TRIP TO BEKAL FORT

Start: Chennai
Destination: Kanhangad, Kasorgod Dt, Kerala (God’s own country)
Dates: 14th March – 16th March 2007
Travelers: Nitish, Satish, saravanan, Vijay, Senthil, Muthuraman, Balaji, Nagendra & myself

Travel Mode: Train(till Kanhangad) & Innova(for roaming around)

After hectic Office hours we all started to Central Station for the most awaited trip to BEKAL(planned almost 2 months ahead). We had dinner in Saravana Bhavan(Chennai Central) and got into Mangalore Mail. This was the time where we came to know about some of the good chess players among us..."Muthuraman", Nitish & Nagendra. Every other team member know why I highlighted Muthuraman ;-).......As time passes, slowly one by one adjusted to their berths and slept.

Day 1(14th March):-

I waked up at around 8 AM when the train reached Calicut(Kozhikod). By that time every one waked up. We had our bf in the train itselfonly. We came accross and enjoyed the typical kerala greenary on that misty morning before we got down in Kanhangad Station. We took autos to "HOTEL BEKAL INTERNATIONAL" which was booked earlier. Initially at the time of booking we was thinking about the ambience of the hotel, since it was only hotel which we got while surfing thru internet. But the ambience was realy good. We all occupied the rooms. After fresh up, we all had lunch(which was OK OK kind of) there only. By that time the Innova was ready and we started to "BEKAL FORT". Hope that driver is fan of Schumi...:-). Reached there in 15 minutes. Took the entry tickets and entered the fort.

The place was really good and worth seeing atleast once in a life time. We all had fun roaming here and there inside the fort. The sight of the Sea/beach from the fort was quiet impressive. After spending nearly 2 hours in fort we started towards the nearby park(it will be there in beach itself only) by taking a walk on the shore from fort. We had a nice chat among us by the time we reached the park. Then we started playing in the beach. I hope west side beachs will be really good when compared to east. Ofcourse, after seeing the Marina beach every other's opinion will be same ;-)
After exhausting our energy by playing in the beach, we reached back to hotel. Everyone went for fresh up, meanwhile some of us enquired with receptionist/driver about our next day's plan. We all set for the next day's plan. Most of the members got ready within short time, sice it was liquor time accoring to the plan :-)
We all had nice dinner and went to bed quickly since every one is tired.

Day 2(15th March):-

As per plan we started to Ranipuram Hill Station(the most challenging part of our trip) at 8 AM. We had our bf on the way and took 2 water bottles per person.We came to know that nothing will be available in Ranipuram. Hence we take some chat stuff also. After 2 hours of drive via ghat section, finally we reached the place from where we need to start our trek. I think three of us suffered with vomitting sensation, due to long schumi ghat drive :-). We really wondered to see only 2 houses over there. We started our trek with the help of the guide, a high school going Kid :-) Half the way we trekked thru the dense forest of huge trees and big bushes. Some of the guys exhausted within this half way itself. If it is needed to be specific, the guy was none other than Satish. After that we really thrilled to see the green lush of grass with out having a single tree. We took rest for nearly 20 minutes just to regain the energy. Then again we started towards the peak. Finally we reached the peak, every one felt like conquered some kingdom after having a ferocious war. Hardly no one was there when we reached top. For our excitement, when we was taking rest, we got nice fellow trekkers.....2 buses full of college girls 8-) This was the boost up part for some of our....no..no..no...most of our team members. It really kicked the stamina level of one person in our team and made him to reach down the hill first among us along with other girls. Hope by this time the other members came to know abt whom I am talking ;-)

Beware of leeches while trekking. Dont forget to carry some natural salt.

Then we started around 4 PM from Ranipuram towards our next destination in our plan......"OVER NIGHT CRUISE(Boat House)". We reached the place by 5:30 PM and entered the cruise which was booked earlier. Its really good experience to stay overnight in the boat in such a pleasent atmosphere. We had our dinner and as ususal liquor stuff in the boat itself only. After having a small chat every one went and occupied their beds, thinking about the sunrise the next day morning.

Day 3(16th March):-
Slowly sun came out of the misty clouds waking us up. Enjoying the sunrise, with the cool breeze of that fog filled day, we decided to have some fun time in that water. Few of us know swimming, but no one initially dared to dive. Since we have the life jackets in the boat, I took the initiative of getting into the water first. Slowly most of the team joined. Later we had a good shower in the boat itself and that’s the end time for our cruise.
We got into the Innova which was waiting for us and started towards our next destination in our schedule “MATHUR GANAPATHI TEMPLE”. On the way, Nitish got down near the hotel and rest of the team started. We had a drive of almost one and half hours to reach there. After having good darshan we enjoyed the pleasant environment of typical kerala style temple. On the way back, we had kerala style lunch and good snaps on the beach. We reached hotel, packed everything and checked out at around 4PM. We got into Chennai Mail at 5PM and reached Chennai the next day morning.

Overall we covered the entire district of Kasargod which leaves long lasting memorable moments and good snaps as well :-)

My blog is listed in the Big Blog Collection