At one point, an unmindful Hyundai Creta driver didn’t realize that his car was rolling back and he bumped into my Kia Seltos.
BHPian ashis89 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Me and Mrs.A were busy preparing for Diwali. The inventory list was complete and arrangements were in progress.
- LED Lights – check
- Diyas – check
- Flowers – check
- Sparklers – check
- Poori and Kheer – check
What next? While we both were decorating the house on the 31st evening, I had this thought. We had 3 more days of holiday and no plans for it. Should we go somewhere? The ever-supportive partner in crime didn’t question my sanity… yet.
Next question – where? We must have discussed and explored a dozen options at least – Coorg, Wayanad, Karur, Rameshwaram, Kochi, Gandikota, Hampi, Nagarhole, Kabini, Belgaum, Pondicherry, Gopinatham, Madurai, Kodai, Sakleshpur and then, a few more probably. My sanity was checked upon hearing some of the suggestions, others were considered. There was always a different reason for choosing each of those places for a trip even though most of them would have been a repeat visit. After checking feasibility and then the availability of stay at a reasonable price at all of those places, we zeroed in on Mangalore.
Why? Foodies trip. The one time I went to Mangalore (while staying at Kundapura), I loved the food. Over time, we have explored the cuisine at other places as well and grown fond of some of the dishes. Also, we never stayed in Mangalore and explored much of the city. Would be a perfect leisure getaway to explore some of the beaches, have a look at the city and while at it, enjoy some good food.
When and how? I booked the hotel at 5PM in the evening for the next day check-in. Plan was to start early, drive and reach Mangalore for a late lunch. Did a quick check of the Mangalore – BLR routes thread and this video by Samurai san gave me an idea about the Shiradi ghat, the one ghat that I hadn’t explored yet. It was the shortest too. The other option was the longer Madikeri route but was supposed to have better avg speeds.
Next day, an early start could not be. Started around 9AM from home and decided to go slow. By 11:40AM, we were at A2B Udayapura. Decided to have early brunch and proceed from there to Mangalore, non-stop.
Road work is in progress. And there are diversions. These can create small traffic jams at times. Got good rains before Sakleshpur which continued till almost Dharmastala. Speeds of 30-50 kmph were best for the broken sections as the car soaked up the bumps happily. A couple of waterfalls, streams and the Netravati river had a lot of muddy water under the bridge.
Some patches were good and empty
Some were broken and busy
And some were simply stuck
So we focused on the rain
One such waterfall which was in full flow
Entered Mangalore around 4:30PM. Some banana pakoda, chai, chicken cutlet later, we reached the hotel Vivanta. Had dinner at the hotel and discovered a new favorite Mangalore – Mangalore Tawa chicken! That along prawn pullimunchi and neer dosa. We were hungry and the food was tasty. The phone was forgotten and the mouth devoured the food.
Next morning, woke up at 7 and headed to the Tannirbhavi beach. I saw the Mangalore port area from close quarters and also went till the end where the Gurupura river and Netravati river meet the sea.
Saw these fishing trawlers go about their business
Also spotted a few peacocks, pea hen, kites, sun birds and flocks of bee eaters.
Spotted a blue tailed bee eater as well, supposed to be a migratory species
And a cargo ship entering the port area
Being a leisure trip, we were not carrying binoculars or camera so all the pictures were clicked on the phone only, whatever it could manage.
Returned and had breakfast at hotel. I searched through the list of restaurant suggestions that Ninjatalli shared a couple of years ago. Chose Hotel Maharaja this time.
We were used to Chicken roast. But here we discovered a new dish – chicken green roast, a slightly less spicy but equally tasty option. Anjal fish masala fry is must do for Mrs.A. We went on to order the chicken ghee roast as well and combined them with neer dosa and kerala parotas.
Overdone and no space for desserts, we drove to Someshwara beach to spend an hour.
Birding continued. Among others we spotted a white bellied sea eagle as well
And then to Surathkal beach to watch the sunset. Took some time crossing the Nanthoor junction each time.
Truth be told, I was missing the desserts. I was missing Falooda Nation (nearest one was 57 kms away at Kasargoad and we were almost about to drive down there until I decided against it). Pabbas was too crowded this time and a little underwhelming during the last visit. This travelogue by KarthikK informed about another Pabbas outlet at Bharat Mall. Mall means parking should be easy and the place might not be as crowded at the original store in the vicinity. After round in circles, I found the entry to the parking and 10 mins later, we got a table in the cafe. I realized this cafe had very few options for dessert and was more of a food cafe. Ordered a Special Gudbud and a Royal Falooda. Gudbud was very good, falooda was very bad.
Retired for the day. Next morning, had breakfast and checked out around 10AM. Mrs.A got some Byadagi chilli on the way. The car still had half tank fuel after all this time and I felt it would be enough for the return leg.
Since she didn’t like the broken roads on the Shiradi route, we chose the Madikeri – Mysore route for return. Next 11.5 hours felt like going in a convoy. Every time I overtook a bunch of cars, I would find around convoy. And a tourist bus struggling to climb the ghat. And fender benders and this repeated until we reached Mysore by 6PM. Up until then, I was averaging much less than 40 kmph.
Lunch was at Hotel Tibet after Kushalnagar where we reached by 3PM. Plan was to visit the monastery as well but skipped it as we were tired from all the traffic.
Due to my own foolishness, I hadn’t refueled until I took the expressway (knowing fully well that the e-way doesn’t have bunks). Took an exit near Maddur and refueled at MRPL before rejoining the e-way. The FE was 17.5 kmpl for the 790 kms.
As expected, there was a 2.5 km long queue after the Mysore e-way toll. The people skipping the toll and taking the service road and the people paying the toll and continuing on the main highway were merging the single road into the city which had led to the pile up on both roads. Took 30-40 mins for us to clear this stretch. At one point, an unmindful Creta driver didn’t realize his car was rolling back. I honked and flashed and yet his car rolled back a good 4-5 ft to bump into my car before he moved ahead. He acknowledged his mistake and I didn’t press on (Mrs.A was already angry due to the traffic and then this driver irked her further so someone was to stay cool).
Reached home by 9:30PM after covering 910 kms.
Oh, and the driving with stock halogens made me feel handicapped. I was going much slower than I could have, all thanks to those lights. Need to fit back those HIDs ASAP.
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