Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Wooaah! What a fantastic trip you've had man!
I was waiting for more and more and ... that was the end of the thread.. Ah.

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

sorry bro, actually i was afraid of the 1 hour limit of uploaded but unused pics. and the write up actually takes a lot of time :P

this tlog is about half done, i am currently uploading the next bit, from kanyakumari onwards. should be done in max an hour....

all you guys support keeps me motivated thanks a million

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Thank you so very much for finding that motivation to keep going. Putting thoughts in order with photos and the continuous story telling after encountering random events is a great undertaking after an adventure haha. So, thank you
I am eagerly looking forward to the rest of your adventure. Cheers!

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

hi Monk,
need help, the uploader is not uploading my pics. it shows that it is uploading, but after that it doesn't show up on the list of uploaded media.

what can i do?

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Are you using a phone or a desktop? Try another browser, also which browser are you using?

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

thanks for the suggest. i installed chrome, now it seems to be working fine.

but guys maybe the 1 hour time limit for using uploaded pics needs to be increased slightly. lost my entire work.
reposting now.

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Day started on the hotel terrace for sunrise in Kanyakumari, the Sun jumping out of the Bay of Bengal saying hello to Swami Vivekananda and Thiruvallur. There was a chill in the air, was a crisp morning.



Visited Vivekananda smarak in the morning, a good experience with professional boat ride, clean water, and clean surroundings.



Thiruvallur statue island was not accessible because of extra low tide.

Again, I did not visit the temple. Instead, i checked out a fort outside Kanyakumari town, a well preserved fort with a small water tank with clean, clear fresh water, not 50 metres from the sea!



On my way back to the town, I chanced upon a church, which i immediately checked out.



Some might question the fact that I do not visit temples but churches i do. i would like to point out that churches are generally large and airy, there are no weird rules to adhere to (no shirt/ only lungi/ particular timings etc) cameras are allowed, and most importantly, not crowded. I am an atheist, places of religious worship hold only academic interest in me.

It was close to noon before i entered the Vivekananda kendra, where a retired bengali gentleman in charge of the museum welcomed me to an intense conversation about god, vivekananda, atheism, politics and state of the country today. a whole hour of debate left me quite drained, but very exhilarated at the same time.



Post lunch I had a rare afternoon siesta, after which, I proceeded towards the Sunset point, quite early actually, because I did not want to be so late that parking could have been a problem, after all, i needed a nice place to click a sunset view of my beloved Mia!!!
But since it was quite early, i did manage a couple of shots of the beach and rock face.





of course, the sunset shot:




Back to the hotel, I had an early dinner and turned in early, for an equally early start the next morning...

The new day, my plan was to visit a famous palace close to nagarcoil and the somewhat less famous but more impressive (at least to me) Mathhur aquaduct, a canal bridge across a valley between two hills, built in 1968...
the palace unfortunately was closed at the early hour that I had reached, and I was not in the mood to wait it out for an hour and a half.





It is a brilliant feat of engineering. The view around was equally breathtaking. so was the intense heat and humidity!!!





From there, i came to know about Poovar island, close to Trivendrum, where I could check out a different kind of backwaters, small narrow streams as opposed to vast placid lakes of the backwaters further up north closer to kochi. i decided that these excited me more, so i decided to take a 1 hr backwaters boat trip. it was quite fun, i even took a timelapse video, which is slightly dizzying, but fun nonetheless.







there was the compulsory life jacket:



and the complimentary beach visit:



After having a quick lunch and a chat with the boat ride incharge, who wasn't sure I would be able to reach Kochi by night fall, I took leave, 250 km in front of me, in a traffic which can be compared to that of Pune, chaos at its finest?!!

On the way i passed by a group of about 10-12 bullet riders going on a biking ride, or more likely, going back home from one. I couldn't click pics with them because of the earlier mentioned traffic, but they were very happy to see me on a biking trip. they even asked me where was the rest of my group, to which there was general surprise when i indicated that i was alone!!!

the rest of my journey was uneventful but tiring, again, due to the traffic, but I did manage to reach Kochi by 9 pm that night. i checked in, cleaned up, had dinner and rushed to the Marine drive of Kochi, of which i had heard plenty.
I was disappointed at what I saw, partly its my fault, being called the marine drive, i drew parallels with the mumbai marine drive. it was quite deserted at 10.30 pm, and after taking a stroll and getting drenched in my own sweat duty to the sultry heat, i came back to my hotel for a much required night's sleep.



The next day I proceeded to Munnar, it was planned as a day trip, returning back to the hotel in Kochi for the night.
The Munnar ghat, while not very steep, is definitely a long one, almost 40 km! I took my first halt at a waterfall, where a lady obliged my request for my click, the favour that i returned.



As i was entering Munnar, i got a chance to see the tea leaves bagged and being weighed before being transported to the processing plants.



Munnar as everybody knows, is beautiful, so there is no need for me to give some more blah blah on it. just attaching the pics.



















I visited top station, but it was foggy, tho that was a totally differnt experience. fun all the same.





On the way back, I got a click done at one of the many dams in Munnar...



Tried the still pic capabilities of the gopro:



And on the way back, i did stop at this biking based cafe which was a welcome change from the regular south indian fare that i had been having off n on...
had a great time chatting with the owner, and only the oncoming dusk scared me enough to get back on the bike and head towards kochi.

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Wonderful trip with beautiful captures. Great going.

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

First up, some pics i missed out earlier...





The eagle was actually standing in the sea water. Wow!!!

So after Munnar, the next day i went to check out fort kochi...











I missed a turn and took a longer but on later realisation, a better route into Fort Kochi. I was able to click the chinese nets in silhouette and the placid waters allowed for a beautiful reflection of the same.

I checked out the jewish synagogue, the dutch palace and the church, which, frankly, after seeing the goan churches, was not at all impressive.
Had a quick lunch at a peaceful seaside eatery, and started my northward journey, this time towards Thissur (family visit) and onward to Kozikode. I had unknowingly made a habit of reaching late at night, this time breaking all records by checking in at 10 pm.

The next morning I checked out a wooden boat construction, also known as an "Uru". It was a beautiful boat, and a batch of students had come on a visit as well.















The children enjoyed the selfie as much as I did. the teachers too were OK with it, i was surprised. I am pretty sure had I asked the teachers of a mumbai school, they would have declined.

I also visited the Kappad beach, with its Tsunami monument, and a Vasco Da Gama monument...





The Vasco monument was in a sad state, to say the least.

The afternoon entailed visiting Kannur, perhaps one of the very few drive in beaches in the country. It was afternoon, quite hot, but I did not have the luxury of waiting till the evening, so I got riding, and caught hold of one of the handful others to click my pics... i should thank them for the wonderful clicks...













Needless to say, i desperately needed to wash off Mia, and almost fought with a car wash guy to get him to wash off my bike as a one off thing. After witnessing a half hearted attempt, I took matters into my own hands (and the jet pipe as well!) and removed almost all traces of sand from all parts, before liberally applying a fresh coat of chain lube...

I reached Mangaluru at a fairly decent hour, ordered for room service, and conked off on the bed!!!

The next day was just a riding day, the only detour being the Manipal University Museum of Anatomy and Pathology. I do not get scared easily, but I am sure if somebody makes a horror movie based in the museum, i would shit my pants!!! unfortunately no photography was allowed inside.





I reached Goa with plenty of time to spare in the day, but the traffic outside panaji, which reminded me of mumbai, ensured i reached my destination only after dusk...





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Finally, the final set of uploads. this uploading business was more stressful than i thot!!!

The last 2 days were spent in Maharashtra, ideally this distance can be covered in a single day, but in the spirit of the tour, i decided not to take the NH 66 wherever possible, and took the MSH 4, the coastal highway instead. The first leg was Goa-Chiplun, the road was narrow but quite decent, i was able to manage speeds of upto 60-70 in places. weaving in and out of villages, with plenty of ghats and beaches all through. not a road for cruisers, adventure tourers would go mad with happiness, as did i.


i was like a stray dog, left loose on a new street, sniffing every nook n corner. i went to unheard of forts just for the heck of it... un marked roads were my favorite. why? just for the heck of it!!!

I have mixed up the pics from the two days, so i guess i will just put them up all at once.
they need no descriptions, they are in no particular sequence.

so without boring you all too much....





















After I reached Ratnagiri, i turned eastward to reach chiplun, where an old friend of mine was waiting. meeting him and cleaning up, i had dinner at his place, and went off to sleep. the next day, the final one, I had planned to go back west to touch the MSH 4 at Guhaghar and take the ferry to Dabhol. The road in this part of Maharashtra was pathetic to say the least, max speeds not going beyond 30 kmph!
The ferry was late, wasted an entire hour waiting for it, and by the time i reached Dapoli, it was noon. I continued after a brief halt for brunch, intending to make it back home to panvel via Kashid. Unfortunately, the road beyond Dapoli was much the same, and by 2 pm i had managed just 60 km. I finally abandoned my Kashid plan, and touched NH 66 for the final leg back home.

























I reached home by 5 pm, with a set of creaking bones, and a creaking Mia as well. but it was done, 5000 km complete. A personal achievement!!!



Thanks guys, for your patience in my erratic posting schedule.
Do send suggestions and comments freely, i love the conversations...

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Nice trip with pictures doing the talking. How did you go from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar? I hope you went through Dornala side. When the dam gates are open thing would be great.

at Srisailam. I might be the ONLY person who has gone to Srisailam, even had lunch there, and not visited the temple itself!!!!
Don't worry, I did that in 2009 . It haunts me sometimes, Next time I will make sure to go the temple.

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

yes i did go via Dornala. But the dam gates were not open (there was no water at all) so the effect you mentioned was not applicable. but the dam in itself is beautiful .

Haha, it does not haunt me at all, in fact, i do take perverse pleasure out of having not gone in

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Some great captures! Loved the way you narrated the journey. Brilliant!

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Ground breaking man. Thanks for sharing!

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Very nice travelogue

Re: South Indian Garland Tour- 5000km, 16 days, 7 states, 1 rider

Awesome read with beautiful pictures.. Ninja 300 giving an Avg of 32 kmpl? That is one bloody hell of an Economy there..