Ponmudi Hill Station - Kerala (Trivandrum)

Golden Chariot - Excellent Tourism but poor execution

Golden Chariot is one of the world's finest train trips one can take in terms of a luxury vacation. If you never heard about this train, then's that the summary of this article, people behind Golden Chariot have not done enough to get the word out.

That's problem one and problem two is, keeping the fares at an exorbitant amount that most consider this train as 'Zindagi mein ek baar travel karenge' vacation, which means, will never do it.

Golden Chariot is run by KSTDC, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. Karnatka has been hogging the limelight for bringing in foreign exchange for its IT workers and the IT industry. Karnataka has however, a lot to offer in terms of tourism but it's less marketed and not planned well. For instance, Karnataka has some of the best beaches in the world, some better than those of Goa but when it comes to beaches, Goa and Kerala take the cake. They are better portrayed.

There was a minister who once told that World Heritage Title should not be given to Karnataka's Western Ghats. Read that here.

The Golden Chariot has been seeing a dip in revenue year after year and the herculean task of collecting Rs. 60 lakhs per trip is getting further and further away. In fact KSTDC is yet to pay the full arrears it owes to Indian Railways. However, with 40% occupancy which primarily consists of foreigners.

What can KSTDC do:
1. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing (make it aggressive and cater more for domestic ourists). There are Indian Tourists who do not know how majesctic and brilliant can be to travel within in India. (We all suffer from the 'ghar ki murgi daal baraabar' thinking).

2. Bring in packages that can cater to upper middle class, rich, very rich and the elite by bringing in various deals.
- Bring in a less luxury travel option which will rope in plenty of local tourists (at over 1 lakh per passenger, who is willing to pay that kind of money from the non-elite class).
- Attendants should be given cameras and trained to be able to click great photos of the tourists which can act as great memorabilia when the trip ends.
- Sell tickets for break journeys as well rather than forcing tourists to pay for the whole 7 days.

Vacation in Ankola - Honnebail (better than Goa) Honeybeach resort review

Ankola is a small town tucked away in the Arabian Sea side of Karnataka, India. The small town is easily approached by roads. However, my wife and I arrived by the world famous Konkan railway which absolutely set the tone for the vacation. What an amazing train journey it was from Udupi! Tunnels will give you goose
bumps for the sheer length and the greenery all around was very pleasing for the eyes. At one spot, we found an extremely tall Shiv Statue which was visible from around 10 kms. We were able to watch it from the train for almost 30 minutes due to the size of it.

Ankola - Small and neat railway station with only one side platform. Konkan management has ensured that never ever will there be a chance when two trains have to stop at this station at the same time.

Ankola Railway Station

Ankola Railway Stations - Autos lined-up outside

Ideally, Ankola needs to be visited in the December – January period. We had booked at the Honey Beach Resort, a budget resort. We will discuss the resort in detail too.



Nearing Ankola, beach and mangroves

Not many long distance trains stop at Ankola as it is a small station. The station was small, yet clean and nice. We took the weekly Veraval Express which was bang on time. Veraval Express is from Trivandrum in Kerala to Veraval in Gujarat. Since we were unsure about the connectivity from the railway station to the resort and since we didn’t want to pay what the autos (taxi) would demand, we had the hotel guys pick us and drop. A 20-km to and fro trip cost us Rs. 500.

Rs. 500 was high, but the resort was in an interior location and the roads were not good for half the journey. It was quite a lonely ride too but somehow we felt good and safe. We didn’t mind paying that much. But the point is; you have enough autos at the station to take you to your destination. Try and come in early in the morning so that you can make the best of your check-in time. Moreover, day time is the best time to travel locally.

On the way from Mangalore to Ankola

plenty of interesting photographic opportunities

Pluses of Ankola:
1. Great, beautiful destination, not known to many. You will pity those who think Goa is the most beautiful in terms of beach (you don't get the perks/ facilities, agreed but the view is one of the best in the world and I'm not exaggerating. Click on any image and hit the left and right arrow keys to check all the images, more than what is here. They will give you the complete picture. If you liked any, do click on the like button.


Sea view from the restaurant

2. Excellent road connectivity to the town (but not to this resort, which is not reachable in the rains)



View of the beach from the resort
3. Nice train connectivity if you wish to travel without the worries of managing your vehicle (this is a plus or a minus depending on your taste, I love to travel care-free without having to take my own vehicle)



Beach line

Minuses of Ankola:
1. It tends to get very hot, even in the Sep-Oct period

Pluses of Honey Beach resort:
1. Excellent, scenic destination
2. Cordial staff, mostly east Indians, well mannered and helpful (I felt pity for them as they live a very 'cut off' life, you just cannot step out of the resort for anything as the town is quite far away.
3. Great privacy, in the resort and also in the beach (which is pretty much open only for the resort, therefore making it a private resort.

We went on weekdays and there was no soul on the beach for most of the time. Check the photos, some more are posted in my facebook page and do click on 'like' if you indeed liked them.
4. One of the most beautiful beaches with excellent water show (waves) by mother earth



Walk a few steps down the resort and there you are, in your own private beach
5. Besides the sand beach, you will find a nice rocky beach also, a good change to see water splashing and you can walk on them too



Other side of the beach, full of rocks and plent of harmless crabs



6. Plenty of harmless crabs, fun to watch, track and photograph


Beach line

7. A climbable hill adjoining the beach gives another vantage point to watch distant boats, ships and plenty of birds of prey (especially
the Brahmini Kite: white neck, dark brown body). If you can bring in a zoom lens like the Canon HS30IS, you will enjoy a lot.


Beautiful waves and the local fisherboats are not much of a disturbance
8. Extra large boulders at one side of the sandy beach, makes for a great photography companion



Beach is all yours
9. Photography – Since you have privacy, you get plenty of great looking backgrounds with your loved ones and of course, the lovely scenery too


View from the beach, you can see a small portion of the resort's
10. Food – I would term as good but I’m not a big fan of food, as I look at food as a source for being healthy and alive, period. They cook fresh, that’s nice. Choices are limited but unless you are very particular of things, you will be pleased.



Honeybeach Resort Restaurant - facing the sea

Minuses of the Honey Beach cottages:
Resort is not great, I would barely give it a star rating
1. Rooms are clean but there was no effort to clean the next day (you should ask)
2. Only bedroom can be locked, living room has a netted door. It allows tiny insects and frogs to feel the resort, this is fun but some may not like it.
3. No hot shower, only cold shower (very surprising, but you get hot water in tap)
4. Toilet wouldn’t clean-up even when you flush, had to be done repeatedly. If you watch carefully, you might find worms in there. I chose to believe that since this is near such a forest like area with lots of water around, this is natural and harmless
5. Frequent power cuts but they have back-up, but due to the power fluctuations, my Canon charger was burnt. Hotel manager calmly declined to take responsibility and placed the blame on the government, which I thought was not professional (resort should have at least provided a stabilizer for delicate electrical equipments).
6. Food – average food, not much choice but good enough, may not please all.
7. Nights are very dark around the cottages, the CFL bulbs don’t lit-up the place well enough and therefore, gives an eerie feeling at night.
8. The resort is clean but not clean-enough, many guests misuse the location and throw garbage around (beer bottles, plastic were littered at quite a few spots though this was not as bad as other places)
9. Cell phones don’t have enough range but if you go to the beach, you can get it
10. The most painful part of the trip was the beds were only visibly clean (though there were a few stains here and there), and the issue was, both of us picked-up an unnecessary guest – the head lice
11. Once you are in the resort, you are cut off from the outside world. This is actually good, but lets say you want to buy something, you have almost no choice. So, you may want to get some stuffs along with you, some stuffs to eat, some urgent medication, extra batteries, whatever you think you may need during your daily life



View from the Hanuman temple



View from a Hanuman temple, on top of a hillock

Cottage features:
- Wardrobe
- AC rooms
- Hot water (but not for the shower)
- Phone
- Magazines
- Blanket
- Bath linen
- Soap and shampoo

Location rating: 5/5
Room rating: 2/5
Food rating: 3.5/5
Staff rating: 4.5/5

Overall Hotel rating: 4/5

Best feature: Lots of walking space around the beach to explore and be blissful, lots of crabs, peace, tranquility, shaded spots, small hill top.
Value for money: At 4000/- for 3 days/2 nights + food (all meals) + railway station transfers, this is good. But I lost a 5000/- Canon charger due to the power supply issue and the head lice were totally uncalled for.



View fom the top of the hill
How to reach Ankola via train!
North Junction: Goa (Madgaon) (Reach Madgaon and take Madgaon to Ankola train)
South Junction: Trichur or Shornur (Take a train from Trcihur or Shornur to Ankola)
East: Hubli or Dharwad (Take a train from here)

From Bangalore, reach Mangalore or Trichur and then take a train from there to Ankola. Or, take a train from Bangalore to Goa and then another train from Goa to Ankola. You lose time but train journeys are actually fun.

Best trains:
Bangalore to Trichur – Ernakulum Superfast (leave from Bangalore Central, Cantonment or Karmelram (near Wipro Sarjapur) at 6:30
am and arrive at Trichur at 4:00 pm. Take your seat in neat, clean and smart waiting room with options to charge your laptop and cell
phone or take a walk in Trichur. Connection train from Trichur at 9:00 pm (Veraval expresss) which will drop you at Ankola on the next day at 9:30 am. Note, these days, most trains run either on time or are delayed by only around 30 minutes.