December 10, 2009
Getaway to Murudeshwar
Our end semester exams were over somewhere in the third week of November and many of us had a couple of days to spend around in college before we were off to home sweet home again. Bored to death we made a plan to visit Murudeshwar and spend a day over there.
Most of the people invited dropped out to finish unfinished business and so that left the four us Shashank,Pratap,Harsh and myself to catch the Mangalore-Madgaon passenger which leaves Mangalore at around 6 in the morning and boarded at Surathkal station. The train wasnt crowded and we made the two and half hour journey to Murudeshwar station quite pleasantly. The temple is 2km from the railway station and one can walk or find a three wheeler to reach the temple.
The temple is by the sea and makes for a wonderful combination. The temple gopuram stands out from quite a distance and makes your neck stretch when you look up at it. We visited the temple and paid our obeisance to the deity Lord Shiva. Then we went outside and beside the temple we saw the recently installed giant statue of Shiva. After spending some time around the temple we decided to explore the beach.
The beach next to the temple was crowded and we walked for some time along the beach to find a safe haven. The beach was dirty and littered. Finally we came to a spot where we found some stretch of sand separated from the beach. We waded through the water and reached the spot. The spot was perfert. It was desolated, clean and heavenly. Even those in our group who had resolved to stay dry got into the water. Though the waters was mentioned to be dangerous we ventured quite far into the sea without any threatening signs. We stayed long and played in the waters oblivious of everything and quite contented.
By 4 we had stretched on the beach, relaxed and left back for the railway station. We caught the same train that we had come in the morning at 5.30pm from the station and returned to Surathkal at 8.30 in the night.
It was a pleasant outing; nothing spectacular but a day well spent.
Few things that one can do :
i) You can hire a boat for Rs4000-5000 for 10-12 people and go to Netrani Island off the coast near Murudeshwar and spend an entire day at the island.
ii) Jog Falls is just 70km from Murudeshwar and it would make a nice 2 day trip (Mangalore-Murudeshwar-Jog Falls-Mangalore)
