Road Trip - Day 2: Becoming tourists!

(Read about the previous day - Day 1)

Day 2 and we woke up very hungry!

So, after a quick shower we went off to Madikeri town in search of food. "Food" for breakfast would usually be something like eggs, toast, some coffee/tea etc. However, we were so frustrated looking for a decent cafeteria or a coffee shop in Madikeri town that it only fuelled our hunger more. Finally, we spotted a small "canteen" as it was called - "Sri Krishna Canteen" at Race Course Road. It was a small place, but spotlessly clean. Even though the menu was not what we'd expected we sat down in the small tables and listened to the jolly owner-cum-waiter-cum-coffee vendor read out the available items to us. We ordered South Indian breakfast items, typically idli-sambar, vada-sambar, masala dosa, etc topped with rich fresh coffee. Although the place was small with hardly 4 tables, the food was truly good, much better than the dosa/idli we get in the Bangalore "Sagar" type eateries. What made it even more worthwhile was the jolly nature of the fellow serving us. He was always smiling and radiating with a glow that was contagious :-) This is a place which comes highly recommended while you visit Madikeri. Unfortunately, in our hunger we did not take any pictures of the place, else it'd have shown up here in my blog without fail.

We then headed out towards Abbey Falls, a waterfall and a favorite tourist spot in Coorg. The ride was pleasant and it took us about half an hour to reach Abbey Falls from Madikeri town. For a hill station, Madikeri is surprisingly hot. It was mid-day when we reached Abbey Falls and after taking a short walk we reached the falls which is located in the midst of a jungle.

It's not a breathtaking sight - not at all especially if you happen to have seen waterfalls in Sikkim or some other Himalayan state. But then, after so many months, it was pleasant to just stand there and look at it. There's a bridge near the falls so we stood there for sometime, looked at the falls and then headed back to Madikeri.

We were tourists in search of good landscapes to view. On the way back to Madikeri from Abbey Falls, there was this particular spot with a really good view. So we parked our car by the side of the road, and got down just to enjoy the view. It was nice - quiet, beautiful - we just stood in silence and looked at the mountains, reminiscing our homes close to the Himalayas.

On reaching our homestay, we actually had nothing to do. The other places of interest, as we were told, were in KushalNagar which we'd crossed on our way to Madikeri. I did not want to make a round trip to KushalNagar because of the terrible roads - so we'd planned to visit those places on our way back to Bangalore from Madikeri. So, back at the homestay, we settled in our comfortable clothes and decided what to do next.

I was having a tummy ache so I headed towards to the loo. I don't know why but I took the map of Karnataka with me - maybe it's because of my habit to read something while at "it"! Anyways, as I was looking at the places in and around Madikeri, my eyes fell on Mangalore. Now, Mangalore runs along the coastline of Karnataka - the next thing I looked for was Gokarna. It was too far given our time span. Next best thing - two beaches located at distances of 12 km from Mangalore. I got out of the loo and consulted with the boys -

"What say we head out to Mangalore tomorrow, and head for the beaches? Stay in Mangalore overnight and head back to Bangalore on Sunday instead of Saturday?"

The boys were cool with it! We then laid out the map on the porch and pored over it. Calls were made, and many thanks to our dear friend Sumiran Chhetri who took time out from his hectic work schedule to provide us with the telephone numbers of Mangalore Hotels!

While making our plans, we had our friend who got us the homestay visiting us. He suggested that instead of Mangalore, why didn't we go to Uchila? He had contacts with some private beach resorts there and that would be better than travelling to and from Mangalore to the beaches, he said. We jumped at the idea, and made reservations at the beach resort in Uchila, which is about 40 odd kms from Mangalore in Udupi district of Karnataka.

In short, this was what we decided in a span of an hour which changed the course of our road trip:

Today - Go to town, have lunch, get booze, wash the car, and then head to bed early.

Tomorrow - Head early for Mangalore from Madikeri (about 130km), reach Uchila by afternoon, spend day/night at the beachside!

So here we were, ready to roll down from about 4000 feet above sea level and head directly to the sea tomorrow!

Once this was decided, there was spring in the steps of the boys! We went to town to have some grub and to stock up our beer which we meant to sip while washing our mode of transportation. Well, as in the morning we had a tough time finding a decent place to have food. But then, we hit upon jackpot! Called "The Coorg Cuisinette" near the KSRTC bus stand, this place is a must to dine in while in Madikeri. Great food, and really nice people made it a very fine meal indeed. We packed beer, some souvenirs to take from Coorg - all I could get was two kilos of Coorg honey, and headed to our homestay to wash my dear car.

Washing the car for the boys was not as easy, I thought. I think many were doing it for the first time! Anyway, it was a good exercise and at the end of it, we thoroughly deserved our beer!

Evening time was almost the same as the day before. Candle light and booze. Watching the sun set, the birds chirp, the fire flies by night... right in the lap of mother nature. We were off to bed early, for tomorrow was a long day. From Madikeri to Mangalore!

For more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/rahul.pradhn/RoadTripDay2

(Read about the next day - Day 3)