Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Travelogue Approved

Good going Anupam. Nice to see your travelogue here

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Thanks Bhai for the quick approval

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Nice start Anupam. Waiting for the rest!

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Nice initiative by you Anupam bhai . Unfortunately I missed it fortunately a part of me (my bike) was a part of this trip. Iam hooked to this thread from now on

Sent from my XT1022 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Nice teasers. Waiting for the full log

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Nice start Anupam !

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Its been quite a while havnt got out of home but the urge for road trip is always there with me. Around April2014, I tired saddle sore and failed by close margin, as Sun and heat got better of me. Than with Xbhp Bbsr did some short road trip to close by places, like Paradip Port, Ratnagiri, Konark, Satpada, chilika & few work trips to Kolkata. Those were Sunday & one-day ride & like 300-400km only. For me road trip should be 500km+, where one stays overnight, visit local places & don’t worry about work for minimum of 2 days at least. But in current life scenario, we all know its difficult to plan such thing in a group that to frequently. Most of the bikers in our group fall within 18-25 age group, so they are quite busy finishing their collage or just started working in their new job. Not to mention that they are on strict pocket money budget from their parents. Hence one more excuse, as we cant push them for long road trips.

INSPIRATION:-
Sajal Seth. The guy just above this post . 48 yrs old, yah its just a number. Stock Broker by profession. Energetic guy & never ending positive attitude. Ride Pulsar 200NS. Last year, Xbhp Bbsr had a great plan for August 15^th, g2g took placed and nearby places were selected. Sajal bhai was also invited. But on the August 15^th, out of 10 guys only 2 people showed up, me and a fellow rider. Still Sajal bhai didn’t bailout on us and we three went on with the said plan & had a great time. He also shared is valuable experience of solo leh ride with us. Love the way he talk to random people on the route, with loud voice, exchanging information and I was amazed to see that every single person respond back in the same way. As if they are very close friends. This conversation thing really left a mark on me of Sajal Bhai easy going nature.

PLAN:-
Odisha is blessed with dense forest and mountains. But most of these mountains range falls on western part of Odisha. And we all know the ongoing problem with Maoists. Hence the border area of Odisha, Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand & West Bengal are bit sensitive area. We knew these places have one of the best landscapes of Odisha but somehow we have avoided these places for so long time. Odisha have got some extreme climate. Most of the western Odisha Temperature fall to -1to 10 deg Celsius in winter, so the best time to visit these places are from Oct to Mar. After that the temperature of same place will rise to 40-50 deg on summer.
Few of my friends got posted for jobs on those western areas. And every now and then, their Facebook page get filled up with beautiful ghats road and lovely waterfalls. And on dec Sajal Bhai again did a solo trip to Deomali, which gives me load of confidence. And I was like hell with Maoists lets do it .

On 20^th Jan Siddhant called me & ask me, to plan a road trip for 25^th Jan. His idea was to have lunch at Chilika Dhaba & i was like not again. So we ended up planning for a 2 day road trip for 24^th Jan to 25^th Jan. Plan was like Bbsr > Deomali > Duduma waterfalls > Araku Valley > Vizag > Bbsr. 1300 km in total, yes it was too over ambitious.



Called Taufique and confirmed it. Few guys couldn’t join as they were yet to receive their RC & insurance paper and few for work and all. Asked Taufique to stay & start from my home. As he lives 30km away from the Bbsr city.

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

DAY 1-

Bbsr > Chilika > Brahmapur > Ichchpuram > Srikakulam > Chilakapalem > Razam > Salur > Sunki > Kundili > Deomali > Similiguda

Somehow an old friend showed up on 23^rd evening of jan. Chit-chat and booze went one till 1AM, it was really a bad idea. Taufique came close to midnight and directly went to bed so he got up early. As the plan was to leave Bbsr by 4AM. Damn i kept sleeping. And Siddhant had to wait on the petrol bunk for over an hour. I owe a big apology to him for this. Woke up late, got freshen up. Darn no time for food! Reached the petrol bunk on 5:45AM. So finally the journeying begins 2 hrs late .

Our weapons for shoot are mere Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy Mega 5.8 & Sony Cyber shot dsc810

At Khandagiri Petrol Bunk


At Khorda toll gate. After riding for just 30 odd km, Siddhant tell us "I'm out of stock need to buy some packs". Since I waited this long, you guys have to wait for me too


Beautiful Sunrise


This is small hill which fall beside the road on the way to chilika. And this is a pit stop for all SBK of Bbsr. So we did pose a few for pics


It was a cold morning & the constant chilly wind were not helping either. It was much needed break. A cup of tea and biscuits warm up us again.






9:20 Am 200km done, Berhampur crossed. The placed famous for fired snacks and pickles. Called my drunk sleeping friend back home to lock the place well before he leave and give the keys to my neighbour friend. Call mom who is out of city,"we are out on the road and yes we are driving slow slow" . The plan was to cross Ichapuram, border of Andhra Pradesh & have breakfast. Was mistake indeed.


Taufique bike broke down on the border. Had to push start it. After few attempts iws out of breath. Without taking any chances we went to a side by battery shop, 2km down the road. To our surprises at the 10Am the shop is yet to be opened. Felt happy, there is even a lazy person than me . 2 hrs lost. First, in calling the shop owner than calling the mechanic. Finally it was fixed, the mechanic took a test drive and gave it back.

In between crowd build up & Uncle ji interrogation was full on & our star Siddhant answered every one of it. In that crowd as we have to keep watch on our bike and our bags, we forgot to click Taufique bike repair work. I must say the shop owner were very help-full & did not over charge us.


Change of plans. Lets skip breakfast lets eat lunch at Srikakulam. Britannia Cake Jindabad.
Again bad luck, not a single restaurant, dhaba or a small shop till Srikakulam. I was damn hungry and was eager to reach Srikakulam, so much so, i mistakenly over took a another unlce ji at 130-40 speed & stopped after 5km to catch up with the guys behind me. Uncle ji caught me first. " hey you, where you going why so fast"? than as the other bikes catch up, he gave us full 5 min of lecture to drive safe and enjoy. I could have stop him there and ask why he is not wearing a helmet on NH highway, but hum India ke bache hain. We should talk properly to elders. Than he left us. Once again we zoomed past him, this time by waving at him "Ta-Da" .

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Nice so afer. Please carry on.

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Thank you Anupam for such nice words for me


Nice write up.
Please pour more ..

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

By 12pm we reached Srikakulam, we had no choice but to get off the highway and look for food. Asked a guy are there any dhaba or restaurant close by, his response was “yes sarr only half km ahead”. So we went ahead with his direction and half km turned into 5km . Got in the first restaurant we saw. It was so congested, that we can hardly move or sit. And over that we were sweating like pig with those gears. Ate veg biriyani and dahi at only 30/- per plate. Somehow managed to swallow it. Got out of there asap .

Pissed off at Airtel Network. Previously when i visited different city, there was absolutely no problem with Airtel 2G network and Google map. But from the moment i switched to Airtel 3G only thing I get is heavy bills. We were going to enter state highways. I was fully depended on Google map as we were not carrying any printed map. It was really irritating to keep asking to Siddhant to check about routes.

2Pm. On service road of Srikakulam to NH5



As we were looking for exit on NH5, A beast stopped by us.



Deelip Menezes Ji, A biker from Goa. Who was on his way to conquer the Golden Quadrilateral. We had good little chat, took some snaps & exchange Ids.



This is where Siddhant gave him a 10 min Wikipedia, on how biking senario in India changed. Why Siddhant Why!! . The guy look older by 5-10 years to me, owns a Harley, he told us that he had rode through-out US, done leh Ladhak, lives in Goa, so IBW & biking scenario change is going on practically right before his eyes every year. With so much experience. Still for conversation sake, tune 10min ke liya paaka dala, chat dala.



This is where Siddhant showed cellphone on his face and said “ Sir i have added you in FB now add me”



Me and Taufique were laughing quietly at a side. Thinking “Deelip Ji must be thinking why the hell I stopped for these guys”




Garmin I need one too.


And then he flew off to Vizag. The lovely exhaust note it left behind, made my day.

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Surely it's really nice and exciting to meet new bikers out to conquer the road. Good stuff.

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

As we take the exit from NH on Chilakapalem, Iws expecting rough road. But to my surprise we can maintain more than 80kmh in that route. After we cross Razam an incident took place which changes the mood and whole days plan. Out of no-where on a deserted road three people with a Maruti van [written pollution check] tried to stop us. As Siddhant was leading he went past them, by the time I reached they were in middle of road, so i had to stop. As i was arguing with them Taufique went past through them, giving them the finger . They were heavily drunk and asking for 150/- for a pollution check. I told them my bike is new one and it doesn’t need a pollution certificate for 2 years. The only thing they repeatedly said “ sar plz come side. Pollution check, 150/- only, 6 month valid, no problem. Finally they beg and settled for 50 Rs. In between Siddhant came back and paid too



This is the van number. There was no number plate on front. Forgot to click their faces.



We left the Place for Salur, and Taufique was nowhere to be found. We thought he had went ahead and must be waiting for us at Salur. Couldn’t reach him with cell, as it was switched off. I was really worried at that time. Called his younger brother Pravez and told him in-case he call tell him we will be waiting for him 15 min in each coming stop. Half hr later got a call from unknown no, to my relief it was Taufique. Told him to check the route and come asap we are waiting. In all this, we again lost 2 hrs.

Regrouped & finally reached Salur at 5:30 PM. It was a beautiful sunset. Wish i had some wide lens camera. [you guys must have noticed by now most of my shots are multiple merged picture]



Parvez Giving Slokas to Taufique & I Can Hear It from This Far Also


I couldn't merge the next













Reached Sunki at 6:15 PM [Inside Odisha again]. I had underestimated the mighty hills. Those narrow curvy road slow us down quite a lot.



Siddhant refilled his pack again


Had Pakoda and tea. Those Pakoda were so tasty we end up re-ordering them. And it was like mini dinner of Pakoda . Finally some good food in whole day

Re: Xbhp Bbsr Trip To Deomali, Highest Peak Of Odisha

Pls continue.. loving the way you project things, specially that "swalowing" the GOA rider part