Mangalore Trip Travellog

Mangalore Trip (3 days trip)

On Feb 8th, 2007 – a Thursday my husband and me were all set to go to Mangalore for a holiday. We were going to that place with my husband’s friends. It seemed a great group what with the people shouting, screaming and enjoying. We had to go through a ghat section to reach Dharmastala. There was so much mist and the weather was getting colder and colder.

On Feb 9th, 2007 – a Friday we reached Dharmastala. We took 2 rooms in a lodge on rent for an hour. We took bath and got ready within an hour and visited the temple.
Dharmastala is perhaps the most highly revered and best known Temple town in Karnataka. Located amidst the picturesque Western Ghats on the banks of the Nethravathi, it is about 100 km from Udupi. It took about 8 – 9 hrs to reach there.
This holy place is the home of the Sri Manjunatheshwara Temple, where devotees of all caste and creed visit and which is well known for charity. Sri Manjunatheshwara Temple is a temple devoted to Shiva and houses a lingam of gold. The temple is unusual in that it is run by a Jain administration and poojas are conducted by Madhva priests. Everyone enjoys the generous hospitality without any distinction of caste, creed or class whatsoever. At Dharamastala free food is provided for all pilgrims. We left this place to go ahead with our trip. Our next destination was Mangalore. It took us about 3-4 hours to reach Mangalore. It is said that most pleasant months in Mangalore are from December to February - at this time of the year the humidity and temperatures are the lowest by Mangalore standards but we all could feel that sultry - hot coastal weather. The landscape in Mangalore is dominated by the characteristic coconut palms. At around 4:30 P.M. we reached the Mangalore Beach. The beach had a clean surrounding with huge coconut trees around. It was a bright sunny afternoon. We all had our share of fun at the beach. Raghu would ask me to get into the water and I was scared of the roaring wave, it was fun. We even flew kites, built castles, played cricket and all guys played water throwball and we girls played throwball. We took many photos; we were all sandy at the end of the day.
One of Raghu’s colleagues is a native of Mangalore and he arranged for dinner at his place. We all got freshened up but I fell sick. It spoiled our fun for some time.

Feb 10th 2007 – a Saturday The next day I was fine and we had a quick lunch and then in the evening had the ice-cream at a known ice cream parlor in Mangalore. Mangalorean cuisine is largely influenced by South Indian Cuisine. Mangalorean curry uses a lot of coconut and curry leaves. Ginger, garlic and chilli is also used in curry. We started at 4:30 P.M. to go to Udupi.
Udupi is 60 kms away from Mangalore. We reached Udipi after a speedy bus journey at 7:00 P.M. Lot of the group people were enjoying the day at Malpe Beach. By the time Raghu and I reached Malpe it was 7:30 P.M. and the beach was roaring. It was a breezy evening. We all got in our bus and moved towards the guest house. Then all of us got freshened up and it was time to goto a dinner at another friend’s house. We all were hunting for his house for a long time and finally we reached his place. The way to his house was through a small lane inside a jungle kind of environment. 10 minutes of walking deep inside and there was an old lonely house with no doors. Inside the house there was a bulb and a fainting tube light.
The people in the house were warm and they served us food. The food was made in coconut oil. After the dinner we went to our guest house – where the guys were planning to have a campfire.
All we girls were very tired. We went to sleep quickly to look for another bright day.
Feb 11th 2007 – a Sunday - The last day of our trip. We all got ready and went towards the Malpe beach. There were many rides at the Malpe beach like the biking on sea, banana slit, boat ride…etc. About 6 kms from Udupi is Malpe, an ideal picnic spot with its virgin beach. The endless stretch of golden sand, graciously swaying palm trees, the clear blue sky and the gurgle of the sea all set the perfect mood for an unforgettable holiday here.
Malpe is famed for its silvery beaches that offer breathtaking views of the sea. An idyllic resort for boating, fishing and bathing the town lies around 386 km from Bangalore.

We decided to goto the St.Mary’s Island. We had to hire a boat from Malpe harbour to go to St.Mary’s Island. It was 15-20 min by sea to reach this beautiful island. This small group of islands lying 58 km north of Mangalore and little to the north of the port of Malpe town. St. Mary's Island is known for their famous basalt rocks which have crystallized into columns and split into hexagonal mosaic. Perhaps, this is the only spot in India where basaltic rocks show up such peculiar formations.
From Malpe many fishing boaters provide service of carrying and bringing back the visitors. It is advised that visitors should carry drinking water and food items with them, as there is no facility at island. At St. Mary’s the water is crystal clear. Ideal place to have sea bath. It was a very bright sunny day. The boats keep coming after everyone hour to pick up visitors who have been left to the island. The place is fully covered with sea shells leaving no trace of sand. We took many photos at this place. Drank cold drinks….it was fun.
At around 5:00 we had our lunch (actually at that there was nothing for lunch) we had a light lunch and went ahead with our travel to reach Bangalore safely as the next day there was a Karnataka wide bandh. In the bus we had a great time playing antakshari.

It was a fun trip and we both had an awesome time.