A place that was not only long on my list, but also the one for which many plans were made and cancelled. I finally thought I will go alone, even if no one accompanied me, since I wanted to go somewhere for the upcoming long weekend. Thus, this turned out to be my first Solo trip.
Day 1: Gokarna
I took an overnight bus from Yeshwantpur, and it was a normal Karnataka Sarige bus. Journey was comfortable though, and it mostly got empty in Sirsi. It was another 2 hour journey from here. The air was cool, and the tender sunshine felt good. I was eager to see how Gokarna was. I had dreamt too much about this place, seeing the pics and reading the blogs.
I reached exactly at 8 AM, as promised by the driver. I walked straight to Kudle Beach from the bus stand to look out for a shack, but found that all shacks were closed for this season, and headed back to the temple road in auto, to find a decent and affordable hotel. I got one easily, and I checked in at around 10 AM.
I got ready, had breakfast and went to visit the temple. It was not as crowded as I expected it to be, since it was a long weekend. I quickly finished the darshana, and headed for the beach. The beach looked calm, and no much waves were there. People were playing, and I sat on a rock, little ahead of the shore. I spent an hour, just sitting there, watching the sea and then went to the temple building for lunch. The food was good. I then came back to room since it was getting hotter, and I was sweating a lot.
 |
| Gokarna Beach |
 |
| Arabian Sea, from Gokarna Beach |
I came back to room and took a small nap of about an hour, and got ready to leave. It was only 4 PM, but the sun was hiding behind the clouds most of the time, making it easy for me to roam. I first went to Kotiteertha. There were no people at all, and only a few local kids were playing in the water. I sat there for a while, and walked back towards the beach. The streets had colorful items, and particularly a spice shop attracted me too much. I wanted to take a pic, and the shopkeeper allowed me to take a few. Even around a few tens of meters away from the shop, you get the alluring aroma of those spices, which was fresh and intense. I then went to the beach to witness the sunset.
 |
| Kotiteertha |
 |
| Spice Shop |
Now it was a little crowded, and everyone were waiting for sunset. I had to wait for about 30 minutes for the sun to go down, and I just sat there in the park. It started to drizzle, and all of the people rushed to the nearby shelter. Meanwhile the sun was coming down, and the sight was beautiful. But rain had different plans, and it never stopped. So we all had to see the sun set from that small shelter in the park, in that crowd.
 |
| Rainy weather |
 |
| Sunset from Gokarna beach |
After a few minutes, rain stopped and I went in search of a decent restaurant. There was one just next to where I was staying and I went there. Food was OK, and I had it and came back to my room. It was only 8 PM, and I read my novel for a while and then slept.
Day 2: Gokarna
My plans for today was to visit Kudle and Om beach. I woke up at 8 PM, and got ready and went to have breakfast. I thought of walking to Kudle beach, and on the go, went around the cliff, where the view of the sea was awesome. I reached Kudle beach at 10, and took some pics. I then started to walk to OM Beach and reached there by 11 AM. This beach was a little more crowded than Kudle beach and people were having fun playing with the waves.
 |
| On the way to cliff |
 |
| View from the cliff |
 |
| Gokarna beach as seen from the cliff |
 |
| Kudle beach as seen from the road to Om beach |
I sat there in the beach, simply observing people around, observing the sea, the waves, and everything else around me. I then started to build something out of sand, not knowing what exactly to do, and then ended up making a Shiva Lingu, Christian Cross and the Islamic logo of crescent moon and star. I spent about 4 hours there, which never seemed that long at all. In fact, I was not even bored.
 |
| Sand Art :-P |
 |
| Om Beach |
 |
| Om Beach |
Beach is something that I can never be bored of, I realized. Sitting there, looking at the waves, seeing them how they crash before even reaching the point they look like they come till, and the sound- such a soothing sound. It was really very relaxing to just sit there.
I then took an auto to my hotel, and took bath since I had sweat too much because of the humidity. I then went to collect the vehicle (Activa) for rent, and went in the vehicle to Kudle beach again, to see sunset. Though the actual sunset where in the sun slides behind the infinite ocean cannot be seen from Kudle beach, seeing the sun go behind a small hill on the right side of the beach was also good. I then went back to my room after having dinner at 8 PM. After reading the novel for a while, I slept at around 10 PM.
 |
| Sunset from Kudle beach |
Day 3: Drive to Mirjan Fort, Apsarakonda and Maravanthe
It was a long and the most awaited day of the trip, since visiting Apsarakonda and Maravanthe had been on my list since a very long time. I woke up at 6, got ready and vacated my room after having breakfast. I started my drive exactly at 8, and it was drizzling lightly, so at times I had to stop for a few minutes and then continue. My first destination was Mirjan fort, and I reached there around 8:40. After taking the deviation from the highway, I saw that many school kids were marching in the same direction as mine, and it so happened that they were also going to Mirjan fort for the Indepedence Day celebration! All school children gather at this place every year to celebrate Independence day - what a nice thing! What a day had I chosen to visit this place! Also, I was very lucky, because it would have been impossible for me to explore it on some other day, since it had very less visitors. For a lone girl, not at all safe. I was relieved that I got this chance, and after the flag hoisting and national anthem, I went around and explored the fort while the speech was going on. The fort is good, and the time was just perfect.
The function got over at 9:45, and even I left along with the kids. My first destination was indeed great!
 |
| Flag hoisting at Mirjan Fort |
 |
| Mirjan Fort |
 |
| Mirjan Fort |
I now resumed my drive on the highway, heading now to Apsarakonda. I had stopped in Honnavara for about 15 minutes since it started raining. The drive was really good, since it had rained a little, there was no heat of sunlight, and the view was pleasant. My speedometer never crossed 60 anywhere, since I was stealing my glances a lot of times to enjoy the view around.
At 11:20, I reached Apsarakonda temple. I visited the temple and then asked for the directions of the falls. It is right next to the temple, though hidden completely amidst trees and bushes. Taking a few steps down, the falls is suddenly visible and it was such a lovely sight! It is not like those huge big falls with a lot of water- no. This is something different. About 30 feet in height, a small stream of water jumps to a round hole of about 30 feet in diameter. The depth is not more than 5 feet, and it is completely surrounded by green plants and shrubs! It looks as though this place is hidden on purpose, as though to protect it's beauty. There were people playing and I couldn't get into the water. I took some pictures, stayed there for a few minutes and decided to leave. Even now, I have the exact image of the falls imprinted on my mind.
 |
| View from a bridge, somewhere near Honnavara |
 |
| Apsarakonda Falls |
I started to drive again at 12 PM. I was still deciding whether to rent a room in Murudeshwara or in Kundapur. To take a chance, I turned towards the town of Murudeshwara and enquired a few hotels. All were full, and I had lunch in Kamat and while I almost decided to check rooms in Kundapur, I inquired an hotel near the highway and though he did not have a single bed room, I got a double bed room for a reasonable fare. The room was very spacious, and the view from my room was also excellent.
I dumped all my luggage and started to drive again for Maravanthe. It was a nice drive, and I reached there at 3:15 PM. The first sight of the beach was breathtaking. I parked my vehicle on the side of the road, and crossed to the other side and sat on the stones. It was little cloudy, but didn't seem to rain anytime soon. The sea had clean water with golden-orange sand, and the beach was not safe to play. And that's the reason why it is still clean and beautiful. The shore is inclined towards the sea, and the waves are aggressive as well- some are very low and some reach the stones. I took a walk along the shore, while being careful not to go too much towards the sea. There was something very attractive about this place, and I sat there on those stones and just watched the sea roar.
 |
| Maravanthe beach |
 |
| My footprints along Maravanthe beach |
It looked like it was raining at the far end of the sea. And in just 5 minutes, it started raining and I rushed to the nearby tea stall. It stopped after 10 minutes, and after spending about another 15 minutes, I started my drive back at 4 in the evening, though I wanted to stay there for some more time. I didn't wanted to take the risk of getting stuck in rain anywhere before I reached my room in Murudeshwara.
I drove slow, enjoying the scene around and I made it to my room at 5:30 PM. It was very cloudy and very likely to rain, so I decided to visit the temple the next day, and stayed back in hotel. I read my novel, and watched TV for sometime. Went out for dinner and came back and I laid down at 10 PM, thinking about those beautiful places that I had visited for that day.
Day 4: Drive to Idagunji Temple and back to Gokarna
The last day of my 4-day trip was here. I was in no hurry, and despite the fact of sleeping late, I woke up at 7 AM, and couldn't sleep anymore though I wanted to. I got ready and visited the temple and had breakfast. It was sunny, and I decided to leave soon. I checked out of my room at 10 AM and started the drive on the highway again.
I was heading to Idagunji Ganapati temple. From the highway, there is a deviation and the road is curvy till the temple. I reached the temple at 10:40 AM. It looked like an old temple, which was not very big. There was no much crowd, and I finished the darshana in 10 minutes. Without spending anymore time, I started the drive again by 11. Within 15 minutes, I reached Apsarakonda beach. The previous day, I had got the view of the beach from the park above the temple, and it looked clean and serene. So I had decided to visit the beach on the way back.
Like Maravanthe, Apsarakonda beach is also clean and nice, but the waves are very calm and low and it is a perfect beach to play. There were no much people as well, only a family and a few guys who were playing volley ball. I decided to spend some time and just walked through the beach for a while, and started the drive again at 11:45 AM.
 |
| Apsarakonda beach |
 |
| Near to Apsarakonda beach |
I now had covered all the places, and had another half day left. I decided to go to Kudle beach and spend time there. I couldn't drive in one stretch since rain was not allowing me to do so. Giving an hour break for lunch somewhere near Kumta, I reached Kudle beach at 3 PM.
 |
| Somewhere on the highway |
 |
| On the highway |
Without any crowd, I spent some time with my novel and observing relatively clear sky, I drove back to Gokarna beach, in a hope to see the sunset again. But hard luck, clouds gathered in a while, making it clear that the sunset won't be visible today as well. I sat in the beach till 5 PM, and went to the home-stay where I had stayed to fill my water bottle, and gave back my vehicle to it's owner. The km reading showed that I had driven close to 320 km in 2 days. I then walked to bus stand to catch the bus at 7 PM. The day ended, and so my trip!!
Epilogue:
I was waiting for the bus, and I couldn't wait to get back to my hometown. I wanted to go back to my home, my office and my routine. My comfort zone. After waiting for an hour, the bus arrived, and I sat in my seat. I didn't think much, but the moment the bus started to leave Gokarna bus stand, I was suddenly sad and I knew I was going to miss this place, and the experiences this trip gave me. This was my first solo trip, and I realized that the way you connect to a place when you are alone, and when you are with someone is very very different. You relate and surrender yourself to the place in a way which is very different. This was a something very unique and it was truly amazing! Ever since then, I am waiting for my next solo trip <3
