Gokarna situated in coastal Karnataka is 455 kms from Bangalore and about 55 kms from Karwar, the District headquarters and is around 225 kms from Mangalore. It is located in the Uttar Kannad District.
Picture Courtesy: http://www.indiatourism.com/karnataka-maps/Murudeshwar is also located in the Uttar Kannad district and is south of Gokarna and is on the western coast. It is around 180 kms from Mangalore. The famous Shiva temple is located at this place.
Both Gokarna and Murudeshwar are on the Konkan railway network (
http://www.konkanrailway.com/) and hence well connected by train. There are also buses from Bangalore/Mangalore to these places. The Konkan railway network website is well organized and gives a detailed map and list of trains that ply between in this route (Kerala-Mangalore-Goa-Pune). With the opening of the Bangalore-Mangalore train service and with Konkan railway charm, these destinations could be a great retreat.
Picture Courtesy: http://www.mapsofindia.com/Gokarna/Murudeshwar is well-connected to Bangalore and Mysore. Regular buses ply from Karwar, Goa, Udupi and Mangalore.
Dates: 29, 30 September and 1st, 2nd October 2007
Experience:I left Bangalore on Friday night by KSRTC bus as there were no trains to Mangalore that time. The plan was to reach Mangalore early morning around 5 AM and take the Konkan railway train to Gokarna (which leaves Mangalore at 6:50 AM and reached Gokarna around Noon). But bad weather played spoil-sport and the bus reached 2-3 hours late. I had no option than to take a long swirling journey by road (which was not in the best of condition that time) in a bus to Gokarna (with a change over at Kumta).
From the bus stand, I took an auto to Jungle Lodges resort (also called Om Beach Resort,
http://www.junglelodges.com/V2/Ombeach.htm). Reached the resort around 2:30 PM and grabbed the left-overs for lunch and retired into my room while the weather had got into a rain-mode. Around 4 PM after the rain subsided, we went to the infamous Om Temple. This temple supposedly has a very good history etc., but now has become a money-minting place by the various “priests” (or those who act as priests). I spent an hour in the resort taking some macro shots of flowers and some birds. Around 5:30 PM, we left to Om Beach and I spent the rest of the evening in Om Beach watching the sunset and hearing the waves playing their own music at the shores. The beach was around 5 kms from the resort and the drive was very scenic and worthwhile.
Frog in a lily
Bird
Scenic route to Om Beach
Om BeachOm Beach attracts a lot of tourists and is a good place for sun-set photography provided the clouds don’t get in the way. Had a good nights sleep after a long day and was up early to the alarm of the chirping birds. The weather was still gloomy and the after spending time in the resort (doing some birding and close-up shots of dew drops etc.)
Sunset at Om Beach
Dew Drops because of the morning rain/drizzle
Bird
Bird
PeacockLeft the resort around 2 PM, and was dropped at the Gokarna Road railway station. I had booked the Konkan railway train to Murudeshwar (leaves Gokarna around 4 PM). The station was very peculiar. There was not a single soul around (except for a few dogs and ofcourse me) and the railway station and the weather was a perfect setting to attain Nirvana.
Gokarna Road Railway StationAround 4 PM, the station became active and that was when I found that my train was delayed. So I just took a ticket for the next train and left to Murudeshwar. Though short, the train ride was good and it was raining bits and pieces all through the route. Reached Murudeshwar around 6 PM and then took an auto to the Shiva temple. I knew my destination was close to the Shiva temple.
Shiva Statue at MurudeshwarThe week-long international Vegan Festival (
http://ivu.org/veganfest/index.html) was happening at Murudeshwar from 30th Septermber to 6th October 2007. I was planning to spend a couple of days there and get back to Bangalore. I moved around the temple to find accommodation at a local lodge for around 150 bucks a day.
One of the sculptures at Murudeshwar
One more...
One more...The next two days went swiftly with a lot of interesting perspectives and interactions from various people around the world. The food at the festival was special and so were the cultural programs late in the evening. The conference also hosted a few vegan products like slippers, shoes, etc., amongst others. While at Murudeshwar, I spent some time going around the beach and the Shiva temple. The weather was perfect to chill out at the beach, though I didn’t. Murudeshwar is a nice place with lots of road-side shops with all local food, and products being sold.
Sunset at Murudeshwar
Sunset at MurudeshwarI had booked my ticket from Murudeshwar to Bangalore through a private bus. That turned out to be a disaster as the bus that was to depart from Murudeshwar was cancelled and I had to take a bus from Bhatkal. A private van picked me up and on our way to Bhatkal, we had a flat tire and after quite a while, we managed to take the bus and reach Bangalore pretty late in the morning. What would have been better is if I had taken a KSRTC bus from Bhatkal to Bangalore. (Infact, I had a KSRTC ticket from Coondapur to Bangalore, but cancelled it as I fore-saw a direct bus from Murudeshwar). May be Vijayanand travels would have worked better than the private bus that I took.
Useful links:http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/gokarna/http://www.karnatakatourism.org/sites/des_west_murudeshwar.htmlhttp://www.konkanrailway.com/http://www.holidaymakers.in/destination/beaches/gokarna.htmlSome Useful Info:The best way to reach the western ghats is by train (The Bangalore-Mangalore route is now open). And to travel along the western ghats, Konkan railway is the best.Keep extra time for Konkan railway trains as they tend to be late sometimes (depends on the weather mostly). But it is worth to ride in that route as it is very scenic.If trains are not an option, then KSRTC buses work good.There are many other resorts in Om Beach (Gokarna) but Jungle Lodges seem to be the best and not too expensive.Phone number for Jungle Lodges at Gokarna: 08386-257052, 08386-257718. (http://www.blogger.com/www.ombeachresort.com)If you plan to go to Karwar, then then www.estuaryviewresorts.com (Ph: 0838-6657052) might be an option apart from Jungle Lodges (www.junglelodges.com). Muddappa in Jungle Lodges at Om Beach is very helpful to make bookings over the phone. His phone number: 9448579395. He is the manager at Jungle Lodges Om Beach Resort. If you like exploring the coastal line, then places like Kumta, Bhatkal, Honavar are good places to halt (apart from Gokarna and Murudeshwar). However, Gokarana is on the expensive side.
4 comments:
Hey Karthik, great to see you still blogging your travelogues. This is Dinesh if you remember me from dineshbabu.wordpress. I have restarted my blogging now. I was catching up with my old blogroll and great to see you writing. I will read your travelogue when i find time.
The photograph's were great, I loved the dew drop picture. Is the Murudeshwar Shiva bigger than Bangalore Kemp Fort's ?
Excellent post Karthik. Captures several aspects of Murudeshwar and Gokarna. I paid a visit to these places a couple of weeks back and had an amazing experience. Also blogged about it.
could you please give me the names of the lodges(and if possible the links as well).The ones i came across are damn costly(more than 1000 bucks a day) preferably cheaper ones.
Thanx in advance
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