Summer Holidays-2019

This summer, we travelled to Manipal as a family. My husband's uncle and aunt live there and were happy to host us. We travelled there in June. Now, those who know this part of India, probably also know that this is not the best time of the year to be in a place like Manipal. However, this time, we were fortunate to have overcast skies on and off and monsoon seemed like it is just round the corner. This is a brief summary of our trip.

On day 1, we visited a few friends in Kundapur. On our way back, we noticed a beautiful temple dedicated to Goddess Durga Parameshwari at a place called Kumbhasi. It was recently constructed and very well maintained. In the evening, we visited the Manipal lake.

On day 2, we visited Malpe beach but this time, there was a lot of development and beautification that had happened here. It looked different from the Malpe beach I once knew. After spending some time here, we continued to another beach called Hoode. It was a hidden gem and is really clean and nice on Sundays.

Some pictures from Malpe:

Some pictures from Hoode:

On day 3, we visited Padubidri beach which has been very well developed and made very tourist friendly. After spending a considerable part of our day here, we went back to their place and relaxed and then continued to a beautiful park. After spending some time here, we went out for dinner at Ocean Pearl.

View from the park

The Park

On day 4, we visited our elderly uncle and aunt, you might remember from this blog. They have changed their care home and now live in one in Karkala. They are extremely happy there and the surroundings of their place as well is much more calm and serene. This place has a beautiful mango orchard and their very own cow stables (or goshala).  After spending some time with them and taking a tour of their place, we headed in the direction of Soans Farms. We took a nice tour of the place where we could see several unusual trees and variety of fruits. We knew the fruit but not really the trees and the other products of the trees which can also be used for other purposes. We absolutely loved this place. We bought some sweet and juicy pineapples from here. The highlight for me was the cashew juice, which we do not get in Bangalore. I must have gulped down several glasses of this deliciousness.

Soans Farm

On day 5, we visited the beautiful Kapu beach and enjoyed not only in the waters but also relaxing by the light house and also enjoying some excellent seasonal fruits here.

On day 6, we went back to enjoy the Hoode beach but this was a weekday and it was not at all clean or maintained properly. There were plastics strewn all over. Let us protect ourselves and the sea world by refusing to use single use plastics- it is not easy, but is our only shot at giving Earth its chance to survive.

On day 7, we head back towards Bangalore by road. Our plan was to not go to Bangalore directly but stay overnight in Belur before heading back home. (I will write a separate but a small piece on the Belur experience.) We loved the journey to Belur from Manipal, the breeze was cool and we could almost feel the monsoon around the corner in the valley which would take us to Belur. We stopped briefly at a way side tea-stall atop a small hill, and enjoyed some light food and tea/coffee here before starting our sojourn to Belur.