Birthday By The Beach

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things"

-Henry Miller.

The birthday girl wished for a birthday by the beach and I being the travel-granting fairy took matters into my own hands. As I many times say all I need to make things happen is the name of my next destination. I had two beach resorts near Mangalore which were begging to be explored. I honestly can't even remember where I came across the Turtle Beach Bay in Trasi. Much like the infamous Goa trip, our beach trip was almost over before it begun. After celebrating my friend Fatema's birthday at midnight it was almost impossible for our group of five to be up and ready at seven in the morning. I obviously ironed my clothes in the middle of the night and had my beach wardrobe all set but this day was not about me. And so I went back to sleep when no one woke up at seven in the morning thinking of all the chores I could accomplish that Sunday *Inner Monica rejoicing* The heavens had other plans however and who was I to deny them :p Over breakfast at the mess it was decided to go to the beach anyway. Like they say better late than never! We quickly grabbed our bags and begun our journey to the beach.

It took us around one and a half hour to reach the beach resort. We had the beach to ourselves. Yes, that's right! Just the five of us. There were a few guests staying in the rooms at the resort but they did not swim. After admiring the beautiful beach and taking a few photos we changed into our swimsuits and jumped right into the water. It was the perfect temperature at around one in the afternoon. As it was a rather sunny day, we applied generous amounts of sunscreen. After some swimming where we played piggyback water fight we took a break for some well-deserved lunch. The resort has a restaurant with a decent menu.

Post-lunch we went swimming one more time. Turtle Beach also had beach volleyball and other activities. As we were on a tight schedule due to some pending nursing assignments we had to leave before the sunset. But here's the secret scoop only for my readers. The direction of this beach does offer a sunset at the beach! So in case, you plan to follow my lead and go check out this place for yourself you must stay back for sunset and send me those photos!

The beach has showers and changing facilities so one can easily freshen up after swimming. I luckily carried my shampoo and managed to wash my hair saving me from doing it later at night when I would be exhausted.We made our return journey while listening to tunes and chatting away. At one point we even stopped to buy fruits from the bus stop for the week ahead. Before parting ways we enjoyed some hot ginger tea and then said our goodbyes. This trip was over but the memories we had collected were going to last us a lifetime. Also, I am certain that I will be going back to Turtle Bay Beach Resort.

Seeing Is Believing

Travel Vlog: Birthday By The Beach

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Everything You Want To Know About Turtle Bay Beach Resort

How to reach?

Take a bus/train to Kundapur in Karnataka. From Manipal a bus to Udupi and a connecting bus to Kundapur. From Kundapur take a bus to Trasi. If you have a private vehicle you are sorted!

How much cash to carry?
I would say about 1000 rupees.
Food: 200-300
Entrance: 250
Transport to and fro by bus: 150
It's always good to have extra cash in hand. Also in case you want to try out any water sports, you may need extra cash.

How long to stay?A day trip would be recommended. The shower facility is sufficient for all your daytime needs.The rooms available are expensive from a budget travel point of view costing around 2500+ per night.

What to carry?
You can carry your own food if you wish!
1) Sunscreen
2) Towel
3) Sunglasses/Hat
4) Swimwear
5) Extra pair of clothes
6) Cards, beach ball or other games.
7) Sunglasses
8) Music and speakers
9) Shampoo and toiletries.
10) A plastic bag for your wet clothes!

For other Beach Destination ideas you can check my other blog posts:
1. Goa After Graduation

2. St.Mary's Island

3. Beach Therapy: Murudeshwara

4. Gokarna Girls Trip

You can stay up to date with all my travel stories and photos by following me on my very active My Instagram Account
That's all for this blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved experiencing it. But don't stop there go ahead and see it for yourself! Thank you for reading. All comments and feedback is appreciated in the comments section below.

Signing off,

Nishma Khetia.

Travel Diaries:The Highland Escape

                            

"Let's wander where the wifi is weak"

-Anonymous.

According to a Ted Talk on successful students, one of the biggest difference setting them apart from the normal crowd is that when they plan their timetable they first plan when they will take breaks and what fun activities can be incorporated in these breaks. Yes, you heard me right.

I don't claim to know squat about success. I post photos with motivating captions and quotes but what I can learn from this Ted Talk is that taking a break to refresh yourself is absolutely necessary. The most hectic time in my college schedule comes during Jan-June. It is always packed with deadlines that are directly proportional increase to increase in stress level.

To calm my nerves after my exams, I decided to reward myself with a quick getaway so I would be fresh for my university exams ahead (or so I tell myself to validate bunking labs on Saturday. Stupid six full-day schedule). Anyway, coming back to the point, this time I decided to go with my ex-roommate and bestie, Sonia Lasong Swami all the way from Malaysia.

We booked a homestay in Therathavalli, 18 kilometers from Agumbe in Karnataka, India. Agumbe is easily accessible by bus. We left Manipal at 6 pm on 31st March 2016 and reached Highland Homestay by 9 pm. It was a beautiful house and they served us with some delicious South Indian dinner. We had a long day planned ahead but we stayed up till midnight chatting in true roommate fashion.

The next morning we got a driver to pick us up, we had booked the ride for the full day so we could explore to our heart's desire. We started with Kavaledurga fort. It was one of the many in the Vijayanagar empire, the same one that ruled Hampi back in the day. It was a small hike to the top and left us refreshed and pumped for the day ahead. A scenic view of the hills greeted us at the top. I have had my fair share of good views but this one still took my breath away.

For breakfast, we had neer dosa which is something in between a roti and a dosa but it was very tasty. We then went to Beemanakatte hanging bridge and a nearby temple. The bridge was beautiful and reminded me of the one from the movie Rangoon that was shot in Burma. What a location! It is definitely on my bucket list.The homestay was spoiling us with fresh juice and delicious lunch. We freshened up after lunch and then checked out of the homestay.

Our next stop was the Jain temple at Kundadri hills followed by Sringeri, a good 45 kilometers away from the homestay. It has a famous temple monastery made in the 8th Century which was later renovated. The old temple is located at the bank of Tungabhadra river. There was a hanging bridge above this river as well but the water level was very shallow. It was early evening and we had to catch the sunset at Agumbe.

                       

Agumbe roads are not a joke and can make the best of the travelers puke-ish due to the crazy hair'pin turns. Luckily we didn't puke. Once there we tried paddle boating in a small lake and then watched the beautiful sunset. Our driver then dropped us to the bus stop for our bus back to Manipal.

The quick trip was just what I needed because as I write this I just got done with one exam, two days after this trip and I have one very hard coming up in the next two days. Personally, I spent a little more than my budget mainly because it was only two of us sharing the ride and the room. I spent 3000 rupees but for the efficiency of the trip made it was worth it.

I hope you my travel blog post inspired you to look forward to your own upcoming travel plans. Go ahead and take that trip because life is too short to waste Sundays on sleeping in. (As I write this at 2 am on Saturday that's exactly what I plan to do tomorrow ;) But you can aim for one short outdoor activity a month :))

Feel free to leave thoughts and feedback in the comments below. Is there any place you recommend that I should visit before I graduate in May let me know below.

Photography: All photos are taken by me. You can check out my Instagram and facebook for more photos. Quick links available on the side panel. 

Links:

The Highland Homestay

TED TALK VIDEO ( What top students do differently?)

Signing off,
Nishma Khetia.

Adrenaline Fix At The Coorg Adventure Club

"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an Adventure"

-William Feather.

My adventure to Coorg was very refreshing. The adrenaline rush proved to be therapeutic. Yes, traveling could be heavy for your pocket but so can western medicine. I suggest you take that trip!In a span of almost one month I had written my GRE, college exams, and TOEFL. If that was not reason enough to take a break I didn't know what was. Not that I need a reason to travel. I would pack my bags tonight and leave but attendance shortage!

We had planned our Coorg activities privately, prior to leaving Manipal. The timing was perfect. My friends, Anushka, Krupali and I finished our TOEFL in Bangalore on 29th October. It was Diwali break in college and we couldn't have been happier. All we needed to do was get on the bus to Madikeri from Bangalore. Madikeri and Virajpet, thirty kilometers away from each other are the two big towns in Coorg. The night bus dropped us at Madikeri at 5 in the morning and we got a cab to Virajpet. The cab ride was 1000 rupees but we decided to take it anyway because the other option would have been to wait for a bus for one hour in the freezing cold. Our two-night stay in Coorg had just begun as we checked into the Coorg Adventure Club.

The Club owner and our instructor were very friendly. After some rest and breakfast, we were all ready to start. We made a new friend, Eden,  who was also staying at the Club dorm. Our guide took us for our first trek. The trek was rocky filled with steep ascends.  At some places, we had to use ropes and pull ourselves up. I was about to give up but the motivation from my friends kept me going. The view from the top was breathtaking. We bathed in the winter sun and enjoyed the picturesque view of the valley below. After some rest and photography (obviously!) we were ready to make our way back to the adventure club.

Zip lining across the lake and kayaking were on our bucket list and we ticked that off on the same evening. Zip lining got me very excited and I was glad I did not chicken out of it. I was the last one to go for zip lining but the first one to try kayaking. It was a small boat that could hold only one person at a time and that left us with no choice but to peddle our way around the lake. Coordinating the peddle boat took a few minutes to master but made perfect sense one you got a hang of it. We were exhausted by dinner time due to the morning trek as well as the bus ride from the night before. After enjoying a warm bonfire we called it a day and went to bed.

Our second day was spent in Kabbe village which was an hour from Coorg. Our guide took us on another trek promising us that it would be easier. He was right. It was cold and foggy while we trekked up. It rained when we were at the peak. We got drenched and the cold did not help. To make matters worse we had leeches sucking our blood, literally. As the cloud cover got thin we headed down as we were starving. For lunch, our hosts had spoken to a homestay called Kabbe holidays. It was some of the best home food I have ever had. We enjoyed the delicious food whole-heartedly. The family was very welcoming and it was easy to make conversation. We did not want to leave but we still had two more places to explore.

Our instructor led us to a beautiful waterfall where we had a wonderful time after which we went to explore beautiful coffee plantations of the owner of the Coorg Adventure Club. They even showed us pepper, chikoo, oranges and a few other plants. It was an amazing evening all together. We made our way back from Kabbe to the club house as we sipped hot tea in the auto rickshaw. Dinner that night was delicious. We had another bonfire and our hosts even got us homemade fruit wine.

Coorg, the Scotland of India had been an experience of a lifetime. The next morning we had breakfast before we said our goodbyes and started our return journey. The journey back is a story on its own. Let's just say we changed four buses and it took us ten hours to get back instead of the normal five-hour journey between Coorg and Manipal. That brought me to the end of one adventure and now, this blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Until next time.

Signing off,

Nishma Khetia.

Bhaang - Negative Holi

First experiences make wonderful memories, for better or  for worse. My first year at Manipal was full of firsts and about a year ago, it was time for my first Holi in India. I saw some throwback photos that my seniors had put up from the previous Holi and noticed that they were by a river bank, Swarna river.  I decided that I would go to the river as well. I had no idea about the events that were going to unfold.

I went down to tiger circle and purchased some Holi colors and pichkaris. I imagined my friends and I dancing to ‘Balam pichkari‘ and I could not wait to start the celebrations. I read a few blogs to prepare myself. They all talked about rubbing some oil on yourself so you can wash off the colors easily, painting your nails and oiling your hair. I did it all. Believe me, no matter how ‘good quality’ colors you purchase, nothing is going to come off before three days.

Finally, it was time for Holi. I pulled out a pair of old-looking clothes from my wardrobe and was all set. My classmates had planned to meet in KMC greens to play and I headed there, all excited. In some time my friends showed up and we started playing with the colours. Someone discovered a water tap and soon everyone got wet. We had buckets of water, with MUD and colour poured on us. It was insane, but it was fun. After a while, we were told not to use the water as it was probably sewage or dirty. I don’t know if that was true, but everyone stopped. Between all the playing I was convincing people to go to Swarna river.

That was the first time, I had managed to magically convince about twenty people to do something which we later went to regret. We had played Holi for about three hours and everyone was exhausted. Some people spoke of going to MIT but all I wanted to do was to wash off the colours and get some lunch. We started walking to Endpoint. That was my mistake. I had read all Holi tips I could get my hands on but I had not done enough research on Swarna river. All I knew was that we had to hike down from Endpoint.

So I led my team to Endpoint. The weird thing was that we had one senior with us and he did not warn us or tell us about the ‘other road’ which we later came to discover. Imagine a bunch of people walking on an endless road at noon on a hot summer day. Most of the gang, including me, was exhausted with just the walk to end point because it was extremely hot and we had no water. As it was my plan, I did not want it to fail and so I insisted on going down the trek from Endpoint.

After around fifteen minutes, which seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the Swarna river. Some of my friends had cuts and bruises, someone’s shoes were damaged and all of us got sunburned. The water felt cool against our wounds. The superficial colour came off. Yes, superficial because Holi colours go deep! After a few minutes I saw a bunch of my college seniors arriving at the same river with bikes and my jaw dropped. It was then that I realized that there was a tarmac road coming down to the Swarna river.

Read: 16 Tips for a Safe Holi

 The journey was not yet over. We had to go back to civilization and in our energy deprived, sun burnt state that felt like an episode of Man vs  Wild. We started walking back on the never-ending road. It might have been a two kilometers walk, but the inclination and the heat made it all extremely difficult. Some of us were lucky to get a ride half way back when we begged a truck driver to take us to the main road. I took an auto from there and came back to the hostel. I drank a lot of water and took a long bath, but the colors stayed. The next day we had a presentation and we looked like a bunch of clowns in our colored skin and unprepared state.

After receiving some scolding over the phone from my father who was worried that I would have gotten infected from the river water, I realized that the Holi of 2014 was the silliest thing I had done in my life so far. Despite loving the medical campus of Manipal, I would suggest everyone to play their Holi at MIT, where a sure water source and music is ensured.

Despite everything that I did that day, I was proud of three things in the end. First, that I convinced a bunch of people to go with me. Second, that I ended up at the Swarna river which was my original plan no matter which route  I took. And third, that my camera survived a Holi in India. I had read about taking it in an airtight, resealable plastic bag. I did not do so, but somehow my camera endured the torture and continues to work. I don’t have Holi plans this year, but I am sure to play Holi in Manipal once again before I graduate. For all of you who will be shouting ‘Bura na mano Holi Hai‘ and coloring each other, have a very Happy Holi!

P.S This blog was first published on Manipal Blog. Credits for the links in this blog post goes to them. It was easier putting the same blog post here on my official blog compared to importing it, which was taking hours.