Gokarna - Kudlee Beach, Karnataka

On tuesday 30th of November we said goodbye to Benaulim Beach; the friendly locals and shopkeepers from Kashmir, especially Altaf from Timetravellers Shop where we spend many hours chatting, checking out his books and Jaakko teaching him to play guitar.

We took a rickshaw to Margao, then a train from Margao (Madgaon Trainstation) to Gokarna. With only 3 platforms it was still very confusing where we had to wait and in which train we had to jump. Luckily we were not the only tourists going to Gokarna so we followed eachother everywhere like cows, while wondering and asking around. As expected the train arrived an hour later than planned. The trains are quite dirty in here. We took our seat next to a sleeping man, there was place for 6 so we put out backpacks on the bench, Jaakko sat next to them and I sat next to the man with 1 seat inbetween. During the trip the man slept deeper and I kept hoping he wouldn't fall in my direction as his dirty looks made me feel itchy and I already saw imaginary fleas everywhere. A nice thing was that along the way many salesboys kept walking back and forth offering chai, soda's, chips, candy, samosas etc. Three hours (and many staring looks of man acting like they've never seen womans legs in shorts before) later we arrived on Gokarna Road Station. Trying to ignore the taxirickshawdrivers screaming for tourists, we walked to a local bus that would bring us to town.

We already picked out a guesthouse beforehand so we knew where to walk. We have a nice spacious room on the thirth floor with our own bathroom, a squatting toilet this time and  only cold water. A big plus is our balcony surrounded by palmtrees with a hammock (hangmat) and also it's the first time that  we have a mosquitonet over the bed. 

Balcony

After arrival we walked through the Main street and witnessed how more relaxed this pilgrimageplace is. Guru's, baba's and Ghandi-look-a-likes mixed with Indian tourists and western hippies on every street, alley and open doorway. This holy town is flowing with spiritiual energy, they say the moment you enter you will lose all sin and bad karma.

Ghats to holy watertank

Streetview, Gokarna

"Abbey Road", Gokarna

 On wednesday we walked through the small streets of this town and were happy to notice that the layed back atmosphere of the night before was still there in daylight. When we saw a sign saying 'Kudlee beach' we decided to follow it, as we knew it wasn't more than 2 km away. We witnessed many different natural landscapes on the way climbing upward untill at some point I wasn't sure anymore if we took the right way. After asking a bypasser we heard it wasn't far anymore, "just follow the creek". Around the corner it looked as if we came from inside a split rock mountain with a small waterflow. We carefully stepped on the rocks and jumped our last steps right into the sand; Kudlee Beach! A small paradise for beachlovers, hippies and yoga/meditation practioners. 

The main (and only) road to Kudlee beach

We were a bit overheated so we looked for a nice shady beachshack where we had some fresh lemon-mint juice and an avocado shake while enjoying the view. We took a 'luxury' way back to Gokarna Beach over sea by a small wooden taxiboat.

In the afternoon Jaakko started to feel sick and stayed in bed with fever that luckily disappeared after nightfall, bananas and tender care.

The next day we tried to reserve sleeper bus to Hampi but unfortunately somebody had cut down the towns phonelines - no internet nor phone on any travel agent - they told us to come back later. but we managed to buy tickets eventually via mobile phone and tonight we are taking a nightbus to Hampi.

Gokarna Beach hillview