt bit afraid. We hiked for some more time and rested there and started capturing the beauty of nature. Dad was the only one who went the whole way up. We waited there for Dad to return, after a while Rakeu became restless and went in search of Dad. By that time Kannan and Dhanya reached the spot I was standing. We enquired to people coming back what is there up and they informed us that there is one Shiva temple and Ganapathy temple. So we thought of going up as well. We 3 started off and found that Ganapathy temple was very nearby the spot where we were standing. In between we found a person selling lime juice and cucumber, as we didn’t had our lunch we grabbed the cucumber as well as lime juice. As we were thirsty we felt lime juice to be so yummy. The shop keeper showed us way to Ganapathy temple. You can’t exactly say it is a temple but an idol of Ganapathy was placed inside a cave. The ambiance was superb, it was so calm and quite. When we kept out bare foot on those rocks we felt a chilling feeling. We prayed there and thought we will go up and visit Shiva temple as well but by that time Rakeu was back and it was time for us to return. So we started downwards, and our Jeep was waiting for us in the valley. We started our adventurous ride back and reached Mukambika. From there we set off to our next destination which was Mangalore.
We drove straight to Mangalore City Centre. We came out of city Centre thinking that we can find a good restaurant outside the mall but as it was Sunday market was closed down. So we went back to City Centre food court and had our dinner. The food was really tasty and we tried different variety of items from different shops. Finally after our dinner we went to ‘Sun Royal Residency’ for taking rest. The next day early morning we started off our journey back to Cochin. We have the to cover 400+kms to reach our place so Rakeu and Kannan wanted to cover maximum distance before the traffic starts. On the way we had our breakfast from a hotel at Payyannur. My home was on the way so Achan called us and asked us to have lunch from there. We reached my home at around 11, it was too early to have lunch so we packed our food. We spent around half an hour there and started off. We reached our home at around 8PM and after such a long road trip every one of us were damn tired but all were happy about a memorable trip.
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| Ananthapura lake temple |
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