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**satyajitrc** · 05-16-2011, 03:18 PM

Originally posted by princesirohi View Post

don't worry mate ..............................just go ahead, if you are worried about your quality of photography, just have a look at my ashtavinayak thread and my pics.

.

and biking is not about posting award winning travalogues and pictures, it is about having fun.

Originally posted by Only Amit... View Post

Sorry for OT:
Very well said...Go ahead Satyajit !!!

Thats the first cliteria otherwise,there is always a option to BRAINWASHH

PRINCE & AMIT,

Though I have mentioned in other Threads also I am

fortunate to have a WIFE who loves Riding in TWO Wheelers.
She is my inspiration and I am a better driver with her in pillion.

She is also a commoner in our X-Bhp G2Gs in Kolkata.

**princesirohi** · 05-16-2011, 03:59 PM

^^^^ wow, that is really nice...........cheers...........

oops............i was not aware...........

happy riding..........

**princesirohi** · 05-16-2011, 04:01 PM

hey, there are quaite a few couples on xBhp...............may be we can have an all india xBhp couple's G2G.........

or better.....xBhp Grand All India Couples Ride..........

**animeher** · 05-17-2011, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by aargee View Post

Keep going & pls stop the EMI flow

Thanks aargee

I will watermark the photos now on. And no more EMI flow

regular updates to follow.

Originally posted by Only Amit... View Post

Amazing thread...

Originally posted by princesirohi View Post

really nice one........

Thanks Amit and Prince. Hope you will like the later parts too.

Originally posted by satyajitrc View Post

This will be First Tour in my Life & that too with my partner.

But probably I am afraid to put the Travelogue here.

Do put your log and pics here. I am thinking of something on the lines to promote motorcycling for married people. Most people have this view that bikers are only collegians and singles, and once a man gets married, his bike should be used only for daily groceries. This view needs to change, and more such photos of touring couples will help to strengthen our case.

Originally posted by princesirohi View Post

biking is not about posting award winning travalogues and pictures, it is about having fun.

Amen!

Originally posted by princesirohi View Post

may be we can have an all india xBhp couple's G2G.........

or better.....xBhp Grand All India Couples Ride..........

Great idea! But usually for G2G, matching singles' timings is cumbersome, for couple's G2G, the problem is twofold. That said, I am ready for such events

Soon posting the next day's story.

**animeher** · 05-17-2011, 01:22 PM

**princesirohi** · 05-17-2011, 01:25 PM

i want to ask --why this thread is called as "vesta tours"?

initially when i read the thread title, i miss-read it as "vespa tours and travels" and i thought this is the thread of a tours & travels company which organizes bike tours in south india. i started looking for information. then i realized that this thread is not what i thought.............then only i read the whole thread.

plz tell me what is the meaning of "vesta"...........??

**animeher** · 05-17-2011, 01:28 PM

I should have made it clear in my first post, prince

Vesta is the name of my Suzuki GS150R bike. So I name my travelogues as Vesta tours and travels, as we tour on her only!

**princesirohi** · 05-17-2011, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by animeher View Post

I should have made it clear in my first post, prince

Vesta is the name of my Suzuki GS150R bike. So I name my travelogues as Vesta tours and travels, as we tour on her only!

okkkk....

nice pics bro..............which camera are you using....???

but one question is still unanswered............what is the meaning of vesta??

**animeher** · 05-17-2011, 01:43 PM

I am using Canon A570IS, 3 years old camera, nothing fancy! and Vesta is the Roman Goddess of Fire and the Hearth.

**aargee** · 05-17-2011, 02:25 PM

WHAAAT???? I thought you had some Rebel or D series DSLR camera!!! Amazing clarity Animeher; really money spent well on the P&S. Excellent pics.

**Haroon** · 05-17-2011, 03:06 PM

Aniruddha, wonderful travelogue you have here. This is bike touring at its best with relaxed stop-overs to take in the scenery before moving onto the next destination. The pics are amazing and 3 cheers to the Mrs Meher for enduring on the back of the bike.

Waiting for more...

**animeher** · 05-17-2011, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by aargee View Post

WHAAAT???? I thought you had some Rebel or D series DSLR camera!!! Amazing clarity Animeher; really money spent well on the P&S. Excellent pics.

^^ ha ha , no man, those are too big to carry on motorcycle. At one time I was considering them, but realized that I am not that good a photographer to warrant an upgrade, and they were too big to carry on tough rides. I am saving up for the micro four thirds, the EVIL cameras, preferably Sony Nex. But that is still a while away.

Originally posted by Haroon View Post

Waiting for more...

Thanks Haroon! I prefer such journeys, where everything is included, and reaching the destination is not a goal. Glad you share the same opinion.

**animeher** · 05-18-2011, 01:22 PM

To Southern End

We left our hotel around 10.00 A.M., and started towards our day’s destination – Kanya Kumari. We would cross the Kerala State border and enter Tamil Nadu state today. NH was crowded as hell as expected. We reached Thiruanantpuram – old name Trivendrum – in time for lunch. Here a bright idea crossed my mind. We were coming back to Trivendrum 2 days later. If we booked the hotel for that stay now, it may keep our luggage for some charge, and thus I wouldn’t have to ride with the entire luggage. When on a bike trip, luggage needs planning too.

Out came the guide book, and a quick review showed us the ‘Manjalikulam road’ was well connected as well as housing good hotels. We found our way to Manjalikulam road, and started scouting for hotels. Some hotels were too low key, some were too high for our budget, and those in our budget were having tremendous attitude. Few of the hotels flatly rejected any rooms, sighting non availability. Who the hell was filling these hotels on Thursday in an off season would be anyone’s guess. I have noted that some hotel owners are too much of culture police and they feel the very fabric of society is protected solely by them. Seeing us two turning up in biking attire confirmed their beliefs that we are runaway couple who shouldn’t be allowed on the hotel campus. The other hotels that did have rooms, didn’t have any luggage keeping room, nor the will to do so. We wasted around 1 hour in this futile exercise. After 5th or 6th such encounter, we had had enough. Took our lunch in a nearby hotel, and headed straight for Kanyakumari.

When you enter Tamilnadu, the road quality improves significantly. But the width of the road remained same, so we were still struggling in big vehicles, only on smoother roads this time. Sun was in full form, and thus draining us out every now and then. While en route, we found a ice cream chain shop named ‘Arun’. Later we found that this was a famous ice cream chain like Dinshaw etc, and had a very reasonable priced menu. The ice cream parlour’s menu was simple, take any combination of ice cream, topping and sauces, it would be charged on weight for Rs.35 for 100 grams. I couldn’t have believed Nandinee could eat ice cream so much if someone would have told me. Girls, they always have a hidden pouch in the stomach for this sort of stuff, it seems.

We reached Kanyakumari at around 3.30-4.00 P.M. There is a place called Vivekanandapuram, where a small village-like establishment is erected. They have hotels too, but unfortunately they didn’t have two days’ availability. So we moved inside Kanyakumari in search of hotels.

Kanyakumari is a proper tourist-focused town. So you will not have any trouble finding food or lodging for any budget. We went straight to Hotel Tamil Nadu, located at a great location in front of sea. After going through the room list, which started from a see facing room, we finally settled for a 3 bed non AC family room. The room was located bit away from main hotels, and didn’t have any sea view. As we would he hardly in the hotel at day time to enjoy the view, it didn’t matter us. The room is big, and for 3-4 people it would be comfortable. For 2 persons, it was very big. I will definitely recommend Hotel Tamil Nadu for good rooms at logical prices.

In evening, we went to Kanyakumari temple on the beach. There was hardly any crowd, this being the mid of the week. Darshan was done quickly, and afterwards we rushed towards the better location for seeing sun set. There is a sunset point erected on the beach, but it was crowded, and having a personal vehicle gives you good access to points where general tourists can’t come. We rushed towards the end of the road where we would get a good view without anyone popping up in the frame of photo.

The sunset was frankly as normal as can be. In fact, April period is not for scenic sunsets at all. For grand beautiful sunsets/sunrises, Oct-December months are preferred.

We went to the beach for shopping of the Conches. The prices are wonderful, and you get lost in the beauty of conches and the sound they produce when blown. We bought a few conches, and planned to check on post office rules for feasibility of sending a bunch of conches by post. In distance, we could see the Rock temple standing proudly in the sea.

We could even see some lights in the opposite direction of the rock, and some said it was the Shri-lankan lights! My P&S camera refused to click any photo of the far away foreign country though, so no photos of those lands.

In night, when we returned to hotel after dinner, I was trying hard to learn to blow a conch, and suddenly I could do it! It is like a light bulb turning on. You try and try, and pop! Suddenly you get it. The happiness that I could do so was great, and I was blowing the conches to my heart’s contents. Even called family back at Mumbai and had them hear the conch through the phone! At 10.30 P.M., only after getting a warning from home minister of getting thrown out of room along with the conches, did I put it to rest.

**animeher** · 05-20-2011, 12:26 PM

Exploring Kanya Kumari - Day 4

First thing in the morning – after the breakfast, of course – we went to the post office, to enquire feasibility of sending conches to Pune. It is located on way to Kanyakumari, right in the central area. The helpful lady there informed us that it was possible, however the packing has to be a proper tailor made bag, and not just duct-taped box. This was bit surprising, because surely I had received usual box packs from Indian postal service in the past. But arguing was not going to help, so we decided to first check the packing mechanism by visiting the tailor.

The elusive tailor sits in a hidden lane, that can be hidden from your eye even if you are standing right at its nose. After a number of pacing of the road to and fro on bike, we traced the steps one at a time, and finally found the tailor sitting in his small shop. He seemed a regular in this sort of stuff, the way he handled matters. He gave us a large box to fill the conches in. The parcel had to be given to the parcel office before 2.00P.M., otherwise we would have to come back the next day. As we were leaving the next morning, 2.00 P.M. was a must-meet deadline for us.

We headed straight to the beach, to the sea-side vendors selling the conches and sea-stuff. The market is so magical, I never felt bored or ‘enough’ at any time. The rates are unbelievably low, and more so when bargained well. One could spend hours here without getting bored. Nandinee however differed on this opinion, and was seemed on a verge of a volcano blowing up when I suggest we take one more round of the market, now fourth time, the blazing sun not aiding her mood. I unsuccessfully tried to revenge this when she was buying sarees. The tale of my failure is a topic for a later chapter.

We bought this shell with our names engraved, in hope that someday our grand children will see it, and remember what it is to roam free.

We left the market with lighter pockets and heavy bags, and headed our room for packing the stuff well. It was already 12.45P.M. There was enough time to have the cover sewn for the box. Or so we thought. When we reached the tailor’s shop, it was wide open, with no sign of him. Fine, we’ll wait, we thought. Must’ve gone around to grab a bite of food. Let’s wait 5 minutes. 10…15…25 minutes, still no tailor. The clock slowly started ticking against us. A huge language barrier was standing between us and the neighboring shops to find his whereabouts. Finally after great theatrics, I managed to have the other shop owner ring his phone, and tell him two souls are waiting to be released upon his holiness’s blessings. Once he got to work, he was pretty fast.

Did the packing nice and tight, and we finally booked the parcel at 1.55 P.M.

After lunch, we went to see the Kanyakumari rock temple, where Swami Vivekananda reportedly meditated for 3 days. The temple is situated on an island that can be visited by boat alone. There is one more similar island, with recently erected statue of Tamil saint Thiruvalluvar. However, we limited our visit to only the Vivekananda island.

The boat ride was terrifying to say the least. We all were made to wear the life guards compulsorily, no elderly or non-willing spared. When the boat took off, it was more on the mercy of the sea than the power of the engines. Hardly a little distance in, we started rocking like crazy. Naturally, the kids and their moms started shouting in Unison. Had I myself not been shocked and scared, a film of that scene would easily sell as footage of some sad movie where poor immigrants are swallowed by the angry sea. Luckily our fate’s movie was not to end that day, and we reached the rock in a while. The journey is hardly 5-10 minutes, with more time spent in waiting for passengers than in commuting. But if the sea is in form, then those 5-10 minutes are nothing but a wild ride.

April afternoon is not exactly the best time to visit the rock, as we realized quickly. Having had to part with our shoes at the entrance, we soon started to find cool places to lay our feet on while walking. Being on the rock though is a calming experience.

There is a solar clock placed on the ground, with different markings. This was my second time seeing the clock, with five years spread between the two sightings. But yet, I had not become wiser about its working, and still am not. Maybe it will require one more visit with a knowledgeable person to understand it.

There is a small ‘Meditation hall’ on the rock. Last time I visited was in the heat of tourist season, and the meditation room was unbelievably noisy by people who had evidently confused it with chat room. However, this time it was very peaceful. The room itself is very dark, and an Om written in Devanagari is lit on the wall. Outside of that room, the sea may be roaring to glory, and children may be crying in full volume, but inside you don’t hear anything. All you hear is the speed of your thoughts, and wonder how you survive having such a fast restless train of thoughts.

After roaming around the rock, we soon found ourselves in line for boat to take us back to the lands. There is nothing else to see on the rock, except the Vivekananda temple, and the Kanyakumari temple, which houses a pair of footprints said to belong to Devi Kanyakumari herself.

The return journey too was matching to the first journey, but this time, we were bit experienced, and tried to enjoy it. We sure were glad to put our feet back on land though. Sea is a wild creature, at one moment it may play with you, and at another it will turn to take a bite off your neck. It surely wasn’t in any mood to play that day, and we decided to leave it at that.

After a snacks break, the last stop for today was Suchindram temple. Suchindram is located about 7 kilometers from Kanyakumari, on the same way back to Kerala. It houses a temple famous mainly for its musical pillars. There are 2 sets of stone pillars that are carved hollow inside. If you bang the pillars right, and place your ears on any of them, you will hear musical tones. Not rock banging, but actually musical tones. We arrived at the temple in the evening. Just prior to the temple, there is a small lake that houses the carved structures.

Goats were hanging out in cool evening on their usual spot above the lake.

The temple allowed no shirts inside, similar to other temples in the area. It didn’t allow cameras too, which had to be deposited outside in a safe. There was a large amount of local crowd that had come to take darshan. I hardly spotted any tourists though. It is a huge campus, with many temples situated within. I couldn’t identify some of the gods though, despite being of the same religion. It is said Hindu religion has 33 crore Gods, and the Gods I identified were seemingly a small set out of the population.

We saw some beautiful brass lanterns in the temple. Shopping of brass items in Kerala was on our agenda anyway. Upon inquiry, we found out that there is a village named Kottar, 4 kms ahead of Suchindram, that is the origin of these lanterns and other similar brass artifacts. As we had nothing planned for the evening, Kottar became our next destination. This is the beauty of travelling as single couple, that you are the only decision maker regarding your itinerary. Had we been in a group, then we had to explain and coax others to accompany, and had we been in a tourist bus, then there would be no chance of such sudden visit.

Kottar is a passing village on the Kerala-Kanyakumari road, which is easy to miss. A non-descript town, but curiously famous for its brass items, that too sold in a handful of shops. We roamed on the inner roads, away from the main busy street. Asking a simple question ‘where do we get brass items’ took about 5 minutes, and attracted a sizeable group of people, before we were finally ushered that way.

‘Pital ke diye kahaan milte hain?’
‘…’
‘Umm… Where do we get dipam? Diyaa?’
‘yanna $#@$#@$@?’
‘Huh?!’

It took a session of dumb charades, where I displayed a lantern with hand, and poured oil in it and lit it and all. Finally it dawned.

‘Ohh…brass! There!’

Luckily, the one word answer to our five minute animated question was sufficient, and soon we found ourselves parking in front of a brass shop. The owner there knew some English, so the matters eased then on. Luckily, he was the only brass shop owner that could manage English. The rest shops we visited were not understanding a word we were saying, nor us them. It was fun to bargain in broken English. No matter where you are, money speaks a common language, and soon we arrived at an acceptable figure for both parties. The shop owner agreed to parcel the stuff back to Pune for some additional cost. Paid the amount, and started back to Kanyakumari. The roads in south, atleast to where I had been, seemed safe, and this road was no exception.

As the conches were packed and sent home, I didn’t have any to blow them at night. Nandinee seemed particularly happy about it. We hoped all our shopping done today, the conches and the brass items, would reach home safely.

**animeher** · 05-23-2011, 10:59 AM

Heading for the capital - Day 5

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Vesta tours and travels: Reboot life - Kerala - Kanyakumari - Kodaikanal Couple tour

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