Some trips change perspectives - New Year’s eve 2015: Part II

14 Feb 2016

It’s been more than a month since my last update, and I have no one other than myself to blame for that. Moving on, I’ll make sure I have regular updates here on various things I have been working on. So now that I have put this out there, let me continue with my story.

This is a continuation of my previous post. If you haven’t checked it out, you should to get the context for this post.

After we saw the sun set from the top of the hill, we climbed down to the valley and headed back to the car. The ride up to the base of the hill was fun, filled with scenic views and gorgeous vistas as far as the eye could see. The way back down the hill, was a different kind of fun. The road wasn’t the most well layed and the area being remote, had no streetlights and the occasional lonesome house every 5 kilometers or so. We made our way down the hill slowly, anxiously wondering which wild animal’s glowing eyes we would see in the trees and bushes surrounding us. The experience was that of the beginning of a horror movie in. I recommend everyone try this at least once. You never know what you’ll discover about yourself ;-) .

By the time we got back to the homestay, it was around 9 PM and the owners had started a bonfire for the guests staying the night. Dinner was some of the most amazing home cooked food one could ask for, and after planning for the next day,the food, bonfire and the company of amazing people saw the night wind down.

Come next day, we slept in till noon; tired from the trek the day before, and left by lunchtime. After eating lunch in one of the larger towns in the valley, we headed out to Kannur a 100 kilometer drive from where we were.

Kannur is a quaint town in the northern part of Kerala, know for it’s long long desolate beaches. The road to Kannur is one well paved, filled with long twisty sections and amazing greenery. It also helped that all the drivers seemed to know how to drive on such roads. We reached Kannur at around 4 in the evening blasting some good old hard rock.

In retrospect heading straight out to the beach at that time wasn’t the best idea since the sun was still out in full force and Kannur being a beach town, was warmer than the cool valley we had come from, but at that time, it was the best goddamn idea that we came up with. Even though it the temperature was pretty hot and the reflection of the sun off the deep blue waters was blinding, the beach took our breath away by it’s sheer desolate beauty. I have been to many beaches in my life, but being that they were popular tourist destinations, they were always full with people at almost all times of the day, therefore seeing an almost 8 kilometer stretch of empty beach was quite a sight to behold.

We decided to go have some food and come back to the beach when the sun wasn’t as harsh. Searching online for some of the popular places to eat, we came across Sahib’s grill kitchen a nice cafe off the road, with definite european influence.

Finishing lunch, we headed into town, driving along to check out the local area and some of the more remote locations. We were yet indecisive as to where we would spend the night, since we could leave in the night and reach Bangalore back in about 7 hours or stay the night and explore the area. Looking at the amazing sunset in front of us, we pushed that decision to a later point in time and decided to spend some time at the beach.

This time when we got there, it was a different atmosphere altogether. The sun was setting, a cool sea breeze blowing in our faces, a long straight, empty stretch of beach and all of this after a hearty meal. I must say, we were pretty content with the way the weekend turned out to be. The four of us took in the scenery in our own ways, walking along the beach in the cool surf or just sitting and just taking in the amazing art that nature was painting in front of our eyes.

That was one of the most fulfilling moments I had ever had in my life. This was a much needed mental and emotional break after a pretty rough couple of months. Experiencing the beauty of the setting sun from the top of a mountain one day, and from a beach the other, humbled me and gave me a brand new perspective on everything I had been going through.

We stayed at the beach till long after the sun set, at peace with ourselves, talking about the amazing weekend and it’s highs. We finally decided to head back to Bangalore for various reasons, too boring to recount here. Mentally waving a last goodbye to the amazing beach in front of us, we headed back to the car and left the way we came.

The drive back was just as epic as the drive there, only this time, I got to experiencing driving in the hills in the night, where it is pitch dark with trucks barreling downhill at speeds that would make you nervous on regular roads. So after almost missing death for the 100th time, we got out of the hills by the time we bypassed Mysore. The long weekend finally ended when I got dropped off at my house in the early hours of the morning. As a side note, I learned that night about the fact that Cafe Coffee Days stay open all night on highways, good for a quick (albeit very expensive) bite when hungry.

This was the first proper road trip I had ever been on, first time I’d driven such long distances on highways,(I drove the entire way back from Kannur to Bangalore, my friends insisted that they too wanted to drive, but I was having way too much fun to let them) and first journey I had been on that gave me a whole new understanding of who I am. It could never have been possible without the amazing ideas and companionship of my friends who I took this journey with.

The trip just bolstered my love for traveling and experiencing the amazing world all around us, just waiting for us to explore.