An incredible road trip to Velankanni, Kodaikanal and Ooty

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by streetracer_919

would like too see pictures os your car, especially those hella lights.

Street racer, please see my garage in T-Bhp. Here is a pic of my car and projectors.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Interesting travel parts are about to come - Kodai and Ooty. Expecting more eye catching photos with your detailed writing. So how do you felt at the end of everyday driving? Tried or felt like doing more?.....

Veering off suddenly at high speed on a turn to avoid a pothole/Metal barrier..citing out a high speeding lorry on a wrong side at last moment were few scary incidents in your travelogues. I could feel a sense of rushing in your driving style. If that's true, slow down a bit to increase your safety levels by additional folds & there won't be much of a time difference. Ex. Not attempting eagerly to overtake a vehicle, instead follow at a safe distance till you get a clear road. This is a basic rule, but sometimes as we involve ourselves in highway drive, we tend to forget that. Iam sure this does not apply to a seasoned driver like you, but still...

Dear Surprise, thank you so much for your concern. I am a safe driver, right from my biking days.

Naturally, we used to be tired after the day's drive. But we were ready to go further if needed. Remember? My wifey agreed to go to Trichy, when I told her that no rooms were available in Salem!!!

The biggest compliment I got was from my ex-boss, Mr. Kazuhiro Murakami. He is a Japanese and drives a Honda SUV in Singapore, where he lives now. He has been to all parts of the world. He told me once after coming with me to Mumbai, that he has never ever seen anyone drive as smoothly and safely as me. I wrote this is just for reference sake....

I am a very fast driver, but never overtake if I cannot see at least a kilometer of road ahead of me!!! That is the rule I follow.

[nicedude]

well chevy lover,
In an ideal world we would all love cruise control too.

welcome to the Indian highway. 100 m matters.

just an observation.

Drive Safe

[Chevy_lover]

By 12:30pm, we went back to the Church of Our Lady. We spent a lot of time in the church praying and giving offerings. I also prayed specially for HVK and his team who were leaving for Leh from Mumbai around that time. We then went to the shop run by the church and bought some religious artifacts.

After fulfilling our religious obligations, we returned back to the hotel. It was burning hot in Velankanni. We rushed back to the cool climes of our room and relaxed our aching muscles for some time.

We checked out of our hotel by 2:20 pm. We did not have lunch as we were still full after a heavy breakfast. We left Velankanni by 2:30 pm.

We filled up Chevy baby for 300 bucks worth of Diesel. I started our long drive soon after. I kept up a speed of 80 km/hr. There was heavy bus traffic and lots of children on the road. We were able to reach Tanjavur by 4:30 pm after covering 98 kms.
We did not stop anywhere and continued our drive towards Trichy.

It was better driving in broad day light. I could maintain speeds of 120 km/hr in some stretches. Wifey was very tired and went to sleep, after asking my permission. She is always scared to let me drive when she sleeps. I assured her that I was not at all tired. But deep in her mind she was anxious and alert and used to wake up whenever I honked. Poor wifey!

We reached Trichy after a very boring drive by 5:45 pm. We had covered 158 kms from Velankanni. We encountered super heavy traffic as soon as we entered Trichy town. There was road widening work going on everywhere and some flyovers were also being built. We crossed Trichy town in another twenty minutes. The cops there did a good job in avoiding a traffic jam.

We took a left turn to Dindigul and stopped to fill up from an IOC pump. I filled up for 1300 bucks @ 35.44/litre. We checked our air pressure and started immediately. Wifey had woken up by now after a small siesta and was in a very cheerful mood. Her chatter made the drive much more interesting.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by nicedude

well chevy lover,
In an ideal world we would all love cruise control too.

welcome to the Indian highway. 100 m matters.

just an observation.

Drive Safe

Nicedude, I frankly did not understand what you meant. But I will tell you what I meant.

I never overtake if I do not have a clear vision of my road ahead of me, atleast for a kilometre. That also means that if I see a vehicle coming towards me and if the gap between us is less than a kilometre, I do not overtake.

I have been driving on Indian highways for over 130,000 kilometers now. You welcoming me just now???

[Chevy_lover]

We joined NH 45 to Dindigul. The road condition was okay. But there was road widening going on here also and there were numerous diversions after 50 kilometers or so. The unmarked bumps after each of the diversions made our drive much more treacherous. Soon it was pitch dark and we had to rely completely on our headlights. There was very little truck traffic. But there were lots of cars. I maintained 80 kmph and was quite happy with the progress we made.

We reached Dindigul at 8:05pm. We took a left turn from the highway and went inside the city to have dinner. We were very hungry and expected to reach Kodai at least by 12 am.

We went to Aachis restaurant near the bus stand and had a scrumptious dinner. We had Chettinad Chicken Biriyanis and also tasted Kaada fry for the first time. Kaada is a miniature hen. Kaada fry was really tasty.

[Chevy_lover]

To the readers of my travelouge.

I urge readers not to try to replicate my way of driving. Please note that my driving habits were acquired with years of hard core experiences on various highways.

I am a very safe and experienced driver and whatever I have written in this travelouge is related to my travel experiences. Please do not attempt my way of driving.

Always drive safe.

Thanks,
Chevy Lover

[Majic]

Hello Cheylover, the travelogue is shaping out nicely, looking forward to the rest of the trip to Kodai, but why were you planning to reachh Kodai b y 12AM, i think it would be a lot more enjoying riding the ghats during day. Good idea of putting the drive safe note!

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

We went to Aachis restaurant near the bus stand and had a scrumptious dinner. We had Chettinad Chicken Biriyanis and also tasted Kaada fry for the first time. Kaada is a miniature hen. Kaada fry was really tasty.

It is actually Quail (Japanese Quail). But I think farmed nowadays, not caught in the wild.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by Majic

Hello Cheylover, the travelogue is shaping out nicely, looking forward to the rest of the trip to Kodai, but why were you planning to reachh Kodai b y 12AM, i think it would be a lot more enjoying riding the ghats during day. Good idea of putting the drive safe note!

Hi Majic, thanks for following my travelogue. Kodai photos have come out superb.

After visiting Velankanni church, there is nothing much to do there. It was terribly hot there. So we had decided to spend just some hours there. We finished all our duties by 12.30pm and it would have been a waste of time and money, if we had waited till the next morning to drive to Kodai.

So we decided to carry on to Kodai that afternoon. I have been to Kodai earlier and knew very well about the road conditions. That is the only reason why I chose to drive the ghats at night.

Every ghat has its own unforeseen dangers. Newbies should never attempt it at night. Always drive in new roads in daylight, 'coz no driver honks at night!

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by Gansan

It is actually Quail (Japanese Quail). But I think farmed nowadays, not caught in the wild.

Yes Gansan, Quail farming is a highly profitable business and is done extensively in Kerala and TN. Its eggs are in great demand due to its medicinal value.

[Prowler]

CL - Superb Travelogue. I could surmise from the way you have been driving that you have ample experience in driving. You could have filled up your Tavera in Karikal (Pondicherry state) not far from Nagapatinam. The fuel costs about Rs. 1.50 less compared with TN prices.

Kodai has mad tourist cars drivers who will drive like bats out of hell. Most TN bus drivers are equally mad and try their best to run other smaller vehicles off the road. Your Tavera is big and probably the reason why it deserved some respect. In TN roads size does matter.

Eagerly awaiting your hills report and photos.

[pjay_in]

Nice pics of the church, CL. Didn't have much of an idea how Velankanni looked like.

Hope you had some well deserved rest at Kodai. After spending a few hectic days on the road, Kodai would have provided a nice, cool break.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by Prowler

CL - Superb Travelogue. I could surmise from the way you have been driving that you have ample experience in driving. You could have filled up your Tavera in Karikal (Pondicherry state) not far from Nagapatinam. The fuel costs about Rs. 1.50 less compared with TN prices.

Kodai has mad tourist cars drivers who will drive like bats out of hell. Most TN bus drivers are equally mad and try their best to run other smaller vehicles off the road. Your Tavera is big and probably the reason why it deserved some respect. In TN roads size does matter.

Eagerly awaiting your hills report and photos.

Thanks Prowler. TN bus drivers are really rash. They do not care much about light vehicles. I had a very bad experience in Ooty.

I will narrate it as the travelouge progresses.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by pjay_in

Nice pics of the church, CL. Didn't have much of an idea how Velankanni looked like.

I fished out some more pics of the Church from the Internet. Photography is banned inside the Church. That is why I did not click many snaps.