GOA Road Trip, via Shimoga, Jog Falls, Karwar

I’ve been to Goa before, but you can never get enough of this place. Goa keeps calling back again and again. The best part of being in Goa is that you can be yourself, and do whatever you wish to without even caring for anyone around. And living in Bangalore is an added advantage as one can drive to this place, and so did I. The drive from Bangalore to Goa really takes you through some of the best scenery - sprawling yellow sunflower fields, green paddy fields, waterfalls, the wild and yet mesmerizing Western Ghats, beautiful river valley, the confluence of a river into the sea, and many more things always keep you company. The magic is such that you, at least me, always wish to be on the move to discover some more of the beautiful unknown.

And what a better time to travel to Goa than the New Year, and my anniversary too happens to be around this time. So two celebrations in one - welcome the New Year and cherish the beautiful marital years passed by!

Preparation for the trip? Pack some shorts and t-shirts and most important, take print of the google maps to guide through the trip.

Day-1 Bangalore - Shimoga: Left Bangalore on the 30^th Dec in the afternoon and headed straight to Shimoga. Reached there around 8 in the evening and checked into the hotel. Had typical South Indian thali in the dinner and walked out to explore the city on foot.

Day-2 Shimoga – Jog Falls – Karwar – Calangute: This was a beautiful sunny morning. Started without breakfast as we didn’t want to waste a moment on this last day of the year. The first stop was Jog Falls, some 100kms from Shimoga. But these were a major disappointment at this time of the year. Frankly it seemed more like someone has left open some water pipes on top of the hill, and water running down the hills. Still we will always cherish the moment of being standing at the highest waterfalls in India!

But the majestic view of the Sharavati river valley (formed by the Jog Falls) further down the road compensates for everything.

Soon we joined the highway along the coastline and passed Gokarna, but didn’t have the time to explore this place. After some amazing drive, we reached Karwar, which marks the last point of Karnataka towards Goa. Karwar has the clearest waters I’ve seen in India.

 

The road winds along the blue waters and the view of the awesome Naval base along the coast is a visual treat. Then we saw confluence of the Kali River into the Arabian Sea, first time in my life. Then onwards after driving through some of the narrowest but beautiful roads, we finally reached our destination, Goa at around 4PM. Our hotel was at the Calangute beach, and believe me, being in Goa on the New Year’s Eve is a different story altogether, you have to be there to experience it! After taking some necessary rest after the long drive, headed to the beach, and had delicious candle light dinner on the beach.

The fireworks at the midnight to welcome the New Year was simply a breathless moment. I haven’t seen so much fireworks at one place even during Diwali! The sight of whole coastline, from Baga to Condolim beach, lit by the firecrackers and their reflection in the sea was truly amazing.

Day-3, 4 Explore Goa: The best way to explore Goa is to take the map and head towards whichever place you wish to see. We enjoyed short trekking at the Chopara Fort, Anjuna flee market, a very beautiful church and roaming in the markets at Panjim, and spending evenings by the sea, sipping feni with some great seafood and watching the sun say adieu to the day!

 

 

Day-5, 6 Journey Back: This is the part of journey which I don’t like much, and it becomes even more uneventful if one back-tracks the same route. So we decided to take another route and make the journey back home more interesting. This time we took the route via Old Goa – Belgaum – Hubli – Bangalore.

We started by visiting the Taj Aguada and then passed the Old Goa churches, some beautiful backwaters and breathtaking sight of the Dudhsagar waterfalls. The scenery this time was totally different from what we saw during the onward journey. This time we took night halt at Hubli. Next morning, after refreshing breakfast at the rooftop restaurant of the hotel, we started back and reached Bangalore in the evening, missing every moment for many days to come.

Lone Drive to Pondicherry/Mahabalipuram

One night I was just woken up from deep sleep by some noise outside. I got up, saw around and down from the balcony, but there was nothing. The day was just coming out then, and the time was around 5AM. It was saturday and my wife was away, and suddenly somehow I thought what's my plan for today? The mind replied - 'Nothing! So what? Now that I'm up from sleep, what's the point in sleeping again? Why not just hit the road?'. My eyes just shined by the thought of having a long drive. But I didn't know where to go! Just thought of sitting by the sea came to my mind, and I promptly decided for Pondicherry. It was easier to go there, as the route is familiar. Promptly I started my laptop and booked a room in Ginger hotel in Pondy for the same day.
Then thought of taking bath fast to get set for the trip, but again the mind intervined and said - 'Bath... so early? C'mon... let's just get out and the bath will now happen only in Pondicherry! :-)'. Now how could I say NO?! So next thing was quick brushing and face wash, put on the shirt and cargos (as they were in sight), and pack one more pair for next day and just set off! Started the gaddi and staraight went towards Hosur road. Saw the fuel needle... still enough to take me at least 100kms.
So I was just enjoying the early morning drive on the mast highway and saw towards left, the passenger seat was empty. First time I was alone on any highway drive, and I was badly missing my front passenger, my wife Suchi! She has always been with me in all my highway endeavours.
But anyhow had to go on... and then I took my first break after 70kms at A2B Krishnagiri. Gaddi got it's stomach full, and so did I. Had typical southy breakfast, Idly sambhar! no other options available guys, so can't help it!
On the Pondy road, I came across a board indication some very old fort - Gingee Fort. Decided to take a halt, and turned my car towards the arrow. Got in, and it was just ruins of the fort. It was almost built out of rocks! But was refreshing enough, and a good sight.

Then again set off on the road for the destination unknown, and finally ended at Pondicherry. But I forgot to note down the address/phone of the hotel, and asking the local guys is pain in south India. Just followed my instincts, as it seemed I had seen the hotel when I last visited Pondy last year. And yes I was damn right, I reached straight to the hotel without asking anyone or getting lost :-). But the hotel guys had another surprise for me. They told that they had no information of my booking. I told them that I had booked it through Yatra. They then contacted Yatra and got the payment details. I had to wait cool 30 mins before getting the room! Went to the room, took bath with hot Pondy water in hot Pondy weather :-), and straight to bed. When I got up, it was already 3PM. Left the hotel and went to the beach road. It was just nothing out there, and I was then searching for some decent place to have lunch. Got in to one restaurant, and ordered some french stuff... don't remember the name! The people in Pondy are so laid back, that these guys took another 30mins to bring the lunch, and I was the only customer in the restaurant.





Went back to the beach road, but didn't find anything exciting.







Went inside the tourism office, and they recommended a visit to the Paradise Beach, which is actually a small island inside a small creek flowing through. I then set off for the destination. On the way while I was asking about directions, a buddhha rickshawala comes and scrapes my car from the right, and gives a meek look. I get out and see whole of my fender and bumper are badly scrapped :-(. Said nothing to that man, as it was futile as he wont understand a word what I said. With my heavy heart I reached the resort. From there took a boat to the Paradise beach. The boat ride was refreshing, and quite changed my mood. The beach was just OK, and only thing good was that it was away from all the hustle and bustle.







While coming back I found a Maruti service station and without any second thought entered there. The guys there did some rubbing with the compound, and waooo most of the scratches are gone, and they don't charge me anything! I'm happy again. Thanks Maruti! :-)
After that straight to hotel, and crashed on the bed. Went out again in the night, had some drive through beach road, and Pondy city. Not much eventful and came back. Adieu for the night!
Next morning checked out of the hotel around 11AM, and had breakfast (bread omelet) at the La Cafe on the beach road, just besides the beach. These guys again took ample time to bring the order. Had breakfast and set out on the scenic East Coast Road. The drive on the ECR was mast, and then I decided to take a halt at Mahabalipuram.





Went to the old caves, but here unthinkable happened. The heat was so intense and humidity so high that I almost fainted there. Rushed back to the car, started the AC and rested for almost 15mins. Gained back all the lost senses and left the place ASAP.
My next stop was my favourite place - Taj Fisherman Cove at Kovalam near Chennai. I went to the Bayview restaurant, and it was just fantastic! Had fresh grilled fish with parotas, and they prepared the bill much more than my expectation - after all it's TAJ! But had a great time there!





From there started my non stop return journey to Bangalore via Chennai. As soon as I got on the Chennai Bangalore highway, the roads opened like heaven. The Chennai Krishnagiri distance was covered in less than 3.5 hours! Took break again at Krishnagiri, had dinner myself, and my car also got it's stomach full again, and I had a reason to smile. On the way back my car returned an FE of 22kmpl+. Wao man... the chuna at the Taj compensated! :-) After that non stop straight to home in 1.5 hours!
But the heat in Mahabalipuram had taken its toll. I had got heat stroke, and I was down on bed for the next two days. Truly unforgettable trip! :-)

Journey to Munnar - My first stint with God's Own Country!!

It were almost 3 months since I was waiting for this trip to this hill station of God's own country. Yeah you guessed it exactly right... Munnar in Kerala!! And above all I was most excited bacause I was going to drive to this place myself. Munnar is a small scenic hill station in Kerala known mainly for it's huge, I mean huge, tea plantations. Wherever you see, it's just endless tea plnatations.


Finally the time arrived and we packed our stuff and all set for the trip next day. It was a 3 day trip 1-3 Aug, 2008. I took route help from my folks at team-bhp (http://www.team-bhp.com). The final route decided was Bangalore -> Hosur -> Dharmapuri-> Thoppur -> Mettur -> Bhawani -> Kangayam -> Dharapuram -> Udumalaippettai -> Mariyoor -> Munnar (total 450kms approx). Finally got all the detailed route maps from google maps. To avoid getting lost on the way, I noted all small stop points, highway numbers enroute. This really helps as you can ask for highway number when it's difficult to pronounce the place name right!!
We (myself along with my wife) planned to leave early at around 4.30AM to cover most of the distance by noon, but sleep had it's own quota fixed. When I finally woke up, I saw some light outside and then at the watch... damn... it was already 5.45AM. Both of us got up quickly, got ready and wrapped up everything and finally started at aruond 6.30AM. Paced towards Hosur, and from Hosur we took a bypass road towards Dharmapuri via some place called Rotta... something (don't remember the name). This road is void traffic and really scenic. We cruised smoothly at almost 80kmph as this road has lots of twists and turns and is a single lane road. Stopped at a quiet place and had breakfast. Once reached Dharmapuri, it joins the 4 lane NH towards Salem. Then took right turn towards Mettur from a small place called Thoppur. You need to be careful as the indication towards Mettur from this road are on a very small board that one can easily ignore. Just before Mettur, took a left turn that's actually a bypass road that takes you past the mettur power plant towards Bhawani. Stopped at a dhaba in Dharapuram bypass and had lunch. One thing I must say is that the roads in Tamil Nadu are really great and have less traffic, especially on this route as these roads are all state highways passing through small villages and towns. One can easily cruise in speeds around 100kmph effortlessly. The journey was almost uneventful till we reached Udumalaippettai. While approaching Udumalaippettai, there were huge windmills making a 'woooshhhh' sound. Incredible sight really!!

Finally reached TN-Kerala border at around 2.30pm. This point onwards we had to pass through jungle (Chinar wildlife sanctuary) and climb all the way upto Munnar. The jungle road is steep and tight, but in acceptable condition. The road on Kerala's side is much better. While passing through the forest, you can spot wild animals here and there, if you are lucky. All we could manage were some deer along the way, and didn't even see any trace of elephants for which this place is known for. As soon as the forest area ends, a wide blanket of tea gardens welcomes you, self stating 'Welcome to Munnar'. The journey from this point till Munnar is simply amazing. It's very scenic and beauty can't be described in words. We found lot of small streams on the way running down the hills and passing below the road, and even sometimes through the road. Passing through narrow winding roads between the tea gardens and greenery all around is a visual retreat in itself.


It started raining just before Munnar and the drive became much more interesting. Finally reached Munnar town around 4.30PM and then we had to go 20kms further to my resort - Club Mahindra Lake View Resort. The road to the resort is amazing too, passing besides deep gorges all engulfed with mist. Finally reached the resort at around 5.15PM and it's location is just perfect, amdst Tata Tea gardens, with a lake at a distant view.


We spent our next two days mostly at the resort which we really loved, and to top it, the Airtel network didn't work at the resort - total peace of mind with no one to disturb :-). Just a single trip outside the resort in 2 days to Munnar town and the Mettupatty Dam, where we enjoyed speed boating. Roamed around in the tea gardens, till a cow went mad and starting following us and we had to flee from the spot to save ourselves!!


Started back on Sunday, 3rd Aug aroung 11.30AM towards bangalore tracking back the same route, encountering heavy rains on the way back. As soon as we entered Bangalore, it seemed to be hell in comparison to where we had spent the last couple of days. Reached back home at around 10.30PM, with all the green memories fresh in my mind, and missing the place for days to come.
And as for my car, my swifty, it behaved great as ever, and just no problem!! This too enjoys all the drives and likes exploring new places with me, have a look :-).

Ooty

Being in Bangalore for more than 3 months now, I had heard much about Ooty as one of the most sought after hill stations of southern India, and desperately wanted to be there. But still the perception of a hill station in my mind was that of huge mountains around, as the ones I had visited earlier were in the mighty Himalayas. I never expected Ooty to have all this, but all this was about to change. Ooty had its own charisma settle down on me, and I found this place more beautiful and scenic than many hill stations up north.

Finally one day we all unanimously decided to set out for a weekend trip to Ooty on the last weekend of May. We were 5 people - myself, my wife Suchi, Kapil, Polly and Sawy. We inquired around for cabs (both self driven and driver) but it was turning out quite expensive. Finally we decided to take my car (Swift VDi) to the trip, and this really cut our expenses to a great extent. Now one thing decided, still one to go for... the accommodation. We tried our best to get at least some decent hotel, but every time had to hear "NOT AVAILABLE" as this was the peak season. But when god's with you no one can stop you. I had dropped a booking request on some website, and luckily got a response from them just a day before we planned to leave. Finally we got accommodation in Hotel Charring Cross. It was expensive, but still acceptable since at least we got the booking!!

So we started from Bangalore quite early at 4AM, but got lost on the way due to diversions/construction on the exit route to Mysore road. With very few people around to ask at this time of morning, we tried out instinct and somehow finally hit the Mysore road at 5AM.

The first tea break was after crossing Mysore, and then a breakfast break just before Bandipur National Park. We had some really unwanted stuff in the breakfast (since that was the only thing available there!!) and then started again. The road from that point to Bandipur (approx 10-12kms) was really bad... I should better say it did hardly exist at some places!! But then on, it was almost good and we could cruise at greater speed to cover for the lost time. There is huge forest cover from Bandipur up to the foothills of Ooty. This place is as a whole called the Nilgiri Bio Reserve. We spotted some deer (in fact plenty of them), elephants, peacock and wild boar while passing through the forest.

We took the short and steep (I mean really steep) hairpin bends (total 36) route to Ooty from Mudumalai, the other route being almost double the distance and somewhat bumpy too!! I've driven a lot on mountains across Himachal and J&K, but this route beats most of them, the car had to be pushed mostly in 1st gear all along the some 16-17 km stretch. But it was worth it... the scenery and the 'on the top' feel you get... it takes all frustration out of your head. Finally we made to Ooty at around 12PM, got our rooms and had lunch. Outside it started raining very hard so no question of going out. Stayed back at the hotel and got a good 2-3 hours sleep. Got up, and it had stopped raining by then. Went straight to Ooty Lake, but astonished to see the long queues for boating. Finally got the tickets after almost 1 hr and it was worth it. Had a gala time at the lake, first boating, then ride on the toy train and finally hot pakoras. The day ended with dinner at a pub just below our hotel.

Next day got up late and after the breakfast went to Doda-betta peak, the highest peak in the area. The rush was mad, but the view was amazing. Stayed there for sometime and then continued towards Conoor. The view around this road was just wonderful, tea gardens on both sides was a great sight. It was just so much green... aaahh. But god had some other plans for us... it started raining heavily on the way, and we could not get down at Conoor, and continued back towards Ooty. But driving in the rain was a different fun story altogether :-).

Got back to Ooty and headed straight for lunch to a Punjabi Dhaba just opposite the lake. The rain had stopped by then and we started our backward journey after lunch. At the turn towards hairpin bends, we were stopped by police and had to take special permission to follow that route. The policeman asked us to avoid that route stating it was too dangerous, but we insisted going back from there only thinking we came up easily, so will go back easily too. Somehow he agreed but asked us to drive in 1st/2nd gear only. But the real shock was still to come. We had just covered 7-8 hairpins and I smelt burning rubber, and then brakes almost stopped working after sometime. I stopped immediately, came out and saw what was least expected. The brakes had become very hot and were literally fuming and had lost their grip. Had to wait there for almost half an hour to get the breaks cool down and then started again. Then on had to take 3-4 breaks and car driven only on 1st gear to be under control till we reached down. Rest of the distance was covered in much less time and we made it back to Bangalore in almost 7.5 hours.

The journey was real fun, and the place was just AWESOME!!