The five of us, Sam, Ina, Surya, Ori and I started off up the beach to where the steps from the road come down. We climbed them, ran the gauntlet of taxi and rickshaw touts hoping for a fat fare to Gokarna, and headed up. At first the trail is fairly steep, basically well worn dirt and rocks not quite making a stairway on up over the saddle of the rocky point between Om Beach and Kudlee Beach. It’s not far to Kudlee, about 20-30 minutes, but it was good to get this climbing out of the way while we were fresh and it wasn’t very hot yet. After the top, it’s gentler downhill. You can stroll along, looking at your rocky footfalls for sure, and enjoying what’s around you. There are ordinary rocks, but a lot of it is black prous volcanic deposit. Young, tenth at least growth of deciduous woods are on both sides. You quickly approach Kudlee, which is crescent shaped, like Om. The rocky prominances aren’t as scenic. It’s a little less busy then Om.
Surya, Ina (supposedly working on her Sanskrit doctorate) and Ori like to smoke hash, as do at least half of the people on the beaches south of Gokarna. Surya knew the face of a guy, and we found him running a restaurant/bar/hut place, just called a “shack” here along the coast. In the typical warmth of a nascent deal, Surya and the guy called to each other, namaste’d, and patted each other on the shoulders as if they were long lost brothers. It was a shack like all the others, so we all enjoyed coconut shakes while the product was being sampled. I took a hit and a half. Woah, I’m not used to that anymore! It’s a good thing it took at least an hour for everybody to get what they wanted.
After our jovial departure from Kudlee, we headed over the saddle of the next hills between us and Gokarna. It was easier going. You could take a motorbike if you were experienced. It’s windswept and less wooded at the top. Gokarna and it’s beach come into view
The path between Gokarna and Kudlee are being prepared for tourism. Already there is a road to Om Beach and the new luxury resort set back in the Western Ghats (hill county) which are behind all the beaches. There are hundreds of seedlings planted, which I think will make that a nice walk even in the heat. Ina says they are some kind of tree, like the euclyptus, that has taken over parts of Isreal and become a nuisance. I think the Indians just want something there that needs no care, and don’t worry t all about things like that.
Again, don’t ask me why sometimes the print turned to blue.
Oh look. There are Sam and Ina on the left side of the road in the shade.
Anyway, having left Surya at Kudlee, it was the four of us left. We had different things to do. First Ori split off because he hadn’t gotten signed in at the police station yet, even though he’s been here a week. (You have to sign in at least with the hotel and even sometimes the internet places, complete with passport, all over India. It’s worse than the communist era East Bloc.) We three needed to get money. They needed to ask a travel office some stuff. Then Ina went off to make some phone calls. Sam and I went down a couple of bazaar streets.
The only thing we both needed was toothpaste. She wanted a Chinese Sony-knockoff MP4 player. I left her to wrangle with the vendor and went to get another book.
In Gokarna the scene is totally different than at the southern beaches. There are few tourists on the long beach and no obvious partying. It’s a very holy city to the Hindus. It’s said that if one merely views a particular lingum in one of the many temples, he/she will be spared further reincarnations. That’s a pretty fine blessing, if you ask me, for just doing this one thing. End of suffering on the cheap. I’m there. The trouble is non-HIndus aren’t allowed inside to see that one. While wandering back toward the trailhead where the bookstore is, I looked in a few temples where non-Hindus are allowed. Here’s a typical one.
I’ve been meaning to ask what the drying leaves are. They are strung up all over Gokarna.
After picking out a book, I happened out of the store just as Sam was coming down with her new MP-4 player ($27, with some effort). We had all agreed to meet up at an Indian restaurant at the end of the road at 2:30, though Ina didn’t show because she returned early via taxi because she was worried about her 6-7 week old puppy she picked up off the streets of Mysore, and has subsequently become way too attached to. (It’s a good thing she’s not a mom to a human.) We had a nice lunch at the table of a single woman traveller from Germany. Sam, who is Austrian, enjoyed speaking German with her. Ory came and went, trying to find anyone at the police station. He never did.
Then we took a fishing boat back. That was a nice ride, and only took about 20-30 minutes. After skidding up to near the water’s edge, we waded in, took our spots in the shade of our shack and went about killing the rest of yet another lazy afternoon at the beach.