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Published: January 11th 2007
Some one told me "A Journey More Important Than Its Destination" but for me Journey and Destination both are important and the destination is as enchanting as the journey.
Date: 21.12.2006 to 3.1.2007
Total Distance Covered: 2700 km
Road Taken:
Hyderabad->Mehboob Nagar-> Kurnool->Ananthpur->Penukonda->Chikbalapur->Bangalore->Hosur->Rayalkottai->Palakkodu->Pennagaram->Perumbalai->Mechcheri->Mettur->Bhavani->Perundarai->Vijaymangalam->Tiruppur->Palladam->Udamalpettai->Chinnar Forest->Mariyoor->Munnar->Idukki->Thekkadi->Kottayam->Kumarakom->Allepey->Quilon-> Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple->Ernakulam->Kochi->Mattancheri ->Guruvayur->Ponnai->Malappuram->Kozikode->Nilabur->Madhumalai->Bandipur National Forest->Mysore->Bangalore Day 1 Adieu Hyderabad! We started from Hyderabad on 21.12.2006 at 2:30 pm. We could have started early but bike insurance expired. Day before already got the First Aid Kit Ready and Bike spare parts ready. Journey started from my room in Hyderabad and there were three of us : Shivank, his brother Shivam (fellow bikers) and me. We were very much troubled by the busy Hyderabad afternoon traffic. Anyways, we slowly cutting through the traffic we reached Old City passing by Charminar and soon we headed for the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway. We reached Reliance Petroleum Petrol Pump and refilled our petrol from their only as that will be our proof to prove that we are tourists while our stay in Bangalore and consequently in Kerala. Shivank was particularly disappointed with me for not driving at 70 + km ph as like other
so many other times during the trip but it was my first trip and I was quiet nervous to go for a kick start at high speed. Anyways, we took some snacks by the highway and started again. Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway (NH-7) was pretty dry. There was hardly any good scenery so we just drove own till dusk. Shivank asked our opinion whether to halt at Mehboob Nagar (83 km) or reach Kurnool (123 km). Considering the fact that Hyderabad - Bangalore distance is 570 kms and we did not even reach half the distance we decided to move on and reach Kurnool. The journey in the dusk was a horrible one. The visibility was low, half the trucks had lit their lights whereas half did not. It is extremely difficult to see the road and spot the vehicles with the incoming vehicles. None the less we moved on and continued our journey. As darkness followed the difficulties did not soothe with the trucks trying to overtake one another and paying least heed to the small 2 wheeler vehicles like ours. We maintained a 30 km swap technique for the journey where Shivank drove for 30 km ahead then I will
lead.
Kurnool We reached Kurnool at around 10 o’clock in the night and found particularly difficulty in finding a hotel there. Either those were expensive or untidy. We decided to halt at Punnami Resort at Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department. Since we were 3 we decided to take the dormitory there which is 700/- having 7 beds. We had to take the entire dormitory as taking individual beds is not possible. Weird! But can’t help. Anyways it was good decision we enjoyed some Hindi movie flick coming in the TV and also the view from the balcony. We had a spicy Andhra Style North Indian food with all green chilies in it.
Day 2 We woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning and headed for Bangalore early. We halted by a railway crossing close to Kurnool and watched the sunrise with sun peeping from the hill. The view was somewhat better than the previous day with very less traffic on the early road with small villages occasionally popping in. We found a Reliance Petroleum A1 Plaza on the way and halted there for breakfast. I was bit hungry specially considering the fact
that I could not consume much of spicy Andhra Food the night before. So I greedily consumed a Massala Dosa and Idli, Vada and was looking to consume more. We refueled our bike and pumped our tires. A layer had already come off from our tires because of the continuous driving at high speed. As we steadily passed by the Deccan Plateau of India we found some valleys and cultivations in the midst of shallow rocks. The Deccan Region is indeed very dry. We reached Andhra Pradesh- Karnataka border and halted at amusement park where epic character from Ramayana, Kumbhakarna idol is been found at the bottom of the hill. We took a 10 minute break which we termed for the remaining trip as “Photo-Break”. At around 4 o’clock we took up the 4 by 4 lane road of Yelhanka region of Bangalore and was speeding at 90 kmph to reach our destination.
Bangalore As soon as we finished our lane in highway we caught up with the Bangalore traffic. Before we go to our night halts to get sleep so that we can gear up for the Kerala trip we decided to buy Shuttle Bags for
our bikes as it will be difficult to carry our belongings in Western Ghats specially with the wires holding our bags in bikes being torn already. After buying the shuttle bags we crossed the entire Bangalore traffic to reach our “Biking Nomads” bike service station “Pulsar Pro biking Outlet ”at Jayanagar. The owner Mr. Venkat, being biker himself took personal care in looking after our bikes and made the bike a superbike. The service provided undoubtedly the best in India and every minute problems were been taken care of. Shivank left the Service Station earlier at around 8 pm while I continued to cruise in Bangalore traffic to reach JP Nagar to dine at “Kabab Magic”. I had always loved the chicken there. It was Friday evening and people flocked in large numbers and were all queued to have dinner. After long wait in the queue I hungrily consumed Swarma Chicken Roll, half Grilled Chicken, quarter Boasted Chicken in no time. All my day long tiredness soothed. There was a bit problem with my night halt at Bangalore as my friend Akshay’s place but he was busy with project and was attending in a project meeting that night. Later I
decided to stay at another friend of mine Manjesh’s place instead of Akshay’s(Marthahally) as Manjesh’s place(Indira Nagar) is near to starting point of our trip(Silk Point Junction at Hosur Road) . We had a brief chat about our life and happenings and watched even absolutely pathetic Horror TV serial before I passed out at around 12 o’clock midnight.
Day 3 Journey To Munnar I woke up at around 5 o’clock in the morning by the continuous ringing of alarm and mobile phone reminder of the bikers from Bangalore. Shivank as usual was in a hurry to reach Munnar Hill Station in Kerala so just zapped without waiting for anyone. There were 8 bikes from Bangalore with 10 guys. With the bike course being decided Shivank were alone was first to leave Bangalore via Hosur Road. There was another group consisting of Ashu, Chamoli, Kamlesh and me who were following them and there was Sashi, Vasant, Gurinder and others who will be starting a bit late. The last group consists of Pervez ,Karthik on Hero Honda Karizma. Since Shivank was the only biker I knew for the trip I was pretty confused when I found out that
he has already left for Munnar via Hosur Road without waiting for me at Silk Point Junction Starting Point. I waited at the Starting Point for half an hour and found none of the ten bikers. So I decided to continue on Hosur Road if by chance I may find some biker on the way. Then out of the blue, I got a message from some unknown number to meet at Hosur. As first signs of daylight pouring in I reached Hosur but knowing where to stop I overshoot the meeting point. Luckily as I was about to cross the highway I received a call from the number I got the message that they have seen me pass by. He asked me turn back to Hosur and it took about 15 minutes to turn back and reach Hosur at a petrol pump just before an highway where sign boards were present .
I found three bikers there waiting for me Kamlesh, Ashu and Chamoli. Kamlesh was and looked like a big shot biker with his bullet and accessories. Ashu and Chamoli were the no less in any respect with the Bullet and Bajaj Avenger. I guess I was only guy with small capacity bike. Anyways we waited for about half an hour more at the junction hoping that some more bikers will come. But no one turned up. Shivank offshoot already and continued on his way and followed the longer route. Pervez(another biker with Hero Honda Karizma) and his company will be starting late. The other bikers were busy at deciding about their starting point. After waiting for half an hour, we decided to move on.We took a shorter route from Hosur by a small city road and railway crossing which led directly to a good road in highway. In the morning the unexplored highway looked very nice. We cut through the winding roads with big banyan and palm trees by the sides of the road and small village huts occasionally popping up. At some distance down the road we halted for tea break and snacks and worked on strategies to meet up with the remaining bikers. We resumed our journey at around 8:00 am and continued on our path.
As we were some 10 kms from Rayalkottai and somewhere near Palakkodu I found Kamlesh halted his bike and was talking over phone. Kamlesh was the fastest driver of the lot and he was driving at speed of 95 kms per hour. He being our lead I was facing a hard time catching him up. I was driving at 80 kmph! Anyways I was lucky having Ashu at the end as sweep to back me up. The road was not that great here though and we had some potholes here and there. But I was that sure about the long conversation Kamlesh was having over phone. Soon, we came to know about the reason. Manas, one of the biker had an accident. He hit a bumper with his bike and flew in the air and fell some meters in front to break his collar bone. It was an nasty accident and his shoulder joint seemed twisted. But, luckily there were some 8 other bikers there along with them but was waiting for some help to be taken to a nearby hospital. Kamlesh decided to quiet the ride to Munnar and take him back to Bangalore and get him some treatment. The news came with a shock as we kept on discussing what to be done next. With Kamlesh backing out he hand over all the accessories : the repair kits, the supplementary cables to Ashu and transferred all the necessary amenities to his Shuttle Bags. Meanwhile, I got the connection with the mobile of Shivank and asked him to wait at Pennagaram. He said he is just 10 km away from Pennagaram after taking a diversion from longer route at the highway. I decided to refill my tank from a nearby petrol pump as petrol price in Tamil Nadu is cheaper than Karnataka and we have already reached Tamil Nadu.
We resumed our journey at around 9:00 am and our minds still burdened by the thoughts of the incident drove at a relatively less speed of 60 kmph to reach Pennagaram. But we did not find any signs of Shivank or any other bikers. We decided to take a brief halt at Pennagaram and take our breakfast. It was quiet hot and we took off our jackets and decided to relax a bit. We found a small roadside café and had a Massala Dhosa which was pretty descent as in Tamil Nadu Dhosas always tastes good. Waiting for other bikers to come was hell of a torture with nothing to do in that village an felt sleepy. The other bikers group consisting of Gurinder, Karthik, Shashank and others arrived after an hour. It was a good decision to halt at Pennagaram as there was a diversion right for Perumbalai as there was a road which leads to Dharmapuri.
We started from Pennagaram and took the road which sometimes ceased to exist ,sometimes it was so narrow that only cycles can pass, sometimes there lots of paddy straws been spread all over. It was difficult to avoid those driving in high speed and we were driving at very less speed of 50 kmph. But sometimes during the passage with the paddy fields by our side there were coconut trees all by the corners of the road giving shade and cool air to facilitate driving in the hot Tamil Nadu weather. There was a series of 3 shallow hills on the way and small road which led to Perumbalai. But as we reached Perumbalai we lost track of the half the bikers. There were 4 at the front at and 4 at way back stuck up in crossing the hills. But the real problem I faced after crossing Perumbalai was that it was me who lost track of the remaining bikers though I was in front leading the way for time.
Mettur I got stuck in a junction just before Mettur and asked the locals there for the route to Bhavani. It happens to be another diversion by some industrial zone which led through the second dam bridge. The shortcut looked as if it was been used and was in a doubt whether to continue with the route or wait at Mettur town. Luckily as I was crossing Mettur Dam I found Ashu waiting on the bridge. I found out that the others took the longer route by the first bridge on the dam and will take time to reach here. We took some photos of the dam and continued to move on. It was around 2:30 am and we made our goal to reach Bhavani before 3:00 o’clock. The road to Bhavani was pretty good and we soon driving an optimum speed of 85 kmph. The other bikers also caught up with us and we successfully made it to Bhavani at 3:00 o’clock.
As we reached Bhavani we got a message from Shivank that he had left Bhavani 15 minutes maintaining his reputation of keeping 15 kms ahead ! Ha Ha! Bhavani had some good hotels and Shivank had mentioned of some Sawarma Restaurant but none of us had the patience or enthusiasm to search for a restaurant. There was a small restaurant which looked descent enough and ordered for Fried Rice and Gobi Manchurian. It tasted absolutely horrible! With lots of oil and spices and not properly cooked I somehow swallowed it and decided to move on. At around 3:30 we left Bhavani to Perundarai. After crossing Perundarai we caught the high way which showed signs of Kochi. But without knowing the diversion to be taken we went a long road forward. We took a shortcut and bypassed Vijaymangalam to reach Tiruppur. When we reached Tiruppur we all got lost in the city traffic. The town was quiet populated and there were many roads going outside the city. It was Shashank who lost in traffic and we had to wait for 15 minutes for him to turn up in the desired meeting point.
The road to Udumalpettai was superb. It was a 4 by 4 road. I was thrilled to drive at a constant speed of 100 kmph by the broad lane. Udumalpettai had lots of Wind Mills. One can see series of Wind Mills of various private estates located there. As we passed by the Wind Mills I halted for a while, took some snaps from my Motorola L 7 mobile phone. It was an beautiful view as sunset by distant trees and the fans of the white colored wind mills glittering in golden setting sun. Reaching the T Junction before Chinnar Forest at around 6:00 pm with sign board showing we are just 90 kms from Munnar we were extatic.
Chinnar Forest But we had not no idea what lied in front of us. We patched up with Shivank who were waiting for us at entrance of Chinnar Forest. Chinnar Forest is well known for elephants. It is heard that during night time there were elephants standing in the middle of the road. The elephants generally stands in the middle of the road blocking the road and it takes hours to clear the traffic. The road was initially good , then worn out then there was no road at all. In the night we had trust our halogen headlights to progress. Much to the other fellow bikers criticism was driving a bit slowly. Their many animal reserves like elephants, deer, birds inside Chinnar Forest but I did not notice any trace of animals. The drive in the night cutting deep through the forest was on hell of a thrilling experience. Just as we crossed the Chinnar forest we reached the bottom of the Western Ghats of Munnar. It was a bit cold but not shivering. He halted for a while took some biscuits and started for the finishing journey till our destination. Climbing the Western Ghats in the night was an even difficult experience. There was nothing visible sideways and occasionally some slides and waterfalls were been encountered. One wrong turn and you are dead! Gurinder was racing away in the hills with his Bullet somehow and I was closely following him. All of sudden in a sharp turn I found Gurinder lying on the road with his leg trapped under his heavy bike. The bike skidded while taking the turn where there was a pothole and water drenching from a nearby waterfall. I freed Gurinder and helped him lift his bike. The foot rest was broken and clutch cable torn. Gradually the other bikers turned up. Shivank helped Gurinder temporarily fix the foot rest and start the bike. Slowly and steadily we made our way to Munnar Hill Station in the long dark night and wished that I never will be traveling in the night again.
Munnar It was cold in Munnar but surprisingly it was not chilly! We took our dinner in a not worth mentioning place and headed for the dormitory. The dormitory was located 8 km from Central Munnar at a place called Devikulam on the road to Idukki. The dormitory was in a Hotel Resort named ‘Las Palmas’ close to ‘Club Mahindra’s’ . The dormitory had a wooden cottage with 3 beds one on top of the other looked descent and clean but 350/- per day stay was way too expensive in my opinion. News came in that Pervez and his friend took a night halt at Bhavani as it was already getting late and will be arriving Munnar sometime in the afternoon. Chamoli offered some Brandy to beat the cold which gulped and immediately went to sleep.
Day 4 Shivank was first to wake up in the morning and left to visit the places with Shivam and Karthik. While rest of decided to relax for a while more and then start. In the meantime, Gurinder and I did practice some Yoga and Mudra lessons and got ready to start after taking a shower. But before actually going for the sightseeing we decided to first repair the bike of Gurinder. We headed for the Munnar town through the hills which looked very pretty with the tea plantations and small river flowing below. It looked like a prefect holiday gate away. Occasionally, I got to see some pretty colorful flowers blooming in the bushes in the midst of the tea plantations. We found an Enfield Service Station where we gave Guri’s bike for repair. The welding and repairing took a lot more time than expected and it was already 1:00 pm and we did not yet start sightseeing. We our lunch at Marwari-Guajarati restaurant which was pretty ok. We decided that we visit Top Station which is the best location in Munnar. The ride was simply great and mind blowing as we passed by the green top tills either having tea plantation, private resorts or public gardens. Without stop we headed straight to the Top Station View Point is approximately 33 kms from Munnar and the top point from where one can see entire surroundings. We skipped seeing the places in between and drove our way till we reached the Top Point. Towards the end of our ride up top station we felt particular difficulty as we had to drive through the clouds with visibility being almost zero and the road being not good and frequent tourist cars turning up out of the blue. It was just that our headlight being on saved our day. As we reached top point we had to walk the steps in the clouds to go to view point but since it was all full of mist we can hardly get any view. Hence, slowly we made our way back down the hills but not until taking some quick snaps. On our way back we reached Kundala Lake, the picturesque lake in the midst of the hill looked very nice and felt like going for a boating. There was a dam beside the lake which was surrounded at both the ends with trees full of flowers pink in color. There were frequent elephant rides for the tourists available there which looked very tempting. As we continued our way back we halted at ‘echo point’ . It also have the extension of the lake and hills covered with logs. There may have been sound of echoes here but now there was none. We had some local homemade chocolates and Massala cashews and made our back. On our way back we observed a path of green grass in a hill base with hills and clouds in the background. It must have been the Indo Swiss Plant and place looked pretty with the green cover. As we headed back to Munnar sun almost set and we could hardly much hence on our way back. We took our dinner at a clean restaurant with lots of chicken cooked in Kerala style and Kerala Paratha. It was Christmas eve, and as we reached Munnar I decided to visit some local church. There was a old looking Christ Church at the center of the city near the bus station. The exteriors have worn out with time though the charming interiors still have a very nice ambience. It was consecrated way back in 1910 and still has 14 original rows of pews About spending half an hour at the church we headed back to our dormitory. Shivank already got the Christmas cake for all of us and generously distributed to us all. We thought of going to some discotheque nearby but did not found and also did not feel like going out anywhere to party in the middle of the night. I slept off having another peg of Brandy from Chamoli.
Day 5 Next day surprisingly I woke up early in the morning and since the Bangalore bikers were heading back it was me and Shivank with his brother will be remaining for the journey. We decided to explore some more of Munnar and decided to catch up with Pervez and his friend at Idukki who will be heading straight there. We hurried in the early morning to reach Eravikulam National Park famous for endangered Nilgiri Tahr. There was a big mishap in the morning as I did not notice the turn at Eravikulam National Park at headed straight and reached 25kms ahead Nayamakad falls. When I realized my mistake I turned my way back to the park. I found that other bikers have already entered the park so I felt it wise to enter the park alone. It was 2 kms by walk after a park tourist bus dropped us at the gate of the forest hill top. The walk was definitely worth as I found the Nilgiri Tahr there grazing at the top. Not to mention, I took some amazing snaps and headed back. Luckily at the parking space I found Shivam. We headed for our to Idukki. But as we passed by highway we saw Attukad Waterfalls sign board . On our way down we met with a British couple who came along with their kid on vacation to India they were thrilled by our experience of our biking drive. After a brief chat we went down to the falls and enjoyed the falls and started on our way up. We even noticed Tata Tea factory outlet near the falls. I did some shopping of factory fresh tea and headed for Idukki.
Way To Idukki On our way down the narrow tree gardens we soon headed uncultivated lands of the Ghats . There were some elephant training camps, some densely formed green forests to small residential Malayalee houses. We halted at a dam where an unknown river was flowing to take some pictures. The guard at the dam even invited us for lunch. We were getting late so we could not accept the offer and continued. Sometimes there was deep slopes with rocks at the bottom with absolutely no water or river flowing. There was even an deserted thermal power plant by the hill. Sometimes there were crossing where there had been lots of water in the river.
Idukki Dams As we reached Idukki we decided to visit the Idukki dam. Idukki dam is famous for its twin dams. The best of the two dams being the massive arch dam. It is Asia's biggest Arch Dam of 555 feet height proudly standing between the two mountains - 'Kuravanmala' (839 meters) and 'Kurathimala' (925 meters ). The Project harnesses a major portion of the power potential of Periyar, the largest river in Kerala State, by the creation of a reservoir of 2,000 M.cum (2 Billion Tones) capacity, diversion of waters thus impounded through a water conductor system consisting of a power tunnel and two underground pressure shafts to an underground power house situated in Muvattupuzha Valley. The big mistake we made there was that we did not see permission to take photos before hand and the personals there was not much fluent in conversion in any of our known languages. It was a long walk to reach the dam but we were pretty disappointed that we were not allowed to take photos. It was an hour walk over there to reach Arch Dam and I particularly was not enjoy it. We did not have our lunch and wandering wasting a lot of time. As we went down from Arch Dam I accidentally noticed there a way to reach the bottom of the Arch dam and there were no guards. We gladly took our cameras and took some brilliant snaps of the dam. Every minute details of the dam were captured in frame. I still did not understand the idea behind not allowing to take photos at dam where one can take photos everywhere and in a better way. Anyways, we headed for Thekkady.
Way to Thekkady On the way, we got the good news that Pervez had already reached Thekkady and got a room booked for us and are working on Jungle Safari at Periyar. The road to Periyar did not look that safe as every now and then there were drunkards on the road and they were so drunk they could hardly speak. At one village I felt like there everyone was drunk. The quality of road degraded as we neared the jungles of Periyar. We took a trail of a big 4 wheeler black van (may be a Scorpio) and trusted its headlights to reach quickly to Thekkady. But the car realized it after sometime and deliberately stopped by roadside so unwantedly we had to move forward. We reached Thekkady and the room reserved was just outside Forest Reserve was quiet cheap. At 350/- for a triple bed room was more than we were looking for. Shivam and Shivank being pure vegetarians were facing lots of problems in Kerala as mostly Malayalees are non vegetarians who prepared dishes of sea fish, chicken in coconut oil. Anyways, we found one offering Kerala style vegetarian food and started making plans for further journey. Pervez joined us and we went out to bargain about Safari at Periyar Tiger. The rates are pretty high at Thekkady. The place has been highly commercialized in the recent years with lots of foreign tourists visiting the place. There were only 47 tigers remaining in Periyar Forest reserve in 777 sq kms of jungle. So, it was almost impossible to spot one. But the safari rates at Periyar is surprisingly high. With various options to choose from among Border hiking, Bamboo rafting, Night trekking, Jungle Safari, Mountain Biking, Jungle camp, Tiger Trail, Bamboo Grove being the plans available for entire day trek the rates were pretty high most being above 1000/-. Even the stupid bullock cart ride cost 1000/- . Ridiculous! I decided to take the cheapest of the lot the early morning boat ride in Periyar Lake. Guessing that early morning during the sunrise the animals will come near lake to drink water and hence predicting that we might glimpse of them sounded like a master plan. At night as I was walking back to my hotel I felt that city is predominantly targeted for foreign tourists with mostly Europeans walking at the nights and the small entertainments shows organizing ‘KathaKali’ dance and overpriced massaging centers at the corners of the streets. Some of the expensive luxurious hotels like Taj has also opened jungle themed hotels there.
Day 6 Periyar Surprisingly, I slept late and had to wake up early to reach Forest Reserve Gate to get a place for first ferry to lake which starts at 7:00 am. Hopes were shattered as we found a long queue at entrance gate and then inside the Jungle for ferry tickets. It was almost impossible to get tickets! But Shivam came to rescue in both the occasion. He successfully found a way in the first one ahead of others and in the second spotted a guy who had got some extra 3 tickets and was in front of queue. There were people who came twice only take the early morning ride being unsuccessful in the first attempt. The Periyar Reserve and the lake looked great in terms of natural beauty with logs or barks of dead trees protruding out of the water. As we cruised by we did not spot much animals. Periyar has lots of elephants that we have heard and chances are high to spot early in the morning. We were not lucky maybe that we could not spot a single elephant. We could not spot a single deer also. We just managed to find lots of wild boars, small group of wild bisons and a baby crocodile. There was funny Marwari family who were there on the ferry. They had expensive cameras and the head of the family even gave a Titanic like pose for photography. When everyone onboard asked him to be quiet and sit down he replied in a big voice,” If everyone is shouting why should not I?” funny! ha ha! Everyone found the boat found the ride enjoying. Even the presence of wild boars were greeted with shouts and claps. It seems that due to excessive water levels are high and hence animals did not come out of the jungle to drink water from the lake. We took traditional Kerala lunch. Shivank and Shivam did not like much as food was more of non vegetarian but for me it was pretty ok.
Leaving Thekkady Not knowing what to do next, we decided to move out from Thekaddy and head for Kottayam. The scenery of the road was pretty good. There were tea gardens with locals worker plucking tea leaves. We decided we pass by and see any hidden tourist destination is there. Luckily we found one. There was one beautiful church which was on the top of a hill surrounding the green meadows. We took some snaps and rested there for a while and we took a turn for visiting a hidden trekking spot Vagamon and Kurisumala. The place has beautiful teak forest reserve and private tea gardens. The landscape was good enough for any wallpaper of computer. We found a hidden Pine Forest which was popular among the locals. It was grown and maintained by the forest department as it was impossible to grow pine in this part of the country. Evening we followed the slopes down the stiff Western Ghats to reach the plains of western region without much use of fuel. The drive was fast and slick. Besides we were bit scared by the drunkards who halted at the Ghats and consuming alcohol publicly. We found the highway at Kanjirapally. There we halted at a roadside café took snacks and continued further to reach Kottayam by evening.
Kottayam an Kumarakom Kottayam was big modern city. There was not much to see there though. So we decided to go to Kumarakom to enquire about the availibility of house boat or boats for famous backwaters ride in Kerala. We found that the rates were extraordinarily high with houseboats as expensive as 15000/-. The places to stay at Kumarakom is also pretty high. Mediocre hotels are as high as 1000/- which was not worth. But one good thing that made going to Kumarakom worth was small procession of traditional Malayalee ladies holding lamps has come out on the streets for some unknow Hindu festival. We decided to come back to Kottayam found a cheap hotel in the center of the city with the guy at the reception turned out to be Nepali and fluent speaker in Hindi. We got good room for just 300/-. The food restaurants were also pretty good nearby and had North Indian dinner after quiet some days in Kerala. There is a Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary at Kumarakom where bird watching is a good experience but after the experience at Periyar we felt is a waste of time.
Day 7 Allepey and Backwaters We headed Aluppuzha(Allepey) early in the morning to view the best backwaters of Kerala. The road to Allepey was dense green mangrove and coconut trees and occasional backwaters from Arabian Sea. In around 9:30 in the morning we reached Allepey. There were lots of agents asking for cheap rides but we decided to go to Kerala Tourism Help Center near the jetty. There we met some American Desi girls from LA who did not have clue about what to do and were stuck up for not knowing Hindi. As we teamed up and headed for a boat ride to Kollam. We previously thought of hiring a Boat-House but huge tourist rush and excessive price charged during the tourist we cancelled the plan. The jetty was full of foreigners. There was a couple from Adelaide, Australia who came in for an all out India trip for 2 months , a family from Paris, France which includes son who studies engineering at IIT, Delhi by exchange program, a German hippie, an Veteran American lady, a Bengali family and a Rajasthani family who almost occupied the top deck. Due to the scorching heat during the day I decided to go inside the boat and observe the surrounding through the window. The boat was overcrowded with less number of chairs being provided. The boat passed by the shallow backwaters overcrowded by House-Boats and by Champakulam Church, one of the oldest churches in Kerala. Backwaters of Kerala is one of the major attractions of Kerala and coming to Kerala and not seeing it means not seeing Kerala at all. Our boat ride was for the entire day till Kollam. Allepey Backwaters are the actual and most beautiful backwaters of India. As we took a pleasurable backwater cruise from Alappuzha to Kollam in a lazily sweep past the local villages on the water banks and rest our eyes on the beatific vistas with colorful lotus blooms and water lilies floating on the Kerala backwaters. The constant chirping of the water birds in sync with the splashing oars create natural notes for our ears as we chew on cashew nuts and savor the taste of Kerala. There was a small stop for lunch at a Kerala theme Resort by the backwaters which looked quiet posh. The scenery of backwaters after that point was even better with the width of the waterway even widening and met with national water way. There were occasional Chinese Fishing Nets and fishing boats on the way. We could see a big statue of a naked lady holding a torch potraying "Godess of Light" just on the banks of an emerging lake. As we drew close to Kollam the backwaters gave way to huge AsthaMudi Lake. The sun was setting and we decided to come in front of our boat at the tip of the boat and capture some images of setting sun far across the backwaters. As we reached Kollam it was dark.
We decided to take bus back to Allepey. We have parked our bike at Allepey Boat Jetty point and kept our luggages at cloak room of the office. As we spoke to some locals in the bus on the way back we heard that there is a beautiful Sri Krishna Temple located at Ambalappuzha, about 15 km down from Allepey. It was built in the typical Kerala architectural style, this temple is famous all over India for the Palpayasam, the daily offering of deliciously sweet milk porridge. As we reached Allepey we found out there was a big function going on at center of the city. After taking dinner we searched for availability of rooms but it was difficult to find any rooms at Allepey as all of them was occupied by tourists due to huge tourist in pour during this season. We decided to travel on a highway an halt at any place on the way. As we passed on the highway at 10 o’clock in the night we found we noticed a newly constructed huge bungalow on the side. We decided to enquire about the place. The rooms were posh. We tipped the watchman there for 350/- and took a night halt.
Day 8 At 6 o’clock in the morning we woke up and headed for Sri Krishna temple which was 6 kms from there. The booking for Palpayasam gets over by 7 am and we were among the last guys who ordered for it. The temple was quiet unique and is low roofed. It was low roofed and there were enormous slots at the exterior wall of the temple which are used as ‘Pradeep’ (oiled lamps) . I imagined in night when all the lamps were lit up it would be an wonderful view. To pray in this temple we need to remove shirt and offer prayers in accordance to tradition of the king who started the prayed here and was hugely benefited. Distribution of Palpayasam was suppose to start at 1:00 pm so we decided to go back Allepey to check out any other places can be visited. I had a traditional Kerala Breakfast with Appam, Idyappam(rice noodles),egg curry and fruit juice. We decided to visit Allepey beach. Allepey beach was full of shells . Even, some variety of shells were been collected regularly by local fishermen (for cooking maybe!) which I did not have any clue about! I slept a while in the beach and when I woke up I suddenly realized that I could see everything clearly without my glasses on. I am shortsighted but I could see everything far still very clearly. It was miracle! I began to wonder was it because of my prayers at the temple? This state of my super visibility lasted for about half an hour before I felt like my eye power became normal again. We returned to Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple. The Palpayasam prepared there costs 35/- for a liter . It was something I have not tasted my entire life. It was sweet and after finishing half of it found almost hard to digest the remaining. It was heavy and was enough for our lunch and we could hardly move. As we decided to head for Kochi- Ernakulam, the twin cities. The road from Allepey to Ernakulam was in highway and the view was not dry. We even saw an beautifully decorated elephant being moved by people for the preparation of elephant festival for 30th December.
Kochi - Ernakulam As we entered Ernakulam I found out that something was wrong with my front tire as it was getting stuck. Luckily, I found a mechanic nearby on the way near Fort Kochi soon and got it repaired. I was thrilled to reach Kochi as it was my birth place. We reached Fort Kochi and tried to visit some places. But Jewish Synagogue, Dutch Palace were all closed for the day at around for 5 in the evening. We decided to visit Santa Cruz Basilica Cathedral located at Fort Kochi. There was marriage ceremony going on over there and we spent some time over there and then wished the couple a happy married life. Fort Kochi do not look like some location in India barring few shop keepers and hawkers the place was populated by foreigners. The rooms for rent were mostly ‘home stay’ cottages and not like the deluxe hotels but are a bit on the expensive side. We decided to search for a cheaper Hotel. We crossed the Marine Drive and trapped in the huge traffic from Kochi to Ernakulam. The traffic was heavy that we did not realize that we have crossed Ernakulam and was on Thrissur highway at Aluva near Kochi International Airport. We thought we will see the traditional Kerala dance ‘KathaKali’ at See India Foundation near Ernakulam Railway Junction but got late for the show. Problem was on the highways was that either the hotels were expensive else small and too dirty or did not have parking space for our bikes. It was around 10 o’clock in the night and were running out of enthusiasm to find a cheap place to stay. We did not have that much energy left to go back to Fort Kochi which was about 20 km back journey. We decided to find some hotel near Railway Station. Luckily we found one which has a big air conditioned dormitory with only 100/- per bed a day with private locker facility. Tired and exhausted we slept off quickly.
Day 9 We woke up late in the morning for the first time during the trip. As a method to avoid the heavy Ernakulum traffic we took a shortcut to reach Bolghatty Palace located to close to Kochi port. It was a Dutch Palace but now been converted to a hotel run by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC). The island has a tiny golf course and the panoramic views of the port and the harbor, makes it an attractive picnic spot. We crossed the bridge and reached Vypeen Island. We took a ferry there and crossed the river to reach Fort Kochi along with our bikes on the jetty like many other vehicles both 2 wheelers to 4 wheelers. At Fort Kochi we observed that there happened to be a beach sometime back but now it is almost dead. We then visited the Santa Cruz Basilica again and then to St Francis church which was suppose to be the oldest church in India. On his 3rd visit to Kerala, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese trader who reached India from Europe by sea, fell ill and died in Kochi. He was buried in the St. Francis Church. Later his remains were taken back to Portugal. In spite of that, his burial spot inside the church has been clearly marked out. We passed by the well decorated streets by Jewish Synagogue. Some of the handicrafts displayed looked quiet antique and old and lots of fancy items to attract attention of foreign tourists. We then headed back crossed the river again by ferry along with the bikes to reach Vypeen Island. There on our way we found Palliport (Pallipuram) Fort. It was the oldest surviving hexagonal European Fort built in 1503 built by Portuguese. We took some snacks and cakes on our way and continued on our path up and reached Cherai Beach. Cherai Beach is a recently opened, clean and well maintained beach. It was a 10 km long golden beach and referred to as Queen of Arabian Sea We hired an umbrella and beach bench to sun bath and relax. It was flocked by descent number of European and South East Asian young ladies and can be loosely compared to some of beaches of Goa. After taking a dip in the sea we headed for Guruvayur. On the road we halted at a place by the backwaters to snacks. It was just after Bridge Toll Tax counter on the right side of the road after the Chettuva Bridge . There was an private island which was dedicated for meditation and Ayurveda. There was private boat and the boat man asked for 50 rs to visit the Islands (consisting of "Rani and Rajah Island" of Rajah Islands among the Vedic Orumanayoor Islands). We were getting late and decided to move on. As we reached Guruvayur there was some cultural program going on.
Guruvayur Guruvayur is believed to be center for Kerala art and literature. The dance that was going was ‘Bharatnatyam’, the classical, toughest and best Indian dance even more famous than KathaKali’. I just thanked almighty that watching this divine for free at this place was never on cards. There was a delay for our entrance to Shri Krishna Temple as there was an evening ceremony going on with the elephants making rounds around a gold palm tree inside. Here also we had to entered the temple bare chested and wearing traditional Malayalee Dhoti. Guruvayur Temple do not permit entrance for the non Hindus. Legend has it that at the beginning of this era (yuga), Guru Brihaspati found a floating idol of Lord Krishna. He along with Lord of Air ( Vayu ) installed the idol in this temple for helping mankind get through the travails of this yuga. Hence the deity is named Guru-Vayur-Appan.
It was around 6:00 pm and we left Guruvayur and headed up towards Kozhikode. We did not know the route and traversed so much of Kerala decided to reach Bangalore for 31st New Year Party 2007. We took the National High Way. But the High Way did not look like one as soon as one city ends other begins. We reached Ponnani. But after crossing Ponnani we found particularly difficulty in heading for Malappuram town. The road diversion taken we took had very roads and it was very difficult to drive.
At a small village we halted and asked the locals for the direction. In broken English told us some portion of the road was closed because repair works. I guess the village children and young people has never seen a biker in their entire life. They turned up in big numbers and were cheering for us as if we were some big celebrities! Ha Ha! Some came for handshakes and talks about our journey. And as we left the village they all together waved us goodbye. We took a diversion towards Kozhikode and headed for Malappuram. At some distance before the town we managed to get a cheap hotel again for 350/-. It was small room on 2 floor to fit 3 of us but feeling it will be ok for us for a night took the night halt.
Day 10 Nilambur Morning we woke up early and started biking at 7:00 am. After crossing Malappuram we took the road up to Nilambur. There was a Ayurvedic Medicine Research Institute but it was not open early morning so we could not visit it. As we were about to leave Nilambur we halted for the Teak Plantation department there. The world's first teak plantation was raised at Nilambur during the 1840s, paving the way to ensure a steady supply of teak timber in the face of dwindling resources in the natural forests. Since then, teak plantations have been grown steadily not only in its native range, but also in other tropical regions across the world. The teak plantation reserve was inaccessible by road and we had to take small boat visit the place. The teak plants were so tall that I could not see the top of the tree! Anyways, We continued our way. We stopped to have coconut water. But everyplace we find that prices were on the higher side but did not drink as felt coconut water in Kerala is overpriced with 12/- for a small coconut.We thought of seeing famous "Kalaripayattu"(Martial Arts believed to be one of the oldest in the world) show, at their headquarters at Kozhikode but I guess it was inappropiate to go there as there might be no shows that time! We continued our journey. We soon reached Western Ghats again.
Adayanpara Waterfalls We noticed there was some Adayanpara Waterfalls near Kurmbalangod village on 15 kms diversion from highway. The road after some place was not there and at one place there was a earthen slope of a hill and with pebbles. It looked like a trekking course rather than path to drive. Anyways we made to falls. The falls did not look like that pretty but still after a toiling journey felt we should halt for a while. Anyways a local villager helped us and somehow smoothened our agony. He lad us through a rubber plant farm to a location where there was natural rocky pool was formed. The place was perfect for bathing and we could not resist the temptation to bath in the waterfall. Water was cold, pure and crystal clear. After a refreshing bath we resumed our journey. On our way back I skidded on the stiff slope down the hill with my bike. But luckily nothing serious happened as the shuttle bags saved the bike and the day. Shivank later helped taking the bike down. Anyways, after the small mishap we needed something cool us. There was a roadside sugarcane stall on the high. The juice acted as adrenaline for me. The road led to Tamil Nadu border up the Ghats and we reached Gudalur.
Gudalur is a small hilly town located and is a border of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Since we reached Gudalur at around 2:00 pm we were exercising on the possibilities of visiting Tipu Sultan Fort (Sultan Battery) in Kerala or visit Ooty Hill station in Tamil Nadu all been located at 40 kms distance but later decided to visit none as we were too tired to head back South and take a U turn to come back.
Jungle Road of Bandipur Forest After a good vegetarian Tamil lunch we headed for Bandipur Forest in Karnataka. On the way again we found tea estates again and a not so clear shallow river flowing down. Slowly the tea estates changed to forest area. We entered Madumalai Forest Reserve which is other name for Bandipur National Park referred to in Tamil Nadu. We crossed the border to enter Bandipur National Park. After driving for 15 minutes we got a big surprise. There was a group of 20 deers were grazing by the roadside on a small patch of grass. I was stunned! We did not find a trace of deer in Periyar forest reserve but the place where we never expected it to they were there. We turned off our bikes and I went after the deers in the forest. But I did not dare go deep inside as drawn by deers if a tiger turns up I will get hunted instead. Anyways I took some photos with the deers from a distance. As I was resumed our journey I was bitten by an flying insect I don’t recognize twice once in my fingers and another time just under my right eyes. I could hardly drive with my eyes opening and hand moving to accelerate the bike. Shivank drove my bike for a while and I, a pillion for a while with Shivam driving the bike. It was a nice welcome break from a continuous driving. At some distance after I found the road smooth and clear and speeded my bike. I was biking at constant speed of 102 km per hr with top speed of 105. About 3 kms before Mysore I slowed a bit and found Shivank way behind to catch me up. We halted for a while just before Mysore Palace.
Mysore During my stay in Karnataka for 4 years during engineering college days I picked a bit of ‘Kannada’ the local language of Karnataka which helped me bargain with roadside hawker for a refreshing coconut water. We entered Mysore Palace around 4:15. Mysore Palace is one of the best and big palaces in South India with wonderful cravings and royal looks. At around 6 o’clock we went for some shopping at Karnataka Government Emporium at ‘Cauvery’ to buy Sandal wood products like soaps, perfumes and powder. It was a bit expensive but quality was good. Next to ‘Cauvery’ at a restaurant we took our dinner with famous Mysore Massala Dhosa, Mysore Pak, a local sweet and headed back to Bangalore.
It was 30th December night. The road to Bangalore was superb it was a superb 4 by 4 partitioned highway through out. So even in the night the visibility was clear and we drove at a constant speed of 80 km per hr to reach Bangalore at 10:30 pm. At Bangalore I parted from Shivank at Koramangala as they will be staying at his friend’s place and head back to Hyderabad in the morning. I called up Akshay for his availibility and headed for his place at Marthahally. After a brief chat with Akshay went to sleep.
Day 11 Bangalore Again and New Year Party!
Next morning, I woke up a bit late and went for lunch together at restaurant ‘TGI Friday’ on Airport road. Since, Akshay again would be busy with his work New Year night I decided to check out the party scene for new year in Bangalore. I visited Rakesh’s place (colleague and ex roommate of mine) to see what is going on. Luckily, I found Ashwani, a friend of mine there who recently came back from UK after a project assignment. He was ecstatic in seeing me. We went down to coffee shop at MG Road and bought tickets for Rio’07, a new bash party and decided to give a try. Since, during the trip by shoes got torn by constant journey we decided to go for some shopping. There were lots of factory outlets near Marthahally where I bought sports shoes and t shirt as there was no clothes left for me to party. We started at 9 o’clock in the night for the party. The party ticket was quiet expensive( 1700/-) though it included unlimited free drinks and snacks but I was stunned by the number of people who turned out for the party. Bangalore surely knows how to party! Lots of pretty girls and guys turned up in party attire but got stuck like us in a long queue to get in. As we entered I noticed it is the dance floor was full with overwhelming crowd and so is the drink counter. After initial serving of drinks the bartenders fled not able to control the crowd. The trance music played was mostly progressive and after a peg we hit the dance floor for the new year celebration. The party continued till 1 o’clock in the night and decided it would be prudent to leave the place as I felt there might some breakout of fight with no guards, no security and no bouncers.
Day 12 Hangover and Afterthoughts
Next morning I woke up late in the morning recovering from the hangover of the last night party. The day passed by without any significant events that is worth mentioning. We boarded Air Conditioned Volvo bus back to Hyderabad after lodging the bikes inside the Goods section of the bus. The trip was finally over!
Afterview Never in my life I have imagined I will be going for such a biking trip and undoubtedly this was the trip of life time .
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P.Lahiri
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Good effort but correct your English and some spelling mistakes, likely from a computer keyborad typing. Keep it up.