8th June 2008, 22:27
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
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| Somatheeram - My favorite monthly getaway. With Pics!! Prologue: Today was a good day for me. It started off with meeting redfire and Sankar at redfire's house. One reason for the meet was to fix up redfire's Bullet 500. The other was for them to take a look at my car. (I have been experiencing a loss of power recently). By the timw I reached redfire's house, they had already finished fixing up his bike. So the attention turned to my small blue Alto. redfire took it out to the road and tried his might to bring the car to a decent speed on the Kowdiar road, one of the very few decent stretches of road in the city. Alongside him Sankar was telling him to floor it. redfire turns to him and says, "what do you think I am doing?" He was flooring the pedal on all gears and it was simply crawling. Pathetic. I'm sitting at the back grinning. Round 1 to the Alto. Sankar now takes over and again the car didnt yield much. Round 2, also to the Alto. We decided that the ECU might be at fault, since our alternate diagnosis didnt hold water. Dunno what they are, I am not that technically inclined. Anyway, we reset the ECU, and decided to teach it a lesson. A lesson on how to make driving my Alto less painful. Sankar floored it and said that he felt a marginal difference. redfire felt it too, I think. End of round 3. Round 3 to the pathetic humans. Overall winner: A small blue dimpled (coconut kissed) Alto. I got to take a ride on Sankar's twin sparked Bullet. Oh man, that was a treat. It has been about 8 years since I last got on a Bullet and the first thing I did was to shift to second. Sankar, looking a bit bemused, told me that it was 1-up for first. Oops. Anyway, I really enjoyed the short ride. His ride looked and felt capable of taking corners like a motoGP bike. However, I rode it a bit sedately, which caused me to struggle a bit with the gearshift. The poor bike had never seen such high gears at such low speeds and it refused to slot properly. Those who have seen Sankar ride it will know what I am talking about  Next is redfire's bike after it comes back from the workshop. Thanks a lot for the help guys. cheers: I thought that I was imagining things and it was nice to get confirmation. Reached home and thought that was it for the day, when my mom said that she wanted to go to the beach. Had lunch and left 10 minutes later. We went to Somatheeram, my favorite beach in Trivandrum. It is about 25km from the city and it is small, quiet, peaceful, clean and gorgeous. I usually go there on my bike and it was my first trip in my car. And now the pics should tell the story. The last part of the ride is on an untarred road which ends close to the beach. May cause problems when it rains.   Reversed my car, ready to leave at a moments notice, in case it rains.  Pics of a small church on a small cliff. More of it comes later.   The beach ends at a rock faced area. There might be more on the other side, but I have never bothered to find out  |
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8th June 2008, 22:33
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
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Thanked: 8 Times
| Continued... More pics in a nearly 360 degree view         The locals are usually on the other side and do not bother people (foreigners in bikini's  , but not today  )  |
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8th June 2008, 22:40
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Security and shooting through people The security cum lifeguard(?). They also rent out deck chairs and umbrellas at a rate of Rs 150. They are employed by the resorts nearby.  They had closed down the deck chairs early and taken most of it inside the resorts (among the trees on the cliff)  Close look at a fishing boat  More photos of the beach. Notice the sky getting darker. It has been about 30 minutes since we got here.   Found something in the sand. Didnt feel like touching it, so took a macro shot.  A few people came in between my shots. Sigh, they must not have noticed the small digital camera in my hands. If I had a big bazooka,like Rudraji, then I could have ordered them out of my scene. Instead I am forced to shoot through them. (Am too lazy to actually walk around them to take the photo  )  I was aiming for the greenery but the camera focussed on the guys head. In the end, it is a nice effect. (Not much I can do at this point)  |
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8th June 2008, 22:45
| #4 |
| BANNED Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: India
Posts: 4,347
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8th June 2008, 22:46
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Stringing fish on the beach You can see the resort buildings in between the trees. There are quite a few good resorts here, and the off season rates should be quite reasonable.   The sky grows even darker. The guy poses for the photo, I think.    I see a group of local fishermen(?) walking towards us from the other side of the beach   Hmm, I wonder what they are going to do with the stringed fish.  Suddenly they break into a run. It has started drizzling.  |
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8th June 2008, 22:51
| #6 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Oh boy oh boy oh boy.... Oh boy oh boy oh boy. It looks fantastic!!! We hurry back to our car, but I snap a few shots while leaving.    Another view of the small chapel on the small cliff.      |
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8th June 2008, 22:54
| #7 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Back to the city The wind was picking up and it was sure to rain.  A glimpse of the Somatheeram resort buildings through the swaying trees. The villas have an old Kerala style.  Last couple of shots of the road and the beach   And we are off. Back to the city. On the way, it rained.   |
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8th June 2008, 22:58
| #8 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Pizza and Final thoughts My sister wanted to go to a restaurant called Casa Bianca. It is run by an Italian lady and they serve authentic Italian Pizza(thin), Pasta and Pastries. They also have Indian food, but I have never given that a try. No photos of the pizza, but some of the interior. I really like the clean and simple look of this place.   As you can see we were the only ones there at that time   Came home and then started typing this out. Mr. Sam Kasapi, oops Kapasi, is right. Re-living a trip, however small, is an enjoyment in itself. I think he is in his own corner of paradise this week Final thoughts: I enjoyed today. But I usually enjoy it more on my bike. (I do this every month so that my bike can have atleast one real ride a month. The rest of my rides are short and within 2kms of my house.) The car is not in perfect condition and I cannot overtake with confidence or ease. Parts of the ride that I really enjoy on the bike are some slight inclines where I can rip the bike open and reach the top. Those areas today were totally pathetic in the car, having to downshift and press hard on the pedal. I should try this again after I fix up the car and see if I feel differently. I also usually go on weekdays, so there are usually even lesser number of people around. Today was a Sunday and there were a couple of more families. However it beats the crowds at Kovalam and Shanghumugham beach hands down. No choice for any eats though. Last edited by srijit : 8th June 2008 at 22:59. |
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8th June 2008, 23:06
| #9 |
| BANNED Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: India
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8th June 2008, 23:24
| #10 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Location
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| Nice pics mate  We, Silver Bullets, went to this beach in January. It was nice and i did some sand riding too. Afaik the name of the beach is Chowwara.Casa Bianca mmmmm... mouth watering... the ambience is good and so is the food. All the special ingredients is handpicked with great care by the lady herself, forgot her name. Last time when we went there from office i had ordered a pizza the name of which i forgot (i'll get it for ya); and you should try that one if you're not put off by ham & bacon! It was really very good, the best of the other three we ordered that day! |
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8th June 2008, 23:30
| #11 | ||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
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| Quote:
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 I tell you right now that I wont pose like these guys. I am not that professional enough.  Quote:
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That is the end of the pics. It was quite a short trip and one that I take almost every month on my bike. This time I had a better camera instead of my mobile. Last edited by srijit : 8th June 2008 at 23:45. Reason: Must stop with the smilies... | ||||||
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8th June 2008, 23:40
| #12 |
| Team-BHP Support   | Where is that road in the 2nd pic? I usually go to the place through the rocks after stopping the car near the temple. (aazhimala temple?) EDIT: Where did you get the Xinome pic? Last edited by CrAzY dRiVeR : 8th June 2008 at 23:46. |
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9th June 2008, 00:19
| #13 | |
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9th June 2008, 00:22
| #14 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Location
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| Quote:
My short term memory has gone for a toss | |
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9th June 2008, 10:51
| #15 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Trivandrum
Posts: 598
Thanked: 8 Times
| Quote:
There was a temple there? Didnt see that Quote:
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