Finally I gathered all my guts and did solo traveling. I have been meaning to do solo traveling for a long time so when the long weekend arrived I packed my bag for Gokarna. Gokarna is a small town in Karnataka around 500 KM from bangalore, this is the place where people all over the world come for peace for culture for temples and of course for the beautiful beaches. Gokarna has become famous among younger western tourists, especially Hippies due to its beautiful beaches and laidback vibe.
Gokarna is a relatively small village which you can easily cover by foot. I decided to take an overnight bus to Gokarna on Wednesday evening and spend the next 4 days along the beaches of Gokarna. It was around 10:00 AM that I reached gokarna and checked into Nimmu Guest House situated just near Gokarna beach. On the first day I started with Gokarna beach and frankly was a bit disappointed after hearing so much about Gokarna but Kudle Beach changed my mind completely and I spent the rest of my day on Kudle Beach. Kudle Beach is one of the best beach that I have ever visited to, there are a lot of shacks, you can see hippies enjoying the sunset there. While most people tries to capture the moment through their eyes there are many who try to paint the landscape on canvas. As the dusk follows you can people playing volleyball, frisbee, football and even taking the evening bath. As the beaches of Gokarna are calm you can easily swim along the beaches. While I spend the whole evening on Kudle Beach it was on day 2 that I was able to see the Jamming session on Kudle Beach which was the highlight of my trip.
On day 2 I decided to go for a trek along the beaches of Gokarna. I had already covered Kudle and Gokarna Beach and thought of spending the evening at Om beach which by the way is in the shape of the word Om, I decided to trek from half moon beach to Paradise beach and then back to Om beach. The afternoon can become very humid so I decided to start early for the day and took an auto for half moon beach who left me at a cliff near half moon beach. Paradise Beach is around 30 mins walking from Half Moon Beach there two are the most secluded beaches of Gokarna of which Paradise beach can only be reached by foot. If you have tents with you and are planning to stay a night under the stars this is a perfect place to be. There are a lot of ferries which start from Om beach and will take you to Half Moon Beach and Paradise Beach and I would suggest to hike along the coast at-least while going which is what I did. After spending some time at Paradise beach I took a ferry which dropped me back at Om beach. As the evening approached I started missing Kudle Beach mainly because of the vibes of Kudle beach also you can not see sunset from Om beach while the sunset at Kudle Beach is a mesmerizing one. After spending some time at Om beach I decided to head to Kudle beach to enjoy the sunset. In evening you can see hippies selling coffee, hand made ornaments, playing music on the beach. The actual jamming session starts after the dusk and everyone brings their own instrument and start playing. The euphony is such that everyone takes a lead one by one and the rest of them follows. This was by far the best moment of my Gokarna Trip and I would recommend everyone who is visiting Gokarna to enjoy the jamming session at-least once and you will fall in love with Gokarna at the very moment.
Day 3 was quite relaxing for me as I decided to spend the day at hotel reading a book and went for a stroll in the Gokarna market. You can find a lot of hand made ornaments, clothes in the Gokarna market. Amused by the Jamming session on previous night I decided to spend the evening at Kudle Beach and thus ended up spending all 3 evening on Kudle beach, the crowd enjoyed so much that people started dancing around along with the jamming. After dinner at one of the shacks I decided to take a stroll around Kudle beach and call it a day.
Early morning on day 4 I went for a morning walk on Gokarna beach where you can spot a lot of people practicing Yoga. After a good refreshing walk for around an hour I came back to Guest House for breakfast. After checking out on day 4 from Nimmu Guest House I kept my bag in the waiting room and went to Kudle beach again for lunch. The rest of the day was spent leisurely at one of the shacks of Kudle beach. I supposed to board my bus at 6:00 PM from Gokarna and spent my afternoon on the Kudle beach till 5 o’clock.
Gokarna is also one of the 7 holy pilgrimage centres in the Hindu religion. Mahabaleshwar Temple is a famous Shiva Temple while Maha Ganapathi Temple, Uma Maheshwara Temple, Bhadrakali Temple are some of the major temples that worship other deities. As I wanted to relax and spend some time on my own I skipped all the temples spending all my time on the beaches.
Gokarna is perfect place if you are looking for your first solo trip. The place felt like a paradise where I could have stayed for days and days. But that wasn’t an option now, because I had to be in Bangalore and return to my busy schedule. If you enjoy pinning down your thoughts take a diary with you and yes don’t forget to put earphone in your bag.
Do visit Gokarna for the peace for the culture.
The Itinerant Analyst 