Hello ALL,
It was my 3rd year wedding Anniversary, me and my wife decided to go to Dharmastala, and here it goes.(2011 May)
==24th Night:
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We took off from Bangalore at 9:15 PM in a Rajahamsa to Dharmastala.(As I had been to Dharmastala for many times I clearly chalked out my plans). I had booked middle seats as I knew that the roads will be bumpy and rough. With some 2 breaks in between we reached Dharmastala at morning 5:00 AM.
==25th Morning:
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As soon as we got off, we rushed to Gayathri Lodge. This lodge is actually clean and modernized with good amenities.
One Important thing is, whenever you go for Dharmastala, Plan for a trip so that you can reach there during early Morning. At this time most of the people will be vacating so that you will get rooms easily without any waiting. The lodge priced us 200 Rupees(100 for room rent and 100 advance which will be returned) room was extremely good and clean. we refreshed ourselves and went to Darshan at 6:30 AM - This is one of the important and feasible timings because after 7:00 AM it will be quite rush. It was a breath taking moment with I saw Lord Shiva later on we took some tirtha and prasada and came out of the temple at 7:15 AM and went to a nearby hotel - Ganesh Darshan and took 2 idlies each.
Important Tip - Do not take bulky or Junk foods because once you think of travelling to other places from Dharmastala, due to Ghat section you may get vomiting sensation.
We went to Bus stop and boarded a bus to Kukke Subramanya, it was a Express it priced us 43 Rupees each. We reached there around 10:00 AM.
Kukke is really a nice place to visit and after darshan we took some prasdam and relaxed ourselves with some good spicy and cold butter milk. it was almost 11:30 AM, so we thought of having lunch in the temple(Lunch is free of cost and it will be provided to all visitors)
Lunch was like heaven on earth, trust me guyz it was delicious, then we finished our lunch around 12:45 PM and walked to Kukke bus Stop and boarded bus back to Dharmastala.
We reached Dharmastala around 3:00 PM and went to our lodge, took a little nap and refreshed ourselves to visit the Dharmastala Manjunatha Swamy again. When we came out of lodge we saw a fest which was celebrated there I don’t know the name but it was good, 2 elephants were walking and a big doll was dancing and there was also a “group dance” by the Local people in the traditional style. It was really good to watch.
We went to Darshan at 7:00 PM(During this time it will be little crowded) After seeing the lord again we took dinner from the temple(Dinner is free of cost and it will be provided to all visitors) We went to our lodge little early and slept - I had some adventurous plan for the next day so wanted to recharge my battery.
==26th Morning:
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We woke up at Sharp 5:30 AM and refreshed ourselves tor a journey to Mangalore, just by reading some reviews I had gathered some idea of places which I wanted to watch. The Journey started at Sharp 6:45 AM and we reached Mangalore at sharp 9:30 AM and dropped our bulky luggage’s in the cloak room.
It was quite a shock for me as none of the private travels were ready to come for a sight seeing, soon I was advised that I need to book a cab and fare depends on the number of KMS which is 14 for a Indicab.(This is just a waste of Money)
Big Bazaar is very next to Mangalore Bus stop; there I learned that I could travel by local buses(Local transport in Mangalore is a private Transport) which will be plying very frequently and easy for sight seeing. Then I took my navigator out which is SE Xperia X8 and marked some 5 Places to visit through out the day.
Firstly we took a bus Number 15 to Kadri Temple it is just 3 stops away from Mangalore Main bus stop(which is called as Lalbaugh) it is really a good temple we relaxed and saw Kadri manjunatha and a Ganesha Temple too - The specialty of the temple is that the Shivalinga is having the ability to absorb water
Secondly we came back to Bus stop and took the same bus(No. 15) which goes to Mangala Devi Temple(Last stop). This is one of the oldest temples in Mangalore and Mangalore is named after this Goddess’s Name. It was really good place in my visit’s.
Thirdly, we came to stop called State Bank; this is something like a Junction where all the Mangalore’s local buses are centered. And from there we took a bus to Gokarna natheshwara temple, this s really a rich temple and we spent a lot of time in with. This temple mesmerizes with its beauty and antiquity.
Fourthly, we went to Panambur Beach. This is a lovely beach we were there in afternoon, so we missed sunset and we enjoyed in water ate some Chur muri and drank Sugarcane juice.
Finally and fifthly we went to Kateel, which is excellent and lovely this is 30 KMS from Mangalore the journey fare is 19 Rupees and private buses ply over there, we saw Durga Parameshwari and it was most memorable moment and temple is beautifully structured and it is in Dravidian style.
Then around 7:00 PM we returned to Mangalore KSRTC Bus stop and just opposite to Bus stop there is a hotel(I dont remember the name), the dinner was very good and full(per head it costed 50 Rs) we had booked Volvo to Bangalore and accordingly boarded at 9:55 PM and Reached Bangalore around 4:30 AM.
And again back to office with regular routine work and pushing down the pedal of life.
Thanks,