wow... wow... wow.... what a ride.. whattey pics... loved them to the core...

Nice Pictures & a good fun filled trip over all. I still say stick to your P & S- Talk to Dinesh if you need advice. Ride safe.

Video is nice from a beginner!! can improved too!!! BTW where was the camera in your helmet?? how were you caring that camera while riding at such highspeed!! ?? Good One !! But i won't recommend single rider to do this all, if there would have been a pillion than it's a different case!! All days are not same mind it Bro!! Safety is anytime best then this all things!!

Fantastic bro....pics were really awesome....guess you had the best trip ever......

hi Sriram... very interesting pics and impressive vedio... in some places i felt like i watched motoGP especially the initial night drive and near the tea estate and two more places.. mind blowing.. bring on more ..

Cam was inside the lid in the portrait position where it doesn't hinder the vision!

Really its beautiful the way the pics are taken ... with cannon 1000d you served it well :P ... go on mate ... waiting for the rest ...

Excellent photography.. Awesome places...

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks man. Will keep that in mind.

Hahaha.. Thanks.

Thanks dude. you are the only other person to comment on the video.

Thanks man. Most of the pictures where taken in a Panasonic Lumix TZ25. DSLR is not for me.

Thank you.


Will be updating the triplog shortly.

Day 1: Chennai - Madurai - Meghamalai

Prologue:

After Ananth from Chennai XBHP did his Meghamalai trip, i was very excited to visit the place myself. After being to Ooty, this seemed totally unreal that a "hill station" would be so desserted. But due to various reasons we couldnt make it for the Chennai XBHP ride to Meghamalai. And since it seemed a challenging task from the triplog Ananth had posted, I thought why not do it alone, I'm sure i've seen worse roads and the experience however bad would be great. Meanwhile, Ram who was in a similar situation agreed to join me. The to and fro journey of Chennai to MM (meghamalai) was roughly 1100kms.

Just then another friend of mine, Avinash from Chennai XBHP had done Valaparai-Munnar-Idukki ride. I fell in love with the place after reading his triplog. So i decided why not? Google maps said visiting these places adds only about 400kms to the entire trip. The plan was agreed with Ram. Initially and foolsihly we planned to complete this 1800km ride in 3days.. haha. The dates were decided as Sept 6th to Sept 9th with Sunday as backup(thank god for that). We would start by 1AM on Sept 6th and return by 12noon on Sept 9th.

I would have to thank the following people:
Devesh for the air pump.
Dinesh for the saddle bag.
Avinash for the tripod, advice and inspiration.
Ananth for the route advice and triplog.

DAY 1: Chennai - Madurai - Meghamalai(cloud moutains)

Dint get much sleep. The plan was to start at 1AM but I woke up at 1AM. Told Ram i would be late. Got ready, put everything on my bike and reached his place by 1:45AM. The funny thing was i kept forgeting one thing or the other even though I made a list, guess I was just too excited ! Added Ram's luggage to my saddle bag of which there was lot !! Broke my helmet's visor by banging it against something and then realised I forgot my gloves at my house.. ARGH!!!!!!!! Good thing my house was on the way, me and ram reached my house got my gloves, fixed my helmet.

Starting from my place.


I just realised I hadnt fueled up yet(there was enough fuel for 300kms atleast but I dint want to slow us down with fuel stops) it was like as if this ride wasnt gonna happen. Went to the petrol bunk, bunk guy wont accept card and I dint wanna spend all my cash on petrol, so off to a ATM got money, fueled up (am pretty sure he stole Rs100 worth of petrol) in a hurry and off we went. The time was 2:40AM by now.

Trip metre: 0000


We decided our next break would only be at 200kms or later since we were running behind schedule. So much for starting at 1 !! Our plan was to reach Madurai (450kms from Chennai) where we will meet Ram's friends, refresh, have breakfast and reach MM. Well that was the plan.. We rode at around 100-130kmph. Had covered 220kms by 5AM. We were pretty optimistic that we would achieve our initial plan of reaching Madurai by 8AM.

For pictures sake:


It was four lane highway all the way with truck traffic as usual. The ninja was having a ball but my bike was running at close to its top speed and I could feel the strain. But, A BIG BUT, it was very comfortable. I had tweaked the suspension to the softest setting and i guess the tyres were running on low pressure. Unlike my last ride to ooty I dint have any punctures this time (i guess since i carried a puncture kit and air pump). And we kept riding and as per schedule we reached Trichy and the Ninja had to do a fuel stop (Trichy is 320kms from Chennai).

Fuel UP:


The bunk had a rest room and we refreshed up a bit and cleaned our helmet visors off bugs ! I dont use Indian oil so I stopped at a HP bunk a few kms later. I had enough fuel for the day but just in case.

Posers !

The Trichy - Madurai highway was beautiful !! Standard issue..

Think I was running on low pressure:


There was very less traffic on the highway:


Tea break ! The tamil they speak down south even on the radio is so nice and sweet.. We Chennai people are killing the poor language.


Well on our way to Madurai:


Yanamalai, literally translated, elephant rock, Madurai:

We reached Madurai an hour late at 8:45AM, considering we started 2hours late I think that was an achievement ! We met Ram's friends who were staying in a hotel room and planned to leave by 10AM after breakfast and freshing up. Yea right, Ram look his own sweet time to freshen up and by the time we had breakfast it was 10:30AM.

Idly, vada, standard issue:


I had mini idly and standard vada:


We got back to the hotel room, ready to start:


But things were not meant to be. Ram decided to withdraw money for fuel and the next thing you know, the ATM ate his card !! Back to room, after much confusion on the procedure to go with, i told Ram to dump the card, report the card lost and get a new card issued which would be much faster (and it was) than raise a complaint, fill out forms and get your card transferred from the ATM to the local bank to account holders bank. Since I had some backup money with me for emergency, money wasnt a issue. By the time all this was sorted out the time was 12:30PM. That sucks. But we took it cool. We skipped lunch at Madurai and decided we will have it at the foothills if we reach early or a early dinner in MM. There was some town traffic in between and the state highway was being relaid which dint help our cause.

Somewhere off Theni, Cross winds picked up dangerously and we found these:



Black top, might look nice now but at night its a death trap(will come back to it later):


Hawaii anyone?!


Our first break in two hours:


Relaxing:


Finally reached Chinnamanur(100kms from Madurai) which is at the foothills of MM (Meghamalai) at 2:15PM, our crusing speed had dropped drastically. Had lunch and set out for MM. Our initial plan was to reach MM by 2PM and look around a bit.. haha. And off we set to MM whenever the hell that maybe I thought. But heaven it was. MM was just 40kms away(ghat roads) expect that we got lost. Let me get to that.

Lunch place(Shanti Mess), good food, too hungry to take pix:



You shall not pass!!


Welcoming:


Posers!!


Moi baby!!


The roads were not bad, yet, I thought:


Of things to come, not exactly:




Ghat roads begin:


Farmlands:


The official photographer of the trip!


Ram, the official poser ! oh sorry that would be me posing.


Mountains, mountains everywhere but the climate was still hot:


A lone tower post, but why?


Biking solitude!


View from the tower:


Windmills afar..


Breath taking views:


The weather was getting better:


I still wouldnt call the roads bad, doable:


I revel in being alone..


Still very doable:


Imagine if this was flat tarmac?!


The view:


We were taking it nice and slow, its not everyday you get to ride through such beautiful sceneries !!


Neeeeenjaaaaa !


Pulsarrrrrrrr !


The camera dint capture it clearly but mist was overflowing from behind the mountain..


That isnt my hairstyle.. the place was super windy !!


Ram !


My desktop wallpaper !


Bikes with a view..


Wherever you go, trucks follow.. argh !


If a ninja can do it, you can do it !


We reached this place at 4:50PM by the time we left it was 5:30PM and I dint wanna leave !! Parting shot..


The temperature dropped and it was starting to get dark..


A bad capture.. this mountain was glistening like silver in the sunset !


Let the bad roads begin !


Meghamalai !!! Or so we thought..


I've not seen this much mist in my life.. yet !!


I wanted to bath here but it was pretty cold !


More mist !


Waterfall or run off?


More mist !


Ninja goes swimming !


We reach the highwavys dam one hour later at 6:30PM.


People said the Govt guest house was nearby and this looked similar from the pictures I've seen and was bang opp to the dam.


Hold the water and never let go !


Soon the clouds descended upon us !


The last photo of the day, the time now was 6:30PM. Since I thought the guest house was nearby, we spend all our time here. It soon started to drizzle but we dint care.. we should have.



So we wrapped up and went to what we thought was the govt guest house. We had already made the booking for the room and were looking forward to resting ourselves nicely before planning our itinerary for the next day. We reached the guest house to find a lone watch man who said this is not the main guest house and the guest house we were looking for is about 10kms away !! There begins our search for the magical guest house !!

He gave the directions as , keep left and dont go downhill. But there were just too many lefts and too many downhills !!! we asked another person who said we were on the right road.. another gave us the usual.. left right left right left.. we were officially lost ! It started to rain heavily and was pitch dark like someone switched off the lights.. we kept finding ourselves at dead ends, tea estates and abandoned storehouses. We asked a another who gave us directions to nowhere and we turned back to where we started. There was poor signal reception and the one place where i got signal, the person i was trying to reach had his mobile switched off !! And the goose hunt continues.. until we found a boy running towards us, his dad was the one who had given us directions previously and noticed that we misunderstood his directions and sent his kid after us !! such nice people here. We found our way back but then again got confused since there were no landmarks or boards or anything.. just mountains and roads !! Thankfully i got signal on my mobile and i could reach the guest house guy who gave us the correct directions and we found our way to the guest house !! ATLAST !! the time was about 8PM.. we got lost in such a tiny town for almost 2 freaking hours..

We paid for the room and got ourself settled. I enquired with the guest house clerk about the bad roads with no lights or signs. He said that the entire of Meghamalai was owned by one tea company which bought the place from the british govt long ago. That is why this place is not commercialised, they have no plans for commercialising it. The govt guest house exists for govt officials to do the taxes for the tea estate company and other guest house are there for the tea estate officials. My dreams of owning a piece of land here was trashed.. after hearing all the colourful stories of the place I bid adieu to the clerk and rushed through dinner (was damn hungry so no pictures). The place was chilly and damp with rain pouring non stop. But the awesome and gruelling day had tried me out enough to over look these small niggles and I went to sleep like a baby.

Day 2 to be continued..

I almost lost what I wrote !! OMG !!!
Thank god I did copy paste. Auto save did not work for me..

p.s. pardon the mistakes in the previous post.. i've not yet proof read it.

Great Pics and Nice log. Liked this pic for the light effect -




Keep posting bro.Takecare

Sriram, very nice trip log and beautiful photos. Day 1 seems a roller-coaster ride, especially getting lost in the mist and rain for 2 hours. Waiting for rest of the log.

great pics... keep coming the rest..

Thanks bro.. the picture is actually shaken. The light effect is a long shutter speed.

hahaha.. yea truly.. thank you.

thank you.. yea maybe next week !