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Old 3rd January 2021, 00:30   #1
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Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

This travelogue is more than a year old and has been on my bucket list of sorts to be posted on this forum since then. Finally it's coming to fruition on an uneventful Saturday night. Hope you guys enjoy reading the journey as much as we enjoyed riding through it

Some teaser pics before diving into the full story.

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9663_fhdrmin.jpg
Our Bikes posing at the helipad in Varkala

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191127_120615.jpg
Seems cozy enough for a quick nap away from the sun

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_0141.jpg
The ferry between Fort Vypin and Fort Kochi

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191128_121434.jpg
Random wall art

Last edited by Juggernaught : 6th January 2021 at 06:19.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 01:09   #2
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

This was a ride I did with my cousin. I was on the little green beast from Japan (Ninja 300) while my cousin rode the most refined retro from the RE stable (Interceptor 650)

Day 1 – Bangalore to Kochi

It has always been a ritual of sorts (albeit an unhealthy one) that we end up with hardly any sleep at all the night before a ride, short or long. This was no exception. After getting about four hours of sleep I woke up, got ready and waited for my cousin to reach my place. He was at my gate, saddle and tank bags mounted on his bike ready to hit the highway. Soon our engines were roaring and we were on the road. Usually all our rides so far had been delayed anywhere between half an hour to even three or four hours due to one (or all ) of the guys not waking up soon enough. It was just two of us this time and for a change, we set off at 6:30 in the morning as planned. But to our horror, the traffic on the road felt like we had started at peak hour. Add to this, it had unexpectedly started drizzling as well. Eventful start, if nothing else. We maintained an average speed of 70–80 and took out first break a little after Dharmapuri and had our breakfast at A2B. We were back on the saddle around 9.30 and rode for about 2 hours covering another 150kms before taking our second break. Snacked on a protein bar and gulped some water as the sun was out and we were starting to feel it riding in full gear. After all the resting and stretching done for 20 mins, we decided to get back on the road. We headed towards Palakkad adding another 100kms on the odo before stopping for fuel. The Ninja returned a mileage of 30.1 and INT 30.4

A friend had already warned us about the speed cameras in Palakkad so we were well within the speed limits. This meant our riding time increased and with the sun above our heads the exhaustion was now slowly setting in. There were some diversions along the way as well which led us to getting on and off the service road often. We made a final stop 50kms from Kochi, to snack at a bakery and headed towards our destination (I was super hungry at this point since we had skipped lunch already ). The last 50 kms took more than an hour due to traffic. We reached our hotel around 5 in the evening having covered 560kms in ten and a half hours. Finally checking into the hotel, we decided to call it a day.

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-kochi_1.jpg
The plan

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191127_091418.jpg
First pitstop at Dharmapuri

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_0121_fhdr.jpg
Our home for the next two days

Last edited by Juggernaught : 22nd March 2021 at 08:25.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 01:55   #3
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Day 2 - Exploring Kochi

We woke up around 8.30 in the morning after a good night's sleep, had buffet breakfast at the hotel and left to explore the city soon after. Walked down and took the ferry ride to cross Vypin to Fort Kochi. I was surprised to see that the price of a ticket was just 3 bucks to cross one way. We strolled past the many cafes here and visited the Santa Cruz Cathedral and Naval Museum. Having already walked 4-5kms in the hot sun, we decided to take an auto to explore the rest of Fort Kochi. The rickshaw guy took us to the Dutch cemetery and then Kochi beach. He said he would fill up some fuel and be back in 15 minutes but didn't show up even after an hour . Finally, we gave up on him walked back to the ferry to get to the other side and back to our hotel. It was already 5 in the evening by the time we got back and we were yet to eat lunch. As there weren't many options nearby, we decided to head to Lulu mall (Asia's largest mall). As expected, the mall was pretty big. It’s worth noting that they have made sure to have enough parking space to accommodate even on the busiest of days, something which is overlooked in almost every mall back home. Finished our day with a pizza and got back to the hotel to settle down for the night.
Attached Thumbnails
Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-4.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-7.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-10.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-11.jpg  


Last edited by Juggernaught : 22nd March 2021 at 08:28.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 02:05   #4
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Day 3 – Kochi to Varkala

We started started early once again at 6:30 in the morning, had breakfast and checked out of the hotel by 9 as we knew we had to ride for close to five hours to reach Varkala. The roads seemed to be good initially but we came across a lot of patches and potholes after the first 15–20 kms. The suspension of both the bikes are on the stiffer side which does not work well on these kind of roads. Our average had reduced considerably and we had covered only about 50kms after being on the saddle for an hour and a half at which point we decided to take a small break. The narrow roads and moderate traffic meant this ride would neither be quick nor effortless. We finally reached the Varkala Helipad by 2 PM and started searching for hotels nearby. Since this was on the cliff side and our main intent was to jump into the beach right away we decided not to stick around for long and enquired for resorts from where we could just walk right into the beach. Came across a helpful gentleman who suggested we head towards Papanasam beach as there were resorts right across it. Having found one that was barley 100 meters from the beach we decided to settle there. The receptionist quoted 7.5k upon inquiring for rooms which after some negotiation we were finally able to get at 6k. Having checked in, we gorged on a few snacks and left for the beach. As we were walking along, we were surprised to see some rituals being performed by the pandits/swamis and families who had come particularly for that (the name of the beach made more sense now). There were other tourists too who stood at the beach, however none of them seemed to be willing to get into the water. We decided to get in anyway as this was why we came here in the first place. Had dinner at a nearby shack, came back to the hotel around 11 PM and called it a night.
Attached Thumbnails
Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191129_082421.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191128_111120.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9678_fhdrmin.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-img_20191130_092554_1.jpg  


Last edited by Juggernaught : 22nd March 2021 at 08:35.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 02:15   #5
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Day 4 – Varkala to Kovalam

Having got up around 8, we had our breakfast at the hotel and were ready to leave soon after. It had started drizzling by then so covering our luggage with the rain liners we started our bikes once more. Google maps had suggested a route along the coast (because it was 3 minutes faster than the highway ) and we thought it would be scenic if nothing else, so decided to head along this route. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. After the initial 10kms, there was nothing scenic as the route was taking us through small villages where the roads reminded us of the potholes and unevenly tarred patches back home. We even rode on what once had been a road but now just some small stone path covered in slush due to the rains. Once again our bikes weren't meant for these roads, and we bore the brunt on our backs and butts. It had been over an hour since we had started riding and we had barely managed to cover 25 kms. Finally we hit the highway and were putting more kms on the odo. A little before 1 PM, we were at Kovalam. We turned to Google maps for navigation to reach the hotel and were soon lost going through some really narrow roads, hardly coming across any living souls. Luckily we found an auto guy who by himself asked us if we were heading towards Hotel Samudra, KTDC (which co-incidentally was our hotel) and upon confirming that he told us the route that’s shown by google maps is wrong and he would take us to the hotel as he was dropping someone nearby to it. So we followed him and reached the hotel in 5 minutes. Checked into the hotel after thanking him, got refreshed and left for the light house. It had started raining outside, hence we decided to take an auto. He dropped us off at the beach though we had specifically asked him to drop us at the lighthouse. Of course, we didn’t know how far it would be when we started walking. Only after reaching we realized he could’ve dropped us off exactly in front of the lighthouse since there were good roads leading up to it. So we ended up walking along the beach till we reached the lighthouse. Climbed to the top, clicked a few pics and headed back to the hotel before 6. Having skipped lunch yet again, we ordered some food and decided to relax at the hotel for the rest of the evening as the next day was going to be a really long one.
Attached Thumbnails
Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9708_fhdrmin.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9726_fhdr.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9751_fhdr.jpg  

Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650-dsc_9754_fhdr.jpg  


Last edited by Juggernaught : 22nd March 2021 at 08:46.
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Old 3rd January 2021, 02:22   #6
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Day 5 – Kovalam to Bangalore

We already knew we had a lot to cover on this day. In addition to it, we also wanted to be closer to home as early in the evening as possible since we weren’t particular fond of riding at night. With these thoughts in mind we turned in early the previous night but sleep eluded us the same way sun would, the following morning. After finally falling sleep around midnight we were up by 5, skipped that extra ten-minute sleep that we otherwise crave for (fearing it might turn into an hour). Getting stuck in traffic, especially as soon as the ride starts was something we wanted to avoid as much as possible. So we got ready quick, completed the checkout formalities, lubed the chain on both bikes and mounted our luggage for one last time on this trip.

It was already raining by the time we were up and didn’t seem to stop anytime soon. As neither of us could afford to take leave the next day and this was the plan all along, we decided to start off in what seemed to be just a drizzle then. It would take us a couple of hours before we connected to the beautiful piece of tarmac on NH44 but those two odd hours seemed like an eternity riding in the rain and again moderate traffic, even after starting early in the morning. Combine this with patchy roads and we were pretty much spent by the time we reached the highway. Needless to say, we stopped spotting the first decent hotel there, had our breakfast and filled up both the bikes for what lay ahead.

It was close to 9:30 in the morning by the time we started again and the rain seemed to have taken a break too, although a short one as we would find out soon enough. The roads were good as expected and we were finally able to get to triple digit speeds to start making up for the 90 odd kms we had covered in about two and a half hours. We rode continuously for another 200 kms before the next fuel stop. More mileage on the odo in less time could only mean less fuel in the tank especially for the INT650 with the 13.7L tank. We used this break to also hydrate ourselves, snacked on some biscuits and continued to ride as we had no intention of stopping anytime soon. No sooner had we started, the rain decided to accompany us so that our ride back would be eventful and memorable.

We were too optimistic on our first pitstop and had decided to remove the rain covers especially of our tank bags as it was a pain to take out the mobile or wallet inside it whenever we took a break. So we just made a quick stop to put the covers back on, said ‘to hell with it’ for being completely drenched under our riding gear and continued down the black top. Riding in heavy rains meant we had to exercise some caution so as to not slide into some ditch in the event of something or someone coming in front of us out of the blue (which unfortunately is not all that unusual on our highways). We had covered about 450 kms when the Ninja became thirsty. Surprisingly the wet undies hadn’t dampened either of our spirits so we decided to continue till we would reach Salem or Dharmapuri, whatever would feel best at the time.

We reached Dharmapuri a little after 4 in the evening and decided to take a break while also refueling the INT one last time. Knowing we had only about 150 odd kms to go now until we could find the Kannada signboards, we decided it would be wise to fill up on some carbs as it would take anywhere between two to three hours by the time we could finally rest our asses far away from the saddle of the bikes. Snacked on some burgers and samosas with coffee and started again in half an hour feeling quite happy that we had managed to cover this distance in spite of the rain. The traffic had creeped on to the roads, steadily getting worse with each passing tollbooth.

Finally we had crossed Hosur and reached electronic city where we would part ways, me taking the expressway into the city and my cousin getting on the NICE road. With a final fist bump, we bid adieu to each other as I do to this post. Thank you for reading. Cheers!

Last edited by Juggernaught : 22nd March 2021 at 09:12.
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Old 23rd March 2021, 05:08   #7
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re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 23rd March 2021, 10:40   #8
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Re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Really distinct photos! Nice cloudy sky and beaches, and the Vembanad Lake (Kochi kaayal...). Must have been a refreshing change.

Last edited by Vipin Kumar : 23rd March 2021 at 10:42.
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Old 23rd March 2021, 11:12   #9
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Re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

I really liked that random wall art. Has a distinct European feel to it. Fantastic!
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Old 23rd March 2021, 11:25   #10
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Re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Beautiful pictures with a nice write up. It is always nice to see the beaches in Kerala. Fort Kochi is also a beautiful place to be and there is a lot to explore.

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Old 23rd March 2021, 12:34   #11
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Re: Twinning to the beautiful beaches of Kerala | Ninja 300 & Interceptor 650

Thanks guys. And thank you mods! Seeing this on the homepage made my day

Also a big shoutout to my cousin who's not a member but definitely a Team-BHP addict. He made sure to journal the activities at the end of each day which helped in putting it all together.
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