[jacs]

Let me be the first to comment and rate this thread 5 star .

Beautiful shots, this is more of a photologue with supporting write-up. Good job Karthik. Your Jet is well kept

[Dodge_Viper]

Just wow! Short of words to describe. BTW, when did you visit Kaas? We too were there on September 15th.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...pic-drive.html

[extreme_torque]

Wonderful travelogue! Your extremely well maintained Linea looks gorgeously gorgeous!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Ampere helped me a lot in planning this trip's itinerary. I asked him when would be the right time to plan a visit to this flowering paradise. Him and another BHPian suggested I keep my visit to September 2nd or 3rd week when the monsoon just departs, and so I did just that. I am super thankful to Ampere for helping out even during the trip when I had a couple of doubts en route and at Satara.

Thanks Karthik, but you are being modest! Actually you dont need any help on this one! Its one straight route to Satara!

But yes Kaas as a place was something which I got introduced to, thanks to this forum. As you see every city/town has its own set of hidden niceties and nearby places. When you connect on a forum like this, you get to taste such niceties across. And if visiting such places is feasible, then even better!

Even I first experienced Kaas through Lalu's eyes, which really got in me the desire to visit this place. And having said that I can say it with conviction that its just not the flowering season alone when you can visit this place. Its beautiful even at other times. We visited in Jan and what we saw was a totally different spectacle in a totally different setting.

Needless to say, very well captured. Some of the long shots of the Jet are very nice. I also see an Eco-sport in one of those snaps!

[ghodlur]

Karthik,

Congratulations on becoming a D-BHPian.

The travelogue was mesmerising, pics were crisp total justice done to the visit. Good to know you enjoyed the local food too. Had you come another 170 kms ahead from Pune, I would have met you to have a closer look at the gleaming Black knight. Maybe for another time.

Rated the thread 5 stars.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by jacs

Let me be the first to comment and rate this thread 5 star .

Beautiful shots, this is more of a photologue with supporting write-up. Good job Karthik. Your Jet is well kept

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

Just wow! Short of words to describe.

Thanks a lot for the kind words guys! Glad you enjoyed going through it

BTW, when did you visit Kaas? We too were there on September 15th.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...pic-drive.html

We wanted to avoid weekends, so we were there in Kaas on September 16th, Monday. On September 15th, you guys would have probably passed my resort on the way back from Kaas, where I was probably watching TV *lol*

Brilliant thread there, I'd followed that thread too and looks like you guys had tons of fun during the drive. Had I known there was a BHP meet planned for Kaas, I would have joined your battalion for sure. Hopefully next time, I will keep my eyes on the meet section and be prepared about such things happening outside my city.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Wonderful travelogue! Your extremely well maintained Linea looks gorgeously gorgeous!

Thanks a lot for the kind words extreme_torque!

Originally Posted by ampere

But yes Kaas as a place was something which I got introduced to, thanks to this forum. As you see every city/town has its own set of hidden niceties and nearby places. When you connect on a forum like this, you get to taste such niceties across. And if visiting such places is feasible, then even better!

Even I first experienced Kaas through Lalu's eyes, which really got in me the desire to visit this place. And having said that I can say it with conviction that its just not the flowering season alone when you can visit this place. Its beautiful even at other times. We visited in Jan and what we saw was a totally different spectacle in a totally different setting.

I absolutely agree on this. I had not even known about this place until I saw some travelogues on team-bhp. Thanks to the forum, we are now exposed to so many travel options which were hitherto unknown. Like you mentioned, I believe this place will produce different hues if visited at other off-season times as well, plus the crowd will be lesser. Definitely warrants a visit again sometime.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The travelogue was mesmerising, pics were crisp total justice done to the visit. Good to know you enjoyed the local food too. Had you come another 170 kms ahead from Pune, I would have met you to have a closer look at the gleaming Black knight. Maybe for another time.

Rated the thread 5 stars.

Thanks a lot ghodlur! Glad you enjoyed going through the pictures. This time, the itinerary was a bit rushed. Next time I visit Kaas, I should perhaps stretch the schedule a bit and accommodate Mahabaleshwar and Mumbai too. Then we can have a mini-meet in Mumbai maybe

[F150]

Fantastic report.

Thank you for reporting the road condition of NH4. MH section of NH4 has always been iffy. The KA section was in top condition right ?

You drove all the way from BLR to PNQ to visit Kaas.

I live in Pune and have gone to Kaas only once. I will plan this year.

Nivant Resort was a good find. What was the tariff ?

Looking at your Linea, makes me want one. But no shopping at least for the next 2 years.

[raghunandanj]

Thanks much for this wonderful piece of information and pictures. This reminds me of the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand.

Can you please provide some suggestions on family lodging when planning a vacation to these places, and also the best time of the year when flowers are aplently here ?

Thanks

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by F150

Fantastic report.

Thank you for reporting the road condition of NH4. MH section of NH4 has always been iffy. The KA section was in top condition right ?

Thanks a lot F150
Yeah the road was in very good shape on the KA side. In fact even after entering MH, the condition of NH 4 till Kolhapur, and later till Karad was very nice. Karad - Satara and then on became very patchy and bruised. Not sure if that stretch has been fixed up now though.

You drove all the way from BLR to PNQ to visit Kaas.

I live in Pune and have gone to Kaas only once. I will plan this year.

Haha, blame other Team-BHP travelogues for giving us folks some gyaan on such beautiful places like Kaas. I wouldn't even have known of such a place if not for some of the earlier Kaas travelogues.

Nivant Resort was a good find. What was the tariff ?

It was quite a frugal place and surprisingly efficient and clean. We paid somewhere around 2k per AC room per night, inclusive of taxes. The tariff did not include any food (not even breakfast) though - all rates mentioned on their site are for European plan

Looking at your Linea, makes me want one. But no shopping at least for the next 2 years.

Hopefully by then, there will be better cars from their stable. 2016 Facelifted Linea with 1.4 MultiAir T-Jet at 180HP. Wishful thinking, eh?? *winks*

Originally Posted by raghunandanj

Thanks much for this wonderful piece of information and pictures. This reminds me of the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand.

Thanks for the kind words raghunandanj. Happy to know if the information is of some use to you. The actual valley of flowers that you speak of definitely is on my backlog since long. Need to plan up a trip to that place when I head up north sometime in the future.

Can you please provide some suggestions on family lodging when planning a vacation to these places, and also the best time of the year when flowers are aplently here ?

Thanks

As far as I know, this place (Nivant hill resort) is the most convenient since it is on the Satara - Kaas road and you don't waste time getting out of the town traffic. It is a decent resort for families with very limited rooms (hence limited crowd) and provides excellent service; in fact I zeroed in on it after ampere's suggestion and tripadvisor reviews, where Nivant scores #1 for resorts in this area. It would be my obvious choice even if I visit Kaas this year again.

That said, there were some more bigger resorts we saw further towards Kaas plateau. I don't remember the names properly though. I can find out for you and post the information here on this thread in a couple of days.

[driving_smartly]

@KarthikK, Rated it 5 Stars

Your travalogue kept me glued to seat, very well narrated and beautifully captured pictures

Which Camera did you use in this trip ?

KAAS and its surrounding areas are in my must-visit wishlist since many days, but till date i did not have any chance of visiting it.

Hope this Monsoon i will be able to break that jinx.

How did you manage to get inside VW factory ? That factory is probably odd 30-35 Kms away from my native place.
Good to know that you enjoyed our Maharashtrian Delicacy

Next time you visit here i would definitely like to see your "Red Ride Punto" its on my wishlist too

[laluks]

Wow!
I love the shades of greens at MH. I was telling SDP once MH has at least three shades of green, and the meadows picture show that typical green available at MH

[Achekay]

As they say, "A true Masterpice needs no description".
Amazing is an understatement. I absolutely enjoyed your travelogue. And being a Maharashtrian by birth and upbringing, I especially felt proud that you loved our Jowar Roti(we call it bhaakri).
As for that board you couldn't translate, here goes:

FOREST DEPARTMENT, SATARA
There should be madness for adventure, but not madness in it.
(Above quote doesn't translate well in English)
Enjoy the mesmerising views of the waterfall from here.

[ashkamath]

Hey Karthik,
As you rightly mentioned in the beginning, my laptop took ages to load the page ( I have a 2G connection) and it kept on loading and loading and loading, probably the longest time it took to open any TBHP page.
Then I was taken on a photo journey, a drive through the paradise, again probably maximum time I had ever spent on a single TBHP page, occupied every moment. It was a literal trip for me and felt as if I was your 5th passenger
And Kaas has become Khaas to me too. definitely in my bucket list now.
Now about the trip log. Mesmerized (those colorful landscape) and spellbound (your commentary) and overall a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
This is what T-BHP is all about. I can only imagine the trouble and time that you have taken to upload those hundreds of photos and those anecdotes accompanying them and it must have surely taken a good chunk of your free time. As a reader it is easy to glance and write a token of appreciation but to put that sort of effort is truly commendable. This forum has some amazing guys like you. Thanks and Kudos to you.

[Inquisitive]

One of my friends informs me that the 'bad hair day' bird is a crested lark (Galerida cristata).

[Joe M]

Wonderful pics, and nice writing! To be frank, your 'Jet' is the best looking Linea I've ever come across. Kudos for maintaining it so well and shiny. Really got impressed with the black 'confused' dog looking at the Linea.

Enjoyed every bit of the travelogue. Thanks for sharing!