Goa to Murudeshwara and Jog Falls

My mother being against me travelling all by myself agreed to travel on 2nd-4th October. While the entire working population waits for a long weekend, people like me (wasting their time at home) also wait for those working, to grab a piece of their busy schedule and move out of their homes.

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Anyway, so after long speculations and debates whether we should get out or no, we finally decided to start our journey. Two cars, 7 people. It was my mother's choice to visit Murudeshwara. Although I had no clue about the place, I agreed.

We left Panaji at 4 PM. The clouds seemed to hover over us after a few hours of driving. The sun seemed shinier and the weather, perfect! We knew we would experience a beautiful sunset. Driving through the Goan villages, rice field on either side, we got down to click a few pictures (Oh! How we love doing that!). The drive was smooth with lush green mountains before us, drops of rain & company that entertained throughout. We reached Ankola at about 8.30 PM and stopped to have dinner. The food is not great (just saying!).

We reached the entrance of Murudeshwara at 9.45 PM. It was dark. You wouldn't see any ladies on the streets, only men waiting to rent rooms in their hotels (called lodges, there). We drove right next to the Murudeshwara temple, a large cemented structure uplifted by a man called R.N. Shetty. It wasn't lit up so we couldn't see much of it. The placed looked filthy and it stunk of fish. We found a room for Rs. 1,900 for all 7 of us.

The next day, we visited the temple. It was a cemented carved structure with 18 floors. We took rounds of the temple & took the lift up to the 18th floor, which gave us a view of the large statue of Lord Vishnu standing tall amidst the lush green courtyard with the sea in the background. We climbed down and decided we won't climb up to the statue.

We progressed to see Jog Falls at 9 AM. It was about 81 kms from Murudeshwara. We reached Jog Falls at about 12 PM. Jog Falls are the second highest plunge falls in India. It consists of 4 falls named, Raja, Rani, Roarer and Rumbler. Since there was no much rainfall in this season, the falls could be identified clearly. People who love cascading waterfalls may not like such falls. We climbed down the track to reach the falls. It took us an hour to climb down. But, alas, there was a barricade quite far from the falls. They look even mightier from below. Climbing up the track took us another 1.5 hours. Tired, panting, we proceeded home.

The destination may not have been marvellous, but the journey was!