Well, I did it. I visited Philippines a third time. Why? Well, truth be told, I was supposed to visit Japan in March. I have been longing to visit Japan since childhood, and I was dreaming about visiting Japan around the sakura (cherry-blossom) season for over a year now. But for reasons too long to mention (mostly related to income tax paper work for visa processing) I missed the cherry-blossom season. So I decided to visit Philippines instead, a country that always rewards me traffic-wise more than any other nation I have visited.
This time I would most certainly do the Mt. Pinatubo trek, visit Oslob and finally see whalesharks, fly down to Davao and visit places in and around Manila. Unlike last year, I didn’t face any harrowing experience getting my tourist visa. Although, it did cost me a dear Rs. 7k to get it done quick using Thomas Cook as an agent. I could have gone and applied for it myself, but I’m still scarred by the Chennai Philippines Consulate experience of last year.
Anyway, the trip was planned for 25 days. Mostly because now tourist visas are granted for up to 30 days of stay for Indians, not 21 like before. I also decided I wouldn’t rush around this time. I wanted to relax and take it easy for once. It’s okay if I didn’t go anywhere on a particular day. Plus I still had my freelance work to do while travelling.
April 26, 2014
Like last year, I was going to be flying Dragon Air from Bangalore to Hong Kong, and then catch a connecting Cathay Pacific flight to Manila. Even though the flight was slightly delayed, I was kind of impressed by the fact Dragon Air had remarkably improved its service on this sector.
Last year, the plane I flew was old, the in-flight entertainment sucked and the food was mediocre at best. This year, Dragon Air made flight depart earlier, every seat had a video screen with great entertainment choice and plane was very new!I slept through much of the flight, only to wake up when it was time to eat breakfast
The stop-over at Hong Kong airport was around 5 hours and I used the opportunity to get some work done. I was feeling unwell, so the freezing cold inside the airport wasn’t helping. The flight from Hong Kong to Manila was Cathay Pacific, and all we were served on the flight was a chicken cheese wrap, of which I asked for one more as they had extras — and I was hungry.
I landed in Manila around 5pm and made my way to Cubao by bus. It was a mistake to take the bus — the journey took over two hours due to evening traffic. I finally made my way to the hotel I would be staying at. I decided to stay at Fersal Hotel on Annapolis Street in Cubao. It’s a budget hotel and I chose to stay here because it was close to where I could meet reader/friend Gale, who lived and worked near University of the Philippines, which wasn’t too far away. Also, most good hostels in Manila are all in Makati and Malate.
It cost me PHP 1020 per night inclusive of breakfastAnd the breakfast options weren’t bad
On a Monday morning, I joined my cousin brother and his family on short day-trip to a place called Pyramid Valley International, just off Kanakapura Road.
Pyramid Valley is around 27 kms from the METRO Cash & Carry store on Kanakapura Road.Even though I was primarily using my phone to shoot photographs, I carried my GoPro with me to take some photos tooThe drive barely took an hour
You have to get off Kanakapura Road when you see the sign pointing left to where Pyramid Valley International is located. Once you get on to the small road, it’s pretty bad. You pass through a village with poor roads before you reach the gates at Pyramid Valley.
There is an open ground for parking and there is no fee for the same. We parked under a big tree as it was quite sunny.
Like many spiritual centers in India, they are spread across many acres
Pyramid Valley International claims to be a “new age meditation” and “spiritual science” center (if there ever is such a thing as spiritual science).
Much of the space inside looks like there is still a lot of work to be done
Done with my Philippines series, I had no other trip report to write about after that. Being in Kannur, I had always wanted to go to Bekal Fort in Kasarkode district, north of Kannur. Bekal Fort is the largest fort in Kerala. I had vague memories of visiting the fort when I was very young… but my mom insists I had never been there. She say it must have been St. Angelo’s Fort I got confused with and said she herself has never been to Bekal Fort!
So on a fine Sunday morning, we went to Kannur’s ‘private bus stand’. We chose to go by bus thinking it would be easy to get one as Bekal was only 90kms away. The route on Google Maps showed one long road up north and it would take no less than 2 hours. Trouble is, there was some railway crossing repair work going on along the way and because of that, the route buses would be taking today would be longer. But we were only told of this while we waited for the bus to arrive. We (myself, my mother and my cousin brother) contemplated going by train but because we wasted more than half-an-hour waiting for the bus, we missed the trains going north. Finally we boarded a bus going to Kanhangad as we were told we could catch another bus going to Bekal Fort, or Pallikere (the place), from there. So at 9:45 am, the bus finally left Kannur ‘private bus stand’ and we began our long journey to Bekal.
A bus ticket to Kanhangad costs Rs. 50 ($0.80/€0.60) per person.
One of the reasons why I wanted to go by bus is to the see the places along the way. While coming back we decided to take the train for a different view.There were quite a few timber, wood and tile factories along the way
The bus filled up with passengers after picking up more people from the municipal bus stations along the way. It was a good thing we got seats.
We would pass many farms along the wayAnd a few churches
As I looked at the time, I realized we would only arrive at Bekal Fort past noon. I was disappointed knowing I would miss the morning blue skies and would instead be shooting during the dreaded 11am-1pm time slot — the period during which the sun is at its brightest and washes out all the blues in the sky in photographs.
Still, I enjoyed the sights along the wayI also realized how sparsely populated and barren Kannur district is outside of Kannur town
Past noon, we had reached Kanhagad. From there, we saw a bus with Bekal Fort written on it (in English) and so we knew that was our next bus. We boarded it (Rs. 10 for ticket) and it was another 30 minutes until we reached the road leading to Bekal Fort.
From here it was just a short walk to the fortGood parking space for cars right outside the fortFinally we were at Bekal fort!InstructionsThis was the Mukhyaprana TempleTickets cost Rs. 5 for Indian citizens and Rs. 100 for foreigners. I don’t agree with this sort of dual-pricing, but it’s what it is. Archeological Society of India (ASI) should raise it to at least Rs. 10 for us. Rs. 5 is too low. Every Indian can afford Rs. 10!I could already see how big Bekal fort wasAnd I was also pleased with how clean and well kept it wasThis was an observation tower. I just had to climb it to see what the views from up there were like.They have a CCTV installed up hereI took a panorama but oddly the camera wouldn’t focusThe ‘black’ you see below is because they burnt the dry grassAnother panorama. That’s Bekal beach in the distance.Through the rocksAnother panorama
Unlike St. Angelo’s Fort in Kannur, which was built by the Dutch, Bekal Fort was built in 1650AD by Shivappa Nayaka, an Indian ruler. You may read about the fort’s history on Wikipedia.
A panorama of the other sideThat’s the entranceWe went back down
That’s my motherThis is what they were looking down atWe walked along the outer wall
I wanted to get to that beachThis was the way to get down below
You have to go down a few (large) stepsFrom the extension. Bekal Fort was the setting for the song “Uyire” from Bombay.There was a sign saying not to enter the beach or the water. I’m assuming it was largely because there is no one to watch over you if something were to go wrong.You have beaches on either side of Bekal fortA view from back up the fort
There was little else to seeWe were making our way back to the entrance
The final panoramaOne photo of ourselves
… and we were out. It was 2pm and we were hungry. There weren’t any restaurants to be found outside Bekal Fort, so we had to eat from the closest resort.
Nirvana Resort is the nearest hotel to Bekal Fort. Like, right outside the fort — that near! We didn’t find any other restaurant nearby so we just ate here. The food was nothing special and not really worth how much they were charging, but you don’t have any choice.We then left Bekal fort and figured how to get to the beachWe walked down a small village pathThat led us just outside the fence bordering Bekal FortMy cousin isn’t peeing, just keeping the phone back in his pocket The path we took was far from the right way to get to the beach, but it’s a shortcutFinally… time to walk barefoot!The beach was filled with small green shellsGoodbye Bekal fortPretty big beachBlademon, which literally translates to “blade son”. Okay Blademon Funny, both the boat and the airline have a chance of sinkingFishing boats have registration numbers much like vehicles have license numbers
When we reached Bekal Beach Park, a security guard ran towards us and told even if we walk across on the beach without even entering the park, we still need to pay Rs. 10 per person.
Rs. 10 to enter a state-run park? Hmmm.Camel rides in Kerala
There’s a “zoo” but that costs extra and it was largely domestic animals, so we just walked away. Instead my mom bought us “kids” some cone ice cream.
When I went to use the park’s toilet, even there they were charging Rs. 5 for using it! So Rs. 10 is for you to walk in the vicinity. Rubbish! And so was the condition the toilets were in going by how much they were charging.
Anyway, we asked the security guard how to get to Kanhangad railway station and he gave us the directions to the main road from where we could board the bus.
We crossed a railway trackAnd got a bus going to Kanhangad town
When we arrived at the town bus stand, we crossed over to the other side to get to the railway station. The next train to Kannur was only at 5:20pm, but we had no choice. We bought three tickets (Rs. 50 per person for General class) and went out to drink some chai.
We sat at Kanhangad railway station platform for an hourThe Mangalore -> Chennai Express train arrived at 5:20pm… with a few extra minutes added to it
It was crowded inside the general compartment, as expected, but I had no issues standing because I wanted to take photos.
The sights along the journey were largely that of village life and paddy fields…… and a lot of football being played on the now dry paddy fieldsNorth Kerala (Malabar) has a long history with IslamMe and my cousin stood by the door to make sure I could get photos of the sunsetThat’s a houseboat in the distance. Quite the glorious way to catch the sun set.This train would only stop briefly at two stations before stopping at KannurBeautiful Kerala
The sun had set by the time we crossed the river you see in the very first photo above
The train reached Kannur station a few minutes before 7pm. After helping a French tourist who was in the same train with some travel advice, we all left the station.
Overall, the trip was good and I’m quite pleased with the photos I got using only my Sony Xperia Z1 phone camera. This is the first trip taking photos only using my phone and I am now confident that even if I don’t have my DSLR, the photos I get from my phone would still serve me fine.
But a bit of advice, if you wish to visit Bekal Fort from either Kannur or any other cities south of Kerala, just take the train. The buses aren’t as frequent as I thought they would be and it takes longer depending on the time of the day. The ticket rates are the same anyway and although you may not get a seat in some of the general class trains, you get to Kasragod district a lot quicker. Also, try and get to the fort by 9am or post lunch so you can watch the sun set from Bekal Fort itself.
Kannur may have St. Angelo’s Fort but trust me, Bekal Fort is a lot bigger and well worth the views.
