Travelathon-some Trip This

PAVAN KADAM · 28th January 2008, 22:49

This is one trip that will go down the memory lane.

With all excitement at home we headed towards a planned destination.

Originally it was supposed to be for Ooty, the plans changed as we did not get bookings there for 20 people.

The holiday was planned towards MM Hills, 235 kms from Bangalore towards Kollegal.

We preferred to have our individual travel, as every relative of mine had their travel.

The cars included Our Beast-The Safari Dicor 3L, M-SX4, and 2 Tata indica V2.

SX4 – 3 adults and 2 kids
Tata Indica-5 adults
Tata Indica-4 adults
Tata Safari Dicor-6 adults including me and my kid all of 1.5 yr

Started the journey from Vidyaranyapura at 4 am via the Mysore Ring road, towards Kollegal , Gundlepet and finally uphill climb to MM Hills.

It was a nice chilly Saturday Morning drive, The Beast behaved so damn neat on road.

The Voxtel GPS giving us the right directions we actually never stopped mid way to ask for directions or the distance remaining.

Theres nothing to say about Mysore Road, They are so neat to drive on.

We reached Kollegal at around 6:30 am and had our B/F at a small hotel.

Started driving towards Gundlepet. These roads are not a highway and the roads are narrow that drives through series of small towns.

We reached Gundlepet at around 9:00am, started the uphill climb towards MM hills.

The climb was so damn neat and so picturesque. Through the ghats there was a lot of greenery and great hillock.

Got all excited reaching there but later found that there’s nothing up there. Except Lord Shiva’s Temple.

The temple is well maintained and shocking to see so many devotees thronging to get a glimplse of Lord Shiva.

The accommodation also was basic but with A/C great. Got hold of 6 rooms for 20 people at Hotel Guru darshan, and at a decent price at Rs 250/- per room.

The only sad part is that there are no good Restaurants there. Had no other choice but to use the Guest house Canteen. (Serves horrible food for Rs 25/- per meals)

The only source of entertainment were my kid and 2 of my nephews.

Stayed overnight , We all slept like a log as every one were dead tired.

Got up at 5:00am the next morning and scheduled our next destination towards Gopalswamy Betta and Bandipur, which was170 kms away from MM Hills.

We started to clean our cars checked our tire pressures and started the journey at 7:00am towards Gundlepet.

Had b/f and then began the long journey towards Bandipur on those worst stretch of roads. My God the roads towards Bandipur(Chamarajanagar) is so damn bad.

I would suggest everyone to avoid them as on now.

Stopped midway for Breakfast and Lunch, Finished at 12:00 noon and our journey began.

Some Good use of English found here.

The route was again guided by the Navigator atleast upto 75% accuracy(most of these places are not mapped properly as the roads are still being laid or changed)

Finally we reached Bandipur and we had to skip Gopalswamy Betta (1 km away) as the time for safari was about to get closed.

Had some nice Tea and snacks at the Guest house in Bandipur, This was very relaxing 20 mins we had after a long dirty drive over bad roads.

To my surprise the roads leading towards Bandipur was sooooo.. neat.

Started the forest safari through the jungle,
We found 1 elephant, 25 langur’s, some Deer’s and a Mongoose.That completes our 1 hr long forest safari.

My little nephew had nice time feeding cane to the baby elephant there,

BEAST AND THE BEAST(Both Wild)

(“ IS THAT WHAT WE CALL A FOREST SAFARI”)

Took some snaps and left Bandipur towards the last leg of our journey towards Mysore.

We wanted to end this horrible holiday on some good note. Straight headed to Planet X in Mysore for our dinner.

On reaching there we felt back into the normal living world.

Food was decent and the ambience my god is so capturing.

My kid had a nice time playing at the park, while my nephews got to do some Karting(They have great karts and a good track)

Could not take pics at Planet X as we all were so chilled out reaching this place.

Finally we left Mysore at 10:30pm and Yes Sir we longed to see our Home Sweet Home at our good Old Bengalooru.

Reached Bangalore at 2:30 mid night and finally got home to our abode.

NEGATIVES: Pls plan well in advance with every one’s consent.
Pls go through the travelogues properly before journey.
Plan for a great getaway to destress rather than stress out.

POSITIVES: Great car.
The Beast behaved and stood upto our expectation.
Provided us with a stressless journey throughout.
Atlest learnt from one mistake.

To tell the fact our Navigator helped us so much on this trip that I suggest every one that this is a must have device for every traveler.

We got to know the distance to be covered and it also warns if you drive over 75 kms/hr.

So I stayed very well within the speed limits.

Thanks for the TATA SAFARI 3L and the Voxtel Navigator.

I suggest everybody to please read thoroughly before you make your journey enjoyable.

This route guide is only my opinion and anybody has their choice. I would relent stopping anybody to take this route.So guys ENJOY your drive.

Image hosting webpage not working properly right now.

Will post pics very soon.

PAVAN KADAM · 29th January 2008, 20:09

Guys thanks to moderator my thread now is more appropriate.

HappyWheels · 29th January 2008, 20:28

thanks for sharing your experience PK.

with a large group it would have been fun.

you beast looks charming - guess red is a good color for this guy. (I am a 'black' guy!)

VJ_MAVRICK · 29th January 2008, 20:31

Hey Pavan ! Great report and pics and certainly you folks might have had some real fun there.

PAVAN KADAM · 29th January 2008, 20:51

Thanks Happy Wheels.

There was a bit of fun element lost in wrong choice of place visited.

It was an eye opener for future trips to be made.

Yes Safari is Red but still there is my Passion Yellow VW Bug.
The Silver Matiz and
The Ionion Blue M-800.
A white Bajaj Priya,
and a Blue Luna.

Colors i am very particular, hence spend lot of my brain portion in selecting them.

PAVAN KADAM · 29th January 2008, 20:53

Thanks Mavrick,

Was fun for we covered 655 kms within 48 hrs with 6 hrs to sleep 3 hrs visiting places, 4 hrs eating and the rest driving and driving.

I suggest everybody to please stay away from my place travelled.

Lukeskywalker · 29th January 2008, 22:30

Nice report there pavan, good snaps of the Safari there, 20 people must have been a lot of fun not to mention logistics. Pls tell us more about your navigator.
Cheers_Hari.

Sam Kapasi · 29th January 2008, 22:49

That's a neat travelogue.

CorsaLove · 29th January 2008, 23:21

Good Travelogue! Great pictures.

It would be great if you can provide the travel details such as Km travellled, FE and other stuff.

akroy · 30th January 2008, 08:51

Aah now your travelogue looks readable, I just stopped reading midway yesterday !!

Nice pics of your beast and the background. Can you tell me the direction of PlanetX, is it a restaurant/Hotel? Never heard of it.

Abhi

OT: The place is Gundlupet not Gundlepet

snaronikar · 30th January 2008, 11:12

Nice pics and report. But 20 people in 4 cars, was it not a little cramped?

pjay_in · 30th January 2008, 13:29

Where exactly is this MM hills? which direction from Gundlupet?

PAVAN KADAM · 30th January 2008, 14:07

20 people in 4 cars, its not cramped

6 can easily fit in a safari
5 in SX4
5 in Indica
4 in the second indica

Easy journey yaar.

PAVAN KADAM · 30th January 2008, 14:12

Planet X is just near the exit road you take from Mysore towards Bangalore NH.

It is very near to the Race course, ask anybody in Mysore for Planet X they will guide you there.

Planet X has got good restaurant.
Play area for kids
Gaming zone for kids and adults
Has a great Karting zone.
Nice mini golf area.
Ample parking for cars and still much more.

Surprised to see prices equal to Bangalore Darshinis.

Food served also is good enough.

One more thing to add, Your order is taken on a hand held device(Beat That)

deepak_ms · 30th January 2008, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by akroy

Can you tell me the direction of PlanetX

PlanetX comes on the way to chamundi hills from mysore palace.
Take a right in the circle which is after race course. First you will get golf club then Olive Garden restaurant, next is PlanetX

28th January 2008, 22:49	#1
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	Travelathon-some Trip This This is one trip that will go down the memory lane. With all excitement at home we headed towards a planned destination. Originally it was supposed to be for Ooty, the plans changed as we did not get bookings there for 20 people. The holiday was planned towards MM Hills, 235 kms from Bangalore towards Kollegal. We preferred to have our individual travel, as every relative of mine had their travel. The cars included Our Beast-The Safari Dicor 3L, M-SX4, and 2 Tata indica V2. SX4 – 3 adults and 2 kids Tata Indica-5 adults Tata Indica-4 adults Tata Safari Dicor-6 adults including me and my kid all of 1.5 yr Started the journey from Vidyaranyapura at 4 am via the Mysore Ring road, towards Kollegal , Gundlepet and finally uphill climb to MM Hills. It was a nice chilly Saturday Morning drive, The Beast behaved so damn neat on road. The Voxtel GPS giving us the right directions we actually never stopped mid way to ask for directions or the distance remaining. Theres nothing to say about Mysore Road, They are so neat to drive on. We reached Kollegal at around 6:30 am and had our B/F at a small hotel. Started driving towards Gundlepet. These roads are not a highway and the roads are narrow that drives through series of small towns. We reached Gundlepet at around 9:00am, started the uphill climb towards MM hills. The climb was so damn neat and so picturesque. Through the ghats there was a lot of greenery and great hillock. Got all excited reaching there but later found that there’s nothing up there. Except Lord Shiva’s Temple. The temple is well maintained and shocking to see so many devotees thronging to get a glimplse of Lord Shiva. The accommodation also was basic but with A/C great. Got hold of 6 rooms for 20 people at Hotel Guru darshan, and at a decent price at Rs 250/- per room. The only sad part is that there are no good Restaurants there. Had no other choice but to use the Guest house Canteen. (Serves horrible food for Rs 25/- per meals) The only source of entertainment were my kid and 2 of my nephews. Stayed overnight , We all slept like a log as every one were dead tired. Got up at 5:00am the next morning and scheduled our next destination towards Gopalswamy Betta and Bandipur, which was170 kms away from MM Hills. We started to clean our cars checked our tire pressures and started the journey at 7:00am towards Gundlepet. Had b/f and then began the long journey towards Bandipur on those worst stretch of roads. My God the roads towards Bandipur(Chamarajanagar) is so damn bad. I would suggest everyone to avoid them as on now. Stopped midway for Breakfast and Lunch, Finished at 12:00 noon and our journey began. Some Good use of English found here. The route was again guided by the Navigator atleast upto 75% accuracy(most of these places are not mapped properly as the roads are still being laid or changed) Finally we reached Bandipur and we had to skip Gopalswamy Betta (1 km away) as the time for safari was about to get closed. Had some nice Tea and snacks at the Guest house in Bandipur, This was very relaxing 20 mins we had after a long dirty drive over bad roads. To my surprise the roads leading towards Bandipur was sooooo.. neat. Started the forest safari through the jungle, We found 1 elephant, 25 langur’s, some Deer’s and a Mongoose.That completes our 1 hr long forest safari. My little nephew had nice time feeding cane to the baby elephant there, BEAST AND THE BEAST(Both Wild) (“ IS THAT WHAT WE CALL A FOREST SAFARI”) Took some snaps and left Bandipur towards the last leg of our journey towards Mysore. We wanted to end this horrible holiday on some good note. Straight headed to Planet X in Mysore for our dinner. On reaching there we felt back into the normal living world. Food was decent and the ambience my god is so capturing. My kid had a nice time playing at the park, while my nephews got to do some Karting(They have great karts and a good track) Could not take pics at Planet X as we all were so chilled out reaching this place. Finally we left Mysore at 10:30pm and Yes Sir we longed to see our Home Sweet Home at our good Old Bengalooru. Reached Bangalore at 2:30 mid night and finally got home to our abode. NEGATIVES: Pls plan well in advance with every one’s consent. Pls go through the travelogues properly before journey. Plan for a great getaway to destress rather than stress out. POSITIVES: Great car. The Beast behaved and stood upto our expectation. Provided us with a stressless journey throughout. Atlest learnt from one mistake. To tell the fact our Navigator helped us so much on this trip that I suggest every one that this is a must have device for every traveler. We got to know the distance to be covered and it also warns if you drive over 75 kms/hr. So I stayed very well within the speed limits. Thanks for the TATA SAFARI 3L and the Voxtel Navigator. I suggest everybody to please read thoroughly before you make your journey enjoyable. This route guide is only my opinion and anybody has their choice. I would relent stopping anybody to take this route.So guys ENJOY your drive. Image hosting webpage not working properly right now. Will post pics very soon. Last edited by ajmat : 29th January 2008 at 18:56.
	(1) Thanks

29th January 2008, 20:09	#2
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	Guys thanks to moderator my thread now is more appropriate.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 20:28	#3
HappyWheels Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 4,106 Thanked: 537 Times	thanks for sharing your experience PK. with a large group it would have been fun. you beast looks charming - guess red is a good color for this guy. (I am a 'black' guy!)
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 20:31	#4
VJ_MAVRICK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,239 Thanked: 34 Times View My Garage	Hey Pavan ! Great report and pics and certainly you folks might have had some real fun there.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 20:51	#5
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	Thanks Happy Wheels. There was a bit of fun element lost in wrong choice of place visited. It was an eye opener for future trips to be made. Yes Safari is Red but still there is my Passion Yellow VW Bug. The Silver Matiz and The Ionion Blue M-800. A white Bajaj Priya, and a Blue Luna. Colors i am very particular, hence spend lot of my brain portion in selecting them.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 20:53	#6
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	Thanks Mavrick, Was fun for we covered 655 kms within 48 hrs with 6 hrs to sleep 3 hrs visiting places, 4 hrs eating and the rest driving and driving. I suggest everybody to please stay away from my place travelled.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 22:30	#7
Lukeskywalker Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,397 Thanked: 1,243 Times View My Garage	Nice report there pavan, good snaps of the Safari there, 20 people must have been a lot of fun not to mention logistics. Pls tell us more about your navigator. Cheers_Hari.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 22:49	#8
Sam Kapasi Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mumbai (but wat Posts: 6,997 Thanked: 2,378 Times View My Garage	That's a neat travelogue.
	() Thanks

29th January 2008, 23:21	#9
CorsaLove BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 392 Thanked: 18 Times View My Garage	Travelathon - Good one Good Travelogue! Great pictures. It would be great if you can provide the travel details such as Km travellled, FE and other stuff.
	() Thanks

30th January 2008, 08:51	#10
akroy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA Posts: 2,423 Thanked: 85 Times View My Garage	Aah now your travelogue looks readable, I just stopped reading midway yesterday !! Nice pics of your beast and the background. Can you tell me the direction of PlanetX, is it a restaurant/Hotel? Never heard of it. Abhi OT: The place is Gundlupet not Gundlepet
	() Thanks

30th January 2008, 11:12	#11
snaronikar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 2,845 Thanked: 29 Times View My Garage	Nice pics and report. But 20 people in 4 cars, was it not a little cramped?
	() Thanks

30th January 2008, 13:29	#12
pjay_in BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 396 Thanked: 20 Times	Where exactly is this MM hills? which direction from Gundlupet?
	() Thanks

30th January 2008, 14:07	#13
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	20 people in 4 cars, its not cramped 6 can easily fit in a safari 5 in SX4 5 in Indica 4 in the second indica Easy journey yaar.
	() Thanks

30th January 2008, 14:12	#14
PAVAN KADAM BANNED Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NAMMA BENGALURU Posts: 5,602 Thanked: 2,549 Times	Planet X is just near the exit road you take from Mysore towards Bangalore NH. It is very near to the Race course, ask anybody in Mysore for Planet X they will guide you there. Planet X has got good restaurant. Play area for kids Gaming zone for kids and adults Has a great Karting zone. Nice mini golf area. Ample parking for cars and still much more. Surprised to see prices equal to Bangalore Darshinis. Food served also is good enough. One more thing to add, Your order is taken on a hand held device(Beat That)
	() Thanks