the 'man on the mission' was really out of the blue !
i can imagine the look on the bus driver's face as you blocked his way
on the whole a very eventful first day you had ! waiting for more ...

Thx pranesh! i've sent you a PM.Please have a look.


thanks sourav! day2 and day3 coming up soon. been busy in office. will post it ASAP.

Day 2, 25th Dec 2009: Merry Christmas!

Woke up late in the morning, courtesy the marathon ride previous day.

The calls for Christmas greetings started pouring in from 9 in the morning. One of my uncle had come down for Christmas from Delhi. He stayed about 20 kms away from Kaduthuruthy. With no major plans for the day, I decided to meet him.

Had lunch at uncle’s place. Came back home by 3. My cousins were leaving to Munnar that evening.

I wanted to spend some more time with my grandparents. So i chose to ride to Munnar next day instead of going with them.

In the evening, I roamed through the banana plantations and rubber estates. Walking through the rubber estates brought back school-time memories of the 2 month long summer vacations that I spent here. All cousins would jam up in this house and the rubber estate would be our cricket statdium for over a month. Once I remember jumping into a well to fetch the ball. Good ol’ days! Its been rightly said in 3 idiots, Wish I could grow up once again.






I was pre-occupied with the prospect of riding to Munnar next morning. I could’nt wait to get back on the bike. And for that, I needed to get on the bed first. Slept at 10 P.M, way too early by Bangalore standards.
“Good night, rise early” I said to myself.


Day2 Ride summary : 36 km, 1 hour.

Day 3, 26th Dec 2009: Kottayam-Munnar; Munnar-Suryanelli-Munnar

Woke up at 5:30 A.M. I was to leave to Munnar by 6 A.M. 6 A.M became 7 A.M. Left Kottayam at 7 A.M.

My uncle accompanied me for a short distance. He was headed to a nearby market in ‘Koothatukulam’. This was on the way to munnar. It was pretty cold in the morning. With not much traffic, milestones kept passing quickly.

Crossed Muvatupuzha, Kothamangalam in less than half hour. The roads were exceptionally good in this stretch. High speed twisties and minimal traffic in the morning made the ride very pleasant.

The climb towards Munnar was due in a few minutes. Reached a place called ‘Neriamangalam’. This is where the road splits towards Idduki and Munaar. Took the Munnar route.






The Periyar river


For the next one hour, the ride was extra-ordinary. Was keeping up speeds of 90kph uphill, occasionally slowing down for heavy vehicles to pass.
A popular waterfall on the way up.

I was riding to my cousin’s place in Munnar. A place by name ‘Anachal’, 11 Kms before Munnar. After 2 and half hours of riding, I was at their doorstep.

For the next few hours the agenda was to relax. We were supposed to go for a drive to a nearby place after lunch. But that dint happen. All of us were lazing round till 3:30 P.M.

At 4 o’clock, we left to to Suryanelli. The place is about 25 kms from Anachal. Cousin’s family were in their car. I rode with my cousin on my bike.

First glimpse of the tea estates.





The traffic at Munnar town reminded me of a morning ride to office. There's a narrow bridge and only one side of the traffic is allowed to pass at a time. After the traffic cleared up, we on the road towards Suryanelli.
As I rode uphill, the road got narrower. At one of the curves, I noticed a KA registered Honda unicorn Grand prix edition. I knew right away that it was Pranesh of xBhp.(praneshvittal). I had read about his ride plan to Kerala in one of our famed threads in ‘The Tourer’ section, ‘Updates of Road Conditions in South India’. We had’nt met before this. Now the question is, how did I recognize him? His Avatar on xBhp is a pic of the unicorn fuel tank. I was almost sure it would be him
Pranesh and his pillion rider had stopped for a few clicks. I could’nt stop there and meet them because my uncle was unhappy that I was’nt keeping up with the car. Since it was a road with no turns, I knew I could meet them a little further.
At the next turning we noticed a road block at a kilometer ahead. My uncle had already stopped. I stopped behind them. Now I was expecting Pranesh to come around the curve anytime. They came by stopped a little away from us.
Though I was pretty sure it was Pranesh, there was an element of doubt. There could be anyone from KA with a similar unicorn. But theres a special feeling when u go out of your home town and see a vehicle from there, something that just pushes you to go meet them. I’m sure there could a few of you who agree.
I walked up to the not-so-sure Pranesh and said ‘Are you Mr.Pranesh Vittal?’ . He looked astonished. He said yes as we shook hands. I was glad to guess correctly. I met his co-biker, Biju. Biju too rode with him from B’lore.
I told Pranesh how I recognized him. We had a good conversation. We spoke about our rides upto Munnar . We planned to ride together to Allepey. But that did’nt happen.
Biju kept himself busy with the SLR as we spoke.
I was overjoyed to meet an xBhp'ian.Unfortunately,, i do not have any pics of the meet-up.
After the brief meet, I got back to my relatives. We rode through tea estates and reached a place where there was waterfall, not too big. Stopped there for snaps.








As there was nothing much further, we decided to head back. Pranesh and Biju rode with us for some distance.





Got back home at 8:30 P.M. Had dinner. The nite was still young. Played UNO with cousins until mid-night and chat sessions. It was fun.

Slept at 12:30 A.M.

Day3 Ride Summary: 193 kms, 5 hours.

Day 4, 27th Dec 2009 : Munnar-Top Station-Munnar

Though I slept a 1 A.M previous night, woke up at 6. Plan for the day was to ride to Mattupetty dam, Echo point and then to a few familiar places near-by. I had been to Munnar once already, about 5 years ago. Wanted to visit all those places to see how much had changed simce the last time I was here.

I was riding alone for the day. Uncle had to meet a family friend of his. I backed out of their plan so that I could ride to the nearby scenic places. Started from cousin’s house at 7.

The feeling of riding through Munnar in the mist is something to experience. Sunrays fighting the clouds to gain prominence, the misty tea gardens, the moist roads, cluttering of teeth and top it all with a reliable machine raring to go.








Initial plan was to ride to Mattupetty dam and from there, go one place at a time.
Mattupetty is the biggest dam in Munnar. The morning ride was excellent courtesy lack of vehicular traffic. I hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Stopped by a road-side tea stall to bribe my tummy for a while. After a 15 minute ride, I was at Mattupetty dam.

I had visited this place 5 years ago. Memories of being with friends came back. This dam seems to be full throughout the year. I level of water looked to be just 5 feet below the embankment.





Was lost in the morning beauty of the place for close to an hour. Newly wed couples were overwhelmed by the visual retreat! Cameras kept coming out from everyone’s pocket.
Saturated with the beauty of the place, I rode ahead.




The next closest attraction was Echo Point, a natural setting of water and vegetation where nature answered in your voice.

Spent some time here too. The place had become commercialized since my last visit. Small shops were set up all over the place.

Interestingly, majority of the locals spoke Tamil. Never heard anyone speak in Malayalam.
The time was about 8:30 A.M. I had the option of returning to cousin’s house from here. But then it was too early to do so. Decided to ride towards Top Station. I had heard a lot about the ride towards this place from xBhp’ians who had come here nearly 6 months ago. It turned out to be the best decision of the trip, because what I got to see at Top station was something beyond my imagination.


The ride to Top Station was 16 kms from Echo point. Again, the road was flattering. Little into the ride, a group of 4 men waiting by the road waved at me, gesturing me to stop. Though they looked like thugs, I stopped before I could think about it.
One of them spoke to me in Tamil. He started narrating a story about his bike given to a friend and now they were one bike short of riding to a nearby place on the way to Top Station. As I spoke to them, I didn’t sense anything like my judgement of them being thugs! I offered to drop one of the guys to wherever he intended to go. After a 5 minute ride, he got off.

The roads which were superlative upto now, suddenly dived in standards. There was no tarmac for 3-5 kms before Top station. The reason being, this part of the road belonged to Tamilnadu.
As i was nearing Top station, the scenery was incredible.

When I reached Top station, I saw a foreigner couple smoking ‘beedi’. They were waiting for a local bus to arrive. One of the local men standing with them, directed them to take a bus that had just arrived. This bus was headed to Cochin. They bid adieu to him.
I had breakfast at Daniel Restaurant. I saw Pranesh and Biju heading back to Munnar. By the time i came out to call them, they were gone. The phone network was also weak.
When I was about to leave, the man who had seen off the foreign couple, was showing an album and a diary to a curious customer in Daniel Restaurant.


When he finished seeing the pics, I asked if I could have a look at it. The man I have been mentioning in the last couple of paragraphs is Manoharan a.k.a Mano.


Mano has been a tourist guide for the last 35 years. He was born and brought up in this place. Daniel Restaurant was his property, Daniel is his brother. He manages the hotel. The foreigners who had just left by bus were his recent tourists, from France.


As I surfed through the album, there were innumerable pics of Mano with tourists from different continents, that’s right, CONTINENTS. Mano undertakes forest trekking and local sight-seeing for tourists. Some pics in the album were shot dangerously close to tigers and bisons. The Diary contained testimonials of the tourists who were highly impressed with their guide and the hospitality that they would always cherish. Some of them had come back again. Others recommended Mano to their friends back in their country. The language used in the diary ranged from English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil to French, German, Spanish, Chinese and a few more which I found hard to recognize.
The advantage of knowing the regional languages can work wonders for gelling along with people. For the next couple of hours, Mano told me about his lifestyle and how he has been going about his profession of a tourist guide for the past few decades. He owns a house cum tourist-home behind the hotel. To me, he was a star. We went over to his house. He wanted to show me where the tourists stayed during their holiday.
Though I met him only 2 hours ago, he spoke to me like a long lost friend. He offered to take me for a small ride to nearby scenic places. But time constraints didn’t permit me to opt for it.
After that, I walked a few hundred meters towards the View point. The View point is a privately managed place and the entrance costs Rs 15/- per head, totally worth-it considering the length of the stretch.

After a short walk. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The view was breath-taking. Way above the clouds, blue sky, hills everywhere.



It felt like being on top of the world. I hadn’t seen something like this before, or for that matter, not even imagined.














The clouds were soon covering the whole place. Visibility was dropping to a few meters. I was running out of time as I had promised to get home by 1 P.M. It was already 12 P.M and I was close to 50 kms from home.

Before leaving from Top Station, I went over to meet Mano again. I told him I’d return sometime to stay in his tourist-home and go trekking with him. His wife and mother stood by him as proof to our conversation.


Riding back was an adventure for the next few minutes. Visibility was almost nill. Cars and cabs crawled with their danger lights switched-on. Head-lamps of all vehicles were not match for the thick fog.

After 5 kms, the visibility was better. My next stop was at Kundala Dam. Since it was on the way back, I stopped to have a look.





Since it was afternoon time, the traffic was miserable. Vehicles moved at snail’s pace throught the narrow twisty roads.
There was an elephant ride near Mattupetty Dam. Kids were on the cloud 9.




Couldn’t wait any longer to have lunch. Had Lunch at Munnar.

As I was nearing home, my bike rolled towards 45000 Km. I have always greeted a 1000km milestone with a round of applause for the bike. The appreciation is for the reliability thus far and for a long service ahead. Got back home at 2 P.M.
Played cricket for a while with folks. Twisted my ankle during the game. I feared it would pose a problem to biking. But with a few massages and crepe-bandage, there were no issues.

This night too, it was UNO. End of Day 4.

Day4 Ride Summary: 107 kms in 6 hours.

Awesome write up Blackbird... Captured the moments in a very crisp manner... Way to go !!!

I can't believe this ... We missed you by a whisker ... In fact that couple had breakfast with us in that hotel and they were getting ready to leave (Before we made it to Top Station)... Having spent sometime at Top Station, we turned back to Munnar to get our baggages... Probably this is when you might have spotted us... Too bad, that we failed to see your bike @ the hotel, otherwise we could have teamed up

Thanks man! we should have met that time.

Day 5, 28th Dec 2009 : Munnar –Allepey

From Day 5 onwards, the trip involved spending more time with relatives than travelling.
This day was the wedding anniversary of my cousin. He too was at Munnar. we planned to celebrate it at home rather than go out.
Woke up late in the morning. Since there was no major plans for the day, everyone were lazy to get out of the comfort of their beds and blankets.
My plan was to ride to Allepey in the afternoon via. Adimaly, Kothamangalam, Perumbavoor, Aluva, Cochin, Allepey. One of my Aunt stays there. Had lunch around 1 P.M. Since I had spent close to 3 days here, packing my bag was a hectic task.
At 2, I was all set to ride to Allepey. It was a memorable stay in Munnar. I came back with a lot of fond memories.
The heaviness of leaving Munnar was soon replaced by the thought of riding through the ever-inviting twisty roads. There was a threat of rain ruining the ride. But that didn’t happen until I had finished the curvy roads.
As I neared Perumbavoor, there was heavy rain for about 15 minutes. Halted at a nearby Petrol bunk. Was thankful that it rain in the twisties. It was about 3:30 P.M.
Though it rained heavily for a brief while, it soon stopped. I rode towards Aluva. The traffic until Cochin was similar to everyday life in Bangalore.
Once I crossed Cochin, there was some respite. The road wasn’t empty to cruise peacefully, but it was the speeding cars which I thoroughly enjoyed riding with.
After a 4-hour ride, reached Allepey at 6 P.M . Was happy not to have got wet or lost too much time in the rain.
Had a nice chat with Aunt. I was very tired from the ride. Hit the Bed at 8 P.M. woke up after some time to have dinner. Slept again. That was Day 4.

Day 5 Ride Summary : 175 Km in 5 hours.

Hey Sanjay, nice ride there. Guess you must've thoroughly enjoyed your ride to Top Station? Those long sweeping bends must've been a lot of fun. Remember taking that stretch with Keerthy, it was MotoGP session from base to Top Station. Hope to go back there after I get new tires up front.

Nice On there Sanjay... Where next ??? Lets see if v can team together for our next ride...

Btw, I bought an used BULL (Thunderbird, 2002 Model) 2 weeks ago, wanna do a ride sometime soon (Uni's still my trusted ride, decided to have both of them )...

I have nothing in mind for the next few months. Leaves are turning out to be a problem in office. Its' getting increasingly hard to convince managers. And yes, lets see if v can workout a trip together.

Congrats on the BULL! I've been coming across a lot of people picking up used BULL's offlate. Way to go!