London Diaries...

This was the first time I got a chance to go abroad! Guess what that too to London and I was too much excited :) was for a period of 3 months I was going out. Initially I was a bit scared about the travel but thankfully Bilsa and Shyam too joined with me for the travel. We boarded our flight to London. The flight was from Kochi to Sri Lanka and from there to London. We started off to Sri Lanka in SriLankan airlines at 16:15 and we reached Colombo at 17:30. Our connection flight was only after 8:55 hours, that is at 02:25. So we were provided with accommodation at ‘The Tamarind Tree’. We went to the hotel room and after keeping our luggage at room we roamed around the hotel, the hotel was surrounded with many trees giving it a feel of a jungle. We went in hotel lobby and connected to Wi-Fi to let our family know about our well being. I was unable to connect to Wi-Fi and after some time Rakeu searched for the hotel and connected to the hotel to check whether we reached safely or not. We had a tremendous dinner from the restaurant with all Sri Lankan dishes. Once we were finished with our dinner we were informed that our flight got delayed for one more hour so we went to our rooms and slept for a while. At 03:25 we boarded our flight to London. We reached London, United Kingdom at around 09 AM London time. Bilsa had already asked our colleague Sony to book a cab for us. So when we came out of the airport after immigration our driver was waiting for us with a placard named Bilsa. He took us to the parking area and we got into the cab and off we go to “268 Franciscan Road, Tooting , London, SW17 8HF, UK”. This was the flexi stay apartment provided by our company. We reached there in an hours’ time and were excited about the arrangements given but I was a bit disappointed when I reached London. I just saw London in Hindi movies and I felt that London doesn’t look like the ones which we saw in movies but we were not in the main city at that point of time.

I am not boring you with my work part. So I am here for 3 months assignment but obviously I will try to cover London as much as possible. I will give you briefly about the places I visited during my stay here.

The Tube

The London Underground or the Tube is a public transport system serving London. I was using tube for almost all my travel. You should get Oyster card to travel in tube. The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport in London. It is valid on travel modes across London including London underground, London Buses, DLR( Docklands Light Railway), London Overground, trams, some river boat services, etc. . You will get tube map for all the tube stations. It is better to keep one map with you while you are travelling in London. The tube map will also be displayed inside trains but I will prefer to keep one with me. Initially you will feel a bit difficult to follow the tube map but you will find it easy after using it for 2-3 times. This map will help you to reach your destinations easily. We usually do a recharge for a month which costs 144.80 pound. Almost all our trips were in Tube.

Oxford Street

To go to Oxford street you should get down at Oxford circus station. Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster. It is Europe's busiest shopping street. You will find almost all the famous shops and brands here. The main shops I visited in Oxford street are Selfridge mall, Primark, Debenhams, John Lewis, alda, Hamleys, H&M, Top shop. Debenhams showroom in Oxford street is one of the biggest shopping mall of Debenhams. Primark is similar to our Big bazar where you will get everything at cheap rates or in fact you can say at an affordable price. Hamleys is the oldest and largest toy shop in the world and one of the world's best-known retailers of toys. Hamleys in London is a 4 storied building with thousands of varied toys. You can get any kind of toys here. I was amazed with the collection of puzzles they had. One of the biggest puzzles I have ever seen was found here. The best season to visit Oxford street is in December, the complete street will be in party mood with decorations. Unfortunately I missed that part still as it was January I could still enjoy a bit of it.

Petticoat Lane Market

To go to Petticoat lane market you should get down at Liverpool street station. Petticoat Lane Market is a fashion and clothing market in the East end of London. It consists of two adjacent street markets. Wentworth Street Market is open six days a week and Middlesex Street Market is open on Sunday only.

We went here on the first weekend itself. As I already told I reached London in January it was too cold outside. Apart from that it was drizzling and a cold breeze was hugging us. our feet were getting numb due to this weather still we managed to some shopping.

Westfield

Westfield London is a shopping centre in London, United Kingdom. To go to westfield you can get down at Stratford station in Central line. Westfield is a good shopping centre with a wide varieties of options. You have many shops like M&S, next, H&M, Debenhams, Lego, Mango, Starbucks coffee, Waitrose, Zara etc. Westfield have been our all time favourite destination. Whenever we didn't have much plans we just hop around this mall.

Near Westfield you have Icon of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in London, United Kingdom, is a sporting complex built for the 2012 summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.One day I went to Olympic Park all alone as all my friends were busy with something or other. I asked 2-3 people to take my snaps as I was not that fond of selfies during that time.

Madame Tussauds

To reach Madame Tussauds use central line and get down at Baker street station. Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. Madame Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying waxworks of famous people. Madame Tussauds contains wax sculptors of almost all celebrities which includes Aishwarya Rai Bachan , Amitab Bachan, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johny Depp as Jack sparrow, Indira Gandhi, Michael Jackson, Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, shahrukh Khan, Marilyn Monroe, Hrithik Roshan, Sachin Tendulkar, Marie Tussauds, etc. You get a feel of union with celebrities here. At the entrance itself you can see the footprints of David Beckham.

From the time we kept our foot inside Madame Tussauds we kept on clicking pics and that journey continued till we get out of the place. Only after getting out of the place we realised that we didn't analysed much of those sculptures rather we were involved totally into filling our phones with pictures.

Buckingham Palace

To go to Buckingham palace get down at Green Park station. Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. It is located in the city of Westminster.

We went to Buckingham Palace on a Sunday. Our plan was to reach there for Change of Guards as this was one of the ceremony which we doesn't want to miss it. We reached there on time, in fact before the ceremony itself and we somehow got a place from where we could get a good view. We saw the old guards coming out of the palace and handing over their duties to new set of guards. The whole process took some time. After watching the ceremony we roamed around the place. The palace was closed for visitors at this point of time. There was a lake in which there were many swans. I have never seen such big swans in my life. They were beautiful.

Changing the Queen's Life Guard

Change of Guards in Buckingham palace is a formal ceremony in which guards on duties hand over their duty to a new batch of sentries. At the time of Guard Changing, the Old Guard forms up one side of the enclosure on Horse Guards Parade and the New Guard on the other side. Royal Salute is given on the arrival of the New Guard and on the departure of the Old Guard. Old guards will hand over the duty to New guards and move out of the palace gate in a parade.

Big Ben & London Eye

Big Ben and London eye is situated in Westminster. Big Ben is the nickname for the Great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, also called as clock tower. The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the bank of the River Thames in London. These two are one of the major tourist

attractions.We went to Sea Life Aquarium. Big Ben and the London eye was nearby the Aquarium. In fact Aquarium was just beside the London eye.

Sea Life London Aquarium

The Sea Life London Aquarium is located on the ground floor of County Hall on the bank of the river Thames in central London, near the London Eye. I was visiting an Aquarium of this kind for the first time. Varieties of fishes and sea species roaming and swimming around us was one of its kind of experience. I really enjoyed the sea life. There was a section for Penguins and yes, first time I saw them in real. Wow!!! Such lovely birds...

Victoria and Albert Museum & Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum , Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum are in south Kensington. These all are publicly funded national museums and does not charge visitors for admission.

The Victoria and Albert Museum or V&A, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. There were many art students who came as part of their project work to sketch the sculptors. Its collection spans from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, America, Asia, etc.

The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens of natural history. The galleries are classified as

1) Red Zone: It is a gallery themed around the changing history of the Earth. The Earth Lab is a gallery that centres around geology, and contains specimens of fossils, mineral and rocks. It also have specimen of rocks, minerals and gemstones. There is also a section for volcanoes and earthquakes and you can experience or feel the earthquake in this section. For a minute the whole floor will shake giving you an experience of earthquake.

2) Green zone: Green zone consists of birds, ecology, etc.

3) Blue zone: This zone contains Dinosaurs, Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles, mammals, etc.

4) Orange zone: This section have Wildlife GardenNatural History Museum, London is my favourite museum in London. In blue zone there is a section for dinosaurs. You get a feeling of entering a Jurassic park here. One section is full of dinosaur fossils, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value. There is a Skeleton of Triceratops horridus at the dinosaur area. There are many moving roaring models of dinosaurs in the dinosaur area. There is a big giant dinosaur’s skeleton kept in a hall which covers the whole hall.

The Science Museum now holds a collection of famous items such as the first jet engine, a working example of Charles Babbage’s difference engine. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. There are some 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, and a section which focuses on digital technology. There are many games available in this sectionI played almost all games which were available there.

Tower of London

You should get down at Tower Hill station to reach Tower of London. The Tower of London, officially Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a castle located on the bank of river Thames. The castle was used as a prison previously. The Tower has collection of armoury, Crown jewels. Yes, our own Kohinoor diamond is set on Queen’s crown and is displayed in Tower of London. Outside Tower of London you will get the beautiful view of Tower bridge. Yes, this is the bridge we have seen in many Bollywood movies and which have been mistaken as London bridge by many of us.

Camden Market

The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets in Camden Town. Among products sold on the stalls are crafts, clothing, and fast food. To get to Camden Market I took Northern line and get down at Camden town. Camden Town was only closed for return journey so I went to Morningston Crescent in Northern line itself.

Wimbledon

As you all know Wimbledon is home to Tennis Championship. It is famous for lawn tennis. We took a bus from Tooting Broadway to Wimbledon. The guide explained about each and every courts present inside stadium. We could see the trophies and photos, videos of the players, their jerseys, etc. in the museum present inside the stadium.

Warner Brothers studio – Harry Potter studio

Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden a big studio complex in southeast England. I was very much excited to visit Harry Potter studio as I was one of the admirers of Harry Potter series. I have watched the whole movie series and also read the whole series. So it was with such excitement I started the journey to the studio all alone. ;) I took Northern line form Tooting Broadway station to Euston. From Euston took overground train to Watford High street station. After getting down at Watford station, get out of the station and walk straight to bus stop. Bus number 142 will go to Watford Junction. From Watford junction go to bus stop 4 and from here you will get Harry Potter bus. Harry Potter bus is completely covered with posters from Harry Potter movie. I sat near a Chinese family and I couldn’t believe that I am finally going to the Harry Potter studio. :D

Once I reach there I walked straight and entered the studio. Oh, I forgot to mention that you need to book your tickets online for visiting the studio. And tickets will be booked months back for the same. So plan your trip well in advance. You can book your tickets from ‘https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/home’.At the entrance itself flying car was displayed. I started clicking pictures even before entering the studio. Then I came across the Great hall, Hogwarts, seats and dresses of each houses, the wigs used by each and every actors, A studio model of Hogwarts, The knight bus, talking head of Hagrid, sculptors/models of Harry, Hagrid, etc., Potter's cottage, Godric's Hollow, 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts on display, Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Diagon Alley film set, The Gryffindor Common Room, Hippogriff, Goblins, pictures of movie characters, Dobby, serpentine door in the movie, the big clock, talking lady in harry potter, potion class room, Dumbledoor’s office, Hagrid’s hut, etc.Apart from this you have a big shopping area in the studio which sells golden snitch, magical wand of Harry, Hermione, voldermont, etc., t shirts, dolls of movie characters, key chains, firebolt,etc.

Canary wharf

Canary Wharf is one of the beautiful places in London. To reach Canary wharf station we took DLR train from Bank station. DLR is driver less train service in London. Canary wharf is one of the busiest street in London and one the beautiful one too. Almost all big newspaper companies like Reuters and many big banks were situated here. This place has a beauty of it's own.

Emirates Air-Line Cable car

The Emirates Air Line is a cable car link across river Thames. There are gondolas in which we can sit and get the scenic view of London. We really enjoyed the bird view of London from this cable car.

Windsor Castle & Long Walk

We got down at Windsor to reach Windsor castle form where it is just 5 minutes’ walk. Windsor Castle is a royal residence.The castle got a great architecture. The castle have a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms, full of Rococo, Gothic and Baroque furnishings, antiques pieces, a miniature version of the castle along with dolls, The Crimson Drawing Room, St. George’s Chapel, etc. Windsor Castle is one of Britain's major tourist attractions.

Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park, including a deer park. Long walk is 2.65 miles (4.26 km) long path from Gateway at Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse.

We walked almost the whole way up and down.

Stonehenge & Roman bath

We got a package for Stonehenge and Roman Bath. We started the trip from London at around 7AM.

Stonehenge is considered to be among seven wonders of the world. When we reached Stonehenge it was raining and heavy wind was blowing. We had to take our whole strength to walk towards the stones as wind was blowing in our direction. It was really an exciting experience. We could see the circle of giant stones and we wondered how in those days people brought those stones there. After taking few pictures and modelling in front of the camera off we go to Roman Bath. The way to Roman bath we saw the country side. From far itself we could see the Roman architectures situated at the bottom of the series of hair-pin bends. while driving through those roads we felt that the Roman bath was approaching us instead of us driving towards it. We reached Roman bath and our cameras started clicking the pictures. There were many statues on the terrace of roman bath.

The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath.There are four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum. The Baths are a major tourist attraction. The water which bubbles up from the ground at Bath falls as rain on the nearby Mendip hills. We were amazed by the construction and in one area we could see bubbling water and steam was rising out of it. The temperature of water in that pool was much higher than required for human beings. So temperature adjustments were done underground and the warm water were provided to the bath area. We touched the water and could feel the warmth of water. There was a lady and guy in Roman attire near the bath area, we went requested them to pose with us for few pics. We just strolled across and saw drinking water facility provided within the area. We drank that water and different mineral tastes filled our mouth. After that off we go and grabbed something to eat as our stomach was making rumbling noises.

British Museum

The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture. To visit British museum we get down at Holborn station and from there we walked to the museum. This museum looks somewhat like the museum shown in the movie “Night at the museum”. The main entrance to the museum is constructed with 44 columns in the Iconic order 14 m high. The museum is divided into many departments like Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, Department of Greece and Rome, Department of the Middle East, Department of Prints and Drawings, Department of Prehistory and Europe, Department of Asia and Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. The British Museum houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. There is a huge collection of Mummies on display in the Egyptian Death and Afterlife galleries. You can find the mummy of Cleopatra here.There were many sculptors, mummies, ornaments from prehistoric ages.Apart from all these we had been to many places. One day we took bus to Mitcham Tram station and took a tram to New Adington.

We went to a country side and visited a park. We also went to O2 mall which is North Greenwich. The other main attractions were Leicester Square, China Town, Piccaddilly circus, Elephant & Castle – The shopping mall (here you will get items at cheap rate), Museum of London – complete history of London can be seen here, St. Pauls Cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London, Greenwich,etc.

That’s all about my London trip.:)

Through the land of Cholas...:)

Another long week end, and we quickly swung to action. We revamped a plan which we had to cancel some time back. Last time we had planned a trip to thanjavur and Sri rangam, but due to the jallikattu agitations we had to cancel it.

So we kick started our trip on Sept 3 , uthradam day  from palakkad where we had gone for a marriage. Dad and mom joined us in this trip.  After a sumptous lunch at the marriage , we started off to thanjavur. We crossed Ramapuram, which was a landmark I had known for its famous idlies. Sadly due to the heavy lunch we had , we couldn't try out the idly. We soon reached Pollachi, a place known for its tender coconut and agrarian produce. Roads had broadened from that of Kerala, and soon we were travelling above 120 kms per hour on a consistent basis. That kind of gave an adrenaline rush to me , and a barrage of questions and threats from my wife and lots of pleading and coxing from my mother to bring down the speed.

Soon we reached Trichy, there were lots of wind Mills. It was really spectacular to see , an entire region covered up in wind mills. I was impressed that we were going the greener way in generating power. We passed through few toll booths and by evening stopped for a tea. Me and Dad had tea, wife and mom had coffee and some cake. We brought some murukku which we planned to munch on our journey further. After driving for an hour or so, the usual suspect arrived. Rains. Every trip we went, we had the blessings from rain gods and this time also it wasn’t different. For half an hour or so, it rained torrentially. Then as if there was a switch to it, it stopped, just like that.

We then saw, few people clad in light brown color dresses, walking bare foot . Eventually we understood that they were pilgrims headed towards poondi maatha church.

Brihadeshwara Temple, Thanjavur

By 6.30 we reached Thanjavur, We then followed our maps to the hotel Lakshmi wherein we had booked our rooms. We were pretty impressed by the hotel. But later came to know that, our rooms were in the building opposite to that of the hotel. We reached the rooms. All were a bit tired from the journey, so we took a bath and did some un packing.

We then went straight to the hotel restaurant which was named Nalabagam for dinner. We ordered biryani, uthappam, roti, paneer curry. It took some time for us to get the items and I eventually realized, that service promptness is not a forte of the staff of the restaurant.  After the dinner, we decided to call it a day, and sleep so that we could get up early morning for visiting the main places.

Brihadeshwara Temple, Thanjavur also called Big Temple

Thanjavur was a name which resonated history to me. Raja Raja chola was a name I remembered from my history classes. So to witness his empire and his kingdom was special to me. We started off pretty early by around 6.30 am. We reached the big temple or Brihadeshwara temple. The temple is a UNESCO world heritage center. It was amazing to know that the temple was a 1000 years old.

I had watched a program in TV some time back about the Kalasam of that temple. The Kalasam or top most portion of the temple is close to 80 ton in weight. It required an elevated construst and 100 elephants to pull that and place the kalasam on top of the temple. Also it was incredible to know that all those majestic architecture was created in 7 years. An architectural marvel in every right.

The temple is 7^th largest temple in the world. It had a big nandi statue towards the entrance of the temple. We roamed around and covered most part of the temple. We took few snaps. The early morning light had given a tinge of orange and yellow colour to the atmosphere which set well the ambience and mood in the temple. Once we did the darshan, when we were about to leave the temple, we saw and heard a devotee play conch shell.  Once we came out , we all realized that it was thiruonam day(a traditional festival day of Kerala) and to our surprise we heard lot of people talking in Malayalam.

We then headed straight to a restaurant. We went to Saravana bhavan , near the transport bus stand. We ordered Pongal, poori, and ghee roast. Everything tasted really good and I started feeling that best part of travelling around Tamilnadu is having to eat some really splendid food.

After our breakfast, we then headed to Maratha mahal a museum. Soon we realized that we were pretty early and the museum wouldn’t open by 10. We then headed to gangai konda chola puram, which was 1.5 hours from thanjavur. History says that, once Raja Raja chola 1 died, his successor Raja Raja Chola 2 changed the capital from Thanjavur to Cholapuram.

Gangai konda cholapuram

We soon passed through the heartland of Thanjavur and eventually reached gangai konda cholapuram. Like brihadeshwara, it too was a marvel of a creation. The only problem there was we had to walk bare footed and it was pretty hot. We roamed around the construct, felt amazed by the artistry and architecture know how of our ancestors. We took rest near a tree shade for a while. After spending some time there, we headed back to Thanjavur. Soon dad came up with another plan. He thought we should visit kumbakonam too. We visited kumbakonam kind of in a rush, as there was huge traffic and narrow roads. We changed our plan and headed back to Thanjavur. We soon reached Thanjavur , and headed straight to sree Krishna bhavan for our lunch.

We ordered 2 thali, for me and my dad. My wife ordered sambhar sadham and mom had dosa. My wife was pretty excited when she saw Kaara kulambu, which she was yearning to have. We had our hearts and stomach full. We then headed to our hotel room for some rest.

After an hour break, we then decided to check out the maratha palace or museum. It was kind of astonishing for me to know that the maratha empire had reached till Tamil nadu.  We took an entry pass of 50 rs per person, and explored the museum. We saw ancient swords, relics, books, plates and ornaments used by the raja maharajas of the past preserved really well. There was an Audio – Video visual in a small theatre , which gave a beautiful glimpse on to the history of Thanjavur. We came to know that Thanjavur is known as the rice bowl of Tamilnadu. Thanjavur painting of which I have heard before was also mentioned in the video.  There in I heard a story about the maratha ruler, who was eventually defeated by the british. He was asked for one last wish by the british, so he insisted that his vast collection of books, should not be destroyed and be available for the public. It was an inspiring story to hear. We soon saw a library, where in ancient books were preserved.

Maratha Palace

After the museum, we went to a small market near by and brought some rice, because we had heard in the audio video library that Thanjavur rice is pretty good. After the museum, we headed towards shiva ganga park. Google maps kind of created confusion as we had to roam around the same alley couple of times, to finally figure out that the park was just nearby. We reached the park. It was a normal park, where in people could stroll or have a leisurely time in the evenings. There were few rides for the kids. Near by the park, there was a small stream.  We roamed around the park, there were few deer’s and few rabbits in the park.  After spending some time in the park, we then headed towards our room.

Me and wife went out for dinner. Dad and mom preferred to stay back in the room . We ordered paneer porotta, Gobi masala dosa. It was yummy. We brought in parceled dinner for dad and mom. Every one had a good dinner , had chit chat for some time and then we called it a day.

Next day early morning by 5.30 or so, we check out of the hotel. We then headed towards Sri Rangam. Sri Rangam is the largest temple in india, estimated to be around 156 acres.

We reached the temple by 6.45 , soon saw the Raja Gopuram. As soon as we were about to enter the temple, my wife saw a bullock cart, and being the crazy girl she is, she immediately wanted to hop onto it. We stopped the car, she asked the bullock cart guy permission to sit , he looked perplexed. He eventually agreed. She was over the moon, when she got onto the bullock cart. After few minutes’ drive in the cart, she was more than happy. She had ticked off one more from her bucket list.

Sri Ranganathar swamy Temple

We headed towards the main entrance of the temple, and headed towards temple complex. My initial reaction was , is this the largest temple in india ? We soon visited the dieties in the main entrance area and were pretty under whelmed, for we had huge expectations. Soon one person, told us to pass through a gateway to another side of the temple. That kind of opened our eyes, quite literally. The temple was huge, we soon walked and walked and soon was taken to a queue. People were waiting in long queues to meet Sri Ranganathar swamy as the main diety is called. There were many halls with pillars encrypted with sculptures of riding horses or different animals.

Sri Ranganathar swamy Temple, Srirangam

I kind of felt that the queue system and the way the queue was handled,  kind of added chaos to the devotees. Soon we had the darshan, and explored the temple. Its when we started walking, that we realized the magnitude of temple and its constructions. We saw a board which stated, non hindus are not allowed, which kind of saddened me for the fact that more than being the largest temple in india, it gave an immense glance to the rich history of our ancestors.

Soon we headed back to Cochin.  We stopped near Pollachi and brought few tender coconuts. Soon we had our lunch at Palakkad and by evening we reached back home.

We were all bit tired, but all were happy and were looking forward to another trip.

Monsoon Diaries... :)

It is time for yet another Trip!!!

Yes, this time we planned again for Karnataka. Karnataka seems to be our favorite location for the time being. We have made plans for few more places in Karnataka like hampy , shravanabelagola, chikmagalur. That does mean that you will come across few more blogs in our bucket list soon.

It was a Thursday, 20^th of July 2017. After our daily routine of work we left early from office at around 3:30PM. As usual our companion rain was pouring while we were on our way. Our plan was to stay at my home that night and then to start from there next day at around 8AM. After driving for around 8 and half hours of driving we reached my home at around 12AM. We had just 2 stops on the way, one for coffee and another one for dinner. As we had to start by 8AM the next day we went to bed after talking with my Achan and Reejamma for a while.

Day 1 – 21^st July 2017:

The next day I got up at around 6:20 and got ready and woke up Rakeu to get dressed up. After having our breakfast from home off we go for our road Trip!!!

There were many tolls on the way, we paid a small amount in each one of the tolls. Crossing Kannur and Kasaragod we reached Mangalore by afternoon. Rakeu had a collections of eat outs at Mangalore among them we choose Woodlands Hotel which turns out be a pure Veg hotel. We had an authentic Karnataka style meals from there. After a sumptuous meal we started off to Murudeshwar Temple. The roads in Mangalore was an extravaganza for our trip. Rakeu was like its ok to pay for tolls if roads are maintained in good shape because that’s one thing which was missing in Kerala. Our roads are really in a bad shape compared to other states. We were enjoying our long drive in NH, and on the way we saw a beach and we stopped our car and got down to enjoy the fresh air. There were few families who were enjoying their dip in the sea and there was a boardwalk as well. And there were some stalls where people were selling snacks, drinks, etc. Google helped us in identifying the beach name which is Maravanthe Beach. After spending some time in the sea shore we started our journey to Murudeshwar. Murudeshwar is another name of Hindu god Shiva.

Maravanthe Beach

By the time we reach Murudeshwar it was around 4:40PM and we could see some crowd in the temple. We parked our car in the parking lot and walked inside the temple. The big Gopura through which we can enter the temple was 20 storied. To tell you the truth whoever had constructed the temple have spent some penny on it. The big sculpture of Lord Shiva, which is the world’s second tallest Shiva statue is visible from a long distance but I didn’t feel any kind of devotion while I was inside the temple. These days’ temples are turned out to be a business material. 

Murudeshwar 

After getting Darshan we came out of the temple and enquired how to go near the big sculpture. One guy informed us that we have to go behind the temple to get a good view Lord Shiva. As we walked past the temple and reached the stairs Lord Shiva was getting near and near. We climbed the stairs and reached another temple like structure where we could see that one guy was selling some tickets to enter the cave which costs us INR 10/- per head. We were in a misunderstanding that if we enter the cave we could reach near Lord Shiva’s Sculpture so we took tickets and went inside the temple. It was a disappointing fact that we could not reach near sculpture but instead the cave was constructed with sculptures which explains the story of The Lanka King Ravana who tried to obtain immortality using Atma-Linka. (PS: For the complete story please refer Wikipedia￿). And my disappointment vanished by the time we came out of the cave. 

Story of Ravana - Statues inside the cave

There was a chariot and sculpture of Sun which we could see from a distance. The temple was located on the shores of Arabian Sea. And from the top of this building we could see a good sight of the sea as well as the village. It was already past 5. As we were running out of time and we were new to this place we hurried up and started off to Gokarna where we have already booked our rooms. And after the whole long day drive we reached our Resort, Sanskruti Resort at around 7PM. As we were really tired we thought of having our dinner from the Resort itself. We went to our rooms and got freshen up. We didn’t like our rooms that much and we were not expecting much as well as the reviews were not that great about this Resort but as there were very few hotels/Resorts in this part of Karnataka we didn’t had much choice but to book our rooms here. I saw few mosquitoes as well in our room so when we went to have our dinner we asked the receptionist to do something about the same. He gave us Good Knight and we pugged it in for some time. After a tasty dinner we came back to our room. We thought we will stay there only for 2 days and then we will check out and go to Dharmasthala. So we checked for the availability for rooms at Dharmasthala and fortunately we got rooms which was under the authority of temple. Was it the food or the tiredness we both slept off pretty early.

Day 2 – 22^nd July 2017:

The next day I got up at around 6AM and got ready and woke my husband and we both were out of the Resort by 7:20AM. Today would be the biggest day as we had saw many places to visit. Gokarna is famous for its beaches. The scenic beauty of beaches and the luscious greenery is a mind blowing sight. Our first destination was Om Beach. Om Beach is shaped as two semi crescents joined together forming the shape of Om-Hindu Symbol, hence the name Om beach. On the bank of Om beach there was a café called ‘Namaste Café’. As we have heard about this café we just checked whether it was open and we were informed that it will be open only by 8AM. There was a park chair placed on the rocks at the sea shore. We went and sat there watching those waves crashing the rocks as if it is dancing to the music of nature.

Om Beach & Kudle Beach 

From there we went directly to Kudle beach which was just 5 minutes away from Om beach. The way to beach was steep and slippery and we could see many cows roaming around the place. There were many workers carrying big cut stones through those slopes. We felt really bad that these people started working so early in the morning. We were feeling difficulty in climbing the slope even when our hands were free whereas they were carrying those big stones and walking.  We didn’t spent much time at Kudle beach as the beach was not kept clean. From there we went directly to the famous Mahabaleshwar Temple at Gokarna. We reached at the Temple premises in 10 minutes. The roads in front of the temple was narrow one and there were many small temples nearby. While we were approaching the temple many ladies started accompanying us asking us to buy flowers to offer for God. One lady was bugging us to buy flowers which were placed in a small leaf and finally we too bought one. And finally when we entered the temple there were many Pujaris (Hindu Priests) surrounded us asking us to do many Puja’s and abhishekams. We felt like we entered a business place but this is the place where Atma- Linka was placed by Lord Ganesha as per the story which was depicted in the caves of Murudeshwar temple. The temple is one of the seven sacred Muktikshetras or Muktistala ("places of salvation") in Karnataka. It is a place where many Hindus of Karnataka perform obsequies (death rites) for their departed. The six other Muktikshetras in Karnataka are at Udupi, Kollur, Subrahmanya, Kumbasi, Koteshvara and Sankaranarayana.

According to legend, the Atmalinga was perforce placed at Gokarna, in the temple precincts where it is now deified. It was Ravana, the demon King of Lanka, known from the epic, Ramayana had carried it there from Mount Kailash in the Himalayas.

Here people can do Abhishekam themselves. And there was some rush to get Atma-Linka darsan. The Atmalinga is enshrined in the temple on a square Saligrama Peetha (pedestal). The pedestal has a small hole at its centre from where devotees can touch the top of the Atmalinga. After touching Atmalinga we came out of the main building and saw a big white cow which was being worshipped as God Nandi. I too touched that cow and after that we started off to Karwar. When we came out of the temple premises we saw the Arabian Sea and there was a beach nearby. It was raining heavily outside. We were feeling hungry but none of the restaurants were open. We had some snacks which we had with us. Time was 9:30am and we were wondering whether we will be able to find some good restaurants nearby. On the way we saw a small shop selling Tender coconut and we could see some people drinking tea. I asked that lady whether there will also be coffee in whatever Kannada language I know. From what she said I understood that it is there and I ordered one coffee and one tea. I thought she understood my language and I was waiting for a coffee but when she delivered us the drinks it turned out to be 2 cups of tea. Rakeu were forced to drink both tea. We took tender coconut water in a bottle and we started off from there. On the way we saw Kamath Uphar, a restaurant and we got down to have our breakfast. We had one plate Neer Dosa (which is a famous Dosa type in Karnataka) and Ghee Roast. After finishing our breakfast straight we went straight to Krawar which is located at the north end of Karnataka. It was around one and half hours journey. From Karwar it is just 85kms to Goa. On the way we saw Karwar Naval base. We went directly to Rabindranath Tagore Beach. Rabindranath Tagore has said these lines for the beach: "The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realize that the beauty of Nature is not a mirage of the imagination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it. Where the universe is expressing itself in the magic of its laws it may not be strange if we miss its infinitude; but where the heart gets into immediate touch with immensity in the beauty of the meanest of things, is any room left for argument?"

In and around Karwar 

Yes, of course the beach was a beauty. We strolled across the beach enjoying its beauty and watching people playing around. There was INS Chapel Maritime museum nearby. INS Chapel was a missile boat of the Indian Navy which is converted into a museum ship on Rabindranath Tagore Beach in Karwar. We went inside the ship. This was the first time I was entering into a ship. The whole ship was maintained in the same way with rooms of captain, kitchen, the whole engine parts, etc. The view from ship deck was really awesome. I would say this museum is a must see of its type as we will rarely find any ships turned out to be a museum. After our visit to the museum we got into our car and our next destination was nearby fish market. As Karwar is a coastal area we could find different variety of fishes. You could say that you will find all sorts of fishes here. Mostly ladies were selling the fishes. In fact we could find some ladies cleaning and cutting the fishes for their buyers. We just strolled across the whole fish market and then we just went out. 

Fish market at Karwar 

Our next photoshoot location was a sea shore where many fisherman boats were aboard. After that we went straight to Gokarna. It was around 12:30PM when we started from Karwar. On the way we had our lunch from Hotel Niharika. I would say this as a nice hotel as food was tasty and hotel was neat. After a sumptuous meal we went directly to Mirjan Fort. As we have visited many Forts I was not expecting much from this Fort. When we reached the Fort it was 2:30PM and we saw that the gate was closed. We were disappointed to see the closed gates but then one guy told us you can just open the gates and go in. He asked us to close the gate once we get in. We were wondering why this guy is asking us to close the gates and why they are closing the gates always. When we got in we saw that one cow was running and coming towards the gate we closed the gate immediately after getting inside. Then we understood why the other guy was asking us to close the gate. 

Mirjan Fort 

The Fort view was really amazing and breathtaking. As it was rainy season the complete fort was filled with grass. The green grasses decorated the fort with its charm and beauty. There was a deep well and big well in Mirjan Fort which was covered with metal. You could find steps which will take you to the well. The end of the steps were also closed with a gate. There is a tree in the mid of the Fort and a statue of Hindu Goddess Mahishasuramardhini is placed under the tree. It started drizzling, as we had an umbrella with us we enjoyed the Fort view and calmness. Finally we bid adieu to Mirjan fort and started off to Yana at around 3:15PM.

View from Mirjan Fort 

It was around 1 hour’s journey to Yana and we lost the GPS on our way. Fortunately we had installed the offline maps and we depended on our offline map. Though we enquired with few people to confirm that the route we are following is correct. Finally we came across an uncle and aunt to enquire about the route. They said they are also going nearby that place and they asked us to give them a lift. We asked them to get inside. We were a little worried as we were not sure what kind of people they are. I did some adjustment with my mirror so that I can see them. Actually I was checking that they don’t have any chloroform which they will use to faint us :P. he he… Effect of movies that we watched. On the way I simply asked the aunt with my little knowledge of Kannada whether they are also going Yana. That was it, I provoked a person who was sitting silent till that time and she poured me with Kannada. Fortunately I could understand what they were saying but I couldn’t utter even a word to them in response. My dear husband was laughing at me by sitting beside me.

They got down after some time and told us after some time board will come and you just read it and go. (Nodi nodi hogu :P) Luckily the boards were written in Kannada language and we could not read even a single word. And there were not even a single person to whom we could check the route. So as expected we lost our path and we reached somewhere else. At that point we saw some houses and enquired the route. And finally we reached Yana at around 4:15PM. Yana is famous for two massive rock outcrops known as the Bhairaveshwara Shikhara and the Mohini Shikhara ("Shikhara" means "hill"). The huge rocks are composed of solid black, crystalline karst limestone. The two rock monoliths surrounded by thick forests and streams, rise sharply above the surrounding area near Yana village. They are part of the Sahyadri hill range in the Western Ghats in South India. This trekking was really interesting. When we started trekking itself we could hear the sound of crickets (cheeveedu) and streams. The sound of flowing streams were really soothing as these rare scenarios where we could hear and enjoy the sound and music of nature. On the way we saw a stream which was flowing from one end of the path to the other end and there was no way to cross the stream without our shoes getting wet. Apart from this the path was slippery and it started drizzling as well. We saw few guys who were getting down and enquired them how long it will take and they said total an hour it will take. There were many boards with pictures of leopards and all. Thankfully it was written in Kannada so we couldn’t understand whether it was warning saying that there might be leopards around. :P After climbing the steep slopes we reached near a Ganesha temple and from there we could see the emergence of Monolithic stone. From the temple onwards you have to climb the steps to reach the top. We walked for some more distance and it was getting dark now as we were inside the jungle and Rakeu said we can go back. So we stood there for some time looking at the black Monolithic and then climbed the whole way down. We reached at the bottom at around 5:15PM and off we go to our room at Gokarna. We went for a walk and then we took our car and went to get some food. We bought food from a nearby hotel called Ashokavana and then we went for a drive. Then we came back to room and had our dinner. The food was tasty. Then we explored the resort and informed the resort guys about next day check out plans. Asked them to make our bills ready. We were really tired after a long day so we went to bed at 9:30PM itself.

Day 3 – 23^rd July 2017:

I got up at around 5:30AM and got ready. We packed all our stuff and checked-out of the resort at 7AM. Our plan was to go to Jog falls. On the way we stopped at a place to do a photoshoot in fields. There was a pond which water lilies in it. We took many photos in ad around that place. The next check list was a hotel and we had our breakfast from Makara Village (a restaurant name). We reached our destination, Jog falls at around 10:15AM. There were 2 view points for Jog falls we could cover only one due to time constraints. Jog Falls, Gerosoppa Falls or Joga Falls is the second highest plunge waterfall in India located near Shimoga district in the state of Karnataka. We got a good view from the view point. As I said there was one more view point which we could see from a distance. The number of steps which were going down was enormous and we couldn’t count it from the spot we were standing. There was a view point which was a bit down the lane and was closed due to Monsoon and slippery floor but there were many people who were going down there by risking their life. We enjoyed the view from the points where we have access to and it was an awesome view. I felt like someone is doing Abhishekam (a devotional activity) with milk. The falls were looking like flowing milk from that distance. After enjoying the view we left the place and started off to Dharmasthala.

Jog Falls 

On the way we saw there was another way to Jog falls through a bridge so we just gone on to the bridge just roamed around and came back to our route. It was around 11AM and we have to cover around 245kms to reach Dharmasthala. There was no network in these areas and as we had offline map with us we depended on that to get the route. On the way we saw a beautiful path with paddy fields on both sides. We didn't even think twice before stopping there to take few snaps.

We were on our way and at one point of time I noticed that all of a sudden the time we reach changed by 30 minutes in the map. We realized that we lost our way and we turned and drove the whole way back. Instead of a left turn we took a right turn and we realized only after 10-20 minutes. Even though we reached back to the route we were a little worried because of the language problem and we didn’t had Dharmasthala planned in our trip. The plan changed at the last minute and we didn’t do much investigation on the route. Fortunately we found and MH registration truck and we enquired about the route. That driver told us we have to go straight and we are on the right path. He told us that we have to go via Theerthahalli and then to Agumbe. He told us one more city names but we didn’t understood that name but we felt relieved that we got next two city names about which we can enquire with local guys. The people in these areas were not that educated to tell us the route to a place which was around 200+ kilometers apart. At least they will be aware of these nearby towns.  We stopped our car for lunch break and off we go through Agumbe. Rakeu told me that Agumbe is called "The Cherrapunji of the South" because this place receives second largest rain in India after Cherrapunji. Apart from that this is the place where large number of King Cobras are found. From Agumbe we entered into Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary. We had to go through so many hair pin bends and you could see only trees on both sides of the road. Yes, in fact we were going through one of the rainforests of India. Finally through the beautiful roads and after a tiring drive we reached Rajathadri Guest house at around 5:30PM. After freshen up we went to the famous Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple, Dharmasthala. Luckily there was not much rush when we reached the temple so we got the Dharshan pretty fast but by the time we reach near the idol we could find the crowd behind us was double. And after dharshan we went to Annapurna (temple’s food court) where Annadanam (food distribution which will be free of cost to all deities) will happen from 7PM. Here as well we were lucky or you can say the food court was very big to accommodate many people at a time. So we went inside and had our dinner from there. The food was served in a leaf (not exactly one leaf but many leaves stitched together). People started serving us food initially they served a sweet followed by rice and curry. Then a second round of rice distribution followed by another curry, rasam and butter milk. They even served water. Usually we have seen in temples water will be placed in some place and people have to go and take it from there. So after having our dinner we went straight to our rooms. After a long day we were really tired and we didn’t even know when we slept off.

Day 4 – 24^th July 2017:

We didn’t kept alarm the previous day as I said you we didn’t knew when we slept off. Even then we got up early the next day. We took bath and went out for a stroll. We saw a restaurant Annapurneshwari and had our breakfast at around 7AM. Then we went to see Bahubali state which was near the temple itself. We could see a board saying Bahubali Vihar near the Dharmasthala Arch (Temple gate). Temple gate built by Sri. Ratnavarma Heggade. Bahubali Vihar was to the right of the arch. We were a bit confused whether we could take our car to the top as we came to know from our receptionist that we have to climb 1000 steps to reach near the statue. We enquired to an auto rickshaw driver and he said we can take the car up so we drove our car to the top. The statue was located at one corner of a garden. We took few snaps of The Gomateshwara statue at Dharmasthala. Then we saw the history, how and who erupted this statue and all were written in a small shelter nearby. The statue is 39-foot (12 m) high. After that we went straight to our rooms and checked out. Then we thought of visiting a temple which we saw the previous day on our way

Dharmasthala 

. We went to the Shri Rama Kshetra which was pretty big in size. The temple was beautifully constructed and there were many idols placed inside the temple. The whole idols were carved out of marbles but the maintenance was not good enough so there were leaks from roof and I almost slipped and fall down at one place. If temple authority had taken care of this temple this could have been a good site for tourists. From there off we went to Mangalore.

Kudroli Temple and Holy Hill,  Mangalore 

One of my friend gave me few suggestions about the places to visit at Mangalore. So we went straight to Kudroli temple at Mangalore. Kudroli Sri Gokarnatheswara temple was one of the biggest temple I have visited so far in my life. The temple was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi. There were 2 big elephants at the entrance itself. And once you enter the temple you could see the temple has Gopuram (tower like structure) decorated with murals of various gods and goddesses. Murals depict scenes from Hindu epics and legends. There was big structure of Lord Nandi and a juggernaut with Sri Krishna and Arjuna depicting the story of Vedopadesha. There were two Kalyana mandapas (marriage halls) and a big temple pond. There were statues of Lord Shiva and Lord Durga on all the sides of temple pond. And to our surprise these statues formed a fountain which will be operated from 6:30 PM to 8:30PM. After enjoying the big structure of the temple and getting Dharsan from each Gopurams we went straight to Holy hill. As the name depicts it is a small church (Chappal) located on top of a hill. From here you will get sky view of Mangalore city. We found it a bit difficult to reach this place as the roads were very narrow and steep. So we parked our car downhill and climbed the whole way up but when we reached the top we found that there were parking slots available and we could have taken our car to the top. It was afternoon and sun was at its peak so we felt really tired and was getting a little bit of headache. So we thought of taking a big break and went directly to City Centre mall. We went to the food court and ordered many varieties of food from different vendors. After ordering many dishes we realized that we were behaving like starved people :P. he he …Our plan was to do a bit of shopping after our lunch. We rested at the food court for a while and then off we go in search of Hampenketta market. We lost our way thrice and by this time I was like I don’t want to do any shopping let us go home. So we decided that we will skip the shopping option this time and went to one sweet shop to get some sweets and bakery items and then we bid adieu to Mangalore city. Yes, this was the last destination of our trip and on the way back itself we started planning for our next trip. So let us see when and where we could make it up. Good bye for now and see you soon!!!