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South India: one month, one bike

Hello everyone,


My girlfriend and I have (finally) rented a Bullet and are going to make our way around South India for a month. We wanted some advice on A) the high level strategy, and B) on lots of little details.


Major destinations:
- Auroville
- Tiruvannamalai
- Chidambaram (?)
- Thanjavur (?)
- Kanyakumari
- Coimbatore and the Western Ghats
- All the way up the Kerala coast to Mangalore
- Amma's Ashram
- A bit of the Kodagu region
- Mysore
- Bangalore
- Tirupati


Overview
We are giving ourselves about 30 days to complete what seems like about 3,000km, so we're not going to need to be driving a lot per day. Of course, we're going to spend a few days each in parts of Kerala, the Western Ghats, Mysore and Bangalore, so we'll need to take that into consideration. Also, while we're hitting a bunch of sites, it is more about the drive for us and what we'll see while on the road. We're interested in local roads with lots of people, villages, agriculture, and scenery. We don't want to take highways or big roads the whole way.


The high level strategy
Originally, we were thinking of going from Chennai down to Kanyakumari, then up the Kerala coast over to Mysore, then Bangalore, then down to Coimbatore and the Ghats and then back up to Chennai. Now we're worried about the rains in Tamil Nadu. We ended up leaving later because it took so long to find a bike. Now we're thinking of going inland to the Ghats first (hitting Ooty, Coimatore, Coonoor, and around), then we would turn South and head down to Kanyakumari. What do you think?


Other things we wanted advice on:
1. Recommendations for good local roads that we can take along the way to see more of life, or at least sections that are known to have lots of interesting local scenery / community.
2. Are there any online resources for guest houses or homestays besides TripAdvisor/IndiaMike?
3. What times are good to drive? We were thinking early in the morning to avoid most of the traffic and drunk drivers. We were going to end our driving by 11am every day, if possible. We don't mind getting up quite early.
4. When you go into a temple, are there any secure places you can leave your stuff?
5. We really want to see a few of the more untouched parks. Any recommendations?
6. What's the drive like from Mysore or Bangalore to Hampi? Worth it?
7. Place to see Kathakali and any other cultural centers in Kerala that are recommended.


Anything we're not thinking about?


Thanks!
Matt

Ooh, that looks really cool. We would probably add the Keralan coast, but we want to see plenty of the ghats. Can I ask you for more info about that trip?

Thanks,
Matt

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