Kundapur - A vacation to remember forever

Yash is 5 years and three months old. We have just returned from a vacation, so memorable, that it has made me to consider beginning a blog :)

With us, planning for a holiday never works. Over the years we've realized that we just have to do our holidays spontaneously. We do a little research, and thanks to all the review sites available today, there's no dearth of information. We had two things on the wishlist, the place had to be at driving distance and it had to give ample photo ops to my photographer husband, Vickram. We hadn't explored coastal Karnataka before and the backwaters at Kundapura seemed very interesting. We decided on Monday, and started our journey on Tuesday morning!

It's all about preparing your child I guess, cos when we woke up Yash at 5 a.m., he readily woke up, with a smile. We set off from our home in JP Nagar, Bangalore at 6 a.m. We took the NICE corridor from Kanakapura Road to Tumkur Road.

Our onward journey we took this route: Bangalore - Hassan - Belur - Belthangady - Karkala - Manipal - Kundapura. It was a total of 480 kms.http://goo.gl/maps/XLy33 The roads were in good condition. We stopped at Kamat hotel, about 10 kms before Hassan, for breakfast. Nothing noteworthy about the food, but maintained cleanly.

Our next stop was at Belur.

The Chennakeshava temple there is truly mesmerizing. We spent an hour walking around the temple, exploring the various sculptures. It makes you wonder about the precision the artisans have achieved then, without any so called modern day tools. The carvings and sculptures are awe inspiring and beautiful. It was built under the Hoysala dynasty, under the able hands of 'Janakachari' it's architect, carrying their signature style: Star Shaped temple on a platform.  The outer walls of the temple have rows of friezes, each row with a different theme, elephants, lions, dancers in different poses, depiction of mythological stories.....

Yash is very interested in mythology and he was very happy to go around the temple looking for sculptures he could recognize from the stories he knew. He found a sculpture of Narasimha Avatar and Varaha Avatar ( of Lord Vishnu's Dashavatar). He also found a place where he said ' Mum, The lions are giving a hi five here' :) There was a guide who was explaining to another man, Yash would overhear bits of their conversation and come running to me with 'exclusive' information.

We resumed our journey.  The road from Belur to Kundapura passes through scenic hills and forests of the western ghats. The rains had rendered the entire landscape into lush green. The beauty and peace we found there was just delightful. Vickram, I've discovered, likes to capture nature shots more than any other kind. So this journey was interspersed with many picture breaks. The mountains posed with their mighty peaks lost in the clouds. The water flowed through the hills, raging down in a great rush.

  Few of the shots he got were of some willing monkeys. They were great stars, sitting with poise it seemed ;)

We stopped at Manipal for lunch at the Manipal club. The town took us by surprise. We saw that the educational hub was bustling with activity. There are many branded stores and eateries around. I guess the student population there has created an elite market there. We should recommend the Milkyway burger at the Club's Cafe.

We reached Kundapur at 5.30 p.m We had booked our stay at a place called Blue Waters The hotel is situated at the junction where the city ends and the backwaters start. The view is enthralling. You should make sure to get a suite with a view of the backwaters.

To wake up in the morning with this view should wash away any stress you may have. The hotel itself has very few, but well appointed rooms. The stay was very pleasant, the hotel staff courteous and the food was good too. The same evening father and son got into the pool to relax the muscles cramped by the journey.

We decided to catch the sunrise the next morning at the Maravanthe Beach, 14 kms from where we were staying. There is a particular stretch of the highway here that is spectacular since it is adorned on either sides by water bodies - The Arabian Sea on one side and the Sowparnika River on the other. This makes for a unique travelling experience.

Yash had packed exactly two things that he felt were very important to this holiday, his beach set and his beach ball. With these in tow, we reached the beach side by 6 a.m. The clouds played spoilsport and did not allow us to capture the morning glory of the rising sun. The digging, the patting, the building and just the feel of the wet sand of the sand castle that Yash and I built together, are going to stay with me for some more days :)

Yash, as he informed us, did not like the waves there. He said that they were too loud and noisy. The sea is quite rough in these parts and one has to be careful while getting into the water. We stayed at the edge of the water, but Yash refused to even come close. For a child who loves playing with water, this was quite surprising to us.

The same day, we made a visit to the Murudeshwar temple, about 65 kms from Kundapur. The roads are not too smooth, however, the scenery on the way makes up for it. The temple has the third largest statue of Lord Shiva in the world with a towering height of 123 ft.

 The temple's gopura is 20 stories tall and has a lift that can take you all the way up. We were just in time to see the last 'aarthi' before the temple closed for the noon. We then decided to eat in the temple's annasantharpana hall. It is considered to be the devine prasadam. The service was quick, the place hygienic and the food was 'divine'. Unfortunately, by the time we had finished lunch, the lift service had been closed for the afternoon. So, we made our way back to Kundapura.

 Vickram had befriended a fisherman, Jagadish, in the morning. He had made plans with Jagadish to take us on a small tour of the backwaters in his fishing boat. The plan was to catch the sunset from a vantage point. We set out on the small fishing boat at around 5.30 p.m. Jagadish had brought along his son, Nishant aged 10 yrs, who made good company for Yash. We were taken to a small island, unused, uninhabited, just a few meters in diameter. We saw some fish that leaped in and out of the water. Yash was fascinated. At the island, at the water's edge, there was a huge upturned tree. Nishant found a crab in its roots, caught it and showed us. He dropped the crab to the sandy beach, all taking a few seconds. The crab made its way straight towards Yash (who was standing between it and the water). The fear that was on Yash's face was a first to us. He was petrified. Immediately, he laughed it off.

I am amazed at the spirit these kids have. I guess childhood is all about exploring the unknown - being scared and excited at the same time - and assimilating that information. Isn't it wonderful how these processes happen in a fraction of a few seconds, without us even being aware of it.

The next day was the most interesting day of our trip, due to two unique experiences. We went to the Kolluru Mookambika temple in the morning. On the way there, we had noticed a board reading 'Butterfly Sanctuary'. We decided to take the tour after the temple visit. The Mookambika temple has a wonderful folklore behind it and you can read it here.

On the way back, as previously planned, we entered into the butterfly park. The small building by the gate housing the reception, seemed empty and it was locked. We assumed that the person may have stepped out considering it was lunchtime. We drove on into the sanctuary, which was nothing but a small trail into the jungle. As we drove, the skies turned grey and desolate. The path (cannot be called a road) was getting narrower and more bumpy. The shrubbery grew thicker, the trees taller, sounds of the forest grew louder. All in all, it seemed like we had stepped right into a horror flick, ready to encounter the evils. What seemed to be a worse predicament, we either had to reverse our way out on the winding, bumpy path ( which seemed close to impossible without ramming into a tree) or move forward, looking for a spot to turn the car around. Hearts thumping, trying our best not to show our fear to Yash, we kept the chatter going about the morning's temple visit. Finally, a clearing enough to turn the car around. We heaved a sigh of relief only when we saw the gates through which we had come in. Phew!

We returned to the Kundapura city and had lunch at Gokul, a pure veg restaurant. One has to try the Mangalore Buns this part of Karnataka. They are delicious, sweet and spicy preparation. The food in these parts are quite tasty and you wouldn’t be left homesick.

That evening, Yash wanted to go for a swim in the pool. He was hurried out of his swim as Vickram wanted to try going to the island again to get his elusive pics. Jagadish was back and this time his daughter Nishmitha and Nishant also accompanied him. We set off in the small boat, happy that it wasn’t too cloudy to play spoilsport again. The entire trip was somewhat of a revelation. The siblings knew very little of English and no Tamil, the languages that Yash could converse. Yet, they managed to hit it off really well, each piecing together what the other said. Nishant had got with him a crab in a jar to show Yash. Yash wasn’t embarrassed by his fear, but laughed heartily along with them. At the island, the three of them played running and catching, they built sand castles and just jumped the incoming waves.

 It was a pleasure to see Yash enjoy himself in their company. They took good care of him, making sure that he didn’t get hurt. We were their guests, it seemed, and they took pride in showing us around. 

Jagadish had many stories to share, keeping the conversation rolling. I’ve often wondered the ease at which Vickram is able to establish a connect with about anyone he meets. I lack these skills and thank God often that he let me have Vickram to bridge the gap ;)

All in all, it was a wonderful trip to the island as Vickram got his pics, Yash his fun and I got a lot of peace standing at the water’s edge, far from everywhere.

We checked out at 5 a.m. The Blue Waters staff had been kind enough to keep our bills ready the previous day itself and we finished the check out process smoothly. They even packed us some toast, butter and jam for the journey. We took the Mangalore highway on the way back. Be warned that the entire stretch of roads from Mangalore onward is terrible. We had a tough time traversing them. We sang the song ‘Bumpy Roads’ to the tune of ‘Country Roads’ J

We reached Halebidu by 2 p.m. After going around the whole temple, Yash exclaimed ‘Mom, it’s ruined mom. The temple is broken mom, in so many places’. Halebidu is another fine example of Hoysala architecture. The restoration work is going on but the temple is actually in ruins. Your heart bleeds at the sight of such apathy. If you visit Belur, you can skip Halebidu. We were back home by 5.30 in the evening. 

The trip was about what we like doing most, singing, laughing together, discussing about various things, philosophizing and mostly having a lot of fun Growing up with Yash!