No words to describe, only I can say WOW!!!!

excellent pic man,, were u challenging the boat for a drag session,,lol,,,,haha

The bike and boat pic is superb kashif.. nice trip you had there.. waiting for the rest of the log

Boat pic is just mindblowing

Ghost Rider along with Ghost Ship in Ghost Town!

Ghost ship in Ghost Town is amazing Kashif!!! As I mentioned earlier you are none anotherthan a "Ghost Rider"!! Jab mann laga tab Ghost Ride pe chale jate ho.....Jai Ho my Bro!!

Thanks Sreedhar bro.
You and Ananda are the guys who has taught me the ABC of photography...still 23 letters left to learn.

BTW nice to see your first post on xbhp.

How can I challenge a boat that has survived a tsunami.
though out of service now.

Thanks guys I am obliged.

Day 3

September 30 : Day 3
Shimoga - Tarikere - Arsikere - Channarayapatna - Mysore - Bandipur -Masinagudi - Ooty

Total Kms for the day : 390

We started the day at 7 am.
Today we made all our luggage water proof to avoid any more hassel.
The roads till Arsikere was good with a few bad pathes.



We had a b'fast cum lunch at 11 at Arsikere.We had chicken chilli Kerela Paratha,some other kind of paratha ,eggs.All it
cost was 50 rs each.man food here is too cheap.The waiter told his experience of his vist to maharastra some 10 yrs back.
he told that food in karnataka is good and very cheap and we were in full aggrement with that.


From Arsikere onwards the roads became amazing.
It was too beautiful.It looked as if the highway was freshly laid.Wonderful views around.















We reached Mysore in no time.I wanted to visist Mysore Palace even though it was out of itenary.however as it was getting late
so we had no option.
Had some Coconut water on the way.



around 10 kms before Bandiput gate the road turned into a durt track with lots of gravel.
I was enjoying it but was worried as a gentleman in the honda CRv told us that we should hurry as they dont allow bikes after 5 pm.
This was his experience when he visited this place 14 yrs back.
Everyone whom we talked with were very excited about our plans.
Finally reached bandipur gate.enquired about any possible danger in the forest and then headed towards the much awaited bandipur national park.
Peacocks welcomed us at the entrance itself.

The view was very scenic,very calm and pleasant.we saw some wild elephants on the way.
They were very much used to human interference.








We reached the karnataka border,and turned towards Masinagudi.The target was 36 hairpin bends before Ooty.
Soon we saw the mighty Nilgiris.At that moment I realised why they are called blue hills.








All the scenary turned blue.It started getting dark.I stopped 3-4 times to get some photos while samudra waited ahead.

At one point I asked Sam to pose for a pic with his bike.He turned the bike on the slope,the bike was too heavy to support on slope and it toppled.
the cars behind stopped to help with but its was nothing serious at all.finally I took his pic



It got dark by the time we reached the base of 36 hairpin bend.
The climb was steep and road was ordinary also it was raining.I had to push the bike a little hard.took 2 breaks in between to
let the bike cool down.My only concern was to keep bike healthy for next 2000 kms.We had some home made chocolates on the way.it was really good.Finally we completed the 36 hairpin bend,Reached Ooty.


It was very cold.Enquire a few hotels.
One funny incident occoured.In Ooty almost all hotels had no toilet seat in the western toilets and asking
for the same was like an alien thing.
Finally settled in a guest house for 400 INR. Its was too cold.Ordered food in guest house itself.





The big fight : heheeeheee
Actually Sam wanted to explore Ooty rather than heading towards Munnar as he felt that we are just spending time riding and
by the time we will reach Munnar it will get dark and agian nothing much to see.I knew he was correct from his point of view
however I never wanted to explore ooty as it is a very commericial place.
Munnar was an utlimate place for me,the place that made me plan this ride.
Also I was confident of covering that lag of 100 kms(due to brealdown) next day as we had only 170 kms planned for Day 5.
After 1 hour of debate nothing could finalise
and we went to sleep.

kashif nice pics and super trip logs.Bring out the rest

Superbbb pics Kashif bhai...simply superbbb..haven't read the log though.

Any more pics ...??

Hey kashif, loved going through your log....simply amazing....its unfortunate that you couldnt see jog falls due to fog....the snaps especially the ones with green scenic beauty around are awesome....

Didnt your freind on RTR get any back pain? i heard RTR gives a back pain if you ride for long....

thanks for sharing....

You guys got some excellent weather to ride through.

And some really nice captures there too

Day 4 - Ooty to Munnar

October 01 : Day 4
ooty- Coonoor - pollachi - Udumallaipettai - Indra Gandhi NP - Eravikulam NP - Munnar
Distance : 260 Kms
Total Till now : 1521 Kms

Next morning we stated from ooty and I let Sam lead but I really thank him that he respected my wish and
headed directly towards Connoor.


Sam In Deep Sleep


Time To Start



There was 40 kms of downhill roads from ooty to connor.It is among the best ghat roads I have ever seen.
This place is a must for all cornering junkie.there was traffic but its was very disciplined,maybe the local drivers have matured after riding for so many years on these ghats.
the roads were good.



Typical Settlements Of ooty On Hill slope


After we climed down the hill it got hot.Next destination was Pollachi.
We reached there swiftly.


superb Ghat roads






Both Bikers Togather After having Yummy South India Foods(uthapaa,idli,Dosa,Omlet..everything in one go )

The RTR started showing some red signal on the console suggesting some issue with bike.I was a little worried as another breakdown could have finished the dream of completing the trip successfully.
One good thing about south is that they have Authorised TVS service center in every small place.
Got a service center before Pollachi.The service guy just pressed some button on console and the issue was gone.


I found this very intresting,somewhere in Pollachi


So Colourful


Nice Idea To Have this Kind Of Navy college


What A Railway Crossing


Yummy


Huge Coconut :P .Actually I was finding it difficult to drink just 1




First Sight Of Annamalai Hills.We had to cross this to reach Munnar.




Soon we crossed pollachi and reached the enterance on Indra Gandhi National Park.got the formalities done.
All of the sudden the lanscape changed.it turned dry.It looked like the tiger reservrs of MP but we were in K'taka.
didn't met any tiger .


Soon we entered Eravikulam NP,Kerela.it got greener.we saw some amazing sights.Huge water falls down the valley.
The forest dept officials told about a Official buglow on rent at the basin where Wild animals come regularly.
Its was too expensive for us to stay there.

Banana pakoda



Munnar was 30 kms from here.the started the tea gardens,We were in hurry to reach Munnar b4 it gets dark but then at one point the beauty of the valley made us stop for 30 mins.Tea gardens,red purple,yellow flowers,water falls and clouds,
hills... all at one place.Amazing place.it was a speechless moment.These photos hardly reflect the beauty of that place.



I had my first fall after this.Actually an anticipated fall.I was holding camera in right hand taking video.The choke was on to free
the accelarator.At one point my bike stalled on slope and I had to let the bike fall.
I immediately put the cam on the rock and closed the petrol tap.Sam helped me pull the bike up.2 kicks and the bike was up again.
The best part is that the whole of this has been recorded in my camera.funny video.

It was still 20 kms to reach munnar.It got dark and then a dense fog wapped the valley.The ghat roads were in bad shape.
it beacme very difficult to ride.I was riding ahead at around 20-30 the heard of Sam loosing control of bike.I accelerated to avoid
a collape on my bike.Thank god he is safe.A stone came under the wheels in fog he lost control and then recovered.
That 20 kms were very tough but I was enjoying it a lot.Soon we reached Munnar.


got a hotel on hill slope.
As we had lost sometime so in order to get back to schedule to planned to skip madurai and head directly towards ghost Town(Dhanuskodi)
tomorrow.And visit Madurai while returning if possible.

Thanks Bro

Thanks bro.
We also anticipating back pain but I guess his body adapted the posture well in a day or two.He never told about back pain later.

Ya weather was good,and actually we were lucky that we escaped floods by just 1-2 days.it was rainy but still motorable.And rains did add gr8 beauty to the surrounding especially in munnar.

very nice pics bro.nice log too.

Great trip Kashif and Samudra...

Awesome pics too ..

BTW.. did you take vids while riding ? .. post them too ..