Soon, we were out of the concrete jungle and on to some nice roads. After a couple of stops, the bus halted for a break at Yeswantpur. We got to know that the Gokarna bus was the one right next to us and those who are traveling to Gokarna can get in, so we swapped buses midway!
Soon, we came to a long line of lorries and tankers hampered by work on the ghat roads, with passenger vehicles trying to get ahead of them. Before we were out of that, I had lost count of the number of tankers I’d seen. Finally, we reached Gokarna at 1pm!
After lunch, introductions, and a good wash at the hotel, we rested for a while and then set off
We walked around the beach and waited for the sun to go down for some sunset pictures. In the meantime, we went on a boat ride – saw the other beaches from the boat, trying to plan the next two days.
Day 2: We decided to go to the Kudle Beach first. Another auto, another winding road, another beautiful beach. I’ve seen a clean beach before (think Pichavaram) and many dirty beaches (think Chennai). But, Gokarna is unbeatable for the amount of life on the beach – that is, life
We had our lunch in one of the shanties that offered Mexican, Italian, Israeli cuisines – at a very reasonable price. After lunch, we had some yummy apple pie (?) After lunch, I went back to relaxing in the shade and my friend spent time watching fishes in a pool of water (it ended when he saw someone peeing into his warm pool!)
I sat there watching the waves, the rocks, the beach, the people – and after getting into the water, my friend didn’t want to go to any other beach. So, he spent the day in the water – swimming, searching for fishes, seaweeds, crabs I spent the day taking pictures of everything.
Soon enough, they found a seaweed – and Amir crowned Abhijeet with the seaweed. Right
Day 3: It was time to return – but before our long journey back home, we had about half a day to spare. We decided to check out the Main Beach (aka Gokarna Beach) besides the temple as it was the closest and we didn’t have an entire day to spare. We’d also checked out – didn’t make sense to be carrying things around! We walked to the beach, and found a shady spot between two boats.
The temple is surrounded by a lot of shops selling souvenirs, beads, bangles from camel bones, even tiger nails! I am not sure how aut
After walking around the town for a while, we decided to get back – had lunch on our way and reached the bus stand. We went to Ankola from Gokarna – which proved to be another crazy ride. From Ankola, it was another bus to Hubli. The new bus stand at Hubli was a disappointment – it was unused, dark, had very few shops, and was out of the town! If I go again, I will save myself the trouble and wait at the old bus stand. Another bus, another long journey, another day and we were back in Hyderabad. We rushed home to prepare for another day at work!
It is an amazing place for a relaxed weekend – the only thing that keeps me from going there every other weekend is the journey and the distance – It is a place worth visiting but not good for a weekend trip, at least not from Hyderabad.
From Gokarna |