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.

The Monsoon Walk: Heritage Village In Manipal

"We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us"

-Anonymous.

Rushing through the women and children ward at the hospital, I stopped in my tracks as my eye caught something interesting stuck on the notice board. It read "The Monsoon Walk". My colleagues stared at me as we were getting late for morning ward rounds so I quickly captured the details on my phone and continued with my morning duties. There was a heritage village somewhere in the neighborhood of university town and it sounded exactly my kind of thing. I counted days, waiting to get done with my exams and seminars so I could happily visit this new interesting place and obviously tell you guys about it!

Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village in Manipal recently opened its gates and has started with a Southern tour but has a full plan of expansion for Northern and Eastern tours as well as aiming to be a center for historical research. I announced on my Instagram that I was planning to check out the heritage village and found a friend who I had never met before and who was visiting Manipal for the weekend to accompany me! It was meant to be :) We went for the 10am tour (Link to their website at the bottom for further details). They had hiked the price from 200 rupees to 300 rupees and had also started charging a 250 rupee fee for DSLR cameras so, on a student budget, I decided to make do with the Pro Mode on my phone.

You can see the Manipal Lake in the background!

 The Heritage village project has brought in structures from all the South Indian states as they were all linked to the once great Vijayanagara Empire (The one in my Hampi Blog). In the one and half hour tour, our guide showed us the Nawab Mahal, Kamal Mahal, Harkur Olaginamane, Harihar Mandir, a classic Mangalorean House and many such interesting structures and elaborated on their details giving us a unique insight into the lifestyle of people who lived a generation ago. Many of the structures were around 700-800 years old! And some parts which had been recreated were to be the exact replica in size, shape, and material as per the original structure.


These structures have been transported from hundreds of kilometers away to be a part of the heritage village project. The Kamal Mahal can actually be dismantled within half an hour as it has been all fit together in that way! The Mangalorean house displayed some of the old cameras of the time and hunting gear, as well as a classic kitchen setting. The famous Mangalore tiles were used in the structures and the floor tiles were also a part of the Mangalorean house.

Christian Mangalorean House

Lets Play? 

Old Architectural Beauty

Heritage Village Tour Exclusive Video

Kamal Mahal Ceiling Details

Coloured Glass WIndow Details

There was a good crowd of around ten people in our group and very curious souls, they asked detailed questions too! The walk through the Bazaar Street told us about how charcoal was used in olden day water heaters as there was no electricity. The pots and pans also told a story. The one with a ridge was used for oil so that spilled oil would not reach the floor and instead, collect on the ridge later to be cleaned. All this was really fascinating to me and made perfect sense. Our ancestors were smart in a pre-smartphone generation.It had been a cloudy day but the tour did not disappoint us as it did drizzle halfway through but it was not brutal either as it quickly stopped and we did not get drenched. The last part was the Harihar mandir which did not have the deity as it was restored in another temple but everything else from the temple which got flooded was brought here and restored. To restore wood with layers of paint and waterlogged needs next level skill and the heritage village workmen have all of the necessary methods for restoring and preserving these beautiful old structures of historical significance.

Inside The Mangalorean House

Contrast Stories

It was a wonderful 'time travel' as the guide mentions in the video. Be sure to check it out to see much more of this beautiful place and all the structures they have restored. Manipal has been an excellent place as there are a dozen of places around it to explore and as someone who loves to explore, I definitely see this becoming a major attraction and successful story. I do think however that there should be some concession for students (seriously, a student cannot afford 550 rupees for entry plus camera). Other than that, everything else was fantastic and I cannot wait for the North and East tours to start as well as to see the art galleries from the famous painter Ravi Verma whose paintings I have previously seen in the Laxmi Villas Palace in Baroda. 

TOP THREE TIPS FOR VISITING THE HERITAGE VILLAGE

1. When to go? 
If you are a student then it would be convenient to go on Sunday Morning 10am or 4pm tour. Yes, they are open on Sundays!

2. What to take?
Take your camera/phone. Be sure to charge it. You can also carry a power bank just in case. Also, clear up your storage in advance! Carry a water bottle and an umbrella (#Manipal). DO NOT wear shoes (please). You will have to remove and put them on a dozen times at least, at every entrance!

3. What to expect?
If you are a history, architecture, photography or travel lover this is the place to spend on. If you do not fall into that category but still want to check it out, go ahead. After all one must always try new things ;)

On that positive note, feeling very happy for such a wonderful project in my university town I will end this blog post wishing the heritage village a lot of success in its future plans. Check out their website. I will be posting more photos on my social media in the coming days so keep an eye out for that. 

As always, your suggestion, feedback, and comments are very welcome. Be sure to leave them down below or message me on my social media handles. I hope you enjoyed this blog post, photos, and video as much as I did. Please share it with your friends so you can make your own plans to check out this beautiful place. Thank you for reading. 

Another article on the Heritage Village: Between desire and empire

You might also like Wanderlust: Agumbe, Kundadri Hills, and Hanuman Gundi

Signing off,

Nishma Khetia.

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Genesis : The Story Of My First Trip.

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport"

-Unknown.

Everyone has that one awakening moment that shapes their life and the choices they make from there onwards. For me, this happened in the December of 2014. At that time I did not realize that this would be the start of something that I would grow to love. I somehow managed to convince my parents to let me travel to Mysore and Ooty in my college break. The plan was to take a government-run trip that would start at Bangalore. Three days and two nights! I couldn’t be more thrilled. It was the first time I was travelling alone. I would not call it a solo travel because technically speaking I was on a bus with fifty other strangers but yeah, it was going to be one of the most relaxing and memorable journeys. Obviously, no story was complete without some very huge twists and turns but we will come to that later.

The Karnataka government (KSTDC) operates tours and travels from the Badami House in Bangalore. They trip usually start at 6.30 am. While in Bangalore, I was under the instructions to stay with my relatives who lived a good 30 km away from Badami House. I know right! I left before the crack of dawn at 5 am in the local Bangalore bus praying to reach safely to my destination. Soon after I reached the trip began. My seat was next to an old man from Kolkata travelling with his wife and son who was pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemistry (What!?).  The old man was friendly, chatty and one with a lot of wisdom.

The itinerary for the first day included travelling to Mysore from Bangalore which was a 3hour smooth ride.  I had heard about the beautiful gardens and palaces of Mysore. I was a big fan of visiting old Palaces and learning about the history of the kingdoms that once ruled great empires. Our first stop was at the magnificent St. Philomena’s Church. It was built in 1936 in Neo-Gothic architecture inspired by the famous Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The twin spires of the church are 53 m in height and they resemble the spires of the Patrick's Church in New York City.

The main tourist attraction of Mysore, the Mysore Palace was the most beautiful and majestic palace I have ever seen. The Bangalore Palace has the more modern touch to it. The palace in Gujarat is royal as well but this one was a clear winner. It had four grand entrances, the interiors transported me to a historical world altogether.

Mysore also hosts the Tipu Sultan’s empire which is now left in ruins after the invasion. His summer palace still stands in Bangalore. After some much needed South Indian lunch, we dedicated the afternoon to exploring the great Mysore zoo. It was extremely entreating. The zoo is very well maintained and it is a must visit for animal lovers and families with children! It exhibits a variety of animals and birds.

Just before the sunset, we made our way to the beautiful Brindavan Gardens of Mysore. It is ranked in the top ten gardens in India. Our hotel was located in the heart of the Brindavan gardens. Life could not get more perfect than this. I watched the sunset as the beautiful fountain lights were turned on. The hotel served us with dinner and we called it a night as we were extremely exhausted from the bus travel through the day.

Early in the morning after heavy breakfast, we set course for Ooty. It was going to be a long journey up the mountains. We visited the temple in Nanjangunda in the morning. It was a typical vintage South Indian temple. The forest route to Ooty up the Nilgiri Mountains was beautiful. We were in Tamil Nadu territory! We stopped at a roadside tea shop to enjoy some hot tea and pakodas in the chilling December winter of Ooty. The forest route was very pleasant covered with Eucalyptus trees. We spotted elephants and some deer before we finally arrived in Ooty. Our hotel in Ooty was the most adorable place I have ever seen. I am not kidding. The small hotel run by the government was once the quarters for soldiers of the Mysore king for his winter palace in Ooty. After checking in and getting some lunch we went for boating. It was a fun experience. Beautiful landscapes surrounded us as we moved through the cold waters of the hill station.

Our hotel in Ooty was surrounded by hills and valley with beautiful flowers from all over the world. Coonoor is an army base camp just above Ooty which has the Dodabetta peak, the highest mountain peak in the Nilgiri Hills standing tall at 2,600m. The view was breath-taking. All of Ooty could be seen from the viewpoint.

We settled in for the cold night, bundled up in blankets and surviving on hot tea. The next morning we visited Sim’s botanical park in Ooty. It had an amazing variety of fern houses, butterfly house, trees of various species and I was simply delighted with the whole botany exposure. We began our journey back to Bangalore. We faced a four-hour delay on one of the sharp turns on our way down from the mountain roads because a huge truck had stopped in the middle, blocking the path of our travel bus. Obviously, this was the middle of nowhere and there was no mechanic or tools. Finally, we did make it back safe and sound to Bangalore.

Personally, it was a life changing experience. Travelling with total strangers all of who were curious as to why a tall girl was traveling alone. I guess they assumed my story was like that of Kangana from Queen (I could be for all they know!). I managed to interact with them, share stories, explore two beautiful places and collected memories to last me a lifetime. It was after this wonderful experience that I realized how travelling was relaxing, therapeutic and liberating for me. This trip was where it all began.

TOP FOUR TIPS FOR MYSORE-OOTY TRIP:

1. If you are going in December (winter) carry sweaters/jackets, socks, gloves. It was very cold and if it rains the temperature drops are crazy.

2. The road from Ooty to Mysore is uphill and can give you motion sickness so stay prepared with a plastic bag, anti-emetic tablet etc.

3.Both Mysore and Ooty have a lot of travel-friendly shopping. 

VERY IMPORTANT: Only buy items from government store (inside Mysore Palace area). My friend was sold fake sandalwood in-scents, I bought fakeEucalyptuss oil from very genuine looking shops. Ooty chocolates are fine. They are delicious. Be sure to try some!

4.Mysore Palace has a lot of tourists so be careful with your belongings, also remember to plan your day well so you can visit the zoo in the morning, palace after that and reach in time for the gardens as you will not benefit if you reach the gardens after sunset. They are away from the city. Also, the local bus for the garden is very crowded on public holidays. Just get yourself a taxi. I did not have a pleasant experience on my recent trip to Mysore.

CHECK OUT MY MYSORE-OOTY VLOG

So now you know what you have to do! Take that trip you keep dreaming about. Where is it that you want to go? Is it with your friends, your partner or your family? Make that bucket list trip a reality. This brings us to the end of this blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading my experiences. Leave your thoughts and comments below. Do not forget to follow and subscribe. Thank you!

Disclaimer: All the photos and videos, the stories in this blog post are mine. The songs in the video have been credited at the end of the video to respective singers.

Acknowledgments: The main photo of the view of Ooty from inside the hotel is not mine. It was taken by my sister Sonali Khetia. (She did not allow me to use it so I stole it through a screenshot because it is too beautiful to not be put to good use.)

She went on the same trip with two of our mutual friends two years later. Yes, that is me inspiring travelers right there. Hehe. Bye

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.