HORN OK PLEASE

HORN OK PLEASE

version 11.11

Anand Sawkar | Raghu | Ravikiran | Harsha

This time 7 days 3 states Road trip, no reservations one map 4 frustrated IT guys and a Korean Machine running on 4 wheels called as Hundai Verna.

Day 1: 31^st Oct Monday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm toll vrrrroooooommmmmmmm toll vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Breakfast vrrrroooooommmmmmmm toll vrrrroooooommmmmmmm piss vrrrroooooommmmmmmm lunch @ Belgaum road side dhaba vrrrroooooommmmmmmm tea break vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Room hunt @ Wai. Finally a very good dinner @ the most luxurious looking hotel in Wai. But guys don't take Biryani anywhere in Maharashtra as its a sweet dish :)

Pit Stop @ Wai | Trip meter: 750 KMS

Day 2: 1^st Nov Tuesday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm breakfast vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Panchagani vrrrroooooommmmmmmm view-point vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Mahabaleshwar vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm photo session vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lunch vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm lost way in Pune, finding a way out of Pune to Shirdi vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Jai Maharashtra vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Reached Shirdi late night @ 9 PM a little struggle to find a lodge. Yeah finally got one and settled.

Pit Stop @ Shirdi | Trip meter: 1133 KMS

Day 3: 2^nd Nov Wednesday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Shirdi temple just 15 Min and we had Darshan thats super LUCK this time. Jai SAI RAM vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm breakfast @ Duplicate Udupi Hotel in Shirdi vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Puna-Mumbai Expressway vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lunch @ Dhabha on the expressway vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lonavala-Khandala everywhere chikki chikki chikki vrrrroooooommmmmmmm a bullshit dam and a fantastic view point vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Sunset from Khandala Ghat and a top view of Expressway vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm photo session on expressway vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm VRRRROOOOOMMMMMMMM Verna touches 180 KMS speed VRRRROOOOOMMMMMMMM VRRRROOOOOMMMMMMMM Touch down Navi-Mumbai, Hunt for lodge begins. Found a fantastic luxurious lodge at a very affordable price.

Pit Stop @ Mumbai | Trip meter: 1500 KMS

Day 4: 3^rd Nov Thursday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Bhaji-Pav for breakfast YUMMM ! Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lane cutting fine/BRIBE 500 INR waste of time 1 Hr+Mumbai Police harassment vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Gateway of India and Taj via Victoria Terminus a very good drive vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Marine Drive vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Haji Ali Dargah No parking fine/BRIBE 300 INR waste of time 30 Minutes+Mumbai Police harrasment vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Sea Link just too good vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lunch @ Road side Dhaba just outside Navi Mumbai headed towards Alibaug vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm piss vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Missed Sunset by just 5 min in Alibaug vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lodge hunt begins but no use :( headed towards Nagaon, a beach side hippy village 20 KMS from Alibaug vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm finally got a huge cottage to rest at night after a pathetic dinner.

Pit Stop @ Nagaon | Trip meter: 1700 KMS

Day 5: 4^th Nov Friday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Nagaon beach one of the finest in Konkan cost vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm poha for breakfast vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Kashid beach – super clean and good waves vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Zanjira fort vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lunch and waiting for the boat as we need to go on the island to see it vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm kamath – Achha Hai Sachha Hai vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Halt @ Bed Bugs special suite in Chiplun.

Pit Stop @ Chiplun | Trip meter: 1910 KMS

Day 6: 5^th Nov Saturday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Ganapatipule Temple vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm one of the finest drive in Konkan cost vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm beautiful beaches of Arabian sea as we drive towards Goa vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Miramar- Panjim Goa vrrrroooooommmmmmmm beach beach vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Calangute vrrrroooooommmmmmmm chats vrrrroooooommmmmmmm dinner @ beach side shack ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz in cottage.

Pit Stop @ Calangute | Trip meter: 2300 KMS

Day 7: 6^th Nov Sunday:

Vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Full tank in Goa border (Fuel is cheapest in Goa) vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Breakfast @ pathetic Udupi restaurant in Karwar vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm nice beach side drive vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Lunch @ Sirsi my HOME SWEET HOME :) moma special vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm tea break in Kamath vrrrroooooommmmmmmm vrrrroooooommmmmmmm Namma Bengaluru.

Final halt @ Bangalore | Trip meter: 2935 KMS

Stats:

Number of participants at the start of trip: 4 {Anand, Ravi, Raghu and Harsha}

Car: Hundai Verna Diesel

Total Fine paid to Mumbai police without receipt: 800 INR

Fuel cost: 5730 INR

Toll cost: 1490 INR

Total expense per head: 6907 INR {Including food, stay, bribe, toll and fuel}

All 4 people made it to the end of the trip and the car was also safe in working condition till date. All 4 participants have joined the normal routine life again and i am expecting them to get frustrated soon as we can go on one more such trip.

Thanks Harsha for driving most of the time.

Raghu for backing up his driving

Ravikiran for taking the back seat and making it for the trip at the last min.

Men Are Back AGAIN

Day 1: 14^th July 2011

4 AM we hit the road and our next stop was after traveling 405 Kms via Salem for our first destination on the way to Munnar, @ Amaravathi Dam. We had taken couple of pit stops for a breakfast at Ananda bhavan { and here it starts my count of Masala Dosa's that i had over this trip.}

Amaravathi Dam at Amaravathinagar, 25 km south on NH 17 from Udumalpet, is located in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in Coimbatore district. It was built primarily for irrigation and flood control and now also has 4 megawatts of electric generating capacity installed. It is notable for the significant population of Mugger Crocodiles living in its reservoir and catchment basin. And there is a small croc park which you can visit for just paying a fees of 50 PAISE {i still have no idea on the logic of taking 50 paise as a entrance fees when parking and all other stuff are free}

The next 76 Kms to Munnar via Lakkam Water Falls and Marayoor - It is the only place in Kerala with natural growth of sandalwood trees, natural caves with murals, and relics from late Stone Age civilisation. The road passes through Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary as well. Most of the time goes in clearing checkpoint you may come across some 8 check posts by forest dept. Police dept. of both the states. Each check post you need to pay some cash for no reason tho{I am not sure if this is some kind of bribe}.

Finally we arrived @ Munnar around 6 PM and landed directly @ Sarvana Bhavan for yet another Masala Dosa {guys don't keep a count of that i will let you know how many dosa i had at the end of this writeup}. And now in the chilling weather of Munnar we needed to hunt for our stay and after several hours of investigation we finally landed in Thayyil's cottages located on Tea county road i must say thats the best location for stay in Munnar.

Day 2: 15^th July 2011

Eravikulam (Rajamalai) National Park, takes almost 3 Hrs as there is lot to see, rare flora and fauna, Atlas moth (largest in the world), lion-tailed macaque, leopards, tigers, The Kurichi or Neelakurinji Flowers turn the hills of Rajamalai blue every 12 years. By the way we could not see most of them as it was heavy fog and there was hardly visibility, at times not more than 20 meters. But we had a good view of The Nilgiri tahr, a very rare type of mountain goat (Hemitragas bylocres) , on the verge of extinction. Half the world population of this rare goat is seen in and around Rajamala. One can actually debate if going to the high peak just to see some goats is worth all the effort or not. However, the walk along the park is very romantic and has some breath taking view of Namakad water falls.

Well to cover Munnar in all direction you need to plan well as every direction has so many places to see. Post lunch we had a drive on Bothamedu view point on Cochin direction then headed towards Top Station Direction.

Our first stop was Mattupetty Lake and Dam, which lie 13 km from Munnar, enroute Top Station, at an altitude of 1700 mt. The lake and dam surrounded by wooden hills and tea plantations, makes a great view. Boating is also allowed on Mattupetty Lake and combined with picnic and trekking, makes for a great outing from Munnar. Our next stop was Kundala Lake, Echo Point, Shooting point. And finally it was Top station view point. This view point lies in Tamil Nadu and you need to trek a bit to go to the final tip to have a breath taking view. Its worth the effort to reach to this final spot.

Day 3: 16^th July 2011

We started early morning with a power Dosa @ Sarava Bhavan again :)

Our next stop was Madurai 153 Kms drive with a very dangerous ghat section to be covered. {And it was a journey from 15 degrees to 35 degrees temprature in 2 Hrs}With couple of pit stops. We reached Madurai, post Lunch had a struggle to find parking near the Meenaxi temple road and our only purpose to visit Madurai was to see the Sri Meenakshi - Sundareswarar Temple since the temple opened @ 4 PM we haaded towards Thirumalai Nayak Palace to kill some time, I don't recommend this place at all. BTW this was the location for Mani Ratnam's super hit song “Kehana hi kya” from Bombay was shot {feathering Manisha koirala and Arvind swamy and super hit music from ARRahman}

After the disappointment at this palace we headed towards Sri Meenakshi Temple.

Synonymous with Madurai is the Meenakshi Sundareswarar twin Temple, the pivot around which the city has evolved. The Meenakshi Temple complex is literally a city - one of the largest of its kind in India and undoubtedly one of the oldest too. The temple grew with the contribution of each dynasty and victorious monarchs, into an enormous complex extending over an area of 65000 Sq m. There are four massive gateways enclosing these two shrines. Even a casual visitor is fascinated by the many paintings and sculptures.

A striking feature of the temple is the astonishing structure know as “Ayiramkaal Mandapam” or the Hall of Thousand Pillars and each pillar features high, ornate, bold sculptures that look life like. View from any angle these pillars appear to be in a straight line, an architectural masterpiece indeed In the outermost corridors are situated the matchless musical pillars carved out of stones. When it is tapped, each pillar produces different musical note.

Our last activity in Madurai was the Murugan Idly. Its just next to the temple lane and its a must do activity in Madurai after the temple visit just taste the Idly's here and those idly's marked the completion of our Madurai chapter of journey :)

Our final stop for the day was Tiruchi. Madurai to Tiruchi 138 Kms was covered in a whopping 60 Min drive. And that was one stretch on NH 45B just too good road done by NHAI. And i must admit tho the toll is pretty high, end of day it saves time and fuel. And that we had covered our destination in less the half the time as expected we decided to move on to Tanjavur and take our night halt there. What next Tiruchi to Tanjavur another express way waited for us and the next 60 Kms drive was covered in 45 Min. By the time we hunted a stay almost whole of Tanjavur went to sleep and we had to compromise on our dinner at a hotel which served us NOT so well done Masala dosa :(

Day 4: 17^th July 2011

Fourth day and our last day of our tour. We had couple of places in Tanjavur and Tiruchi to cover before we had back to B'lore. So before having our breakfast we headed to The Peruvudaiyar Koyil or Brihadeeswarar Temple , is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas kingdom in temple architecture. It remains as one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture. This temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples".

This temple is one of India's most prized architectural sites. The temple stands amidst fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th century. The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. The Kalash or 'Chikharam' (apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is not carved out of a single stone as widely believed. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high. The entire temple structure is made out of hard granite stones, a material sparsely available currently in Thanjavur area where the temple is located. Brihadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years in 2010.

After the temple visit we had a taste of Steaming Idly's of Thanjavur and headed towards Tiruchi for the final spot Rock fort. The 83m high Rock Fort is the only outcrop in the otherwise flat land of the city. The rock is one of the oldest in the world-approximately 3.800 million years, which makes it as old as the rocks of Greenland and older than the Himalayas. The sheer abruptness of its rise is a thrill in itself, but the actual center of attraction is not the fort itself, of which very little remains, but the temple at the summit. 344 steps out of rock lead to the top where there are inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century B.C. Hardly anything remains of the ramparts but the Main Guard Gate is still intact.

So finally it was time for another 340 Kms drive back to B'lore. We had a a break @ Saravana Bhavan for another and final Tamil Meals to recharge ourself.

B'lore-Munnar-Madurai-Tanjore-Tiruchirapalli-B'lore Total kms 1453 kMS.

Thanks to Sarvana Bhavan and Anand Bhavan for cont..supply of Masala dosa throughout our tour.

Thanks to Raghu to driving us safely through our the tour, he was the only one who drove throughout safe and sound Thanks buddy.

Prashant thanks for your skill to understand Tamil and Malayalam that helped us to communicate throughout the journey.

Arun pawar for being obedient and giving be the front seat of the car most of the time :)

BhimSen buddy this is your first tour with our gang Thanks for being a good boy :)

{ The total cost of 4 day tour was 3350/- INR per head including Fuel/Food/Stay }

Men Are Back

This time all credits to Raghu for getting us together for this amazing trip over the weekend. The plan was to cover Kemmanagundi and head back to Bangalore may be in a day or two. But since we had a very good driver in Raghu and a SX4 we did not mind cruising here and there and hunting down places chasing Karnataka tourism board mile stones.

Day 1: 22^nd April 2011

We hit the Tumkur highway @ 6 AM to reach Kemmanagundi. Our fist pit stop for Breakfast at Kamath. On the way we had all permutations and combinations as in which route to take and where to go and all....Finally decide that we will head to Amruthapura.

Amrutesvara temple

The temple is a fine example of Hoysala workmanship built with a wide open mantapa Surrounded by coconut farms, the temple still has its original outer wall with interesting, equally spaced circular carvings. The speciality of the temple are the rows of shining lathe turned pillars that support the ceiling of the mantapa.

After lunch @ Shivamogga we headed towards Sigandur. It is famous for the temple of Goddess Chaudeshwari. This place is located on the other side of backwater of river Sharavathi ( before Jog falls ). To reach this place people have to come to the main city Sagar. Vehicles reach one side of the bank in the river Sharavathi. Launch ( ferry ) service is available from this bank to the other bank to cover a distance of one KM and service charges just Rs. 1 per head :)

Now wait a second....werent we supposed to go to Kemmanagundi ? YES this is what happens when we have a superb car.. money...time...enthusiasm.. and a very good driver in Raghu :) So first day we had a halt @ Shivamogga and Kemmanagundi moved to day 2. I must admit that Raghu is a fantastic driver...perfect.! and Arun is a worst navigate :)

Day 2: 23^rd April 2011

At around 5 AM in the morning headed towards Kemmanagundi Finally :)

Kemmannugundi is a hill station in Chikkamagaluru district. It is located at a height of 1434m above sea level and blessed with silver cascades, mountain streams, and lush vegetation, Kemmangundi’s beautifully laid-out ornamental gardens and enchanting mountains and valleys views are a treat to the eye. For the adventurous at heart, Kemmangundi offers many peaks to scale and intricate jungle paths to explore.

We had our trekking for Z point which is a vantage point at Kemmangundi and can be reached by a steep uphill trek of about 45 mins. from Raj Bhavan and is another favourite place of people who want to view a spectacular sunrise . As it is a walk beware of slippery roads and snakes and also visit shanthi falls near kemmangundi.

Hebbe Falls: A downhill trek of about 8 km from Raj Bhavan takes one to Hebbe Falls where water streams down from a height of 168 meters in two stages to form Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls). Jeeps are available from one particular point to Hebbe falls and they charge around INR 700 to 1200 (for an up and down trip depending on the no of people).Just on a caution note make sure u dont drive there on your own vehicle as the is no road u have to find your own road to drive :) Back to Chikkamagalur we visited Mullayanagiri and had dropped Arun there as he wanted to put his base on top of Mullayanagiri, Karnataka's highest peak. We had our stay in Chikkamagalur.

Day 3: 24^th April 2011

Mullayanagiri Tallest peak of karnataka famous for the temple on the peak and for its breath taking view from the peak.

The Veera Narayana temple is located in Belavadi. The temple was built by the Hoysala Empire. Belavadi is located 29 km southeast of Chikmagalur town on the Chikmagalur-Javagal highway. It is located at a very convenient distance from the famous temple towns of Belur and Halebidu and a visit to this quiet town is a rewarding experience.

THESE 3 DAYS, WE TRAVELLED 975 Kms JOURNEY WAS AN AMAZING TOUR FROM HILL STATIONS TO SOME BEAUTIFULL TEMPLES.

The total cost of tour was around 2500 INR. Special thanks to Raghu for driving our car, Arun for guiding us towards rite as well as some wrong directions , Prashant for coming and being a good boy as usual.