Sprocket bearing inside engine i mean.

^^Gosh! This is going to eat a good chuck of your time. Do keep us updated.

ohh shit!!......bt i think fr a guy like u it wnt be a big hurdle(tough guy)

hope u got the thing done...keep going bro

The roads were surely good but not much scenery around i guess but trees. did not get to see the mountains... So now i know the rice is called that.
Kanyakumari is in TN . Actuall i did not ride in MP, chattisgarh and Bihar.


Lot of offences for sure. Guess to do do something like this have to be bit stubborn and insensitive Sure lets see if i will be able to make it to hyd sometime

Actually the coastal road is NH17 and the trissure to ekm road in NH47. That was lucky as i asked around a couple of ppl and they suggested me the coastal road. Else it would have been very tough i guess.

It was suggested by vicky so that in some sencitive areas like North East general ppl would think the bike as a rally vehicle/ sports vehicle of something and the would give impression that i am not alone. And also it was kinda wishlist of covering 25 states in india counting nepal and bhutan also in that...

Yup. got no choice ...

Me to hope so vams. Hoping that ride does not end here...

Found a mini tempo and carried the bike to a service center Trichy. They are very much enthusiastic about fixing the bike but availability of parts will be a problem. Looks like a long wait.


Day 169 - Aug 24 - Ernakulam to kanyaKumari

Aug24 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Share and Plan your Trips

303 KMs Trip meter 24427 KMs

Spent till late in the night the previous day working on the logs. Well as every day i break the promise made to myself to starting early in the morning. Takes 5-6 snoozes to get me out of the bed. And i cannot leave by 7 am i said at the reception. Boy did the manager nasty regarding this! Ofcourse gave my peace of mind as well. Any way atleast this makes me alert waking me from my sleep morning mood. Ride to the NH 47 and stop at a restaurant for breakfast. Have just Idly as i dont like coconut oil which they use virtually every thing. Boy were the idlis good. Start riding looking at the Sign boards to KanyaKumari and gets me even more eager to get there. Ernakula is very well developed modern city. Was surprised to see show rooms of WolksWagon, BMD and even Audi showroom beside the road near to each other! 300 kms to K'Kumari says the boards and with not a very high avg speed forcasted for the day should get me there by 5 5.30 i guess.

Takes me nearly 2 hours to make to Allepy. Its quite crowded city and busy with traffic. As i have seen every inch of land is occupied and there is hardly any bypass for any city so far and the entire NH traffic have to squeeze through the city traffic. Get to a back water bridge and see boards saying boat jetti 2 kms! Thought atleast lemme check out the boat jetty before continuing. The road is a bit peaceful and i get to the boat jetty. Stop for clicking a few boats in the back water canal. See a pretty looking Shikara kinda boat and get close to click it. The boat owner approaches me boat ride and politely convinces me for one. Well i got tempted. Felt tired from the lack of sleep from last night and body was hurting. Could use some relaxation. Bike was parked at a hotel and stuff carried to the boat. Booked for a couple of hours ride and cant believe i am doing this. This quite a detour in time schedule. I was told its 6 hours by taxi to kanyakumari. But i am slower though. But thats later to worry about.

Get on to the boat and the weather was pleasant with cool breeze and mild sunlight escaping between the clouds. Soon get on to bit open space and see many house boats parked. They were big and unlike the house boats in srinagar these actually sail around. They come in all sizes and varies in laxuary. some have plasma TV and AC as well! Heard its like 4k for 24 sail! That must be nice experience. Get call from santoosh and we exchange our adventures of the previous day. He seemed to have had a good and tough ride, riding in remote parts through the villages before getting back to bangalore. The boat ride was feeling great and relaxing. Din knew when one hour passed and have to get back. The boat man takes a different route through the canal and kinda gets me worried thinking if there is something fishy. Keep checking my fone's gps tracker to see if we are heading towards where we started. Well i got worked up unnecessarily as there was lot of network in canals and we soo get on to the direction where we started. Pass by many houses just in front of the back water and the ppl in them need boats to get around. Soon it was over and i get off the boat and on to my bike. Really tempted to stay there for the day and just relax. But since i had planned for a day at K'Kumari decided to push ahead.

Then on its was continuous traffic ride. Getting scares and doing my own share of ripping in traffic. There are just few short stretches of roads with sparse traffic. It was kinda becoming labour of riding. Ride almost continuously so that i could avoid night riding in the night. No HID and rain would be bad. Cos every minute i rest means 1.5 5o 2 mins of ride in the dark. It was mix of roads alternating between straights and curves. Thought of skipping a meal. But me got very hungry and when you gotta eat you gotta eat. There was promising boards of Subways ahead but the distance was misleading. one said one kms and next one said 4 and the next one again 1! Found a regular hotel instead and had the big big kerala rice and was served with lot of types of curries and sambar. Unlike popular non-keralaits opinion, i actually liked the big big rice This was near Trivandrum. Luckily there was bypass for Trivandrum and i gladly take it. Now the roads narrower as i guess the big cities in the line up are over. Its undulating roads, curves and narrow roads passing through rows and rows houses next to each other on either side of the road.

Things change a bit there are continuous smaller towns with lot of slow traffic on the road, and places seem comparatively not so vella. The traffic is normal and slow for me and i have to maneuver around. Did feel the difference in the road and before i realized i was already in TN state looking at the number plates of the vehicles and uniform of the traffic cops. Kanyakumari is still a 40 kms when it starts to get dark. And i am not gonna be able to ride any faster than before. Slowly and steadily i make it to Nagarcoil and once of the city the traffic lessens and the road heads to kanyakumari. There are lot of deviations. Tired of asking aroud, i kinda memorize the name for Kanyakumari in Tamil, graphically. This makes it easy for me to read the boards written in Tamil. Its dark now some 20 kms to kanyakumari and the lights starting my eyes. Seems like i lost my night riding abilities! Just a follow a tempo doing good speeds and i see sign boards reducing the distance to Kanyakumari and i am finally there by 7.15 pm. Get call by arun and SMS by prem congratulating me even before i got to the tip. They were tracking my by my blog link. Am in the town and instead of looking out for rooms i head straight to the end of the road.

And i am there at the southern tip of india. Had not come here before though its close to bangalore and now that i come from kashmir it feels all the more special and rewarding. Managed a couple of pix of my bike at the tip with my flashless cam. Cant believe i rode Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Found a pretty good hotel near by and tad expensive but great bargain for an offseson price. So took it as this was my last major stop and wanted comfortable ones. Great view of the sea around. Dump stuff into the room and walk to the beach. Was hungry by now but din wanna waste time and had some yummy chats by the beach. The Vikananda rock memorial and huge Thiruvalvar statue was lit by lights and the structures were looking great in the night sky. walked till the end on the beach just a bit behind water and sat there for quite a while soaking in the moment. The weather was very pleasant. Was just staring at the huge waves pounding away on the rocks. Never seen such huge waves so far as after all these are from the occean, the Indian ocean!

Its gets cold and the winds gets stronger and that gets me going and i settle in my cozy room for the night. Work a bit late on the logs and crash for the day.


Wet morning streets of Ernakulam.


Kanyakumari here i come...


Have breakfast here...


Ride on the Ernakulam streets...


It looks like a metro city...





Do i see a BMW show room? din know they had outlet in india!





I passed a Wolks wogan showroom and now an Audi showroom! One of the 10 in india...


That A6 is 53 Lakhs onroad!!


More A6s there


Loook look one of the A6 has Zma sticker on its side !


Backwaters wide and plenty..


A fisherman going about his business...


On the banks of Backwaters!!


Checkout a Allepy backwater...


Pretty looking boat, kinda motorized shikara...


Other boats in the dock...


What do you know i end up taking a ride in the same boat!





The cheerful boatman Raju..


Some standup sailers...


Me enjoying the boat ride...


Sail on...


House boats spotted!!


More of them...


Plenty of them...


Now this was a big one!





Floating weeds...


Ac on the house boat...


House boats sail into the open..








There are milestone boards on the water's edge for the backwater highway!!








Lot of traffic in the backwater canals and they even have vehicles like horns!


House by the water, they need a boat to get around...


My boat sails on...


A komarant drying its wings...


A horizontal coconut tree!


My gear on the empty seat...


Never see so many cocks together!


Resorts with houseboats...


A long snake boat of the onam boat races. 100 plus ppl sail on it...


Another komarant resting on a log...


Temple which you need a boat to visit...


Getting back to where we started...


Backwater highway has petrol bunks too!


The free traffic streches of highway...


This happens in Kerala too!


A Taj Mahal like building, not sure what it was...


Quite a traffic jam. I got off the road to wear rain gear and there was sunlight all of a sudden...


More back waters...


Long jam for KMs cos a truck had broke down on the highway...


Yeah right!


Quite a distraction i must say...


These empty streches were a laxuary and rare...


Yes i was strictly doin 40kmph avg speeds...


Din know they had a restaurant division in india...


Roads get smaller after Trivandrum


Ride in this and more traffic for hours together


Enter Tn and see the shouthern tip of Western ghats...


Four type of plantations next to each other...


I see mountains again...


Almost there...


Deal with the traffic in Nagarcoil...


I am there!


The Kanyakumari Arch...


Bike at the southern tip of india...


Biking looking at Thiruvalvar statue...


Shops there...


The Thiruvalvar statue lit up in night...


Sea view benches at the south tip of india...


The powerful waves on the beach...


Long exposure shot by gone crazy!


The Empty streets leading to the beach, in late night...

Really impressive. I wonder how it would be for you to get back to working in a confined environment after half a year travelling!

at the time i wrote the message you were still in kerala

Thirruvalavur statue is in bangalore also kano no need to go all the way for kanyakumari

cool writes there bro......evn the problem with ur bike is a kind of experience

lovely pics yaa really impressive(sight snatching)

Praveen, what is the status on the bike? Got the spares?

I hope all went well with the bike. Are you going towards Tanjore & Velangani Beach. Those are good places to visit.

"RIDE SAFE"

But first i have to get some work

But that aint so big and not on the sea rock..

Thanks vams. Yeah letsee how it goes...

They have arranged for the spares from coimbatur and supposed to arrive tomm 11am. But can only be sure when they actually get it. The front sprocket bearing and 5th,4th and 3rd gear cogs have their tooth chipped out and have to be replaced.

Its still in process. Will know tomm when i will get my bike. Once i get the bike then i can plan further. Letsee when i will get the bike...




Day 170 - Aug 25 - In KanyaKumari

Aug25 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Share and Plan your Trips

The day was to spend around the KanyaKumari. The hotel staff wake up every one at the hotel so that we can walk up the tower on the hotel to view the sunrise. It was pretty cold and hoped to see un. But not much hope cos its not the season of clear skies. As feared could only see some pretty colorful clouds blocking the sun. Took a lot of pix and went back to the room for couple of hours of more sleep. Leisurely got ready and walked towards the boat jetty for the two rock islands visit. As i took the ticket and went in, was shocked to see the number of ppl waiting! thought to skipping but the guard reassured me that the ferry were huge and would carry the whole bunch in one go. well ok will wait it out then. After a few mins the Q moves and its lots of pple getting in and out of the big ferry. Had to jump in the ferry being pushed around by the waves. With the ferry full, its smooth wavey sail till the vivekananda rock. There's even a small temple where a foot print on stone has been preserved and worshiped. Its believed to the foot print of Kanya, one of the incarnations of goddess parvathi, where she meditated on one foot for years to impress upon Lord shiva to marry her. It was great looking at the wast expanse of Indian ocean and what do you know i am not on mainland India! Could stare at the south tip of India from the rock. Waited for the next ferry to get us on to the Thiruvalvar statue rock and then back to main land India. Had lunch in saravana veg hotel and got to the room. It was a bit hot in the noon but pretty comfy in the room.

Its only 5.30 when i get out of the room again. As suggested by arun take my bike and ride out a lil to the right from the coastal tip and there's beach road and at the end of it a small road going parallel to the sea till a point where sunset could be viewed. Was hungry and it was time for street food made with boiled peas and groundnuts. Yummy i must say. I was pretty early for sunset and wait it out feeling the cool sea breeze, which was more like wind! It as a great spot but like morning there are clouds in distant horizon and the sunset was not visible. Ride back after when it was getting dark. As i was walking to the tip see the Wondering monk museum and walked in. Where Swami vivekanada's journey of india was depicted. Could not read all of it as it was a lot of text. walked by the parts of the journey and a read a bit of the Kanyakumari session of his journey. Where he have no money to pay for the boat man, jumped into the raging sea, swam to the rock, and introspected his whole journey so far, before traveling up the east coast.

was out and walked on to the beach and sat there at the tip. I haven't spent much time till now looking back at the journey so far. Cos for me its not over till its over. But thought would emulate Swamy vivakanada in some way. No i am not swimming to the rock . Just sat there looking at the Indian ocean thinking about the journey so far, the places i have been, the experiences i have gained, the people i have met and wondering if i have changed a bit. It felt good. sat there observing the waves till it got really cold and wind hard to bear. Walked back to the room and kinda i am already heading north.


Morning view of the south tip of India. Looking out for Sunrise...




The Next five pictures are a panorama of the south sea...














Not much of a sunrise as skies are not clear this time of the year...


The best part of sunrise...


A light house nearby...


Sun getting higher





Windmill farm afar...


the south tip of western ghats...


Bike in the parking lot...


the lobby of the hotel room...


The memorial and the statue in day light...


Viveknanada rock memorial...


Thiruvalvar statue...


Beach view from the hotel lobby...


Transparent lift..


Q shelter for the ferry...


Quite a long Q!


Going to the rocks...








Passengers going in and out of the ferry... Huge ones that can carry 150 ppl!


The ferry...


The crowd in the ferry...


And we set sail...


the statue from near...


Looking at the mainland India..


The wall of Kanyakumari temple..


There is one more ticket counter on the vivekananda rock!


Shri pada mandap...


Me at the memorial..


The directions on the floor...




The indian ocean..


Me and the indian ocean...


Powerful waves pounding the rocks...


A fishing boat by the rocks..





A lil gyan...


Q waiting for the ferry to hop on to the next rock...


People jumping into the rocking ferry...


The statue up close...


me there...


Some teachings...


the lights the light up the statue in the evening...


Looking up from the foot


Zoom into the face...





The hotel i was staying...


me posing..


The Tri sea view


The ferry coming to take us back..


One of the levels in the staute...


Some teachings...


The rough sea between the rocks...


South indian thali at Savarana Veg...


A sunrise and sunset view tower...


huge waves..


can see the lot of sea haze...


Bike and the indian ocean...


Ride west to get a bettor view of sunset





Unsinkable fishing boats...


My evening snack being prepared...


A fishing boat being assembled...





Bike and the setting sun


The snack


The snack and the beach great combination...


Some fish left to dry...


Sunset and the bike...





Not much of a sunset view due to distant clouds in the horizon


The rock lit up in the night...


The wondering monk museam...


Buy anything in the shop for 5 bux!


The rocks again...








The huge temple wall...


Light house in action...

So its done from kashmir to Kanyakumari. Great going.
Are you missing the boiled rice of Kerala?? My friends from Bangalore who go to Sabarimala also always have a problem with big rice & hot drinking water in restaurants. But Gods own country is unique in its own way.

Hope your bike gets sorted out soon. All the best for the remaining leg of the journey.

Congrats bro on conquering India Tip to Tip on a Motorcycle

Only sour point is that could not meet you when you passed by our adda

mann!!! am enjoying this...i wudnt hesitate to take u as an inspiration to start my touring life as soon as i finish my graduation

Well, need not mention excellent trip as you are on a totally different platform...world tourer kind of guy.

Just out of curiosity wanted to know..where do you see yourself heading in coming years.Any plan to adopt touring in some form as profession?

Got my bike 5pm. Made it to tanjavur today.