[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

We stopped by for some mementos


By 18:00 hours we reached the farm house carrying provisions for the dinner.

Me trying to cook!


Onions getting chopped


I tried egg scramble


Dinner - Not bad at all I say


The smile speaks for itself!


It was a great dinner


Time for some campfire and roasted corn






Chanda mama watched over



By 23:00 hours after a great dinner we decided to call it a day.

[raghu.t.k]

A nice travelogue, keeping the readers engrossed both with the story and the pictures.

I had been a couple of times to Wayanad, and love this place. I read all the 17 pages in one go. Wanted to visit the Agriculture research center, but could not make it.

Did you not come across any leaches around the water front?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

A nice travelogue, keeping the readers engrossed both with the story and the pictures.

I had been a couple of times to Wayanad, and love this place. I read all the 17 pages in one go. Wanted to visit the Agriculture research center, but could not make it.

Did you not come across any leaches around the water front?

Thanks raghu
We did not encounter any leeches in our stay at Wayanad, thankfully

[NPV]

Originally Posted by laluks

Day 03 - 19.01.2014 - Wayanad - Ooty - Masinagudi - Chamraj Nagar - Kanakapura - Bangalore

Total 888Kms of fun!

@laluks - Good to see you back at one of your other good habits - writing travelogues
Thanks for sharing, nice pictures as usual!
Day 03 routing was amazing to say the least, look forward to seeing what you'll covered that day with so much to see and drive at the same time.
Also how did you manage Ooty - Masinagudi ? Cops usually don't allow downhill traffic unless you're going to the resorts in Masinagudi.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by NPV

Day 03 routing was amazing to say the least, look forward to seeing what you'll covered that day with so much to see and drive at the same time.
Also how did you manage Ooty - Masinagudi ? Cops usually don't allow downhill traffic unless you're going to the resorts in Masinagudi.

Thanks NPV
We just took the road back from Ooty, there were barricades and a policeman, we smiled and continued our way back to Masinagudi.

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by laluks

Thanks NPV
We just took the road back from Ooty, there were barricades and a policeman, we smiled and continued our way back to Masinagudi.

He might have known who Laluk was and hence dared not to stop! On a serious note, I had taken this route on so many occasions but not stopped even once. However, they keep a close tab on guys drivings rashly. In fact on one occasion during last June, they had requested me to pass on the phone no of the check post guy to a potential break down Chevy! In fact the check post guy, correctly predicted that the Chevy would break down in the midst of the ghat looking at the way it was driven and the smoke filled engine! And it did break down!

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

After a very good rest, we woke up lazily. Today we will drive back to Bangalore, with a lot of surprise destinations in plan.

The day was looking pleasant


There were a lot of provisions which we purchased to make dinner, and we did not want to waste it. So our guys made a plan to make some breakfast with the supplies.

Team was planning breakfast


This fellow landed up from nowhere and seemed to be curious about our hectic activities!!




Cardamom saplings


Saplings in the boot of Civvy


Team was fully engrossed with breakfast preparation




Some of us decided to just click a few pictures


Every one was happy cooking breakfast!














Finally Lemon Rice and Curd Rice was prepared and all of us had a hefty breakfast. Since I had many surprise destinations in plan, I did not want to spend time searching for lunch

continued...

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014


Breakfast Done, Time to get the vessels back


Time for some more water


The final pack up frenzy


I tried to turn Civvy around


Needed a few iterations!


Finally done!


Time to take Civvy out of the Farm House


See the wheel spin, it was a climb, a curve and with loose stones


Second try got Civvy through


First Challenge over


Parked Civvy on level ground


i10 tries the climb


i10 clears in the first attempt


i10 exits the Farm House



After parking both the cars on level ground we came back to check if we have left anything behind.

We took a group picture


It was already 10:00AM, and we had to start our drive for the day.

continued...

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

Tea estate


He pops out of the bushes


The way down to the road


The Jeeps have made the trail difficult for sedans


Cautiously we made our way down, careful enough not to scrape the belly of both cars












Doggy also came all the way!




Oops, road almost scraped the bumper




Civvy striking a pose




Doggy was hesitant to let us leave


Doggy leaves us a foot print!


It was 10:30AM, 20 degrees.


Our return drive started. we enjoyed the small stay we had at the farm house. Experience of making dinner, breakfast was far better that spending time in some resort ordering and waiting for food. We got to know each other a bit more, and made a point that we should do such trips often!

continued...

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

We started our drive back to Bangalore by 10:30AM from Wayanad. We stopped by all beautiful places for some pictures.

Tea Plantation en route






Every one trying to capture the beauty


There was a milestone nearby







We reached Mudumalai tiger Reserve by 12:00 hours



After we crossed into Mudumalai tiger reserve, I suddenly decided to drive all the way upto Ooty via Masinagudi. The hairpins were attracting me, and for the team the thrill of being to Ooty. I was enjoying the drive and went slow on the clicks!!

We reached Ooty by 13:00 hours




It was a pleasant 19 degrees at Ooty. It was some 90 odd kilometers from Wayanad


After spending a few moments we started our return back to Bangalore. We again took the Masinagudi route back.

continued....

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

When we reached Masinagudi back, I had a surprise for the team by turning to Moyar. It was noon, and I did not expect any wild life sightings, but just the fun of a drive!

We saw spotted deers


We stopped for the Mongoose to cross




We saw a peacock


We stopped at Moyar and relaxed for a bit. I was busy downing a couple of tender coconuts while the team were getting their clicks. Some of them came back with raw tamarinds from the trees. Unfortunately while savouring the tasty tamarinds, the spirited driver of i10 hurt his eyes with its sticks. He was in pain, but still he braved the drive back to Bangalore.

We reached KA TN border by 16:00 hours




Looking back we saw that we passed TN Territory


He decided to walk into KA


Leaving TN for now!


We were in Bandipur Tiger Reserve


KA Checkpost


We saw spotted deers again


continued...

[laluks]

Day 02 : 18.01.2014

We reached Bandipur by 16:30 hours




Bandipur always had some tamed elephants, this time too we got to see them.

Elephants at Bandipur


Can you spot the baby elephant?


A little away this guy showed up


He wanted some support


By 16:45 we started our return journey. We drove via Chamraj Nagar, Kanakapura route. We stopped by for dinner at a restaurant in Kanakapura.

i10 guy was really having trouble with his hurt eye in the night. After dinner he got one of our team mate to drive the car.

I bid goodbye to the team after dinner and took NICE road to my home. I reached home around 22:30 hours.

ODO read 888, what a drive. It was fun. May be trips like this will happen again, may be not. The only constant thing in the world is change. Years will move on, teams will form and teams will change. To me now the memories remain, of a few good hours spent in life.

With that thought I hit the bed for a very much needed rest.

THE END

PS: i10 guy needed a complete rest of over a week to get his eyes out of danger. Thankfully everything was fine.