Gokarna

I spent 2 months on Kudle Beach, with a family of locals on their farm, We shared a mud hut with mice, spiders and scorpions! It was wonderful, We stayed in a mexican style hammock we bought of a guy from ouriville, where thry are made. We had to make our own mosquito net from various fabrics bought from local tailors in gokarna.

Although this was our base camp we spent a lot of time on half moon beach my favourite beach i think, we spent a few nights in our hammock hung between palm trees near the beach, it was magical. It is possible to swim to paradise beach from here saves the climb and rough road. On a few occasions we walked at night between the beaches, if you plan to do this make sure either you have a spare torch or it is full moon! At full moon you can walk from kudle to paradise without a torch which i did on 3 occasions during full moon! On our 3rd day there however we were visiting friends on ohm beach at Namaste and procceeded to get extremely drunk and stoned and attempted to walk back to kudle beach, after struggling to the top of the first slope we went around the corner and our torch died being new moon we could see nothing and got horribly lost falling over into holes dug for tree planting every second step. We had only shorts and sandals and ended up eating a load of valium and trying to sleep till the sun came up, when it did we immediatly found our way down to kudle beach and found some water which was urgently required by us. I met a Scottish Guy as we left the bush who remarked to me, “You look like you been fighting a tiger!” My legs and body were covered in scratches and cuts, i was knackerded.

So remember the moon, it has never meant as much to me until this holiday, i can see why people have full moon parties now!

I restrict myself to the beach and have little to say of the town or its pilgrimage worth as it is beyond my expert domain. Om Beach is worth the winding bus ride, butt-numbing half-hour auto ride and the short hike from Gokarna town. The relative seclusion of this northern Karnataka beach is an escape from the perversity that much-too-much tourism has brought to Goa, which is a good five hours away. A beautiful beach, though not the ideal for long-distance swimmers.

If you’re lucky, it is one of the few beaches left where you’d find a wandering pilgrim, a lost Burning Man participant, or a relic from the tie-n-die days Anjuna Flea Market of yore. Do not expect living quarters which serve to do anything but accommodate. The food is appetizing, though the minimal number of shacks occasionally make one yearn for variety. Not for the ‘tourist’, which is what makes the place what it is, and worth going to. And hence, we are not encouraging undue advertising but for word-of-mouth.

If you’re really lucky and get asked into one of the temples, do not miss out on it!

Lovely spot. Utterly lovely.

At the northern coastal border of Karnataka, Gokarna is a holy town to say the least; many temples and brahmins, highly entertaining banana-throwing festival in March, and a stretch of top quality Indian beaches to boot.