[KarthikK]

Ride to Shivavilas Palace, Sandur and Hampi (February 2023)

February being off-season for most locations owing to the examination season for schools and colleges plus being dry season, my better half and I decided to exploit the fair weather and ride to a small town called Sandur in North Eastern Karnataka. This town is an old princely kingdom near Bellary, located amidst rich Iron ore mining zones and around 50 km from the historical site of Hampi's famous ruins, what is left of the erstwhile Vijayanagar empire of medieval India.

This town was previously ruled by the Ghorpade royal family from their palace. The palace is now converted to a hotel called the Shivavilas Palace Hotel, and is let out for tourists to savour the historical heritage property in all its entirety, and experience a slice of royal life that its inhabitants once enjoyed.

Shivavilas Palace, Sandur in all its glory



As mentioned earlier, February is off-season here for travel because of the dry and hot weather. In North Eastern Karnataka, the days are hot, noticeably so in non-monsoon months such as these. We decided to ride here to stay for 2 nights and 3 days, we enjoyed the stay in the palace and also planned a whole day of sightseeing at Hampi's ruins before returning home on Day 3. Luckily the palace hotel was running at 10% occupancy so we were mostly the only ones barring another room or two (out of 15) and had the entire property to ourselves for those three days!

Enjoying the empty palace in off-season February



It was a typical February winter morning when we left Bangalore, foggy and cold. After a quick stop for breakfast on Tumkur road, it was a boring flat out expressway ride till Chitradurga. Stopping for a quick break with the windmills backdrop





XP95 fuel topup at Hiriyur bypass



After we exited Chitradurga and entered the Hospet highway towards Kudligi, the geography became hotter, drier and more brown. The roads were very nice and allowed for some amazing pace on the Ninja



Zero places for shelter on this stretch, stop for a minute and you'll start boiling inside that riding gear, lol!



From Kudligi, we had to take a single lane highway stretch for 30 odd km to reach Sandur. What was striking was the soil color started changing to a noticeably red tinge as we approached Sandur. This belt is rich with Iron ore deposits, so the red in the soil is actually due to the Iron ore content (more on that later).





I had called up the hotel and requested for an early check-in so we ended up reaching a few minutes before noon. The entrance to the Shivavilas palace hotel was completely tarred as seen below. The staff were kind enough to give me a separate closed parking area for the bike



While we waited for the check-in formalities, we were in this lovely reception area, filled with trivia on the royal family and the history of this place





The central courtyard inside the palace



Our room had a lovely aura, with the tastefully curated interiors and the really high ceiling giving a superb airy feel





Even the bathrooms were large, about the size of an average drawing room of a house back in metro cities!



The balcony outside our room corridor and the view from it, of the palace orchards





The tastefully decked up dining area in one of the three restaurants



After a sumptuous lunch at their restaurant, we took rest for a while and later headed to the vintage car museum which housed the private collection of the royal family here. One of the staff caretakers was kind enough to come and explain to us the history behind each and every vehicle's ownership. In here were housed - a 1928 Dodge Brothers Senior, a Willys Station Wagon, a 1966 Mercedes S320 and an old LR Defender





The antique LR Defender.



After this short visit to the vintage car museum, we stepped out to explore the main town of Sandur to explore a handicraft and handloom factory called Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra, which was a govt authorized centre for Lambani arts and crafts (a kind of craftwork native to this region). It was a nice experience interacting with the artisans there and learning about their tribe and artwork and the history behind it all.

Visiting SKKK handicrafts factory which largely employs women from this region to produce Lambani handicraft work



My better half browsed around their retail outlet to shop for memorabilia to carry back home, while I just parked myself in one corner





We returned to the palace around late evening time just in time for sunset, to catch this view



After a round of delicious snacks and some early dinner at their restaurant, we walked out fully fed up for the evening



We spent another hour or so at their 'Jungle Bar' games room to play a few games of Snooker against each other. This was a very tastefully done up room, containing stuffed hunting trophy exhibits by ancestors of the royal family over the last century or so.





After this we walked around the beautiful courtyard and made our way back to the room to call it a day on Day 1.

[KarthikK]

Ride to Shivavilas Palace, Sandur and Hampi (February 2023) continued...

Some more sights from Shivavilas palace from the previous evening - this was the erstwhile Royal Durbar hall



The entrance arch leading to the lobby area



Shivavilas palace adorned with lights at night



On the second day, we woke up early and went for a short walk around the property. Thereafter I proceeded to take the Ninja out inside the property for some timepass clicks, with the palace surroundings in the backdrop.



In front of the palace entrance








Side profile



Another couple of shots with the side corridor and dome backdrop





Amazing breakfast at the simple yet classy Shivavilas palace outdoor restaurant





My better half was joking that the iron ore content in this region is so strong that even Chai (Tea) looked more reddish that it generally would!



We had a long day coming up. Post early breakfast, our agenda was to visit Hampi's historical ruins and explore those the whole day. This Hampi zone was located around 50km from where the hotel was. I was in no mood to take the bike to Hampi and wear all the gear to keep removing it in every sightseeing location, so taking the bike to Hampi for monument-hopping was out of question. The hotel staff were kind enough to arrange a car (taxi) for us from their fleet, with a knowledgeable driver who doubled up as a Guide in Hampi. This was very nice for us and killed two birds with one stone, because he not only knew all the good monuments to visit and drove us around, but also accompanied us inside every site and explained every little detail he knew about it.

Before that, en route to Hospet and Kamalapur (Hampi), we made a short stop at one of the iron ore mines belonging to the SMIORE (Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Limited) and got a thorough learning experience of how Iron ore and manganese are mined from this region. Since this was a restricted zone, I didn't take any pictures there.



Just look at the Red shade of the soil in this region! It really stands out in the hot sun. This was on the Sandur to Hospet state highway. Got me confused - are we on Mars or Earth?



Because it hasn't rained here in the past few months, and due to the mining activity in this region, the red dust ends up bathing all the trees here and even the plants and trees are covered in Red! Who wants to visit Mars when we have a mini Mars right here in Karnataka?



I'll proceed to dump a few pictures of the famous archeological sites in Hampi that we visited, in no particular order. I won't get into trivia about each site, that is for people to visit and learn and there is always tons of information on the web anyway. I hadn’t carried the camera this time, so all the snaps are from my phone.

It was a hot day, with the mercury climbing to over 36-37 degrees celsius. Perhaps too hot for sightseeing in Hampi, but we had anyway swallowed the bitter pill of coming here in off-season time, so had to take the heat in our stride and tick it off our list anyway, lol! Our first stop was at the Mustard seed Ganesha stone carving monument. Some pictures from the sights around here





The next stop was at the Virupaksha shrine



Post this, we visited a river view point from where Hampi's erstwhile hippie island was visible. This was en route to two more historic temple sites which are still operational. After this we also checked out the old Hampi bazaar pathway which was closeby.





There was a coracle ride happening at this point to the island and back, but we skipped it because of a long queue of people waiting to board.



Appreciating the unique geography of Boulders and mountains with the Tungabhadra river flowing through



A short stop at the Ugra Narasimha statue which is 500 years old



Punishment area for criminals of yonder



Intricate stone carvings on the walls of one of the shrines



Apparently these were dining plates carved out of stone



A magnificent stepwell



This was a sunken temple, excavated recently

[KarthikK]

Ride to Shivavilas Palace, Sandur and Hampi (February 2023) continued...

After a sumptuous lunch in Kamalapur town at one of the famous cafes, we proceeded to some more historical sites. Next stop was at an old shrine called the Hazararama temple. There were fantastic stone sculptures on the walls, apparently depicting the story of Ramayana on the walls in the form of sculpted depictions





Sculptures on the outer wall depicting the cavalry, elephant army, etc



An intricately carved pillar



After this we visited the Lotus Mahal, an example of Indo-Islamic fusion architecture





Elephant stables near the Lotus Mahal



Our final stop for the day was at the cliched and famous Vijaya Vittala temple which housed the cliched Stone chariot that Hampi is always identified with. There was a long 1km walk from the parking lot amid the searing afternoon heat, there were electric buggies plying to do the shuttle work but the queue was terribly long so we decided to walk it instead. It turned out to be a good idea eventually, because we could stop en route at many other places of interest.


The famous stone chariot of Hampi



Finally found the monument shown on 50-Rupee notes



En route to the Vijaya Vitthala complex, we found these picturesque ruins of Haleya Mantapa





Adjacent to that was this manmade lake / tank called Vitthalaraya Kola







Another nice work of stone sculpture - Kudregombe Mantapa, featuring these horses carved out of stone



We soon found our way back to the car and departed Kamalapur town, stopping for a few moments to witness sunset along Kamalapur lake



We stuffed ourselves nicely with the sumptuous food back at the hotel before calling it a day and retiring early.



We woke up the next morning and took the Ninja out for a short spin towards a small section of nice twisties and hills encompassing the Narihalla reservoir, en route to Bellary.

Sunrise along Narihalla reservoir





The Ninja taking a break on the Red roads



A shot of the bike with Narihalla reservoir and Sandur's hills in the background






Another shot of the Ninja posing against the dam backdrop



We returned to the hotel for a sumptuous breakfast, and proceeded to check out of the hotel by noon to start our return journey homewards. A customary picture in front of the destination as always



Surprisingly we found IOC's XP95 even in a small town like Sandur! And indeed it is a fantastic thing that this 95 octane fuel is now available in every nook and corner of the country, allowing performance machines (which enjoy higher octane fuel) to easily tour the length and breadth of the country.



We enjoyed the Red twisties in Iron ore country as we made our way back to the flat lands of the Hospet - Chitradurga expressway



This was actually the name of one of the viewpoints near the valley, lol! Look at the deep red dust again! Thank you for the invite Sandur, we will definitely come back in September .



Once we hit the expressway, it was smooth sailing and a boring yet fast return journey to Bangalore. We just stopped once for a makeshift lunch at CCD, Hiriyur and ended the journey at home well ahead of sunset.



For the statistics, this trip clocked a simple 655 km over 3 days to round up the second fantastic and memorable weekend trip in February on the Ninja



Until the next update, thanks for reading!

[100Kmphormore]

The Ninja looks ravishing, very well maintained Karthik! Nice ride pics. What's the mileage you get on the Ninja and at what speeds?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

The Ninja looks ravishing, very well maintained Karthik! Nice ride pics. What's the mileage you get on the Ninja and at what speeds?

Thanks for the kind words 100Kmphormore!
The Ninja returns a fuel efficiency between 18-20 kmpl, depending on the right wrist usage .
Generally cruising around 110-120 on an expressway on F power mode will return around 18-19 kmpl, on slower single lane roads it may go upto 20 kmpl if ridden on L power mode at 90 kmph or lesser, but that feels boring and unnatural for this bike on open roads.

Because our trips involve a mix of everything (expressways + single lane countryside roads + ghat sections + sometimes small-town traffic), the overall FE for all our trips has always been in the region of 18.3-18.5 kmpl.

Even in uphill ghat sections and aggressive throttle inputs, the fuel efficiency has never dropped under 16 kmpl for me, so this is a pretty frugal bike despite the high power output. I don’t ride this bike in the city so I am not sure what traffic can do to those numbers, not much idea on city fuel efficiency

[doga]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Thanks for the kind words 100Kmphormore!
The Ninja returns a fuel efficiency between 18-20 kmpl, depending on the right wrist usage .
Generally cruising around 110-120 on an expressway on F power mode will return around 18-19 kmpl, on slower single lane roads it may go upto 20 kmpl if ridden on L power mode at 90 kmph or lesser, but that feels boring and unnatural for this bike on open roads.

That's an amazing fuel efficiency. Comparing that to the 21-22 kmpl I get from my duke 390 gen 1, I feel cheated, especially so when the tank capacity is 10L. I am reminded of the atrocious economy every week or so when I go to tank up.
Lovely bike though mate. Wishing you many more happy miles on it!

[krishsreedharan]

Your pictures of Hampi brought back memories of my trip in Jan 2020 - just before COVID struck. My better half and I have been discussing doing this trip again, the difference being this time, instead of the Endeavour, it would be the BMW. Let's see how that pans out. Maybe September

[d3mon]

What a fantastic travelogue, KarthikK. It was a bit surprising to see your travelogue pop up just a day after we returned back from Hampi after having spent our time at the same palace and having explored Hampi in a very similar manner over a 3 day trip. We missed some of the highlights both at the palace and at Hampi, which we were glad to catch up via your travelogue

Being the lazy person that I am, I have taken the liberty of just linking your travelogue to my thread below because I could never match your writing & photos of Hampi. Hope you don't mind

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post5506248 (Meet Trie | My Pre-Owned BMW 530d (G30))

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by doga

That's an amazing fuel efficiency. Comparing that to the 21-22 kmpl I get from my duke 390 gen 1, I feel cheated, especially so when the tank capacity is 10L. I am reminded of the atrocious economy every week or so when I go to tank up.
Lovely bike though mate. Wishing you many more happy miles on it!

Thanks for the kind words. I can definitely relate to that feeling, I once upon a time had the RC390 first gen with that puny 10L tank and attempted to tour on it a few times, lol!

Originally Posted by krishsreedharan

Your pictures of Hampi brought back memories of my trip in Jan 2020 - just before COVID struck. My better half and I have been discussing doing this trip again, the difference being this time, instead of the Endeavour, it would be the BMW. Let's see how that pans out. Maybe September

Thanks kris sir, hope your Hampi plan materializes and we can see some lovely images of that 6 cylinder beast munching miles on the expressway!

Originally Posted by d3mon

What a fantastic travelogue, KarthikK. It was a bit surprising to see your travelogue pop up just a day after we returned back from Hampi after having spent our time at the same palace and having explored Hampi in a very similar manner over a 3 day trip. We missed some of the highlights both at the palace and at Hampi, which we were glad to catch up via your travelogue

Being the lazy person that I am, I have taken the liberty of just linking your travelogue to my thread below because I could never match your writing & photos of Hampi. Hope you don't mind

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post5506248 (Meet Trie | My Pre-Owned BMW 530d (G30))

Thanks for the kind words d3mon! Happy to hear you guys did the exact same itinerary in the same hotel. Elated to be featured in your ownership report update . That 530D looks smashing and I can imagine how much fun it must be to enjoy that ballistic missile on our roads, lucky you!

[KarthikK]

Ride to CrepeGinger Boutique homestay, Agumbe (March 2023)

Continuing with our usual weekend rides making good use of these school examination months and off-season time, hot and dry weather notwithstanding, my better half during some casual browsing on google stumbled upon a very pretty looking property called CrepeGinger Boutique Homestay near the rainforests of Agumbe, so we decided to pack our bags (oops Panniers!) and head out to check it out as a routine weekend jaunt. This time of the year isn’t actually very beautiful in Agumbe, it houses some of the world’s most fascinating low elevation rainforests but that side of it comes alive once the monsoons kick in, later during June and onwards.

This trip was anyway just going to be a short weekend ride through some hot and dry jungles and coffee estate land to reach Agumbe. But what was enticing was the ~140km of amazing twisties between Hassan and Agumbe via Chikmagalur.

It was a cool Saturday morning when we departed from home. While the temperature wasn't very cold in the city, out on Hassan expressway the mercury dropped to single digits and we had totally underestimated the cold (riding with just hot weather mesh jackets ).

Stopping to warm our frozen hands at sunrise, somewhere past Bellur cross




Generally on trips in this direction, we avoid stopping en route to Hassan and instead cross Hassan town and stop at Hoysala village resort on the Hassan - Belur road. This not only helps avoid the crazy crowds at the expressway eateries, but Hoysala also has a fantastic plantain leaf breakfast spread filled with varied traditional and local cuisine delicacies.

Yours truly inside Hoysala village resort



The vast spread at Hoysala's plantain leaf breakfast. Even after combining 2 snaps, I couldn't cover all the items in 1 frame, lol!



We proceeded towards Agumbe via the Hassan - Belur - Chikmagalur - Aldur - Balehonnur - Jayapura route. Here are some snaps from one of the rehydration breaks en route to our destination





The better half takes a break before we attack the last section of twisties en route Agumbe



Amazing freshly tarred roads near Jayapura



The property had a very short dirt trail leading to the parking area



The bungalow was easily approachable from the parking lot through this paved stone area



There were 4 rooms in the property, ours was themed in white and yellow. The rooms were well equipped with all the necessary amenities, and had adequate storage space for our things







The white and yellow elegant theme carried forward even to the washroom





Retro themed electrical switches



Since we reached before noon, we had some time to kill until lunch was served. Since we had no other agenda anyway at this place, we just spent some time inside the bungalow, clicking pictures of the tastefully done up interiors, most of them themed in white of some form



The main living area sitout



Victorian era furniture and design elements added a nice touch along with the white themed interiors



There were a lot of nice paintings, artwork, collectibles and antiques displayed in various parts of the bungalow













The central area was typical of traditional houses in this region - open to the sky and it was made into a garden of sorts



There was a coffee maker and some basic confectionaries on one side in case we wanted to help ourselves to some cookies or self-made coffee or tea with the kettle



Another side of the bungalow living area faced a massive garden on the outside



A nice view from these windows. It would be lovely to sit here and stare at the rains in the monsoon season



Soon it was time for lunch. We made our way into a tastefully done up dining room. Since we were the only guests here, we pretty much had the place to ourselves



Lunch was served on a plantain leaf, the items were a mix of local cuisine and some common north/south Indian dishes.

[KarthikK]

Ride to CrepeGinger Boutique homestay, Agumbe (March 2023) continued ...

Post lunch, we hung around the property for a while, appreciating some more of the tastefully done up interiors





Attangudi handmade tiles were prevalent everywhere inside this property



In the early evening, we had a nice tea setup in the garden lawn outside the bungalow



Casual pictures strolling around the flora of the bungalow







Playing with one of their three super friendly dogs on the property, who also doubled up as our strolling route guides



Down these flight of steps we went, to discover an old well and a lovely stream flowing through the property



They set up a nice, rustic high tea and snacks table for us at this very stream in the late evening



Hot Bajjis and Pakoras for a foggy evening



After some more timepass around the property, we relaxed for a while until it was time for some nice dinner.



They had decked up the dinner table for us, and as a pleasant surprise, there were some lip-smacking continental dishes for dinner instead of the usual local cuisine which is served in most homestays in this region. We enjoyed some piping hot cream of tomato soup, garlic bread and Pasta, plus some more dishes and pastries before calling it a day





We woke up to a bright sunny morning the next day.



Tea was served in the garden, this time at a nice table with some homemade cookies





Strolling around the garden in the morning - came across this Fig tree



It was actually served for breakfast when I casually asked them about it. Some of the best fresh ones I have had



I took some snaps of the Ninja with the property at sunrise



We just took a short ride to some local hanging bridge 2km away and the Ninja had to traverse pathways like these on mud for a few hundred metres. I was pleasantly surprised with the lovely grip levels of the Metzeler M9RR even in loose mud and gravel!



Hariharpur hanging bridge in action. I was shocked to find even a few villagers on bikes crossing over (I thought it was only for walking on)!



The view from the hanging bridge, of river Tunga. We were told the peak in the distance is Agumbe mountain itself, not sure how true!



Back at the homestay, breakfast was soon served and it turned out to be a simpler spread compared to the other two meals we had, tasty nonetheless



By noon, it was time to leave for home. A departing picture with the bike and the property as always



Stopping at Hariharpur - Jayapura bridge



Enjoying perhaps one of my favourite stretches in south India, ~110km of flowing twisties of varying speeds, between Agumbe and Chikmagalur. This picture was inside some interior roads though, in reality the main highway is quite wide and amazing to drive/ride on.



Stopping for some short breaks at some tea plantations between Jayapura and Aldur and at Bhadra coffee stop for a makeshift lunch and rehydration on a hot day. That day the mountains were in fact hotter than even Bangalore city!





From Chikmagalur to Bangalore we almost did non-stop riding to reach home by dusk. All in all, a short and fantastic ride with amazing twisties to add wide smiles on our faces before we got back to the next routine work week. This trip added another simple ~700 km on the odometer to open the Ninja's touring account for March.



That's all for now! Until the next trip update, thanks for reading!

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

That's all for now! Until the next trip update, thanks for reading!

Karthik you stay at really, really lovely places man! Loved this property too, makes one want to spend more than a day, say a week or so doing nothing Superb documentation in pictures and words every time

Is that a hydration pack you are wearing or a compact backpack.

Thank you for sharing, keep touring and taking us along for your trips.

Cheers

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Ride to CrepeGinger Boutique homestay, Agumbe (March 2023)

As always, a fantastic report with a great location find, and lovely photos, KarthikK! thank you for sharing.

Your expertise in finding amazing homestays hidden away in the remote locations is really amazing. And the comprehensive information on food there, the routes, the rooms etc is very nice to see and highly appreciated.

Your reports are a pleasure to read, and also inspirational for planning our own road trips. Thanks again for taking the efforts to share these reports.

[TheHelix0202]

Amazing trip, amazing homestay. Would love to visit sometime, though I believe blasting it on the highway on anything less than a 1000cc sports tourer is quite painful.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Karthik you stay at really, really lovely places man! Loved this property too, makes one want to spend more than a day, say a week or so doing nothing Superb documentation in pictures and words every time

Thank you for sharing, keep touring and taking us along for your trips.

Cheers

You are too kind Cyborg sir Thank you so much, glad to know you enjoy reading these reports.

Is that a hydration pack you are wearing or a compact backpack.

It is a Carbonado X14 backpack which I wear to just carry along 2 hydration bladders, one each for my wife and myself. I take this backpack along only if we are doing Ninja trips riding through the day in the hot sun, especially the summer months. Since the givi tankbag carries all the trivial nitty gritties, this backpack has no other load and is really weightless while I ride.

One nice advantage of this backpack during some trips is - when we go out sightseeing at the destination, I can wear it along and keep all the typical touristy stuff inside this - wallet, cap, sunglasses, water, memorabilia that we buy, etc. All in all, a good multipurpose product.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

As always, a fantastic report with a great location find, and lovely photos, KarthikK! thank you for sharing.

Your expertise in finding amazing homestays hidden away in the remote locations is really amazing. And the comprehensive information on food there, the routes, the rooms etc is very nice to see and highly appreciated.

Your reports are a pleasure to read, and also inspirational for planning our own road trips. Thanks again for taking the efforts to share these reports.

Thank you for your kind words Dr.AD, glad to know it was useful in some way. I have to add that your ownership report updates and your fantastic travelogues also are very inspirational for fellow travellers and every report shares a lot of useful knowledge to help others plan lovely trips to such locations

Originally Posted by TheHelix0202

Amazing trip, amazing homestay. Would love to visit sometime, though I believe blasting it on the highway on anything less than a 1000cc sports tourer is quite painful.

Thanks a lot TheHelix0202! While the big litre class bike was fun on this route, I have no doubt that even riding a slow bike fast on this route will be a lot of fun, especially once those twisties take over, lol!