Fall into the falls - Bangalore to Didupe to Ermai Falls

It had been quite some time since I wanted to go on a trek with my colleagues, but I never got the right group apart from Neha. The long pause came to limelight when I started work on a new project with a crazy bunch of people. As much I started liking to come to office every day, I loved hanging out and spending most of my time with them. This lead to the idea of pulling them out on a trek, which finally ended in a treknic to Didupe & Ermai falls in Chikmagalur district organized by Bangalore Trekking Club!

March 22, Friday:

The plan was to meet at the usual Shanthala Silk house in Majestic and leave around 9.45 PM. Metro helped us to reach on time. Huge backpacks loaded with sleeping bag and jacket and my favourite people – A long time plan was on action. 21 people were geared for the enthusiastic weekend. We boarded our TT around 10.30 AM and the trek officially began!

The usual BTC-style introduction started. We had to enact our names and the rest of the crowd should guess it. While this had become a routine for me since I’ve been enacting the same way in all the prior treks, Sanjay and Ajay (my team mates) didn’t disappoint us and Sanjay, as always, exceeded our expectations. While the laughter continued till midnight, we took a break when the van stopped for a quick dinner.

March 23, Saturday:

Amidst the continuous chattering from Ajay & Neha, I managed to get some sleep with the little space in my seat (No Sanjay! The person next to me didn’t occupy a lot of space :P ) My alarm went at 6AM and I woke up to the picturesque mountains of the Western Ghats. While the steep roads with a lot of hairpin bends made the ride scary, the green environment made us to disappear into the magic world. We reached Didupe village around 6.30AM and a huge waterfall was visible from one end and the horse-face (Kudremukh) hill on the other.

The guide was waiting to receive his guests and he took us to his house situated amidst the forest. Initially, it started off as a plain stony path, but eventually, we crossed multiple streams to reach the house. We didn’t bother to get our shoes since the slippery rocks posed more challenges. Couldn’t ask for a better start of the trek.

After quickly refreshing, hot steaming idlies waited for breakfast. The guide took us though the day’s itinerary and we hopped out with our day packs. Hidden paths; Improper terrain; Unknown destination; Slippery stones; Yet, I enjoyed every second, mainly because of the people and the unexpected challenges that popped up as we progressed. Leeches, of course added to the adventure!

The entire trek path was inside the dense forest, which was supposed to be elephant’s backyard in the past. The steep ascent drained out the energy right from the start of the trek. In a couple of hours, we reached our first halting point – a beautiful valley which descended into a steep fall. This nameless place was hidden from the external world, and thus the beauty remained undisturbed. Everyone jumped into the water mainly to clear away the leeches that had been sucking our blood inside the shoes and pants, and we spent some time chatting and taking pictures.

After multiple ascend and descend with the removal of thorn pricks clinging to my hair and spotting snakes and weird creatures on our path, we reached our next destination – the next level of the waterfall, which happened to our lunch spot, but also looked like the perfect suicide spot :P One wrong step and you might land up into pieces! Yet, you could have loads of fun if you are careful and our people are extra-cautious bunch of enthusiasts. In no time, people slowly started getting into the falls and everyone hopped in. Savige bath packed for lunch turned out to be devamirtham after playing inside the water. Bidding good bye to the beautiful falls, we moved to our next destination.

This is when we started going down the path to the base, and it was a complete steep. With the help of the trees and stones, we managed to get our grip. As always, people fell down and got bum hits, yet, we were grateful that it didn’t rain, else our path would have become miserable. Although going down didn’t drain out our energy, the sound of our heart beat kept pumping fast due to the continuous adrenaline rush. The only rule of thumb is to sit and slide if you are not confident about the path! We kept moving down parallel to the falls, hence it was a treat to watch the ambience despite the tricky route. And after one final super steep descend came the surprise element of the day – the majestic Didupe falls!

I was stunned at the first look of it – of course love at first sight and the best part was the presence of the rainbow. Even without bothering to remove our shoes, we merged with the mesmerizing beauty. The water force was so harsh that we struggled to move closer to the falls, yet nothing stopped us. At the end of the day, the free massage from the falls and the photo shoot session was worth the pain of reaching it!

We started our way back to the homestay after completely getting drenched in the beauty of the falls and fancy snacks made of jackfruit pappad and hot bajji was waiting for us. As the night fell, it was time for some games. Mafia came to entertain us and of course, it was fun as always with arguments and quarrel and the night ended with a lavish dinner – special mention to the amazing kesari bath I’ve ever had in my life!

March 24, Sunday:

It was a cold morning and I woke up to the view of misty mountains. Idiyappam with milk made of palm jaggery and gravy filled our stomach for morning breakfast. While we waited for our coffee, party time began with people dancing crazily for kuthu songs and not to forget the eye-to-eye romantic dance performance by Sanjay and the doctor in the group!  We set out on our next adventure with all the laughter to the mud games arena. None of us knew what was waiting for us, apart from the fact that we were going to get ourselves dirty. We walked across the lawns and meadows to reach our mud pond spot. Basically, it was the season where the farmers will start sowing their seeds and the land was hydrated and strengthened for a better harvest.

By the time, the entire team reached the mud pond, Vikram and few exuberant people got into the water. It wasn’t attractive at the first look, yet, the minute we stepped into water, the cold waves brought goose bumps and we merged with the enthusiastic crowd. Beach volleyball turned into a mud volley ball and it was fun watching people dive into the dirt water to get hold of the ball.  While the pros got into the game so quickly, novice like me became a spectator despite being part of the team. This didn’t last too long when people voluntarily made us to get into the water and made us look ugly. It ended up in a tit for tat game, people running around and chasing each other with hand full of mud and beating each other.

Next, the stage was set for a game of tug of war – the team was split into two. We used our complete force and tried our best to place our legs firmly and eventually lied down completely in the slippery mud as the pull from the other team increased. After a couple of amateur games, we had a competition between the pro in the village and our strong BTC people. As a spectator, we became the cheer girls for our team and motivated, yet, you know what would have been the result? 😊 Cold buttermilk came to our rescue to quench our thirst. Then one group started to play kabaddi and the rest of us played dodge ball. As always, crazy photo sessions brought an end to our mud game time.

After refreshing, we took a jeep ride to the place where our TT was waiting, which happened to be another adventure. It was a roller coaster ride with crazy bumps and forceful water streams across our way. The other group had also noticed a huge snake. Then we went to our next mane – where our lunch was getting ready for us. We were offered a variety of items – huge ladies finger sambhar, salad, rasam, payasam, appalam and ended with the amazing sukku kaapi. Since we reached the place very late, we missed the chance to go on a paddy field visit.

We took a walk to the Ermai falls where we got an opportunity to do some social work of cleaning the area around the falls – thanks to our cleanliness-friendly people who never bother to use dustbin to dump the waste. The entire place looked so different and free from plastic after the clean-up and I could only wish if people took small efforts to not to ruin the public places and teach the same to the next generation! While the clean-up drive brought mental satisfaction, we were mesmerized with the beauty of the multi-level Ermai falls. Since it was too deep, we did not take extra effort to get into the water, but the swimmers didn’t spare this waterfall too.

As the place started getting darker, we returned our way to the home. Our next task was to prepare our own dinner – the best part of the entire trip! Although I cook just for fun, I’ve never made anything for a huge group. My chapattis had never been round and I was sitting there kneading the dough! :D Vikram was the highlight in our group – he managed most of the cooking himself – special mention to the yummy potato subzi. We started back to Bangalore by 10PM.

Bidding good bye to the amazing group, we departed our ways at 4AM. It was one another awesome weekend with my people. TGTC begins here!

Gokarna ~ Mini paradise away from the world!

Well! To start off, I admit that I am writing the trip experience a little late (very late actually!), after a year to be precise. I cannot assure you with accurate details, but this trip had been close to my heart for multiple reasons and hence this blog! The main reason for its attachment is that I and my friends organized it completely without anyone’s help and second, it was a girls-only trip! 

It was our internship days in Bengaluru. We wanted to step out and travel somewhere and that somewhere became Gokarna. After an extensive research about this place (Thanks, Neha!) and with some experience shared by our colleagues, the mission “GOKARNA” started. Finalizing the dates and deciding the number of potential people who would ‘definitely’ join us in the trip, was the most difficult task. The dates got pushed for multiple reasons and it ended up on March 21 & 22, 2015. Booked our travel tickets (KSRTC Airavat Rs.800) and accommodation little ahead as it was our first girl’s trip.

March 20, 2015, Friday:

The excitement was at its peak. Packed our luggage and headed to Majestic in an auto. Boarded our sophisticated KSRTC Airavat and got ourselves ready for the next 10 hour journey across the Western Ghats. It was a complete roller coaster ride as we went uphill and downhill throughout the journey. Finally we reached the Gokarna bus stand at 9 AM.

March 21, 2015, Saturday:

Hired an auto to Om Beach where our accommodation was booked. We got the glimpse of Kudle beach across the cliff on our way to Om beach. With all the excitement, we took our first steps into Namaste Café. We had booked a double bed room (800 Rs.) and 5 bed room (2500 Rs.) and the rooms were not bad as expected. While the 5 bed room had a concrete appearance, the double bed room was an individual thatched hut. Refreshed quickly and headed out for breakfast. 

The hotel themselves owned an amazing restaurant with the best menu. Tired of idly and dosa, it was time for some English breakfast :P Ordered from a range of pancake varieties to omelettes to fruit juices. The café was also located at the right spot, overlooking the beach. Mash potatoes were too yum that we went for a second one. Chocolate pancakes, honey pancake, fruit pancake and they had a lot of varieties to try. After gulping as much as possible, we headed towards the beach.

As the weather was too hot (March and its heat!), we did not want to get into the water in the mid noon and get tanned. Bargained a lot with the boatman and reduced to 1000 Rs. for 6 people to travel from Om beach to Paradise beach. Into the blue environment, we surpassed Half Moon beach and reached the paradise. As the name rightly says, it was truly paradise. A silent uninhabited island with some countable foreigners (so called hippies), who camp for few days and move to the next paradise.

We could not spot even a single shop or house, it was a mini world, away from the human’s jail. We sat there silently looking at the waves and hearing to the nature’s music. A foreign lady woke up from her sleep and started singing to her guitar’s music. Then she went for a swim deep inside the ocean and rested a while reading her favourite book. She was just living her life in the process of discovering herself. I wished I could be like her, but think about our society and all your wishes would go into thin air! 

Around 3 PM, we decided to leave the paradise and move to the next heaven. Initially, we thought of trekking to half-moon beach, but things didn’t work out as expected. Since it was the time around new moon, the water was too ferocious and splashed the rocks. We got an advice from a hippie that the trekking path would require extra efforts to swim across the ocean and cross huge rocks. At that very moment, we wished there were guys in our group who could have helped us cross the path. Still we didn’t give up, we tried walking but few in the group were scared. Having only girls in the group, we got to think about our safety as well and thus we ended up in the same boat which brought us to the paradise. Since there were other passengers too who wanted to move to the other side, we were lucky to get a glimpse of the Light House and God’s Own Beach. Yes! Indeed there are so many beaches around this place, which I am definitely visiting in the next trip.

Back to Om beach and our favourite Namaste Café, we had seafood platter.

As per the name, it had a huge variety of boiled fishes with French fries and boiled veggies. Even though the latter didn’t seem interesting, we finished all the fishes and then headed to Kudle beach. We took a small path opposite to the restaurant, which people told that it will lead us to Kudle. Trusting their words, we walked across plants and open grassland and finally ended in a crooked downhill to the beach. 

First view of the beach and the sunset took us through the majestic beauty. We sat in a restaurant drinking juice and admired the sun. I wanted to head back to Om beach before it gets dark, while others wanted to stay back. After some rounds of convincing and photo shoots, we headed back to our home beach. Had fun time playing in the water. The dark fell and the water became ferocious and the crowd count started to reduce. Due to safety concerns, we headed back to room and refreshed. Finished our dinner with yummy desserts and made some nice conversations with my girls.

March 22, 2015, Sunday:

It was Sunday morning and who would wake up so early at 6 AM and the answer would be ME! :D

Being an early riser, I was super excited to take a walk across the beach in the early hours. In no time, I woke up the entire group and helped them to witness real happiness. As we walked across the beach with the sun rising behind us, there was silence everywhere other than the rhythmic sound of the waves. There was absolutely no one around and it looked like a private beach. We saw two foreigners doing their yoga and here we were doing nothing. After having some peaceful time, we headed back to the café and had our fancy breakfast.  

While we were thinking what to do next, why not try the water sports? Remember that Gokarna is not like Goa! Finally after few calls, we got our water ride owner and negotiated a rate of 700 per head for 3 water activities – water scooter, bumper ride and banana ride.

Out of the three, I was super excited and eagerly waited to try the last one! Since it took some time for the crew to pump air into the banana, we thought we would finish riding our scooter into the ocean. It was mad! They let us ride our own scooters, with one guy behind us to assist in case of unforeseen situations. When we were almost nearing the shore, the guy behind us took control of the scooter and did some dangerous stunts, which was super thrilling and brought the fear out of us.

Meanwhile, the bumper ride was getting ready and this time, two people could travel together in a bumper boat. The boat was connected to a speed boat which dragged us in a crazy manner into the ocean. With a lot of bumps and getting hit in our bums, we headed back to the shore and got ready for the final big ride – Banana ride! 

I got to know about the ride from the internet, but the rest haven’t seen what it is too. The ride got its name because the boat was in the shape of a banana. Again, this was also connected to a speed boat. We held our hands tight to the banana and set our expedition into the ocean. In no time, there was a sudden push and we didn’t know what happened. We were inside the water and our boat was lying in a corner. After spending some gala time singing and dancing in the middle of the ocean, reluctantly we got back to the banana and reached the shore. We had our second drop in the shore and we settled in the ocean. 

I would say that the banana ride was a game between the people in the banana and the speed boat. We would have one person at the trail end of the banana from the speed boat’s crew, who will try to tilt the banana and push us into the water. But we should try to put our force in the other direction and control the tilt. While these are something that I learnt from the internet, just don’t follow the rules and do what you think at that moment but never hold your hands to the boat if you got dropped into the ocean! Life jackets are there to save you. 

Had the best mid sun bath and got tanned crazily, but it was worth it! We lived our moments, forgot ourselves and had a mad time together. Since it was time for our check-out in the hotel, we got an extension of half day by paying extra 400. Refreshed and bid goodbye to the silent paradise. Took an auto and headed back to Gokarna for a nice fish meal at a small house. We got this information from a random blog and it was worth trying it. The fish was amazing and our stomachs were totally full. You do get veggie thali as well! We mentioned about the place to the auto driver and he took us to this house. After our meal time, we kept our baggage at their house and headed to Gokarna beach. 

We wanted to visit the temple as well, but we did not have time. Did some random shopping and headed to the Gokarna beach for sunset. This beach was completely opposite from the rest of the beaches, it was over crowded and dirty. It was very similar to Marina beach. We headed back to the house quickly, bought some buns for dinner and reached the bus stand as our return bus was scheduled to leave at 7.30 PM (too early!) Bidding goodbye to an amazing weekend, we dozed off with lots of happy memories.

For others who are about to plan your next trip to this paradise, ensure that you have one extra day to visit the Murudeshwar temple and its amazing list of water sports activities. It is very close to Gokarna, but you need to spend one whole day there. Do not expect Gokarna to be like Goa! You cannot find liquor shops or pubs, yet you can buy alcohol if you pay some extra bucks. Vegetarians can also survive in Gokarna because we had grass eating people in our group and they loved their food. And yeah! If you are planning to do a girls only trip, do it right away, because we did it! 

People who made this trip super amazing – Vj, Subi, Neha, Shalini, Priyanka and myself - Shamili