On the way, we saw this large statue of the monkey king - there many large statues, temples and monuments along the roadside in India and it's quite nice to see them during a journey.
This is the top of the Jog Falls - as you can probably tell by the mist - unfortunately, we went during quite a dry spell. The waterfalls can be quite spectacular if there has been very heavy rain. 
Even though there was not a massive amount of rain, they were still spectacular. During heavy rain, apparently the entire cliff edge can be covered by water - that would have been a sight!
While we were there, it started raining, so we (and almost everyone else there) took shelter.
After spending nearly an hour at Jog Falls, we had decided that we couldnt do much more there, besides look at the waterfall. We checked out the map and realised that we were quite near the coast, so we decided to go a bit further on and stay overnight in a place called Honovar, which appeared to be right next to the sea.
We couldn't quite resist having a paddle in the Arabian Sea. The water was quite warm and as we were about 200km south of Goa, it was a good sign for us as we were still in the process of planning a trip to Goa before I finished my placement.
As we were on the west coast, we thought it would be quite nice to get a few beers in and watch the sunset. Unfortunately, it was a little bit cloudy so we couldnt quite see the sun hit the horizon, but it was still very nice. A few of the locals also turned up to watch the sunset.
After the sun went down, we went back to our hotel, had some food in the restuarant next to the hotel and sat on the balcony of Andrew's room. Honovar was practically untouched by western influence and it is highly doubtful that they get many tourists there. It was really nice to be there.
In the morning, we headed over to the river and found a fish market. Everything was very fresh and the locals were happy for us to take a look.
When we got to the other side, it seemed to be a dry dock for repairing fishing boats. There was a large number of boats all sitting there and men were working on them, not sure what they were doing, but all the boats had thatched roofs. I thought that people were living in them, but I dont think that was the case because when it rained (and it frequently did) the boats would probably get flooded quite quickly. Actually, during the journey, when it rained, suddenly almost everyone had an umbrella with them. It was perhaps the only time that I have seen so many umbrellas in India - even people on motorycles had umbrellas with them!
We took a wander around through a village next to the beach and saw some kids playing in the mud - they were really happy to have their picture taken!
The village led back to the beach, so we spent a few more minutes there and then headed back to the boat to take us to the other side of the river to start the journey back to Bangalore.
On the way back, we saw quite a few great sights, including this beautiful tropical river. If we had more time, I would have like to have had a river ride along it, but we needed to get back.
One of the last good sights we saw was this river valley from a viewing station that we passed on the side of the road. Unfortunately, it was a little bit hazy from all the rain, but it was still really nice to see.
The area around Jog Falls is reknowned for having a lot of waterfalls and I spotted two good ones on the way to Honovar, so I made sure we stopped for a look on the way back.
This waterfall was the last thing I managed to photograph before the battery on my camera ran out!
Overall, although this trip was a short one, it was amazing! Definitely one I will look back on with fond memories. It was great to get away from tourism and westen influences and see a bit more of India outside of Bangalore. One of my aims was to get over the coast and see a beach lined with palm trees so I was very happy to be able to achieve this in Honovar.
