Paadooru is my native village situated near Kaup, Udupi District of Karnataka. The blog is dedicated to beautiful landscape of KAUP Beach and my village Paadooru
Being a resident of Udupi this is first time I am visiting St.Mary's Island :=D. I had to go alone due to personal reasons. There is ferry service from Malpe beach to St.Mary's island. The ticket counter is nearby shipyard. I boarded the ferry and ferry started sailing towards the island. Almost after 95% of water way, we need to get into one more small ferry (in mid sea!) since the larger one cannot reach shore due to higher depth. Some pictures
FIRST VIEW
ZOOOOOM -- SCOOTER BOAT AVAILABLE FOR FUN
COCONUT TREES
GREENISH SEA
ONE MORE VIEW
SHORE-LINE
There is nothing much to see here except enjoy the green beach and rocks. It is nice place to enjoy nature and roar of the sea. The sea was too much turbulent during that day (not sure why). The bad thing about the island is people garbaging the area. Ofcourse there are no dustbins but people should realize not to spoil such natural beauties. I took many snaps and videos along the island. I took video of boat ride too! After nearly 90 minutes of hangout, I went back to malpe beach. It was so hot and humid that day but still the beauty of nature never made me feel tired!
SHORE LINE - 2
SOMEONE IS CAPTURING LIKE ME
SHORE-LINE ++
VIEW FROM ROCKS
ROCKS CLOSE UP
ROCKS AND BACKWATER
TURBULENT SEA
TURBULENT SEA - 2
SPLASH
SPLASH-2
ONE MORE ROCKY VIEW
SEA SHORE FROM DISTANCE
This picture I specifically took thinking of long exposure during day time. This would have created great effect if one has ND filter (may be 8 stops) and around 20s exposure?
I AM ON MY WAY!
ROCKY SHORELINE
SPECIAL EFFECT PIC ;-)
GOODBYE! SEE YOU AGAIN
The boat ride is available from morning 9AM to 5PM. It may not be available during monsoon season. The cost is Rs.50 (3-10yrs) and Rs.100(10 yrs and above). Ferry requires minimum 30 people to start to island.
Being uninhabited island, there are no food facilities available (except for some snack vendor who come in ferry). Also ferry people warn not to venture into sea since no rescue guards are available. Even then, some people were seen getting into sea water which was highly turbulent. It is better to follow safety rules as stated by authorities.
Once again, if you are visiting please do not litter this beautiful place.
Two videos this time. The same video editor but this time 2 pass encoded. Watch the boat ride and compilation of St.Mary's island clips.
Finally I made first real use of new Tamaron 70-300mm VC USD lens. This time it helped to videograph peacock which came to our plantation. They run away if you go close to them. Hence tele lens is must. Peacocks are usual in our place only difference is I shot video of them for first time ;-). Last time they had entered our balcony and came so close but I did not have camera at that time. This time it is time to grab some. Usually villagers do not entertain peacocks since they spoil crops and plants. Even my mother got furious when one of male peacock was pulling leaf from green chilly plant :=D. Irony is that their habitat is being destroyed by human beings and they do not have anything called habitat. They are not actual culprit too! After sometime, they flew away seeing me coming closer. Anyhow watch and enjoy the short video. Subscribe to my channel for more interesting Full HD videos :-).
The video is edited and re-encoded to MP4(H.264) using KDENLIVE under Linux Mint 14 with 1080p, 25fps, 18000kbps video bitrate and 384kbps AAC audio. This time I used 2 pass encoding
ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಮೂಲು ಬಸ್ಸಿನವ ೮ನೇ ಮೈಲಿಗಿಂತ ಮುಂಚೆಯೆ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಇಳಿಸಿದ. ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಕೋರಮಂಗಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಇಳಿಯುವವನು ಅದ್ಯಾಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಳಿದ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಪರಿಚಯವಿರುವ ಕ್ಲೀನರಿಗೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಂಫ್ಯೂಸ್ ಆಯಿತು ಕೂಡ. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಇಳಿದು ಯಾವುದೋ ಸಿಟಿ ಬಸ್ಸನ್ನು ಹತ್ತಿ ಕುಳಿತೆ. ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ಕಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಟಿಕೇಟ್ ಕೊಡಿ ಎಂದೆ. ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ ಹೋಗಲ್ಲ ಕಣ್ರಿ ಅಂತ ಕಂಡಕ್ಟರ್ ಜೋರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಅರೆ ನಾನೇಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಳಿದು ಸಿಟಿ ಬಸ್ ಹತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಕೂಡ ತೋಚಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ನನಗೇನು ಆಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ದಿಗಿಲಾಯಿತು. ಸರಿ ಮುಂದಿನ ಸ್ಟಾಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇಳಿದೆ. ಇಳಿದ ತಕ್ಷಣ ರಸ್ತೆ ಖಾಲಿಯಾಗಲು ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಅರೆ ಒಂದು ಬಸ್ಸಿಲ್ಲ ಅಥವಾ ರಿಕ್ಷಾ ಕೂಡ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯೋ ನನ್ನ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಬ್ಯಾಗ್ ಬಸ್ಸಲ್ಲೇ ಉಳಿದುಬಿಟ್ಟಿದೆ. ಮನೆಯ ಕೀ ಕೂಡ ಅದರಲ್ಲೇ ಇದೆ. ಇನ್ನೇನ್ನಪ್ಪಾ ಮಾಡೋದು ಅಂತ ಬಸ್ ಏಜೆಂಸಿಗೆ ಫೋನಾಯಿಸಿದೆ. ಇನ್ನೇನು ಹಲೋ ಅನ್ನುವಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಸ್ವಿಚ್ ಆಫ್ ಆಯಿತು. ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಚಾರ್ಜ್ ಢಮಾರ್. ಗಾಬರಿಯಿಂದ ಹಾಗೆ ನಡೆದಂತೆ ಯಾವುದೋ ಮುಷ್ಕರ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎನ್ನುವಂತೆ ಭಾಸವಾಯಿತು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನಡೆದು ಯಾವುದೋ ಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದೆ. ಸುತ್ತ ಜನರು ನನ್ನನ್ನೇ ದುರುಗುಟ್ಟಿ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಹಾಗೇ ಮುಂದುವರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಜನರ ಗುಂಪೊಂದು ನನ್ನ ಬಳಿಗೆ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ನನಗೆ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಕತ್ತಲೆ ಕವಿದಂತಾಯಿತು. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೋ ಕೂಗಿ ಕೇಳಿದರು "ಅಣ್ಣಾ ಚಾ ಅಂಪುಣನಾ" [ಚಾ ಮಾಡುವುದಾ] ಎಂದು. ನನಗೆ ಒಮ್ಮೆಲೇ ಬೆಳಕು ಆವರಿಸಿದಂತಾಗಿ ನಿದ್ದೆಯಿಂದ ಎದ್ದೆ. ಅಬ್ಬಬ್ಬಾ ಎಂತದು ಮಾರಾಯ್ರೇ ಅದು. ಯುಗಾದಿಯ ದಿನ ಹೀಗೆಯೇ :(. ಹುಸ್ಸಪ್ಪಾ ಕನಸಿನಲ್ಲೇ ಮುಗಿಯಿತಲ್ವಾ ಅಂತ ಸಮಯ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಘಂಟೆ ಏಳಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಇಷ್ಟು ತಡ, ಅದು ಹಬ್ಬದ ದಿನ. ಸರಿಹೋಯ್ತು ಅಂತ ನಿಟ್ಟುಸಿರುಬಿಡುತ್ತಾ ಚಾಪೆ ಮಡಚಿ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಲಿನಿಂದ ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿದೆ. ಅಮ್ಮ ಕರೆಯದಿದ್ದರೆ ಇನ್ನು ಏನೇನು ಆಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತೋ ಎಣಿಸಲು ಆಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ.
ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ವಿಶೇಷ ತರಕಾರಿ ಮಟ್ಟು ಗುಳ್ಳ. ಇದರ ಪಲ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಹುಳಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧಿಯೋ, ಅಷ್ಟೇ ರುಚಿಕರ ಈ ಮೊಸರು ಬಜ್ಜಿ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಈ ವಾರದ ರುಚಿ ಮಟ್ಟು ಗುಳ್ಳ ಮೊಸರು ಬಜ್ಜಿ :-). ಇದನ್ನು ತಯಾರಿಸುವುದು ಬಹಳ ಸುಲಭ ಕೂಡ.
ಮೊದಲು ಗುಳ್ಳವನ್ನು ತುಂಡರಿಸಿ (ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ದೊಡ್ಡದಾಗಿ!) ೨ ಘಂಟೆ ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನೆನೆಸಿ. ನೆನೆಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಬಜ್ಜಿ ಕಪ್ಪಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಕೆಲವೊಮ್ಮೆ ಗುಳ್ಳದ ಕಹಿ ಕೂಡ ಹಾಗೆ ಉಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ. ನೆನೆಸಿದ ನಂತರ ನೀರನ್ನು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ, ಹೊಸ ನೀರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿ ಮಟ್ಟು ಗುಳ್ಳವನ್ನು ಬೇಯಿಸಿ. ಗುಳ್ಳ ಮೆದುವಾಗುವವರೆಗೆ ಬೇಯಿಸಿ (ಬಣ್ಣ ಬದಲಾದಾಗ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ). ನಂತರ ನೀರನ್ನು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ, ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತಣ್ಣಗಾಗಲು ಬಿಡಿ. ಹಾಗೆ ಸಣ್ಣ ಪಾತ್ರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹಿಂಗಿಗೆ (ಅಂಟು ಹಿಂಗು) ನೀರು ಬೆರೆಸಿ ಬದಿಯಲ್ಲಿಡಿ. ಗುಳ್ಳ ಬೇಯಿಸಿದ ಪಾತ್ರೆಗೆ ಬೇಕಾಗುವಷ್ಟು ಮೊಸರು ಮತ್ತು ಉಪ್ಪನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿ. ಹಸಿಮೆಣಸನ್ನು ಸಣ್ಣಗೆ ತುಂಡರಿಸಿ ಪಾತ್ರೆಗೆ ಸೇರಿಸಿ. ಈ ಮಿಶ್ರಣವನ್ನು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಚುಕಿ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಹಿಂಗಿನ ನೀರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿ. ನಂತರ ಒಗ್ಗರಣೆಯನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಿದರೆ ರುಚಿಯಾದ ಬಜ್ಜಿ ತಯಾರು :-). ಕೆಲವರು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ರುಬ್ಬಿದ ತೆಂಗಿನಕಾಯಿ ಮಿಶ್ರಣವನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದರಿಂದ ರುಚಿ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ವೃದ್ಧಿಸುವುದು ಕೂಡ. ಬಜ್ಜಿ ತಯಾರಾದ ನಂತರ ಅನ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಕಲಸಿ ಉಂಡು ಆನಂದಿಸಿ ;-).
After a year of break, the bike ride is alive again! This time to Sangama and Mekedaatu which is around 90kms from Bangalore on Mahashivaratri day. After seeing so many blogs, we came to know that Bike was best transport since buses are feeble. Even this time my colleagues Rajesh and Sudhir joined me. I had Honda Shine while Sudhir Honda Activa. We were like time-sliced pillion + rider ;-) (non deterministic though!).
This time we were on time. We started around 9AM on hot "SUN"day from Bangalore. We reached Kanakapura road which is the route to Sangama. We rested at many places and took photographs. The road till Kanakapura is NH-209. The road condition is very good however watch out for gravity pulls around lake areas! The wind and gravity tend to pull you out of road. We could even see a bike fallen into lake fortunately without any damages. Unfortunately even being NH, no guard rails are erected nearby lake areas and consequently bike riders need to be bit extra cautious around such stretches
NH-209
We reached Kanakapura in an hour. Here we took assistance of local citizen to guide us to Sangama. Sangama is around 40kms from Kanakapura. The pathway is some sort of rural road. The initial stretches are really bad however they are under construction. The remaining sections are fantastic with minimal humps near village areas. Enjoy the scenic ride along rural areas with beautiful banana plantations. Since it was summer time, we could not see much greenery, however october timeframe you may find beautiful landscapes here. The last 3kms leading to Sangama is like Agumbe ghat section with steep hairpin bends. Need to be really careful along those stretches
SUDHIR and RAJESH
ME and SUDHIR
ROCKY HILL EN-ROUTE
Finally around 11AM we reached Sangama. There was not much water around this place due to poor monsoon last time (or even may be odd time). However, there was huge crowd. People were still enjoying in water because of hot weather. The name Sangama comes from intersection of two rivers here namely Kaveri and Arkavati.
FIRST LOOK AT SANGAMA
NOT MUCH WATER
ONE MORE VIEW
BONUS PICTURE ;-)
Mekedaatu is around 5kms from Sangama. One cannot take personal vehicle to Mekedaatu due to river crossing. Usually boat service will be available to cross river, however due to lack of water we could cross by foot. After crossing, one needs to buy ticket which costs Rs.50/- (to and fro) to reach mekedaatu. The buses are maintained by Tourism department. The buses reminded me of childhood days, where we used to take unwindowed buses.
FULL AC & DOUBLE DECKER BUSES TO MEKEDAATU!
TRAVELING ON TOP OF BUS WAS FUN :-)
We travelled on top of bus for a change. Usually if the bus inside is full, people prefer to enjoy on top than standing inside. The bus wobbles too much during journey since the stretch is mud+uneven road. We had to hold on to the bus carrier and balance ourselves :D (I had to take care of my DSLR too!). Watch out for branches of trees too! It was nice exercise altogether. After nearly 15 minutes of enjoyment, we reached Mekedaatu spot. Again not much water but we enjoyed scenery. There was also sound of water gushing somewhere down however could not reach due to tough terrain. The name comes from Goats Leap which is Mekedaatu in Kannada.
Read Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekedaatu
MEKEDAATU
THE OTHER SIDE
ZOOMED VERSION!
STILL CLOSE UP
UNEVEN BUILT UP!
DEEP GORGES
WATCH OUT FOR HOLES ON ROCK
NOT MUCH GREENERY & WATER
Here we are again back to Sangama and too much hungry. There is a Mayura hotel near by and is the only option for lunch. We had no choice other than to eat here. The food quality does not meet the expensive cost but manageable. Better carry own foods and eat here. Also not much monkeys here and hence can peacefully enjoy food :-). We thought of going to Chunchi falls however Hotel cashier said there is no water there. There is also a temple in Sangama, may be to signify the merging of rivers. After lunch we stayed in the place for sometime before leaving. Sudhir and Rajesh wanted to swim in river however there was only standing water not flowing. It is not good to have swim in standing water with people using soaps.
I took some snaps post lunch. One of them is this portrait of this elderly person taken with EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. The other was HDR. The bracketing was done using beautiful firmware for Canon DSLRs, Magic Lantern.
PORTRAIT
HDR
After short break, we started towards Bangalore again. Once again enjoyed the rural areas to max. We plan to go around October again which is immediate post Monsoon season. We are expecting to have good hangout at that time!
How to Reach:
At Bangalore, reach Kanakapura road and travel along NH-209 for about 50kms which will lead to Kanakapura town. After few meters you will find a small junction where you will see sign board which directs to Sangama. Seek help of locals in Kanakapura if you cannot find the sign board.
This Sunday it is finally trekking :-). We chose Shivagange for small trek. I was not alone this time. Two of my office colleagues Rajesh and Sudhir also joined me. The plan was to start early from Bangalore and reach there by 10. However, I made it late ;-). Again same startup hiccups made me join them late. It was planned to gather around 9AM but I could only reach there 30minutes late :-(. We boarded Suvarna Karnataka Saarige bus destined to Pavagada. We had to get down at Dabaspet and take auto from there. We reached Dabaspet around 10:45AM. Fortunately there was no traffic nearby both toll gates this time. We enjoyed tasty sugarcane juice (all of us had 2 glass full!) and later took an auto to Shivagange. Usually if they carry in bulk, it would cost 10Rs per head. Since we hired it, he took around 50Rs.
We started our trekking at around 11AM. We had packed so many food stuffs to sustain during the journey. The first 10% of the walk path till temple is steps. Remaining is either plain walk path or uneven steps and sometimes very steep (especially last few sections). In between there are lot of monkeys. They easily identify photographers and do not disturb them or their cameras [Unless you are not holding food items ;-)]. They do not even bother taking pictures of them closeup [they actually pose well :-)]. I was taking lot of pictures of surroundings and my colleagues. Sometimes I was playing around Depth of field and Shutter speed.
FIRST VIEW
DON'T TOUCH MY KIDS
ONE MORE VIEW STILL UP
LANDSCAPE ;-)
NANDI & LANDSCAPE
NANDI FACING LANDSCAPE!
Almost half way up, there is a temple called Olakallu teertha (Water inside stone) where Veerabhadraswamy is deity inside a cave. Also there is natural rock water tub which has small hole. It is believed that if you can touch water, you are lucky. Ironically most of them could touch it easily :-) (me and Rajesh too!). Sudhir did not come inside temple since he was lethargic to remove shoes. You can have small offerings to deity too. Also laddus are available for 10Rs each which contains 2 in number. When we came out, Monkeys saw that and they were adamant to grab it. However Sudhir did some trick to disguise the laddus and they finally went away.
OLAKALLU TEERTHA!
The picture inside olakallu teertha was the first time I went beyond ISO-800. I could not grab much light at 1/15s and f/3.5. Decreasing shutter speed would have blurred out photo [I don't have steady hand ;-)]. This made me to bump up the ISO to 1600. One might ask was flash would not have been better? Yes but but it takes away natural look IMHO. What do you think?
Some more pictures!
THERE ARE LOTS OF SUCH EN-ROUTE!
ADVENTUROUS GOAT :-)
There are lots of snack shop along the way till peak of hillock. So do not listen to vendors in middle who misguide saying they are the last vendor along the way. There are huge number of monkeys too! If they see food packet, they do not hesitate to grab. If they start grabbing, make sure you hand over the food packet otherwise you will end up in misery! [Even they do not mind sharing :-)].
DO YOU HAVE FOOD OR ONLY CAMERA?
We were getting tired but our energy was still full! We were having water melon, cucumber and water to make sure body has enough liquid. Water melon and cucumber are really tasty and very good. Watch out for overgrown cucumber at some places. After some more trek we reached a temple place where beautiful Shiva and Parvathi statues were laid. We thought that was the peak. LOL :D, that was only beginning! The real trek point starts now with steep steps and walk paths. That was really tiresome. Rajesh was saying we had seen only trailer and movie is about to begin now!
WE THOUGHT IT WAS OVER
LOL :D. MOVIE HAS BEGUN FINALLY!
Despite of huge tiredness I took lot of shots in between. The best thing was to capture monkeys and their mischieves.
LOOK WHERE AM I
STILL MORE HARD STEPS
After few more hard walk, atlast we see the great Nandi carved from single stone! Hurrah we are on top now! We had 2 full glasses of buttermilk which was very tasty. There are also two small temples on top. There is a view point where two stone pillars stand tall. It seems during sankranti somewhere near these pillars, milk comes out which is used for rudrabhisheka. Not very clear, one of the vendor cited this. It will be crowded too at this point of time.
AT LAST WE ARE ON TOP
ONE MORE VIEW
CAN YOU DO THIS?
BEAUTIFUL NANDI
We could see many people at around middle of hillock but not much at the top. May be some people backout? Not sure. There were some people who had climbed the hillock barefooted. Really amazing with such hot sun and burning rocks. It almost took 3 hours to climb the hillock. May be because we took lot of stops to rest and take pictures. The most active on top of hillock were monkeys! They were checking each visitor for food packets. One of the monkey checked Rajesh's bag and his shirt pocket :-). They are fearless! The return journey is pretty much easy and only caution is to make sure to control the gravity pull. We took just an hour to come down.
LANDSCAPE AND BOULDER
FULL LANDSCAPE
POND
ENTRANCE
We had cool drinks after we were back to ground. There are auto-rickshaws to carry back you again to Dabaspet. They were charging Rs.80 now for hire. May be earlier auto-rickshaw driver was resident of this place or had some work here, he took less money. We decided not to hire and waited until auto got filled. It costs Rs.10/- per head if you decide to board it as mass transport.
GOODBYE SHIVAGANGE!
At Dabaspet. we boarded a bus to bangalore but without a seat. Sudhir got early seat near Nelamangala but me and Rajesh could not get until Jalahalli cross. Make your own arrangements for food and travel. It is really tiring to travel standing on bus after trek. Moreover Dabaspet does not have direct buses to Bangalore and most buses run over the NH-4 fly over rather than entering town. Only buses from Pavagada area stop here. There are private buses but they do not reach Majestic.
Some mistakes I made while taking photos:
1) I did not pop up flash at shadows. Some portraits came in dark however corrected with GIMP. I believe this is the situation where you have to use flash even in broad daylight
2) Did not change picture style to portrait from landscape while photographing people. Pictures of portrait came up bit more sharper than required.
I hope I will rectify these during my next trips.
The video!:
Video time. I have one video as of now. The other one is yet to be uploaded!
Watch humorous scene of goats enjoying tap water
