The Official Bangalore Offline Meet (G2G) Thread

[pranay]

Good to see Bangalore still active...my weekend in Gokarna will be a memorable one, albeit not for biking. What a beautiful place...

EDIT: I would also like to add, while on the way, saturday morning, Tumkur Road, on a pretty empty stretch, I was touching around 120 in the Xing, when I saw two white lights behind me. Gave way, and it was 2 220s and they zoomed away parallely. I was doing 120+ and they were going further away. Was it anyone from xBhp?

[Praful]

Lovely....how about a few more pics!

And a bit more info about Gokarna!

[inder.cool]

Good to see Bangalore still active...my weekend in Gokarna will be a memorable one, albeit not for biking. What a beautiful place...

Lovely....how about a few more pics!

And a bit more info about Gokarna!

+1....plz put up some details..!!

[TheRedPill]

Time just flies and we don't even realize it. I do go for trips when I feel like it.
Hope you are doing well. I saw you some time back riding your brother's FZ16 on the ring road, joining Kanakpura Road.

Yes Thats where I am currently staying. Very close to Kanakpura road.

Good to see Bangalore still active...my weekend in Gokarna will be a memorable one, albeit not for biking. What a beautiful place...

Same pinch . Same place but a year back.

[mithun.08]

Its been a while all of us met.. how about a city meet this week end

[Praful]

Its been a while all of us met.. how about a city meet this week end

How about a Sunday morning breakfast meet, rather than the usual saturday evening meet?

[mithun.08]

How about a Sunday morning breakfast meet, rather than the usual saturday evening meet?

No problem but what about the lazy guys who cant wake up on sunday morning

[Praful]

Ummm.......9AM ain't too early I presume ! Besides some of us are working on Saturdays too that would make it difficult for them to make for a evening meet!

[mithun.08]

Ummm.......9AM ain't too early I presume ! Besides some of us are working on Saturdays too that would make it difficult for them to make for a evening meet!

Sounds good.. I am in

[pranay]

Sounds good.. I am in

me too.

Give me till end of today to post a short review on Gokarna trip, place n some few pics.

[Praful]

me too.

Give me till end of today to post a short review on Gokarna trip, place n some few pics.

Fantastic, I'm looking forward to go that place sometime!

[pranay]

Gokarna basically is a temple town. But most youngsters visit the place for its "virgin, unexplored" beaches. According to the blogs I had read in the net, the place is a major
attraction of backpackers, beach tourists, and drug addicts alike. Located 480 odd kms drive away Bangalore, it is at the northern part of Karnataka. It has five popular
beaches.

1. The Main Beach which is just a straight drive through the main Gokarna town. The biggest beach in Gokarna, densely populated and therefore dirty. Nothing special.

2. Kudlee Beach, frankly the most delightful beach with shallow level allowing you to wander far out into the sea with your head still above water.

3. Ohm Beach, aptly named, due to its 'Ohm' shape. The most visited beach.

4. Half Moon Beach. Very small beach, mostly populated with tourists from Europe.

5. Paradise Beach. A lovely calm, serene beach with mostly 'Ganja' crowd. Whoever loves Ganja will end up here. An hour and half trek from Ohm (though in peak season there will be lots of boats to take you to Paradise, Kudlee, Half Moon). And oh yes. I saw a couple of naked tourists (I didn't mean to look, I swear ). I was there in Republic Day, which according to locals, is the peak of the 'peak season' in Gokarna. And if the amount of crowd of people I saw that time was the densest all year round, then I guess this place is pretty much isolated. This turns into a nude beach in off season, cause during summer, boats don't go here, and it is a 2 hour hike in the hot sun if you want to go. Its pretty much yours in the off-season (whoever goes). And normally, its tourists who want to de-stress who go there.

So, basically the layout is Main Beach - Hill - Kudlee Beach - Hill - Ohm Beach - Hill - Half Moon Beach - Hill - Paradise Beach.

Me and three of my friends started out 4:30 am in the morning in a Santro Xing. We quickly reached Tumkur, without much hold up, because of a pretty early start. The toll road was very nice to drive, no traffic at all, hardly any trucks moving in the morning surprisingly. Speeds maintained were between 80 to 120. Roads in Tumkur were absolutely horrible. And also we got lost, noone was there to ask around. The phone GPS Navigator was the only saving grace.
The Tumkur-Shimoga stretch was a beauty, with only sudden breakers out of nowhere hampering what was a decent drive. Speeds maintained were between 60-80. Beautiful scenery, especially the early morning red falling on the forest.
From Shimoga to Sagar, it is mostly jungle route. Jog Falls being on the way, we decided to take some snaps. But alas, there was hardly any water. So we did not bother to go down. The hills section that followed would be a great road, if not for the craters that come up quite often. It's like 400 meters of good road then a crater, then again another 400, again another crater. So it was pretty hectic till we reached the plains again. Speeds maintained were 40-80.
Sagar - Kumta again is a good stretch and a lovely drive, with lots of bridge crossings and kerala like river ways surrounded by palm trees. Kumta to Gokarna is about 30 kms, and is a pretty decent drive. Speeds maintained were about 80-100.
We reached Shimoga around 9:30 am...five hours it took us from Bangalore. And then Shimoga-Jog took 1.5 hours. Jog to Gokarna was about 2.5 to 3 hours. So total time spent on the road was around 10 hours, which was pretty decent, considering I had expected 12 hours or so.

All in all, if not for a compulsion, I would have loved to go on a bike. The roads are very enjoyable most of the way, if you don't rush. There are ample places to stay, with prices ranging from 60 bux a night beach shacks to 1500 a night luxury resorts rooms with full amenities. There are exceptionally good places to eat in and that too in very very good prices (a chicken steak sizzler at 100 bux). And its not some nonsense food, they actually serve you a sizzler . Places I would recommend are the Namaste Cafe in Ohm Beach and Gokarna International Resort in Kudlee Beach. In and around Gokarna, there are lots of places to visit, beaches to relax. Visiting Yanaa is a must. If you have 3 or 4 days, go for it. You won't regret it.

[dj_666]

Now I've got more reasons to visit Gokarna, had heard a lot about it but the pictures are enticing me~!

Nice pics Pranay.

[arunv_911]

Really beautiful pics buddy. seems like you had a good time.

[pranay]

Now I've got more reasons to visit Gokarna, had heard a lot about it but the pictures are enticing me~!

Nice pics Pranay.

Really beautiful pics buddy. seems like you had a good time.

Thanks guys. All pics taken by my humble N85 cam.