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Saturday, September 03, 2011

How wild can it get - II


Looks like there's a character limit to the posts when using the blogger-droid app. So a new post, that's actually a continuation of the previous one since I've hit the character limit in the previous post.

So then, Sept 3

Woke up by 5 am, ready & in the bus by 5.30am. There wasn't much delay by anyone, so started off by 5.45.

On a side note, I was quite happy with the driver. He drove very well throughout the journey, maneuvering even the difficult hairpin-bend curves with utmost care. At a time I thought the bus would topple sideways because he was taking a U-turn on a slope of 30° when the potholes-ridden road was probably just wide enough for the bus from brushing the bushes/trees on the sides!

The first place where we stopped was Bhatkal for breakfast. Since I don't like idly that much, ordered poori (dosa wasn't available!). Everyone else first ordered idly, but after seeing my poori plate, they too got pooris! One poori plate on every table after a few mins. I was having a laugh within.

Someone managed to order & get a dosa later. I felt deceived, but my tummy was filled by then, so just let it go. The dosa didn't look that great either that I'd reconsider & stuff my tummy.

Next went to Murudeshwara temple, situated between 2 beaches. The closest beach didn't look that good, so didn't go. Took a lot of pics.

There were several "photographers" claiming to take pics. INR 50 for 4 pics! My camera takes much better pics than theirs. Even my phone camera would be a better one compared to what they had. No wonder no one asked me that they'll take my pics.

Ate a laddoo at the temple, the free meals at these temples aren't nutritious. They're just carbohydrates, not much protein. So thought I'll eat whatever "junk" I could find.

Next was some small temple, Aneguddi Vinayaka temple, on the way to Udipi. Just stopped for 30 mins. Nothing much to see or do there. I was in & out of the temple in 5 mins. Others took much longer. In the meanwhile, I took random pics as usual.

The landscape throughout the journey was just forests. Thick growth of trees, forest floor looking like a green carpet, covered in moss/grass, but no hints of soil beneath.

Coffee, tea, Areca nut, paddy (rice), banana, etc. Plantations & estates at some places.

The rain also stopped in the morning after breakfast, which meant I could happily walk around taking pics with ease, now that I wouldn't have to hold the umbrella.

B.t.w. since the mp3 player was now charged, I was listening to music all day. That helped cutoff all noise from the people around. However had to be very attentive to any announcements made by the guide. So, reduced the volume a bit before dozing off so as to awaken in case there's an announcement. Ah, the perils of being on a tour package alone.

Next was Udipi Krishna temple. Reached around 1 pm. I completed darshan and had the free lunch by 1.30pm. Much earlier than anyone else. We were to start back at 2.30pm, which meant I'd an hour to pass time.

A prasad called laddige interested me, so bought & ate for the next 1 hour as I was roaming around. It's just a huge laddoo that's made of popped rice. As I was walking along, noticed that the pond in the temple had ducks, so a photography session with them! Not all of them were cooperative, but that's natural :)

Everyone was back in the bus by 2.45 pm, so started just a few mins before 3 pm. I guess we were a bit ahead of schedule. The guide decided to take us to Maple beach (Maple pronounced as Maa-play).

We were in the beach by 3.15pm, given 1 hour. From a distance, the beach looked quite good. Unfortunately, turned out to be a mirage! The beach was, in reality, completely littered with dead plants, twigs, etc. However, the water was clean. It wasn't dirty or ugly, but overall it wasn't the nicest of the beaches. I've been to better ones.

Went into the water, knee-deep, didn't like the floating dead plants & twigs that much. So was out in 30 mins. I still had another 30 mins to kill. Took some random pics again, as usual.

Some people seemed to have had a great time in the beach. They came very late. We started back at 4.55 pm.

Next was Kateel, some goddess temple. They were playing some movie in the bus. I didn't want to listen to that & increased volume in the mp3 player. I'd dozed off with earphones on, so didn't wake up when the guide announced. I'd become oblivious to the surroundings since the time the mp3 player started working.

Woke up when the bus stopped. It was 6 pm. Soundarya palace is where we were gonna halt tonight. Asked the guide what the plan was, after apologizing for falling asleep when he made the announcement. The plan, it seems, is to just visit the temple tonight, have dinner & start back again at 5.30am as the previous day.

The plan meant I'd a lot of time. Checked Google maps & scanned the area around. Found nothing interesting nearby. Meant I'd just the temple. Went there around 6.30pm, hoping it's a big temple & can spend some time exploring. Unfortunately, it wasn't that big. I was out by 7 pm.

I'd have liked to have my bike in this situation. But this wasn't that bad even though I was sitting in the last row. The ride is quite bumpy, can't hear the guide unless he uses the PA system, etc. There would've been different challenges if riding on bike - especially in these rains, on these roads.

Anyways, came back to room, took some pics of the room since I was a bit impressed with it, given the remote location the hotel was situated. The room was a lot better than the room I was given the previous day.

Back to the temple around 8.15pm. Watched the pooja. Was looking around for signs/hints on where the free dinner is served. Just walked around for a few mins, followed a bunch of people who seemed to be talking about what I was after. So just followed them, and found myself in the right place.

The food here seemed better than at the other places. B.t.w. I don't consider this as free food. Everywhere I've eaten free food, I've dropped Rs10-30 in the hundi.

Hopefully tomorrow I won't stay asleep when an announcement is made. Got to sleep a bit earlier than yesterday, would be good to make best use of it then.

So then, that's all folks!

Continued here.

1 comment:

  1. anand you used to be a biggggggg.... questionnaire to dad, when u was a kid and latter on also you never used to keep quite while we were traveling,you used to go on ask q's till you r satisfied with the correct ans, i and dad used to get prior information about the place where we r going to see only to answer you. NOW why you r getting irritated by the kids around you and also aged people. just enjoy the surroundings as it comes to you when you are out and with any mp3 you can get that much joy n pleasure practically when you r in a tour.just think once about your childhood days. once we took you to basara in TRAIN overnight journey, but for your craze to travel in train for long hours to spend only, actually from hyd in bus if we go it is only FOUR hours journey. and the great thing is while returning from the trip you used to ask WHEN WE WILL GO TO THE NEXT TRIP AND WHERE ?????????. please recolect all your and our memories we had in our small ......

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