South India (Day 7: Coimbatore -> Munnar)

Ride Summary: Total Distance: 160 kms     Total Time: 4 hrs 30 min

In terms of directions, our Coimbatore stay was a little bit confusing. Hence I turned on Google Voice Navigation to get to the highway. It struck me that we did a family road trip in our Fiat for 21 days back in 1987. I wonder how my Dad must have managed without internet, cell phones and language problem being worse than it is now. Things are so easy now making travel much more manageable. You have all the info on your finger tips.

We were headed to Munnar. On the way, we saw Suzlon wind mills, pretty close to the highway. Just near Udumalpet, we stopped for a South Indian coffee. I loved the aroma and the coffee tasted great. It costed mere Rs. 15. The taste beats Starbucks coffee hands down. Why could the South Indians never get a coffee chain going? I see Kamat's pretty much everywhere in Maharashtra now. I wonder why we lack such capitalist initiatives and let a Seattle based company serve us sub-par coffee at exorbitant prices.


We passed through Udumalpet and got lost in the market area just for a couple of minutes. But a shop owner immediately helped us. My experience in Tamilnadu so far has been better than Karnataka. These gentlemen were quite curious about our trip from Pune. They also asked a lot of questions on how we have got our bike seats modified for long distance comfort. People look at my helmet as if I were an alien, thanks to the gopro.

We entered the forest area and crossed into the Kerala border. This was the first time we were asked to make an entry with the vehicle number. As you approach Munnar, you start getting a glimpse of the tea estates. And then, it's gorgeous. The views are a pure spectacle. I loved every bit of it. I got busy in taking pics and using my gopro.

Initially we had planned to checkin and have lunch in the Munnar town. But since we got a bit delayed, we decided to make a quick stop. I don't know anything that is quicker than Maggi. So we stopped at a tapri for some omelette and maggi. This was also the first time I tried these quail eggs. They have a bit harder texture than chicken eggs but taste quite similar.

As usual, I bargained at a couple of hotels before we decided to pick a hotel. Since it was a weekday, I could get us a pretty good rate in Munnar. Believe it or not, this was our cheapest accommodation till now. And the room is quite good.

Since this was our 7th day, I was running out of supply of clothes. I had 8-9 days supply with me. I asked about the laundry facility at the hotel, but they seem to charge 45 Rs per clothing! Hence I headed to the market to buy some detergent and for the first time ever, hand washed my clothes. Given the cold weather, drying was a big issue. so I used up the rope we are using to tie the air foot pump, and have run it across the room with a full throttle fan! Things you do on motorcycle trips! Disneyland of beautiful rides and pictures was over. Reality striked!

South India (Day 6: Masinagudi -> Coimbatore, TN)

Ride Summary: Total Distance: 145 kms   Ride Time: 4 hrs 30 min    Total Time: 8 hrs 30 min

Gathering images from multiple sources (DSLR, GoPro and my Phone) is becoming a task on its own. Most hotels offer a wi-fi connection these days but the speed is inadequate for uploading pics and videos. Hence I end up doing it on my Phone's 3G (because it is faster) but it is still quite a time consuming process. But if I don't keep up with the blogs, I will lose the details. On the flip side, I can come back to it 30 years later and flash it proudly to my grand children ;-)

If you like South Indian food (like I do), you are in for some real treat in all the 3 meals. Today's breakfast was Dosa -- served in the garden. I was working on the Day 5 blog but the speed was really poor to delay us any further; hence we took off around 10 am. There are 2 routes from Masinagudi to Ooty. We took the shorter route, which is just 30 kms but has 36 hair pin bends. A paradise for a motorcycle rider. Right at the start of the ride, a deer jumped and crossed the road in front of me. Nature has so much to offer!

All the hair pin bends in the ghat are numbered. I decided to shoot a video on the hair pin bend so that it can be used in the final video compilation. Interestingly, there are speed breakers on the downslope side of the road as the gradient is quite steep. I saw the locals honking and turning in a race. Well, this is Montana GP for them and their chance to be Michael Schumacher. What can I say! 

Just before Ooty, we stopped at the Chocolate Museum. It's a pretty small place where you get to see the process of making chocolate from the cocoa tree. The staff was quite friendly. We bought a couple of packs of dark chocolate.

After entering Ooty, I called up my dear friend Mohit Devnani's family. They have been in Ooty for a very long time and we planned to have lunch at their place. We decided to visit the Ooty late and then head over to their family home for lunch. I have glimpses of Ooty lake as a 7 year old when my Dad didn't get us a row boat and I was very upset about it. I did not want to ride a peddle boat back then (for reasons I do not recollect) hence decided not to take any ride whatsoever. This time, I fixed the boating part by taking a peddle boat. I still haven't fixed the row boat part. The tank bags and helmet made us rent a 4 person boat but we didn't mind that at all.

Lunch was ready for us at Mohit's house and we met his father at their family home. They have a beautiful house overlooking the town. And it is more than 100 years old! So awesome! I got to see Mohit's childhood room :) Their cook had made us some tasy mutton kheema along with few other delicacies. We were treated well (as expected). His Dad suggested us to take the Kotagiri (more scenic) route to Coimbatore and off we were around 4 pm.

The Kotagiri route is an absolute paradise -- especially during this time of the year. It was quite foggy, even at 4:30 pm! This was our best riding experience so far. Right from Masinagudi to MettuPalayam, it was just under 100 kms of Ghat riding. Magical twisties and fog. What else does a motorcycle rider crave for?

We stopped for a quick tea break in Mettupalayam where we interacted with a couple of locals who were quite impressed to see a MH numbered motorcycle. They were very friendly. And you are not in TamilNadu until you see the super star Rajni everywhere!

We reached Coimbatore around 6:30. I finished uploading my Day 5 blog and then we visited the famous Velu Biryani for dinner. Their Grilled Chicken along with the biryani is a must try!

South India (Day 5: Mysore -> Mudhumalai National Park, TN)

Ride Summary: Distance: 115 km    Total Time: 5 hrs 15 min

A broken clutch cable in Coorg meant a Royal Enfield Service Center visit was unavoidable. We located a dealership in Kuvempunagar, Mysore and paid a visit. The service center was pleasantly surprised to see 2 bikers from Pune and were very friendly. Considering we were short on time, they attended my bike pretty quickly. I wanted to make sure that my clutch setting was good and had to get the chain lubed and tightened. In addition, got the front wheel spokes adjusted as the wheel had a minor speed wobble. And the clutch cable stock was replenished. Since it was around lunch time and we had a good view of the Mysore Palace the previous night, we decided to move on. There is always next time or maybe a visit with the family, to check out the palace from the inside.

The ride to Masinagudi, Mudhumalai was pretty short -- approx. 110 kms. On the way, we stopped at Bandipur National Park for a safari ride. We wanted a private open jeep, just for us, but they ran out. Hence we took the mini-bus ride for an hour long safari. It's a pretty dry forest but deers, elephants, kingfishers etc. were frequently sighted. This dear was about to cross the road and was just a few feet away from me when I took this picture. 

We crossed the Karnataka-Tamilnadu border, just 5 mins away from Bandipur.

As soon as you enter Mudhumalai, you see a difference in the landscape. It's much more green as against the dry Bandipur. Maybe it was the time of the year, I am not sure. But the first impression of Mudhumalai was very good. We saw peacocks on the side of the road, a few deers in the back drop of the Elephants. It's a beautiful place.

In the Bandipur safari ride, we met a Marathi speaking gentleman. He told us to pay a visit to the Elephant Feeding zone in Mudhumalai. We weren't disappointed at all. I was a bit hesitant considering Dubare wasn't that good. But this experience was absolutely amazing. Today was the last day of the 45 day period in which locals gather elephants from the nearby temples etc. and feed them along with performing a Pooja. Some dignitary had arrived along with the press to feed the elephants. My selfie stick ensured I had a good spot to shoot the video. The press people all looked confused when they saw an overhead camera :)

The elephants are fed using a mixture of rice, grass, jaggery, coconut etc. I sneaked in to get a video of the mixture preparation ;-) It seemed as if some elephants had a distinct taste. One elephant refused to eat one type of mixture but then he gobbled up the other one. They tried several attempts to feed this guy :)

Free food attracts a lot of monkeys in that area. People were feeding the left over 'Prasad' to the monkeys causing a mess with these plates. When will we ever evolve?

We checked in at the 'Nest Inn', a booking that goibibo messed up earlier. Initially, I was booked at the Whispering Winds and had a confirmed booking. But then Goibibo called and told me it was declined. Wonder how that happened. Anyways, the views in Nest Inn were so good, along with the garden in front of the room, that we were glad in some way. We requested the chef to cook some Chicken Chettinad and Rassam-Rice for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised with his hospitality. I started speaking in English, expecting he wouldn't know/speak in Hindi but he started responding in Hindi. This was my 1st language experience in TamilNadu on this trip. Hope it stays that way :)

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!