The year 2007 that was

The year 2007 was the pig year, I spent 6 months in oriental land and all through the year it was a hectic. It has been an eventful year with lots to do, learn, see, eat, drink, play and travel. I liked the switching between India and shanghai and eventually it was like going to mysore n coming back. I am looking forward for the same in this year also, more travel more food n pejo and more of everything. But in this rat race of deadlines and software deliveries I wanted an off. I wanted to be away from the city and office and work. We planned to get out a couple of times but somehow things did not work out. All of us were traveling or tied to our works. But towards the end of the year we all could unite again. Chandu also came back for a vacation after a year long absence. The plan was to go to Managalore where AK n mindu were spending time with their families and ride on from there to the north or to the south. In their journey to mangalore via Mysore n Coorg the journey for about 120Km was not good and that was something that did not encourage me to ride to managlore. Also on looking at the map I realized that on the new year we all had to bike more than 350Km and that was something not feasible as we all had to hit to office the next week. Ideal distance to cover would be less than 300Km on the last day.
After seeing a lot of combinations for destinations we finally dedcided to go to Waynad in kerla.
We started our journey on the 29 Dec 2007. Ganesh n I rode from Bangalore to mysore early in the morning, the saddest part was to get out of Bangalore and the damn thing takes exactly one hr to hit the high way. Once on the highway it was like heaven to ride on the bullet, didn’t feel a thing. The road was also good. The first pit stop was in Kamath Lokaruchi, just outside Ramnagaram. This place has the best food that I can eat, I like stopping by for breakfast, lunch/dinner or simply for sugar cane juice. After having a good filling breakfast we rode on and as we crossed Maddur we were forced to take a deviation from the highway as there was some unrest in the next town. We were asked to go to Malavalli and the distance was more. In between there was another deviation that took us to Mandya directly. We took that road, it was between small villages and the road was good, bad and ugly. We rode along paddy fields with farmers reaping their harvest. It was a nice ride although the roads were not all that great. By the time we reached Mysore it was lunch time and we had some light meal in Green Court on KD Road. By this time my ass was numb and hurting. The hotel seats were like an icing. From Mysore we headed to Najangud – Gundlupet – Sultan Bathery. The ride was awesome because after Gundlupet it was forest area and the fresh air of the wild was intoxicating. Every kilometer the sight and the smell of the air changes. At the border our vehicles got checked for proper documents. Once we enter Kerla the roads change drastically, I wonder what the heck is the problem for Karnataka govt. to maintain the roads. Ass holes have only time in pulling chairs and power. When we got to Sultan bathery we decided to ride on till Kalpetta. Oh by the way Mindu, Chandu n AK are biking from Mangalore to Kalpetta the next day. We decide to get a room or cottage for the 5 of us. We were facing it difficult to get a room, but at the end we decided to get a room for the two of us first for the night ahead and later look out for a cottage or something. We rented a room in Affas Hotel. The owner told us about a cottage for 3000 bucks and he wanted us to pay for 3 days, ass hole was trying to make money at our cost. There was a risk attached and we were not convinced paying so much. So we just took one room and decided we will look for a cottage later in the night.
After freshening up we went out in search of an internet center so that we can get hold of some phone numbers to call and get us a room. We went to one internet center and the owner sanjay told us that it about time for him to close and he can let us for about 15min to surf the net. We were ok with that. While we were surfing he came up to us and started talking to us and also helped us in getting a cottage. It was a home stay Green Hills cottage. It was a nice place. This guy sanjay was from Bangalore but was here looking after coffee estates, he even spoke in Kannada and that was more pleasant to hear in Kerla. Once we were done with the cottage the next thing was food and beer. We went to a decent restaurant called Pankaj recommended by sanjay. Not a very flashy place like you would see in Bangalore. But good enough to have a nice time. We had some beer and food for the night and that was enough to get us in a sober mode to sleep tight. Kalpetta is not a big town. It is a small place with limited options. It was nice to be in this place. We were moving at our own pace and there was no body bothering us. Most of all there was no need to wear helmet. The weather was also good, not too hot and not too cold. After having breakfast and moving into the new cottage we decided to got to two places while the rest of them came to Kalpetta from Manglaore. Our first destination was to Pookod lake, like any other lake this was also a lake. The ride to the lake was good. Winding roads, green pavements and less traffic. When we went there we did not want to go the lake to the things the rest of the public was doing. We just walked a bit to a distant place alongside the lake had a cup of tea and were talking bull shit. From there we deicded to go to a place called Chain Tree. We rode a little further to the start of the descent of ghat section to Kozhikhode. The view from this point is really panaromic. We spent a lot of time here eating chikki. From there we moved to Chain Tree, sadly this place was disappointing. There was a chain hanging around a tree and it was grounded . We were just laughing. It was 1:00 PM by now and when I called up mindu they were is some place having beer and lunch. So we went back to the cottage and took rest for some time and went to Uduppi hotel for lunch. We had so much to eat there full batting. We came back to our room an I sat on the cane chair watching TV and fully dozed off. Phew that was one hell of a nap that I had. At 6:00 in the evening the rest of the gang had still not come and we were restless sitting inside the room. So we went out for a stroll, had some tea, bondas and bajiis and sat along the road side. Finally at around 8:30PM these guys turned up. Mindu was all jumping on his bike like a drunk monkey ;-). After freshening up we went for dinner to Pankaj.
The next day we had planned to go to Chembur peak and Kanthapara falls. Chembur peak was a private property in a tea estate. The ride was yet again good. When we reached he place, they did no allow us to trek as there was a forest fire a week ago. We just enjoyed the scenic beauty at the watch tower and headed toward Kanthapara falls. The falls was not polluted or crowded. There was not much water, but good enough to do time pass. I did not want to get in water as it was cold and sometimes crazy things happen in my nose all of a sudden. We slept near the falls and then roamed around a bit and headed back to Kalpetta. Waynad has less places that can amuse you. So we were totally out of places for our interests. Again we were at Uduppi for lunch but had snacks. It was 31 and we were wondering what to do. We went back to the cottage room and slept. At night we all decided to go to Haritagiri and hang out for some time for new year. But the option at Haritagiri was not good, so we went to Pankaj back again. Had lots of wine and food and came back to our room. All of us were tired and hardly able to keep ourselves awake. well then there was new year all of wished each other and slept. The next day we all got ready soon and started our bikes to Bangalore. All the bikers enjoyed the ride in the jungle upto Karnataka border. We stopped in Mysore for lunch and Chandu separated from us as he was headed back to Mangalore. We rode on to Bangalore with a pit stop at Kamath. And as we entered Bangalore there was a night mare traffic jam. Ha ha ha I was laughing.