PAYANIGA » West Coast

Digest: Ride to the West Coast

Prashanth — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:52:00 +0000

An unforgettable journey

Places visited during the four day bike trip to West Coast

* The beginning
* Belur
* Yagachi Dam
* Sringeri
* Agumbe
* Around Udupi – Malpe beach & port, Bengre
* Udyavara beach
* Kunjarugiri and Pajaka
* Around Kasaragod – Ananthapura & Madhur
* Bekal Fort
* Manjeshwara & Someshwara

Route taken during the trip –

Day 1: Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Chikkamagalur – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi

Day 2: Udupi – Malpe – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surathkal

Day 3: Surathkal – Mangalore – Kumbla – Ananthapura – Kumbla – Madhur – Kasaragod – Bekal – Kasaragod – Manjeshwara – Someshwara – Mangalore – Kudupu – Kaikamba – Polali – Kaikamba – Surathkal

Day 4: Surathkal – Mangalore – NH48 – Shiradi Ghat – NH48 – Hassan – NH48 – Bangalore

Manjeshwara & Someshwara

Prashanth — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:33:00 +0000

We stopped at Kasaragodu for lunch. From there we went to Manjeshwara, the birth place of Govinda Pai, one of the well known poets of Kannada literature. It was around 3.30PM & Sri Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple was closed. We had to be content looking at the sculptures outside the temple. There were lots of sculptures of snake god (Nagarakallu, in Kannada) – of different sizes & shapes. We were told that the place is well known for ‘Nagamandala’, worshipping the serpent god which is an all-night ritual.

Our next destination was Someshwara. Sun was drifting down, while we sat on the beach looking at the endless waves & munching some snacks. The beach was not much crowded as it was a weekday. While few roamed around, some more sat like us getting mesmerized by the play of the Sun & the Sea.

After Someshwara before reaching Surathkal, we visited couple of more temples – Kudupu, again a temple of Ananthapadmanabha Swamy & Polali, temple of Goddess Rajarajeshwari. Kudupu is approximately 10 KMs from Mangalore on Mangalore-Moodabidri route. Polali is around 20 KMs from Mangalore and can be reached by taking a left turn at Kaikamba (when coming from Mangalore).

Day four, we were back on our saddles for our return journey. We started from Surthkal at 6.30 in the morning and decided to reach Mangalore & then take NH48 all the way till Bangalore. First of of the journey was wonderful, riding through the twisty roads – the wonderful mountains Western ghats – Shiradi ghat. Once we crossed Sakaleshpur the road became straighter & straighter, boring & more boring. Somewhere near Sakaleshpur, Srik got a call from his office asking him to reach office as early as possible. We dropped plans of visiting couple of places on the way & rode down straight to Bangalore.

That’s the end of our 4 day ride to West Coast.

PS: And this is my 100th post :)

Bekal Fort

Prashanth — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:17:00 +0000

It was noon when we reached Bekal fort. Wrong time & season – noon & summer – to visit Bekal. The place was almost deserted, with few people here and there. After roaming around the fort – peeping into the (now closed) tunnel, observation tower – we went down to the beach. Sea in this part is a bit rough & not safe for getting into water as lot of rocks are there in the beach.

The fort – the biggest in Kerala, is close to 450 years old & spear over forty acres. Bekal fort was built by Keladi Nayakas post Battle of Taalikote. And main intention of building the fort was for fulfilling defense requirements. And in our era Bekal shot into fame again after a song sequence from the movie Bombay was shot here, so much that when one hears the word Bekal, next word which comes to mind will be Bombay.

Heat & the humidity was brutal. To add to the misery, I forgot to carry my hat that day. Just as we climbed our way back to the fort from beach, those two ladies selling cool drinks & soda appeared to us as angels. Gulped down couple of masala sodas & then headed towards our vehicle.

Continuation of my West Coast ride story.

Exploring Kasaragod

Prashanth — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:09:00 +0000

On day three we gave rest to our steeds & hired a car as Srik’s aunt & cousin accompanied us for the trip. And third day turned out be more of a pilgrimage with visits to plenty of temples – most of them in Kasaragod district. Our first stop was Ananthapura. Few weeks before our ride plan, there was a news article about the place & it’s uniqueness.

Ananthapura, the place is well known for the temple of Lord Anantha Padmanabha. There are two specialties of this place – one, the idols of Lord Anantha Padmanabha, Goddesses Sridevi & Bhudevi are not made of stone/wood/metal, but are made of a mixture of more than 60 extracts from herbs/plants & other natural materials. The temple is built in the middle of a small pond & there is no external source of water to the pond except rain.

Second unique/strange thing of the place is, a crocodile lives in this pond where temple is constructed. It’s said that the crocodile is living there for years. During lunch time when called by priest, the crocodile comes out of the water & receives the ‘prasada’ from the priest. The legend says that – In 1942, the crocodile was shot dead by a British soldier. And the very next day appeared another crocodile which is present now. It’s said that the same crocodile is living in the temple pond since then. It was truly a ‘Believe it or not’ moment for us.

How to reach Ananthapura:

From Mangalore travel south towards Kasaragod to reach Kumbala (39KMs). Turn left & after 4 KMs you will be at Naikap. Turn right to reach the temple.

Our next stop was Madhur – temple of Srimadanantheshwara & Ganapati (siddi Vinayaka). Though the main deity here is Lord Shiva, his son Ganapati gets more importance/devotees. Our visit was brief compared to Ananthapura. From Madhur we started towards Bekal fort.

The Story so far:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal – Mangalore – Ananthapura – Madhur

Around Udupi: Kunjarugiri & Pajaka

Prashanth — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:19:00 +0000

From Udyavara we headed towards our next destination – Kunjarugiri, a hillock (giri = hill, mountain) with temple of Goddess Durga atop. One can reach the top either by steps (a hundred or so) or by road. Though we wanted to climb the hills, we didn’t want to risk our luggage on the bikes with so many monkeys around. There were so many monkeys near the temple, I stood gaurd near our bikes while Srik went inside the temple. And later we switched. To the west of Kunjarugiri, there is another smaller hillock. And there is a temple of Parashurama.

From there we visited Pajaka, the birth place of Sri Madhvacharya, the founder of the Dvaita school of philosophy. He is the one who installed the deity of Sri Krishna at Udupi. A priest volunteered and took us on a guided tour. It is said that Sri Madhvacharya used to visit the Durga temple everyday & worshipped the goddess. Listening to the stories and the legends, took me to my childhood days of reading books and comics. And how we tried enact or immitate the mythological heroes.

After traveling 500+KMs in todays and visiting many places, we were tired. We reached Srikanth’s Aunt’s house in Surtakal. Before calling it a day, we met another fellow blogger Venu Vinod. At the end of day two, our trip meter read 540 KMs & distance for the day 100KMs.

Day Two:

Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal

Day One:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi

Around Udupi: Udyavara Beach

Prashanth — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Arabian Sea – Udyavara beach

Our second half of the day started after a sumptuous food. And this time we went in search of ‘Udyavara beach’, one more beautiful place suggested by Rajesh Naik. If you have been to Maravathe & like the place, here is the miniature version but more beautiful & pristine of Maravante.

The river

A narrow stretch of land (of about 200-300 meters width) is sandwitched bwtween Arabian sea on the west & a river on east. Starting somewhere near Kaup, the stretch suddenly hits a dead end very close to Malpe, where the river joins the might sea.

The boat & the journey

The place is very close to Udupi & yet less known to the world. Udyavara town is 3 KMs from Udupi & another 3 KMs from there takes you to Pithrodi village. A boatman awaits for people to take them to & fro the main land & the other side. One has to cross the river in a narrow boat which can accomodate 5-6 people.

The boatman

It’s pretty difficult to find a beach in India which is clean & also no one around. But this was an exception. It was clean & untouched, not even foot marks of people. We were there around 3PM, definitely not a suitable time to be at the beach & for photography. But we had no other choice. I want to go there again to witness the Sunset, before the place get stormed by people & turns into just another beach in the world.

Continuing the West coast ride story

Route day two:

Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal

Route day one:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi

In and Around Udupi

Prashanth — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:52:00 +0000

Continuing the West coast ride story

Day two started slowly and the day started at 7AM, still early on a Sunday morning :). On second day we travelled less in terms of distance but managed to visit quite a few places. It was more of chicken run – run here & there visit a place & next moment back to square one. Our first visit was to Udupi Sri Krishna temple. The temple was not much crowded. We roamed around the premises. From there we headed towards Malpe beach.

Before going to the beach, we paid a quick visit to Malpe port. It was a busy time at hte port. Lots of boats coming in with loads of freshly caught fishes. We had to leave early as the smell was unbearable. From there we hit the beach. Sat on the beach for few moments, looking at the endless number of waves. And the brought down the bike onto the beach. Getting onto the beach was easy, but pulling it back on road was the big problem. We went on and on in the lonely beach for few KMs. And then we managed to pull our bikes back on the road with the help of locals.

A morning walk
Fisherman at work
As per recommendation from Rajesh Naik, from Malpe we went in search of a less known place called Bengre. Bengre in Tulu (a dialect of Kannada language) means the place where river joins the sea. It was not so difficult to find the place. It was a great sight watching the slowly getting into the sea. We could even make out the difference in color of the water. I sat there on the beach mesmerized while Srik played in water. We returned from the place reluctantly as the Sun was going up every minute & we were getting late for the wedding.

Ready for a swim :)
Route day two:

Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal

Route taken on day one:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi