This blog captures some spectacular moments of my bike trip to Anantapur with Sarat.
2nd June 2009, 10 pm:
That’s the usual time on weekdays when my room-mates assemble after a hectic office schedule for some chitchatting.
Sarat came up with the idea of bike journey to Anantapur to attend his colleague’s marriage.
3rd June 2009:
Morning: I decided to take part in the journey as it will definitely leave us with some enriching experience. We both are new to this sort of traveling and wanted to experience the fun in biking.
Office hours: The long day in office was spent on net-surfing. It was great to go through different blogs on the road-journeys and their experiences. Team-bhp is the site where one can get blog and discussions on journeys to all corners of India.
Evening: Our initial plan was to start from Maarthalli at 4pm, so that we can reach Anantapur by 9pm or 10pm.
But we started our journey around 5:30pm. I was leveraged to start the ride from Maarthalli on Unicorn (the terminator of the trip). It was the first trip for both of us and it gave a feel of Roadies- Hell Down Under. We are big fans of Roadies –Hell Down Under (Mtv reality show).
It took almost 1 hour to sneak through the Bangalore traffic. Around 6:30pm we reached the HEBBAL flyover. The real journey starts from this point.
Our first pit-stop is Chickballapur which is 70+kms from Hebbal. Anantapur is 220kms from Hebbal.
First pit-stop journey : The journey was fine with cool breeze and less traffic. To make it interesting we started to chase one BMTC Volvo airport bus. It was fun to go on track with it. After 7pm the journey became tough. There were no street-lights after crossing the Airport Road. One more addition to our misery is the construction work, due to which the road was single-lane one.
Its tough to get the sight of the road as the vehicles coming in opposite directions glare on you. So, we reduced the speed to 40kmph and adapted to the conditions. Then one Innova guy came to our rescue. I just followed him and started judging about speed-breakers and vehicles coming in opposite direction by his speed regulations. We were in comfort zone while riding with him on that 1-lane road without any hiccups. After crossing Nandi Hills we gave a 2-minute break to our sneaky race and started the journey once again.
While travelling we started to share some tips on riding as both of us are new to this long journey. Then we came to Chikballapur and started searching for some good Dhaba. We crossed Chikballapur and after some 5kms we got a Kamat Hotel, and we finally gave a break to our journey around 8pm. It was some great 2hrs+ journey for us with some dazzling light and no proper road due to construction etc etc.
We took rest for an hour and started journey around 9pm after some light dinner.
150+kms was still left in our book to reach Anantapur.
Second pit-stop journey: This time its Sarat’s turn to ride the Samurai. I was sitting back and enjoying the journey. There is no traffic at all except lorries, RTC buses and some crazy riders like us. We were doing fine all the way except some construction areas where it is a single-lane road. Then slowly we entered Andhra Pradesh. After some 40+ kms ride from our first pit-stop we crossed Baagepalli and took some rest in a petrol-bunk. That’s our second pit-stop. There we enquired about Anantapur and started the journey after giving a break of 15mins.
Third pit-stop journey: The next pit-stop is Penukonda 46kms away from Baagepalli. In this 46 kms ride there was no traffic at all. We are like ghosts on a bike in darkness searching for a soul. We started to make fun thinking of some unusual things like puncture or etc. There was no way we can come out of some problem as it was a open area with no personage in sight. We reached Penukonda around 10:30 PM and took a break for 15mins.
Destination: We were just 80kms away to reach our destination. We know that these 80kms is tough and tiring. It’s my turn again to drive. We thought of not driving for more than 20 mins at a stretch and to take rest for every 20mins. So we divided 80kms to 3 parts. First and last 20kms were driven by me and the second part was by Sarat. So finally we reached Anantapur around 11 30pm. We started to search for some good hotel and it was around 00:30 am we checked-in to the room. We didn’t do anything other than a small chat discussing our glorious journey and slept.
4th June 2009:
Morning: We woke up around 6AM. The marriage is at 8 AM. So we got ready and reached the marriage hall around 8 AM and had breakfast there. The bride is Swetha, Sarat’s colleague and friend. We spent time pondering the marriage and discussing our over-night adventure. After the marriage we greeted the couple and told them about our journey to attend their marriage. They were shocked and also felt happy listening to our 250kms bike ride for their marriage. We had lunch at 10 30 AM and returned to our room.
We checked-out the hotel around 11 30 AM and started the return journey.
Return Journey: This time it is Sarat’s turn to start the journey. The road was very good and it is NH7 connecting Bangalore-Hyderabad. After the first 60 kms drive we took rest for some time and its my turn to drive now. Day-journey is so cool with full sun-light, no glaring or etc. We were driving around 80kmph and it was an awesome drive. The previous night drive was challenging, but in the morning it is like a drivers paradise.
There were some instances where we crossed 100kmph mark also. The drive was very smooth and entertaining. Around 3 pm we reached Hebbal and went to Sarat’s cousin home and took some rest there for an hour. We again started at 4pm and reached to our home around 5 30 PM. It was one of the special moments in life, first time to have a bike trip this way. I don’t know whether I will be again a part of journey like this or not, but it is always special to do something new in life.
This journey was an instant trip with no planning at all, and it was very successful with not even a single problem. A great thanks to GOD for this to happen without any problem. I told to my father about the trip before starting it. My mother doesn’t know about it. Sarat also hid this with his parents. So after the journey we called them and told them about this journey.
Sarath:
A crazy idea to begin with.... a crazy friend supporting it.... a crazy escape considering what all can go wrong.... was it worth it all??.... well, we never thought of it.... after all there is always a first time n what we got was an adventure to cherish and a bum-bursting bike trip to boast off.... jet-set-go... vroommm.....
“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.”
JAI HIND !!!!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
coorg trip
Adding one more page to my blog. This time it is Coorg that was destined by us. This trip was special because after so many initial hiccups we finally made it happen. From a long time, trip was being planned by chandu, jana, ashok and Sudhakar(thatzz me) and it came into reality on 24-Jan-2009. It took 1 week for us to plan and schedule it , and thanks to Chandu for making it finally.
The main priority was given to vehicle by Ashok and we sticked to Innova 5 seated+ driver. We are 4 and our search for 5th member ended with Jana's brother. But our search engine ws so strong that it also flagged 6th member as Jana’s Cousin, and finally ended with 6.
The trip was kick started on 24th Jan early morning 4. A bit surprising, but that’s the best time to start with no traffic and no tensions of night travel. We booked a innova with the capacity 2 + 2 + 3 seated and LCD display for movies.
Manju is the driver and guide for the trip. He is one of the best drivers I had came across and a big thanks to him for his superb control on the vehicle and also for some wonderful edge of seat turns. On the way we had breakfast around 8 AM after Mysore. We slept for some time and the other time was spent to discuss on recession (idi chala hot topic guru or sakkathh hot topic maga).
Around 10 AM or so on the way to Coorg we went to a Tibetian Temple. We spent around 30-45 mins there, the temple is well sculptured and a good way to start trip from temple. Then we started to Coorg. Coorg is around 250 kms from Bangalore. Our next halt was some park near Khushala-Nagar. As it was a long weekend every place is crowded. There was a boating camp in a small lake in the park. All of us are eager to do pedal boating and did it in 3 groups. We got a 2 seated pedal boat, and went in 3 groups. First myself and Ashok, then it is Jana and Chandu's turn and finally Jana's brother Balakrishna and his cousin Upendra’s turn .
It’s time to say about the other people in trip. We all are friends through PMC, all 4 of us joined PMC at same time. Jana's brother and cousin are good fun in the trip. Jana's brother completed his engineering and Upendra is pursuing his 3rd year of engineering. We used to make a lot of fun of them and they used to give it back hard to us.
And after the boating halt we started once again and started to think about accommodation and reached a place after Khushala-Nagar and 20kms before Madikeri alias Coorg. There we found a Coorg County Resort and enquired about the stay. The manager told each cottage is 3.5k per day for 2 people which includes stay, breakfast and games(Swimming, Billiards cricket badminton etc). We were 6 and he agreed finally for 7k for all 6 for 2 days. It might sound as a surprise but its true and we took the resort option finally after some more enquiries on other resorts.
Then we went to Abbey Falls and came back to resort and had lunch around 3 PM. Then it is pool time and we tried to swim. Ashok is good in swimming so he had more fun, I and Chandu know some basics of swimming@IIIT so had fun in recollecting them, did a bit of swimming and had fun pulling each other legs. Then we played cricket for some time and after 6 we went back to Cottage. As everyone was tired we took bath and went for campfire and dinner. We had dinner near campfire which was good and different. Then slept giving the day a break after having a long journey and loads of fun.
The next day we got ready by 10AM in the morning attended the photo-shoots of Jana and Ashok, had breakfast, played billiards and started again to visit some more places. The next point in trip is river rafting. It was crowded as usual and waited for some 45 mins for our turn. Then finally we were given one boat and we were accommodated by one more family(4ppl) and started rafting. We rafted the boat happily finished the onward journey and started the backward journey. Now it has been so much in the trip and there was no twist or no happening, and you might have got bored reading it. So its time to add some sansani khabar(Aaj Tak style) to it. So after starting the return journey Ashok's watch costing around 5-6k slipped into the water. He is a good swimmer, so he dived into the lake and started searching for it, and the remaining batch on boat started to guess the whereabouts of watch and gave him different directions to search and the operation failed and we came back to shore without finding the watch.
But still we are not happy and felt bad about the watch and wanted to give one more try, so we went along the shore to the place where he lost and then Ashok again started searching for the watch(obviously as it costs nearly 6k), and we failed once again and went back in despair with defeat on our faces(of not founding it). But we learnt one thing that from next time leave your valuable belongings behind and go into water. Good point to learn in a 3 day trip :).
Then we had lunch and went to Talakaveri(birth place of kaveri). In between we went to one more place Bhagamandala where there is triveni sangamam of kaveri, kanika and sujyothi rivers. Talakaveri is a very beautiful place and the sight from top(1350mtrs altitude)is superb. It is the border of kerala and karnataka on western ghats. So the view from it was simply awesome and refreshing. After that we went back to our resort ordered for dinner and to our luck it took 2 hours to get the order and in the mean time we played billiards and had fun with Jana and Upendra(who fell in love with a girl near talakaveri). And as usual ended the day with a good sleep.
The final day started with some small adventure from Ashok, Chandu and me. We went deep into the resort and had some fun and feel of adventure. Then got ready, had breakfast, then billiards and finally photo-shoot of our resort and started the journey back. We started around 11 AM, had lunch near Mysore and again started back to Bangalore. We reached around 5 30 PM to Bangalore then Chandu bhai went to a movie while others went back to their den. I reached home around 6 PM then went to a Jain temple in Jayanagar with Jaya, had dinner and slept with some good memories of the 3-day coorg trip.
This is one of the trip where we spent the time more in leisure in resort by playing than seeing all the places around in a hurry, that is the specialty about the trip and had a great time with everyone who are part of the trip. We had lot of funny sessions and a big thanks to Jana who could bear us for 3 days and also the hell time we gave him. So finally these are the few words I had spelt on the trip from my pages of memories on this trip.
Have a great time and take care of your belongings when you are going for rafting or swimming. Small precautions will be of more benefit than overlooking them.
Thanks for reading this .... Comments are invited ....
The main priority was given to vehicle by Ashok and we sticked to Innova 5 seated+ driver. We are 4 and our search for 5th member ended with Jana's brother. But our search engine ws so strong that it also flagged 6th member as Jana’s Cousin, and finally ended with 6.
The trip was kick started on 24th Jan early morning 4. A bit surprising, but that’s the best time to start with no traffic and no tensions of night travel. We booked a innova with the capacity 2 + 2 + 3 seated and LCD display for movies.
Manju is the driver and guide for the trip. He is one of the best drivers I had came across and a big thanks to him for his superb control on the vehicle and also for some wonderful edge of seat turns. On the way we had breakfast around 8 AM after Mysore. We slept for some time and the other time was spent to discuss on recession (idi chala hot topic guru or sakkathh hot topic maga).
Around 10 AM or so on the way to Coorg we went to a Tibetian Temple. We spent around 30-45 mins there, the temple is well sculptured and a good way to start trip from temple. Then we started to Coorg. Coorg is around 250 kms from Bangalore. Our next halt was some park near Khushala-Nagar. As it was a long weekend every place is crowded. There was a boating camp in a small lake in the park. All of us are eager to do pedal boating and did it in 3 groups. We got a 2 seated pedal boat, and went in 3 groups. First myself and Ashok, then it is Jana and Chandu's turn and finally Jana's brother Balakrishna and his cousin Upendra’s turn .
It’s time to say about the other people in trip. We all are friends through PMC, all 4 of us joined PMC at same time. Jana's brother and cousin are good fun in the trip. Jana's brother completed his engineering and Upendra is pursuing his 3rd year of engineering. We used to make a lot of fun of them and they used to give it back hard to us.
And after the boating halt we started once again and started to think about accommodation and reached a place after Khushala-Nagar and 20kms before Madikeri alias Coorg. There we found a Coorg County Resort and enquired about the stay. The manager told each cottage is 3.5k per day for 2 people which includes stay, breakfast and games(Swimming, Billiards cricket badminton etc). We were 6 and he agreed finally for 7k for all 6 for 2 days. It might sound as a surprise but its true and we took the resort option finally after some more enquiries on other resorts.
Then we went to Abbey Falls and came back to resort and had lunch around 3 PM. Then it is pool time and we tried to swim. Ashok is good in swimming so he had more fun, I and Chandu know some basics of swimming@IIIT so had fun in recollecting them, did a bit of swimming and had fun pulling each other legs. Then we played cricket for some time and after 6 we went back to Cottage. As everyone was tired we took bath and went for campfire and dinner. We had dinner near campfire which was good and different. Then slept giving the day a break after having a long journey and loads of fun.
The next day we got ready by 10AM in the morning attended the photo-shoots of Jana and Ashok, had breakfast, played billiards and started again to visit some more places. The next point in trip is river rafting. It was crowded as usual and waited for some 45 mins for our turn. Then finally we were given one boat and we were accommodated by one more family(4ppl) and started rafting. We rafted the boat happily finished the onward journey and started the backward journey. Now it has been so much in the trip and there was no twist or no happening, and you might have got bored reading it. So its time to add some sansani khabar(Aaj Tak style) to it. So after starting the return journey Ashok's watch costing around 5-6k slipped into the water. He is a good swimmer, so he dived into the lake and started searching for it, and the remaining batch on boat started to guess the whereabouts of watch and gave him different directions to search and the operation failed and we came back to shore without finding the watch.
But still we are not happy and felt bad about the watch and wanted to give one more try, so we went along the shore to the place where he lost and then Ashok again started searching for the watch(obviously as it costs nearly 6k), and we failed once again and went back in despair with defeat on our faces(of not founding it). But we learnt one thing that from next time leave your valuable belongings behind and go into water. Good point to learn in a 3 day trip :).
Then we had lunch and went to Talakaveri(birth place of kaveri). In between we went to one more place Bhagamandala where there is triveni sangamam of kaveri, kanika and sujyothi rivers. Talakaveri is a very beautiful place and the sight from top(1350mtrs altitude)is superb. It is the border of kerala and karnataka on western ghats. So the view from it was simply awesome and refreshing. After that we went back to our resort ordered for dinner and to our luck it took 2 hours to get the order and in the mean time we played billiards and had fun with Jana and Upendra(who fell in love with a girl near talakaveri). And as usual ended the day with a good sleep.
The final day started with some small adventure from Ashok, Chandu and me. We went deep into the resort and had some fun and feel of adventure. Then got ready, had breakfast, then billiards and finally photo-shoot of our resort and started the journey back. We started around 11 AM, had lunch near Mysore and again started back to Bangalore. We reached around 5 30 PM to Bangalore then Chandu bhai went to a movie while others went back to their den. I reached home around 6 PM then went to a Jain temple in Jayanagar with Jaya, had dinner and slept with some good memories of the 3-day coorg trip.
This is one of the trip where we spent the time more in leisure in resort by playing than seeing all the places around in a hurry, that is the specialty about the trip and had a great time with everyone who are part of the trip. We had lot of funny sessions and a big thanks to Jana who could bear us for 3 days and also the hell time we gave him. So finally these are the few words I had spelt on the trip from my pages of memories on this trip.
Have a great time and take care of your belongings when you are going for rafting or swimming. Small precautions will be of more benefit than overlooking them.
Thanks for reading this .... Comments are invited ....
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