Paradise might be an understatement for this awesome place. It was love at first sight for me. It was almost sunset by the time we reached Gokarna. The effects of traveling had started to show on our fragile bodies. But once we hit the winding roads of the hills of Gokarna, every body ache we had was forgotten in a hurry. I immediately felt relaxed. Gokarna amazes me because of this very inherent quality of its. It can bring peace to the most disturbed soul on the planet. It has a calming effect that I have yet to come across in any other tourist place. Even the Sun seemed to be sedated. The bright yellow star was muffled crimson red. It is very unlike any place I have visited till now.
Quick layout of the beaches of Gokarna. There are four major beaches. OM, Kudle, Half-moon and Paradise. Om beach is the biggest, most famous and thus the most populated among them. Half-moon and Paradise cannot be reached through cars due to lack of roads. You have two options. Either trek through the hills or take a boat.
After parking our car in front of OM beach, we took the winding steps that lead us to the beach. It was tranquility personified. I am sure I could have spent an entire week watching the waves crash on the rocks. OM beach lived up to its reputation. Its soft white sand is any beach goers delight. It was softer than my pillow. Sad part is we could not find any accommodation there. We decided to find accommodation in Paradise beach. And boy oh boy, was it a blessing in disguise or what! I am simply out of words on how beautiful the Paradise beach is. It is what we call in Kannada "Anvartha nama". It was almost dark by the time we reached it by boat. Actually I wanted to trek the distance. But sadly Bala was in no condition to do the trek. So we hired a boat. With minimal clothes stuffed in our carry on bags, along with cameras and torches, we headed to Paradise beach.
Once we reached Paradise beach, we found a beach side shack, that was willing to accommodate 6 people for just Rs. 200. It has to be said, without electricity, pillows, sheets and just a basic floor mat, it was not luxury by and stretch of imagination. But it was the kind of stay that I had hoped for. The foreigners there are more liberal in their dressing, and this we found out as soon as we entered ;-). We were the only 'desi' people in the entire shack, which had approx 10 rooms. We got settled in, changed to our shorts and headed to the beach (i mean we stepped out of the shack). And to our total shock, it was deserted. Not a single soul on the beach. It was like having a private beach all to ourselves. For obvious reasons the movie 'The Beach' kept on playing in my mind for some time. The sky was crystal clear, with thousands of stars dotting the sky. We could hear the guitar and the flute being played in adjacent shacks. I was really tempted to play flute there (and maybe impress some chicks ;-P ). It was time for us to start our long dinner. The starters were ordered. They were hot and delicious. Till then, I had not realized that the owner (Anil) of the shack was the waiter, the cook and the cleaner. He was all-in-one to the truest sense. Then it was time for the bonfire. This was something that I'll cherish for a long time. Bonfire on a 'private' beach. We sang, we joked, we laughed (more so because of the 'fruit' drinks). The food was ordered. We ordered mexican, italian, chinese, continental, thai etc. And all of it VEG. Anil was so good, he prepared everything from scratch, just for us. Hot delicious food in that remote place was the highlight of the night. Of course there were lots of 'wisdom' from Viji. The night ended pretty well. We finally managed to get inside our own rooms :-D All of us made pacts that we would be celebrating the bachelor's party in this place. Satisfied with the pact, I forced myself to sleep.
The morning was even more serene compared to the night. The beach was even more beautiful. So were the people who had started dotting it. I felt sad to leave that place. Although it was planned to be a 1 night stay, I wanted to stay longer in that place. But I left Paradise beach, knowing fully well that I'll be there in the near future. With that thought in mind we reached our car on Om beach. Our talk had changed to Goa, more beaches, more babes and of course of Ravi joining our trip. We left Gokarna fully rejuvinated. More on Goa in the next post.
Cheers
Quick layout of the beaches of Gokarna. There are four major beaches. OM, Kudle, Half-moon and Paradise. Om beach is the biggest, most famous and thus the most populated among them. Half-moon and Paradise cannot be reached through cars due to lack of roads. You have two options. Either trek through the hills or take a boat.
After parking our car in front of OM beach, we took the winding steps that lead us to the beach. It was tranquility personified. I am sure I could have spent an entire week watching the waves crash on the rocks. OM beach lived up to its reputation. Its soft white sand is any beach goers delight. It was softer than my pillow. Sad part is we could not find any accommodation there. We decided to find accommodation in Paradise beach. And boy oh boy, was it a blessing in disguise or what! I am simply out of words on how beautiful the Paradise beach is. It is what we call in Kannada "Anvartha nama". It was almost dark by the time we reached it by boat. Actually I wanted to trek the distance. But sadly Bala was in no condition to do the trek. So we hired a boat. With minimal clothes stuffed in our carry on bags, along with cameras and torches, we headed to Paradise beach.
Once we reached Paradise beach, we found a beach side shack, that was willing to accommodate 6 people for just Rs. 200. It has to be said, without electricity, pillows, sheets and just a basic floor mat, it was not luxury by and stretch of imagination. But it was the kind of stay that I had hoped for. The foreigners there are more liberal in their dressing, and this we found out as soon as we entered ;-). We were the only 'desi' people in the entire shack, which had approx 10 rooms. We got settled in, changed to our shorts and headed to the beach (i mean we stepped out of the shack). And to our total shock, it was deserted. Not a single soul on the beach. It was like having a private beach all to ourselves. For obvious reasons the movie 'The Beach' kept on playing in my mind for some time. The sky was crystal clear, with thousands of stars dotting the sky. We could hear the guitar and the flute being played in adjacent shacks. I was really tempted to play flute there (and maybe impress some chicks ;-P ). It was time for us to start our long dinner. The starters were ordered. They were hot and delicious. Till then, I had not realized that the owner (Anil) of the shack was the waiter, the cook and the cleaner. He was all-in-one to the truest sense. Then it was time for the bonfire. This was something that I'll cherish for a long time. Bonfire on a 'private' beach. We sang, we joked, we laughed (more so because of the 'fruit' drinks). The food was ordered. We ordered mexican, italian, chinese, continental, thai etc. And all of it VEG. Anil was so good, he prepared everything from scratch, just for us. Hot delicious food in that remote place was the highlight of the night. Of course there were lots of 'wisdom' from Viji. The night ended pretty well. We finally managed to get inside our own rooms :-D All of us made pacts that we would be celebrating the bachelor's party in this place. Satisfied with the pact, I forced myself to sleep.
The morning was even more serene compared to the night. The beach was even more beautiful. So were the people who had started dotting it. I felt sad to leave that place. Although it was planned to be a 1 night stay, I wanted to stay longer in that place. But I left Paradise beach, knowing fully well that I'll be there in the near future. With that thought in mind we reached our car on Om beach. Our talk had changed to Goa, more beaches, more babes and of course of Ravi joining our trip. We left Gokarna fully rejuvinated. More on Goa in the next post.
Cheers
