Ladakh Series: Bangalore to Shimla, Part - 1

 We finally made it! Yes we dreamt it, we planned it meticulously and we finally did it. We drove all the way from Bangalore to Ladakh in our Duster 85 PS RxL Diesel.

What all checks and preparation we had done regarding our car and our trip will come at the very last of this series, but right now I am too excited to tell you the story.....so let's begin. Its going to be a long series with loads of pictures and videos so that if you haven't been to Ladakh already, this series will try to convince you to visit this amazing land, and if you have already been there, the series will refresh your sweet memories.

Since we travelled in our own car, so our itinerary was flexible.We had no hard rules of meeting dates and places.So in some places we have stayed for a couple of days more as per our liking and convenience.

Check out the video created with so much of love.

18th May

Bangalore - Hyderabad, distance : 576 km

We started from our home as early as 3 AM. We started early so that we could escape the city traffic as much possible.Things were going pretty cool till Kurnool, but after that our car's spark plug started showing red indicator on the display.We stopped at some food joint to have some refreshments.The temperature was so high outside that we could literally feel our skin burning.Anyway once we started the car, we saw the indicator gone.

We halted at Shamshabad in Hyderabad for the day. The reason for choosing Shamshabad was twofold.Firstly, the place has many car mechanic.We wanted our car to be checked for the spark plug.And secondly, availability of anything in the place is abundant.

Once our got got thoroughly checked, the mechanic told us that everything was okay.Because of so much heat ( it was close to 41 degree ) the spark plug in Duster gave that indication.We were good to go.

19th May

Hyderabad - Nagpur, distance : 501 km

Next day we left Hyderabad for Nagpur.The distance is some 500 KM.As we left Hyderabad we proceeded towards Nagpur, we found that availability of restaurants or hotels gets lesser and lesser.After Adilabad, there is nothing till you reach Nagpur.So its a good idea to carry some consumables with you on this way. Road condition till Adilabad that is Telengana border is very good but after that as we entered Maharashtra, it deteriorated. In some places it was patchwork on the highway.

We stayed in Nagpur for the day.Temperature gets very very hot in Nagpur during May

20th May

Nagpur - Sagar, distance : 392 km

Our night halt destination for the day was Sagar which is in Madhya Pradesh. We passed by the periphery of Pench Tiger Reserve. Even though we did not visit Pench, but from the road passes through Pench Reserve. From what we could feel by just being on the road is that the reserve is extremely well maintained. If you are following the same route you can halt an extra day at Pench to see tigers and other wild animals in the jungle safari. Just make sure that you have your safari tickets booked online beforehand.

Road conditions from Nagpur to Sagar was good.We stayed in Sagar for the day.Although Sagar is an important pilgrimage place in MP, but we visited none.Temperature in Sagar also gets very high during the day. Locals told us that in evenings it rains.In Sagar you will also get to see dhabas on the sides of the highway.Food is tasty and very pocket friendly.

21th May

Sagar - Agra, distance : 445 km

From South India, today we will be getting into North India by our car. My excitement was bountiful .A long journey, close to 1500 km traversing through the median line of India.When we reached Agra, it was close to 5 PM.We decided to see the majestic Taj Mahal from the Taj view point ADA.

We kept our car at the designated parking spot for Taj view point ADA and got up on a battery operated rickshaw van.Parking fees was INR 50 and beyond this point cars are not allowed.

We paid INR 200 for the rickshaw van. However we later got to know that we have been cheated. Per person charge is INR 10 for one way and if you book the entire van it's 50 bucks each way which makes it a 100 bucks for a two way journey. Anyway the distance is barely 500 meters so if anyone wants to walk can easily walk as well.

We got some beautiful views of the majestic Taj that we did not mind the cheating. Overall the cleanliness of Agra is majorly lacking except for the few famous tourist spots.

We got a packet of Agra pedha, a famous Agra sweet made from white pumpkin.There will be plenty of shops selling pedha on either side of the road.

22 May

Agra - Naldehra, distance : 589 km

Ah finally! We reached Himachal.We choose to stay at Naldehra which is a mere 22 km away from Shimla.Very quiet and peaceful the place is filled with pine, deodar and cedar trees.The air is as fresh and crisp as it can be and the only noise one will hear is chirping of birds.Very very less touristy, secluded and full with tall trees on the montains, Naldehra was our first destination for the next two days.

We stayed at Woodstock resort and hotel which was absolutely and fantastic.A lot of the interiors was very tastefully made with wood.Nestled within the mountains surrounded by tall pine trees, this dreamy place can made the most mundane person a poet.

From South to North, we finally did it. We took the picturesque Manali - Leh highway to reach Leh. In the next blog we will share our experiences in Naldehra and beyond. Stay connected.

Coastal Malabar Road Trip ~ Summing up

 In the last blog of the Coastal Malabar road trip series, I am providing the trip summary. Do let us know if you require any help in planning your Kerala travel.

Route Map:

Bangalore - > Nagercoil ->Kanyakumari -> Kovalam -> Varkala -> Odayam ->  Kochi ->  Kasargod.

Total distance - 135 km

Road condition: 

Bangalore -> Nagercoil : Excellent

Nagercoil - > Kanyakumari : Excellent

Kanyakumari to Kovalam: Excellent till you are in highway. Inside roads are bad at places.

Kovalam -> Varkala : Excellent

Varkala -> Odayam :  Very Good

Odayam ->  Kochi : Good but with diversions at places, not properly marked.

Kochi ->  Kasargod : Low Average. Also people do rash driving.

Itinerary :

Day 1: Bangalore to Nagercoil

Night halt at Nagercoil at Hotel Udupi International. Booked through Goibibo.

Hotel Udupi International is old but good hotel.

Places to see:

1. Nagaraja Temple : The main temple after which the city is named.

2. Padmanabhapuram Palace : A beautiful Palace and museum made in Kerala style of architecture.

3. Kanyakumari: The southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari is very close to Nagercoil
4. Mathur Aqueduct: The aqueduct was built in 1966 to carry water for irrigation from one elevated region to another. We skipped it, because of time constraint.
5. Triveni Sangam: Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet and get a good view of Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruuvalluvar Statue.
6. Kovalam beach of Tamil Nadu, not Kerala

7. Vattakkottai Fort

Day 2:  Nagercoil to Kovalam

Night halt at Kovalam at Pebble Coast Beach Resort. Booked through Goibibo.

Pebble Coast Beach Resort is very BAD.

Places to see:

1. Explore Kovalam night market on the beach.

Day 3: Kovalam sightseeing

Night halt at Kovalam in Golden Sands beach resort. Booked through Goibibo.

Golden Sands beach resort is old but good. Just walking distance from Kovalam lighthouse and beach.Car parking is a little away from resort.

Places to see:

1. Kovalam beach
2. Kovalam lighthouse
3. Kovalam night market on beach

There are a. few other places as well but we skipped them because of priority and time.

Day 4: Kovalam to Trivandrum 

Night halt at Trivandrum in a hotel booked through Goibibo. 

Places to see :

1. Shangumugham beach: The city's beach.
2. Vettukadu Church

3. Napier Museum

4. Puthen Malika Palace Museum

Day 5: Trivandrum to Ernakulam/Kochi via Varkala and Odayam beach.

Night Halt at Ernakluam in Nambiar's Hotel booked through Goibibo.

Hotel is nice and clean and spacious.

Places to see on the way:

1. Sri Padmanavaswamy Temple: A very rich and important temple for the Hindus.
2. Varkala Beach
3. Odayam Beach, a black sand beach

4. Alappuzha Beach sunset

Day 6: Kochi sightseeing 

Night Halt at Ernakulam in Nambiar's Hotel.

Places to see:

1. Fort Kochi
2. Kochi city
3. Sunset from Fort Kochi
4. Chinese Fishing nets
5. Lulu Mall

6. Kerala Kathakali centre

7. Dutch Cemetary

Day 7: Ernakulam sightseeing 

Night Halt at Ernakulam in Nambiar's Hotel.

Places to see:

1. Ernakulam 'Marine Drive' bay
2. Boat ride on Vembanad Lake

Day 8: Ernakulam to Cheruvathur ( between Kannur and Kasargod)

Night Halt at Cheruvathur in Kavvya Riveria Resort.

Places to see on the way:

1. Kazhimbram beach
2. Guruayoor Sri Krishna Temple

Day 9: Kasargod sightseeing

Night Halt at Cheruvathur in Kavvya Riveria Resort.

Places to see :

1. Bekal Fort
2. Kappil beach
3. Bhoota Kola
4. Theyyam if you come knowing the dates.

Day 10: Drive back to Bangalore

Kannur and Kasargod, Coastal Malabar Road Trip - 6

 Day 8

If you have seen the movie Kantara, then you already know about Bhoota Kola. It is a possessed dance by the tribal people of Kerala and Karnataka.It is mostly done in the region between Kannur and Kasargod in Kerala and in parts of Udupi in Karnataka. We included Kannur and Kasargod as the last two destinations in our coastal malabar road trip so that we can get to know a little bit more about the traditions of this dance and if possible witness the dance as well.

We did checked out from or hotel at 8 am. Since our hotel do not provide room service so our plan was to have breakfast somewhere on the road after checking out.However on the road we found that nobody starts selling breakfast so early! We always keep some biscuits and chips as backup and so we had our morning hunger satisfied with those.

So we drove for 2.5 hours until we reached Thissur. The children were getting a little annoyed. We had interrupted their peaceful morning sleep and had put them in the car. So we promised them a playtime on a beach. 

On reaching Thissur we took a small diversion and reached Kazhimbram beach. Since this beach was a sudden addition to our itinerary, we never had much expectation. However on reaching the beach we were so much amazed. This is such a well maintained beach yet nobody knows about it. The beach has a proper parking, a huge children's park with so many types of activity plays such as swings, slides, climbing structures. There are also free super clean toilet and bathing facilities for men and women. The beach is flat and ideal for beach combing.

After spending some good time on the beach our stomachs were growling.We stopped at some pure vegetarian restaurant and had our lunch.On the road we also stopped at some temple most likely dedicated to Vishnu. The temple structures and architecture.

When we reached our resort Kaavya Riveria it was already 8pm.The resort is in Cheruvathur a place between Kannur and Kasargod.We were greeted with freshly made passion fruit juice.Traffic from Kozhikode to Cheruvathur is pathetic. Drivers drive all recklessly without any obedience to the traffic rules.

Our room was on the first floor of a duplex.We had one big bedroom, one bathroom cum toilet, a huge drawing room cum dining and a kitchen The interiors were very tastefully done but the best was the kitchen. It was a fully equipped kitchen with fridge, ovens, gas burners and otg.

 Day 9

I was still sleeping when my mobile rang. It was Ankur calling me from downstairs.He told me to quickly come to the balcony and see the Kavvya river. Our resort was just beside the Kavvya river. I saw some few hundreds of white blobby things swimming in the water and more were coming from the direction of the sea.I went down to a cemented platform on the river itself close to the bank and was simply astonished to see that those white blobby floating stuffs are live jelly fish. There were a few thousands of them floating on the water.

We started our exploration for the day with a trip to Bekal fort.There is a temple very close to the fort as well.Entry ticket to Bekal fort is INR 25 and if you need to park your car the fort has a huge parking area as well with additional parking charges.

Bekal is a very popular place as we saw hordes of tourists coming in tourist buses and cars. The focal point of the fort is the observation Tower with series of peepholes. The tower at Bekal fort was built by Tipu Sultan for defence reasons.

A notable aspect of the fort architecture is the outstanding utilisation of defence technology.The peepholes on the outer walls were designed brilliantly to protect the fort from naval attacks.The topmost holes could aim at enemies who were at a distance, the middle ones were meant to fight those who were nearer to the fort and the lowermost holes were for those enemies who were closest to the fort.

Next we went to Kappil beach. It is not the same Kappil beach close to Odayam even though the names are same.It is a very serene, less crowded beach but with no direct access from the road.

Kasargod is famous for its unique temple dance known as theyyam. This dance takes place mostly in the months of December ,January and February when the weather is pleasant in otherwise extremely hot Kasargod. The performers put on elaborate bright makeup and highly decorated costumes and enact varios gods and goddesses during their performance. It is such a visual treat to the eyes and the camera.There is a theyyam calendar available online and we would highly recommend that you consult that calendar if you wish to witness a theyyam performance. 

At the time of returning back we enquired some people in local temples about bhoota kola. We met a guy who told us that of a bhoota kola performance that was scheduled to happen that same day some 40kms far away.

Our lunch for the day was prepared by us. We made rava fried kingfish, pomfret tandoor and prawn tempura.We got all the fish from the local market.Everything was very fresh and at a very cheap rate.( you will find the prices steal deal if you stay in Bangalore where prices are high for seafood )

Evening we went out in search of the place where the gentleman had told us about bhoota kola performance. It was some 40kms inwards from Kasargod towards Madikeri. When we reached we saw the performers putting on dance costumes.They had head gears and skirts made from palm leaves.We saw the performance for some time since we had to drive back some 40kms back. The bhoota dances continue throughout the night till the next day morning.Quite a new experience for us.

Day 10

Its time to return to our home. We had quite an amazing time during this vacation. We had a packful of places, beaches, temples and experiences, that we enjoyed thoroughly.The next time we will come, we will surely watch a Theyyam performance which we missed this time.Till then good bye Malabar.

Kochi and Ernakulam, Coastal Malabar Road Trip - 5

Day 6 :

The previous day we checked in Nambiar's hotel which is in Ernakulam. We booked through goibibo for 3 nights. The stay was really good in the sense the rooms were spacious with all amenities. Our room had an additional attached utility room with no balcony. The only problem they have is car parking. Since they have a restaurant and the hotel and restaurant parking area is common and small so guests can occasionally need to readjust their parked car.

In Ernakulam, Traffic congestion gets really bad during the day and terrible at night. This is not so with Kochi which is the old heritage town. Ernakulam is more like the newer extension of the city made for malls, offices and high rise apartments. The old city charm is missing but that is the bargain one has to settle for incase someone needs quick access to shops and conveniences. We choose Ernakulam because we got a better hotel deal. With the frequent travelling we do each year, every penny saved is a penny saved for the next travel. Hehe.

But here is a pro tip for you. If you can directly check with the homestays in Fort Kochi area, you will get a better deal. There were some really nice homestays just within walking distance from Fort Kochi which were as low as 1500 per room. Just imagine! So you can just walk and see all the nearby places.This is also save you the 1 hour up and 1 hour down driving time from Ernakulam to Kochi.

This was our 3rd time visit to Kochi and so we preferred to relax and travel, no ticking off lists. We took the entire morning to stroll and explore Ernakulam city. Infrastructure has developed enormously in the coastal belt of Kerala in the last few years. Ernakulam city centre looks more like Bangalore as if a small part of Bangalore has been put here...IT hubs, offices and busy sulky office goers. Lulu Mall can give you a delusion that you are in a shopping mall in Dubai.  

In the evening we went straight to Fort Kochi to watch the sunset. If you wish to see some lovely sunset shots over the Chinese fishing nets, do check my another post here.  Old Blog

Sunset at Fort Kochi

Again a pro tip for you. If you are self driving a car, try to reach the Fort Kochi parking by 4 PM in winter, else all the parking spaces gets filled up and even if there are a few available the policemen on duty will ask you to park your car somewhere far and then come, specially if your car number shows its from neighbouring states.

This little area is very beautiful, the lanes are dotted on either side by aesthetically well done houses of rich people and many of the houses have dutch influence.There are little cafes and takeaways and scattered souvenirs shops. The sunset watch area is well done with walkways (also called the 'beach road') and sitting places. We watched the beautiful sunset on the Arabian Sea. 

For people who are interested in performing arts, for them in Fort Kochi there is Kerala Kathakali centre where there are regular performances of both Kathakali a traditional Kerala costume dance and Kalaripayattu, a martial dance. Visitors can also see how artists put on the elaborate makeup before performing the Kathakali dance.

Day 7 :

We started late around 10:30 am and reached Ernakulam 'Marine Drive' bay. Our plan was to book a private boat ride and take a tour of the Vembanad Lake. The 8 seater motor operated boats charge INR 1500 per hour. Vembanad Lake is the largest lake in Kerala and the longest lake of India. The four rivers Meenachil,Achankoil, Pampa and Manimala pour their waters into the lake. We took a three hours boat ride costing us INR 4500. 

Even though its expensive but the boat ride was undoubtedly the best thing to do in Ernakulam. We saw the Chinese fishing nets up and close, how fishermen were using the lever to fold the net and collect the fishes caught in the nets. We saw someone's private single decker mini yatch where the owner, someone in his late 60's most likely, was bait fishing. We waved and smiled at two fishermen in long canoe fishing boats wearing Chinese fishing hats as well. Yes we saw water taxis which are aircon steamers for ferrying commuters. These water taxis have started quite recently and are fast and economical way to travel. There is ticket booth counter for water taxis in Ernakulam bay area.

Our boat driver , Mr  Mathews was a jovial man and a good guide. He showed us places where people live on the lake in small islands. We saw them busy with daily chores of life, washing, cooking, fishing and some selling coconuts, chips and cold drinks to tourists who are passing by them in boats. There were traditional house boats parked as well. Mr Mathews told us that a single room house boat costs around 15 to 20 Lakhs to buy these days as good wood has got very expensive, and these houseboats needs good and properly treated wood else they will rot fast.

We were in for a surprise when we showed us a water hospital! Just image... a hospital on boats to provide easy and fast access to medical care to people in the lake. The water hospital has beds, doctors and nurses. Just like any normal hospital on land, the water hospital also provide medicine and COVID vaccines. 

For lunch on the lake, Mr Mathew stopped the boat next to an island which had a small shop that sells lunch. To our dismay, we were told that the shop only accepts cash, no online payment mechanisms available, not even UPI. With very limited cash with us, we had to settle only for a plate of prawn fried in kerala style and a bottle of mildly fermented coconut water. Lesson learnt, next time will carry sufficient cash.

Chinese fishing net

House boats

Kochi city view

Back to the hotel, we had our lunch. We got our lunch packed from a restaurant on the way because our hotel Nambiar's do not have room service.Kochi gets terribly hot even in peak winters so its always advisable to carry and umbrella during the daytime and keep oneself enough hydrated. Malayalis in general consume a lot of coconut in all its forms, whether in curry, chutneys or fresh. So there are coconut sellers everywhere and a piece of tender coconut costs anywhere between INR 30 to 50. We had plenty of tender coconut water to keep ourselves hydrated.

We had the evening for souvenir shopping. I got myself some fridge magnets and artifice carved out of coconut shells. We also went to the Church of St Francis, the most important church of Kochi. One of the oldest church of India built in 1503 and it housed the mortal remains of the great Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama after he died in 1534 on his third visit to India, before it was moved back to Lisbon in Portugal after 14 years of his demise. The church remains open for visitors till 5 pm.

Our exploration was cut short by a torrential downpour.

The next day's plan is to go to Kasargod, a coastal village in Kerala which all of a sudden had become everyone's curiosity hotspot because of the possessed dance known as Bhoota and get to know more about it, talk with the locals to know more about the facts and the fictions surrounding this God possessed dance and if luck permits, even witness it first hand.

Stay tuned for the next story coming up!