[BlackPearl]

Finally posting the entire story from day 1. It is going to be a very long one but please bear with me.
Only Zappo knows why we started so late on the first day (6:30 am instead of 3 am). Here it goes-
On 9th August night client throws a party and my entire plan goes haywire. There were lot of pending works like getting ropes, fuses, repairing connection of a horn, finding the old front number plate as some moron had broken the one on the car. I returned home at 11 pm only to find that wifey has lost all control of her temper and had unpacked eveything. Loads of coaxing could not bulge her from her decision of not going for the trip. I tried to persuade her for two hours but it turned futile.Then I started hunting for a silver lining - what good things can happen if the trip gets cancelled. Only thought that came to mind was some snazzy alloy wheels and good tires for BlackPearl with the money saved for not going for the trip. Anyway I go off to sleep with a heavy heart and both of us woke up suddenly at 5 o clock. Then we realised what a blunder we had made and tried to make it up. We re-packed everything in 1 hour, fitted the old number plate, fixed the horn and started off for the long journey.
We kept up good pace till encountered a very long truck jam near Kolaghat -





After negotiating the jam we travelled really fast through some very good roads and reached Bhubaneshwar at around 1 o clock and filled petrol at 452 Kms. Filled 41.03 Litres getting a mileage of 11.02 Kmpl. Then we headed on towards Vizag through some lovely roads. About 80 Kms of road in Orissa through Chilika was not that good.



After the Chilika district once we entered AP the roads were very good and the scenery on both sides were awesome.




We travelled at a sedate pace to get good mileage and wifey (Rajsri) drove for around 100 Km and we reached Vizag at around 6:30 pm. Filled up 29.33 Litres petrol at 426 Km (trip was reset at Bhubaneshwar) getting a mileage of 14.52 Kmpl. We stayed at Rushikonda APTDC resort for the night.
The beach was looking awesome next morning and we thought of staying there for a day.



But it was not to happen and we again set out for the 2nd leg of the trip.



The road was extremely good till Vijayawada and Rajsri drove around 150 Km. 31 Litres of petrol filled upat Vijayawada at 442 Kms getting a mileage of 14.26 Kmpl.

About 80 Kms from Vijayawada the road was 2 way but the over all quality of the road surface was good.

It took us about 11 hours 30 minutes to reach Hyderabad from Vizag. Started experiencing Biriyani traffic once we entered Hyderabad. But it was not difficult to find our Hotel (Amrutha Castle) which was near Hussain Sagar.



Again filled up 22.59 Litres of Petrol at Hyderabad at 293 Km getting a mileage of 12.97 Kmpl.

On Sunday i.e 12th August we visited the Qutb Shahi Tombs -







After that we had lunch at Hyderabad House and here is the image of the menu card .. lol



Then we went to Golconda fort but there was Bonalu Festival going on inside the fort and a few thousand people (if not lakh) had thronged the place. So we thought it to be prudent to visit Golconda another day.

On 13th August we went to Ramoji film city and it was a lovely experience.



Had a very good lunch at a restaurant called GunSmoke specifically mentioned by Zappo. The Wild West Show (Stunt Show) was great.





Note the MRF tires in the train in the following image -



On 14th August we went to Salar Jung museum and stayed there till 4 o clock. Then we went to Golconda fort and watched the Light and Sound show in the evening and it was again a lovely experience.





After Golconda fort visit, Mrs and Mr Zappo picked us up from our hotel and gave us a lovely treat at Malgudi.



On 15th we had the Hyderabad mini meet where we had a lovely time seeing the vintage cars and not so vintage ones. Also chatted quite a bit with the members of Hyderabad chapter (Raj, Suren, Sreenivas, Satish, Kutlee, Zappo, Suren's son Karan).



Other pics of the meet are posted in a seperate thread - Hyderabad mini meet.
After the meet went to Barbeque Nation for lunch (again on Zappo's advice) and it was fabulous.

16th August - we spent the entire day shopping at Hyderabad Central,and Ishwariya Silk (Rajbhavan Road) and Mangatrai Pearls (Punjagutta). In the evening kkr2k2 (Raj) came to our hotel with cds of Telegu songs on my request :-). Got the much coveted "Cheliya Cheliya" song of Garshana from him. That was really nice of him to come down to our place to give the cds.
We watched Harry Potter 3D at Prasads that night (10:15 pm show). Only the last 20 mins was 3D, but it was a great experience.
17th evening we went for a boat ride on Hussain Sagar.



After the boat ride we went for dinner at Chutneys and Zappo was again immaculate in giving directions.
On 18th August at around 7:30 we start our return journey. Speedo hovered at around 80-120 Kmph for the entire stretch from Hyderabad to Vizag and we reached Vizag at 6:30 in the evening. 32.55 Litres of petrol went into the car at 468 Km (including 146 Km of travel in Hyd) at Vijayawada and got a mileage of 14.38 Kmpl. AT Vijayawada we had a lovely lunch at a hotel called DV Manor.



In Vizag we stayed at a hotel called Supreme on Ram Krishna Beach. 28. Litres of petrol went into the car at Viza at 407 Km.
Went out for a drive at night in front of the beach when suddenly a white civic with snazzy alloys comes up to my side and did some wheelspins. It was so inviting that I immediately responded by shifting to second and blasting through the nearly empty road of peaceful Vizag. Went about two kilometers and then let the guy go past me. I took a u turn but this guy was hell bent upon racing. He came back and circled several times revving the car hard and doing some wheelspins. But could not tempt me any further .. lol...



Next morning we started from Vizag at 7:30 ish and reached Bhubaneshwar at 1:30 pm. Had kuch at a relatives place in Bhubaneshwar, picked up father-in-law from there and filled up 32.34 Litres of Petrol at 463 Km.
Major flood in Orissa had created havoc with the road and in just 7 days the good roads had turned treacherous. Even the Sumos and Scorpios had a tough time coping up with the craters. On both sides if the NH the entire stretches were flooded and people had made tents on the highway to stay. People and cattle were staying in the same tents and it was a sad sight.
We had started from Bhubaneshwar at 3 Pm and reached Kolkata at 11 pm. While going we had covered the same stretch in 5 and half hours which took 8 hours while returning. Lesson learnt that things can turn nasty in a span of just seven days. Filled up petrol at Kolkata to check the mileage and keep the records for the last part of the journey. Fille dup 29.96 Litres of petrol at 455 Km getting a mileage of 15.19 Kmpl !! can you beat that??

BlackPearl after completing the journey successfully-



Total distance travelled = 3406 Kilometers
Total Litres of Petrol = 247.4 Litres
Overall Mileage = 13.77 Kmpl
Total amount paid as toll = more than Rs. 1000
Total Cost of Petrol = Rs. 11641
So expense was around Rs 3.40 per Kilometer travelled.

One last thing I would like to mention is that in Hyderabad after getting down the Bashirbag Flyover (please correct me if I am wrong) saw 10 identical red Contessas modified as convertibles. Can anybody from TBHP Hyderabad please throw some light on this?

[planet_rocker]

@ BP - enjoyed every bit of it. felt as if i was with you guys throughout you rock

[akroy]

Nice Travelogue BP, Last leg of your journey really took hell lot of time...

You hyderabad trip was indeed full of masti.. keep it up..

Abhi

[satish_appasani]

Great writeup BlackPearl. Did you miss Charminar?

Those Contessas with chopped roofs are kept there to rent for marriage parties. Few years ago we used to some old American beauties like Plymoths at this place. But over the time they have gone away replaced with Contessas.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by satish_appasani

Great writeup BlackPearl. Did you miss Charminar?

did not miss Charminar. But did not take any pics as I did not like the surrounding place much. Moroever the beggars there did not make life any easier.

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

@ BP - enjoyed every bit of it. felt as if i was with you guys throughout. you rock

Thanks Planet for the support. I have travelled to so many places but did not have the courage to write any travelogue before as I thought that it would be very boring for others to read if I cannot write it properly. This was my first attempt after a lot of encouragement from the tbhp members.... Now that I have got the support I am planning to write the old ones also

[toiingg]

Great writeup buddy. Looking forward to some more pics of the Blackpearl.

[shuvd]

A very good writeup Sumitro. Now that you're back, how about the much deserved alloy and tire upgrade for the Black Pearl?

[suman]

Very nice crisp review BP, good snaps as well.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Went about two kilometers and then let the guy go past me.

Heh-heh, no dearth of optimism I can see

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by shuvd

A very good writeup Sumitro. Now that you're back, how about the much deserved alloy and tire upgrade for the Black Pearl?

oh you have hit the nail... wifey and I got so much excited seeing the sale going on in Hyderabad that we have exhausted the credit limit of our cards. now I am not only a bankrupt, I am down with debts . Dont know when I will be able to arrange the funds for tires and alloys.

[Zappo]

Aah shuvd! The poor guy has just returned after spending a packet. I think he will need some time to recoup from the expenses to start thinking of alloys. I guess for now the old alloys stay on...

@BP, you raced a guy in Vizag, at night! You incorrigible, ain't you? so you are planning the travelogues for your previous journeys as well are you? Thats great... do that. This is one section that a lot of people love to read.

By the way care to explain how you ended up paying more than 1000 bucks on toll booths? Thats frigging to high man! So how much did the total travelling cost (that is fuel and toll both ways) worked out to be?

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by suman

Very nice crisp review BP, good snaps as well.


Heh-heh, no dearth of optimism I can see

Thanks Suman. But considering 0-100 timings the stock civic is no match for the Baleno. after 100 or 120 kmph I am not sure what will happen.

[vrooooooom]

Awesome writeup dude...Though I missed the trip..but after reading it I felt I was with you for the entire trip .... Would look forward to the travelogue of some of your old trips. Maybe I can add few lines to some of them

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

oh you have hit the nail... wifey and I got so much excited seeing the sale going on in Hyderabad that we have exhausted the credit limit of our cards. now I am not only a bankrupt, I am down with debts . Dont know when I will be able to arrange the funds for tires and alloys.

Dont worry about being bankrupt.I am sure your wifey has enough experiance in handling those situations :P....why dont you upload more pics in Picasa..Do you have any pics of the red Contessas?? ... I really liked the funda..:-)

Mod's Note: Do not post multiple posts when you can pack them in a single post. Use the edit button at the bottom if you wish to add something later.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Zappo

By the way care to explain how you ended up paying more than 1000 bucks on toll booths? Thats frigging to high man! So how much did the total travelling cost (that is fuel and toll both ways) worked out to be?

I have given all the details of the expenses, but here it is once again -

Total cost of Fuel (Kol-Hyd-Kol including 146 Km in Hyd) = Rs. 11641

Toll (both ways) = roughly Rs. 1000. This was one thing that I had not considered during initial estimations. It turned out to be far greater than I had imagined. On all the 4 lane highways there were toll booths 75-100 Kms apart and took anything between Rs. 20 and Rs 55.

So total travelling cost = roughly Rs. 12,700 (maybe somewhat less or more)

Total distance travelled = 3406 Kms.

[Zappo]

Hmmm... thats indeed pretty steep. But then, with two of you even if you would have taken a flight it would have costed the same. However the thrill part of it would have been missing. Travelling on the highways and munching miles always has that "call of the wild" kind of a feeling attached to it that I just love too much over any flight any day.

[spadival]

Great report there .. BlackPearl. Yepp.. Toll plaza's are dime a dozen on the Golden quadrilateral. I had driven solo from Vizag to Chennai on this stretch in 2004. First thing these contractors do is build the toll plaza and collect the toll even if the stretch is half complete. Can live with that though, the highway is really amazing.