[lucifer1881]

Keen fans of sitcoms would immediately glean that the title of this thread is a portmanteau of two very popular television shows – ‘Two and a Half Men’ and ‘Friends’. It is not necessary to have followed either show to fully understand the super fun that this weekend trip was. However, it would not be far from the truth to state that those 2 days indeed rank right up there among all other Days of our Lives (see what I did there?).

It all began with a causal conversation over an evening of fun and frolic. We have all been a part of those evenings – as the night wears on, the brotherhood gets stronger, the conversations get existential and the plans get ambitious. But as Bajaj saab put it in an entirely different context the other day, “We are serious people when it comes to road trips.” The bond between man and machine is strong, the calling of the horses under the hood is always answered, and any reason to get away from the madding city rush is good enough.

The appointed day arrived – 16 September 2017. The men were ready – Avinash, Rajesh, Rohit. The cars were loaded – the thundering Aspire, the world’s most famous Elantra, and the very sprightly Celerio. While Avinash and Rajesh tell us more about how their cars performed, a little nudge-nudge, wink-wink is in order in the spirit of friendly banter.

Lined up just outside Kurnool for the run to Belum Caves. Mr. Pandey seems to be thrilled beyond belief.

I have said enough about the Elantra in my logs – Dalhousie, Bhutan – but she never ceases to amaze me. As I have gotten older (and presumably wiser), I have realized that driving with your pants on fire at 200 million miles an hour doesn’t really save you any more than 10 minutes at the end of the day. What matters is how quickly your car can go from 60kmph to 100kmph because that is what you end up doing a lot on the highways – whether you are stuck behind a slow vehicle or you come across a bad patch of road. The Elantra excels here. She can sputter along at 60kmph in fifth gear looking for that opening to overtake. And when the narrowest of them opens up, she knuckles down with a big grunt and zooms past.

Lens flare? Yep, JJ does it too.

Anyway. The plan was to drive via Belum Caves (rated the second best cave system in India) to Gandikota – the Grand Canyon of India. To be honest, I think that moniker is unjust. Gandikota is ethereal in its own way. And I will very shortly tell you why.

The Route from Hyderabad to Gandikota via Belum Caves

The route is a mix of excellent roads, okay roads, bad roads and no roads. In short, it gives you all that you need on a road trip. The last 14 km to Gandikota is straight out of our childhood drawings – you know, the one with two mountains, a stream and the rising sun. It is possibly the best road I have driven across, and I have driven across over 80,000km of highways in India. On each road trip, I believe I have found the most scenic road in the world. And every subsequent road trip proves to me just how wrong I was when I find a route that is even more scenic.

A short stop to breathe in the sights of nature. This was near Owk.

[lucifer1881]

We got on the NH7 (yes, I am old school and refuse to call this amazing piece of road by its new name) around 7am, which was a little later than the target time of 6:30. A quick word about FasTag. It lives up to its name, and then some. Except for the Raikal / Jadcherla toll where the FasTag lane was permitting non-tag vehicles as well, it was an absolute breeze everywhere else. It almost makes you feel like a VIP – a special lane dedicated to you that lets you leave those in front of you far behind, never to see them again even as a mere speck in your rear view mirror.

Our first stop was Food Pyramid for breakfast. We love this place. It is unpretentious, affordable and serves delicious food – everything one needs on a road trip.

Selfie maine le li aaj, no offense to Dhinchak Pooja


Food Pyramid – A must stop for every road trip down this road

From here on it was quite uneventful until we made the left turn towards Kurnool and got on the Nandyal highway. However, getting to the Nandyal highway was interesting. Google maps acted weird and took us through some narrow town roads. Avinash and I decided to turn back and take the usual route when we came across a section of the road that could at best be described as “are you kidding me?” Rajesh soldiered on and got on the highway eventually. The three of us regrouped just beyond Rayalseema University.

It is about a 2 hour drive from here to Belum Caves, if you drive non-stop. But you don’t drive non-stop when you come across a place that screams “STOP”, and in a good way.

The Owk Reservoir


The women strike a pose, with due respects to Madonna


Discussing the solution to world peace


The 3 Musketeers


The cars rival the reservoir in their beauty. Surely.


The sky is just showing off


She’s mean. She’s blue. She’s coming to get you.

[lucifer1881]

Much has been said about Belum caves. It isn’t nearly enough.

The phantom, as Neelguy put it



When words are mere crutches and the pictures mere descriptions…


The stairs to another world, another universe

\

The sky’s above and the ground is above too. Where are we?

The caves aren’t for the faint of heart or the unfit. They go on for over 3km. In those depths, with the walls closing around you, it feels like they go on forever. Make no mistake, they are well-lit. They have ventilation, albeit one that can be termed functional. They are very well maintained by the AP Tourism Department. But they are caves. And caves are some of the most inhospitable environments in the world (not my words, Attenborough’s).

The best thing about them? Very, very few tourists. Tourists are a bane of tourism.

The Paatalganga

[lucifer1881]

When Three and a Half Men and their Women reached Gandikota, it was almost 4pm. We checked into the Gandikota Haritha Resort, did a quick freshening up, and made our way to the Gandikota Fort. The view of the famous canyon is through the fort.

Say what you will, modern smartphone cameras almost negate the need of a DSLR these days. Almost…


Like I said, almost. No smartphone camera can give you this shot.

We reached the gorge around 5:30pm. I would say this is the perfect time to reach the place. As we experienced dusk fall, something inside us stirred and egged us to stay on a little longer. We are glad we did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AJ-oeH0Ifc

Yep, we had a Chinese lantern fly over the canyon After the Sunset


The perfunctory group picture


Note the happy faces despite the melting heat inside Belum caves.


Lovely weather, lovely people, lovely destination. A great weekend getaway!

That’s not all, or is it? There is one more thing…

Tilting at the windmills

Indian Oil operates these Windmills less than 4km from the APTDC Haritha Resort at Gandikota. The drive to the windmills was the best drive of this trip, and that is saying something! Narrow mountain roads, superb tarmac, and 3 cars driven lazily to breathe in all the sights, sounds and smells of this wonderland.

Is there a better road on this planet?


Tell me. I dare you. I double dare you.

The idea was to spend a couple of minutes here and then make the drive back. We ended up staying for over an hour, I believe. When we did start the drive back, it was with the satisfaction that comes from spending time well.

Yep, the proof of the pudding is in its eating. The Celerio and the Aspire look great in the rear view mirror, don’t they?

We came back via Gooty. Gooty is 70 km from Gandikota, a 2 hour drive. We stopped at Gooty for the feast of our lives – Egg Bhurji, Rayalseema Chicken, Dal Tadka, Phulka, Jeera Rice and the tastiest Musambi juice ever.

From Gooty, it was a non-stop run till Hyderabad for Rajesh. Anivash and I took a tea break at Food Pyramid.

[ampere]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[jacs]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

Much has been said about Belum caves. It isn’t nearly enough.

Title made me curious and I stopped by. Those pictures are amazing and I am sure its quite an experience.

Btw is that natural lighting inside the caves? Glad to see AP government maintains the place well.

Thanks for sharing.

[selfdrive]

Our summer vacations were spent travelling to/ from Chennai by train. Some of the train stations still evoke fond memories. Key among them were Cuddapah, Tadpatri (we waited then for guavas), Gooty (for chilled Frooti) and Guntakal. These things seemed like luxuries to us while travelling on that baking hot train.
While I am not sure of the sequence of these train stations on that route, I recall spending hours at the door or window wondering what these rocks or hillocks hold within them. Maybe it is time to revisit in person, this time not by train

Sorry for going off on a tangent, but probably that is what happens when nostalgia takes over.

Coming back to your thread, awesome pictures and looks like you have a good find with that road towards the windmills. Could you also please recommend what season/ months would be good to visit and any review of the hotel you stayed at?

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by jacs

Title made me curious and I stopped by. Those pictures are amazing and I am sure its quite an experience.

He he, thanks! Yes, I do love my movies and TV shows. And if using them gets my thread more views, then so be it.

Originally Posted by jacs

Btw is that natural lighting inside the caves? Glad to see AP government maintains the place well...

The caves are subterranean. The lighting you see is artificial.

Originally Posted by selfdrive

...Coming back to your thread, awesome pictures and looks like you have a good find with that road towards the windmills. Could you also please recommend what season/ months would be good to visit and any review of the hotel you stayed at?

We stayed at APTDC Haritha Resort at Gandikota. The charges are INR 1232 (including GST) per room per night for an AC room. They also have dormitories, and allow tenting as well within their premises, if you ask nicely. It is a very basic stay option but more than a bang for the buck. Do book this in advance as it gets full during weekends, and the nearest place to find accommodation is 14km away.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Nice work Rohit.Very well summarized.Took us back instantly to those moments

Here's my short gyaan on the entire experience ( in no particular order)

Travel :-

True to us following the HST ( Hyderabad Stretchable Time) we had a delayed start of about one hour and were finally on the Hyderabad -Bangalore highway 7am after a short regroup on the Outer Ring Road

While the 2 famous cars on the forum ( The Vintage Elantra and mobike008's Blue Bombardier ) were immediate on the job to set new land speed records the humble Celerio chugged along to play catch up at break fast pit stop Food Pyramid ( we were about 20 mins behind the torch bearers)

The other stalwart (gt tsi) is due for tyre change hence the celerio was the chosen one ( great city car ) and surprisingly does the job on the national highways ( due credit to the upsize tyres which made a lot of difference in ride and overall handling)

Rohit has already covered our ordeal in crossing Kurnool post which it was a straight run via some nice green country roads to Belum Caves ( passing through many small towns /cement factories and granite excavation/mining locations

Belum Caves:-

Slated to be the 2nd largest natural cave complex in the country ,this one lives up to its reputation.I personally have never visited any cave complex before this ( baring a cave complex in Thailand & Kanheri caves during my days in Mumbai)

Totally spell bound.

Well Lit and super amazing formations of stalactite and stalagmite all across the various passages.

Mobike and self gave up half way (probably about a km into the cave) as the feeling of claustrophobia kicked in ( not to forget we were sweating profoundly as well)

My little one (Agastya/0.5 man) wanted to move on as Uncle Rohit tricked him to a promise of a 'swimming pool' further inside ( the patalganga) .Both of them came up tired and the little one was super grumpy ( he wanted to dive into the pool)


Caves-Done
Customary pics ( selfie/groupie/funny poses) -Done

Time for a quick lunch at a small canteen run by the aptdc folks .No great shakes on the food but good enough to fill your tummies and kill those hunger pangs

Full marks to APTDC on keeping the general upkeep of the place

Travel continues...

Listening to our favorite bands ( wife and I have the same taste in music ) clubbed with some nursery rhymes in between for the little one we reached APTDC Gandikota about half past 4.The last 14 odd km road was pure bliss (wish it had rained during that phase)

A quick change and we headed straight to the gandikota fort which is right on the banks of the river pennar and has the famous view point of the gorge ( what a view)

The fort itself is interesting for the history buffs but our agenda was to soak in the view,fly kites and Chinese lanterns from the view point

Over cast sky meant it was darker than usual and it was time to leave ( Yes the mosquitos bites started )

The place is really spooky after sunset ( even though there are human settlement in the vicinity those ruins do look scary)

Back at the Hotel(merely a km from the fort) ,after a quick shower we wanted to continue with the evening festivities on the terrace but rains played spoilsport and had to settle in the room)

APTDC Resort Gandikota :-

For INR 1232 ++ decent rooms with functional a/c , tata sky ( which thank fully had Disney Junior ) and geyser

Room service is efficient

You can take your cars right upto the rooms

Food is okish and limited ( so do ensure your meals are per their prescribed time)

Surroundings are lush green and you can see the wind energy fans( if that is what they are called) surrounding the property all across

Day 2 :-

Except the Mobike's( Mr & Mrs) who decided to do a revisit to the gorge view point all slept off to glory and were in time for the bf.Later we also discovered you can actually trek down to the river bed

Cars loaded ,Staff tipped we set off for the return journey via Gooty.Quick recce to the windmill section which has an amazing view point of the entire fort complex below and a reservoir and in the back drop

Hit the Bangalore -Hyderabad highway around 1.45pm and immediately stopped for lunch ( sticked to egg bhurji ,dal and rotis ) while the remainder gang in addition had some spicy rayalseema chicken ( it sure looked super hot)

Nothing more to say on the return journey as its a boring drive with no scenary to speak about ( though our 3 1/2 year old son's observations and questions kept us engaged ) one of them being :-

Son :- Papa why do you go to office ?
Papa :- Because I love my work and it pays me too
Son:- Why don't you pay me to go to school ?
Papa - Looking at momma (with a smirk )

The little joys of parenting ,I tell you

We made it to Hyderabad around 7pm just in time for the little one to attend his friend's birthday party (part of the reason for us to skip food pyramid pit stop on the return leg)


Other points/tips:-

The closest fuel station to Gandikota is in the town of Jammalamadugu ( ~ 14 km) so tank up there

Carry a mosquito repellent and a torch

Carry an ice box ( has multiple uses ) and the rooms don't have a fridge

The walk to the view point is rocky with lots of ups and down ,so if you are not the fit types don't do it

The network reception at the resort is poor ,surprisingly the fort complex and the view point had 4g

Should you chose to camp ,carry your own gear as there is a dedicated place right outside the resort complex

Overall a great outing with like minded folks

Let me see if I can few pics from my humble phone in a future post

Cheers ,

RR

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Nice work Rohit.Very well summarized.Took us back instantly to those moments...

I aim to please .

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

...While the 2 famous cars on the forum ( The Vintage Elantra and mobike008's Blue Bombardier ) were immediate on the job to set new land speed records the humble Celerio chugged along to play catch up at break fast pit stop Food Pyramid ( we were about 20 mins behind the torch bearers)...

She may be vintage but she has been to places where SUVs fear to tread.

Also, for the record, Avi and I stuck to the speed limit on the highway. We are law abiding citizens that way. The reason we pulled away from you was the superior pick up of our rides - overtaking was that much easier. A word about the Elantra here (yet again). She pulls to 60kmph in first gear and 100kmph in second at 5500 rpm. That is all you need to leave others behind.

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

The other stalwart (gt tsi) is due for tyre change...

The TSI would have been a hoot in the mountain roads. I know I thoroughly enjoyed my drive through those twists and turns. Sister-in-law did not complain of car sickness in the backseat either. So that means the car simply devoured corners without making its occupants sick. All good.

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

My little one (Agastya/0.5 man) wanted to move on as Uncle Rohit tricked him to a promise of a 'swimming pool' further inside ( the patalganga) .Both of them came up tired and the little one was super grumpy ( he wanted to dive into the pool)

Yes, Chachu is a tricky sort of person.

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

Over cast sky meant it was darker than usual...

It also meant some lovely shots of the sky.

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

The place is really spooky after sunset ( even though there are human settlement in the vicinity those ruins do look scary)

Spooky is right. I would have stayed for longer if rain was not in the air. You know I don't like getting drenched in the rain.

[grkonweb]

Amazing pics and interesting narration. I'd like to visit this place sometime. What's the best time to visit? Also, please let me know the contact details for booking this hotel? Is it possible to book online or is it only through phone?

[mobike008]

Lucifer1881 : Nice and crisp update of our lovely impromptu trip to Gandikota. I was totally spell bound to see both the Belum Caves as well as the Gandikota canyons

It just beats me that being in AP for so long we never visited these wonders of our great country

Belum Caves is 2nd largest caves in India and it was a breathtaking experience while the Canyons were a mini Grand Canyons of America (though never visited that till date)

Belum caves visit would have been better had the weather was better (It was hot, humid and irritable). So best time to visit these places are from November to February and do ensure you visit the canyons both at dusk as well as dawn to see the colors of the skies change dramatically

Well, I shared a short write up of the trip on my ownership report which can be read here :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post4274671

It was a thoroughly enjoyable 850kms drive over 2 days and as usual the Blue Bombardier was rocking on the highway

And, below are a few random pics from my iPhone

[Rajesh Rawal]

Adding a few clicked from the hand phone ( do excuse the quality)

More of humans and less of scenery ( though I have to mention please look at the clouds ,seemed god drew them personally to enhance the pics )

[ARAY]

Wonderful narration there mate!
We recently did Gandikota few months back and yes you are absolutely right, unless you visit the spot, no camera can do justice to the beauty it beholds.
I was smiling all along while reading your blog and you guys visited the exact same locations which I did in Duster.
Heres my blog bdw.
www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/187720-hyderabad-gandikota-belum-caves-duster-awd.html#post4215373

And heres a shot from the trip.




Thanks again for helping us relive some fond memories.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Originally Posted by ARAY

I was smiling all along while reading your blog and you guys visited the exact same locations which I did in Duster.

.

Well truth be told your write up was used many a times as reference point during the planning phase for our trip

Offline conversations amongst all of us ensured everyone read your story to get a glimpse of whats in store

We are so glad we did this ( not many weekend options from hyd anyways )