A weekend trip to Udupi via Murudeshwar
A long awaited get together with Bangalore friends led us to the iconic beach town of Uttar Karnataka.
December 2020 — Karnataka offers a host of tourist attractions across different landscapes, so it was naturally hard for us to choose one place to visit. We four brainstormed for 3 days in November 2020 and finalised two places — Murudeshwar and then Udupi.
To give you a background, Shakti, Vadiraj and Nutan were my PG mates when I first came to Bangalore in 2017. The bonding we created while staying together for 2 years is hard to ignore. By 2018 end, Shakti left for Chennai due to change in Job and in 2019 I resigned from Job and went back to Kolkata. Though within 4 months, I got a job and came back to Bangalore, we couldn’t meet and then Covid 19 happened.
Anyway, we achieved consensus for visiting Udupi. Shakti being the most devotional person among was very happy. We are budget travellers, so we choose train as the mode of transport. While exploring trains, we found one train which suited our journey time. Murudeshwar fell into place because the train also connects that place. We decided not to book any accommodation. We only noted down a few places of interest for reference and planned to visit whichever possible.
Then, came the day 11th Dec, I and Nutan boarded the Bangalore — Karwar Sleeper express train at 6.30 pm from Bangalore. Our other two friends joined us in Hassan station two hours later. It was a joyous moment meeting together in person.
By 5.30 am, we reached Murudeshwar. As we came out of the platform, we saw only one auto-rickshaw standing and the driver asleep inside. Google maps showed 3 kms to the temple compound. So, we started walking. As the town was slowly waking up, we decided to look out for a hotel to freshen up. We went till the beach. The magnificent Murudeshwar temple is adjacent. From the temple compound, we found a broker who then took us to a hotel and showed a room. We booked the room for half a day, as we only need to keep our luggages and bath after coming from the beach.
We spent sometime chatting in our room and by 9.30 we went to the temple. Although the entry is free they were 5 options for puja prasad, tokens for which can be bought from the entry counter — Only Prasad and then four different types of Puja each with increasing prices. Two of us chose, only prasad for Rs. 20. And other two chose a particular variety of puja (I don’t remember the name) for Rs. 100. They gave two plates with puja ingredients like coconut, flowers and prasad. And two prasad-only packets for Nutan and me.
The temple is beautiful. Crafted in stone, the walls bears the idols of Hindu gods. Priests were performing daily rituals while devotees made a bee-line to offer their prayers in front of Sri Mirdesha Linga which is believed to be a part of Atma Linga. Honestly, temples never attract me, it is the backstory why and how the temple was built nudge my curiosity. Murudeshwar is the one of the many places where parts of Atma Linga were found (Read the entire story here). Shakti and Vadiraj went inside the worship hall for the Puja. On exit, there was another queue to visit the top of Gopura which is 20-storey tall. There is a separate 10 rupees ticket for the Elevator ride.
The views from the top was spectacular. It serves as the vantage point for the 123ft tall statue of Lord Shiva which is regarded as the Second Largest in the world. We came down after capturing some stunning photos of the statue and Murudeshwar beach at the backdrop of the Arabian sea.
To absolve our hunger, we visited a local restaurant by the name Naveen beach restaurant just beside the temple. There was significant crowd inside. After waiting for 20 minutes, we finally settled to one fine sea-side table. Ordered our favourite south Indian dishes — from Dosa to Rava Idly. Having filled our belly, we moved to the statue of Lord shiva. The statue which looked small from the top of Gopura, looked enormous from the ground.
We explored the museum which sits under the statue. There was a ticket of Rs. 30 each. It was an exhibition of the mythological story behind Murudeshwar. The visual representation of the story with clay statues of the characters is a great initiative. But it would have been great, if there were some written or audio references to the story also.
The climate was getting hotter as the clock was nearing noon. The entry to the beach was right beside the temple, so we did not waste any time. The entry patch of the beach was very dirty with plastic wrappers, food waste, fishing nets etc lying here and there. But as we moved ahead, the sand look a lot cleaner and so the water. We quickly removed our outer clothing, packed into a bag and handed to Shakti, who did not want to join us for a bath.
The sea water was soothing to the soul. We had fun in the beach. The crowd was not heavy and thus we managed a few photos. Activities like water jet and boating were available but we had opted out.
Back in the hotel, we had a bath in warm water. For lunch, we went to a small roadside restaurant and ordered south Indian meals. Post lunch, we decided to head out to Apsarakonda waterfalls which was 25 kms far. On asking some locals, we learnt that the bus service from the temple can take us near to the waterfalls. It was already 3 pm and though a bus was available every half an hour, we packed quickly and checked out from the hotel.
15 minutes after we hopped in, the bus started moving as per its designated time. We are a little afraid as the bus was fully packed with people and very few people were wearing masks. It was evident how the awareness of Coronavirus was blatantly poor. In an hour, we reached our destination. The bus dropped us on the highway and it was a good 5 kms to the falls. We did not want to walk, so we booked an autorickshaw.
The 5 minutes trail walk post the last point for a vehicle made us believe that it was definitely not a popular tourist point as the place was virtually devoid of any humans. Or it could be the place saw less number of people of poor accessibility or due to the pandemic.
Anyway, on reaching the waterfall, we saw a group of local people already bathing there. Among us, only Shakti and Vadiraj wanted to get wet. I and Nutan stood as photographers. This place is recommended if you want to beat the crowd and enjoy the stunning waterfall.
After that we wanted to explore the park. The park was nicely maintained. What stunned us was the fact that the park act as the entry to a clean and less crowded beach. Although we had to climb down 200 stairs, the calmness of the beach removes all the tiredness. Sunset and the sounds of waves crashing — Wow, amazing.
By the time we came back to the highway, it was already dark. We had to call the same autorickshaw or else we had to walk the 5 kms. Night stay was planned in Udupi. Without any public transport in sight, we were wondering how to reach Udupi. After a few google searches, we found that the viable way would be to catch a train from Honnavar which is 25 kms away from where we were standing. And the train was to reach in Honnavar at 7.30 pm.
What follows next was no less than a roller coaster ride. My kannada speaking friends managed to convince an auto driver to drop us at the station for a flat fare of Rs. 500. It was almost 7 pm. We were 5 people including the driver, so the speed was limited to 40kmph. Somehow we reached the station by 7.30 and learnt there that the train was late by 15 mins. We gulped a huge breath but the shock came where a staff told that it was a pre-reserved train and no tickets were available for sale from the platform. The train reached the platform and we hopped in anyway as we did not have any other choice. Again, my kannada speaking friends came to the rescue. The TT charged us a total of Rs. 800 for all four and issued spot tickets. Yes, it was sort of bribing but we thought it would be better than the TT throwing us from the train.
The train took one and a half hour to complete the 130kms journey. Finally, around 9.30 pm we took an auto from Udupi station to the main Sri Krishna Math. After reaching the Math, it felt strangely silent. After enquiring a few hotels, we eventually got one near to the main entrance of the Math. The room was spacious with a Balcony. For Rs. 600 each for two rooms, it was definitely worth. But, we were too hungry to notice all the amenities. We quickly dropped the baggage in our rooms and went to enquire which restaurant is still open at 10 pm. We found there was only one — Woodlands restautant. It was 8 minutes walk from our hotel. The hotel looked expensive in and out. But honestly the quality of the food and the warmth in service is more than what we paid as the bill. Totally recommended for all to give it a try.
While returning to our hotel, I thought to myself, how unbelievably long day it had been !!
Next day, we woke up to a beautiful morning. Birds chirping, slightly humid but comfortable weather. Shakti and Vadiraj decided to offer worship in the Math post breakfast. I and Nutan united to head out for the famous Malpe beach.
A 10 minutes walk to the bus stand from where a bus directly took us to the Beach entry road. From there another 10 minutes walk to the beach. By 10.30 pm, it was scorching heat. We wasted no time to wet ourselves.
There was a mild crowd but the beach looked cleaner. Shakti and Vadiraj joined us 2 hours later. After a quick snack break, we decided to head to St. Mary’s island which is another attraction. We booked four tickets for Rs. 300 each. The ferry would take us to the island, we can explore till 5pm and return via ferry.
We waited for our turn to hop into the ferry which took around 20 of us to the island in 15 minutes.
St. Mary island is a small island which can be covered in one hour. We took our own sweet time to explore. The water is almost transparent at the edges. We wondered why people spend lacs of rupees for a vacation in Bali.
The rocks coupled with clean water were a treat to experience. Just sublime beauty of infinite sea and nothing beyond that. We wanted to wait till Sunset but looking at the rush, we figured it would be better to leave. After all, we didn’t want to be stranded in an island.
We wanted to visit a few other places in Udupi, but Shakti had to leave early. 5 pm in the evening, we were roaming at the Udupi Bus stand. Finally unanimously we decided to visit Manipal. We reached there in a bus. We wanted to visit the Pathology museum but it was closed then. We casually explored the city, the sprawling college campuses, its hostels and the parks. It is a different city inside Udupi. Foreign students also come to study mainly medicine in Kasturba College which is Asia’s oldest medical college. The architecture of some of the buildings resembled that of US universities.
We had dinner in a quite place which looked authentic. Ultimately, Udupi is famous for delicious south Indian dishes. Bangalore has tons of restaurants named after the place Udupi. We settled for a heavy dinner at our last day in the trip.
