[black12rr]

Please correct typos urselfs . Here is log .





Departure - Bangalore
Destination - Kanyakumari

Duration - 6 days

Riders -
N.krishna.P - TVS apache.
Santosh N - stock 180 dtsi

Route: B’lore – Mysore – Bandipur – Gudalur – Nilambur – Perinthalmanna - Shoranur – Thrissur – Cochin – Alleppey – Kollam – Trivandrum – Kovalam – Kanyakumari – Madurai (Tirumangalam) – Kodaikanal – Periyakulam – Theni – Bodinayakanur – Pooppara – Devikulam – Munnar – Udumalpet – Coimbatore – Satyamangalam – Chamarajnagar – Kollegal – Maddur – B’lore.

Trip log read 2032 kms on retrun to home

Day 1 -Dec -25 -2006

The previous day , took almost from morning till evening to get everything stuffed into cramster saddle bag and tank bag, was little hesitant to be away for so many days ,but the butterfly thing was also getting bigger. Loaded all essential stuff
clothes ,bike spares ,bosch tool kit ,bulbs,tubes spare visor ,maps ..etc etc and camera ,how can i forget this, with 4 spare lithium battiers and 2 X 1 GB SD cards , krishna prasad(KP) was carrying 4 GB .Left home at 5.45 am on december 25 th
2006 .Halted at SBI atm and checked out few thousand rupees .Reached Shell petrol bunk near mysore road where KP was waiting ,we both filled up to brim .My bikes rear tyre was little less ,the air pump was still not on and we had to carry on to find the next air pump ,we did not find any sutiable place to fill up the air ,eman while we reached kamat Lokaruchi by 8 or so , there was massive Q since it was peak season and everyone wanted to escape the city madness
like us.Finished hot idli vadas breakfast with a hot cup of coffee only to find the rear michelin was flat on my Bike .Grrr ,what a thing to start off the trip with . Fortunately there is a punture shop next to hotel itself , got the tyre removed and
the went to get it repaired while KP guarding both the bikes .Again got the wheel back and fixed it ,took almost an hour .Finally started rolling and reached nanjangud to break for cocunut water .After that headed towards bandipur .Halted at pugmark resturant for lunch .Headed towards Gudalur, stopped for snaps ,Ho! those clean bandipur roads , i want to go again , took a right turn to enter Nilambur (Nilambur road ) .Rode througha tea plantation ,stopped for some more snaps,roads were good , stopped for tea at all veg/non-veg resturant (we had no other choice ) .It was ~ 5- pm already,reached peritalmana ,headed towards Pattambi .From hear the roads were really bad ,reached shornur and then Thrissur , the roads were bad till here .From Thrissur roads were good ,reached Chocin by 8.30 or so.Since it was a peak season ,we couldnt find a decent room,problem was we didnt know where to look for rooms .Finally after roaming around inside the city for an hour ,headed towards MG road ,finally checked into an AC room .Dumped the lugguage and
got down to have dinner ,we were the last customers .Had chapati and boiled rice ,but KP had no complains since hes used to boiled rice .After than usual Bike talk , analyse each others pictures we took through out the day and Zzzzzz by ~11 pm .






Day 2 - Dec-26-2006

The previous days night ride and horrible ride only made us to be awake by ~7.30 am , finished breakfast took the Bike out from the basement ,only to find out that the one of the springs inside the rear break was touching the drum, KP said
we will fix it on the way ,with the cochin heat it would be difficult to stop for any repairs ,best bet would be to repair it ourselfs ,removed the rear breka drum ,replaced the spare spring the carried and also tightened the chain slack
.Lubricated the chain with 90 w gear oil which we carried .KP also tightened and lubricated the chain,it was already 9am the heat was getting on ,KP used to sweat just by standing still .Settled the room bill and check out to head towards
Trivandrum , the roads were good ,stopped inbetween to fill up petrol.Reached trivandrum and headed towards kollam ,had to wait for 15 -20 minutes for a train stop ,KP dint have patience for not waiting for train cross and wanted to skip
kollam,Finally after the train cross hit the beach to some snaps,the beach was clean with few ppl, decided to finish lunch at the resturant next to beach itself.At lunch decided that we will not be reaching kanyakumari for sunset .Headed
towards kovallam ,it was full of tourist and buzz .Found it hard to keep the cramsters ,found a local guy from karnataka ,who finally after lot of pleading agreed to take care of the cramsters and keenpads.Headed towards beach and it was full of tourist , the beach was clean .The sun was going down ,took lot of snaps .~ 6.30 pm .it was time to hit KK ( kanyakumari) ,thanked the guy for taking care of lugguage ,took a pic of him with KP and departed ,headed towards KK
.Again a night ride ,arrgg ,but it was inevitable we had to reach KK .The roads were good but it was narrow and full of traffic , it was monday and the traffic was unbearable, was telling KP ,what would had happened if we had come on
sunday .We were hitting traffic/citied every 20 minutes or so ,finally found a roads roads ~12 kms before KK ,the road was very good untill KK .Damn again no rooms ,peak season , some how got a AC room for a heafty price .Dumped the
lugguage ,and took a hot refreshing bath ,it feels so good to have a hot bath after a long ride .Headed towards triveni resturant as suggested by KP .KP knows tamil ,but little malayalm ,me neither of them ,it helps to know other languages .
Had wonderful south indian food and hey no boiled rice .Took a walk after dinner towards the beach side ,it was good to sit under the stars ,we were glad to ride to the south most point of INDIA .There were lot of fake things being sold here like binoculars "Made in Rustia " .Came back to room , put the cameras and batteries to charge and Zzzzz to wake up early atleast to catch the KK sunrise .

Day 3 -Dec- 27 - 2006

Got up by ~ 5 am ,grabbed the camera and headed towards the beach to find hundereds of ppl gathered to catch the sunrise ,we were not the only ones.How can i know ,this was the first time me hitting this place . There were clouds ,
took snaps of whatever was left and spent some time .One thing i noticed was the beach was very drity and not maintained at all ,litter all over,sheeh .. . Came back to room took bath and again headed towards Triveni for breakfast .came back to room and we decided to skip todays ride and see all the places near by .KP was a veteran since he had been here earlier ,though not on Bike .First got down and inspected the Bike ,topped up the engine oil of both the bikes
with 20W50 Active extra.Headed towards suchindram ( a temple ~12 kms from KK ) . On the way towards suchindram meet a UK couple on bull ,they were touring india and were heading towards cochin probably .Had Bike chat with them
and snaps .Headed towards temple. Cheched the lugguage at the counter .No cameras allowed , for boys ,not to wear anything above waist ,had to removed jacket,t-shirt and even banian also , only upon entering the temple found out how
majestic,marvellous ,outstanding from any other temple i had seen in my life ,the temple is really big inside and even a whole day is not enough to see it , the architecture is truely master piece,no modern CAD/CAM modelling or engineering will be able to each create atleast one of the masterpieces there . There were stones when hit will give out wodden instrument sounds ,means the stone were hollow from inside , the stones were 10 - 15 feet tall with hollow inside ! .
A must vist . After seeing around some time headed back to room , had lunch again triveni and head to ferry to see swamivivekananda rock . This rock is couple of hundred meters in the sea away from the shore .we have to take the ferry
to reach the rock , there is a massive Q for the ferry and would took 30 minutes to reach the ferry in the Q .Since it was the peak season ,so might me the Q .Never come in peak season again !. There are two rocks actually in the sea , the
ferry will take you to the first rock and then again from that rock to the second rock.The second rock is where it is belived that swami vivekanada meditated from dec 26 to dec 28 , i dont remember exactly, we were here on dec 27 ! .
It will take like 1.5hours ~ 2 hours to see both the rocks and get back to shore.we hit the room by 4 pm , instead of night here ,we decided to pack off and head towards Tirunelvelli and halt there so that munnar would be close the next day .Started to ride beside a number of wind mills and stopped by to click some snaps , the NH 7 was butter smooth and we reached Tirunelvelli to break for cutlet ,tea and samosa ! .The roads were so good that we decided to carry on ,the NH 7 is truely the best road the have ever ridden ,that too in night .In day it it would have been shear pleasure to ride .All the 16 BHP firing on all the sides were not enough to enjoy the roads . We halted for adjusted by beam length .Stopped at Tirumagala some 20 kms from madurai ! , we both did not realise we rode from KK to almost madurai , the roads were that good .Ask local guy for directions for koadaikanal that we plan to hit next day ,we found a AC room for a good rate with a place to park our bikes safely ,come down had dinner and Zzzzzz.



Day 4 - Dec - 28 -2006

Had good breakfast , checked out , lubricated the both the bikes chains and started by 9 PM , the roads from here to kodaikanal were really good ,again a must do roads ! . Took snaps at couple of places on the way to kodaikanal.From the base( i belive it is vattaikundu) kodaikanal is 45 kms up through some of very good lush green ghats , the roads are very good . The plan was to reach kodaikanal and from there head to Munnar .We had to skip thekaddi ( will do this soon ! ) .It was getting cold as we reach kodaikanal only to find that the road to munnar is blocked ! , the roads were bad and it was jungle itseems and was closed . Hmm what to do ? , we had lunch at kodaikanal and again headed back 45 kms back to base ( vattaikundu) . We were getting tired and decided to halt at a waterfalls view point on the way down.Here i was getting little headache and dozzed off on a stone near by ,i slept like 15 - 20 minutes with any consiousness
.KP was awake looking at bikes and having a chat on the cell .woke up refreshed had coconut water and again started back to base (vattaikundu) , filled up petrol here and headed towards munnar ,after some kms we hit the base of the ghat
section , the roads from here were steps ghats with plenty of landslides , this road is defiitely un motorable in monsoon ,so avoid this road as this might be closed in monsoon, or check before heading towards this road . It was getting dark and the senery was really breathtaking .It was getting cloder and cloder , halted at the tamilnadu / kerala border check post .It was already ~ 6 PM and it was drak and very cold , halted put on additional spare jacket , changed to padded new gloves . From it is is getting down the ghats and we could see many vehiles heading towards munnar , the roads were full of ghats and it was night and very cold , reached munnar entrance ,here 2 guys on a Bike tried to brainwash us saying all the room are booked and he would show us a cottage that too with a hefthy price ,we thought for a while and headed behind him to check out the room, it was smelling odd and was not at a good location,KP wanted to check in ,but me wanted to check somewhere else ,with me guarding the bikes ,KP went out to fins another one , he found a good good room with a good price and we check it ,the room was good enough and clean to spend the chilling munnar night ,heard that temp can go minus in winter , and we were here in winter ! . Dumped the lugguage and head for dinner,only to find very few resturants were pure veg ones , with KP and me being pure vegs it was tough to find one .Finally found hotel sarvana ,but it was damn crowded and we had to buy tokens to be in Q .we waited for some 30 minutes before having some good hot food . Meanwhile there is not airtel or hutch connection at munnar ,strange only bsnl and landlines .Called up home to update the status ,as always 3 times in a day .Got back to room unable to bear the cold to be welcomed by the cosy bed .Asked for one more blanket and as usual going through pics and bikes stuff ,Zzzzz .







Day 5 - Dec - 29 th - 2006 .

We had planned to get up early and hit Devikulam and other places ,it was so cold that we both unanimously agreed to doze for some more time .There was no hot water here ,but buket service ,but it was very hot enough to have a good
bath.At munnar ,the rules are 12 am to 12 am check out , even u come at 10 pm in the night ,check out is 12 am and we very in peak season ,we were asked to vacat the room by 12 , we left for breakfast at a non-veg resturant ( KP did not
want to wait again for 30 mintues for breakfast ) ,we had idlis and coffee only here .We headed to find a room ,since we had to spend the today's night at munnar and head to home tomorrrow.We found a very good room ,with price even lower than yesterdays cost ,we happling booked it immediately and got back to the other room ,check out and checked in at the new room Dumped the lugguage and with few directions headed towards Top station .filled up petrol before heading out . Ha! we were in centre of green green tea plantations ,the senery was wonderful ,on the way up clicked many snaps and we came across ,if i am right kundala dam, the dam was very good and also hosted speed boats ,we
decided to check this on the way back from Top station, the roads to top station is ok ,but there were asphalting the roads ,so it should be good by next time . Reached top station and there was an entry fee ! . we had to climb down to see the view point , we could see everything from above itself ! , took snaps spent some time for tea and snack and headed back to munnar , on the way dow we decided to try speed boats , the entry itself is 25 Rs per person with praking for vehiles extra , once we got it the ticket price was 250 Rs for a boat which was seat 5 ppl , so u can 5 ppl with you or you go alone the cost is 250 Rs . But we had to wait like 1 hour for that ,what the heck ,we decided to skip it and head towards room ,we wanted to see animudi but was already getting dark ,btw u cannt take Bike all the way up to animudi ,you takeyour vehile till 4 kms from top ,from there you need to take the bus provided to reach the top. We skipped it since we cannt our bikes to top and it was also getting dark , we got back to room dumped the tank bag and kneen pads and with only the camera on the shoulder headed towards the sun set point , 7 - 10 kms far . I found the place and KP missed it going furtherm had to go and get it ,infact any one can miss it since u have to climb down few steps below a resturant to find it ,ask any one to find the sun set point .It was worth coming to munnar ot see this sunset , it was extremely beautiful and peaceful we no one around ,we were only the two clicking away with search pleasure , we both were trigger happy and i alteast clicked more than 50 photos alone here , after the sunset KP had tea at the resturant and we headed back to room.Freshned up ,came down for dinner and since we had time headed to internet , yes there is braodband at munnar ,we both were very happy to play our hands on keybaord , had been few more days and i would have forgot all the passwords of emails ..lol .After some time did some shopping and had a very good dinner at Purohit all veg resturant.Got back to room and as usual cheked out the photos and chat . We decided atleast tomorrow we wake up early and se Devikulam .


Day 6 - Dec -30th - 2006 ----- he ha ..i am going home

He he, the weather was so cold that we again decided to skip it .. . Got up like 7am and had hot hot bath .The Purohit resturant was 2 minutes walk from the room , had hot prathas and coffee for breakfast.Came back ,packed up everything , went up and checked our bikes ,the engine oil was less in both the bikes , KP filled little and i emptied the remaining engine oil . We checked out and filled the petrol enough to reach coimbatore .we also filled up air .We wanted to do valparai ,but since we did not want to ride night we skipped it .We headed towards coimbatore through chinnur forest .The roads were little bumpy and the problem was there was excess air in our tyres ,we both stopped and let out excess air and my Bike was responding amazingly.I was all charged up and climbing the ghats with full josh , KP somehow did not want to strech the Bike, I enjoying the ghats here , the profile in the rear tyre was black from one end
to other . The michliens at the both the ends were rock solidy and were sticky to tarmac through out the trip ,even KP had michelin 4.00 * 18 at the rear on his apache , i have one more set of michelins waiting at home to be shod on the
Bike. The roads were good and just before entering chinnur forest stopped for cocunut water .The forest was think and we had no luck spotting any wild animals.We reached Udamalaipetti , we called up home and headed towards pollachi .The roads were good towards coimbatore .We managed to get into a decent hotel which servered hot rice and sambar on bananna leaves .It was fantastic . KP as always went 2 rounds :P . From here it was already ~ 2 pm headed towards satyamagala , the roads were damn good ,some of the best roads .The roads were so good that both of us were sleepy , my eyes lids were going down and i was unable to concentrate on the road ,effect of the food we had ? . Going on ~ 80 kms was impossible ,i was sure i would crash some where , i left KP behing and began hitting 3 digit speeds , i lost KP and reached satyamagala check post , by this time KP also might have felt the need for speed and was behind me .Once we reached the checkpost ,we decided that we pull up the bikes some where in the bushes futher ahead and doze off for 30 minutes . we did not find any bushes ,but we climbed the ghats first corner and pulled up the bikes to side ,removed ,jacketd ,helmet ,keenpads and put the jacket below my head and we both dozzed off ! . I set the alarm to 4.30 pm ,30 minutes from now . I slept royaly for 30 minutes and woke up to find KP clicking pictures and talking to some one on the phone , splashed my face with mineral water and we carried on from here to home , the ghats were superb and must do , the ghats will be over in 30 - 45 minutes when u reach the other side .Satyamagal forest is huge and once ruled by verappan .The roads are truely amazing and we both we crusing for not having a 600 cc , one day some day ! . From satyamagala to chamarajangar roads are good .From chamaraja nagar -kollegal - mallavalli - to madur the roads are horrible . I was feeling wether we would go home today or not ..grr .The roads were pathetic .we halted for cofee at kollegal .We reached maddur and were happy .We stopped before entering the mysore higway . It was 7.30 - 8 pm and was cold ,we put on additional jackets and started blasting on the mysore highway ,me with the additional fog lamp coming into play frequently . KP disappered after some time .KPs Bike was 200cc and i was no match to him, it was really quick . We meet at mysore road juntion ,almost happy to reach home from a very wonderful trip ,we decided to meet again and KP departed to home , it was again city traffic for me to reach home by 9 pm .Mom was happy to see me again ,so was I . My bed never felt so good Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
2032 kms covered with little night ride ,no rains and 95 % good roads , 180 dtsi performed flawlessly ,so as the modded 200cc apache , proud of our bikes.
A big part of life reclaimed .

More Photos at
Bangalore-kanyakumari-munnar-Bangalore @ Fotopic.Net

[v1kram]

Excellent trip and equally good write up..

[carlover98]

Any idea about the current road condition from Trivandrum to Kodaikanal? Is it better to go to Madurai via Nagarcoil - Tirunelveli route or via Thenmala - Shencottai - Rajapalayam etc. I am planning to make the trip next week.

[NRKUMAR]

Great visuals, loved the commentary & description. Hope to see more of such pics