I was randomly stopped on the street by this guy who was on his way to deliver an order. He looked very thrilled and shaken to see me, I was taken aback by his reaction on seeing me. So I tried to talk to him and calm him down, by the end he was feeling better 😊 Your love for me is so touching 🙏🏽
Bangalore traffic 🚙🚙🚙🚙🚙🚙🚙
Karthik, who works at the beach was really helpful in explaining to me how Padubidri Beach (in Udupi) got its label of cleanest beach in Karnataka. There are changing rooms, life guards, toilets and other facilities at this beach. All very well maintained and clean. The blue flag beach retains its label only because the staff spends time cleaning it daily, a team of 33 men and women are employed to do the job. It’s a daily effort because the ocean brings a lot of plastic trash and debris with it, so even in off season when there are less tourists the beaches need to be cleaned. #karnataka #karnatakatourism #padubidribeach #udupi #udupidiaries
We caught two fishes only because its off season for fishing, their sizes are small and they are able to escape the net easily. We still got two and had a tasty dinner at night. Catching fish is an everyday activity in coastal Karnataka either in river or in the sea. These guys were experts in kayaking, boating, fishing and even surfing. #karnatakatourism #karnataka #karnatakafishing #kaminiriverpadubidri #udupi #udupidiaries
I was sitting in a cafe on Kudle Beach in Gokarna, having tea when this guy came and said he does temporary tattoos. I told him I wanted to get something small. He started flipping his catalog and I started scrolling through my Pinterest pins. I found this small spider design saved since years in my feed. This was perfect because I wouldn’t ever get a permanent tattoo placed here and this way I still get to know how it would look if I did. The tattoo turned out sharper than I expected once it peeled out. It’s the same ink that is used to mark the fingernails during voting process, so this tattoo won’t come out for 10-15 days. #karnataka #karnatakatourism #gokarna #gokarnadiaries #gokarnabeach #temporarytattoo
Police stopped me at the beach #karnataka #karnatakatourism #udupi #udupidiaries #udupitourism
These houses I found in ruins were at Uchila beach in Ullal, only 20 minutes from Mangalore. I went to Uchila beach to stay at an Airbnb and to experience my first coastal Karnataka city. Karnataka has a long coastal line and Ullal is at its southernmost point hardly 10 minutes away from Kerala border. I dumped my luggage as soon as I reached my room and headed to the beach that was just a 1 minute away, the beach was empty, with no people and no shops only a few fishermen who were fishing at distance. Entering into the sea was not possible, it was unsafe because of high tides and also because the whole beach was lined with heavy boulders to protect the village from sea erosion. It seemed a step too late because a dozen of houses seem to have already vanished, families have left their homes and from what the locals told me houses on the other side of the road also face threat of sea flooding in near future despite of granite reinforcement of the beach. A person told me, 15 years back the sea used to be much further away and Govt. has declared this area unsafe and prone to sea destruction. The village is nice and people are living slow paced lives, don’t get Uber or Ola cabs here, there are no big resorts or hotels on this beach. The houses here are big, with big unkept gardens, the roads are narrow but mostly empty, life here seems peaceful and I could see why it would be hard to leave this life even at the face of danger. #karnatakatourism #karnataka #karnatakavillage
RAMESHWARAM CAFE vs THE FILTER COFFEE. Rameshwaram cafe serves Kannada style dosa, it is thicker, doused in ghee and butter, comes with a minty coconut chutney and slightly sweeter sambar. Filter Coffee has fully Tamil style dosa, less oily (unless its ghee roast dosa), plain, thick and flavorful coconut chutney and sambhar with the right amount of heat. Both are always crowded. Filter coffee was my personal favourite amongst the two dosa joints in Indiranagar, Bangalore #karnatakatourism #bangalore #bangalorefood
Church street is crowded from morning to 1 at night, until cops come to close down the shops. It has so many cute shops, cafes and bars. Although very crowded, its still my favourite place in Bangalore to spend time at, just to sit in cafe and watch people go by was a good past time. The entire bangalore flocks in here and so do so many tourists.
There is not much to do in Dubare elephant camp. On a number of websites it was written you can bathe and oil the elephants but on reaching there people said its not allowed due to swollen river bank. Although many visitors told me it’s the same in other seasons as well. I was also expecting some demonstration by guides and Mahouts on the maintainece and training of the elephants, or some notes on the elephant’s life and nature, it would have added value to my trip to Dubare. I couldn’t really understand what was the purpose of keeping these elephants captive in these camps, what purpose are they filling there, probably an explanation of what happens to elephants in this camp would have left me more satisfied. If you want to see an elephant up close then you can pay a visit to Dubare Elephant camp or the two other elephant camps that are there in Karnataka. All in all there is zero interaction with guides and Mahouts in the camp, I ended up feeling sorry for these animals and only hoped these animals are not just baits for tourists, hope they are well fed and well kept. #karnataka #karnatakatourism #dubareelephantcamp #dubareelephantcamp🐘🐘 #elephant #elephantcamp #coorg
Trek to Paradise beach was quite easy except we took a wrong turn at one point and had to push through a lot of thorny bushes. There are two routes to reach Paradise Beach and Half Moon Beach and both are good. One starts from Om Beach which is popular. The other route starts from Belken Beach. You can also camp at these beaches and at night if you are lucky you may get to see Bio-luminescence at the beach. #gokarna #gokarnadiaries🌊🌅 #paradisebeach #halfmoonbeach
The view from Zostel Gokarna was mesmerising, nothing like I had seen before. Pictures could never justify. There is something magical and absolutely thrilling about viewing a vast ocean from hill top and Gokarna provides just that. However to really enjoy the water, you do need access to clean beaches, and the beach right infront of the hostel, the Main Gokarna beach was verrrry disappointing. The dirty beach was a big reality check. We a took 15 minute scooty ride and went to Kudle beach which turned out to be my favourite one of the three famous beaches in Gokarna. Kudle beach is lined with small shacks and was quite clean, its a big broad sandy beach with fewer people and fun, relaxed, laidback vibes. Next was Om beach which is more crowded, partly because of the famous Namaste cafe which had good food. The beach is rockier so you can sit for hours on them without getting wet. I saw more people enjoying on Kudle and Om beach, I could spot a younger crowd than other coastal Karnataka towns. But to call Gokarna the Goa of Karnataka would be a misnomer, it is far different from Goa in terms of beach accessibility and tourism. #karnataka #karnatakatourism #gokarna #gokarnadiaries #gokarnabeach
When I asked you guys what are the things I should try in Mangalore, most of you replied go to Pabbas. Mangalore is an industrial city, big ports, refineries and companies but the favourite hangout spot in the city still remains this ice cream parlor. A big city with small city vibes. #karnataka #karnatakatourism #mangalore #mangalorediaries #mangalorefood
Rabindranath Tagore came to Karwar in 1882 called this town ‘Kashmir of Karnataka’ and I could not make out why. A century later Karwar has big housing complexes, hospitals, many decent hotels that cater to the large number of navy personnel that are stationed here. There are decent schools but for college education students still go to Hubali and Dharwar. Karwar although in Uttar Kannnda has a very strong Konkani influence and you can see that in their food as well as the language. Tagore beach is one of the most beautiful beach that I have seen, a wide and long stretch of sand with gentle waves. I really enjoyed the sunset here. The rock garden was surprisingly very very interesting. Upon completion of the last phase Karwar will have the largest Naval Base in Eastern Hemisphere on the globe. Although the naval base generates employment and development opportunities, the fishing community fear it will impact their livelihood and they continue to object to the project expansion. No commoner can enter the Naval Base except on certain occasions like on Navy Day. There is an INS Chapel Warship Museum that I skipped. Karwar also has the beautiful River Kali and a garden near it, you can see the river joining the ocean from here or go on a boat ride. #karnatakatourism #karnataka #karwar
Got caught in sudden rain ☔️☔️☔️🌧️ #gokarna #karnatakatourism
Yesterday Abhishek was one of those people who replied to my question sticker about who amongst my followers are from Bangalore. I texted him and he invited me to his cafe, I thought it would be nice to meet him in person. We took a ride to his cafe in Sarjapur. His cafe was only a few kilometres away from Tamil Nadu border and 40 minutes away from my stay. He brought for me really tasty food, introduced me to his friends, we talked so much about bangalore and how its such a multi cultural place. It was really nice of him to share his favourite spots in Bangalore and I plan on to visit at least a few of those places. It’s so nice to meet you all in person and get to know in real life. Forever grateful 😌😊 #fanmeet
Start sending recommendations, I am relying on you all to help me discover Bangalore. Already in love with the weather here ⛈️🌥️
Mysore is a small city. The people were nice and helpful, I do not know Kannada but that never caused any issue. English broken or fluent is understood mostly by everyone, English is preferred over Hindi. It is the 2nd most populated city of Karnataka but coming from Delhi, it still felt spread out and spacious. It’s only as safe as it gets in India for women, it has definitely more female workforce in some atypical businesses which is appreciation worthy. Never did I get stuck in traffic, the roads are wide and although there are almost zero traffic lights installed, vehicles still manage to get by without trouble, but still a requirement for smaller vehicles and pedestrians. I love how houses in Mysore keep a garden space (big or small) in their compounds, some new-age buildings look disappointing in front of them. Only spend on silk, sweet and sandalwood oil at authentic shops, especially if you want to buy 100% Mysore Silk, it starts selling at 25k-30k. KSIC is the only mark you need to look for while silk shopping, any thing else is a sham e.g: KSIEC, Silk Mark are NOT govt. certified marks for pure silk. The city with its many palaces, temples, churches, festivals and dozens of museums shares with its tourists glimpses of its past in many forms. It has fewer things to offer if heritage buildings, art and parks do not fulfil you. Monsoon in August is definitely still a good time to visit Mysore, it could rain anytime, but mostly scheduled between late afternoon to evening, beyond that people are habituated to take pit stops under tree shades and in 10-15 mins the rain shower will usually subside. You will not be able to visit the dam in this season, I missed visiting Tipu Sultan palace and museum in Srirangapattnam but would recommend that. You don’t need to cover all the parks, gardens and lakes, but they are beautiful if you need some quiet time in nature. Biryanis are good but overhyped, the chaats are not good.
I took G3 BMTC bus from Brigade Road to Electronic City. It took me 1 hr and 20 mins to finally reach there and I got down at the Wipro Tech Park. The entire route was ridden with non-stop traffic. The bus did pass by the Electronic City metro station but I got to know it’s not operational. Since this is a fairly new city I had very high expectations from its infrastructure. The city had some good features like wide roads and clean footpaths lined with trees and proper barricades. The whole city could be considered a thousand acre tech park and most of its administration is taken care by ELCITA, that is run by heads of the tech companies established in this city. Instead of a typical democratically elected municipality board, its ELCITA that takes care of city’s water, traffic, waste, town planning, etc. The market in E-city was basic and did not have any breweries or pubs so far as I saw. There was still a lot of traffic during the evening and city was totally jam packed. I did come across many areas where footpaths were occupied by stalls and vendors and there was no place to walk. There are no big malls and the nearest starbucks was 9 kms away. The market was dull but I think it will get better with time. I have read many great things about ELCITA’s way of town management, mostly on their own page, but when I asked around the people living in electronic city about what is ELCITA they mostly had no clue.
Was roaming on church street in my night shorts and slippers and decided to check out one of the most famous clubs in Bangalore. I love that they allowed me in my slippers, it would never work in Delhi.
Gokarna is much smaller town than I had imagined and much more beautiful than I had hoped. The town area is where most locals live, rest of the Gokarna is up on the hills which is full of forest, empty land, many beautiful viewpoints. Locals for some reason do not occupy the hills here, if you do spot a building on the hills it would most likely be a hotel. There are 4 famous beaches and 2 hidden beaches. The broken roads, landslides, laterite mining and dirt on the beaches really needs to be taken care of. The combination of forested hills, rocky cliffs, vast beaches and miles of plain grassy land makes Gokarna a really beautiful place to spend time at. A small town but so much to offer, have fun on the beach, or go on trekking trail, or just walk on the vast laterite plains. I ended up spending much more time than I intended to in Gokarna.
With the amazing @katwalk.katana . Got to catch up after so long. Our meetings are always so warm and heartfelt, grateful. Sharing our experiences, picking on each other’s minds and talking without a track of time, these are days I live for 😘💕 Pic credits @shahbazansar_
With the amazing @katwalk.katana . Got to catch up after so long. Our meetings are always so warm and heartfelt, grateful. Sharing our experiences, picking on each other’s minds and talking without a track of time, these are days I live for 😘💕 Pic credits @shahbazansar_
With the amazing @katwalk.katana . Got to catch up after so long. Our meetings are always so warm and heartfelt, grateful. Sharing our experiences, picking on each other’s minds and talking without a track of time, these are days I live for 😘💕 Pic credits @shahbazansar_
