I always love traveling and now mainly for my lil one, love traveling with him to explore new places and people.. luckily I made a group of friends in my society with similar mindset… 5 of us with kids of similar age groups -2 to 3 years …so we generally chat when we take the kids out for play in the evening.
We came up with this crazy idea of going on a 3 days trip without the daddies. One reason was finalizing the trip including the schedules of daddies was a tough task . Another one was we wanted to try it out. Since the kids spend most of the time with us mommies, we felt it could be fine to manage them on our own.
We zeroed in to go to pondicherry as it has beaches and nice cafes, would be more a relaxed weekend with the kids. Ofcourse there were concerns of safety and convenience. I myself was not 100% if I can manage. But with some backup (like a friends uncle at pondy) and hiring a car with driver instead of us driving, we took the leap of faith and made the bookings.
I must say the husbands have been really supportive and encouraging inspite of their concern. Thus we were all set for the first ever mommy and kid trip.
We started early in the morning at 6, packing some snacks for the 7 hours drive. Surprisingly all the kids were awake by the time we got into the car. The kids were soo well behaved throughout the drive, much to our astonishment. They nicely watched the passing vehicles, slept for a while, ate nicely when we stopped for breakfast, played for a while. It was super good start. We reached resort around lunch time, we quickly checkedin and after freshening up proceeded for lunch.
All of us were super hungry. We went to Dilliwale, and am sure they wont forget us. As soon as we entered, the kids took over. They were running all around the place. darshu sat on the chair and puts his legs on the table almost making the crockery fall. Meanwhile Aaru was throwing the spoons and forks down..it was chaos. That’s when we weilded our powerful weapons – the mobile phones. As soon as YouTube was switched on, all the kids were sitting silent in their seats. And thus this became our strategy for the rest of the days to make the kids sit and eat in peace ( and also for us mom’s to eat at peace).
After filling out tummies, we had a yummy chocolate cake for dessert which the kids loved a lot. Then we set out for a boat ride in the mangrove forest. There was a bit of a walk and once we got into the boat, the kids enjoyed a lot the water and the views. It was sunny, but still we managed to have a good time. Except for the part where they stopped the boat near a small place where we had to walk a bit only to see some ruins of a French school as they claim. I felt that part was unnecessary given the scorching heat and cranky kids wanting to be carried.
By the time we were out, we were all tired due to the heat and decided we need some rest. So we headed to hotel room and decided to take some rest until dinner. Happily switched on the AC, put the kids to much needed nap and we also rested a while. Around dinner time we woke up refreshed, spent some time glamming up for the dinner and found a really beautiful place for dinner – Cafe velout. Had yummy food and beautiful ambience. Darshu happily ate pasta for the first time.
After a satisfying dinner and some nice group pics at the restaurant, we decided to visit the rock beach. Seeing the beach at night was sooo beautiful and peaceful. We sat there for a while immersing ourselves in the sound of the waves and nice beach air. The kids got their share of fun buying bubbles and squishy light balls..
After having ice cream and GNC we called it a day happily exhausted. Tucked the kids in bed and ended the successful first day of our trip.
So my little nephew is turning one and we had this idea to celebrate it in Bali… There started a 5 day trip plan with the whole family
Airport exit Denspar, Bali
Reached Bali late in the night and checked in to our Villa at dreamresorts, Ubud. Soon enough all of us tucked into the bed for a good night’s sleep. We woke up in the morning to a beautiful view from our Villa.. greenery all over…silent and quaint place.. away from the noises of the city..peaceful, calming.. exactly what I needed to get away from the work pressure..
Since we were traveling with kids, we got all the stuff to cook food ourselves…so, first thing we got the kitchen ready and made ourselves a cup of coffee..we got ready by 9 and stopped by the resort restaurant for breakfast… Fresh fruits, pancakes, bread toast with banana and fruit juice… Had a laid back and healthy breakfast… There were other options too (continental, Balinese, Indonesian), but being vegetarians, we are happy with these 🙂
our stay, Dreamresorts, Ubud
Our first visit was to Ubud palace, half an hour from the resort.. one thing which will strike everyone about Bali is that people are very spiritual.. there are so many temples on the way and our driver was mentioning that people build a small temple in their house too.. Bali is called the island of 20,000 temples.. the architecture is ancient, antique and beautiful.. we noticed that there were some pillars in front of most of the houses and shops.. these pillars had offerings of worship (small leaf basket with flowers, incense sticks, some food).. itseems it is said that Brahma is present in these pillars, hence they are worshiped everyday in the mornings.
Coming back to Ubud palace, the place where it is is located (Giyanyar,Ubud) is a very happening location.. there are lot of restaurants, shops and local market… We had a quick walk around the palace, took pics of the royal doors, Chambers.. most of the palace is closed for tourists…however we got some good pics there 🙂
Ubud Palace
Then we tried to explore the local market… how can we stop ourselves from shopping!!! One tip for all the tourists – bargain as much as u can… Ask for atleast 50% less than what they quote.. this we learnt with a bit of trial and error 😛
the local market
Our next stop was the coffee plantation tour in Kintamani. The highlight is the Luwak Coffee. We saw the same in Vietnam, it seems to be famous in Bali too. They showed how the coffee is made from Luwak droppings. Each stage how it is cleaned, sanitized, roasted and ground. The little ones were excited to see how the coffee beans are roasted, ground. Then we had a free tasting session of different types of coffee and teas. To taste Luwak coffee, we had to pay 50.000 IDR. Since we have come so far, we decided give it a try, though our parents were so so against it. since we were not used to black coffee, it was very hard to even take a sip of it :p . But happy that we tried it out.
different varieties of coffee, teas for sampling
Next thing to try out there is the extreme swing. Me and my sister decided we should not miss it. Swings at the top of rice terrace overlooking the beautiful greenery. Though there are harnesses, the first push was definitely scary for me. But the rush when we swing at that height is awesome!!! Definitely you should not miss this experience
Extreme Swing
By this time all of us got extremely hungry..our next stop was lunch with a view of the active volcanic mountain, mt. Batur.. the view was breathtaking!! as if right out of a scenic photograph. We found a Indian restaurant with this view and had a sumptous lunch. My little nephew was too happy to have French fries with the volcano view.. he loved it ♥️
Mt Batur view restaurant
After our tummies are satisfied, our next stop was the Goa Gajah temple – the first temple of the trip. We were excited to visit this temple to know more about the architecture, the deities worshiped, the culture.. The temple was present in a huge area with lot of trees. Before entering the temple, people are required to tie a sarong to cover up as a respect for the God. The sarongs are given before entering the temple
Goa represents a cave and Gajah is because the temple is shaped in the form of an elephant. In telugu we call a cave as Guha, this sounds similar !! the temple premises had the pond to wash feet, similar to our Indian temples. The deities were present inside the cave. In Bali footwear is allowed inside the temple. The deity worshiped is “Trimurti” as they call (brahma, Vishnu, Shiva). After praying we came out and took some pictures of the beautiful premises. A must have pic is at the entrance of the temple which is gorgeous. The architecture is also different compared to Indian temples and beautiful in its own way, with tall archways everywhere. Learnt from our guide that they greet each other with “Om Swastiastu” ..It means may God keep you in good health!! What a wonderful way to greet!!
Goa Gajah temple entrance
Last stop for the day is the green rice terraces in Tegalang.. these are interesting steps for cultivating paddy.. we could walk through the paddy fields and take amazing pictures… Definitely the best stop for insta lovers and nature lovers 😍
Tegalang rice terraces
Thus ended the first day. By the time we reached home it was dark and the kids were already asleep. First thing we did after we reached home was put them to sleep after feeding them and then make ourselves a cup of coffee.. having a functional kitchen was a plus point as we dint feel that we were missing on the food part. Happy tummy, happy us 🙂
the next day we woke up leisurely and the view before our eyes is so beautiful, full of greenery, pleasant morning.. we had our coffee and walked around the resort .. then we got ready to set out for the day’s plan – to visit the nearby waterfalls, monkey forest, Taman Ayun temple and Tanah Lot temple.. before that we stopped for breakfast which was complimentary from the resort.. the best item we liked there was the banana pancakes and banana japple..
view from Balcony
The waterfalls was beautiful, but not extraordinary, speaking honestly. Have seen better waterfalls in India. However for Instagram buffs, it is perfect. They have put several spots with interesting settings to take pictures – beautiful bridges, heart symbol, nests etc
Next we went to monkey forest. The area is supposed to have different species of monkeys.. though there were not many monkeys, the forest was a serene place.. we walked around the forest and the little ones were having fun looking at the monkeys..the highlight was the life size statues depicting events of Ramayana.. statues of kumbakarna, Rama, sita, Hanuman.. our parents loved them.. nowhere in India we were able to find such beautifully carved statues showing the events of Ramayana.
Rama and Sita
Jatayu fights with Ravana
Hanuman shows chudamani to Sita
Vali and Sugriva fight
Monkeys waking Kumbakarna
After walking so much in monkey forest all of us were super hungry. We wanted to eat something Indian. So we came back to Ubud Gianyar area as we remembered seeing an Indian place there near the palace (Roti Daal). The restaurant was simple, clean and had good Indian food (dal, sabji combos). After a good meal, we set out to explore the famous “Taman Ayun temple”( means temple in a beautiful garden). We have seen this in lot of pictures and movies. It was the royal temple of Mengwi empire. It is set on land surrounded by fish pond on all sides giving the impression on floating on water. As tourists, we were not allowed to enter the temple premises. We could see lot of towers and small temples inside temple walls. Parents were a little unhappy that we were not able to go inside and pray to the deities and had to see only from outside, but what to do
Our next stop was also a temple – Tanah Lot, though majority of the family was not very interested to visit another temple, me and my sister insisted on this. This temple is supposed to be located on a rock formation on the coast of Bali and supposed to be beautiful during sun set. So, we managed to get there before sunset and the view was spectacular. Tanah Lot means Land and Sea in Balinese. The temple is located on what looks like a small island on water. We dint go inside the temple, but chose to spend time on the waters. The kids had fun playing with the sea water and seeing the sunset.
Thus the day ended with some beautiful memories for the day.
The next day we set out early to visit Besakih temple. It is one of the most famous and holy temples of Bali. Our driver suggested that the crowd would be less if we start early. Early morning as we entered the temple premises the view was amazing!! (I think I have to search for adjectives now).. There are local guides there who help with giving a temple tour..
It is the biggest temple and also called as the Mother temple of all temples of Bali. It is present on the slope of Mount Agung and Mount Agung is believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva (similar to how Indians believe about Mount Kailash). The temple is present in huge premises with lot of smaller temples.
entrance to Besaikih temple
It is devoted to the Trimurti Bramha, Vishnu and Shiwa. The center temple is devoted to Lord Siva, the destroyer. Our guide was mentioning that in Bali there is a Shiva temple near every cemetery. When someone passes away the relatives come to this temple for the funeral proceedings after the cremation. The day we visited, there was a similar proceeding happening where all the relatives were carrying offerings on their head into the temple. As usual, tourists are not allowed inside the main temple
Also we learnt that this temple was open to only the upper castes of Bali. The lower castes had other smaller temples where they worship when someone passes away. In a bit of distance are two other big temples for Brahma and Vishnu. Apart from these there are 5 smaller temples for Gods of 4 directions and center. It was interesting to see how close the culture is similar to what we have in India, how the close the names and words are to our Sanskrit words.
Our next stop was the Lempuyang temple. It is very famous for the “Gateway to Heaven”. Anyone and everyone who goes to Bali will have a pic at this place, so how could we miss it. It is located on the slope of Mount Lempuyang and it is one of the most ancient and most regarded temples. It actually has 7 temples in the premises, but tourists normally are made to visit only the first temple where the “Gateway to Heaven” is located. Though it was 5 mins walk from where our vehicle stopped, it was proper uphill walk and all of us got super tired by the time we reached there. Before entering the temple everyone was sprinkled with holy water. Soon after entering there are three stairways to three archways. The temples are located after the archways and tourists were not allowed there. So, all we had to do was take ticket for the photo at the gateway to heaven and wait. There was large crowd as we went in the afternoon and we had to wait for two hours for our turn for the photo. We are not allowed to take the picture on our own. There were people sitting there with a small mirror, they will take our phone, place the mirror and take photo to give the effect of reflection. Initially our parents were a bit disappointed that we had to wait for so long just for a photo. But since we went all the way and since it was so famous, we decided to stay back with other tourists. There is proper place with shade for people to sit, so we could sit and do some time pass until our turn came. When our turn comes, we are allowed only 5 shots per person, so everyone were deciding on the poses meanwhile 😛 . In the end, the wait was worth it. The view from the gateway to heaven is breathtaking!! And the pictures with the reflection effect came even more amazing!!
The gateway to Heaven
After getting perfectly beautiful pictures we were done for the day!!! It was long drive to Ubud and it was late night by the time we reached our resort.
The next day we asked our guide to come late and we wanted to relax and go slowly. Idea was to have lunch and then go to Turtle Island and then Uluwatu temple for Kecak dance in the evening. So, the next day we woke up leisurely, had breakfast, played with the kids, cooked and had home made lunch. Then we set out to see the Turtle island. My nephew was super excited to see the turtles. He was saying some turtles are 100 years old and he was so excited to see them.
Turtle island was at Tanjung Benoa which is famous for wide variety of water sports. But since we were with kids, we could not include it in our plan. If you love adventure sports you must definitely visit this place. We were taken to the island in a glass bottom boat. With the mention of that we imagined as if the whole floor of the boat would be glass, but in reality it was just a small rectangle in the middle of the boat fitted with a glass. Nevertheless, the kids were excited when they were able to see fishes from the glass, as the boat moved ahead. It was around 15 mins ride to the island and in the middle, they stop the boat and give bread to drop in water. Lot of fish come to eat the bread and we can see them. This was the most favorite of all the places for the kids.
@turtle island
When we reached the island first we were taken to a small pond with few old huge turtles. Apparently these are the turtles rescued from surrounding areas and brought here. Once they are treated they will be left back into the sea. We could touch them and also feed them with sea weed. Kittu (my nephew) was super excited to see them. Few of them were over 100 years old. Then we went inside to see baby turtles, some of which were few days old or months old. Itseems, once they grow up and sustain on their own, they are left into the sea. We also saw some tortoises and for the first time learnt that tortoise and turtle is different.
Tortoise has kind of fingers instead of fins, they can move into their shell and can stay one both land and water. Turtles have fins, can’t go inside their shell and can live in water only. My nephew was super excited screaming he loves this place, he loves turtles and the little one was also excited with him. As we go inside, there were other animals too. There were monkeys in a cage, we could feed them food off our hands. Then there was an eagle which was blind, it was tamed, they would put it on hour hand for pictures. Initially I felt scared, but mom was the first one to go forward for the picture. .They will put a cloth on our arm so that we don’t get hurt by the claws and place the eagle. When it was my chance, it unfurled its wings and started flapping, I felt bit scared, but the lady there assured its ok..our little one year old also wanted to touch the eagle!! We might think one year olds are too small to understand anything, but its amazing how much they get stimulated by nature.. he wanted to run behind the hens there, touch them, touch the eagle, the owl.. 🙂 ..they had a big owl which we could touch on the head, the lady helped kittu touch it.. then there was a huge snake and kittu was so excited to touch that. They will put it on our shoulders also and tell us how to hold (tail and the head part), we were all scared but my brother-in-law got a picture with the snake on his shoulders. He was saying it was so heavy, cold and slimy 😛 , there was also a tucan bird hopping all around :D.. after spending some time with the birds and animals, we came out satisfied and happy… they also had hand wash to wash our hands on the way out.. it was the best stop of all the places we visited in Bali so far… kittu says “ this is my most favorite place..can we come here everyday “!!! 🙂 🙂
Next stop was Uluwatu temple. Since we had some time for the sunset, our driver suggested we can visit Pandawa beach also which is on the way. This beach was called secret beach as it was hidden behind mountains sometime back, but now road access is provided and the beach is no longer hidden. There are huge limestone rocks on one side and Indian ocean on the other. The rocks are carved with statues of Pandawas which are good spots for pictures. The beach is clean with white sand, clear water and water sports are also there. We spent sometime there and headed back so that we don’t miss the Kecak dance at Uluwatu.
Pandawa beach
Ulu the “land’s end” and watu the “rock” in the old language, this temple is located on the edge of the cliff 70 metres above sea level. The premises was so vast and almost like a maze, we can keep walking along the cliff and can see the main temple from vantage points.
Uluwatu temple (at the edge)
Sunset view from open theatre where Kecak dance is performed
While we kids set out to explore, parents stayed back to keep place for the Kecak Dance. The Kecak dance is a traditional Bali dance where there is no musical instrument or song, 75 male dancers will come onto the stage making sounds of “chak chak” in different rythms which forms the background narrative for the dance. The dance is about few episodes of Ramayana – exile of Rama, the golden deer, Ravana kidnapping Sita, Hanuman to the rescue and final battle between Rama and Ravana. The stage is open floor with backdrop of the ocean and the sunset. Seats are around the stage in form of stairs (like a Colosseum). Though there was no song, no dialogues, no music – just the sound of “chak chak”, still every scene was so beautifully depicted and we got completely involved in the narrative and enjoyed it a lot. It was really so joyous to watch Ramayana being retold in this fashion. They also made it fun by interacting with the crowd. Hanuman would jump onto the stairs, pull someones hair, give hand-shake to someone and out little kittu got a hi5 from Hanuman. You should see his joy, the Hanuman, the God he loves gave him Hi5 🙂 ..after the end of the show, the actors stayed back and we could take pcitures with them. thus we got pictures with Rama, Sita, Hanuman, Sugriva. It was the best of all the things we did in Bali. I would definitely recommend this to each and everyone, dont miss it!!
It was the perfect memorable ending to our trip. The next day we had to catch our flight in the afternoon, and also it was the little ones birthday. So the plan was to stay at resort, cake cutting, take pictures, relax and then catch the flight! 5 days of trip to Bali was awesomely memorable!! we learnt so many things about the culture, visited so many beautiful places, had some amazing experiences and whats best was that everyone in family loved it !!
Some random clicks in Bali..enjoy 🙂 !!
random wooden carving near our resort
streets of Ubud
statues depicting mahabharat events near Denspar, Bali
Lord Rama
Some information to plan for Bali:
Visa is on arrival for Indian passport holders.
Currency in use is mostly IDR (Indonasean Rupaiah), so better to keep them. Every place has entrance fee and they take only cash
There are few other places we missed to cover – the Ulun Danu temple, bat cave, adventure sports, garudaVishnu kencana, Nusa Dua, Batik painting cottages
More places in this link : https://www.holidify.com/places/bali/sightseeing-and-things-to-do.html
I woke up to someone talking, these girls were already up and outside the tent..It was almost 6:30 and stepping out of the tent, the view was beautiful…it was calm and cool with the beach in front of our eyes..we sat near the edge looking at the beach for a while ..we wanted to see the sunrise and thought we missed it, it was a bit cloudy and we couldn’t see the sun.. after a while, the clouds moved aside and we were able to see the golden red sun ( a beautiful glowing gold coin) in all its Glory…it was already a bit above the hill far away, but we could still see it rising above…we stood there admiring how it slowly moved upwards making the sky brighter and brighter!!
We then decided to take bath and get ready quickly to visit the temple before we start the day’s activities.. the plan for the day was to visit vibhuti falls and Yana in a vehicle..when we told our plan to our guide, he called the vehicle sooner and offered to accompany us to the temple also.. we packed our bags, told our byes to our tents and got into the vehicle..
We reached the temple street and first visited the Ganesha temple..the temple architecture is Kerala style and we could actually go into the sanctum sanctorum and even touch the deity and pray.. next we would go to the Mahabaleshwar temple..it is a world famous temple, to be the only one with the “Aatmalimgam” of Lord Siva.
Legend is that Ravana did very difficult tapasya for many years and when Lord Siva finally appeared, he asked for the Aatmalimgam of Siva as the boon. Siva warns him that under any circumstances he should never keep the lingam down. If he does, the Lingam will get stuck on the spot. As Ravana was walking towards his kingdom Lanka with the lingam, it was evening and he had to perform his “Sandhya Vandanam” ( paying respects to the Sun God during sun set). For that he has to get into the river. Since he cannot keep the Lingam down, he was looking around for an option. Lord Ganesha comes in the form of a young Brahman and offers to hold the Lingam. This was all part of plan of Ganesha to make sure the Aatmalimgam doesn’t stay with Ravana. The Gods & Devendra were worried that Ravana will become powerful and take over the kingdom of Gods if he gets the Lingam. So Ganesha holds the Lingam and as Ravana walks towards the river to perform his prayer, Ganesha gives a shout out that he is not able to hold the Lingam and will keep it down. Before Ravana came running back, the Lingam is kept on the ground. Ravana tried very hard to lift it back but no use.
The place where the Lingam is kept is gokarna. In the temple, most of the Lingam is underground and only the top part if exposed for the devotees. The picture of the Lingam shows that it is deformed a bit as Ravana tried to pull it up. This temple is also in Kerala temple style..the men are not allowed to enter wearing shirt or tshirt. We got into the queue and since it was early hours, there was not much crowd..we were allowed to enter the inner sanctum and even touch the deity..with the blessings of Lord Shiva our day started beautifully.
We then headed to breakfast in a small hotel on the temple road. The road was bustling with stalls and shops on both sides. We thought we can do shopping in the evening and moved ahead. Our guide suggested to try Bansu a famous delicacy of gokarna.. it looks like a bun made with banana and texture is like pancake …not sure of the recipe but it tasted yummy!! After sumptuous breakfast and our daily dose of chai we set out to see vibhuti falls.
It was close to 30 mins ride and I happily slept off in the car. After we reached there, again we had to walk uphill for few metres to reach the falls.. the trek the day earlier has jammed all the muscles in the leg and it was really difficult to pull along and walk …since it was a uphill walk we took frequent breaks.. our guide tried to keep us engaged in conversation to divert us..he talked about how each of us are going to start working on our dreams..not get caught in the daily bustle of 9 to 6 jobs and do what we want…it did turn out to be an interesting discussion..as we discussed and debated, we reached the falls..
It was huge falls and beautiful!! Our intention was to find a nice spot to get into water.. we got changed and now that we are experienced, easily walked along the rocks and found a spot which was not occupied… It has a small stream of the waterfalls falling down into a small area and then flowing down .. with the help of others somehow I also reached under the waterfalls…the force of the falls was so much that the water falling on head or back or legs felt like a nice natural massage…after spending enough time and playing with the water, we changed out of wet clothes and started back…we stopped at a small house for our lunch…it was simple bowl of rice , roti, cabbage curry, sambar and curd..all of us were so hungry that we quickly finished the whole platter.
We the got into the vehicle and drove to Yana. The path was narrow and ghat section..our vehicle could go only to a certain point, after that we had to get down and walk. This was around 1 km walk..it was surrounded by tall trees and was like walking in the middle of a jungle .. listening to the birds sounds, we walked for some time and entered the area. It was under forest department, a proper forest. As we walked some more, we could see the huge grey mountain (like the one in Lord of the rings)..walking some more we can see one more such mountain…they are so huge and one of its kind…no other mountains in the surrounding area looked like them..one is called bhairaweswara sikhara and smaller one called as mohini sikhara… in the larger one, there is a temple of Lord Shiva. We went to see the temple, where the deity is a natural formation on the mountain rock in the form of Lingam (swaybhu). Also, from somewhere water keeps flowing on to the Lingam like ganga.
There is another story around this place – that bhasmasura after he takes his boon from Lord Shiva that anyone he places his palms on is going to turn into ashes, was tricked into placing hand on his own head by Lord Vishnu in Mohini avataram…some say the two mountains denote bhasmasura and mohini..
The pradikshana for the temple is through the mountain..as we walked around it was going through the mountain cave. The view was beautiful. But since we were walking on bare foot, it was a bit difficult. Almost as we reached end of the pradikshana, a small thorn got into my foot. I tried removing with hands but couldn’t get a hold. I was not sure if it was ok to just leave it like that. When I told my friends, they made me sit on a bench and patiently removed it with a safety pin. That is what friends are 🙂
After taking few pics, we started walking back…it was almost dusk by that time…we stopped near the exit to have some lime juice.. after that we slowly walked to our vehicle…our guide said he had to go somewhere else and the vehicle will drop us back to wherever we want .. we thanked him for the wonderful trip, took a final selfie and set off to main beach.. this was the beach which we saw from our tents…so we wanted to visit it before leaving gokarna.
The atmosphere at the main beach was completely different…it was like a carnival..with giant wheel, games stalls, stalls selling corn, orange juice ice cream etc…it was super happening and the crowd was mostly locals, unlike the other beaches we saw until then. We just loved the vibe.. we played a game of rolling balls and won a seive as we got 21 points 😀 .. we had so much fun, we bought fried corn cobbs and sat on the shore eating the yummy corns and reminiscing about the trip…initially we were sceptical if we can trust the guide, since we were all girls..but he turned out to be really polite and decent…the conversations he started were also very insightful as if motivating us to look within us and do what we wanted to do..
We rushed back to reach the bus stop and catch our bus back to Bangalore…back to our routine life of work and home.. but we told ourselves we will give time to keep ourselves fit and also take some time to pursue hobbies and some me time..was a wonderful trip with the girl gang getting closer to each other and also learning a lot from each other’s lives..
Next immediate thing was to fill our tummies. The lunch was modest with 2 chapatis, rice and curry..we dint r rallyfeel like eating , all we wanted was to drink water..but given the amount of trekking we did and have to do again, we had to eat to put some fuel in the engine… We slowly started eating, chatting about how we did this together…we joked about “how we need hands to trek”.. we shared stories of our work pressure, the teams and team mates!
Lot of foreigners were there leisurely spending time on the beach…sleeping under the shade of trees.. we discussed how foreigners come for vacation for at least a month, enough time to relax, rewind, dwell in the local culture and live the local life!! We on the other hand find it difficult to take even a week’s vacation…for us it is all hurried, visit the place – list of items to do and see and done ..similar to our work life… To do lists and checklists !!!
We decided we will chuck off the thoughts of how to get back and focus on now.. we relaxed for a while watching the waves, then got changed to get into water..the beach was calm with gentle waves…the other three of them knew swimming to some extent, so I was confident to hold their hands and walk in till knee deep water.. we played with water splashing it on each other..sat down and enjoyed the waves splashing at us, at times even splashing on our faces tasting the salty water… Before we got out, we called the guide to quickly take few pics..
We got changed to start back walking.. it was already 4:30 and we had to cross two trails to reach Om beach to be able to see the sunset there.. initially I was a bit hesitant to do the rock climbing again and wanted to check if there was an option for any boat to take us back…the guide convinced that we can do it easily.. so I decided somehow I can do it – the same way we came , will go also.. given the time all of us decided we will not stop for any photos or break and will continue walking until we reach Om beach, so that we can see the sunset..
As we started climbing the rocks, this time it felt easier since it was mostly uphill… Get a handle of some rock above for support and step up..I was surprised that I can actually do rock climbing..couple of places we helped each other and soon reached half moon beach…until then all of us were so focussed on the next step, just move step by step and be safe.. we forgot to take pics also
Then we quickly walked along the shore, dint even stop for water and started trekking the next trail…this time it was the muddy trail and was mostly uphill..we helped each other..and inspite of the hot sun and getting exhausted, we pushed ourselves encouraging each other.. on the way we prayed to sun to wait for some more time until we reach Om beach..
Gradually we reached Om beach and sun was still in the sky…we sighed with relief, took off our shoes to soothe our feet…they worked hard and needed to be rewarded ..as the cool waves touched the feet it felt so amazing…after all the hard work, it felt therapeutic.. as we slowly walked along the beach the guide announced that the sunset point is towards the end and we had to walk faster…we improved pace and started walking fast…but it is not easy to walk faster on sand, that too this sand was so soft that with every step the foot went a bit inside and came out..
after one point we could not see the sun, afraid that we missed it, but with some hope that we can still catch a glimpse, we walked faster and climbed up to the sunset point…we had to climb few steps and cross few rocks to reach the edge…after we climbed few steps we were relieved to see that the sun did not set yet…it was almost there moving slowly downwards into the sea..we quickly walked across the rocks and settled at one spot on the edge …we were then able to see the beautiful red sun setting slowly and merging into the sea…for a few minutes all of us were silent admiring the beauty of the moment.. thanks to our guide, we were also able to capture a pic with the sunset in the background..
Once the sun set, we realized we actually achieved our goal…even Ganesh said that we should feel proud that we did it…we trekked non stop without any breaks, that too the tough part of the trek and reached on time for the sunset as planned. ..he said that couple of groups he saw earlier, some of them gave up in the beginning itself before even reaching paradise.. feeling proud and happy about what we achieved we set out to walk back…we still had to cross another trail to kudle beach and it was getting dark
Inspite of it getting dark, when we saw the tender coconut seller, we got tempted and craved the coconut water…so, we stopped for a while, had the coconut water before walking again…by that time it got dark.. there were no lights, so our mobile flash lights became the leading lights..since this was an easier trail all of us were chilled…we were excited to cover the night trekking also the same day…we walked along singing songs and soon reached the kudle beach…
There were no bright lights on the beach…except for twinkling lights on the shops/restaurants on the shore it was all dark… All we could see was the white outline of the waves in moon light and it was beautiful…we asked Ganesh if we could sit for a while…he said ofcourse, we are almost done and close to camping site.. we can take a break and relax..
We sat on the shore and started singing songs enjoying the view…then we thought why not lie down and look at the stars..we kept our bags as pillows and lied down on the sand ..it was so soft… I always wanted to lie down under the stars on a beach and it finally came true…we gazed the stars, playing with the soft sand and singing songs about moon… At that moment no other thoughts crossed the mind – no work, no deadlines, no cooking and cleaning… Just enjoying the moment !! This was the best moment for me all through the trip…
Once we were satisfied, we got up to finish the last trail and reach our camping site. Again with mobile flash cameras we started walking, singing along until we reached our camping site. First thing we wanted to do after reaching was to get freshen up…getting into the beach got sand all over us, even in hair..
One by one we freshened up and ordered food.. after being so exhausted all we wanted to eat was curd rice 🙂 .. we ordered some juice also and happily chatted and shared interesting stories… By the time we were done it was almost 10… Our tents and camp fire were ready .. we opened the tents to keep our bags and they looked so cozy and welcoming!! There was a bed with pillows and nice warm blankets… Assured that we are going to have a good night’s sleep, we kept our bags and moved to the camp fire.
We sat around the fire and talked about a variety of topics…Ganesh encouraged us to share one incident in our life which we felt was “wow”…I shared my first Himalayan trek experience…the stories shared by others were so motivating and inspiring!! We talked about how women should focus on some me-time.. learn a hobby, excercise and focus on fitness and not get lost in juggling between work, house-hold chores , taking care of kids and family.. he asked us to name one thing which we always wanted to do, but dint get a chance till now… This made us think and explore and realize how each of us have certain things which we don’t pursue yet…like someone wanted to learn singing, I wanted to learn swimming, go scuba diving etc etc…
We also reminisced our experience of the day, how we could achieve the trek by just focusing on the next step…..even in life we need to just focus on next immediate task and give our best to it…not be boggled down by the end goal 🙂 …night, camp fire and group of friends with like minds – we are bound to get philosophical :p
Saying good nights, we retired to our tents for a good night’s sleep.
my reflections !!! 