Malpe - The most perfect beach on Indian Subcontinent

My mom did not have great experience from 7 day long trip to South India last year. She actually does not like travelling long stretches for many days that too in car. But my father is crazy about driving and travelling. So I took midway by choosing a place where we dont have to move around a lot but still it will be lot of fun.

Factors considered were - 

• Less movement for sightseeing
• Driving distance not more than 8 hours
• Good road condition

So we decided Beach. In 2012, Anjana and I had gone to Malpe and were amused by its finest golden sand & flat beach. 

So it was grand, A GRAND FAMILY TRIP

Ohhhh okk my bad, forgot to introduce you to guests of this trip - Originally it was 9 members namely My mom, dad, Anjana, Ashwini(my elder bro), Lovely(bro’s wife), Shubh (my nephew), Logan & Victor (my two Labradors now about 11 months old) and myself. So we decided to take both cars Linea and A-star. However, we had new addition in guest list after a lot of convincing done by me (using saaam, daaam, danddd, bheddd). Additions were Aparna (my cousin elder sis) Tushar (her husband), Little (my cousin younger bro. Little only by name otherwise he goes beyond 6 ft) and Shalu (Tushar’s sister). So now were a total of 13 members with addition of a new car Duster of Jizs(Tushar, I also call him Jizs).

So considering a family of this magnitude with people from almost all age groups and living organism from two different species (excuse me in case I missed a few species stuck to living bodies invisible to naked eye), we decided to visit Malpe due to its family friendly beaches and lazed around mood. 

Malpe Beach - a place worth visiting

Malpe comes under coastal belt of Karnataka and practically first ideal beach destination if you start moving from South to North. It is about 420 kms from Bangalore and about 60 kms from nearest airport city Mangalore. It is about 5 kms from Udupi town and about 10 kms from Manipal town. Malpe’s beach can beat Goa any day if not for the nightlife and developed tourist facilities in Goa. Malpe town is practically a fishing village (you literally feel it with the strong stench when you enter the town). with hardly any choice of accommodation. There are just 2-3 organised resorts and nothing else beyond that. So if you want a cheaper stay option, you either have to go to Udupi town or Manipal town, both easily manageable in 5-15 mins time if you have your own car. 

Bangalore to Malpe Route

We left Bangalore on 3rd October (Friday) around 3.30 PM from Kanakpura Road. Took NICE ring road to Tumkur road (about Rs 90 per car). After we exited at Tumkur road, immediately entered the toll road after paying Rs 20. You have to take a the exit towards Mangalore highway before Neelamangala junction (there are enough signboards). As soon as you take left, you will see the new 4 lane toll road starting again. We tanked up both Linea and A-star on HP petrol bunk and moved further towards 1st toll plaza on this road. We stopped to be joined by Duster right after toll plaza. Moreover, we wanted to feast on the mouth watering mutton masala cooked by my mom. Soon all non-veggies were overloading themselves with rice and mutton whereas veggies with paneer. We started at around 5.45pm from there after everybody was satisfied with quantity dumped in the tummy.

Road till Hassan is just amazing and we zoomed past the stretch with not much pain. Now there are two ways to go to Malpe from Hassan onwards. One is you keep going straight on highway to Mangalore and then take right to Malpe. This route remains in terrible condition due to excessive rains in Shiradi Ghat section. Even trucks scrape their bottom, leave alone cars like Linea and A-star. Government is planning some tunnel based road in future but that is too far away. The other route is via Belthangady which mostly passes through divider less but low traffic road. We stuck to latter. 

So you have to take right from Hassan town towards Belur. Hassan to Belur is divider less but wide road where you can easily race at above 100. However, be careful of sudden dividers raised on sharp curves which could become fatal if you miss them at night while taking pass from other vehicle (my dad faced it in Linea). I was leading the troop with A-star followed by Linea by my dad and Duster by Jizs. 

From Belur take left towards Belthangady via Mudigere. This road is also good with narrower road but manageable as there is hardly any traffic.  People started loosing patience as it was getting night and we were also concerned about dinner. 20 mins past Mudigere, you will hit Ghat stretch which will be welcomed by big iron barricade(open all times). Just before this barricade, you have shops which are open till late in the night and you can find decent food and other supplies (except fuel). We finished our dinner there and moved further up the deep dark forest in the ghat section. We stopped in middle of ghat at around 11.30PM in the night because Bhabhi(bro’s wife) has motion sickness which aggravates on curvy road. But the youth gang saw this time as opportunity and we clicked some Ramsay Brothers type horror pictures in the middle of road and Jungle with no lights or vehicle around. 

From Belthangady, we took road to Moodbidri and further on to Karkala. You will find some and only rough patch of entire journey between Belthangady & Moodbidri. 15 mins past Karkala you have take left towards Manipal again welcomed by good stretch of road throughout. We reached Manipal around 2.15AM and retired in our home stay at Parnakuti Homestay.

Our Homestay - Parnakuti Homestay in Manipal (or say Malpe or Udupi also)

Parnakuti Homestay is located in Manipal. The owner bought a single storey property and built 2 floors above it. They have stay options from 3BHK, 2BHK, 1BHK, etc. We found the house and the rooms very spacious with almost all amenities available. They have a full fledged gas stove based kitchen on first floor which can be used by anybody there. In every house also they have kept cooking arrangements on induction cooker. Best part is they allow pets as they have all kind of pets present in their home stay like dogs, cats, birds, turtles, rabbit, etc. So you have an in-house zoo right there.

Next morning everybody got up by 10.00 and we left for beach by 11.00. We stopped at a small AC south-indian eatery on the way where they also allowed us to take Logan and Victor in the restaurant. 13 of us ate like world is going to end and this is the last meal. We ate Vadas, idli, dosa, onion dosa, puri bhaji, etc and guess what, how much was the bill  - only Rs 720. It cant get any better and we all thanked the restaurant guy for his great food.

Oh We reached the Beach

Finally we reached THE MALPE BEACH. As soon as Logan and Victor saw the water, they went crazy and ran like sky’s going to fall. I was still in car so Jizs and Bro ran for rescue getting them back in command. We chose a point to camp and water lovers went for dip. 

Even if you go 100 meters ahead in water at Malpe, still water will rise only upto your chest level. Other than a few occasional tides, you can comfortably stand and enjoy water. Also, there is no reverse current which is the most dangerous reason for maximum sea related accidents. 

It was field day for Logan and Victor

We all formed a gang in water and we appointed special edition ‘BOUNCERS’ - Logan and Victor. They chased many tourists away by their rambo-mambo dance and run on the beach. I had bad time running after them chasing them not to chase others. They were not chasing any person but the objects on shore lying here and there. But everybody who fell in the line of their charge thought they were going after them and so it was almost stampede like situation on beach with people hiding, carrying, lapping their kids away from the two uncontrolled monsters. Somehow we got hold of them and then they started chasing tides in the sea. Labradors are natural swimmers still we were scared that they may get tired and start drowning. So Anjana and I used to hold them in water and in the process they scratched (inadvertently) us at various places. 

Marley & Me

After about half an hour of swimming, I got them out of water and a scene from movie “Marley & Me” danced in front of my eyes. Victor after coming out of water immediately started rotating at same place while sniffing the ground and by the time I could have realised, he released a full load of shit barely 3 ft away from water. I felt so embarrassed while my mom(sitting near our camping site) watched all this. We are brahmins where any stuff like shit, pee were used to be treated with cow-dung or lot of cleaning in ancient days. We may have moved on but you cant change the foundation of a culture. I found disposed paper plates on beachside with which I picked up all the shit and threw it far away from beach. Try imaging my brahmin mom watching her loved younger brahmin son picking up dog’s shit in soiled paper plate(dont know what was it used for) and running like crazy away from the beach and then not even washing his hands with soap or something. 

Water and The Gang

Unaware of all this our gang was enjoying the water with people trying all sort of strokes possible. Bhabhi who swam in river before this showed her swimming marvel by some fron stroke while swimming pool trained Jizs tried his hand backstroke which always made him taste salt. Best part was my sis flexing her swimming muscles was followed continuously by Jizs in case her swimming skills had given way to water. When Little used to swim, everybody else used to turn back because his gigantic body splashed water more than a Bosch car wash can do. Bro was playing safe and so he did not try any swimming while Anjana was showing off her way to sleep(her favorite job) even in water by floating on her back. Shalu was lost in all this and was continuously trying to locate herself in water. Babu and Bapu (I call my Dad Bapu) were on the shallow end playing in just knee deep water. Mom adopted wait and watch policy to form strategy for entering water.

Malpe Beach has this one more interesting thing. You can take fresh water bath in one of the various pay & use bathrooms which is not commonly found on Indian Beaches. We all got fresh by 6.00PM and then we started the culinary journey. 

Malpe Beach - a paradise for sea-food lovers

Right at the beach, you have multiple stalls for sea food especially fish. We got fried Pomfret for Rs 35 each(impossible price), Bangda for Rs 20 each, crabs for Rs 40 each and so on. We left no part of stomach untouched with fish and sea food. Vegetarians resorted to soybean chilly, veg chily, fried rice and noodles. 

Finally we called it a day. Everybody was off to sleep. Victor got loose motions, it seems he drank too much sea water. We were carrying their medicine which came handy. 

St Mary’s Island - A must visit from Malpe

Next day morning all of got early and by 8.00, we were at Gandhi Statue on Malpe Beach. Reason was we had to go to St Mary’s island by boat which charges Rs 150 per person to and fro. We had special arrangement made with one boat operator and so he gave us freedom of spending as much time as we ant at Island. The ride lasted for about 10-12 mins and there we were. I really had tough time getting Logan and Victor off and on the boat as boat had some structural design issue and there was no clear port. We were carrying elaborate breakfast with us which we enjoyed for next 45 mins. After that, 5 of us along with Logan and Victor started island exploration. Island has some strange formation of rocks(must be volcanic rock ages ago) and it had those long grasses right from movie Jurasic Park 2. But exploration was worth and we enjoyed the place till 12.00Noon. Later we returned to Malpe Beach where we played Volleyball in water for sometime. It was time to say good bye to our Duster friends as they had to catch up with work on Monday morning. Sis, Jizs, Little and Shalu left around 3.30 PM directly for Bangalore taking same route. 

We enjoyed till evening repeating the ritual of eating fish and sea food. Everybody retired by 10.00 to sleep. 

The sad part begins - We are going back

Next morning, I could sense a feeling of sadness on everybody’s face as we were going back leaving behind the blue water, golden beach and unending supply of inexpensive sea-food. But as every journey has to come to an end, ours was not an exception. We started back at around 11.00AM and with few lunch and tea stops, we managed to reach Bangalore by 10.00PM (owing to crazy traffic in Bangalore city due to incessant rains). 

This would be an unforgettable trip not only because of the destination but because of the participants as every single of them were adding extra flavour to the trip. If you travel, try travelling in a big family group(which is now very rare to be seen) and watch your fun increase many folds in the same destination. Thanks to all the fun mates - Sis, Jizs, Giant Little, Shalu, Bro, Bhabhi, Babu, Dad, Mom, Anjana and of course our two Mambo masters - Logan and Victor. 

One thing which I missed here was that the entire group complexion turned to brown to dark to black as nobody was carrying sunscreen(sunscreen will also turn tan here) and as if we really cared about our changing color. Only two of us were not going to face racism - Victor because even deepest darkness will get shy in front of him and Logan because he is the bright boy. All for now, over and out

Quick Facts

Bangalore to Malpe - 420kms

Time - 10 hours (with breaks)

Road - 4 lane till Hassan and good roads from Hassan till Malpe

Route - Bangalore-Hassan-Belur-Belthangady-Moodbidri-Karkala-Malpe

Weather - Pleasant to Hot

Best time to go - October till March

Hotels - You will easily get something from 500-3000 in places like Udupi, Manipal, etc

Ideal number of days to spend - 2-3 full days are more than enough

Food to try - Try seafood on local stalls right at beach

Adventure - You can enjoy one of the many water sports (which we did not) like Jet scooter, paragliding, etc

Must carry - Anti Tan lotion else you will understand the meaning of racial discrimination after you are back from Malpe

Bangalore to Madurai Roadtrip & A visit to Meenakshi Temple

How it started

Last year when my parents came down to Bangalore, we planned a long 1week trip to South India. First stop of this tour was Madurai.

Because my mother prefers to visit religious places first before any tourist place, we thought of starting with religious place.

Head & Tyre count 

Linea's 500lts boot filled to brim(1 week prep). Notice the gears on my dad's body(2 specs and 1 camera)

Travelers were my dad, mom, Anjana and me and of course our great Linea. I got new set of stock tyres replaced on my car just before trip. Got Good Year(comes with new car also) for about 20k. Along with that I had also increased the car ground clearance by installing new GC Kit from Fiat. So me and my car both were set to rock it.

To Madurai

We left Bangalore at around 11.30 am(from my house in Banaswadi) in the morning as my dad came to Bangalore just last night. Route from Bangalore to Madurai is awesome with 4-6 lane highway throughout (about 450 kms run) . The pain part is Hosur and Krishnagiri for the crazy truck & lorry traffic. Once you are through with these places, remaining distance is like breeze. We crossed Salem by 2 and my car clocked average of 19 km/l maintaining an average speed of 85-90 kmph. 

We found this chap outside our hotel early morning so took his service. He was happy he earned early morning

After Salem, we stopped under a tree off the main road. We were carrying very tasty home cooked food with us. Already late for lunch, we finished our food in minutes and dozed off for some 20 mins enjoying breeze under the tree.

Notice wires above head

My Dad loves driving

We were ready to start again when my dad took to steering. My dad closing 60 still loves driving for long stretches and he dreams of driving bigger car in future. I admire his stamina and wishes I also stay as fit as him when I turn his age. At an impressive speed, he raced past through the Kanyakumari highway which will suddenly turn empty with hardly any vehicle on the highway. So this means my dad had a free hand to zoom past and he exploited it to the best by clocking speeds upto 130-140 km/hr at times.

You have to take slip road (at Checkanurani) for the left turn to Madurai town. There are enough markers to make sure that you don't miss the turn. Once you have taken turn, it will take at least another 30-45 minutes to actually reach the place where you want to stay. Now be careful on these divider less roads as the mood will be of highway drive so car automatically clocks speed upwards of 100km/hr with no divider and stray vehicles all around. 

At Kathir Palace, Madurai

I had booked a family room in Hotel Kathir Palace (from yatra.com) which is a 5 minutes walk from Main temple. We reached Hotel by 7.00PM. Hotel was decent with restaurant serving good north Indian food. The room was very spacious with four beds in the family room. Mom and Anjana took to some rest while Dad and me went for some shopping (we had forgot to bring our electric Kettle this time). The market (all around temple) is really vibrant and crowded like any other Indian market.

I find it very sad about Indian tourism. We have some unimaginable heritage like Madurai Temple but it is completely surrounded by dirty and unmanaged shops and vendors, wires hanging around the gopurams(towers) and bad roads to access. 

Best time to visit Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai

Most of the crowd in the temple builds after 9.00AM in the morning. I had read it at a few places and so we decided to give an early morning visit to temple. Next day we left our room by 6.00 AM to visit temple. It was a pleasant morning perfect to venture out in a hot and humid place like Madurai.

As soon as we reached temple we were approached by a temple guide who asked Rs 250 to take us for a temple tour. We accepted and he made our journey through temple very very easy. I have found out that it is better to get hold of some such person in a place like Meenakshi Temple which is so humongous you will always be lost and trying to understand where to go next. We did darshan, puja and also fed the elephant in the temple. 

You must buy some prasad from the shop towards the end of the tour where they sell halwa, laddos, etc stuff at very reasonable price. So if you want to pack something for back home, pack here but keeping it fresh could be challenge.

Madurai has hot to very hot weather throughout the year. So always be ready to face extreme burst of heat during daytime. November to January should be little better. AC rooms are expected always if you are not used to extreme heat. 

There are numerous eateries outside the temple where you can enjoy delicious breakfast. There are many places which serve tasty and authentic Tamil Nadu non-veg food in lunch and dinner.

There is one more place to visit in Madurai called Raja’s Palace which we were not very keen as Anjana and I had seen that in our previous trip and my parents were keen to proceed to our next pilgrimage centre Rameswaram. 

Quick Facts - 

Bangalore to Madurai - 450kms

Time - 6-7 hours 

Road - Excellent, careful about lorry traffic near Hosur

Ideal number of days - 1.5 days at max

Hotel Budget - You will easily get decent AC rooms upwards of Rs 1,200

Best places to see - Meenakshi Temple, Raja’s palace, local market

Best time - Mornings on any day of the year 

Tips - Get hold of Temple guides. They have government approved rate card so no cheating

Bangalore to Kodaikanal - A must have experience

After rounds of Yes & No, we finally decided to visit Kodaikanal for Independence Day Long Weekend trip. Kodaikanal is about 480 kms from Bangalore and is one the most beautiful hill-stations of India situated in the state of Tamil Nadu. At an altitude of 2133 mts ASL, the place is cool round the year with a lot of greenery and nature around. Not being very close to the two major metros (Bangalore & Chennai), the place still has untouched feeling left unlike its only other sister from Tamil Nadu, Ooty. There is a lot to do in and around the town and even a 5 days/4nights trip is not enough to do all that you can.

On the day of Eid, we met Uttam, Khusbhu(Uttam’s wife), Duggu (Khushbu’s 1.5 years old son) and Sweety (Khushbu & Sweety are Anjana’s cousins) convincing them to join us for the trip. So the D-Day decided was 14th August and we were supposed to leave town by 4.00PM.

The Route –
First day plan decided was Bangalore to Karur(Night Halt) at about 300 kms on NH7. Since the road is flat and smooth, we expected to cover it in about 4-5 hours on our Linea. Day 2 plan was to travel another 180 kms to Kodaikanal via Dindigul and Batlagundu with most part of journey in Ghat section. Return route was same without a stop at Karur

As we start…
Going by Indian tradition, we left at 6.00PM from Khushbu’s house(in JP Nagar) towards Hosur Road. One of the worst time to hit Hosur Road, we got stuck for almost 3 hours in maddening rush uptil Krishnagiri. The Road condition of Bangalore to Krishnagiri is also not very good with occasional diversions and rough patches due to ongoing work on NH7. Having travelled on this road a number of times, my advise would be to either leave early morning or in the afternoon to cover this stretch faster. We crossed Krishangiri by 9.00PM and after about half an hour or so we stopped for Dinner. We had a long menu for dinner courtesy Anjana and Khushbu(Noodles, Paneer Masala, Kachori, etc) but due to rain, we had to take shelter under one line restaurant and thus ordered some food from there as well. After getting refueled, we hit the highway again. All the fairer occupants in the car started asking to break the journey at Salem(199kms from Bangalore) itself but I knew its outcome the next day with stretched journey in Ghats. A 50 km drive in Ghat section can do equal fatigue as 300kms in plains. So a 280 km drive was too much for the next day. After a lot of convincing, we finally reached Karur by 1.00 AM and retired for the day in Hotel Perrys (Non-AC Rooms Rs 600+Taxes and AC Rooms at Rs 1000+taxes).

Day 2 is always most exciting part of a trip…
We left Karur by 10.00AM. The morning was bright and beautiful and moods were high. We stopped at Dhabba(they spelled Dhaba as Dhabba) restaurant for breakfast but the restaurant proved it’s a Dhabba(a black spot) among restaurants as they had nothing to eat or drink. After turning right towards Kodaikanal from Dindigul, we stopped in a coconut plantation to enjoy the food we were carrying with us. While we were savoring on cucumber, watermelon, sweets & namkeen, Sweety was busy stealing some dry coconuts which may have fallen-off from trees. She managed to steal about 5-6 of them. We continued further to Kodaikanal and finally reached our Hotel (Hotel Springs Valley – 750+taxes for deluxe room) at 3.30PM. After leaving our bags at hotel, we left immediately to have lunch. We found  Hotel Paradise Inn which served us really delicious Lunch at a reasonable price (about Rs 700 for 5 of us). The restaurant has a separate veg and non-veg section with a big, airy seating area. Duggu was enjoying the place as he was stuck in the car for a long time.

Post Lunch, we went straight to Kodai Lake. Sweety, Uttam and I took bicycle on rent(Rs 20 for half an hour single-seater and Rs 50 for double-seater) and took a round of Lake, a 5km ride with markers on the road to tell you how much you have already covered. It’s a very relaxing walk/ride alongside the lake with lots of eating and shopping joints. Finally we came back to hotel and retired for the day.

Day 3
We (Anjana, Sweety and I) left for Dolphin’s Nose in the morning for some trekking. We actually trekked down about 1.5kms on a way formed by roots of trees. En-route, we found an abandoned house on the way which must be haunted in the night. After clicking some haunting pics, Anjana and Sweety started walking back uphill. I walked further down and found out a small trekking path through deep forest which leads to old Kodaikanal Town. Few locals told me that it was a good trekking route of about 3 hours one way. Having no trekking partner, I had to give up the idea.

We came back to hotel by 9.330 AM and all of us got ready for a day full of sightseeing. We went to Hotel Hilltop Inn for Lunch (or say breakfast which was late). Taste was really good however, quantity was extremely compromised. Still we managed Lunch for 5 adult and one infant for about Rs 800. As per Kodaikanal standards, it was slightly expensive bill.

Post that, we left for sightseeing tour of Kodaikanal. We took Upper Shola Road to visit places like Guna Caves, Pillar Rock, etc. However that was wrong road. This is a long circular stretch which leads you to multiple sightseeing points like Pine forest, Pillar rocks, Moir Point etc. However, the local administration has create a one way policy to visit these places to keep traffic in a system as it gets really crowded on a weekend on public holiday. Still there are no markers saying one-way and not even locals will tell you that. So always take Observatory road to start your sightseeing. This will take you to all sightseeing point in the right order and without facing crazy traffic. Further ahead on the route, you will reach back to main Kodaikanal town near the Lake.

We really liked Guna Caves which was foggy and misty. We climbed up till the top and spent some time there. You can actually spot those huge rocks from top which you will later see from Pillar Rocks point. While returning back, it started raining and we took shelter under a omlette vendor’s tarpaulin. We also enjoyed hot coffe/tea with tasty omlette to get a little warmer in the cool weather.  After visiting all other sightseeing spot, we hit Upper lake view road from where you can click some real beautiful photograph with lake in the background.

Greatest Adventure of the Day
I was exposed to one very interesting side of human instinct. In the morning today, Sweety and Anjana were involved in stealing Pears from several pear plantations which is in abundance in Kodaikanal. It was maybe that time of the year, when every tree was full of hundreds of small and big pear. It tempted Sweety and Anjana to try their hands on a few unprotected plantations. In the afternoon, when we were returning back, Sweety was accompanied by Khushbu also and Anjana played role of watchmen. I declared if anybody is caught, I will refuse to even identify them, leave alone protecting them. Sweety, the master thief, provoked even Uttam to join the gang for high quality steal from a big private plantation and thus, we had about 2-3 kg of pear with us. I was now playing the role of the one partner in crime who awaits the gang with car ignition on. So initially it was Sweety alone who was doing it but towards the end, every single person (leaving Duggu) joined her and enjoyed the loot.

We came back to hotel after Sweety reported pain in her back. Anjana and I left again for a walk uptil lake (around 7.00PM) and later did cycling there. Right at the junction of bridge and Lake, there is a Chicken Kebab point where you can buy some real tasty chicken tandoori and kebab items. I got some chicken packed for me and Sweety (all others were vegetarian). Uttam and Sweety resorted to Hotel paradise again for dinner due to clean and open space where Duggu was comfortable.

Day 4 –
I woke up in the morning and headed straight to Forest Department Office (opposite Al Baiq restaurant) to get permit to visit Berijam Lake. It is a simple process to get the permit. You should have an ID proof with you along with some cash. A form(available there itself) needs to be filled with detail of car and travelers and submitted there with some cash payment(for vehicle pass) as per your mode of transport (We paid about Rs 150 for our car permit). No charges for travelers.

We left the hotel by 9.00 PM and hit Astoria Restaurant for breakfast. The place is really crowded in the morning and so we had to wait. In the meantime, ladies with us found out a wholesale chocolate shop named ‘Lords’. It is right inside the Kodaikanal main Bus stand waiting complex. I remember we bought home-made chocolates from Ooty for about Rs 500/ kg, the same chocolates were available here for only Rs 250/kg. We bought some chocolates later in the evening.

Astoria though a good place again, had the same problem of quantity. The food was tasty but quantity as per the price was really less. We packed some food for lunch also. We paid about Rs 650 for having Masala Dosa and Puri sabji(4 plate packed also) with some coffee. We felt the place really expensive.

We reached the Forest check post which is right next to Moir Point (so take the same road as Day 3). We entered the deep dark forest which was really beautiful. We were a little upset with crazy drivers driving in that forest with one hand continuously on horn. We really felt the need of educating people about not blowing horn. It was mostly the Tamil Nadu numbered yellow plate(Taxi) cars. They were in some kind of hurry and most irritating part is that all of them had got some really loud horns installed in place of original company horns and when I said loud, they were really deafening. This was throughout Kodaikanal. Being in Bangalore, where you don’t get to hear so many horns even on a traffic signal, it was too much for us. To add, it was a single lane road so every time you have a car overtaking you or coming from other side, one of you have to get off the road.

We stopped at Silent valley which at the first look was really confusing as in what is this place. We went where everybody was going and then we found it to be beautiful. However, the story continues. There is way down the slope where nobody dares to go due to its feel like a horror movie set of forest (wrong turn). But when you walk down the slope, you find a small water stream flowing down the valley like a waterfall. The thing is you will be at the top of the waterfall and not under it. And it is actually scary but equally beautiful and a must not miss type place.

We drove further and reached Berijam Lake which was truly awesome. Set amidst mountains from three sides or say all sides, the lake was playing hide and seek with us and foggy cloud. We were carrying all camping stuff with us but tents and that day we really felt the need. It was raining in parts, which was good and bad both. You have to leave the car a little ahead and then walk down about 500 mts to reach the lake. By the time we reached the Lake front, rain stopped. We enjoyed food (we carried with us) and clicked several photographs in different angles possible. Please carry your own food and water as you will get here nothing. After about 2 hours, we said good bye to the place and drove back to Kodaikanal. Please note that the permit given to you will be collected by the forest department at the time of exit. So please don’t throw it after you get entry.

We reached our hotel by 4.30PM and all of us preferred some rest. We left again for last ritual of any trip which is shopping. We bought some chocolates, some oils and spices. Our last dinner was again at Hotel Paradise only as everybody voted for the place. Back at hotel, this night, we played some cards also we had bought on day 2.

Day 5 – Oh the pain begins
We left hotel and started our return journey by 9.30 AM. Plan was to visit Madurai before heading for Bangalore. We stopped in twice before reaching Maudrai by 1.00PM. A big disappointment was waiting for us in the face of closed doors of temple. The temple is closed between 12.30 and 4.30 PM. No choice left, we headed for lunch in Madurai only and then started return journey. Bangalore was about 433 kms at 2.45 PM when my Linea touched NH7. The road is completely free till Salem so you can really drive fast till then. But after Salem, suddenly there is a rush of vehicles on the road so your average speed comes down drastically.

Finally we reached back Bangalore by 9.30PM. We reached home by 11.00 PM after dropping Uttam and Sweety in JP Nagar and Banashankari.

Facts to share –

Bangalore to Kodaikanal – 480kms approx
Time – 9-10 hours
Road – Smooth throughout
Ideal number of days to spend – atleast 3 nights and 4 days
Best places to see – Berijam Lake(must see), Guna Caves, Silent Valley, Byrant Park, Kodai Lake and cycling at Kodai Lake
Best time to go -  Almost round the year
Hotel budget – Keep about 500-5000 per night as per your taste
Food to try – Try Tamil Nadu delicacies like Chicken Chettinadu
Adventure – Try stealing some pears
Must carry – Warm clothes and ear covers during cycling
Turn off – Terrible road condition inside Kodai town and blaring horns of Tamil Nadu registered Taxis.

All for now, I shall come back again soon with my next experience

Yelagiri – A hill station you must miss

Bangalore to Krishnagiri to Vaniyambadi to Yelagiri to Hogenakkal to Bangalore – 550kms

Temple on Swamimalai Hills

Once Again-This time its Yelagiri
It was more than 2 months now since we went on a trip. I was also trying to search for places near Bangalore where we could camp (mount a tent) and spend a night or two. Though unsuccessful, I found out this place called Yelagiri in Tamil Nadu.

Yelagiri is promoted by Tamil Nadu tourism as hill station however staying at Bangalore at an altitude of 950 meters(approx), 1040 mts ASL Yelagiri did not excite us enough still we decided to give it a visit.

The D-Day
We decided for a day visit on Sunday 14th April. Yelagiri is about 170 kms from Bangalore and the road is mostly smooth. From Bangalore you have to take NH7 or Hosur Road till Krishnagiri where you change towards road to Chennai uptil Vaniyambadi. You have to take a right from Vaniyambadi and then take a small left to the hilly road (signboard at this left turn). 

Transportation was again our Linea. So I spent a busy evening on Saturday cleaning my car in and out.

Take a look at me now

We got up sharp at 4.00AM on Sunday morning. This time Pinky (Anjana’s sister) was able to join us and we were to pick her up at 5.00AM in the morning. Pinks watched IPL match last night followed by extra innings which left her with just 2 hours of sleep and so while she was asleep, she was praying to god that the trip gets cancelled but woke up to declined request.

Our idea was that we will try to reach Yelagiri by 7.00AM and go for trekking at Swamimalai Hills, a 3km long trek route in the hills (more detail later). Post Electronic City, most of the road sections were good, however flyover and repairing works at several places slowed us down intermittently. We were too slow to achieve our set target. The most irritating part happens when you have to pay toll (I paid about 3 tolls – 55+25+70 one way) for the sick road sections.

Our first break at 7.00AM

Anjana took my goggles

Anjana convinced us to take our first break for tea and some breakfast right after Krishnagiri. We had tea, biscuits, omlette and egg dosa. Surprisingly, the bill at this place was hardly 85 bucks after having 5 tea, 2 omlettes and one egg dosa. We felt Ram Rajya (Lord Rama’s rule and time) is back.

Our first and in fact last place we visited – Swamimalai Hills
Moving ahead, we took right turn at Vaniyambadi (please notice 1} the signboard will show Elagiri instead of Yelagiri 2} it will first ask to turn left instead of right. You have to take left first and then turn right under the flyover) towards Yelagiri. After negotiating with 14 hairpin bends, we reached Yelagiri and headed straight to  Swamimalai Hills.


There is a narrow lane going through a small village which leads you to Swamimalai Hills. You have to leave your transportation outside this village and then walk the distance. I fed a dog some biscuit and he

The dog with whom I had a deal. I gave him biscuits in return

agreed to take care of our car while we are away. Trust me he was there when we came back sitting next to the car and I gave him 2 more biscuits in tips. While I shared this dog idea to Pinks, she made a very funny statement – yeah the dog will say to a stranger , ”Iss gaadi tak pahunchne se pehle tumhe meri laash par se gujarna hoga” (you have to kill me before you touch this car)

View from the top of Swamimalai Hills, Frankly worthless. You will have better view from Nandi Hills instead

We started trekking up and after about 500 mts, both the ladies camped next to a fruit vendor. I understood what they were trying to mean and so I continued my journey further up. It was indeed a tough trek as there were countless steps(more than a feet high) made of boulder stones and then some steep climb ups. However, if you compare it with Scandagiri trek, it was easier. I was really fast and reached up in about 30 mins time with one break. Due to excessive sweating, I took a break of about 10 mins to enjoy the breeze at the top. I had to start back quickly as I had two beautiful and hot responsibilities waiting down at the foothill. I took about 20 mins time to reach back. For an average person, it should take about 1.5-2 hours to climb up and about 1.15 hours to climb down at a moderate speed. So you can keep a total of 4-5 hours for this place.

Enjoying watermelon

All of us had juicy watermelon from the fruit vendor. I borrowed slingshot from a kid there to test my shooting skills. Realising that I am still good, I asked Pinks to click some pics of mine as I was posing with the age old humans favorite hunting weapon. We had run out of cash and so I offered (which he readily accepted) a Bingo wafers pack to the kid in return of the favor he extended to me (it was a fair barter).

Posing with slingshot

Oops !!! No cash
We started back to the main town area of Yelagiri to find an ATM. Please must carry cash with you as there is only one SBI ATM in the town. Luckily for us after 2-3 restarts, SBI ATM worked and we had cash again with us. It was about 12.45 at that time. After having lunch at a small eatery, we headed next for Punganoor Lake which is extremely boring place. It is a small artificial lake created which is even smaller than Bangalore’s smallest lake. We rushed out of the place in about 10 mins time and then headed back towards Bangalore as there was nothing more to do there.

The most boring artificial lake

Yelagiri is not at all a hill station and my advice would be if and only if you have nowhere else to go, you can spend about half a day here. Locals do not understand any other language other than Tamil so you must have a Tamil speaking friend with you. Also, you should not travel to Yelagiri thinking you will feel anything cooler here. It is as hot as Bangalore is.




This is not done, let’s go to Hogenakkal

Crazy rush at Hogenakkal. Imagine how will it be when its peak season

We were extremely dissatisfied with our trip and so by the time we reached Krishnagiri, Pinks and I decided to go left instead of right to Hogenakkal. It was around 2.30PM and yeah there we go again. The road from Krishangiri to Dharmapuri (where you have to take right to Hogenakkal) is extremely good 6 lane highway. After Dharmapuri to Hogenakkal, the road is median less but in amazingly great condition. We reached Hogenakkal by 4.00PM

The best couple

after paying some 60 bucks for entry and parking. Hogenakkal was HOT, really HAAWWWTTTTT and the place reminded me of Delhi. It is much commercialized and people were allowed to take their vehicles almost upto the falls which was extremely irritating when you are walking on the same road. Hogenakkal though considered a great fall, this time of the year, it hardly had any water. People were washing from soiled plates to even their underclothes in the same water and so taking dip was out of question.

Entering Hogenakkal

You can try fried fish from one of the several fish stalls alongside the road. However be careful while buying as they all have fish fried a while ago which would not be anymore hot. So better go for fresh consignment. We ended up having cold fish with cold drink sitting in the car as it was

The Hanging Bridge

unbearably hot outside. Pinks went for sleep in the rear seat and we started driving back to Bangalore. We took one stop after Krishangiri for tea and snacks. It was hardly 7.00 PM so we sat there for one hour just watching vehicles speeding up on the highway and chit chatting. It was good fun. (I checked there was an alternative route to Hosur from Hogenakkal via Muluvanapalli and Denkanikottai which saves more than 50 kms in total but not sure about road condition)

Ohh!!! It came to an end

The Ladies camp after 500 mts

We dropped Pinks at 9.30 PM and retired at our place by about 10.00. Though the destinations were too boring the fun was all in the journey and the companions. It was more of like a long drive than a trip to a hill station. Thanks to Anjana and Pinky for being sport and enjoying the boring destination identified by me. Yelagiri is a definite No No. Hogenakkal a yes only in winters after monsoon. We will come back again very soon to make up for the fun loss in this trip.

Quick revision
Destination – Yelagiri Hills
Distance from Bangalore – 170kms(approx)
Route – Bangalore to Hosur to Krishangiri to Vaniyambadi to Yelagiri
Best time to visit – Winters after monsoon
What to see/do – In fact nothing but to name a few Swamimalai Hills, Punganoor Lake, etc.
Must carry – Cash as only one ATM. Food if you are fussy about it
Yelagiri to Krishangiri  - 80 kms(approx)
Krishnagiri to Hogenakkal – 90 kms approx

Kannur and around – A perfect place to laze and relax

Bangalore to Srirangapatna to Hunsur to Kannur to Calicut to Wayanad to Mysore to Bangalore 1000kms

THE PLAN

Republic Day long weekend was close and we were contemplating on the location and companions for our trip. Pinky (Anjana’s sister) gave a yes along with one or two of her friend. Place decided was Gokarna and transportation was our Fiat Linea.

Due to some urgent office work, Pinky dropped out and so did her friends. So now just two of us were there and we decided on a closer beach location, Kannur in Kerala.

PLANS ARE MEANT TO BE SCRAPED

Anjana at Thottada Beach. Notice the occasional rocks

Kannur is located in the Malabar region of Kerala. It is about 70kms North of the famous town of Kozhiokode alongside the Arabian Sea. Kannur witnessed several changes of power controlling the city. Dutch, Portugese, British, Arakkals to name a few.  Kannur was also called as Cannanore during the British rule.

Malabari food is famous and you can try the same in one of the restaurants. Theyyam happens to be the most religious art of this region. Kannur is 6^th largest town of Kerala so we thought we are going to a small place (6^th largest town of one of the smallest states of India). However we were awed by the richness of the town and the level of development they have managed and I really understood what happens when you have a literate population. We saw most luxurious car brands showroom in this town. So by no means you dare to think that you are going to a small place.

ON THE GO

The Grand Plunge

We started our journey on Friday, 24^th Jan morning around 8.00AM after pushing us a lot. This day I realized we are getting old. In college, if we had to go for a trip, I was infamous for goading lazy bums like Jasjiv Paji from 5 in the morning itself. The day before, I had my car’s brake pads changed and so I maintained low speed till we got out of the city. By the time we hit Mysore Road on clean patch, it was already 9.15AM. Anjana had got some Aloo Parantha packed for breakfast. So we stopped by at a chai wallah and sipped tea with Paranthas. This was around 11.00 AM.

We bypassed Mysore around noon. Just after Srirangapatna, you have to take a right towards the famous Mysore Bird Sanctuary on KRS Road. You have to follow this road towards Hunsur. Road is going to be a little rough after this however, the beautiful countryside will definitely make up for the pain. In case you have got packed food, you can enjoy a quick picnic anywhere on this road as there were many isolated corners with green all around. Journey till Hunsur was really easy and good.

WRITE AN ESSAY ON INDIAN ROADS- THERE YOU GO SIR

Satin Sand Beach resort - Good for nothing

Post Hunsur, you have to take road towards Madikeri uptil Periyapatna and then take a left from there. Road uptil Periyapatna was really amazing (I belive coz the road goes to Madikeri). Post Periyaptna, Welcome to Hell. The State Highway 21 from Periyapatna till it hits Virajapet Mysore Road was in the most terrible condition I have ever seen a road. You should be really careful if you are planning to take this road as there were big potholes where even an SUV will bruise its belly, forget a Linea which is infamous for its low ground clearance.  We had terrible time driving and even after taking extra care, I scraped my car’s bottom atleast 5 or 6 times against the road. In some section, road work was going on at Snail’s pace. My estimate says that atleast for next 2-3 years, this road is going to be the same.

Finally we came out of the worst part of our journey. The next worry was lunch and it was already 2.45 PM. Anjana heard an oracle that a few good restaurants were coming up ahead and so we were banned from eating just anywhere. One thing I must say, the road till Gonikoppal after this was very scenic as if we were in Madikeri. Coffee plantations covered the both side of the road and the misty sky made a perfect ambience for a romantic drive. However, hunger was overcoming romance and so I finally stopped at a very small and dingy looking restaurant neglecting Anjana’s oracle. Fish fry, parotha, rice and rasam finally changed the way I was looking at that place. I ate a lot and got 4 pcs of Rs 8 per fish parceled for me for my enroute refueling. Anjana dint touch anything and we moved ahead when we saw a diversion to Virarajendrapet(too long name, I could not pronounce) as the straight road was getting constructed. At this small town, we found a big superstore, where Anjana got cold drink, biscuit, bread, butter, curd, etc.

LAKE PLACID WITH TINY MONSTERS

The Lake just before Kerala Border

We moved further and as we were getting closer to Kerala border, we found one beautiful lake tucked away in green surrounded by mountains from all sides and only one side open to us. We stopped here and enjoyed the food both of us were carrying. We spotted many strange black marks floating in the lake so we got closer to surprise us with shoals (there were many) of small black fish. We threw some bread in the water but we were surprised again by sudden attack of brown fish (don’t know came out of where, maybe from lake bed) on bread while no movement from the black shoals. I smelt racial discrimination.

OH YES, WE ARE THERE
Finally by 6.00PM, we reached Kannur. Level 1 complete.

Our ordeal began with search for stay. We never go with a plan and so we never book anything in advance.

We knew there were beautiful beach resorts near Thottada Beach(about 10 kms from Kannur Town towards South). So we straight away headed for the place. However by the time we reached, it was already dark and so we could not dare to drive in the single lane road leading to beach to explore resorts. We decided to move further down south on the main highway and reached Thalassery (also known as Tellicherry about 25 kms from Kannur Town). Here we got a beautiful place (Hotel Paris Presidency) to stay at a very reasonable price. After dinner, we hit the bed for a tight sleep.

SOMETHING'S FISHY IN THALASSERY

Fish market, see those big prawns - just Rs 240/kg

Day 2 – Next morning we got up a little early and walked to Thlassery Fort and the beach. Thalassery Beach is not a great place to be unless you love fish. We saw tons of fish getting unloaded from the innumerous fishing boats. The place had a strong smell which not everyone could stand (Anjana managed though). I checked the price of Big Prawns in the connecting fish market and it was dirt cheap (Rs 240/kg). So in case you are carrying your own stove with you, this is the place to be as atleast I can live on Prawns for 5 days straight.

Thalassery Fort was not as mighty a fort as we have in India. It was built to provide British cover for their safe trade.

The veg restaurant

While walking back to hotel, we stopped by at a vegetarian restaurant which Anjana dint like (we had only coffee there, so don’t go by her like). I must mention something here that Kerala is not a very friendly place for vegetarians as all restaurant serve non-veg here and most of them also serve beef and other red meat products. So jump on any veg restaurant you find if you are fussy about this.

MUZHAPPILANGAD BEACH - THE BEST AND THE LONGEST DRIVE-IN BEACH IN ASIA & INDIA

Next plan was to hit Muzhappilangad Beach(about 14 kms from Kannur Town towards South), the longest and the best drive-in beach in India and Asia. I must confess here that I had never been to drive-in beach and so I was too excited to be here. And I must also admit that the actual experience surpassed the expectation by many points. I was amused to see the long stretch of beach and a wide space alongside the water to drive. There is a small entry fee at Muzhappilangad Beach of Rs 20 valid for a whole day collected by some very nicely behaved smiling security person. This beach does not have any eatery or stalls where you can buy food, so carry as much food, water, beverages, etc with you. We drove through almost 4 km long beach thinking we will come back again here.

THOTTADA BEACH - A PUBLIC BEACH WITH PRIVATE EXPERIENCE

At Sunset

Next, we proceeded to Thottada Beach which was tucked away in curvy single lane road narrowed down further from both side by dense bushes, where hardly my Linea could pass through. We drove through some road but could not find any beach. There were, however, many resorts on our right side which felt like calling us inside. But we still could not understand where the Beach is. Suddenly we saw two foreigners jumping a wall on our left and then we realized the beach was on the other side of the wall. We immediately parked the car and followed them. And WAAAAHHH, this was The Beach. It felt like a private beach with hardly anyone around. We saw 2 foreigner couples lazing under the sun. So we also decided to camp here today. But we had no food so we decided to go to the market, buy lot of food and then come back here. But on the way, we found an attractive homestay (Satin Sand Beach Resort) alongside the beach which looked welcoming. After discussing a lot among us, we booked the place for next day.

Muzhappilangad Beach - The Longest Drive-in Beach in Asia

Now since we had more than half a day left, we thought of exploring the city beach in Kannur which was also very famous. We had some food with us in the car with which we reached Payyambalam Beach. It was too hot as we reached there around 12.30PM. We took mattress and food and went to Beach. Hardly after 30 mins we came back running to car to save ourselves from the scorching sun. Next we headed back to Muzhappilangad Beach, but this time, we bought a lot of food & beverages. I parked the car in a way that it created shade for us on one side. It was around 2.00PM or so. We ate a lot and then I took a brief nap while Anjana honed her deteriorating photography skills.

We spotted lot of small crabs on the beach and many out of them were mating. They used to quickly dig up small holes in the sand and disappear within seconds only to allow waves to bring them up again to surface. It was a beautiful thing to watch. I could not stop myself appreciating their continuous and determined fight to hide under the sand to keep them protected from humans. It was inspiring.

We left the beach when it got dark and exactly when a police jeep came to ensure the beach is emptied as there was no light. It is really scary to be on this beach in night so my advice would be to leave the place before it gets dark. We came back to hotel and retired for a good night sleep.

A PERFECT DAY FOR LEISURE & RELAXATION

Our makeshift arrangement at Thottada Beach - Notice the privacy???

Day 3 – Next day morning, we got up late and after breakfast, went directly to the Satin Sand Beach Resort. After having lunch there, we went to beach and created a makeshift arrangement for us right there on the beach (take a look at the pic). We spent rest of the day and evening just lazing there. On this beach we spotted big crabs (really big & many of them) who did not allow me to get closer to them. The moment you even move a bit, they will dig up a big hole and go inside or run away into the water. Locals said, they never hurt humans but still neither of us could take the risk of diving in the water. Once I went in the water till knee level but after some alien touch to my feet, I rushed out immediately.

It was a truly rejuvenating day as we did nothing but relaxed. Our host seemed like ill equipped with food as well as manpower and so we were served very limited amount of food (it was included in the charges) and my vegetarian wife had almost nothing to eat. We somehow managed and went to sleep.

WHERE IS THE PHOTOGRPAHER

Crab - these were the smaller ones

SNAIL

Day 4 – the moment, I got up, I hit the beach (the reason why we stayed in this place). Anjana joined in a while and we were taking some pic shots. I also clicked a snail and a small crab. After spending about 2 hours here, we came back to resort. We left after having again a very limited breakfast served by the only old man in the entire homestay. Our recommendation would be a NO for Satin Sand Beach Resort.

I love flying

Since we had a terrible experience on Day 1 of the road we came from, we took the road via Kozhikode, Wayanad, Mysore to Bangalore. It was little longer but it was better. On the way, we stopped at Kappad Beach (about 20 kms from Kozhikode) which is again a nice place to be. We bypassed Kozhikode and kept driving straight towards Wayanad. You have to take left from Kozhikode towards North East to reach Wayanad. We reached Wayanad by 2.00PM. We stopped at a Udupi which served a third class lunch and first class price. Never go to this Udupi in Wayanad town which is on main highway only. Since we were very hungry we stopped at this first option. Later, many more good restaurants came but we were already full.

We had our dinner just before Mysore at Kamat Upachar which is really worth. We always stop here as they serve real tasty food.

Finally , we reached Bangalore at about 10.00PM and thus retired to bed.

Quick Facts

Shortest distance to Kannur from Bangalore – 325 kms approx

Total run of our car – 970kms

Best time to go – Nov till March

Best thing to do – Lazing on the beach

What is famous – Theyyam Dance, Malabari food, lungi

Go with lots and lots of food, water, beverages and not to forget sunscreen.