We (Me, Shashi, Ravi) decided to go Muneer's wedding in Kundapura and also visit few places nearby. I asked Muneer about the places near Kundapura and we decided to land at Udupi first. Shashi booked the KSRTC bus tickets to Udupi and return tickets from Kundapura. I was the last to arrive at 10.35 PM on 29May09 at Majestic bus stand, bus was at 11 PM and Shashi & Ravi were waiting for me.
We saw beautiful backwaters from the bus in the morning after Mangalore on the way to Udupi. We reached Udupi on Saturday morning at 8AM and Muneer had arranged for our stay at BSNL inspection quarters at place called Kadiyali around 1.5 Kms from Udupi bus stand. We reached BSNL inspection quarters with help from Neelesh (Muneer’s friend) and after finishing our morning activities we decided to go to Malpe beach which is around 5 Kms from Udupi. We decided to go by Bus and what’s amazing about places near Udupi is the bus facilities available. Private bus facilities and frequency of buses are better than in Bangalore. We reached Malpe town and from there we reached Malpe beach in Auto at around 11 AM. Whenever we travelled by Auto, the charge was Rs 25.
Malpe beach was clean with very few people around. We thought of going to St Mary’s Island but boating was stopped to the island. Boating is not available to St Mary’s Island during monsoon (Mid May to September), so better to visit during early winter season. Ravi was very eager to get into water and I & Shashi followed him. The sea was calm and we spent good time in the water at Malpe.From Malpe we decided to goto Kaup Beach and we got a bus to Udupi. From Udupi we got another direct bus to Kaup beach, I don’t know the exact distance from Udupi to Kaup beach and it took almost one hour to reach Kaup beach. The bus took to most of the nearby places and finally reached Kaup beach at 2 PM. The greenery was worth a watch all along the way. There was board saying “Swimming is prohibited” and we came to know why when we saw the beach. The waves were quite dangerous and it was not possible to go 20 meters inside the water. We had lunch at some fast food hotel and the options and food available was bad. Better to have food at some other place than at Kaup beach.
There is a light house at Kaup beach which was to open for visitors at 5.30 PM and we can reach top of light house for some good view, since we had other plans we did not stay till the Light house opened. 
We took some good snaps from rocks and rested for some time in the shade.The weather was quite hot and we were always looking for shade to protect us from hot weather. We took auto from Kaup beach to reach Kaup town and from there a bus to Udupi. We reached Udupi at around 4.30 PM and decided to take some rest at guest house. We took a bus to Kadiyali and since the bus was also going to Manipal which is 5 Kms from Udupi, Shashi and I wanted to go to Manipal much to anguish of Ravi who was not at all interested to visit Manipal. Finally Ravi was convinced and we reached Manipal. There is nothing much to see in Manipal, One can find lot of colleges (From Engineering, Medical …). After buying a gift for Muneer and we came back to our guest house at 5.45 PM.
After staying in the guest for about an hour, we prepared to visit Krishna temple and Ravi got short cut route from BSNL security person to the temple. As we walked we saw posh houses along the way and finally reached temple after walking for about 20 minutes. As we entered temple premises we saw a pond, an elephant greeting devotes, chariots waiting for procession. We entered the temple and got confused not knowing the entrance of main Krishna temple. After searching for few minutes we entered the temple and got darshan of Lord Krishna. There was some argument between Ravi and Me about Kanakadasa as we had different stories of him. We waited till 8 PM for food counter to open inside the temple premises and we got inside a huge hall for food. Food was quite bad partially because of bad attitude of suppliers. It is better to eat outside than inside the temple. We came outside the temple and saw procession of chariots. After that we came back to our good BSNL guest house and rested for the day.
Early morning on 31May09 Sunday we got up and we were ready to leave the guest house by 7AM. We again visited Krishna temple and there was less crowd in the morning. We had breakfast at Mitra Samaj hotel and food was tasty and worth having something at the hotel. The hotel is near the Krishna temple, within the temple complex and the hotel is known for Masala dosa and we could not have it as it was not available for breakfast. We reached Udupi bus stand and got a bus to Kundapura at 8.30 AM. We reached Kundapura at around 9.15 AM enjoying the backwaters and greenery on the way. From Kundapura we had to reach Tarsi, the wedding place of Muneer. Ravi wants always to travel by Auto and Shashi and I wanted to go by bus. We took a bus and we initially thought Tarsi is nearby but it was around 10 Kms from Kundapura. We enquired about the place with the conductor and the bus stopped at Classic Auditorium just before Tarsi town. We reached the marriage hall at 10.15 AM and we were the first to reach there. Surendra had to come to the marriage with his family and Ravi somehow recognized him as he had not seen him since our college days. After Nikah of Muneer and we had good nonveg food. We kept our luggage inside Surendra’s car and at around 1.30 PM we visited Marvanthe which is just around 3 Kms from Tarsi.
The sea at Marvanthe was looking beautiful with no people around and the sound of roaring waves was hitting our ears. There was no shade to protect us from hot sun and we walked some distance to find some coconut trees and we decided to stay there. Occasional cool winds made us comfortable and around 3.30PM we walked along the road to reach Marvanthe temple where there is a river flowing next to it. We sat near the River and saw gorgeous island formed by the backwaters. There is boating facility available and the charge was Rs450 to go round the island. We decided it is not worth going and there was a boat to ferry passengers to cross the river. We thought of crossing the river but the person at the ticket counter refused to give us ticket saying that the boat is only for local people. I decided to taste the water in the river, hoping for some fresh water but it was salty.
There is road which separates the river and sea at Marvanthe and the view is amazing. We visited the temple and again came back to sea side. We could not get into the water as sea was quite dangerous and we took some snaps close to some rocks which were battered by the waves. We rested near the rocks and waiting for sun set. The best time to visit Marvanthe is during evening and cool breeze from the sea made us feel like heaven. Ravi and Shashi started a long conversation about marriage and I was reluctantly listening to them.
After Sunset we came back to Tarsi to attend Muneer’s marriage reception and again we were the first person to arrive there. Ravi and I had long argument regarding mode of transport for trips. I preferred to travel by Bus and Shashi supported me, as we will know more about the culture of the new place. Ravi always prefers to travel by car as it is more comfortable. We had booked the return ticket from Kundapura, the bus was to start at 9 PM and we were having little time to attend the reception and have food. We wished Muneer and he made early arrangement of food for three of us. We again had some good food and thanks to Surendra who dropped us in his car near the KSRTC bus stand to reach on time to catch 9PM bus. We got inside the bus and Bus reached Bangalore at 8.30 AM on Monday. The beaches we visited, the backwaters we saw and the greenery all around will tempt us to visit these places again.
