Rajasthan Diaries - The Pink City!

Hi Guys,

A few weeks back, I was touring across Rajasthan covering Udaipur, Jaipur and Jaisalmer. This is an attempt to jot down some of the memories from the trip. Let me start with the part that was bang in the middle of the trip – Jaipur! Jaipur is an exciting mix of old and new. It is filled with a lot of history which seems to be sadly ignored in the cacophony of modern lifestyle. It is a pattern that you observe in a lot of Indian cities.

Arriving early morning from Udaipur, the fun started in the Railway station with the bargain for Auto Rickshaw. Ankur joined me for the trip and having a local helps a lot in any new city. We stayed in the Old City which has the cluster of heritage sites from the past. I was intrigued by the buildings having coral pink color and asked the sheepish question to Ankur. Only then did I remember that I was in the ‘Pink City’. The pink that you have in your mind and the pink that you find in Jaipur doesn’t help initially. It is amazing how the huge cluster of buildings inside the five gates are mandated to have the same color – it is quite a sight in the night to see them lightened up.

The first place in the trip was Hawa Mahal. I was hungry and we were still searching for a good breakfast place, there was traffic around around the Mahal itself was covered with dust which didn’t help. But, as we went inside and went up in the narrow staircases, we realized the beauty of the architecture. There were nice viewpoints and towers. The intricate glasswork does throw a spectrum of colors inside.

Hawa Mahal in the night!

We were still searching for Breakfast when we entered Jantar Mantar and we had to settle with Sandwiches in the canteen there. On a side note, there were tons of Kachori places all around which seems to be the go to breakfast in Jaipur, but I was not keen. Jantar Mantar started on a note where Ankur wanted to read each and every inscription available. We did end up reading all, but don’t know how much we comprehended though, as a lot were on astrology! The place is a marvel considering the detailed effort that must have gone into observing the universe when not a lot of modern instruments were available. The scale of some of the instruments available is gigantic.

Next stop – City Palace. City Palace is a nice mix of buildings and architecture. Darbar is the main place of interest here as it is one of the few places where you can see the exact setup of how the kingdoms ran. The armoury was even better as you see a huge set of weapons – swords, hammers, armours, ancient guns, etc. We spent a good time there analysing the science behind some of the weapons.

City Palace

As we left the City Palace, we took an electric Auto to Albert Hall. A point of note on the Jaipur Auto drivers – they are good at distracting people. Before we entered the city place, a driver was so keen to take us to Albert Hall saying there is nothing in City Palace. When we took the Auto to Albert Hall, a driver was so adamant that it is same as City Palace and we need to go to Jal Mahal. Finally the lady driver who took us there told us that we need to explore Maharani Market first. Thankfully, Ankur was there! The ride to Albert Hall was my first view of full-fledged Jaipur driving sense and I was left with a not so great memory of drivers honking all the time.

Albert Hall is currently the city museum. Constructed in the British era, the architecture of the building is a good example of Indo-Saracenic. The place was full of people – the City palace has a steep entrance fees and hence a lot of them choose Albert Hall as it is a mini version of what you see in City Palace museum. The key attraction there is a Mummy museum where they have a real mummy from Egypt. I don’t understand the correlation between Jaipur and Mummy though.

The other set of attractions in Jaipur are the forts which lie on the outskirts. As you start moving away from Jaipur, you realize that there are not just forts, but many walls and watch posts strewn across the hills.

Amer Fort from the outside with the moat!

There are three main forts – Jaigarh, Amber and Nahargarh. The first of the three has only one key attraction – Jaivana Cannon which was the world’s largest cannon on wheels when it was built in 1720. It has a range of 22 miles. The second one is the main tourist attraction of Jaipur. It is located right on the main road. You have to walk up, but still it is not nestled inside mountains the like the other two. It has a big moat which is still filled with Crocodiles (or atleast the warnings claim so).

Jaivana Cannon at Jaigarh

Amber Fort (or Amer Fort) is not just a fort, but it is also built as a palace with some royal architecture and intricate designs. Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) is one of the most elaborate designs you will come across with heavy usage of small Mirrors. This fort is connected with Jaigarh fort for the royal family to escape in times of danger. Later, I came to know you can visit one place from the other through 30 - 45 minutes of walk – it must be quite an experience to do that.

Inside Amber Fort

Nahargarh is closer to the city, though the path is quite circuitous. It offers stunning views of the city. We went in the night, though I guess the views are good even during the evenings. There is also another interesting temple in Jaipur dedicated to the monkeys – Galtaji temple, which I did miss due to lack of time.

Before I left, I did walk a lot around the bazaars of Jaipur – the place it so lit up in the night, Hawa Mahal is spectacular, the shops are an interesting mix mostly aimed at tourists, there is lot of handwork around. Though I didn’t buy anything, I found the prices reasonable. There is lot of commercialisation given that Jaipur is a big city unlike Udaipur and Jaisalmer which were more friendly.

Feeding pigeons seems to be another favourite activity in Jaipur – saw a lot of pigeons outside Albert Hall and Amer Fort. They look lovely, but I guess they do cause a lot of issues – Albert Hall had lots of net to prevent them coming in.

Pigeons in front of Albert Hall!

What I found overrated in Jaipur was Birla Mandir, where the policemen were constantly chasing people away from taking photographs and Rawat’s Pyaaz Kachori. I did love the delicacies at Laxmi Mistaan Bandaar though.

The entrance tickets are quite expensive (Hawa Mahal – Rs. 50, Jantar Mantar – Rs. 50, City Palace – Rs. 200, Albert Hall – Rs. 40, Jaigarh – Rs. 70, Amer Fort – Rs. 100, Nahargarh – Rs. 100). All except City Palace are managed by ASI and the timings are same as a government office – 9 am to 5 pm which is quite a shame. The best weather of Jaipur is in the early morning and all places are closed then.

Final thoughts on Jaipur – two days is not enough if you want to patiently look into the architectural beauties of the palaces and the forts.

Happy Reading!

Why redesign a Website that works perfectly?

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ goes a famous saying. When I was chatting with someone in office a few days back, we had a conversation around the changing User Interfaces and User Experiences in the modern applications (commonly called as the UI/UX in Tech lingo). The conversation was more focused on why customers resist change and are comfortable with the older UI however crappy it might be. A small conversation it was, but triggered thoughts in me as I had been pondering around this point in the recent past.

If you are in India, there is a good probability that you would have used IRCTC website at least once in the recent past to book train tickets. CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems) took a major initiative to revamp the IRCTC booking website and make the website feature rich and improve the User Experience. It was well known that older website was not so great, but it got the job done and people got used to it. The newer website took some time to get used to and more importantly there was only one key question around, ‘Where do I Login?’ For some reason, IRCTC decided to focus on new bookings and threw up the journey details right at the centre of the page and Login went somewhere into some menu. For a lot of people who just wanted to cancel the tickets, they were not able to find the Login and had a horrid time. The earlier website started with a Login.  It might have been heavily inspired by the Redbus/Makemytrip websites, but the purpose is not the same. Today they have kept a red coloured Login button right at the top. But why change something that was working perfect?

When you design a new webpage or website, UI/UX takes the precedence. The impression you create, the placement of information and buttons, the fluidity and the navigation matters. But when you already have a solid user base who is comfortable with the interface, it is necessary to think much before changing the way things work.

Cricinfo has been another example in the recent past. Cricinfo has been a goto website for any cricket lover for a long time since we started tracking matches on the web. Famously their servers crashed the day Sachin scored the first double century in ODI. That’s the traffic they had. Ever since, CricBuzz came into picture with increased focus on Mobile App, a lot of users went switching over. Cricinfo decided it was time to revamp the website to fit into any gadget and became increasingly cluttered. It took more time to open the website, the commentary often doesn’t loads properly. Comments in the articles were one of my favourite features. There were only a handful of readers, but you knew most of them and looked forward to reading their perspective. Cricinfo decides that the volumes are not enough. When I tried to reach out, I get a reply that I can still comment on Facebook. Why move from a smaller intelligent sect to a larger garbage sect? There goes the user experience! The only good thing with Cricinfo now is that they still have quality reports from Sidharth Monga, Andrew Miller, Daniel Bretig, George Dobell and the likes.

More often than not, companies design new websites and believe that the features are intuitive enough for the user to figure out on their own. Around 2 years back, Airtel revamped their website with a lot of focus on material design and fresh icons. Earlier, there was a clear ‘Login’ button available and I was lost for a few weeks as to where it has gone. Only when someone randomly told me that they have replaced the wording to a person Icon, I realized that it is still in the same old place.

Quora is another example of consistently changing UI. The prime components of Quora is quite simple – Questions, Answers, Topics, Upvote, Downvote, Share, Search. The UI team are an enthusiastic bunch who cannot retain the design for a few months together. They move buttons from one place to another, replace words with icons, bring new icons and get back to word. Interestingly there a few questions in Quora itself as to why the platform has got such inconsistent UI.

Gmail has a good example of how to alter the User Interface without affecting the User Experience. They provide a guided tour when they get into a new interface. They still enable you to retain the older version for sometime before it is scrapped. And the core of the design remains the same. The wordings still remain the same and most of the times are the same place. You don’t suddenly start searching for old features.

Quite often, the software providers allow you to use the older version for a longer timeframe even after launching a new interface. The issue is that they donot let you flow smoothly from the older interface to the newer one. They don’t provide you with guided tours or guided trainings. And in most cases, the revamp is hard to adapt too.

While the purpose of revamping the UI will be to increase adoption and satisfy the user community, more often than not, it leads to the opposite.

Happy Reading!

A trip to Jogja - Part 2: Spectacular Borobudur!

Hi Guys,

To read A trip to Jojga - Part 1: The 9th Century Prambanan Temple, click here.

Borobudur has a famous Sunrise tour which is supposed to give a spectacular view of the sunrise amidst the mountains, but with the rains I decided it was not worth making it. After waking up at 6 am, the walk to the temple was took 10 minutes. A group of foreigners were coming back down the temple stairs after completing the Sunrise tour. A large chunk of school kids had come in for touring the temple.

The famous Buddha statue amidst stupas and the picturesque mountain behind!

A view from the top of the temple

A view from the side of the temple

While Prambanan temple is largely a Hindu architecture, the Borobudur temple is slightly different. The temple’s structures is more like a large cube with layers of squares inside. Constructed in 9 layers with 118 meters width a 35 meters height, the outer six are squares and inner three are circular with bell shaped stupas around. There are 72 small stupas and one giant central piece. Apparently, this temple was also built in 9^th century, probably before the Prambanan temple by the rival Sailendra Dynasty. And the temple was abandoned and rediscovered in the recent centuries. Indonesian Government has taken special interest in restoring the temple to show the world that they value their culture and are secular in nature.

The Rain Starts and the Umbrellas are out on rent!

One of the many Buddha Statues

As I reached the top of the temple and was having a look at the surrounding mountains and fields, the sky opened up and it started raining. And I having forgotten by Umbrella at the room had no choice but to take shelter at one of the pillars. And some Bollywood fanatic locals came up to take a picture – there a quite a few words that you will keep hearing across in Indonesia – it includes Shah Rukh Khan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Ahchaa, Nahi… And as rain was not relenting, I took an Umbrella on rent (interesting business) for IDR 10,000 from the base. And then I began my walk up again to the top. After spending some time seeing the numerous Buddha statues around and taking a stroll through each of the layers which contains relics from the life of Gautama Buddha, I walked down. On the best of days with no rain, I believe one can sit in the top and enjoy the mesmerizing views around.

One of the many relics in the nine layers depicting the life of Gautama Buddha!

And one Selfie with the stupas amidst the rain!

Similar to the Prambanan temple, the complex is huge and there a lot of activities to do. Early in the morning, most of the souvenir shops were just being opened. And a chunk of tourists had started pouring in. Coming back to the guest house and munching on the no meat Nasi Goreng and feeding fishes in the paddy fields, it was time to head back to Jogja. This time, decided to take the local bus from Borobudur to Jogja. It costed IDR 25,000 a fraction of the Grab trip. The bus was as good as a rural Indian bus and the driver took his own sweet time to drive. Driving through some small towns and across rivers, we reached Jogja a little later than 1 pm.

The paddy fields behind the guest house. How peaceful life is here!

After having completed the main objective of the tour, it was time to have a look at the Jogja’s Royal Place called Keraton and a dutch time swimming pool in Taman Sari. And then I hit the traditional and classic shopping street of Jogja – Jalan Malioboro. After a stroll across, spent some time in souvenir purchase in the shop of Hamza Batik. After watching the local street vendors cook and the vintage street architecture, it was time to leave the lovely city.

One of the pools in the colorful Taman Sari - a swimming pool from the earlier centuries

The traditional Malioboro Street with a lot to shop!

The Batik drawing technique demonstrated live in Hamzah Batik store

And some Satays being prepared on the fly

As night falls, it is time to leave the wonderful city!

There is a lot more in Jogja than just the temples. There are few spectacular beaches to the west of the city, a few volcano treks around, an amazing cave visit is also there. All in all, to cover and enjoy Jogja in detail, you will need atleast 4-5 days with you which is a luxury.

Happy Reading!!!

A trip to Jojga - Part 1: The 9th Century Prambanan Temple

Hi Guys,

Indonesia is a large country with quite a lot of tourist places around the islands. Yogyarkata (pronounced Jogjakarta and often called as Jogja) occupies a key place in the hearts of the local Indonesians for the cultural heritage and amazing food the place offers. I decided to visit Jogja over a weekend back in March during my stay in Jakarta. The main aim of the trip was to cover the two major UNESCO sites – Prambanan and Borobudur Temples.

Hence, the first stop was Prambanan Temple. Situated at around 8 km from the Airport, I took a Transjogja bus to the temple. Prambanan temple (Candi Prambanan in local) is one of the giant Hindu temple complexes in the world. Constructed in the 9^th century by Sanjaya Dynasty as an answer to the Buddhist Borobudur temple, the scale and magnitude of the temple is spectacular. Supposedly, there were a total of 240 temples in the complex. Can you believe it? Of course, not all of them were big. The biggest of all of them is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is 47 Meters tall. There are two other 33 Meters tall temples dedicated to Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu. Naturally, the temple is called a Trimurti temple. Apart from the three major structure, there are quite a few tall temples dedicated to the vehicles of the Gods and smaller shrines dedicated to Goddess Saraswati and Laxmi. And there are 224 smaller temples surrounding the perimeter, most of which have been destroyed today.

A Side view of the Temple Complex

The three main temples from Behind -
On the Extreme left is the temple for Lord Vishnu, the one is the center if for Lord Shiva and the extreme right is of that of Lord Brahma

One of the flank temples

The temple complex is large and you have to be prepared to walk around a lot. The entrance fee is expensive. A combined pass to Prambanan and Borobudur temple costs USD 40 or IDR 540,000 (Indonesian currency can drive you crazy!) The temple was filled with a large number of local tourists, particularly school kids. Quite a few school kids flanked me as they were given an assignment to interview a foreigner.  After dictating the pre written questions and recording my answer, they wanted a photograph (Another thing you will come across is that kids will want to take photos with you, similar to how the Indian kids flank around  foreigners for a photograph).

The peripheral temples are damaged beyond restoration

A statue of Lord Ganesa in the Shiva temple

On an overcast day, it was humid and tiring to climb around all the temples to see the statues. The temple walls are filled with descriptions of Ramayana and Bhagavat Geetha. A large credit has to be given to the Dutch rulers and later the local Government for restoring the temple. The temple is in a very unstable zone with frequent Earthquakes and is also in a close proximity to many volcanoes around.

The temple is flanked with inscriptions of Ramayana - here is one of them with Lord Ram

Monument describing Earth Quake

And the fallen tower

By the time I was done with the main complex, I was tired and was not prepared to roam around the other three Buddhist Candis around in the same complex. On a good day, you can spend half a day around in this place roaming around temples, taking pictures from a few photographic points, renting a bicycle, visiting the museum and crawling through the local souvenir shops. There is also a spectacular Ramayana Ballet performance organized at regular intervals. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend them.

A Silhouette of the temples on an overcast day

After getting a few souvenirs, it was time to get to Borobudur. Booking a Grab from Prambanan made it an easy journey at a cost of IDR 145,000. Borobudur is 40 kms from Prambanan temple and after taking a stroll through the paddy fields and villages, we hit the highway. And Indonesia’s rainy season started the show. It was raining heavily and densely. Effectively, it took 2 hours to reach Borobudur where I had booked a home stay for the night. After having a no meat Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) and some Chocolate Milkshake, I hit the bed.

The plan was to get up early in the morning and visit the temple before the tourist crowd hits in.

Click here to read Part 2 - Spectacular Borobudur!

Happy Reading!!!

Visiting the iconic MCG!

Hi Guys,

On a day when Dhoni’s six sealed the World Cup for India six years before, I’m back here writing a blog post on a cricket ground. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the first cricket ground I would walk in my life would be the Melbourne Cricket Ground or ‘The G’ as it is called simply. Despite being so close to the iconic Chepauk Stadium in Chennai, I have never been inside.

Being in Melbourne on a short official trip, we were so close yet so far from the ground on the first four days when we had to put up with the hectic office hours and meeting preparations. On the final day, we had our return flight in the afternoon. But, I and my colleague were determined to not miss the opportunity to see the historical ground.

The G - from Outside

The G was two kilometres from the city centre we stayed and we decided to walk the distance bracing the chilly morning weather. After a serene walk along the Yarra River and a beautiful bridge, we were at the stadium by 9.50 am, 10 minutes before the first official tour kicks off. The 75 minute tour costs AUD 23. For AUD 31.50, you get in a combined pass for MCG and the National Sports Museum which is also in the same complex. As we were chasing time, we opted only for the ground tour. At 10, we were introduced to our tour guide, an elderly lady from the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). She was somewhere in her 70s or 80s, but she was the most energetic amongst the touring group and we had a tough time matching her pace (It’s a pity that I forgot her name). Along with the two of us, there were five others – two from England and three from Australia, meaning it was a group passionate on Cricket.

From the turf!

The tour started with us being let into the grass turf, where our guide explained the history of the ground and stands. The ground was established in 1853, when the settlement was just pouring in. The ground hosted the first ever test match in 1877 when 30,000 people attended the spectacle (it was a significant population of Melbourne back then). The ground has four stands – the great Southern Stand which makes a semi-circle and then Ponsford Stand, Members Pavilion and Olympic Stand which together make another semi-circle. With a seating capacity of 100,024, MCG is largest cricket ground by capacity. I have always been awestruck by the four layered seating arrangement of the MCG and that is what makes the stadium so special to me.

The Great Southern Stand - and the four layered seats!

We were slightly disappointed that the turf was being converted into an Australian Rules football turf for the AFL season that kicked off just the previous day. It would have been greater to see the ground with the cricket pitch, but still it was magnificent. After a couple of photographs for later memory, we were taken across multiple facilities across the four levels. Since, I will run into multiple pages if I describe about all of them, I am writing some of the significant ones.

While this is the home ground of the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, the MCC has made lot of credits to WH Ponsford who was overshadowed by Bradman during his hey days. This includes the stand named after him. There was names of all the players who has played for Victorian state (the state were Melbourne is located). The Home and Visitor change rooms has names of all players who has scored centuries or taken a fifer here. Bradman has scored 9 centuries here and our guide being a big fan of Bradman was going mad about it. They had pictures/photos of all the Australian teams that had travelled to England starting from the 19^th century. All the statistics, pictures, photographs, artworks had to do with Test Cricket. I guess MCC recognizes only that as pure cricket.

A plaque in memory of WH Ponsford

There were lot of special amenities for the MCC members including a fine dine restaurant and a great view of the ground from the Long Hall (made in similar lines with the Lords, except that batsmen don’t walk through this one). Another special feature about the ground was the library, which our guide told is one of the best sports libraries you would come across. Anyone is free to walk in here on Weekdays and refer to the books. They have a copy of Wisden from 1916 (due to World War only one of them was published and is worth millions in value in today) and the first dictionary that had reference to cricket back in the 1600s. Of course, these are locked and are there only for display.

The Long Hall!

It was interesting to see the olden day steel benches on display and our guide was saying that with cushioned seats the facilities for spectators has very much improved. A century back, spectators were supposed to stand and watch the match in the searing heat. The ground had hosted both 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth games. There were multiple plaques and arts in memories of those events. There were lot of artworks made specifically for the 150^th year of the ground.

Those ancient Steel benches!

Three stand out features to me – the ground was very accessible from the city – there was a train and tram station just outside. From city center, we were able to walk without any traffic interference. And the second one was that the entire stadium was friendly to physically challenged people including special seats for them across the stands. The final one is that they have captured and displayed the entire history of cricket in the ground and evoke strong memories out of it!

A view from the one of the ground's balconies - From Left( Practice Tennis Court, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Skyline including Eureka Skydeck, St Paul's Cathedral) and Train/Tram tracks just beside the stadium

Soaked in the history for the entire duration, it was time for us to come back to real world and rush to catch our flights back home… The G will always have a special place in my heart!

Happy Reading!!!

Wandering alone in Karnataka - Part 6: Plan, Cost and Suggestions!

Hi Guys,

To read Part 1, click here (The Start)
To read Part 2, click here (Exploring Hampi)

To read Part 3, click here (Reminiscence of Vijayanagar Kingdom)

To read Part 4, click here (Hampi-Dudhsagar-Madgaon-Murdeswar)

To read Part 5, click here (Udupi and Around)

In final part of the series, I will jot down the plan I had executed along with costs and provide some suggestions as well. By the way, this is my 250^th Blog Post (It has been 7 years, 1 month and 16 days since I started!)

Travel Plan

I started on a Saturday night from Chennai and reached back Chennai after 8 days on a Sunday morning in the following route

Dep	Arr	Train No/Name	Dep Time	Arr Time	Remarks
Chennai	Bangalore	12607/Lalbagh Express	15:35	21:35
Bangalore	Hosapete	16592/Hampi Express	22:00	07:10 (+1 Day)
Hosapete	Madgaon	17603/KCG YPR Express	6:20	13:55	Slip Train. 4 Days a week
Madgaon	Murdeswar	16311/BKN KCVL Exp	9:30	12:22	Only on Thursdays
Murdeswar	Udupi	13654/Bangalore Exp	16:30	18:15
Mangalore	Chennai	12686/Chennai Exp	16:20	08:00(+1 Day)

Out of the 6 trips, I had booked 2S in Lalbagh, 3AC in Hampi-Madgaon & Madgaon-Murdeswar stretches, Sleeper in rest. Given the crowd in Madgaon-Murdeswar stretch, I felt travelling by Unreserved coach would have even be fine and 3AC was not required. The total cost of train tickets came to around Rs. 2500.

Stay

I stayed in the following places

• Hampi – Lakshmi Heritage homes (Rs. 900 per night for Non AC – One of the good places you will find in center of Hampi)
• Madgaon – Hotel Greenview (Rs. 600 per night for Non AC – I stayed here as the Railway retiring room got cancelled in last minute – you could find better hotels)
• Udupi – Hotel Shambhavi (Rs. 1100 per night for Non AC – again had an Airbnb option for Rs. 750 per night which was cancelled by Host. The hotel is nearby bus stand and a very good one).

I booked Hampi and Udupi via Cleartrip and effectively spent only around 2/3^rd of the total cost. The total cost of Hotel Reservations came to around Rs. 4100

Other expenses included around Rs. 3000 for food, Rs. 1000 for local travel (Cylce, Auto, Bus) and some miscellaneous expenses in temples and museums. Effectively, the trip made be spend around Rs. 11000 (well within the budget of Rs. 15000 I had in mind). I had got no souvenirs or made any shopping except for cashew nuts in Madgaon due to the limitations of having only a rucksack.

Suggestions

Most of my trip went on plan except at a few places. Making some quick suggestions to people wanting to explore the places

Hampi

• There will be no network connectivity in most places. Download Offline Maps before heading to. Google Maps might be confusing to identify places, Satellite version works better.
• Constantly look out for Hampi Map put by tourism department and places around the current location.
• If you are short on time, hire an Auto. The place is huge.
• A few places are secluded on Off days. Though I faced no troubles, I avoided venturing into a few places

Madgaon

• I had a very short stay here and visited Colva beach.
• Though I consciously avoided Goa, after coming back from the trip, I had a feel that having travelled that far, I should have spent one more day either in Goa/Gokarna/Karwar
• Jog falls is also a nice place around here, but travelling to and fro would take atleast a day

Udupi

• Udupi left me confused in terms of the number of places around to visit.
• Do a good research before heading and choose from the following list – Kollur, Agumbe, Karkala, Kundapur, Mudabidri, Dharmastala, Malpe/Kaup Beaches. Most of the places will take around half-one full day. So, decide your interest and head out.

It was a nice trip visiting different set of places over a week. Hope you enjoyed reading my series on it.

Happy Reading!

Wandering alone in Karnataka - Part 5: Udupi and around

Hi Guys,

To read Part 1, click here (The Start)
To read Part 2, click here (Exploring Hampi)

To read Part 3, click here (Reminiscence of Vijayanagar Kingdom)

To read Part 4, click here (Hampi-Dudhsagar-Madgaon-Murdeswar)

Day 7 – Aug 5, 2016

Udupi is an interesting place with lot of scenic tourist spots around, but it takes time reaching each of them. I had a few options in mind – Kollur, Agumbe, Karkala among others. I had rounded it to two options – Kollur or Karkala. My friend Vijay had suggested me to head to the Kollur temple as it was located amidst forest and you also get free food (A good enough reason to travel two and half hours each way) I was finding Karkala interesting, but one review that I had read said Karkala has slippery steps and you got to be careful in monsoons.

So, I started the day with no clear plans. I went in search of breakfast and no restaurants were open at 8 am near the bus stand. So, I trudged back all across to Woodlands hoping that it will be open. Luckily they had just opened (their timing of breakfast is from 8.30 am!). After breaking my fast, I returned back to the bus stand. Instinctively, I caught a bus to Kollur. It took almost 2 and half hours for a 75 km trip. After Kundapura, the road was bad for a stretch of 10 km and I was wondering if the ride is going to be bumpy. But luckily the hill roads were much better.

Breakfast at Woodlands - Udupi Masala Dosa

As I reached the temple, it started pouring. There was huge queue and I was wondering, why I came here. I stood in the queue at around 12.15 pm and luckily I was sent in around 1.25 pm. Behind me, the line was closed and were to be remained close till 3 pm! After finishing the prayers, I went back to the Annadhanam Hall for food and joined the queue there. It took 30 minutes, but the food was pretty good and experience different. They had Rice with Rasam, Sambhar and ended with sweet Payasam. I came back and it was still raining. There was so much of rains at this place.

Kollur Mookambika Temple amidst rains

I started back at 2.45 and I was wondering where to go next. I hopped onto a bus heading for Kundapura and then went to Anegudde which is considered to have a beautiful Ganesha temple atop a hill. It turned out to be a dull place. So again, I started to Udupi at around 5.10 pm from there. At around 5.55 pm, I got down at Udupi Bypass and caught another bus to Malpe beach. It was a day of impulse decisions.

Malpe Beach

Malpe Beach is part of Malpe Village, a fishing harbour on the outskirts of Udupi. The beach is serene with White Sand, Coconut Trees, Huts and a few shops. After missing out Sunsets in Tungabhadra and Colva, I finally had my chance in Malpe amidst the heavy monsoon rains. The sunset was indeed splendid with huts and Gandhi statue in the backdrop.

Sunset at Malpe Beach

After sunset, I came back to Udupi and headed to the temples around Krishna Mutt – Chandramoulishwara Temple and Sri Anantheshwara Temple, both dedicated to Lord Shiva. Both were peaceful and not thronged by too many people. After that, went to Woodlands restaurant again for dinner. Had Udupi famous Masala Dosa and a few other items there. A very good place to have food if you are in Udupi.

Day 8 – Aug 6, 2016

The day started with a visit to Krishna Mutt. It was interesting to find the tradition of viewing the God through window also known as ‘Kanakana Kindi’. The tradition is that the famous poet Kanaka Dasa viewed Krishna through the window in 16^th century when the temple was affected by earthquake and the structure had collapsed.

Udupi - Sri Krishna Mutt

Then headed for breakfast at the traditional Mitra Samaja which is a dilapidated status today. Still the food tastes pretty good here.

After checking out, started to Mangalore at around 11.30 am. Reached Managlore by about 1 pm and was wondering what to do. Went straight to Ideal Café which is well known for Ice Creams. After having Lunch there, came back to the Railway station and started reading a book. Mangalore-Chennai Express uses the modern LHB rakes (which are more agile, safe and big). But as it started raining, we figured out the windows were not closing properly and water started spraying all around (was wondering if this is the localization of German Coaches). So, I settled on my upper berth for the rest of the journey.

Day 9 – Aug 7, 2016

The train arrived 45 minutes to Chennai on the final day. Totally, I lost 5 hours of my Trip thanks to the train delays. I headed back home amidst the hot Chennai Sun which reminded me that Southwest monsoons donot affect this part of the country.

Thus, my great expedition of Karnataka came to an end.

To be continued... Trip Plan, Expenses and Suggestions to form the final post of the trip!

Happy Reading!

Wandering alone in Karnataka - Part 4: Hampi-Dudhsagar-Margao-Murdeswar

Hi Guys,

To read Part 1, click here (The Start)
To read Part 2, click here (Exploring Hampi)

To read Part 3, click here (Reminiscence of Vijayanagar Kingdom)

Day 5 – Aug 3, 2016

I had kept a couple of alarms around 5 am so that I donot miss the train. But I woke up 15 minutes before the planned time, thanks to the Power Cut. The auto driver, Rama Li had come by 5.10 am much earlier than the scheduled time. I started around 5.30 am from Hampi to Hosapete Railway station and took a train at 6.20 am to Madgaon (commonly referred as Margao) The train was filled with Party mood with lot of people heading to Goa. The main objective of this trip was to experience the journey via Braganza Ghats (a section of Western Ghats) which is a 26 km rail route connecting Goa to the hinterlands. It is considered as the most complicated construction of Indian Railways. This route is most famous for Dudhsagar Falls which can be accessed only by train.

As the train headed towards Hubli it started raining heavily. After reaching Dharwad at 11.30 am, the train entered the dense cover of Western Ghats and was moving at a snail’s pace. So, the train was chugging amidst rains, forests and mountains. The excitement started building up as the train moved closer to Dudhsagar falls through tunnels and streams. From Castle rock station, it took almost 30 minutes to reach the place and it was marvelous with water flowing in full force thanks to the monsoons. Dudhsagar means 'Sea of Milk' and there is no exaggeration in the name. The falls is viewed better when the train takes the next turn and you face straight at the falls. At this point, you can view the falls in its entirety whereas in the first turn the train is so close to the falls and all you see is water gushing. After slowing down for 3 hours, the train was back at a good pace and reached Margao at 3 pm which was a delay of little more than an hour.

Dudhsagar Falls (Image from Wikicommons) - You get this view when the train takes a turn

Here came my next surprise. I had booked retiring room for overnight stay at the Railway station. The caretaker said no rooms are available. I said I had made online booking. He took me to the room. The room was turned upside down. They were treating it for Bed Bugs! Then the booking authorities had no clue of how to cancel the reservation and I wasted one hour. Then finally I managed to cancel it with some special reason and headed to a nearby Hotel based on Google reviews.

In the evening, I took a bus nearby and went to Colva beach which is one of the key beaches in South Goa and is 6 km away from the station. The city is filled with old buildings and green trees. I fell in love with the city. The beach in itself was beautiful with lot of people, both Locals and tourists. A group of fishermen were taking out fishes and crabs from the fishing nets and lot of dogs and crows surrounded them looking for some feast.

Colva Beach

A fresh catch

Little kids trying their Luck!

Again with cloud cover, I missed out on Sunset. After exploring the city market for some time, purchasing some cashews I went to a restaurant at around 7.55 pm and the server told me, ‘Sir, you are late. We run out of things by 8’. Then I don’t know what he thought, he went inside and brought me a Masala Dosa. After munching, I went back and crashed for the day.

Day 6 – Aug 4, 2016

The day started at 8.30 am as I headed back to Madgaon station. As I started walking, a guy came on a Motor Bike and asked me, ’30 Rs, OK?’. I was blinking for a minute before realizing these are bike taxis of Goa. Then he asked me how much I can give. I agreed for 20 Rs and he dropped me at the station. Despite being a walkable distance, the huge rucksack I had made me go for the ride.

After having breakfast at the Railway station’s restaurant (which was pretty good unlike the usual stuff we get in Railway stations), I waited for my Train which was from Bikaner to Kochuveli. Supposed to arrive at 9.20 am, the train arrived at 10.20 am. Half the train got down at Margao and I was wondering why I booked 3AC in the train when Sleeper would have done for the three hour trip to Murdeswar. In entirety, there were 10-15 people in the coach.

Hence started my journey through the Konkan Railways with tunnels, bridges and mountains. Naturally, the train was an hour late at Murdeswar too and I got down at around 1.30 pm. There were no Autos in the Railway station and I walked around 300 meters to the entrance of Murdeswar and got an Auto for Rs. 30 to the temple (for about two kms).

As the auto dropped me, I was looking at the mammoth temple tower and the statue of Lord Siva. But the sea was more mesmerizing with rough waves and cloud cover in the backdrop. I headed into Naveen seaview restaurant which was covered by Sea on all sides and ordered a Meal. And it started pouring outside. I had the lunch amidst breezy rains, amazing views and splashing water. The lunch was not great, but good enough and economical at 70 bucks. I waited for the rain to subside and then went straight up to the Shiva statue. Both the temple and statue are constructed by a business man known as R.N. Shetty. He owns nearly half the properties in the small town and I am not sure if this temple is a dedication to Lord Shiva or just another business with his own guest houses and restaurants built. The temple and statue are free to visit and to that extent what he has done good work not commercializing the entire area. The temple is huge with 18 towers, but I found it plain with nothing so aesthetic about it.

A breathtaking view of the temple

The majestic statue of Lord Siva

At 3pm, the temple doors opened and I visited the temple which is also neatly constructed. I was surprised to see patches of artificial grasses inside the temple. With the huge rucksack I abandoned my desire to go the 18^th floor and have a view (at a charge of Rs.10, a lift takes you all the way to the top). Coming out I sat by the sea and started admiring the sea for quite some time.

Inside of the temple

Naveen Beach Restaurant with nice Sea view and decent food

A view from the other side of the temple

At around 4 pm, I started back to the station (Rs. 40 Auto Charge) and waited for train Karwar-Bangalore express. The station is pretty picturesque with mountains on either sides. The sky opened again for a short span of rain. The train as usual came 40 minutes late and the compartments were fairly empty. A young boy studying 6^th standard started chatting with me on what I was reading on (he was curious about Kindle) and where I’m heading to. The train reached Udupi at 6.45 pm – 30 minutes late than destined. As I got into an auto and headed to my booked hotel (Hotel Shambhavi), it started pouring again.

To be continued...

Happy Reading!