Christmas Trip to Bekal, Kerala

To change our usual destination of Gokarn for our Christmas Vacation; this time we chose Bekal, Kerala; a rather unusual location.
Khilli was late n I was literally fuming. But all started well when we took KSRTC Rajahamsa from Shanthinagar BusStand at 8:30 pm. It took us around 11 hrs to reach Kasargod. We then took a local bus to Kanhangad(pronounce as Kanyangad).
The hotel Bekal International was quite decent. After a quick Idly bite (n Pappai ice cream for me) we headed for The Beach. A huge prob was communication as these guys really dont understand anything other than Malayalam. So the auto took us to Bekal Fort. The group was rarely interested for a barren fort. To mention this is the most intact fort in Kerala. We did get a small rocky beach surrounding the fort but that was not a beach where we could take bath. I collected a very strange type of green shell. After lots n lots of query we reached Bekal beach or Pallikere beach. The virgin beach was very very calm and clean. On the beach there were live Starfish, tiny Crabs and some molluscs inside spiral shells. Food in our hotel was also best in the entire trip. In the evening we had dinner in some Malanad hotel(not so good).
Day 2 we took a Sumo to Kannur n etc. First we reached St. Angelo s Fort in Kannur. Good stuff. Next destination was Muzhappilangad beach; its a drive in beach. As usual this too was our private beach and water being cleaner and less saltier than the previous one. You surely cant miss the expression on our driver s face when we asked him to start our car without langto n bhuri. They were picked up on the beach itself. The third place was Dharmadam island. The very rare thing bout this island is that it can be reached by crossing the sea by walk. It surely was a very different experience. The island was small with heavy vegetation. That n fear of high tide later prevented us from venturing too much inside the forests. The fourth destination for the day was Mahe, Puducherry or Pondicherry. This was a lttle of disappointment as we didnt get proper food(SEAFOOD to be precise). But as per info booze was really abundant. Tried our luck for good dinner at Kannur but sadly couldnt find any. So back in our hotel we had ordinary but satisfying dinner.
Day 3 was spent lazying for most part. As usual we went to Bekal beach; but couldnt take bath to our heart s content as there was a very responsible coast guard taking too good care of us. To add to it there were quite a no of families that spoiled the feeling of private beach. Nonetheless it was good. Back to hotel we had Malabar biriyani(Pritam might debate on that). After some rest we left the hotel at around 6:30 pm i guess. Reached Kanhangad bus station n boarded a bus to Kasargod. The bus started after a wait of 25 mins at 7:30pm. Then started the "race against time". Inspite of the bus racing at approx 80kmph we roamed almost the whole of Kerala in NH7 and reached Kasargod at 8:30pm. Just to mention our bus to Bangalore was at 8:30pm from some Kasargod new bus station. We frantically started searching for our bus. Some guy at last came to our rescue and directed to the busstand. We all took a deep breath after boarding the bus. Reached Bangalore at 7:30am.
Some trivias: The group consisted of Kanu, Dhali, Tan, Langto, Bhuri, Pritam, Khilli and myself(Mini).
Trivia 2: We had taken an auto to Malanad hotel at late hour. We asked him how much would it cost. Reply: 10 rupees. Kanu mentioned showing the figures that they were 5. The surprised auto driver said it still remains 10.... Should have taken a video n should to our great autodrivers in Bangalore.
Trivia 3: Some 8 Jahangir or Amritti from some shop in Kannur and paid for the same.. I then asked for a 50gm piece of cashew halwa. It was 180 rs/kg. To my astonishment it was offered free!!!
Trivia 4: Kanu had left his "priceless" diary in the Sumo we had taken for hire. The hotel owner asked for our address so that he could mail us the same.
I found these facts worth mentioning as the people out there are really really sweet. Trust me. ;)