[Fordmanchau]

THIS IS AGAIN A FLASHBACK STORY-TRIP DONE IN AUGUST 2010

Guys, coming up again with a flashback story. This trip was my first week long vacation with parents, otherwise we had just been taking a day or two off in addition to the weekends and go on a drive.

The trip happened during the week of 7th August 2010 till 14th August 2010. 15th August 2010 was a sunday, so we had a day for us to rest before we got to the grind again.

As in the title of the thread , we drove from Hyderabad to Mysore- Ooty- Coonor - Devashola Estates(Palaniappa)

Total trip distance to and fro came to 1980 kms

Our itinerary for the trip was as under :

7th August (DAY 1): Hyderabad to Mysore, overnight at Mysore
8th August (DAY 2): Mysore Sightseeing, overnight at Mysore
9th August (DAY 3): Mysore to Ooty, sightseeing & overnight at Ooty
10th August(DAY 4): Ooty to Coonor, sightseeing, return and overnight at Ooty
11th August(DAY 5): Ooty to Devashola, sightseeing & overnight at Devashola
12th August(DAY 6): Devshola to Ooty, trek at Devashola & return to Ooty
13th August(DAY 7) : Ooty to Bangalore, sight seeing at Mysore and overnight at Blr.
14th August(DAY 8): Bangalore to Hyderabad- Home sweet Home.

We were four travellers in my Ikon, Mom, Dad, my wife and myself with a boot full of luggage.

Though the travelogue is being composed in Assembly line section, still keeping up with the trend, here are some teaser pics














^^this particular pic adorns my laptop's home screen.







Trust me when I say that we were so overwhelmed by the different hues of nature, that we took around 1500 photos on the trip. Even after deleting some poor shots, I still have some 1382 pics of the trip. I will share the best one's of the lot.

Going to take a little time , but keep some patience.

EDIT: Here is the link for the route query that I posted before embarking on the trip. Might just help somebody.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...alaniappa.html

[Fordmanchau]

DAY 1 : 7th August 2010 - Hyderabad to Mysore

Day 1 was pretty long. The car was serviced just a week before so no worries on that front. I just filled it to the brim the previous night for the trip.

Now, we were not sure if we would take the trip at all, due to some issues at work and I just had a oral approval for my leaves. We decided just the night before that we will do the trip anyhow and everyone suddenly got busy packing things at around 9p.m the previous night and then slept by 11 p.m.

We planned to start early by 4-4:30 a.m as I had done the same previously. But then, everything took a litte more time and we could only start by around 5 a.m.

Drove leisurely till we crossed the first toll and by that time everyone started feeling hungry. Mom and wife started pestering to stop for breakfast, but we couldn't find anything good at that time. I knew of the Ghar Dhaba at Gooty , so told them that I'll stop there but that was a cool 350kms from Hyderabad, and we were not even close to Kurnool.
I drove continuously for an hour at 110-120kmph. Did my best 100km in just 1 hour.

Damn!! by that time even I was feeling hungry and the Ghar Dhaba was nowhere is sight. Kept the patience and continued driving. Finally, at around 9:15 or so we reached the Ghar Dhaba at Gooty.

Relieved and relaxed. We leisurely had breakfast and spent sometime their.
NH7 in August was totally different due to rains. It was all green around compared to what it looks like in summer.

Time for some snaps now. These snaps are a direct shortcut from Hyderabad to Mysore straightaway

































If I remember correctly,we touched Bangalore around 1p.m. I know it is a lot of time, considering that we were at Gooty by 10 a.m but to tell you the fact, I didn't refill at Gooty, which I shoud have, in the hindsight. The fuel indicator was past the last quarter tank mark and was hovering very close to empty. I was scared to hell, if the tank gets empty and if we get stranded, I'll get a good scolding from everybody, so I moved to fifth gear and drove at 80-90kmph. This tested my patience and eveybody else's too. My wife who generally always ask me to drive slow, was puzzled, why I was driving so slow.

Well, there were Petrol bunks on the highway, but some were on the other side for which you will need to take a long U-turn and some who didn't accept credit card. I always refill to tank-full, makes my FE calculation easy, and pay through IOCL Citibank Credit card which helps me accumulate points on fuel(redeemable 1:1 for fuel) .

Anyways, so fearing the worst, I kept driving at slower speed which saw me through Bangalore.The first bunk I saw, I refilled, and they accepted credit card. To my surprise , the tank only took 35 litres of fuel, so there was 10 litres still available.
This gives me fantastic range of over 600kms for a tankful on the highway.

Another thing worrying me was that after the breakfast of idli, dosa and poori-sabzi at the Gooty Ghar Dhaba, we didn't have anything to eat, not even a tea stop. So my ears were being filled up with "stop for lunch" screams. My wife was on phone with her cousin sis, who stays in Bangalore, and she was calling us for lunch and a overnight stop. I had to decline because that way, we will never make it to Mysore by evening. So, I ensured everybody that I will stop as soon as we get a good restaurant after we cross Bangalore and get on the Mysore Highway.
To tell you all the secret, I had my eyes set to on the McDonalds on the highway.

Took the Neelamangala route, entered NICE Road and exited at Mysore highway. This was a nice drive. Again, many restaurants passed and I didn't stop. Then, my mom got angry that I am not stopping, I told them that I want to stop at McDonalds and it will take a little time.
My mom likes burger and father likes the french fries, so it settled them a bit.

After a while, stopped there, had lunch and moved ahead. Finally at around 5:30p.m, we entered Mysore.
Found a decent hotel on the station road, got good price for 2-rooms and moved in.

I was so dead tired by the evening. We didn't go out anywhere. I just dropped dead on the bed and was sleeping , till I was literally forced to wake up for the dinner.

Final pictures of the day.

Look what we spotted in Bangalore- this is how your chicken's are transported




Final pics, just before entering Mysore.




Forget to tell you guys, that weather all through the drive was wonderful and when we were on Mysore highway , it rained heavily such that it completely blinded the windscreen. Wipers were working at the max speed. Many cars stopped but I chose to continue at slower speeds.
The rain was intermittent, used to rain heavily, stop and then rain again.
Wonderful.

[Fordmanchau]

DAY 2: MYSORE SIGHTSEEING

This was a busy day. The whole day dedicated to Mysore Sightseeing.

Slept like a log whole last night and woke up fresh, but was still feeling lazy to get out of the bed. Had to ultimately get up, then freshened up and ordered breakfast. It was almost 10 a.m by then. Got ready quickly, asked the reception of the hotel for way to Chamundi Hills and got going quickly.
We had an awesome weather for our company.The drive up was a little tense what with so many cars, bikes and bicycles jostling for space. Luckily, got a parking space. But I was aghast to see so much of litter around the plastic free zone.
Also stopped and took some snaps before the temple at a view point.

First pic of the 2nd day


Entering the Chamundi Hills


Roads were nicely paved and good to drive






























Green initiative-these people cycled from Mysore to Chamundi Hills


View of Mysore from the top.

[Fordmanchau]

DAY 2: MYSORE SIGHTSEEING (continued)

After we returned from Chamundi hills, we were not sure what to do . I wanted to go to the Zoo and everybody else wanted to go to the Palace. I even went ahead towards the Palace, but told them that seeing the Palace in full daylight is not a good option, so finally everybody relented for visiting the Zoo first.

Took a U-turn and went back to the Zoo. Parking was easy and then we walked inside the zoo. There were too many tourists around the zoo.



This was my first time with a live Giraffe, I swear. Before this I only saw them on tv






And this peacock was so not camera shy. Posing just a feet away from us.




I liked such banners/boards all across the zoo










Attachment 570526











South African Tapir.










We were actually very impressed by the zoo. After the Patna Zoo at Patna, which I have been visiting since childhood, the Mysore zoo was a pleasant surprise in terms of the variety of birds and animals, though size wise, I guess Patna zoo is bigger than this one.

We were not even half done when we realised that we have almost walk for more than 2 kms and then it dawned on us that for getting out of the zoo we would need to walk equal distance or even more. We hurriedly starting moving towards the exit gate and in the process seeing whatever was on our path.

[Fordmanchau]

DAY 2: MYSORE SIGHTSEEING (continued..)

Continuing with some more pictures from the Mysore Zoo.













Attachment 570784

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues forum. Thanks for sharing with the community!

[Travel_newbie]

Hi, you got some nice pics of Mysore zoo... eagerly waiting for Ooty and Coonoor pics

[addyhemmige]

Great pics dude. It had been years since I had been to Mysore Zoo. Thanks a lot for refreshing my memory. Btw, the new signboards in the zoo look great. How was your overall experience in the zoo?

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by Travel_newbie

Hi, you got some nice pics of Mysore zoo... eagerly waiting for Ooty and Coonoor pics

Thanks, hope you liked it. At home today down with a little fever. So I hope I can just finish up the travelogue today if possible.
Photos coming up in a while.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Great pics dude. It had been years since I had been to Mysore Zoo. Thanks a lot for refreshing my memory. Btw, the new signboards in the zoo look great. How was your overall experience in the zoo?

Thanks, Addy!!
I actually liked the Mysore Zoo for it's cleanliness. It is very well managed I guess and the layout of the zoo looks very well planned.
The battery operated buggies for old people was a nice initiative, plus they have good variety of fauna.

[CliffHanger]

Great Pics and narration FM. Please post the Ooty & Coonor part of the travelogue.

[Fordmanchau]

DAY 2: MYSORE SIGHTSEEING (Continued..)

We were dead tired of walking around the zoo and everyone wanted to hurry up and get out of it. We had few icecreams and snacks, rested for a while and continued walking towards the exit gate, but I was still not done with my photos. While, everyone was marching ahead, I was getting left behind. This was irritating everyone, but what could I have done.





















Hey, but I was still not done with the Giraffe's. It was my first time remember











We finally got out of the zoo, finally, phew!!!
My wife saw a peacock feather vendor and see wanted to buy some. Dad and she went to that guy, negotiated hard and bought the feathers.





Look what a good bargaining does to their happiness quotient




With Zoo over, the question was what next. Mom wanted to cover the Brindavan Garden as well that day, so enquired about it and got to know that it's a little far from city and will take time and if we go there, we will miss the Mysore Palace and the lighting as well.
But then the foremost agenda was to have lunch at a good place. We were all so famished with that long 5km walk inside the zoo.