267. Hogenakkal Waterfalls and Udupi visit

There is just a 5-day gap between my birthday and my anniversary😊!!  From last year, I had decided to go for outing during these days.  Last year, since it was our 25^th anniversary, my wife and I had gone to Kashmir for one-week duration.  This year, we didn’t have so much days free for us.  So, I started looking out for other options for 2-3 day’s time-period.

I had always wanted to visit Hogenakkal Waterfalls and it was on my bucket-list.  I started looking at where it is and how to reach the place.  It was near Hosur where my son is working.  So, I decided that we would go to Bangalore and drive from there to Hogenakkal and also pick my son for the trip.  There were 3 more temples in Hosur which we thought we will visit while returning from the waterfall.  This took care of one day.  For the second day, I decided on Kolar and a Shiva temple.  So, accordingly I booked flight tickets to Bangalore starting early morning on the 1^st day and coming back late night on the 2^nd day.

During the Kashmir trip, I had not informed my wife where we were going as I wanted to keep it a surprise.  She got to know in Delhi airport only that the next flight that we were taking would be landing in Jammu😊!!

This time I decided to tell her.  She said she wanted to visit Udupi.  When I checked, I found that there is a train from Bangalore that reaches Udupi at around 1030am.  Keeping time for Darshan of 2 hours, and then coming back to Bangalore airport by taxi (around 8 hours or so) it seemed doable.  So, the itinerary got finalized😊!!  I finalised with a taxi driver in Udupi who would pick us from Udupi station, drop at a hotel for getting fresh, take us to temple, back to hotel for changing and then drop at Bangalore airport.

My brother-in-law (bil) had arranged for a car from his friend for the 1^st day.  We were supposed to start by 10am from my bil’s house.  Unfortunately, his friend had some emergency and we could get the car only at 11am😊!  There was some construction going on in the road from Bangalore to Hosur.  So instead of a half hour journey, it took us 1.5 hours to reach Hosur!  We had also taken my bil’s 2 kids for the trip.  Since it was already lunch time, we stopped at a hotel for lunch near my son’s place. He joined us there.

The map suggested 2 routes to the Waterfalls from there.  99kms for 2.5 hours and 149kms for2.25 hours😊!!  99kms was through a 2-lane road and 149kms was through a 8 lane highway for 90% of the trip.  I selected the 149km and we reached the Waterfalls.  At 4pm, my bil’s daughter had her online Olympiad exam😊!!  So, we waited till she finished it in half an hour.  In the meanwhile, I enquired about the boating facilities and charges.   The govt rate is Rs 750 for boating till 1 waterfall.  Then you can bargain with the boatman who will take you to the 2^nd waterfall and then further ahead.  After negotiation we finalised on Rs 600 for the 2^nd waterfall and option to consider if we want to do go ahead further.

Finally we all boarded the coracle for the trip.  It was an enjoyable trip.  You can access the photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/FWbDvwdo5h8qF8ce7  The photos will get deleted in 15 days😊!!

By the time we returned to Hosur and had dinner, it was 830pm.  So, the 3 temples in Hosur got omitted! After dropping off my son, we proceeded to Bangalore.  Reached my bil’s house at around 10pm.  Returned the car and then took a metro train to reach the station to catch the train to Udupi.  We made it with half an hour to spare😊!!

The train that we had taken was a holiday special and runs only once a week.  So, obviously it had a low priority on signals😊!!  We reached Udupi at around 1230pm instead of 1030am.  On speaking to the taxi driver from the train, it became clear that we can never reach Bangalore to catch the flight back after visiting the temple.  So, I cancelled the taxi.  I found out that there was a direct flight from Mangalore to Hyderabad at night and seats were available.  While browsing internet it seemed that the temple was shut between 1pm to 3pm for lunch😊!! We then decided we will have darshan first and then see how to return to Hyderabad.  After arriving at the station, we went to the hotel through a pre-paid auto from station.  I had already booked the hotel from Hyderabad earlier.

The hotel owner also did not know the timings😊.  We decided to go to temple and wait there for darshan.  Fortunately, there is no closing time for darshan other than during the night time😊!!  There was a long queue but we were told we can have darshan in half an hour with this crowd.

While standing in line for the darshan, it seemed that it will get over by 3pm.  So, I booked the flight from Mangalore to Hyderabad, while standing in line for darshan😊!!  After darshan, had lunch and returned to Hotel.  Through the hotel, arranged for a taxi to take us to Mangalore airport from Udupi.  Mangalore airport is about 1.5 hours from Udupi!  Had a 1-hour nap at the hotel and then left for Mangalore airport to catch the flight to Hyderabad.  Reached home at about 1230am on the 2^nd night😊!!

So, overall a hectic and a nice trip.  Let me see where the next year take me😊!!

Cheers till next time😊!!