Probably, this has to be the longest trip inside Karnataka and indeed a memorable one. Whole trip was completely unplanned and free style
Only thing which we had in our mind is, to spend some time in and around Udapi-Mangalore.

On Wed,24th Dec, our journey started from Bangalore-To-Mangalore in Sharma travels.
Luckily we had got reservations in the front rows. (I still remember those jumping days, some weeks back when we traveled to Kukke Subramanya, in the last row of KSRTC deluxe bus)
Just to mention, Bangalore to Mangalore road is really horrible and it was indeed a wise decision not to take personal vehicle. Anyway, we reached Mangalore at around 9am, on Thursday morning. Unluckily(!) we got the hotel rooms in a Taj Mahal Lodge near State Bank Road. Room condition was really pathetic. FYI, we had got the deluxe suite

Christmas day. At around 11am, we hired an auto rickshaw and started our site seeing with the KREC beach(Surathkal).There was a stunning Lighthouse on top of the rocks but we couldn’t go because the lift was not working! Then on, we went to play in the sea. It was real fun and the most important thing was, there was no fish smell. Also, it was very calm and clean. We spent an hour or two. While coming back to hotel room, had a nice heavy lunch. In the evening, we went to some Bharat Mall, hoping to get the tickets for Ghajini but as expected, it was houseful. Had no other options, so just returned back to hotel room.

Friday(26th) morning , we checkedout of the hotel room and started our journey towards Udupi. It was a trilling experience to sit next to the driver It was too hot and humid which is an unplesent cum uncomfortable conditions, for someone not accustomed to it. Afternoon, reaching Udupi, we thought of going to Malpe beach. Place is around 4-5km from Udupi. Along with our heavy luggages, we boarded bus to Malpe beach. On it’s way, it was all fishy and stinking. But the final destination, the beach was once again clean. But it was crowded. We parked our luggages in a nearby locker room. Then, went on to take a boat to Saint Merry’s island. The ticket cost is around Rs.70 per head. It took about 30 minutes to reach that island. At the island another small boat will ferry passengers back and forth from the bigger vessel. The scenery was amazing with huge neatly formed columns of rocks. It was a pleasure, to sleep on those rocks listening to the sea saga, waves hitting the rocks.
Evening time, we went back to Udupi and started searching for the lodges. No rooms were available, since it was holiday time. Thank god, we got accommodation in a temple guest room, but with the condition, to vacate the rooms by next morning 8am.

Saturday(27th) morning, we went to Udupi Krishna’s temple. Took prasad and lunch in the temple. They served the meal on the floor, which they say is holistic. Afternoon, again it was hot and humid, we decided to try our luck in Manipal. We finally got hotel rooms in a Lodge”Janani”. Evening time, we went to some park but came back early. We then went to movie “RAB NE BANA DI JODI” in a DVD theater. Both print and sound were horrible and they had cut all important scenes to make it 2 and half hour.

Sunday morning we again planed to visit Malpe beach. So went to Udupi and then Malpe beach. Had an extended session of play in sea waves.Then on, it was one of the best experience to have lunch in a restaurant on the sea shore. Came back to hotel room in the evening.

Monday morning we left to Kollur to visit Goddess Mookambika’s temple. Had prasad and lunch and then we left to Ranibennur.
i.e. the route which we took, Kollur-> Kundapur-> Shimoga-> Harihar-> Ranibennur

All n all, it was a nice break from our daily routine life in Bangalore and a nice way to end the year 2008

Will post the pics, soon!