Re-living old moments - trip to Manipal in December 2013!

What in Niki's view is the best possible vacation plan - trip to Manipal to re-live all the old moments together? I second her completely on this.

After being in Manipal for 7 years and the last couple with Niki, re-visit to Manipal after 3 years to enjoy all its small attractions sounded like a good idea. Better still if we drove the entire way rather than take a bus and rumble all the way. It would also not restrict our movements once in Manipal.

We started off on 24th December to a homestay called as 'NyritVilla" in Sakleshpur - 220kms away. Early morning drive was very pleasant and the roads were very good all the way to Hassan. Stopped for a quick and small packed-bfast, on the side of the highway. The route is very nice with little traffic and farms on both sides of the road. Reached the place around noon - it is 5km before sakleshpur town. Its a nice and modern villa in the middle of an 100 acre coffee estate. We had the whole place to ourselves as there were no other guests. Satish and Ravi were very good hosts and made our stay very comfortable. The food was great too - cooked and served fresh and hot. Satish took us on 3 small tours - one to see the pulping process of the coffee beans and the other two were rides in the Jeep into the coffee estate - one in the night post dinner and the other early in the morning. Both have their own charms and were very interesting.


There was a small camp fire in the evening, where we sat and chatted with starters of Fish fry and chicken kabab, before moving on to full fledged dinner.

There are a lot of variety of birds and avid bird watchers would love this place. We also saw a lot of different birds - Thanks to the 50X zoom camera that Satish had. I would recommend getting your own pair of binoculars if you want to have more detailed observations. Learnt a lot about coffee plantations and other plantations in general - thanks to Satish who was patient enough to answer all my queries. They have an interesting collection of books also, in case you just want to relax and sit in the balcony and read something.


Overall the experience was very nice - its a peaceful and beautiful little place - made wonderful with the hospitality of the hosts.


Visited the nearby Manzarabad fort in the evening which was built by Tipu Sultan. Its actually a huge fort, but surprisingly until you come to the very last steps, you will not realize that there is such a structure - it is that well disguised.

Next day - 25th, we left for Manipal - a drive of another 200kms. As per recommendation from Sathish, we avoided the Shiradi ghats and took the Charmadi ghats(pic on right). That turned out to be a great piece of advice because the roads looked to have been re-done about a week or so ago and was beautiful to drive. The scenery unmatched. Stopped at numerous places. That is the beauty of such trips, there is no actual destination - the journey itself was the vacation. Here is the route in case anyone would be interested - sakleshpur- mudigere - charmadi - ujire - belthangady - bajagoli - karkala - manipal.




Reached karkal just when evening was setting in and it being 25th Dec - Christmas we drove over to Attur church 8 kms from karkala and said our prayers, but not before going up to Bahubali in Karkala. Reached Manipal late in the evening and checked into Hotel Ashlesh opposite MIT.


 

Now we had 4 dinners and 3 lunches at hand we wanted to make the most of it by visiting and ensuring we had all our favorites. First dinner at Hangyo CTF - all chinese stuff and of course the thick milk shakes.
 






On 26th morning first visit was to Prassana Ganapati temple in Ananth Nagar. Post that we went to Udupi and visited Shri Krishna temple and prayed lord to give us strength to overcome the terrible loss that we had incurred. Prayed that although we did not understand his ways, he must have had some reason for the tragic turn of events that unfolded in our lives and shook it altogether.

Then shopped for kesar and other spices etc. for orders already placed by individuals from bangalore. back to Manipal - had lunch at Hangyo Saiba.

 
Slight rest and headed to kapu for the evening. It was as beautiful and serene as ever. The winter evening was nice and cool. Took a really long walk.























Dinner at 7 Bees - an old favorite - burger, fries and later a pasta.





All tasted wonderful. Tired - crashed post dinner.






On 27th got up relaxed and lazy and after bfast at 'pangal' - rawa dosa and egg cheese sandwich and some cold coffee, went to to KunjaruGiri temple - around 12 kms from Manipal and then to Durga temple. The drive was nice and the day was a beautiful one. The view from the top of the hill - amazing!

Back to Manipal for lunch. "Manipal aye aur Manipal canteen main nahin khaye to khaakh manipal aaye?" This place over the years has been one of my personal favorites. The owner and all the waiters - Manju, Swami, Hussain etc. know my likes and preferences by heart - they know that I need a small cup of Andhra curry with my fish and rice. My lassi - dubbed as "Das lassi" needs an extra spoon of sugar and has to be strained to remove the small bits of cardamom. Had a sumptuous lunch and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Short nap and evening we went to the Ganesh temple on the river bank. It was so silent, you could hear yourself breathe. The river flowing ever so gently and the white herons making their way back to their nests, skimming over the water are all that makes life seem worth living. Called Francis - the boatman who lives on the other side of the river and he answered and came over to give us a boat ride. Its one of the many things we enjoyed while we were together in Manipal and we loved it as much. this time too. For dinner, went to my all-time favorite - Hot spot. The guys(owner and cook) still remember us and welcomed us with wide smiles and we chatted for sometime before settling down to dinner. Had a sumptuous dinner - my grilled chicken being the top on the list. Walk in the Manipal greens and retired post dinner.

Last day in Manipal - 28th - Saturday we headed out for a day at St. Mary's Island. It was pretty crowded but there was a nice cool breeze blowing so no worries in waiting. Once on the boat and then on the island, we found a nice little corner and sat down in the water to a round of Antakshari. Sang all of our old tunes and had a really nice time.





  

On the way back to the boat tried my had at the water-ski. It was fun - but 300/- for 4-5 mins is a little expensive but fun all the same. Returned back and in the evening just went out to snack shack for some quick dinner and "Death by Chocolate" dessert!





 Got up early on 29th to drive back to Bangalore via Agumbe, Shimoga, Chitradurga - a total of 450 kms.  Enjoyed the drive and Niki and I had a lot of time to sit and just talk to each other. A thing that we did a lot over the six days. We need to support each other to help get over the event and this entire trip was very helpful. Took us 12 hours to reach home.

Stopped at numerous places -

Once by a stream (above)





 View from Agumbe (left)











Once at an elephant training camp(right)

And also once by the roadside in the catchment area of a dam to soak in the beauty of the silence and stillness of the water(right and bottom)

1200kms in 6 days - lots of driving and many hours on the road. Lovely memories - this would be one trip we are sure to remember for long!!