Gokarna

We had purchased coupons to this resort about a year ago. And it was expiring this month end. We could either go to Palakkad, Karwar or Gokarna. My mind was set on Gokarna as I had never been to this place and always wanted to go.

So Gokarna it was! We booked 2 rooms at the Om Beach Resort for 2 nights. It was our first trip with my newly married bro and sil :)

Gokarna is roughly around 500km from Bangalore. Initially we were debating about leaving on a Thursday night and driving half way (and staying in Chikmagalur) or to leave early in the morning the next day. We finally decided on Friday morning. So we woke up around 3.30, and by the time we left namma ooru it was 4.31am :)

We took the NICE road near pesit college to Tumkur road, 2 tolls, by pass tumkur to Tiptur- Arsikere- Kadur- Tarikere- Bhadravati- Shimoga- Sagara- Jog- Honnavara- Kumta- Gokarna.

Sunflower field

NH-206

There is a Café Coffee day right after Arsikere, which is very convenient. We took a restroom break, + tea/coffee/snacks.

The roads were GREAT. We didn’t see a single stretch that was bad. The whole stretch after Tumkur by pass, was very green – the lush green that comes with rain! It was a fun drive. We stopped at the “mungaru male” movie spot :D We had stopped at the exact spot few years back on our way to Jog falls with my friends. The spot as you can see in the picture, is sooooooo GREEEEEEEEEEN and fresh and peaceful :) We spent sometime here.

We realized that we were very close to Jog Falls, and so we stopped for 30 minutes here. Jog Falls is always a great place to visit :). Raja, Roarer, Rocket and Rani - the 4 water falls that are right next to each other. It used to rain for few minutes and fog up, and clear out after sometime. It was like the falls were playing hide and seek :p

Left most-Raja
Smallest - Roarer
Rocket
Right most - Rani

We left Jog, and reached Honnavara which was 60km from Jog. From Honnavara it was another 60km to Gokarna.

We had packed lot of snacks and chapathis/sabji for the road as we did not want to stop for food. So we kept munching all the time.

We saw a beautiful big peacock fly right next to our car while we were driving. We had never seen a peacock fly and that too so high, it was BEAUTIFUL!

We had estimated that it would take 10 hours to reach the place. But it took exactly 9 hours. We reached the resort at 1.30pm. Just didn't realize how 9 hours flew by! 2 people in the group drove, so it was easy. And since the roads were great, made the drive lot more smoother :)

The resort is on the Om beach road. It was easy to find the place, as there were boards leading to the resort from the town center.

Om beach resort is a joint venture of Karnataka's famous JLR (jungle lodges) and Kerala's Kairali group. It is a pleasant place to stay. There are about 12 cottages, so its not a crowded place. And each cottage is located such that they have privacy. We had to climb few steps to enter the room. A verandah with a table and sofa, a bedroom with windows and a bathroom - overall a spacious cottage and a sit-out where we spent most of our time.

Initially I thought that the place had a history and the cottages looked as though they were part of an old British bungalow. But later I found out that they were newly built rooms for the resort in 2004.

Our 2 cottages

We got 2 cottages next to each other. The resort area is covered with green - trees, plants, vegetable garden. It also has a beautiful view of the western ghats. On a clear sky day, we can see the ocean as well.

Western Ghats

We had lunch and cold beer after we dumped the bags in the room. Lazed around till 5. Had planned to goto the beach in the evening, but we just wanted to hang around near the resort. It was drizzling, had nice tea!

After having tea, we walked inside the resort for a while, the weather was so perfect! 

View of the Western Ghats from the resort

Vegetable Garden

One of the Cottages

Stepped out of the resort and walked around for a while on the beautiful brick red mud road. We took few cool jumping pictures of all of us. It was very quiet outside and greeeen. It started getting dark by 6.30pm and so we started our walk back to the resort.

The Road!

Settled down on the patio of our room. And didn't move till after midnight! We ordered snacks and drinks and chatted all along. It was great fun.

It was a great way to start off A's bday!

Day2

Woke up around 6 am to a fresh morning. And A to a loot of calls with bday wishes :)

We sat outside lazing around and ordered tea. Sipped our tea slowly, enjoying the nature outside. Later we had breakfast - buffet which consisted of dosa, chatni, kesari bath, toast and omlet and pineapple juice + coffee.

Rain drops

Right after breakfast we went to the ayurvedic spa to book our slot. How could we girls not get anything done on a holiday at a ayurvedic spa ;)

We all freshened up and headed out to visit the temples in Gokarna. I had never been to Gokarna before. Many people had told us about the history of the 2 big temples here -

The story goes like this:

Mahabaleshwara Temple

Ravana, from the epic of Ramayana, did penance to Lord Shiva at Mount Kailash, and once Shiva was pleased with him, Ravana asked for the Athma Linga for himself. If the Linga was in the hands of Ravana, Ravana being an evil character, could do a lot of harm to everyone. But Shiva had to give him the Linga as he had promised Ravana (due to the penance he had done). So Shiva, while giving the Linga to Ravana told him never to keep the Linga on the ground. If kept on the ground, he would not be able to lift it again. Ravana started his journey back home to Lanka. On the way, in Gokarna, he had to attend to religious prayers in the evening. He was in a dilema as he could not do his prayers holding the Linga. Lord Ganesha, disguised himself as a brahmin boy, came to Ravana, and offered to hold the Athma Linga for him. Ganesha told him that he would call out Ravana's name thrice before keeping the Linga on the ground. Ravana agreed that he would be back by then. After someitme, Ganesha called out Ravana's name thrice in a very low voice. By the time Ravana could hurry back, Ganesha had kept the Linga on the ground and ran away.

So the linga is fixed inside the ground even today, and a temple is built around it.

Ganesha temple

When Ravana returned, he was furious to see the Linga on the ground. He tried to lift it, but as told by Shiva, it was established on the ground. Ravana followed Ganesha and hit him on the head. The  place where Ganesha was hit by Ravana is the location of the Ganesha temple now. There is a beautiful standing Ganesha with a small hollow on the top of the head (which is where Ravana had hit Ganesha).

Both the temples are very beautiful and very old, and just few metres away from each other. We went to the Ganesha temple first, where they let us inside the Garba gudi, and we were able to touch the idol and pray.

From here we went to the Mahabaleshwara temple. We were allowed inside the Garba gudi here also, where we could touch the original Athma Linga, which is slightly below the ground surface.

We had a very great darshan at both the temples. The area around the temples are peaceful and has the old temple town feel :) with lot of cows everywhere :)

Road leading to the temple

Gokarna bus stand

Gokarna is located along the coastline of Karnataka. There are couple of beaches in this town, the best being the Om Beach. The beach got its name because of the shape it forms on the coast - it is in the form of the symbol "Om".

On the way to the beach

We went to the Om beach after visiting the temples. The temples and the beach were just 10 minutes from our resort. Its a quiet and scenic road leading towards the beach. We parked our car on the top, and had to walk down to the beach. The view from the top is breathtaking!

Road leading to the sea (sea seen at the back) 

We went down and walked along the beach for a while, the waves were so high, and the sea was very rough. It was amazing to see the waves splash the rocks and jump so high. We had a fun time at the beach. Later we went to the other side of the beach where there were lot of rocks where we could sit. It was super to watch the fury of the sea.

View from the road, on our way back

We returned to the resort and had lunch. R and I went down to the spa for our appointments. We both got a Shirodhara - oil head massage for 15minutes, followed by continuous flow of oil on the forehead. I loved it. We were back after 1hour 15 minutes of relaxation :)

We had tea in the evening, and then headed out for a walk. We went in the opposite direction this time. We sat down on a deserted road, where we could see the sea clearly. It was heavenly to just sit on the road and watch the sun set over the sea! We sat here for more than an hour chatting and clicking random pictures. Once it started getting dark, we slowly headed back.

Cows returning home :)

View of the sea from the road near our resort

The road where we sat and watched the sun set :)

Lovely color of mud!

Back in the resort, we got the cake we had ordered and lots of appetizers alongwith drinks. It was a fun evening/night, all 4 us chatting and playing games. Had dinner and slept late.

Day3

Woke up early the next morning around 5.45am. A and I went out for a walk. We could see lot of birds and one huge Mallard (wild duck) flew right next to us.  We saw the sun rise. Its always so peaceful and fresh near all the resort we have stayed in so far (almost).

Restaurant at the back

Early morning view of the sea

Sun Rise

We got back after an hour, ordered tea, and woke up the other guys. Sipped tea while chatting, packed, got ready and headed towards the restaurant to have breakfast - poori saagu, pongal, toast, omelet and pineapple banana juice - with tea :)

We left the Gokarna around 9.30am - in the same route - and reached Bangalore at 6.30pm. We stopped at a petrol bunk, where they have good restrooms as well. Later we stopped at the same Coffee Day near Arsikere where we had lunch. We did not stop anywhere else, and so we were able to reach in 9hours.

On our way back

A great fun trip!!

Thanks C and R for the wonderful company :)