Motorcycle Diaries

Kumbhalgarh- Rajasthan

maninr — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 12:28:06 GMT

During my solo motorcycle trip across India, I had the chance to visit a place called Kumbhalgarh in Rajasthan, a state thats is know to be a desert in the north west part of India. Kumbhalgarh, a hill station, is the birthplace of an erstwhile king of Mewar, Maharana Rana Pratap and as a testimony to this prosperous kingdom stands the Kumbhalgarh fort built in the 15th century. The wall of the fortress extends upto 38 km and is believed to be the longest wall after the Great Wall of China. The locals in Rajasthan come here during the summers to beat the heat, while for the rest, it is an unknown paradise. Away from the hull bulla of the more touristy places like Udaipur, Jaipur and Jaisalmer, Kumbhalgarh is a calm retreat in the desert state for those who seek to cuddle up with mother nature with only their books for company. There is also something for the history lovers, as the Kumbhalgarh fort comes to life every evening with the musical show, narrating the life and achievements of the great Rajput king.

Day 7- Goa

maninr — Fri, 7 Oct 2011 16:32:00 GMT

I decided I will leave even if it was going to rain, since I was getting too comfortable for the past 3 days and had to hit my destination in 2 weeks time.Santosh serived me a heavy American breakfast, after which I packed my bags to leave. Bid goodbye to Santhosh and Bandhari, the guys who were part of the wonderful group catering to the visitors in Namste Cafe.

The road from Gokarna to Goa was just amazing. Having had the worst riding experience the previous few days, it was a welcome change to see excellent roads in great weather. Enroute hit Karwar, which seemed to be a very well planned city. As you enter, u see the huge Karwar Port and then keep riding along the beach, which is a beautiful sight.

Surprisingly the entire hundred km stretch was virtually empyt. but another surprising element was the number of cows along the highway. Although you can cruise at high speeds in this leg, u need to be extra careful due to the fact that Cows have the right of way here. Just after i entered Goa border, it started pouring. Since there was no sign of the sky clearing anytime soon, i decided to hit Palolem straight away. Found an excellent accomodation (double-bed with hot shower, tv and parking) for 200/night. thts the ebst part of visiting goa during the offseason- Customer is King. Hit the beach for lunch.

Palolem Beach

Learned my lesson- Never eat in a restaurant siting on the beach, freaking expensive. An israeli couple who were curious abt south india gave me some company.

It started raining heavily once again and came back to my room to have a good night's sleep.

Distance Covered- 110 km
Journey- Gokarna to Palolem beach
Roads- Very Good (keep an eye on the cows)

Day 6- Om Bech, Gokarna

maninr — Fri, 7 Oct 2011 16:27:00 GMT

Another rainy morning at Gokarna. being a weekend more indian tourists kept arriving. Since my clothes were still wet, i decided to pamper myself at Om beach for another day. During afternoon I rode to Kundle beach, which was virtually empty. The roads were amazing though, full of curves and flanked by lush green vegetation on either side.

Kundle beach

Met a few villagers on the way, working hard on maintaining the beauty of the region. A lady stopped me to ask what time it was and then when I asked her if I could click a photograph, she demanded money. tht surprised me and I kept persisting , while she was trying to pull my leg. finally she allowed me after she was satisfied with bullying me. I realised how often we underestimate the intelligence of a villager (shame on me)!

Smart lady who ragged me (Left)

While the sun slightly showed up in the evening, guests started filling the beaches.A group of college kids from Bangalore were having a gala time (too much of swearing though), a tamil family seemed to have entered a diffrent planet on entering Namster Cafe, while 2 or 3 indian couples were enjoying their time alone. Music fills the background for most of the time.

Namaste Cafe

After another lively evening, we all celeberated the birthday of a girl whose name i dont remember. Looked like she had come with her husband just after getting married. More rains and off to sleep.

Day 5- Om Beach, Gokarna

maninr — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 12:23:00 GMT

Woke up to a cloudy morning and took a nice walk along the beach, watching the fishermen still trying their luck for that prize catch in the ocean. The sound of the waves is just scintillating and I decided I will stay here for the day.

Nature acknowledged my decision by pouring rains throughout the day. I couldnt accept the invite from my Spanish friends to go around Gokarna, since I had clothes to wash (the bad side of travelling light). Went for a walk in the evening, where I bumped into a girl studying in Kerala. Later she told me that she's from Andamans. A group of 5 college kids from Bangalore arrived in the evening along with some more Indian tourists from Mumbai. Don't ask me if im sitting in the reception, its compact place where only about 20 people are there you see! Meeting new people is the essence of travelling rite? Habibi (gentleman from Dubai) invited me for a late coffee before we were joined by our Spanish friends.

The rains are still lashing over this sleepy town, which has completely held me in its tenter hooks. My next destination Goa can wait for now!

Distance Covered- 3 km
Journey- Om beach to Half-moon beach
Road condition- Very sandy (how else can a beach be?)

Day 4- Gokarna, Karnataka

maninr — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 12:18:00 GMT

Not finding much to do in Mangalore, I left to Gokarna by around noon. Stopped at Udupi for lunch, until where road works hampered my progress After Udupi, the ride was uneventful until I reached a place whose name I cant remember. A beautiful ride along the Arabian sea lasting for about 3-4km, followed by near empty roads for the final stretch to Gokarna. Just before I took the left on the highway to Om Beach, cops stopped me for a routine check. I was let go after they realised that my papers were in order, not before asking innumerable questions about my ride. They even thought I was lying when I told then my plan to hit Leh on my bike.

Anyways took the road to Om beach which as one hell of a ride. The winding roads climbing around a hill lock, with the beaches on your right side about 200 ft below- breath taking!

Parked myself in a shack in Namaster Cafe for Rs.250/night, which is the only place open during the off season. To this day I have never seen a more beautiful beach than this one.

The restaurant sits right on the beach, which is dotted by a few dogs and cows apart from a handful of locals.

A Spanish group of 5 (only remember the name of Maria) just arrived then, who asked me a few suggestions about Kerala, where they planned to visit later. I shamelessly flaunted my knowledge on La Liga (Spanish football league), trust me its a good ice-breaker. An elderly gentleman from Dubai who taught Reiki worldwide, was my companion for the rest of the evening.

Distance Covered- 300 km
Journey- Mangalore to Gokarna
Road condition- 30% Good, 50% Bad, 20% Worse, 4-laning works throughout the first 200 km

Day 2- Wayanad, Kerala

maninr — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 12:08:00 GMT

Started the day with a hot black chai made on a prehistoric electric heater. Although the sun came out, we were still in our jackets and sweaters. As suggested by Stanley cheta, we decided to trek into the forests to the tea plantations above.

It proved to be a hard task, especially with Manu and Eashwar refusing to climb. As always Appu was walking ahead with our guide and even claims to have spotted a tiger which none of us heard or saw. Since my mates had to return to Bangalore that evening, we had to shorten our hike back to the guest house.

Stanley cheta was generous enough to offer lunch at his house. All of us hogged on the delicious hot kanji, thoran, chammandhi and pappadam that his wife had prepared. At about 2 pm they left to Bangalore, while I went back to the guest house.Had a blissful sleep for three hours and when I got up, I realised that I was all alone in the jungle with the creaking Crikets as my only companions. Later I was told that Silent Valley is so called because there are no Crikets out there, not sure if its true though.

Distance Covered- 60 km
Journey- Within Wayanad
Road condition- Good, 10 degrees to 75 degrees slope

Pursuit to Happiness

maninr — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 11:54:00 GMT

F R E E D O M ! ! ! the word that best describes my current state, although some may call it UNEMPLOYMENT.

Thats right I have quit my job and started on my long awaited road trip across India. During the last 6 months Ive literally been a laughing stock of my friends, since my so called journey had been postponed a brazilian number of times; couple of blokes even offered to pay me if I ever left..;-)
Anyways all thats history now...13th of Aug was my last working day. Ironically I had to start my road trip on the 14th, a day before our Independence Day.

Day 1

After a small send of party by my newest friends Tharun, Sanat and Syed, I left Kochi on 14.08.2011 at 5:30 am . Sanat accmopanied me until Calicut, where we stopped at his house.

Sitting in the university campus, Sanat's house had a very earthy feel about it. Natural water bodies amidst thick vegetation gave an exotic feel to the whole place; who wants to slog it out in a over crowded polluted city. How can I not mention Sanat's sister Shruthi running around clicking pictures with her child like enthusiasm.

We visited an ancient temple on a hillock, from where one could view the entire Calicut region. A thick cover of Mangrove forests engulfd by the river and the Arabian Sea, utter bliss!

The next stop was at the virgin beach along the Kundalini Bird sanctuary, riding under 5 foot high bridges and knee deep puddles.

Fishermen busy removing their catches and kids displaying their angling skills, this rocky beach is any photographer's paradise.

After a sumptuous lunch, I left for Wayanad to meet my friends who were travelling from Bangalore for the Independence Day weekend.The ride just before the Ghat section, which is the final leg before Vythiri was nothing but a nightmare; not because of the first rains in my ride, but due to the pathetic road condition.It took me nearly an hour to cover this 13km stretch. Reached Parathodu at 4:30 pm, the point where Sanat's caretaker Stanley was waiting to take us to the jungle house. Once Jojo, Manu, Appu and Eashwar arrived,we bought some snacks and left for the guest house not knowing what to expect. I hadnt experience anything like this before- the climb to the house was maybe 75 degrees sloped, a thrilling 5 minute ride.On parking our vehicles, we had to further hike up to into the forest with all our luggage in hand, which proved to be an even harder task.What a relief it was to finally sight the house.

To describe the property, it was a very modest house with two rooms, a kitchen and a sitout, with the loo outside. the only source of water a hose outside the house; The entire hillock had an amazing system of water sourcing, siphoning the natural water though a series of hose pipes laid in the gravitational direction of the hill and we were told that this system had been in place for more than 40 years. Coming back to the description of the house, there were no beds or cots to sleep. Eashwar and I had a sleeping bag each, while the others slept on straw mats. To top it all the power went off as soon as we parked our dead a***s in the portico.

We were sitting in pitch dark in the middle of the forest with only the insects and birds giving us company. Not to be bogged down, we lit up a born fire to beat the cold. Unfortunately even the firewood refused to pay heed to our desperation, due to their wet nature. As we succeeded in lighting the fire, the food arrived to further lift our spirits, ensuring that our get together was a memorable one.

Distance Covered- 300 km
Journey- Cochin to Wayanad with 1 stop at Calicut
Road condition- Cochin to Calicut- Very good
Calicut to Wayanad- 5% Good, 65% Bad, 30% Worse