South India (Day 4: Madikeri, Coorg -> Mysore)

Ride Summary: Distance: 225 kms     Total Time: 8 hrs 30 min

When you carry so many electronic devices, charging each one of them before the ride can be pretty painlful. It becomes a part of the morning rituals. My old laptop that I am carrying has 3 USB ports and I make complete use of them because some hotels don't provide multiple charging points. In addition, packing and mounting the bags on the bike, every single day, is also quite annoying. It's like an addition to your bowel movement routine in the morning :)

Mysore, the next destinaton, is about 125 kms from Madikeri. Hence ride-wise, it was comparatively a short day. I was lagging behing on blog writing; hence finished my Day 3 blog and then we started. The connectivity speed is also an issue; hence uploading pics on the blog is quite time consuming. We were just 15 kms from the ride from Madikeri and stopped for some Dosas, for breakfast. I then realized that my knee pads/guards are missing. This is my 1st road trip that I am using them. On my Ladakh trip, I used riding pants. Hence I am still not used to remember; and there it was. The 1st experience of 'Leaving things behind'. Since it was a rountrip 30 additional kms, I decided to go to the hotel room and bring them back. They cost around 2000 Rs. hence the additional 40 min was 

certainly worth it. And the more important point was safety since I wasn't sure if I can find something similar in Mysore.

We had read reviews about Dubare Elephant Camp on tripadvisor; hence decided to stop there. It's only a 40 min ride from Madikeri. And thanks to the republic day holiday, it was crowded. We still decided to give it a shot. You need to cross the Cauvery (Kaveri)river; hence they arrange a small boat ride, which is completely unnecessary because the depth is around 2-3 feet. They could just have built a ramp and people would have walked. But I guess they do it for some business (money). The camp is a little bit of a disappointment. Other than an elephant ride; there isn't much to do. I read on the internet that if you stayed as a package from jungle lodges, it's a good experience as you get a chance to interact with the elepants for a day. Since we spent all this time coming here, I still decided to go ahead with the ride.

A crazy incident that happened here is some government official turned up with his family and decided to abandon the queue (note: it was crowded). A lady began fighting with that man about line cutting, and hell she was right. It got quite noisy and then the official decided to stop the ride. Luckily, I was done by then. But such incidents are common across India I imagine where people are crazy about using their power for illegitimate reasons.

We stopped for lunch in Kushalnagar and filled up our tanks. The low fuel prices are certainly helping me in this trip. A south Indian Veg meal has become our staple lunch diet on the trip. And the rassam! Oh boy! I love it.

A Tibetan monastery is ranked #1 in attractions near Kushalnagar, Coorg. Hence we decided to pay a visit. And what a beautiful and peaceful place. We loved every bit of it. It's located in Bylakuppe and is the second largest Tibetan settlement (outside Tibet). Looking at the monks, I suddenly felt as if I am riding in the Leh-Ladakh region. Brought back so many memories of that trip. Nitin and I decided to donate a small sum to the temple. We also bought a few souvenirs. And yeeeeee! Flags for my bike!

The temple has some signs (similar to Puneri paati). But even if people are literate in India, some don't seem to be educated. Look at this guy, almost sleeping on this bush as if he is starring in a Yash Chopra film. No wonder the temple monks had to write explicitly that this temple is not for entertainment. When will we learn?

Mysore was only a 75 km ride from Bylakuppe. We stopped for a refreshing coconut water break. After a bit of tiredness, coconut water is so rejuvenating. Wonder why we (including myself) have surrendered ourselves for crap like Coke.

We had decided to do a homestay in Mysore and found this amazing place -- Tulips Homestay. The owner has carved out studio apartments in his bungalow in Vijaynagar. And the property is no less than a 5 star. We reached around 6:45 pm and I asked the owner if the Mysore Palace will be illuminated. First he said no, because it's not a Sunday. Then he mentioned that since it is Republic Day, it will be illuminated but only till 8 pm. We dropped our bags and rode to the Palace. We saw it illuminated for only 10 mins or so but it was totally worth it. What a piece of beauty! 

South India (Day 3: Shimoga ->Madikeri, Coorg)

Ride Summary: Total Distance: 286 kms    RideTime:  7 hrs      Total Time: 10 hrs

Since I haven't done any kind of exercise lately, the body (esp. the back) is a little stiff for the first couple of days. It takes some time to get used to the riding posture. In addition, the AC gave me a little headache; hence it wasn't particularly the best start to Day 3.

The idli sambar/rassam breakfast kick-started our day. We were headed towards Mullayanagiri, Karnataka's highest peak. The hotel staff was quite co-operative and gave me a small map. On the way, we saw the Bhadra Wilflife park, where we had originally planned to stay, but couldn't due to the unavailability. We decided to skip the park altogether as the locals suggested we will get to see more wildlife in Bandipur near Ooty, where we plan to go anyways. 

The trees along the road are very impressive. It's so green in this part of the country that it appears riding through a tree tunnel. Wish we could have more of these everywhere! They kept the sun away during the ride and that helps a lot. Along the road, we saw these women selling "gajras", every little village making its impression using a variety of temples. The feel is quite unique.

 The ghat section before Chikmaglur was a rider's paradise. Nitin and I decided to shoot a few clips for the video where I make a hair pin bend turn and stuff like that. We really enjoyed riding these sections of the ghat. About 30 kms before Chikmaglur, we arrived at this cafe. What a small, beautiful place to enjoy cold coffee. Given that we were in the 'Land of Coffee', ek break to banta hi hai boss. A gentleman was impressed about our ride from Pune and we spoke to him for a while. He was a native of Belur and insisted that we visit the temple. Rides are full of stories of such people you meet. 

 Mullayanagiri ride was twisty as expected. The views are quite spectacular and the road is unpaved. It's almost a single lane road and this leads to a jam. We decided to skip the very top since cars were lined up all along. Hinjewadi makes sure I get my share of traffic every day in this life time. I wasn't in any mood to get stuck in that one. Hence we made it till the temple - about 2 kms before the top.

We arrived in Chikmaglur around 12:45 pm; hence decided to stop for lunch. At an intersection, I asked a local for directions to Belur. He told me to make a right but then paused and said 'Circle se ghum ke jaana, please'. I was quite impressed at his request of traffic discipline. We need such people in Pune, where traffic is getting messier day by day. We arrived at a busy street -- kinda like Laxmi Road, Pune -- and were looking for a restaurant. In Pune, you will probably find 10 eating joints in that stretch of the road. In contrast, we saw one! Talk about Puneites being foodies. The south Indian meal was yummmm.
I have always been a fan of rassam and I am absolutely loving my time here.

The Chennakeshava temple at Belur, thanks to the gentleman's suggestion to visit, was absolutely marvelous. It's an architectural beauty. It's a Lord Vishnu temple -- as one may guess from the name 'Keshava'. When we stepped out of the temple looking for a washroom, I was impressed to see a facility right opposite the temple. And it was quite well maintained, didn't stink at all. Absolutely didn't mind the Rs. 2 charge. A big cheers to Belur for having such a facility for the tourists.

The ride to Madikeri, Coorg was a twisty, winding road. We covered 285 kms on Day 3 but were little tired at the end since it was a day full of ghat sections. As we approached Madiker, just 3 kms away, I ran onto a speed bump and realized it at the last moment. Tried to hit my brake and change the gear and heard a sound. Oops! my clutch cable was broken :( I borrowed Nitin's spare cable and here I was, in a ghat section, fixing the cable. Due to the impact on the bump, a portion of the clutch cable was stuck in the lever. Even after I installed the new one, I found the clutch a little loose. Since it was just a few kms, we found our hotel and then I adjusted my clutch once again. One has to get used to such experiences if he is serious about touring. I plan to visit the Royal Enfield service station in Mysore and buy a spare clutch cable -- since we ended up using it. But it was quite an eventful ending to Day 3.

South India (Day 2: Dandeli -> Shimoga, Karnataka)

Ride Summary: Total Distance:256 km    Time: 4 hrs 20 min   (1:25 pm - 5:45 pm)

I am so used to wake up to the sound of the truck horns back in Pune that the sound of the horn bill was a nice wakeup alarm. I always wake up early on ride days and today was no different. Nitin and I decided to take a walk around the camp.That's when we saw this machaan and I decided to take the aerial view.

 I had seen this tokri (Thappa as they call it in the local language) and was quite looking forward to the ride. We found out that the boatman would arrive around 9:30 am. Hence had an hour or so before breakfast. That's when we decided to take the nature walk with the local guide at the camp, Datta.

The nature walk turned out to be pretty decent (we really didn't have many hopes). We ate the leaves of the "dalchini" tree. Then he crused a few leaves of the Basmati leaves plant. Identical fragrance to the Basmati rice and according to him, a lot of rice dealers use this to add basmati fragrance to ordinary rice. There were others like the lemon grass, sweet basil etc. As we walked around, we found this ant home done by the weaver ants. Apparently, the ants have a few "specialist engineers" among themselves that select the plants whose leaves they can fold to build such a home. Datta turned out to be a pretty good photographer when he asked me to pose in the backdrop of these beautiful sun rays,

We decided to go for the much awaited tokri ride (coracle ride) in the Kali River. I again went back to the go pro experimentation mode and decided to make some use of the selfie stick I was carrying. The pics came out better than expected. It was sad that we didn't get to see any crocodiles. Kali river apparently is abundant in crocodiles which is why you can't swim in this water. We took the short ride due to the shortage of time; else the boatman promised that he wouldn't return until we saw one -- only if we took the long ride! At the end of the ride, he gave it a little spin for the fun factor. Apart from the dizzy feeling,  it was awesome!
 It was close to 11 when we checked out. That's when we were told that there were quite limited lunch options along the way to Bhadra Wildlife, our next stop. Hence we decided to stay for lunch (since we had already paid for it as a part of the food and stay package). Made complete use of the free wifi provided. Aah! Those cheap thrills! In all seriousness, we wanted to make some accommodation bookings, given that it is a long weekend. We found out that along with jungle lodge, most places in Bhadra were booked. Not just that, most places in Coorg (our Sunday stop) were full, thanks to the long weekend. Hence we decided to stay in Shimoga, a few kms before Bhadra.

It was comparatively a short ride (approx. 260 kms). We pretty much made it non-stop in just over 4 hrs. Once again, the roads in Karnataka put Maharashtra to shame. Even the internal roads were fabulous. What an awesome ride once again through these mesmerizing forests. I could see many more coconut trees on this ride. I kept shooting small video clips on my go pro to compile a video at the end.

Shimoga is a complete contrast to day 1 in terms of the accommodation. But the Green View Boutique, where we are staying,  seems a pretty nice hotel. More importantly, it has a nice mattress for a back that was taken some toll over 700+ kms in 2 days ;-) 

South India (Day 1: Pune -> Dandeli, Karnataka)

Ride Summary: Distance; 460 kms     Ride Time: 7 hrs      Total Time: 9 hrs (8 am - 5 pm)

After I returned to India, I had made up my mind that I will spend a lot of time sight seeing; knowing my own country better. It's sometimes sad when we hear westerners talk so many good things about the places in India that we haven't ourselves explored. That was one of the things that motivated me to expedite my plans of visiting the beautiful places around India. Hence right after the Ladakh trip, I applied for my extended vacation and this time it was the South! I really believe that we need to do the things we always wanted and we need to do them now. Till we are physically active, healthy. That's the best way to enjoy it. Seriously. Please. Get going on your interests!




A friend, colleague and a fellow rider, Nitin was interested in joining me. I wrapped up
things at work pretty late on Thursday; hence we started the ride around 8 am. Rides
without chai just aren't possible. Hence right after Khambatki, we stopped for a quick desi
chai. I had it re-made as I really like it "kadak". This is also my 1st trip with the
helmet mounted go pro camera (Thanks to Rahul for bringing it from the US). Hence I
experiemented with a few shots on the way towards Satara. There's my go pro shadow selfie
;-)
We were making good ground. Quite ez when you just have 2 people to coordinate. Also,
thanks to free tolls for motorcyclists, we didn't get delayed by that either. The Pune-Satara road condition is laughable. It feels like a road test. The diversions testing your
stopping skills, the pot holes your swerving and some stretch of the road looks like a fresh war zone scene. As if a tank has grooved the surface making your motorcycle feel drunk!


We stopped for lunch in Belgaum (Oops! Belgavi City!) around 2 pm. The restaurant owner tried to get us some accomodation in Dandeli at a cheaper rate. I was kinda excited to be in Belgaum for the 1st time. It's a good city; lot of trees -- well that's my 1st
impression.


When I entered the Karnataka border, I don't know why but I thought of Rahul Dravid.

The road condition between Belgaum and Ramnagar is pretty bad. Other than that, Karnataka
roads put Maharashtra roads to shame. I mean, a hands down win! We loved the ride between
Ramnagar and Dandeli. Beautiful, right through the dense forest along the Kali River Basin.


Again, I played with my new go pro and got a small clip! In this awesomeness, we missed
looking for the accomodation promised by the restaurant guy in Belgaum. When we reached
Dandeli, we checked into a government lodge named Jungle Lodge, Kali Adventure Camp. The property is well maintained and the way these govt. employees spoke and interacted with us
with such hospitality, they put any private bank staff back in Pune to shame! I was impressed that they accept cards and have free wifi! (In the middle of a jungle that
let's me blog. Yeeeeeee!!!) They are currently playing a movie about the wildlife in this area over a projector while I type these final words. I am so loving my Kingfisher with the awesome complimentary pakodas! Remember! We created office but then we also created motorcycles :)  Cheers!