[SDP]

09:55AM -> I start from Sajjangad towards Chalkewadi.

I had spent 2 hours at Sajjangad. The day is getting hotter.

The road from Sajjangad to the point where it meets the main road that takes you to Thoseghar/Chalkewadi is quite narrow. Need to drive a bit carefully.

I pass Thoseghar and noticed a large number of tourist vehicles parked. I do not stop and head directly to Chalkewadi.

As I approach the area, I see huge number of windmills.




Somebody's lunch is travelling.


The windmills are getting closer.


A interesting bird.

10:30AM -> I reach proper Chalkewadi.

The road condition quickly deteriorated from 'bad road' to 'no road'. The plateau is huge.







Huge windmills. One snap to understand the scale.


The windmilll farm is on a plateau and its like mini-Kaas.






I see the familiar violets.


The whites and the violets are predominant here.




A few more snaps at Chalkewadi.




No sign of pinks on the plateau. Its violets and whites all the way.








Nobody on the plateau, except me.


Road condition.


While processing this snap, I was wondering: did I click this to capture the road condition again?


Nah, there's the bird on the road, nicely camouflaged.


There it is again.

PS: The blades of most of the windmills were actually moving. After coming back, I was wondering if there was any way I could have captured that motion of the blades. On second thoughts, it was just too bright and sunny. Even with f18 or f24, I doubt, it would have allowed me to slow down to 1/3sec or 1/5sec. (Mental note: when finances permit, look for ND filters).

10:51AM -> Left Chalkewadi for the final tourist destination for the day: Thoseghar.

[akbaree]

Beautiful pictures and equally good writing. And you finished the log at a great note. 5 stars.

P.S.: on _1009 picture (ST Bus), I see someone on the top left corner. Is that person answering nature's call perched up there? May be he is just watching the road in front of him and my eyes are playing funny...

[SDP]

Originally Posted by akbaree

Beautiful pictures and equally good writing. And you finished the log at a great note. 5 stars.

Thanks for the rating. About finishing the log, there is just Thoseghar left.
(Am I missing a big hint here? )

Originally Posted by akbaree

P.S.: on _1009 picture (ST Bus), I see someone on the top left corner. Is that person answering nature's call perched up there? May be he is just watching the road in front of him and my eyes are playing funny...

Ha ha. I left that person in the frame after visibly confirming that he is not busy with something else. He was part of a tourist group, who had ventured all the way to the edge to get better views and better photo-ops.

While clicking the snap, just like you, even I let my imagination run wild. With that guy perched up there, the whole scene looked like a sniper who is about to take out that bus. I think, I see too many movies.

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by SDP

Thanks for the rating. About finishing the log, there is just Thoseghar left.
(Am I missing a big hint here? )

I am sorry, I misread your last post and thought that was the last post. Waiting for Thoseghar...

Originally Posted by SDP

Ha ha. I left that person in the frame after visibly confirming that he is not busy with something else. He was part of a tourist group, who had ventured all the way to the edge to get better views and better photo-ops.

While clicking the snap, just like you, even I let my imagination run wild. With that guy perched up there, the whole scene looked like a sniper who is about to take out that bus. I think, I see too many movies.

Whatever, he appears to be in a funny position.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

@SDP,
i must quote that you have covered each and every details of this beautiful track of sajjangad-thoseghar-chalkewadi-kaas-bamnoli.
The snaps you posted here are nice and written all relevant details nicely.
Do join the team meet for next expedition in future.

[SDP]

11:00AM -> I reach Thoseghar. There is no space left at the parking. In fact, quite a few cars are double-parked. I do not want to risk getting stuck. So I leave the parking and drive towards the other access point to Thoseghar and park there by the roadside.

We had visited Thoseghar in July-end. The water would be much lesser now. But I still want to cover Thoseghar again because of 2 reasons:
1. During last visit, I was not able to access the base of the top portion of the fall (It is off-limits).
2. I wanted to experiment with slow shutter speeds.

I pick up my tripod also and start walking, this time towards the top portion of the waterfall first.

This is the upper section of waterfall. Just too many people and noticeably less water as compared to last time.


I try one shot with 1/10sec. The difference is noticeable, but the end-result is still mediocre. I am a bit disappointed.


The plunge.


The small pool below. I see a small crowd there.

No police or forest-guard in sight. I grab the opportunity and quickly descend to the base of the plunge. Now I understand why the area is off limits. The slope is steep, the path really narrow and even with no rain, it is a bit slippery. In proper rain, this could easily be a mis-adventure.

But the view is to die for (if you have the complete pool only to yourself ).


I set up the tripod with some difficulty and click tens of snaps with various settings. I am experimenting with 'silky water' look for the first time.


Here's one which shows 5 snaps side by side with shutter speed ranging from 1/400 second to 1/10 second.


Here's another one with 2 extremes side by side: 1/2000 and 1/20.

I had not seen this view last time we visited. There are a couple of couples who are enjoying the waterfall. I hope that they do not feel either threatened or disturbed by the presence of a stag there. I leave them alone. I take my time and experiment to my heart's content. Then I pack up the equipment and just sit there with my feet in the water and the waterfall directly in front of me. Soothing experience!

When I pick up my stuff and start back, one lady from the 2 couples gives me a big motichur laddoo. She mentions: we went to Sajjangad, have some prasad. A simple nice gesture, to a complete stranger! Nice people, I feel humbled. I thank her sincerely and leave.

I reach the observation deck of the main waterfall. Huge number of people. I wait for my turn to click snaps.


Setting up a tripod among such a typical 'touristy' crowd is going to be a nightmare. But I still do it.


Because of the brilliant clarity, I could see the windmills in the distance.

I wait for 5 minutes for the shot below. No, I do not have Rudra sir's patience. I waited because there was a couple who had occupied the right corner of the observation deck and the guy was really struggling to take a snap. He zooms in, zooms out, zooms in again, a little bit more, then zoom out. You get the drift. I am just standing there behind the two with a camera mounted on a tripod. He finally decides to click, looks at the result and then turns to his wife and says: I zoomed in on the waterfall and now you can't really make out anything.

I clear my throat to make them aware that I am waiting for the spot to take a couple of pictures. Finally after another minute, I get the place.

Quickly squeeze in 2-3 snaps and pack up.

12:20PM - 12:52PM -> Lunch at the tapri hotel at Thoseghar. Post lunch, I start the return journey to Mumbai.

The 'bogda', for the last time in this trip.


Eiffel tower in Satara.




The Powai naka, with the Shivaji Maharaj statue in the center and Hotel Majaraja Regency and Rajathadri Lodge in the background.

01:39PM -> I fill up petrol at Powai naka and start towards NH4.

<to be concluded in next post>

[kaushik_s]

Hey, we stayed in that hotel (Maharaja Regency), nice hotel, bit pricey though.
Lovely photographs again SDP, we've surely missed Sajjangad and Thosegad. But will try to do it next time we go there.

[SDP]

At Powai naka, at least 6-7 roads come together. Just to reconfirm, I ask someone for the road that will take me to NH4. He points me to a road that I have never taken till now. I reconfirm and the guy says: this is a straight broad road that will take me to NH4 highway in no time.

I take that road and it is indeed broad. There are lot of good looking administrative buildings lining up the road.

01:44PM -> I join the NH4 highway towards Pune/Mumbai.

In another 3-4 minutes, I pass the impressive looking Mahendra Executive hotel. Then I realize that I have been taking a incorrect turn into the Satara city during my visits and that's why I have no recollection of seeing the Mahendra Executive hotel.

Anyways, I have started back much earlier than originally planned. In the original plan (with family), we were supposed to start back by 3-4PM and reach Mumbai by 8-9PM. Now with a 1PM start, I am positive that there would be no night driving.

I make alto progress (as against swift progress ).
02:16PM -> I reach the junction towards Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar.

02:21PM -> Crossed the Khambatki tunnel.

03:02PM -> I am at the New Katraj Tunnel. I put the headlights on and enter the tunnel. The eyes adjust after entering the tunnel, but I can still see very little. I quickly recheck the headlight stalk, no issues there. The next instant, I realize that I have my sunglasses on .

I tear through the Pune bypass and
03:22PM -> I join the Pune Mumbai expressway.

Except for a quick bite at the McD, I do not stop anywhere.

04:49PM -> Exited the expressway.

I typically top up the fuel just before finishing a trip. That way it makes it easier to calculate the fuel expenses for the trip. So just before entering Mumbai, I refuel. Seems like, on the return journey, the car returned good mileage as the bill comes for only 870Rs.

05:37PM -> I reach home. Total distance covered since yesterday morning -> 639.1Kms.

A sweet ending!

[SDP]

I stayed at hotel Aakar International for the Saturday night.

Besides a bad mural of New York skyline at the reception, there is absolutely nothing 'international' about it. In fact, the name and the large neon signboard on top of the building completely misrepresent what Aakar international truly is: a large lodge.

Here are some of my observations:

• The room was dusty. Pretty sure the floor was not mopped for at least a few days.

• The bathroom was worse. Paint, stains, grime. I shudder at the memory now.

• The bedsheet had couple of holes.

• The blankets provided were of bad quality. The less said about their condition the better.

• The bed did not even had a headboard. They had just painted the wall to create an illusion of a headboard.

• Half-empty water bottle (most likely the one provided to the previous occupant) was still lying on the sidetable.

• The water bottle provided to me had no seal. So not sure, if it was just tap-water.

• A single & really tiny 3 Rs pack of soap was given at the time of occupying the room. No separate soap/handwash for the basin!

• No lights in the corridor during the night!

You get what you pay for, so I did not really mind a lot about most of the above observations. But there was a definite feeling of being deceived into believing that this was a good hotel and not a lousy lodge.

What really got my goat was the incident during checkout:
I had a booking for ONE night (24th Sep). I had checked in around 8:10AM on 24th Sep and as planned, I spent just one night and checked out at 7:00AM on 25th Sep. Somehow the hotel manager wanted to charge me for TWO days, based on completely illogical arguments. Got into a huge argument with them when they insisted on me paying for 2 days, instead of one. I am going to spare you of all the ugly details of the argument. Let's just say that, finally I did not budge and paid only one night's rent. But this entire episode left a nasty taste in the mouth early in the day. Completely unprofessional set of people.

Recommendation: Please avoid this hotel like the plague. Stay in Aakar International if you HAD to stay in Satara and only if there is ABSOLUTELY no other place available.

PS: I do not have any personal scores to settle with the hotel. Just wanted to ensure that fellow TBHPians don't have to face any bad experiences with these unprofessional people. Otherwise I wouldn't even have mentioned this bad experience on THIS thread (which is full of some of the most brilliant experiences I had).

<Next post - most likely the final one - The detailed trip-log>

[MX6]

Whoa. Didn't know you searched so much for me. Feel so humbled. Anyway, I was there in Kaas on Sunday. Saturday I'd been to Thosegar. I'd incidentally stayed 40 kms south of Satara (almost 1 km before the next toll gate) towards Kolhapur. Clean room. Clean toilet. Friendly hotelier. Nice food. 500 a night (for a brand new hotel) and he charged me just 500.
The issue with Satara is that hotels become full during the kaas show. Instead of spending over 1000s in night stay, I'd spent 700 bucks on extra petrol in travelling 160 kms etc on two days.

Here's a pic for you if you don't mind. My try at an HDR (not so successful yet). Managed to get a big frame in, with least people on a busy sunday morning!


BTW, very good pictures. Let's plan on a quick lunch sometime in Mumbai with the good old Mumbai/ Thane gang.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by MX6

Here's a pic for you if you don't mind. My try at an HDR (not so successful yet). Managed to get a big frame in, with least people on a busy sunday morning!
Attachment 823988

BTW, very good pictures. Let's plan on a quick lunch sometime in Mumbai with the good old Mumbai/ Thane gang.

MX6, thanks for the pic! I still haven't started my journey on the HDR route. Would love to discuss details. When is the next Mumbai/Thane meet?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last couple of weeks have been hectic with a customer visit and all that.

So finally, wrapping up this travelogue with the complete trip-log that I promised in my last post.

Time ODO Note
4:00 0 Started from Mulund
4:23 29.5 Expressway start
4:54 61.8 Khalapur toll on expressway
5:35 111.9 Talagaon toll
5:43 123.4 Pune expressway exit
6:11 159 New Katraj Tunnel
6:19 166.1 Khed-Shivapur toll
6:54 204 Khambatki ghat started
7:09 212.1 Khambatki end
7:12 216.5 Mahaby turn
7:26 235.4 Anewadi toll
7:36 248.6 Turn for Satara
7:43 252.2 Hotel Aakar International
8:16 252.7 Started from Aakar/Shivsagar
8:26 255.4 Bogda (kaas 22, Bamnoli 35)
9:09 275 Parked at Kaas
13:02 275 Back from Kaas
13:45 290.6 Reached Bamnoli
13:45-14:35 Lunch @Santaji
15:00 Boat-ride
16:50 Back from boat-trip.
17:26-17:35 Kaas Lake
17:58 306.2 Crossed Kaas on the way back
18:42 324.3 Bogda
19:00 328.4 Reached Hotel
19:45 Started for dinner - Manali Assal Satari
20:30 Back to hotel after dinner

Sep 25
7:10 Checked out from hotel
8:00 343.9 Reached Sajjangad parking
9:55 Restarted from Sajjangad
10:30 360 Chalkewadi
10:51 361.2 Left Chalkewadi
11:00 364.3 Thoseghar Waterfalls
12:20-12:52 Lunch @Thoseghar waterfalls
12:54 364.3 Started for Mumbai from Thoseghar
13:24 386.1 Crossed bogda
13:32-13:39 Refueling at Powai naka
13:44 391.3 Joined NH4
13:57 406.3 Anewadi toll
14:16 425 Mahaby junction
14:21 431.5 Khambatki tunnel
14:53 473.1 Khed Shivapur
15:02 480.2 Katraj Tunnel
15:22 506 Pune-Mumbai expressway start
15:40 527 Talegaon toll-naka
16:15 575.2 McD Expressway
16:27 Restarted after snack
16:49 609.3 Expressway end
17:37 639.1 Reached Home

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks everybody for your time and kind words.

[SDP]

Bumping a year-old thread because I visited Kaas again this year on 19th Sep 2012, this time with family .

Because of the last year's bad experience of hotel-stay in Satara and the HUGE crowd over any weekend, decided to go on Ganesh Chaturthy holiday and make it a day trip.
600kms round-trip in a day was a bit ambitious for me, but this year we had a better vehicle.

Not going to write a verbose travelogue this year, just going to add pictures from this year to this old thread.

Left Mumbai at 4:30AM. Uneventful journey, no traffic. 45 minutes breakfast at Shree Ram Best Wadapav center (thanks @Ninjatalli for the tip). Spent around 2-2.5 hours at the Kaas Plateau. Drove to Bamnoli for lunch. Drove to Dutta Mandir, Ganesh Mandir and Shiv Mandir. Started back at 3:30PM. Reached Mumbai at 9pm. Dinner at a hotel nearby our place.

Would start uploading snaps later today. Thank you!

[SDP]

Breakfast on NH4 and a quick stop on the way to Kaas













Photos from the plateau coming up next.

[SDP]

Kaas - Plateau of flowers

[mm403]

SDP -- Enjoyed your snaps of Kaas, planning to go there tomorrow