After a very long break, we were again on high spirits to go for a long drive. Since there was a gap for the series of drives, my partner and the car had their speedometers needles at 0. They both are in need of a great destination and a bit of inspiration. When on the eve of Dasara, our cousins came to our place for holidays, we were thinking of leaving for a bit long drive but the Driver Lord Krishna (my Husband) is found in not very interesting mood. So the actual plan was to go towards Kanakapura road and return home by the night. Still my sixth sense was giving an alert for me so I packed one pair of clothes and a night dress pair and all other basic things like tooth brush etc for all of us. Further you'll know how greatly my sixth sense and the research of my husband's mentality for 4 years proved to be highly successful.
On the way towards the first destination, we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast where we met my classmate Prem kiran. He informed us that one week back he went on a bike ride to goa via shimoga and other places like jog falls. He inspired my husband saying that the beauty of the nature on that way was a fabulous eye-feast. After couple of hours we were on the road leading to Shimoga.the journey was fantastic with greenery all around. That night we halted at Sagar, 30KM away from the falls. There are few options in Sagar to stay at night with minimum facilities. The one we stayed was Choudeshwari. That night we had a feast of laughter that was just awesome with the non stop comedy of Mani.
The next morning, we started at around 7 o'clock on the fog filled roads with few beautiful pics captured. The different views of the falls reflected the artistic talent of god to bless the earth with fabulous beauties. We were lucky to get a photographer as a guide who gifted us wonderful pics to be cherished for a life time. The guide directed us to few points like Raja falls, rani falls and rocket falls out of which the first one is the best. None of us felt like leaving the place but had no other go. One can even reach the foot of the falls through steps, but we were told that it might take a longer time to reach there. So we dropped that proposal. After having gathered considerable memories to treasure, we took the road to go back to Sagar. On that way we were blessed to get the samadhi darshan of Sridhara Swami at varadahalli who was the disciple of Samartha ramadasa Swami.
We relaxed for a while in the room and again started to Gokarna, more popularly known as Bhukailash. Due to the heavy crowd in the temple, we went for the 500/- ticket to perform NavaDhanya-Panchamritha puja to the linga in the shape of the ear of a cow. This place is also famous for its beach with forceful waves just behind the temple and om beach. Since we were planning to stay that night at Murudeshwar, we didn't spend time at that beach and again started on our wheels.
Due to the festive season and long week end, we expected that there would be big crowd at Murudeshwar so we didin't take the risk of reaching there and just stopped at Hotel Panduranga at Kumti. That proved to be a correct decision when we found big crowd the next day. The gigantic gopuram, shiva linga and the epical relation to the Gokarna Kshetra are the attractions of this place.One can go to the top 18th floor of the gopuram in the lift facility provided there. After filling our bellies with idli and coffee in a restaurant on the sea shore, we started our return journey.
Being festive season, the temples in Udipi and Dharmasthala are also heavily flooded with people so we just passed by them and were on our way back to home. Though it was late in the night by the time we reached home, the drive was fantastic with rain fall for some time and nicely laid lighting road. At last the trip proved to present us very happy memories and the beauty of the pics needs no mention.
On the way towards the first destination, we stopped at a restaurant for breakfast where we met my classmate Prem kiran. He informed us that one week back he went on a bike ride to goa via shimoga and other places like jog falls. He inspired my husband saying that the beauty of the nature on that way was a fabulous eye-feast. After couple of hours we were on the road leading to Shimoga.the journey was fantastic with greenery all around. That night we halted at Sagar, 30KM away from the falls. There are few options in Sagar to stay at night with minimum facilities. The one we stayed was Choudeshwari. That night we had a feast of laughter that was just awesome with the non stop comedy of Mani.
The next morning, we started at around 7 o'clock on the fog filled roads with few beautiful pics captured. The different views of the falls reflected the artistic talent of god to bless the earth with fabulous beauties. We were lucky to get a photographer as a guide who gifted us wonderful pics to be cherished for a life time. The guide directed us to few points like Raja falls, rani falls and rocket falls out of which the first one is the best. None of us felt like leaving the place but had no other go. One can even reach the foot of the falls through steps, but we were told that it might take a longer time to reach there. So we dropped that proposal. After having gathered considerable memories to treasure, we took the road to go back to Sagar. On that way we were blessed to get the samadhi darshan of Sridhara Swami at varadahalli who was the disciple of Samartha ramadasa Swami.
We relaxed for a while in the room and again started to Gokarna, more popularly known as Bhukailash. Due to the heavy crowd in the temple, we went for the 500/- ticket to perform NavaDhanya-Panchamritha puja to the linga in the shape of the ear of a cow. This place is also famous for its beach with forceful waves just behind the temple and om beach. Since we were planning to stay that night at Murudeshwar, we didn't spend time at that beach and again started on our wheels.
Due to the festive season and long week end, we expected that there would be big crowd at Murudeshwar so we didin't take the risk of reaching there and just stopped at Hotel Panduranga at Kumti. That proved to be a correct decision when we found big crowd the next day. The gigantic gopuram, shiva linga and the epical relation to the Gokarna Kshetra are the attractions of this place.One can go to the top 18th floor of the gopuram in the lift facility provided there. After filling our bellies with idli and coffee in a restaurant on the sea shore, we started our return journey.
Being festive season, the temples in Udipi and Dharmasthala are also heavily flooded with people so we just passed by them and were on our way back to home. Though it was late in the night by the time we reached home, the drive was fantastic with rain fall for some time and nicely laid lighting road. At last the trip proved to present us very happy memories and the beauty of the pics needs no mention.
