Mahabalipuram - Shore Temple

It's end of October and we start thinking of what do we do in Christmas break. After having just finished a 3-week action packed vacation to the US, none of us had any inclination to do a mega planning for another vacation. We wanted to do a short-relaxing trip which would not require much planning. First thought was to go to Goa, we had heard very good reviews of a place called "La Mangroove". Unfortunately the place was completely booked for mid December to mid January. Most places we could think of for short trip where sold out. We realized we were late for the December bookings - which is a peak holiday season.

After looking at various options, we decided on Mahabalipuram. We were excited, as this was the trip with our family friends Meera-Venki. There was absolutely no availability in any of the beach resorts. We shortlisted Four Point Sheraton. Venki went ahead and completed the booking. This was the quickest booking we had ever done. We didn't want to loose any time as most places were being taken very quickly.

Shore Temple

Mahabalipuram is about 6-7Hr drive from Bangalore. Our plan was to start early so that we reach by lunch time. 6:00AM - 23rd Dec, we start our trip. 2 cars and 2 families. The kids are still sleepy and not in a mood for any chit-chat or songs. We take the e-City flyover to reach Hosur. The traffic around Attibele is bad. Bumper-to-Bumper cars. Everyone is traveling. It tool nearly 30 min to cross the Hosur checkpost. After crossing this, the traffic was better. By the time we reached Krishnagiri we were starving. We stopped at A2B for some breakfast. The parking lot of A2B was overflowing, there was no place to sit in the restaurant - holiday crowd was all over. We didn't have any mood nor energy to find another place for breakfast. So we decided to wait for a table.

After a good breakfast, we had all relaxed and ready to hit the road. Plan was to stop over at Kanchipuram temple if we reach their before noon. Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram is typically closed between 1PM-3:30PM. Unfortunately we had never managed to reach Kanchipuram during the time period where the temple is open. This time we reached Kanchipuram around noon and very hoping to make it to the temple. As we took the deviation at Kanchipuram to reach the temple, we immediately realized we had made a wrong decision. The entire road leading to the temple was bumper to bumper. There was some festival because of which there was huge crowd. We were stuck. We had no option but to take the road to the temple. There was no place to turn around. Some how at snail pace we reached close to the temple. Now the issue was where do we park the car. Somehow we managed to find some parking spot. After a small walk, we reach the temple courtyard and we see a huge queue to enter the main temple. We had no energy or enthusiasm to go to the Garbha Gudi or the place where the deity is worshiped. We were happy exploring the courtyard and its architecture. We quickly walked around the courtyard and ready to leave. Now we had another battle - to get our cars out of parking and hit the highway.

It took some time to get out of this crowded area and hit highway. Once we reached highway, next big question was were do we have lunch. We could not find any decent place to stopover of lunch until almost 2:30PM. All of us were very hungry and cranky. Finally we stopped for lunch at a place called Shri Ganesh Bhavan. All of us ordered South-Indian meals which is fastest and safest to order when traveling in South.

Evening at the beach

By the time we reached Mahabalipuram it was around 4:30PM. Four Point Sherton is a typical hotel. One doesn't have to worry about the quality of stay and food. We completed the check-in formalities and headed to our rooms. The rooms we had booked were family suite. They were very spacious with a bedroom, hall and a balcony. We had booked 2 suites - one for each family. Luckily we were able to get the rooms facing each other.

Evening we headed to the beach. The beach wasn't very crowded. The waves were high as it was closer to full moon. We had great fun playing on the beach and taking pics. Once the sun was set, we headed back to the hotel. Since we were already drenched playing on the beach we decided to continue having more fun in water. We headed straight to the pool. It was super fun playing in the pool. We were exhausted and hungry. We had a good dinner and crashed.

Next day, everybody was up early as we had decided to go to the beach to view the sunrise. Everybody just sat on the beach quietly enjoying the sunrise and calmness of the beach. It was a beautiful way to start the day. Once the sun was up, we headed back to the hotel.

Sunrise

Today, we planned to visit the shore temple and other monuments around. Plan to was to start early and finish touring all the monuments by lunch time, so that we avoid the afternoon heat. Also, wear comfortable footwear as you will need to walk a lot. For some monuments, you can choose to hire a cycle rikshaw. It is recommended to park the car in the parking lot and walk/hire rikshaw to all the monuments. We had a heavy breakfast and left for 'Shore Temple'. This is a UNESCO world heritage site and has monuments dating to 700 AD. The temple complex is on the shores of the ocean. The monuments at Mahabalipuram are divided as Architectural, Rathas and Cave temples. All these group of monuments are very close to each other and can be easily covered in 4-5 hours. It is recommended to hire a guide to help one understand the history. The guides typically charge Rs. 500-1000 to cover all these monuments. Last week of December being a holiday season, there was a lot of crowd. The parking lots were overflowing and the tourists were more than we expected.

Shore Temple

We first visited the main shore temple complex. This is very picturesque. It took us about an hour to visit the main complex. From here we walked to group of Ratha temples. Each of these is named after the 5 pandavas and each one is different from the other. We spent an hour here. From here we walked through various to boulders and cave temples to see ' Krishna's Butterball". This is a huge boulder which is standing on a sharp incline. After some photo shoots here, we visited the last set of cave temples. By now we were tired. Even in the December, the afternoon sun here can be quite draining. Wonder how bad does it get in summer...

Rathas

By the time we finished visiting all the important monuments, it was around 2:30PM. We were tired, thirsty, hunger and done for the day. We stopped at a small food court which had small joints serving different types of food and a decent sitting area. Each picked their choice of food. After lunch we headed straight to our hotel.

After relaxing for sometime, it was beach time. There aren't many beaches here. We revisited the beach next to the Shore temple. Today we didn't spend a lot of time here. Just sat and watched the waves as the sun set behind us. Kids wanted to get into the pool. We returned to the hotel and headed straight to the pool. We had fun playing games in the pool. After games in the swimming pool, we played some card games and pictionary. It was super fun. We had a long fun filled day. Ended the day with a great dinner.

Next day it was time to bid goodbye to Mahabalipuram. Meera's family decided to visit their relatives in Chennai. We headed back to Bangalore after breakfast.  It was long drive back. Little did we know what adventure was awaiting us.

I was at the wheel. After crossing Salem, we started experiencing some weird thing with the car. The clutch seemed a little off. I wasn't able to control the speed. We were about 5-10Kms away from Hosur, when I could not continue driving. Had to pull the car to halt. It was the day of Christmas and all the mechanics shops seemed to be shut. We were able to trace a TATA motors service center about 1/2 Km from where our car had broken down. Pankaj and Shree walked to the service center and got a mechanic. On inspection he said, the clutch plate is damaged and cannot be driven. The only option was to tow the car. He arranged for a tow truck and we soon we were being towed. Me, Shree and Shrishti sat in our car and Pankaj sat in the tow truck. It took us couple of hours to reach home. It was an experience which none of us will ever forget. Our Christmas break ended with a big bang!!!

Mauritius - A Paradise on Earth

Mauritius - A Paradise On Earth. This is one country which is blessed with abundant natural beauty. It has beautiful beaches with white sand that are very clean, pristine blue coloured waters which makes one just keep staring at them, the lush sugarcane farms – wherever the eyes can scan, the adventure activities (swim with dolphins, snorkeling, diving, water skiing, sea walk, submarine ride...) will make every one forget their age and ofcourse nothing can beat the beautiful lush green hikes at Black River gorges, the water falls and the trek to Le Morne. A minimum of one week is required to get a glimpse of this beautiful country.

Private Beach at our Villa

For us, the debate was on whether we should do Nepal or Mauritius. Once we looked at the various activities that would make it a fun family trip - Mauritius won hands down. Once the destination was selected, next was accommodation. There are different options to choose from - resorts, hotels, vacation home, vacation beach villas, guest houses etc. Searching on the internet was overwhelming. Hence we got a lonely planet book. This really helped us to decide which part of the country to stay. Though we were ready with all the details, we could not finalize our bookings early. Shree's grade X class dates were not out yet and we could not do any booking until the dates were finalized. We did our booking only by Mid March and the vacation was finalized for April 14 – 20, 2015. Air Mauritius provides the best travel option – both from number of stops, hours of journey and overall time convenience. The onward journey was for 8 hrs (starts at 5AM from Bangalore and reaches Mauritius at 12PM) and return was 5 1/2 hours (Starts at 9PM from Mauritius and reaches Bangalore at 4:15AM – the next day).

Sunset - Les Lataniers Bleus

We wanted a peaceful vacation, hence went in for a Vacation Home - Beach Villa in Tamarin, West Coast of Mauritius. Les Lataniers Bleus was the chosen place (http://www.leslataniersbleus.com/). They have 3 villas and we booked the entire "Villa Filaos". This is the best villa as it opens into the private beach. The entire villa comes with a Hall, Dining, 2 bedrooms, 2 equipped kitchen and huge sit out facing the beach. The location is superb - nothing can beat it. Lots of room for the entire family.

Day 1 – April 14th 

Villa Filaos - Les Lataniers Bleus

We reached Mauritius at 12:30PM. We had to wait for few minutes at the airport before the OLA Car Rental person could deliver the car to us. We had booked an economic car and we were given Toyota ALS. We put all the luggage, set the GPS to Les Lataniers Bleus and off we went. The roads are great, not much traffic compared to Bangalore and people adhere to traffic rules. It is left hand drive (same as India). The biggest difference was the use of “Round About”. We had earlier experienced them in UAE, but there we weren't driving. Mauritius has round-about everywhere. I guess with the amount of traffic they have, round-abouts work better than signals. Don't know when India will adopt any of such cool features and bring some traffic semblance.

It was about 1 1/2 hour drive from airport to our villa. The drive was beautiful. Mauritius is full of sugarcane farms. It is unimaginable – the lush green sugarcane farms are everywhere. All through the drive, it was the sugarcane farms, green mountains and blue water of the Indian Ocean. What a mesmerizing experience! On the way we stopped at Mc Donalds for some quick bites and straight to the Beach Villa. By the time we checked-in, it was 4PM and our villa was very inviting. Villa Filoas of Les Lataniers Bleus is bang on the beach and is huge. The attendants showed us around as Josette (the owner) was out. We unpacked and freshen up and headed straight to the beach. The water here is very shallow. We got to know that the depth of water is different at different times of the day and depends on tide. The beach was quiet and clean and we were the only people at the beach apart from a couple of people who were guests at Les Lataniers Blues. We played in the waters until the sunset. This actually became almost an everyday affair. After sunset we had an early dinner. The stay included bed and breakfast. Dinner was optional. We had requested dinner only for the 1st day. The dinner here is a community dinner where all the guests gather for a drink and dinner at a common dining area. Apart from us there were 2 ladies from Switzerland. This is the best part of home stays where we get to meet and talk to other guests and in the process we get to know a lot of information about other countries and their cultures. Josette does a good job on making everybody comfortable and she can discuss on any topic. The option for Vegetarians are few. Nothing exotic for dinner. However for non-vegetarians it was a feast. I wish I ate meat :(. Oliver (Josette's husband) gave a nice drink – rum and sugarcane juice. It was epic. We also had some cheese samosas. Dinner was Shu-Shu salad and some rice and curry. The meal ended with a nice dessert of Caramelized Banana with Vanilla Ice Cream. Shrishti was very tired and slept on the sofa half way through the dinner. It was a long day and we crashed after dinner.

Day 2 – Apr 15th

Eureka

Day starts and ends very early here. We were up by 7am, had our tea and went for a walk on the beach. The kids were still sleeping though. Breakfast is served from 8AM – 10AM and tables are set on the beach adjoining the garden. This used be our best time. Breakfast typically included – fresh fruit juices, fresh fruits, different types of yogurts, fresh baked bread, muffins, cakes, pan cakes, fresh home-made jams (there was guava, banana, passion fruit etc). We enjoyed our breakfast watching the different boats on the sea and different birds in the garden. Breakfast on the beach was one of the best parts of the stay. We really loved it!

After breakfast we drove to Eureka. This is a colonial building, built in 1870s and is now converted into a small museum. The building has a beautiful backdrop of a mountain. It has a small museum, but very well kept. The lady at the reception also doubled up as a guide and explained to us the history and the artefacts in the museum. The kitchen was very similar to the kitchens in India. A small trail about 1KMs leads to a waterfalls. The falls was pretty good. Eureka also has a restaurant which serves very good dishes of local cuisine - Carole and Mauritian. It wasn't lunch time for us, hence we decided to eat at the next stop – L' Aventure Du Sucre.

L' Aventure Du Sucre (http://www.aventuredusucre.com/en) is about 20 min from Eureka and is an old sugarcane factory (established in 1875) which has been now converted to a Museum. This is definitely a must visit place at Mauritius. It has beautiful landscapes and also a very good restaurant. We first had lunch at the restaurant. There is lot of open space with lots of trees and well maintained lawns around the restaurant. It was raining and this added to the beauty. We had a relaxed lunch. There was limited Veg options as they were setting up the venue for an evening party and hence the lunch menu was kept very limited. After lunch we went to check out the museum. It will take a minimum of 1-1 1/2 hour to check out the museum. Since an old sugar factory has been converted as museum, one can see the boilers, crushers, filters etc. At the end of the museum, one gets to tastes different kinds of Rum and also 12 types of Sugar. This was an amazing experience. We had no clue that there could be 12 varieties of Sugar and each has it's own taste and purpose. Just be careful with the Rum tasting though.  They have some awesome flavours, and one can go overboard :) Unlike other drinks, Rum kicks in after some hours and it can be really strong...

Giant Lilies at SSR Botanical Garden

From here we went to Sri Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden). This is a must visit place and please take a guide. Otherwise it will be like visiting any other garden around the corner. They have wide variety of Palm Trees, huge lily ponds, giant tortoises and some rare spices. Definitely worth the visit. You will need atleast 2 hours to explore this garden. Eureka, L'Adventure Du Surce and SSR Botanical Garden are all in the same area (very close to each other) and can be easily covered in a day.

After this we headed back to our villa. If one is not staying in North Mauritius, then it is best to get out of Port Loius before 5PM as the traffic is at it's peak between 5-7PM and getting in and out of Port Louis can be very tough. We reached our villa by 5:45PM and immediately got into the water. It is very relaxing to watch the sunset on a low tide beach. By now, the Rum had kicked in :). We just had some maggi noodles for dinner and slept early.

Day 3 – April 16th 

Giant Tortoise @ La Venille

First place was to visit “La Venille” (http://www.lavanille-reserve.com/index.php/en/). There are 2 routes from the place we stayed. One of the route is “The Scenic” route. Can't find enough words to describe this beautiful route. This route runs along the south-west coast. On one side is emerald-blue sea and on the other side of the highway is lush green mountains. In between there are short routes full of teak wood tress, followed by sugarcane plantations. The route is just mind blowing. We did not feel like blinking our eyes – what if we miss something. And to add to this, not a soul on the highway. This route was as epic as the route from Khardungla – Nubra Valley in Leh Ladak.

We reached La Venille around 10:30AM. This is a park famous of Giant Tortoises (you can feed the tortoises) and it is also the breeding centre, there are a lot of crocodiles, the insect museum is beautiful – didn't know there were these many colourful insects and some of the rare species found in Mauritius like the fruit eating bats. Other important point to note is – the restaurant at the park called “La Crocodile” serves “Crocodile Meat” as a delicacy. Pankaj had a crocodile meat burger. He said it was ok and not that great. Anyways for people like me (who are vegetarians) there is no difference.

The giant tortoises were really huge and were many in number. We had a great time feeding them and posing with them for some pics. The breeding centre was very informative. The insect museum is a must. The collection is very colourful and varied. 

Kids Snorkeling @ Blue Bay Marine Park

From here we went to the Blue Bay Marine Park. This is a public beach famous for corals. There are glass bottom boat rides which take the tourists to the corals and we can snorkel to get a close look at the corals and marine life. Unlike the private beaches, there was huge crowd here as it's a public beach. We booked our glass bottom boat ride which was leaving immediately (TOTO agency – there are quite a few agencies providing the service who all have a make-shift shops on the beach). Luckily the boat rides limits the number of passengers. We got into the boat which was leaving and it had another group of 8 people. The corals are very close to the beach and the glass bottom gives a very clear view. The boat anchors at a point where there are a lot of corals and fishes and then whoever is interested can wear the snorkeling gear (provided by the agency) and get into the water. Kids got into the water and had a gala time swimming in the ocean. This was their first snorkeling experience. They love it. Pankaj and I don't know to swim :( However Pankaj dared to get in with a life jacket and stayed close to the boat. I chickened out   :( The fear of water was too much for me to get in. I have promised myself to learn swimming. Hope - I will keep up my promise. We spent about an hour here and then headed back to the beach.

Since it was almost 5pm and it gets dark very early here, we decided to take the highway which runs along the airport and is busy (instead of the scenic route). By the time we reached our villa, the sun was just setting. Each evening the sunset was different. It was amazing to see the different hues. It was just magical!

Day 4 – April 17th

Swim with Dolphins

Today, we had to get up early as our first activity for the day was - “Swim with the Dolphins”. Prior booking is required for this. This activity is available only in the Tamarin area (west coast of Mauritius). Luckily we were staying in this area and the starting point for this activity was just a 500m from where we stayed. Yan, was the person who was taking us for this activity and he had confirmed he would be picking us up by 6:30AM and there he was on dot at 6:30AM. The Swiss friends who were staying at Le Lataier Blues were also joining for this activity. Yan picked all of us and we went to the Tamarin Water Sports Club (which was the starting point). Here we got into a speed boat and off we were into the ocean. We had hardly gone for 25 min (about 2-3Kms from the shore) and there Yan spotted 2 dolphins. Kids got ready in their snorkeling gear ready to jump into the ocean to swim with the dolphins. They were very excited. This activity is to be taken up only if one knows good swimming. Pankaj and I had to just sit and watch the dolphins from the boat while the kids jumped into the ocean on the signal from Yan. I hid my anxiety, didn't want to scare the kids from the activity. These are wild dolphins and they swim very fast. It is very difficult to spot them and once spotted it is more difficult to keep pace with them. The dolphins are also smart, they swim afloat for some time and then go deep and when they re-emerge they are far from where they were spotted earlier.

Soon Yan got a radio signal from his mate, that there is a huge group of dolphins (15-20) around 3Kms from where we were. Then soon all the boats were speeding in that direction. Within few minutes we reached the spot and there we see the huge group of dolphins. It was madness. As soon as they were seen, a signal from the guide and everybody jumps in. Shree and Shrishti had a once in life time experience. They were so excited and did not stop talking about how it felt, how the dolphins looked and how cool it was to swim alongside the dolphins. I really felt, I wish I could swim. After multiple rounds of swimming with dolphins, Yan took us to a spot which was very good for snorkelling to see the corals and beautiful fishes. From here we went to a beautiful spot where a small rock is in the ocean and the water around it is crystal clear and not very deep. One can jump here and swim around the rock. Shree was tired and she opted out. Shrishti jumped in with her gear and off she was swimming around the rock.

It was around 9:30AM and sky suddenly appeared grey and we could sense the rain coming. It was also time to return back to the shore. We just made it in time and then there was huge thunderstorm. The ocean and the mountains looked beautiful in the rain. We got back to the villa and had breakfast watching the downpour on the ocean. We could see few catamarans out there which had just started for a day trip. We pitted the passengers on them as the forecast was for heavy rains. 

7 Colored Earth @ Chamarel

After relaxing for some time, we planned to drive through the Black River Gorge National Park. This is one of the must visit places in Mauritius and is on the west coast. The rains made the drive through the national park even more beautiful. It was lush green everywhere, deep valleys on one side and the grey ocean (because of thunderstorm the ocean looked grey) on the other side. There are some points to visit in the National park like Chamarel Rum Factory, 7 coloured earth – this has a waterfalls and also some volcanic eruptions which are now visible as different colours, Alexander Water falls, George view point, Grand Shiva Temple and Grand Basin – A basin formed by the craters. All this can be completed in 5-6 hours. We planned to have lunch at Chamarel. Unfortunately there are very limited options for vegetarians. We went to a restaurant high recommended by Lonely Planet for Creole Veg Food, only to realize this means food which has meat with vegetables :( Glad the restaurant owner told us the details.

We had fresh sugarcane juice at George View Point. There are lot of berry trees along the roadside throughout the Black River Gorge. We saw lot of local people picking the berries. We were recommended not to visit the Black River Gorge on weekend as lot of local crowd visits this place on weekend and they also pick the berries. All the spots are worth visiting. If one has more time, then a hike through the national forest is also great. Since we had planned a trek to Le Morne the next day, we did not plan for any hike in the forest.

It was late (by Mauritian standards – though it was around 6:30PM) by the time we returned back. It was pitch dark and rain had just stopped. Next day early morning (5:30AM) we were supposed to leave for a trek to Le Morne and with the rains, we were wondering if we could make it. Luckily the forecast for next day was bright and sunny and our guide Yan (yes this is a different Yan) confirmed that the trek is ON.

Day 5 - April 18th

Yan is the only official guide in Mauritius who organizes trek to Le Morne (http://www.trekkingmauritius.com/). The trek needs to be planned and booked in advance as he does not organize the treks everyday. The last part of the trek is very difficult and requires one to literally climb using all the four limbs (hands and legs). The trek is not recommended for small children and old people. Le Morne has been declared as the UNESCO World Heritage site. Yan and his team will brief on the history of this site during the trek.

 

Views from Le Morne

The trek in itself is very adventurous and will take about 3-4 hours to climb up and return back. We started the trek around 6AM and were back by 9:30AM to the starting point. The trek requires one to be physically fit. We were recommended to go lite – only water and some mints/candies and that really helped. The trek starts off with a well laid path. The views are spectacular. I thought I was fit, but this trek really tested my fitness. Had it not been for Henri, I would have given up. Shree and Shrishti went ahead with the others in the group. I was the slow poke :) To add to this, something stung me on the thigh and this further slowed me. I was able to walk after few minutes of break but the pain continued for couple of days. After the 2nd milestone which is about 350m altitude, the trek gets difficult. At points we had use ropes to climb, for most part we were climbing the steep rock with all four limbs. The group had reached the summit with Yan. Pankaj, Henri and I were the last ones to reach the top. All the time I was wondering, how we would trek back on such rocky steep slopes. Shree and Shrishti were almost in tears when they saw us. They thought we would not make it. They were overwhelmed by the difficulty of the trek. By far this has been our toughest trek and we had no idea on the difficulty.

At the summit, Yan briefed us about the history, we took pictures and rested for some time. The views here are breath-taking! The colours of the ocean were spectacular. Experiencing the 360 degree view of the island, one tends to forget all the difficulties we went through. It was now time to return. Tips from Yan made the descend very easy. We had to just sit and slide with our hand firmly pressed. This really helped us. I used this tip the most. My pant was really in bad shape after the descend. After reaching the starting point, we could not believe we had actually completed this trek. This was one trek, which we will never forget in the years to come.

We were back in the villa by 10AM and were very hungry for breakfast. All of us were very tired and had a long quite breakfast by the beach. After a hot bath we were fresh and recharged, and were all ready to explore more of Mauritius.

We decided to visit Port Louis and checkout the capital city. We parked our car at La Caudan Water Front and went straight to the food court to grab some quick lunch. From here our first stop was Blue Penny Museum which is bang opposite the food court. The museum is pretty small but very informative and well maintained. Here we saw the various ship models of France, British and some middle-eastern ships and the various routes they took. The key exhibit here is the first Penny Stamp which is blue in colour – known as Blue Penny Stamp. To save the original colours of the stamp, the lights to view this stamp are lit only for 10min every hour (check their website for the timings). We were just finishing our visit when the lights came on.

From here we went shopping at Craft Market and MAST. We bought a small ship model at MAST. They have some beautiful ship models here – wish we had a huge house to keep a big model. We then picked some Gelatos at the food court and enjoyed at the waterfront.

Day 6 – April 19th

Our day used to start pretty early in Mauritius. This could be because we would sleep early. Today the tide was very low. We could walk about a kilometre into the ocean with water below our knees. We took advantage of the low tide and started walking into the ocean. It was fun. We collected lot of shells, saw some fishes and crabs and also saw a small sea snake.

After breakfast we drove to Port Louis for “Submarine Ride”. Blue Safari at Grand Baie (http://www.blue-safari.com/en) is the only agency who organized Submarine Ride. The ride itself is expensive, but it is worth the money. The experience is worth every penny. Earlier we were planning to do the sea-walk too. But it seemed very scary to go down into the sea. Hence skipped the plan.

Lush Green Sugarcane Farms

 
We reached Blue Safari office and took the ferry to the main submarine. We were all very excited. We were guided into the submarine. Because of a technical issue (there was very tiny leakage), the captain decided it was not safe to go into the water. We came back to office disappointed. Luckily we had another day at Mauritius and we had no major activities planned. Our ride was re-scheduled to next day. There were few tourists who were given a refund as they were either leaving Mauritius on the same day or had other activities planned. This was lesson for us – anytime in future such activities should never be planned on the last day of vacation.

Grand Baie is known for water sports and lot of cool cafes. We had our lunch at “Cafe 1974”. Lovely joint very close to the public beach. Food was really delicious. Since we had lot of time, after lunch we visited “Chateau Labourdonnais” (http://chateaulabourdonnais.com/en/). This is a beautiful Chateau amidst fruit orchards. The chateau is very well maintained. At the end of the tour they had some rum tasting. We got to taste some awesome RUM. They had different flavoured Rum. We liked it so much, we ended up buying few bottles at Mauritius Airport – duty free :)

Chateau Labourdonnais

From here we visited Apravasi Ghat,which is right opposite the La Caudan Waterfront. This is the place where all the bounded labourers and immigrants entered this island. Apravasi Ghat has a very informative museum. Unfortunately we were not aware of this as it has opened up only few months back. We reached the place just few minutes before closing. However on request, the officials there allowed us to explore the museum. We are very thankful to them. If it was not for them, we would have missed a wonderful museum and all the details it provided. Most touching part of the museum was the place where the immigrants had to stay before they could get the clearance/visa to work on the island. The immigrants (90% of whom where Indians) had to go through lot of hardship.

After spending some time here, we went back to the waterfront for some frozen yogurts. It was a Sunday and there was some cultural activities on at the Waterfront and the theme was Indian. We enjoyed our frozen yogurts and drove back to the Villa.

Day 7 – April 20th

Our earlier plan was to visit Chelsa a newly opened theme park which was very close the place we stayed and then go to the airport directly. But since our submarine ride was postponed to today, we rescheduled our plan. We were staying in south-west, submarine ride was in the North and airport was in the South-East. So the best deal was to check-out after breakfast, drive to the North, finish with the submarine ride, have lunch at Grand Baie, drive south and check out some places around the airport.

After breakfast we settled our bill and bid goodbye to Josette. We drove straight to Grand Baie as our submarine ride was scheduled for 10:30AM. We reached Blue Safari office by 10:15AM. We were taken to the submarine boarding point. We hoped there would not be any issue today. Each of these submarines vessels can take up to 8 passengers and a captain. The vessel itself goes down 35 meters and the total trip would take about 2 hours of which 45min-1hr is under water. We were anticipating that we will experience sea sickness or some kind of nausea. But it was absolutely amazing. It was as good as sitting in a bus. The experience is great and worth the trip. We saw lot of fishes – colourful, we saw a turtle (which is very rare) and also a ship wreck. It was once in a life time experience. This is best way to explore marine life without out getting wet :) Ofcourse people who do scuba diving will not agree with me.

Inside Submarine

After the submarine ride, we were given some soft drinks before we were dropped by a boat to the blue safari office. It was an incredible experience and worth all the hardships. It was now time for lunch. We had lunch at a restaurant in Grand Baie. There are a lot of good cafes around Grand baie's public beach. We had a lazy lunch as we had lots of time to kill before we board our flight to Bangalore. After lunch we drove to Mahebourg. This is a sleepy beautiful village on the South East coast of Mauritius and very close to Mauritius. We spent some time at National History Museum. I would not say this as a must visit place. But if one has time, then it is worth a visit. The museum would take about an hour to explore. From here we walked around the market or Mahebourg. Apparently Monday is supposed to be a market day at Mahebourg. We did not find the market day any different from the market day in Bangalore. We also tried some local snacks, which are very similar to Indian snacks, but with a Mauritian touch. We did not want to spend more time at airport, hence we went to Blue Bay Marine beach. We thought we will watch the sunset and then go to the airport. However we missed the information that Blue Bay Marine beach is on the east coast and there will be no sunset. We had some cheese samosas at the beach and spent about 1 hour reading books. Its weird - when you are all set to return, you don't feel like doing anything. Your mind is already in the mood to go back home and all the thoughts revolve around things/tasks at Home.

After the sunset time, we started our drive back to the airport. We stopped to fill gas as we were supposed to fill the tank half full and then return the car. The car agency person was waiting at the designated spot. We returned the car and got into the airport. Our return flight was with Air Mauritius and was for 5 1/2 hours. We had a good flight and returned home with lots of amazing experiences and memories of Mauritius – Truly the Paradise on Earth.

Beach Resort - Goa and Eco Friendly Resort - Chorla Ghats

It’s end of the year – Christmas and New Year Time and what better place to have the vacation than in and around Goa. So it was - a trip to Goa and an eco-friendly resort in the midst of Chorla Ghats (between Goa and Belgaum). The route planned was – Bangalore -> Hubli ->Goa -> Cholra Ghats -> Belgaum -> Bangalore. We knew we would have lots of fun as Goa is full of colors and fun during the Christmas & New year’s time.

We started from Bangalore on Thursday 20^th Dec around 3:30PM after picking the kids from school. The plan was to reach Hubli and break at my cousin’s place for the night. We reached Hubli around 10PM. The road from Bangalore to Hubli is in pretty good condition. There are quite a few diversions until you cross Chittradurga. This can cause lot of irritation - especially if you are driving after the sunset. We reached my cousins place around 10:15PM. It was fun meeting her and her family after a long time.

Next morning was relaxed. Plan was to reach Goa by lunch time. Our booking in Goa was with Dwaraka Beach Resort (http://www.dwarkagoa.com/) – Goa for 2N/3D. We had breakfast at my cousin’s place and started to Goa. The road from Hubli to Goa is also pretty good. The route passes through lot of villages which are full of farms. Enroute we saw plenty of Tamarind trees and we stopped to pluck some fresh tamarind. We also spent some time in cotton farms. As usual, gave some gyan to kids on cotton buds, flowers, seeds etc.

Dwaraka Beach Resort - Fresh water Lagoon and the beach

We were very excited to go to Goa as this time we were planning to stay in a beach resort in Goa. Though we have visited Goa many times, it has been either day visits or staying in a relative’s house. Dwaraka Beach resort looked fabulous on their website and we sincerely hoped that the experience  also would be as fabulous as it looked on website.

Clean and Quite - Cola Beach

We reached  south-Goa around 1PM and called up the resort, as Google maps was not able to trace the resort and give us directions. The resort guys gave us directions up to a point where we could meet them. At our meeting point we were directed to follow them. This path was kuccha road and no way we would have made it on our own. We actually started wondering how can a resort exist here? But at the end of this 2-3KMs kuccha road, we had to park our car and walk few step and there it was - the most amazing view. A few cottages amidst the coconut trees next to fresh water stream flowing which forms a lagoon, followed by few feet of sand which is the beach and then the ocean. We were awed with the view we saw. An artificial bridge is built to cross the stream and go to the cottages. This resort operates only during the months of Nov – Apr. Every year, they dismantle the cottages in summer and put them up again in November.

Kids enjoying the swim in Lagoon

This resort is on Cola beach (South Goa). There are only 10-12 cottages which are placed quite away from each other. There are coconut trees all around. All cottages overlook the flowing stream, lagoon, beach and the sea. The resort has power supply only in the evenings which is generated by generators. The cottages are basic, but clean with attached bath and WC. There are hammocks around the cottages.

We checked in and headed straight for lunch. The dining area is overlooking the lagoon and beach. This was beautiful. We had a good lunch. One point to remember here – we need to specify what type of food especially if vegetarian. More options are available for non-vegetarian especially if you are sea-food lover. This place was full of foreign of tourist and people from all over the world were here. In fact we were the only Indians in this resort. After a tasty meal, I crashed on one of the hammocks under the coconut tree. I had never experience Goa to be so cool (I always remember it as humid, hot and sweating). This was awesome. I guess because of the fresh water stream and plenty of trees around , it was not at all hot/humid.

After a good nap, it was time to get into the waters. And we spent the next couple of days just doing that. We were either on the beach or in the lagoon. We had never spent so much time in the water. Since this resort is so remote, you don’t bother to get out of the resort. Apart from spending time on the beach and lagoon, we went trekking, walk along the beach, kayaking in the stream. There is also option for massage, yoga and day trips to spot dolphins.

Trek to top view

One pain point of playing on beach is you are full of sand. However here it was kind of fun. Spend as much time as you want on the beach and then just come out and dip/swim in the fresh water lagoon and you are all fresh and clean. The fresh water lagoon next to the beach was the best part. Since it is private beach, the only people on the beach were the tourists staying in the resort, which was few. We could peacefully sit and experience the sun setting and kids merrily playing in sand & water. As the sun set, the resort was lit with dim lights. The night sky was clear with twinkling stars and we could see few ships far away in the sea.

Simmering lights at the resort - sunset time

At night, there was camp fire put up on the beach with soft music playing in the background. The dinner was served. I guess we were the only ones who were vegetarian J  It was pretty cold in the night - we felt good gazing at the stars sitting around the camp fire and rough waves hitting the beach.

Camp fire by the beach

Next day morning, we took a long walk along the beach. We saw the point where the fresh water stream merged into the sea. We saw couple of more resort on the beach further down. After a long walk, we had a lazy breakfast. Each of us grabbed our favorite book and headed to the beach. The day was pretty much spent reading, playing on the beach, playing in the lagoon, kayaking, hammocking etc. The resort had arranged for a table with candle light for dinner and there was also a camp fire by the beach. We met a couple at the camp fire who happened to be actor and actress from Denmark.

Kayaking in the Lagoon

Next day morning, we went for a small trek. The views from top are good. One can see the long shores full of coconut trees. At the top it reminded me of a scene in the Hindi film “Dil Chahata Hai”, where the 3 guys sit on the fort wall facing the ocean. After the trek, it was breakfast and then time to start to our next destination “Swapnagandha Resorts” in Chorla Ghats.

Sunset view from Swapnagandha Resort - Chorla Ghats

“Swapnagandha” is an eco-friendly resort (branch of Wildernest http://www.wildernest-goa.com/) in the Chorla Ghats. Since we had already experienced Wildernest couple of years back, we had booked our stay with Swapnagandha to get different views. The activities and food is common for both Swapnagandha and Wildernest. However after the stay, realized that, the rooms are better in Wildernest. The rooms at Swapnagandha are next to each other and one can hear what is being spoken in the next room. The views however are great from Swapnagandha especially the rooms facing the Vajra falls.

Coracle ride - Chorla Falls

All the activities are at wildernest, it is better to stay there – especially if you have small children. The resorts have become very popular in the last couple of years and attract lot of crowd from Goa, Belgaum and Mahrashtra. The resort has wonderful location. The views are awesome and the food (which is north Karnataka- Maharashtra style is very tasty). 2N/3D is good to spend here. The resort offers many activities like trekking, bird watching, cruise on river Mandovi, Trek to Chorla Falls, folk dance by local villagers etc. All these activities are really fun and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  River Mandovi has many fresh water crocodiles and migratory birds. The best way to experience this is with the river cruise on river Mandovi. The cruise was for 2 hours and was fun.

Trek to Chorla Falls

Next day morning, we went for a trek to Chorla falls. This is about 1-1 ½ hour trek to the falls and easy (even the kids can do). The water at the falls was very cold. We did the coracle ride at the falls and this was a nice experience – fresh cold water spraying on you from a great height after a tiring trek. Kids love the never ending pool at Wildernest. The sunset from the pool is amazing. Best time to be in pool is around sunset.

Sunset at never ending pool - Wildernest

After spending 2N/3D in Swapnagandha, it was time to return. Before we headed to Belgaum, we wanted to visit Fort Auguda in Goa - as we had read a lot about this fort and also we had some time in our hands. After checking out, we went to Fort Auguada. We were quite disappointed with what we saw. I would anytime vote for BeKkal fort near Mangalore over this fort. Fort Auguada is just hyped. It’s pretty small and is also over crowded. I did not find anything great to rev about. If one has lots of time and has nothing to do in Goa, you can visit this fort.

River cruise - Mandovi river

After fort Auguda it was time to head back to Belgaum to spend time with the family. We planned to leave to Bangalore the following day. On the way to Bangalore, we stopped at Kittur and were taken by surprise on what we saw. This is definitely a must visit place if you are driving on NH4 towards Belgaum. This is place has the Fort and Palace of Rani Channama (the great woman worrier of Karnataka). The fort has been renovated and has been made tourist friendly. We took help of a guide to know the place and its history better and he really did a good job. The ruins of Kittur fort and palace are very well maintained. There is also a small museum. One can easily spend 2-3 hours here. This was worth the stop over. From here it was straight to Bangalore and end of another beautiful holiday.

Rani Channama Palace & Fort - Kittur, Belgaum

Road Trip to Coastal Karnataka - Dec 2010

With Christmas vacations round the corner we were still debating whether we should do our much awaited Hyderabad trip or do something different. With the Telangana issues, many of our friends advised us to avoid Hyderabad.  Last minute we canceled our train tickets  . With plane tickets at soaring high prices and no hopes of getting train tickets, we thought the best way would be to DRIVE. We were debating on driving to Kanyakumari or drive to the Coastal belt of Karnataka. At last we zeroed on Coastal Karnataka.

 Our plan was to drive to my hometown Belgaum, spend couple of days there and then travel to Karwar, Murdeshwar, Udupi, Shimoga, Chikmangalur and back to Bangalore. The whole trip was planned for 9 days (25th Dec – 2nd Jan)

Day 1 – Drive from Bangalore to Belgaum

This was our first road trip to Belgaum. Though we had drove to most of our vacations, going to Belgaum by car was first time. We were not sure how the kids would be on such a long drive (Belgaum is around 520 Kms from Bangalore). We started at 6:30AM from B’lore all charged up. Driving on NH4 is quite different from driving through the state highways. State highways are more scenic and with less traffic.  We had our breakfast at Kamat Upachar near Tumkur and lunch at Haveri. We reached Belgaum at 3:30PM. Surprisingly none of us felt tired and kids were not cranky yet.

Day 2 – Chill out at Belgaum

Spent the time with my family

Day 3 – Stay at “The Hermitage Guest House” – Nersa

I had read about this place in Outlooks “52 Weekend Getaways from Bangalore”. Nersa is a small village near Khanapur, Belgaum. This is about 45 Kms from Belagum and will take an hour and half to reach. The drive to Nersa is awesome, especially the drive through the Shiroli forest. This village is in the forest. The Hermitage Guest House is a home stay amidst the forest. We were surprised to see this place in the middle of this forest. This guest house is a family run home stay. They have been living here for last 20+ years. We fell in love with this place as soon as we reached here. One cannot imagine such a cozy place in the middle of the forest.

This place is a prefect place for relaxing and unwinding. There is no TV, very intermittent mobile connection. The guest house has a Tree House, a cottage and a Room. The Tree house and Cottage do not have electricity. If one plans to stay here for 2-3 days, a trek to Bear Hills can be planned. Since we planned for only one night stay, we settled for a small walk through the forest, playing in the stream and just relaxing.

As dusk fell, the whole place was magically. Oil lanterns were put up in all the path ways, dining area, cottage and tree house. A camp fire was lit up under the clear sky with 1000 of twinkling stars. There were 2 other families and we had great fun over the camp fire and dinner. This was perfect way to relax and end the day.

The Hermitage Guest House

Nersa Forest

Day 4 – Back to Belgaum

Day 5 – Murdeshwar

We started early morning to Murdeshwar. We choose to drive through Anshi forest -> Karwar -> Murdeshwar. We had no idea how bad the roads through Anshi forest would be. In 2008, we had drove through this forest, when we were driving from Karwar to Belgaum. The roads were pretty bad then. Somehow we assumed the roads would be fixed and planned to go through the same route. The route is very scenic, but the road conditions are so bad, one cannot enjoy the drive through the forest. We were driving at 15KM/hr speed. We took double the time we had estimated to reach Karwar. By the time we reached Karwar it was around 3PM. There was no place to stop over in between to have lunch. We had a late lunch at Karwar.

We visited the War Museum in Karwar. This is bang on the state highway NH-17. This museum was pretty impressive. It showcases the war ships, life on the ships etc. We spent an hour at the museum and started to Murdeshwar. The drive from Karwar to Murdeshwar was very good. Cool evening breeze, setting sun and endless coconut trees made us forget the tiring drive we had in the first half of the day. NH-17 runs along the Arabian Sea. The work of highway is still under progress, hence could not drive at the speed we planned. We reached Murdeshwar around 7PM.

We had booked our stay in Naveen Beach Resort. Since the whole trip was planned in the last minute, we had no prior bookings. We booked our rooms one day prior to the day we planned to reach a place. Since it was peak vacation time, it was very difficult to get accommodation. The prices quoted were also very high. Since Murdeshwar is mainly visited by pilgrims, the accommodation available around this place is also more inclined towards meeting the needs of such visitors. I guess, Naveen Beach Resort is the only place which is beach facing, with multi cuisine restaurant and caters to normal traveler (who need not be a pilgrim). The road to reach the hotel is not very great. It is full of shops selling different things, lots of lodges. However once you reach the resort, the place is calm and plenty of open and green space around.

By now, we were tired by the day’s drive and decided to spend the remaining time in the resort.

Karwar War Museum

Murdeshwar Shiva Temple

Murdeshwar Beach

Day 6  – Murdeshwar, Udupi

Apart from the beach and the temple, there isn’t much to do/see in Murdeshwar. I felt the temple was like a museum or more like Universal Studio of Shiva. It is all created purely for business. The view of Murdeshwar is great from the top of the 17th floor Gopura. After visiting the temple, we had breakfast at RNS Hotel bang on the beach. This is a nice place for breakfast. After this we headed straight to the beach. The beach here is very shallow. We had a great time on the beach. Kids spent time in building sand castles, collecting shells and playing in the water. There are a few water sports also available.

We wanted to spend some time in Marvanthe before reaching Udupi, hence started from Murdeshwar around noon. At Marvanthe you have the sea on one side of the road and the backwaters with tons of coconut trees on the other side of the road. Marvanthe beach is very clean. It has a beach resort called “Turtle Bay Beach Resort http://www.turtlebayeco.com/ ”. Unfortunately we did not get accommodation here. We thought of fulfilling our desire by at least having lunch here. But the place was packed when we reached here.  There was a wait of 1 hour, as the preference was to server in-house guests. However the resort looked awesome. It has a perfect location, plenty of water sports to keep you occupied, clean and deserted beach. In all a very nice place to spend couple of days. A note here: Please carry some food if traveling with kids on this highway. There are not many eat outs. We ended up having a late lunch (around 3PM) in Kundapur.

We reached Udupi around 5PM and headed straight to Kaup beach. This is a must visit beach. There is a old light house, which was built in early 20th Century. Entry inside light house closes at 5:30PM. This beach does not have many visitors like the Malpe beach in Udupi. Kaup beach is best, if one wants to sit and watch the sunset, enjoy the sea and sit in calmness. We spent couple of hours on the beach and headed back to our hotel. Unlike other tourist places along the beach, coastal Karnataka still does not have many beach resorts. There are few projects coming up. Hopefully in the next couple of years, there will be many more places to choose from.

Light House - Kaup Beach Udupi

Sunset at Kaup Beach Udupi

Day 7 - Udupi

Udupi has a beach resort called Paradise Isle http://www.theparadiseisle.com/  on Malpe Beach.  This resort has a fantastic location.

Places to visit in Udupi – Malpe beach, Kaup beach, St. Mary’s Island – There are ferries from the Udupi Harbor to go to St. Mary’s Island. This is ½ -1 day trip. Hence plan accordingly. The last ferry leaves the harbor around 4:30PM. One cannot visit Udupi and miss going to the Krishna Temple. This is in a complex with lots of temples. There is invariably a huge queue to get the darshan. Since the queue was long, we decided to give the darshan a miss. Had a peep through the “Kanakana Kindi” and headed for breakfast. There are few good restaurants within the temple complex. We had our breakfast at Mitra Samaj, one of the oldest restaurants. This reminded me of Vidyarthi Bhavan in Gandhi Bazaar Bangalore- Small place, over crowded, noisy but tasty food. Please do not go here if you want to have a quite and relaxed breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the Harbor to take a ferry to St. Mary’s Island. You will need to leave aside at least 4-6 hours for visiting St. Mary’s Island. This place is worth the visit. 30 passengers are required for the ferry to start. It takes about 40 min by ferry to reach the Island. You will need at least an hour on the island. The rock formations here are really beautiful.  Best part is to just sit on the rocks and gaze at waves and the sea. It is very relaxing. Kids had a gala time collecting shells and dead star fishes.

After the visit to Island, our stomachs were grueling. Next big question was “Where do we have lunch?” This was December 31st, we thought lets have lunch in some COOOOL place by the beach. The only place we could think of was “The Paradise Isle”. Here is how our lunch experience goes…

We go to The Paradise Isle all boosted up to have a nice and cozy lunch. The location of the restaurant is fantastic. It gives a very nice view of the Malpe beach and the sea.

 Waiter gets the menu.

My husband asks for Beer. Waiter says “Sorry Sir. Dry day :( Elections are tomorrow. 1st disappointment

While we are waiting for the waiter to come back, we are discussing what dishes to order. Since all of us are very hungry, we have planned for some ‘n’ things to be ordered.

Atlast waiter comes to take order and we start listing out the dishes we want. Waiter says “Sorry Mam. We only have noodles. No chefs/cooks available”. 2nd disappointment

With no other option, we ended up having noodles L. Now we decide to have some good dessert. Ask the waiter for the menu. We were sure they would have some ice-creams at the least (if not anything jazzy). Our bad luck, other then butterscotch ice-cream, they did not have any other dessert. We ended up eating butterscotch ice-cream. By this time we were really frustrated and wanted to get out of the place. No, it does not end here. We are made to wait for another 45 min, before they return our card. Why? Because the card machine was not working L.  Hope this was just a bad luck for us.

From here we started to Chikmangalur

St. Marys Island

Day 8, 9 – River Tern – Jungle Lodges

Our next stop was the River Tern - Jungle Lodges Resorts in Chikmanglur.  The drive from Udupi to Shimoga/Chikmanglur was one of the most memorable one. The highway through Bhadra Sanctuary was amazing. Roads were in good condition, thick forest on both sides of the road (for some part) and then the evergreen western ghats, they are just awesome. We stopped at Agumbe for sunset. The very though of Agumbe makes you hum the kannada song “Agumbe ya prem sanje ya….”

I feel River Tern is one of  the best Jungle Lodges. The location is excellent. The new cottages on the adjoining island are big and give very good views of the reservoir. Since the Bhadra wild life sanctuary  is categorized as ever green forest, spotting animals here is very difficult. But we had a great time during our 2 hour safari into the forest. We shared the jeep with a Naturalist from Bangalore who gave us some insights into the different types of trees, birds and animals which we spotted.

At dinner, the whole Gol Ghara and the bridge connecting the 2 islands of the resorts were lit. This was very unique experience. All jungle lodges are lit only during new year’s time. 

Next day morning, we had a safari on the river. Saw a few River Tern’s. The migration season for river tern birds is April-May. During this time, one can see 1000’s of these birds. The river safari was excellent. We saw different variety of birds.  The lodge also provides some options for Adventure Water sports like Kayaking, water trampoline, boating etc.  We had a great time at this place. After lunch it was time to pack and leave for Bangalore.

River Tern

Water Sports at River Tern

Evening in Agumbe

Bhadra Dam

Boat Safari on Bhadra Back Waters - River Tern