I am always enthused about beaches. My long list of travel in this division includes Digha, Mandarmani, and Pondicherry on the west coast of India, Mumbai, numerous popular as well as hidden beaches in Goa and so on. This time, the long awaited, mostly unexplored, silent beach town of Gokarna robbed my heart. This place never caught my attention due to a lesser-acclaimed, self-absorbed nature of this place. But after visiting it, I wonder why people want to compare it to Goa. It has its own essence, its own rhythm. And I loved the way it is and want it to be what it is now, forever!
A short depiction of the outlines of Gokarna
We were 5 this time. 3 girls, 2 guys. An unanticipated weekend plan it was during the month of December when most of the vacationers get on the beaches. We all were traveling from Bengaluru and booked an AC-sleeper bus from Race course road at 8 PM. The journey takes somewhere around 8-10 hours from Bengaluru, a mere 500 km. After a couple of hours of games and chats, the journey paused with a dinner break at a Dhaba near Tumakuru. Thanks to the short duration of halt, we had to hurry up eating the junk, all-prepared food. Thankfully, we had enough bites before boarding the bus at Bangalore. Being full and well fed, everyone went back to sleep as soon as the bus kicked off.
Early mornings while traveling are always special. You get to see the difference between this new place and ours. Different types of farms on the roadsides, different culture of the locals, different landscapes! Being a coastal area, Gokarna seemed full of coconut and Banana trees. The sun was rising up amongst these tall, sturdy, natural structures. The conventional art of a school kid on paper went real! Such a beautiful morning it was!
The bus reached at sharp 6:30 AM. As soon as we alighted, we saw deserted roads besides some autos standing in the corners. Unlike other places where auto-wallahs rush up at the bus gates to catch customers, this place was quite at peace. We had to reach out to an auto to take us to our destination – Zostel. We were getting a knack of this less-commercialized place. Leaving aside some shacks and resort, the most economical and backpacker-friendly stay we could find was Zostel. It seemed like auto-wallahs had formed a union to quote 100 bucks for any customer, wherever you go in this small town of 11 sq km. We settled them down at 80 and got hold of two autos.
Zostel Dormitories
Private Shacks
Common lobby
Zostel is around 3 km from the local bus stop. It is located at the hill top near Gokarna beach. As soon as we reached there, we could spot some wooden shacks on the left which were private rooms and a dormitory building in the front. The dorms were relatively clean and well equipped at Zostel, a backpacker’s haven. We reached out to the reception to find out that rooms shall be available only by 12 noon as it is an official check-in/check-out time. We were given this common area until that time which was pretty cool. We had our luggage kept there. After getting fresh, we had some guitar time on the wonderful terrace they have, which has a splendid view of the surrounding beaches and town. It felt so awesome this morning. The only sound of the strings amongst fresh breeze and treat-to-the-eyes-view. So silent it was that it felt like we were hearing what we played, so properly, for the first time.
The rooftop cafe at Zostel facing Gokarna beach
There’s this rooftop cafe at Zostel where you can enjoy your meals and drinks while watching the mighty, blue Arabian Sea. We took our sumptuous breakfast of veg cheese sandwich with a much-needed cup of hot coffee. On the suggestion of the Zostel manager, we decided to trek from Gokarna to Kudle beach. The trek is on the sidelines of the sea among the jungles. The magnificent views of the sea this trek provided us are incomparable. Most of the times in our trek, there were rocky parts all the way down where the white waters gushed with a burst. The sound of the waves flooding the black mountains was audible even on the top where we were trekking. The trek was fairly easy. After numerous halts to watch the awe-inspiring views and of course, for photography, we managed to reach Kudle in a couple of hours. There, we found a nice shack called Ganga Cafe offering chilled beer and great food. By the beach we sat, holding the beer in hand, singing songs of love, and thinking of all the precious things God had just shown us.
When you have a DSLR in your group, photography never ends. It continued for one more hour. We had a walk on this clear white sand beach with slippers in hand. The sand was so fine grained, so soft, so tender. This feeling of soft touch below the feet with slight waters oscillating seemed to have a direct connection to your mind and memories. It makes you think. It helps you meditate. It makes you love isolation.
A perfect place to Meditate – Silent Beaches!
“Anna, 300 per person to cover all the beaches in a boat”, said a voice from behind. Now Gokarna has overall 5 beaches which can be covered up via trek or a boat. It was late afternoon and Kudle beach has the best sunset view as it faces the west side. So, we went for the latter option after bargaining till 200 per person. On our way, we were able to spot some lovely dolphins slowly swimming their way. It took us an hour to get back to Kudle beach where we happily settled down in front of a resort and watched the orange ball submerge gradually into the waters. It was fabulous.
A Boat ferrying passengers near Kudle Beach
Sunset at Kudle Beach
An evening at Kudle Beach
We decided to gulp one more beer. We had our guitar. We played the strings and sang the songs. Songs of friendship, songs of youth. It was getting duskier with every passing moment allowing the stars to glitter and the tides to rise. It was time to decide a dinner place.
Trek from Kudle to Om beach
And Cafe 1987 it was. It was dark out there with a full HD, somewhere around 55″ TV with Avatar movie playing on it for some customers. Luckily, candles were another source of light at this popular place at this time. At first, it seemed like we made a wrong choice. But after having all Italian food, our opinion altered. Also, you must try the yummy pancakes here. With heavy tummies, we went back to Zostel by walk. It was hardly a kilometer from Kudle beach to Zostel if you opt for tar roads. Some notice board mentioned, “Beware of robbers!” And from that moment on, our eyes and ears became open 360 deg till we reached our destination.
Back to Zostel by 11 PM, we went to bed as we had decided to start early trek (at around 6!) from Gokarna beach to Paradise beach facing south with Kudle beach, Om beach, Half Moon beach on the way (Refer the map above). This could easily consume more than half a day. The shacks provided us a really comfortable sleep.
Graffitis all over at Zostel Gokarna
Mornings are always lazy for me. Our plan got delayed by a couple of hours, making us trek in scorching heat in the end. We had light breakfasts before leaving to garner some energy. We decided to trek from Kudle beach this time and so, had a road walk till Kudle beach. Our trek started effectively at around 9! A slight ascend for some 15-20 minutes followed by a completely straight path, on the edge of the mountain, with just the blue sea below us. Our right side was a full panoramic view. Sitting on the historic mighty walls of Chapora fort at Goa also gives us a similar view. It seemed like we were the only ones on the trek. And it was good in a way. Just the jungles, sea and us. After an hour, we reached Om beach. It got its name as it is shaped like the auspicious ॐ symbol. It is also the center for several water sports activities such as surfing, water-skiing, parasailing, and banana boat rides.
Om Beach Entrance
Celebrations at a Shack
A walk in the Jungles
As soon as we reached there, we encountered this very famous cafe in nearly all the travel blogs – Namaste Cafe! Awesome ambiance, awesome food. Awesome sandwiches actually! Though we didn’t find the service good. Post that, we had some good time on the white sands of the beach. Fortunately, the weather was on our side that day. We sat on the edge of one of the many huge rocks Om beach has, feeling the moist winds on the face, witnessing the astounding beauty of the place. We tried capturing boomerang videos with our names written on the sand being whitewashed by the sea. Amazing time!
A walk on Kudle beach
A section of Om beach
Time to move on to another beach – Half Moon. The crowd was even lesser here. Separated by a cliff from Om Beach, this beach is a perfect spot for unwinding and relaxation. With umpteen hammocks set amidst trees, you have splendid reading spots here. If camping is in your mind, just jump right in. We had a good time swimming here as the water is shallow for quite a considerable distance from the shore. And I realized, my swimming movement was so jammed for years! It was already past noon and we were famished. So we decided to have a good lunch in a nearby shack with beers to fight the increasing temperature. This shady shack was home to a couple of nice kittens whom we fed. The beach was so attractive that we went for another round of swimming! All done, we were set to leave for Paradise.
Farmer’s den!
Panoramic view en route Half moon beach via trek
Half Moon Beach
This is the fourth and final beach along the coast of Gokarna town. The hike was a bit tricky but took not more than 25 minutes for us to reach there. This beach is very small, just 150 meters in length. It used to be a Hippie’s paradise a few years ago. It is also ideal for camping at night. It is a perfect place if someone wants to get disconnected! Pure solace. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to stay here as it was already late and we had to rush back to Zostel and catch the bus back to Bangalore. We reached Gokarna beach in about 15 minutes in a boat we hired. Back to our rooms, we packed the luggage and booked a couple of autos for a drop to check post.
The final beach of the trek – Paradise beach
A journey of a couple of days but it was a feeling where I felt complete satisfaction. A satisfaction of a travel. A satisfaction of isolation from the world. A satisfaction to be at peace. And ultimately, what a person demands from a vacation is satisfaction. So, here I sign off happily from Gokarna! I will visit it again really soon.
We had quite a considerable travel for this year. And by considerable I mean, it was an experience, an amalgam of varied people and varied souls. It was merely an experiment to dig off this place called Bir, which I had never heard of in my whole lifetime, but supposedly is an amazing destination, quite unexplored till now. It holds the credit of hosting the Paragliding World Cup in 2015. This comes to it with its naturally apt place for paragliding which is the second highest place in the world for this adventure. And can you believe it’s just a couple of hours journey from McLeodganj? Bir is one of the most amazing paragliding destinations in the world.
We had a wedding ceremony to attend at Chandigarh on 25th Oct 2016. Our plan was to hit the mountains before the ceremony as we seldom get a chance to travel to the northern parts of India. Flying off from Bangalore, we reached Delhi early morning on 21st. We didn’t even have a half-baked plan till then. 3 places continuously hovered our minds regarding the final destination to opt for. Priority wise, the list seemed like Manali, McLeodganj, Bir. We were then at ISBT, Delhi, half an hour distance from the airport. All the inter-state buses originate from here. Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, name it! All the transport departments have their buses present here. We were constantly enquiring about various timings, duration and other things for that matter to reach the above places. Ultimately, after strenuous 2 hours, we found out that we will be able to visit Bir only, given the constrictive time frame. So here the story began.
We booked our tickets for the evening bus to Kangra and planned a visit to Chandni Chowk in Delhi in the leftover time. Without any doubt, Chandni Chowk has the most diverse and authentic food items than any other street in India. We tasted around 10 different dishes on a single lane leaving aside some. The nature of this place is such that any Indian would feel connected to the country here. It has all sorts of religious places side by side. A mighty Gurudwara, a silent Church, an architecturally marvelous mosque, a pure Jain temple and colorful Hindu temples. All at one place. And yet, there are no fights. A kind of unity that we read in our textbooks is visible here. After a long walk in this Bazaar, we headed back to ISBT. We left Delhi at around 6.30 PM amidst the blowing horns, unmoving cars, the overloaded buses and smoky air.
The beautiful Kangra Valley
After a long journey of 12 hours, we reached this place with beautiful mountains all around. The world’s largest peaks are here, the Himalayas. Though the season wasn’t snow-favorable, we loved the exquisite beauty of these mountains. The dense lines of Oaks, Rhodendrons, and Deodars makes this place so green and cold. After getting down from the bus, we had to hire a cab to reach our stay at Zostel. Zostels are among the best backpacker’s hostels in India. With quite an economic pricing, open and cool nature, and awesome customised itineraries for their customers, this place has gained attention not only of the Indian backpackers but of the foreigner travelers as well.
Zostel Bir
We got dorms for us and had our unpacking started. After getting fresh, we had a walk around the silent town. Villagers say, all these hotels, restaurants, cafes have opened up in a year to satisfy tourism. People are gradually putting this place on their travel list. Thank God, we came here before encountering any more rush. We had a delicious English breakfast at this beautiful place called Joy Cafe. After this, we went back to Zostel and found out some people are leaving for a couple of days trek followed by Paragliding. We initially had a plan to do paragliding alone and leave for Mcleodganj for a couple of days there. But looking at the number of people and the nature of trek, we thought and confirmed our inclusion in this sudden plan.
We were a total of 12 people. Most of them were solo travelers. The trek began only after we reached the base village after three hours journey from our hostel in a jeep. The village seemed quite friendly. Before the villagers, we trekkers needed to be friendly with each other. After already having some basic conversations during the travel to base camp about each other’s how-abouts, we mixed among ourselves so quickly that the bond still exists. We walked among the bushes and the moderately difficult terrains. Our trek was mostly along the unmotorable paths. We waved our hellos and namastes to the villagers, “gadariyas”. We had hold of some really sweet little sheep on the way. They undergo a lot of pain to give us a bunch of wool. What a sacrifice and no one counts! Initial day trek plan was to reach a village and stay in tents overnight.
Luckily, we got to see a Marriage Ceremony at this beautiful village while on the trek
Buddhist Monastery at Bir
The herd of sheep ready to get shaved
The first-day trek was approx 8 km and took us 4 hours including all the breaks. In between, we crossed River Uhl in Barot, which is a part of the watershed of Beas river. There is this man-made bridge above the river to connect the two sides. Man-made bridges are considered risky by many as it shakes with every movement of yours on it. The rope tied structure and wooden platform take the shit out of you. And you see down, it’s cold fierce white river! We decided to have a halt by the riverside. I tried putting my hand in the river and my hand froze for a few seconds. The river water is the fresh molten ice of the Dhauladhar ranges, Himalayas. I took a pint of water in my enclosed hands and gulped it straight in my mouth. The divine feeling is still engraved in my mind. So cold yet impressive, takes everything in its way yet tastes the same at every point, so emotionless yet takes out the emotions from every other living being on the earth. A river is a perfect example of solidarity.
The beautiful Kangra valley
Beautiful Himachali Women
River Uhl and the hanging bridge
A beautiful landscape at Bir
We left the riverside in an hour and the skies already began to turn dusky. We had our mobile torches handy and after a simple trek of a couple of hours, we reached our destination. It was a small guest house amidst the mountains. We had an option to stay inside the rooms or outside in tents. Of course, tents! Before going to sleep, we had hot tasty dinner prepared by the caretaker of the guest house. The campfire was arranged by our guide. We already had a good stock of rum and whiskey. What else is needed to feel warm? People began to tell their horror stories one by one drinking sips of whiskey in this cold planet. The singing session followed, again, one by one. Then the usual talks about the nature of jobs everyone had. We had 4 IRS officers, 2 software engineers, a CA, a medical student, an architect and a marketing executive in our group. Everyone had a different story and a diversified life. It was a pleasure hearing them all.
Everyone was tired and went to bed shortly. We had a great sleep inside the tents. Really great, at effectively around 5 deg Celsius.
The next morning, we could spot the sun coming out of the mountains gradually and throwing light on our drowsy faces. Sunny faces rose up and everyone was awed by the beauty of this place. Imagine a place with no city culture, only trees, mountains, rivers and you! We all had a sumptuous breakfast. The place is so serene that we thought of having a stay there for a day. But given the timelines and our further excitement for Paragliding, everyone revved up and got ready for yet another day of trekking.
Our guest house with tents
Soon, the weather turned hot. We were segregated into groups. The trek was quite beginner level but a lot of walking. We walked and walked till we got to a place where we saw sheep being shaved for wool. There was this human-heighted machine and the sheep were being pulled between that to razor them. Poor little sheep. Felt bad hearing their screams and realized how selfish humans are. Soon, we returned to our track and within a couple of hours, we had a bright resting spot. We could even see the Billing mountain from that place. The place was quite photogenic and hence, we all had several group shots. After around half an hour of rest, we moved on, to cross yet another mountain. This one was the last. Our patience was being tested. We could see paragliders hanging in the air and gliding like eagles. So high they were. It felt like colorful kites are flying.
Flying without the wings
After another couple of hours, we reached this mountain called Bir-Billing. Finally! The first thing that came to mind was food. Definitely, everyone was hungry. We ordered the special north Indian Maggi, which is quite common in Indian mountains and among trekkers. And the cost? Just 25 bucks a plate. Now, we can see our goal in front of our eyes- paragliding.
The wonderful group
Everyone seemed afraid at first. Everyone had a different guide stitched at the back of the glider. The first thing the guide did was hook us inside the belts which would form like a seat when you fly up. The next thing was an instruction to run as fast as possible down the hill. Oh! Now, that was the only and most difficult part. Down the hill, there’s nothing. First timers would definitely fear for what’s going to happen if the belt loosens. So, here it went! The guide started shaking the glider so that necessary air pressure would open up the glider fully with force. Now, we had to apply a near to equivalent force against the air and the mammoth glider so that when we reach a certain point when there’s nothing beneath our feet, the glider would make you fly in seconds. Ahh! The guide shouted, run run run! I started to run as energetically as possible. Before my turn, I had seen my fellows trying their best to run but fell. I didn’t want to fall. Luckily, things went perfectly for me and I had a safe take off!
There was a lot of air pressure building up. I sat comfortably in my seat. The guide was behind me. He was pulling 4 strings attached to the glider body at a time. There were around 18 of them. He had to analyze which strings to hold in which condition. The guide was quite experienced in his field. 13 years of that flying. He had flown from Bir to Manali as well and had competed in several paragliding events. The moment I asked him about his native, he took a sharp left and then took us further up. And I was dumbstucked after that. Thankfully, I was guarded with a quite thick jacket, which my sister had brought for me from London. Else, it would have been a shivering experience up there as it was effectively too cold. I could feel the speed of winds and I could hear them. They were quite loud in their mission. Their mission to flow and take anyone aghast. It felt like the winds didn’t want any disturbance in their area. Quite protective! The next thing I see is the beautiful Bir town in the bottom. I had a 270 deg view of the area. I could spot the monasteries, the temples, the lush green farms and the colorful houses of its farmers and I had a dream then. A dream to fly once in my life on my own. How lucky the birds might be who were flowing beside us! No equipment required, they had all of it naturally!
Paragliding site at Bir Billing
We flew for about half an hour when the guide started taking a descent gradually. When we reached near the ground, he instructed me to keep my legs straight for safe landing. I followed and we had a remarkable landing! The photographers were all around! As if some celebrity has just landed on some grassland. I liked a couple of pics and took them. The guide began to wrap up his kit. We had a handshake and he went off. I found my friends sitting nearby. The obvious thing to follow was the discussion about the short glide and their guides! Everyone had a good experience and seemed satisfied.
After another half an hour of discussions, we had to leave for Zostel. Everyone was damn tired. After reaching Zostel, every one of us planned one more night stay there, except the IRS guys as they had their office next day.
The night stay at Zostel went great with Old monk and Signature in place. A lot of childhood memories rose up. We got to know different people more. And I realized, everyone is same, everyone has a similar set of cultures, a similar set of problems, and a similar view of solutions for these problems. Where we differ is personal opinions, personal ambitions and most importantly, the environment in which we grew up. And I really loved this way to socialize with people instead of hanging around in bars and have a silly conversation under a decorative rooftop and unwanted noise. I wish to continue my journey of inner observation, outer exploration, and learning.
Travel with me 