January! I wanted to get to a beach. Goa was one option but it worked out too expensive, crowded and littered with remnants of the New Year parties. I didn't want to travel too far off as we only had 3 days! So, the other options were Pondicherry and Gokarna. I had already been to Pondy and Gokarna or Kumta were the best options. Kumta is (still) not as well known a beach spot as Goa and I hoped the beaches would be nice and empty. Kumta is on the West coast and approximately 500 kms from Bangalore. The beaches are mostly empty and is close to Gokarna - popular for its Om beach.
A mid-January weekend was fixed and my fiance, a friend and I were ready to laze around on the beach! Train tickets were booked in November-end and tickets worked out to a cheap Rs. 900 per head return. A beach resort was decided and bookings were done online. The resort faces the Nirvana Beach and the website showed white sands and calm waters. I was expecting a nice, relaxing time on the beach with periodic dips in the calm Arabian Sea.
The Karwar Express leaves Bangalore at 20:30 and reaches Kumta by about 13:00. I was excited to get on the train since it'd been ages since I'd been in one. The train journey was decent - not the most comfortable. I had more fat on my ass when I was a kid, I guess. The seats felt really hard. Fellow passengers assured us that the new coaches were very comfortable but obviously this train wasn't on the list for an upgrade. After an hour my back and my rump had quite a few stories to say and I quickly had dinner and clambered up my upper berth and went off to sleep. The other highlight of the journey is sampling all the food that passes by. I enjoy my food and maintain lower standards regarding taste and cleanliness when on a train (The food looked pretty clean though!). Don't miss the goli bajjis of Mangalore and my favourite - Maddur vada. The people on the train were friendly (as always) and that you won't find on a plane. Friendly=train, Grumpy=plane. Weird.
The Kumta station is small and clean and there are autos and taxis always waiting out to take you wherever you need to go. It's good to haggle as all of them think everyone who comes out of a train is loaded with gold biscuits. All we had was Parle G (pj - sorry!). The Nirvana beach - also called Birkodi is well known and takes about 30 minutes to get there.
There's a lot to say about the place we stayed in. We had booked a tree house and just below it was a room with no windows. Technically, not a tree house! The room below was shabby and dark. The shared toilets are poorly maintained, no proper lighting and there was no shower head in one bathroom. Bathing under this shower is like washing each part of your body in detail - fingers then hands, then wrist, then arm, elbow - you get the drift. The cook has many roles - he walks the dogs at odd times, looks after the accounts etc. Food took more than an hour to arrive and he talks a lot. We actually wished for a tape for his mouth and a lock to keep him in the kitchen. I was 'hangry' most of the time. The highlight of one evening was the Chicken 65. It tasted Indian-Chinese but also had mustard seeds in it. Very weird tasting. The cook periodically assured us with a smile saying "we don't charge too much for food" but it was a different story when he handed us the bill. And shockingly, the place DOES NOT SERVE FISH! The fishermen bring in their catch every morning exactly 40 steps from the resort.
The location is no doubt great. After reaching Kumta, we headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. A sight indeed!
The best part was there were only 2 other people at the beach and it made the whole experience a lot more surreal.
The same scene every evening! Made me want to build a small shack and live my life here.
It's a good idea to book a tree house at this resort but carry your own instant food.
The next morning, we headed out to have a look around the place and visit Gokarna and the Om beach. The bus stop is a short walk across fields behind the resort and the bus takes you to the boat point. You can book a full boat or share with others. We opted for the latter as it works out a whole lot cheaper and you get the chance to watch people! I like people watching. :)
Hopping off the boat, you can see many fish canning factories and looked like most of the produce gets exported. To reach Om beach you'll need to take an auto and it took about 30 minutes. As always, be prepared to haggle. The Om beach is much more crowded but beautiful. The shape of the beach is in the shape of an 'Om' and is a haven for selfie maniacs. The one restaurant at the beach serves pretty average food. Avoid the food and have a beer or a lemon soda.
After spending time at the Kumta beach, the Om beach seems too crowded and makes you feel like heading back. My suggestion - go back to Kumta!
And spending some more time in the water!
And finally, I'll miss this sight!
Strangely, the mosquitoes in Kumta have a schedule. They suck the beejeesus out of you from 6 pm to 7 pm. It's peaceful afterwards.
