[Samurai]

Thanks everybody for the kind words of encouragement.

I forgot to mention one funny moment we had. As we were driving at 40kmph, at one point a big butterfly entered the Jeep cabin from the driver side, and after checking around a little, it slowly flew out from the passenger. I can't explain why, we kept laughing over it for the next one minute. I guess that was an unique "only in a Jeep" moment.

[NIP]

fantastic pictures samurai !! nice to see you're having a blast with your jeep. i'm so jealous looking at the pics cant wait to get my hands on a 4x4 !!

[DKG]

Its so wonderful you are exploring that glorious countryside. Agumbe and the area by the Sita river is truly spectacular. I'm told it also has a very high density of the Cobra. Stunning pictures and what a country! Wow

Most wild animals fear you more than we fear them, and its only in exceptional cases they would launch an attack. With monkeys you have a super intelligent animal who over years of exposure to humans knows most would give in so they boss around. A large stick helps.

[srishiva]

Are you going to test your suspension this week ? Hoping for some other lovely picture travelogue.

[Samurai]

I might repeat the same trip this weekend for testing after the radiator has been re-aligned closer to the fan.

DKG, the entire South Canara and Udupi is famous for the cobras. They are considered sacred and nobody kills cobras in this region. In fact they are worshipped, two days back it was Naga Panchami, major festival here, all schools are given holiday.

My office campus has two cobras, they are often seen, sometime they slither into security room forcing the guard to stay outside until it leaves. Nobody bothers them except the peacocks that sometimes roam the campus during rains. Recently I was able to photograph one of them, the peahen.

[Pal-leo]

Originally Posted by princezahed

sorry to say so but it is NOT a rat snake.it is a malabar pit viper.please be careful if you dont know what snake your dealing with.never pick it up even if you think its non venomous or dead.even a dead snake can send you to the hospital.

.

Yeah, the Shape of the says its a viper..

[DKG]

Samurai this thread has some gorgeous pictures taken by you. While the scenery is spectacular you too have done an great job with the pictures.

[cnaganathan]

Samurai, Amazing pictures buddy. I really envy you - you are in one of those parts of the country where mother Nature has been generous and above all you have the time to enjoy it. Waiting for more pics from your next adventure

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by DKG

Samurai this thread has some gorgeous pictures taken by you. While the scenery is spectacular you too have done an great job with the pictures.

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

Samurai, Amazing pictures buddy. I really envy you - you are in one of those parts of the country where mother Nature has been generous and above all you have the time to enjoy it. Waiting for more pics from your next adventure

Thanks guys, in that case you might enjoy these threads. The first one is my family home, the second one is from my wife's family home.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ents-home.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...tty-story.html

[dwaraka]

Beautiful scenaries of western ghats captured very fine. Hats off to you Samurai.

Dwarak

[sudev]

Wow...lovely narrative that transports you through entire journey with Samurai.
Puzzling thing about temp gauge. Are you sure it is functioning correctly? Or the location of sensing point is correct? I would that you let it be driven without a radiator cap and when it shows 100C check if the water is really boiling off.
Coolant overflow is not indicator of boiloff as it occurs along with expansion right through the range.

[NIP]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Recently I was able to photograph one of them, the peahen.

Samurai, isn't the peahen the female, brownish/dull coloured bird ?? This is definitely the male peacock.

[druva]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This was not a regular test drive. I wanted to find out whether my Jeep engine still overheats while climbing uphill. For this test, I replaced the coolant with regular tap water. Since Agumbe is just within 50km from home, I figured on doing a quick drive up and down.

Fantastic photos. Envy you. For testing engine heating - such an exotic location and only 50 km away?

...

Originally Posted by Samurai

Meanwhile I hear my son screaming. I turn and see that the Jeep is under siege by the local monkeys. ...

Well, …um… I charged in waving the E3 and screaming a war-cry, all that NCC training came in handy. ...

I turned and saw the lead monkey trying to tear away the top. My second charge must have put Mel Gibson in Braveheart to shame, and again the Vanara Sena took to the trees. I didn’t want to leave the Jeep to their attack again, so we decided to move on.

you do lot of jsutice to your avatar. aint you?
seriously. im looking stupid at the office... my colleagues are wondering why im grinning like an idiot without sharing with them the joke..

Originally Posted by Samurai

As we continued towards the Agumbe town beyond the police gate, the road looked like a dream scene. After a brief photo session I had to practically dive into the Jeep to escape a sudden onslaught of rain.

I would love to visit Agumbe and your photos are too good.

Can you update the blog after you fix the engine problem and post good views from sunset and sunrise points?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by NIP

Samurai, isn't the peahen the female, brownish/dull coloured bird ?? This is definitely the male peacock.

I have really given up identifying the gender of peafowl these days. I see them every so often, but they all look like this, no brownish stuff, all blue/green with a crown. Most of them are without long tail, so I use the tail feathers to differentiate them, I could be wrong though.

Originally Posted by druva

Fantastic photos. Envy you. For testing engine heating - such an exotic location and only 50 km away?

Well, that's the perk for living away from big city. BTW, there was a sequel to this. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-part-ii.html

Originally Posted by druva

I would love to visit Agumbe and your photos are too good. Can you update the blog after you fix the engine problem and post good views from sunset and sunrise points?

Thanks, but this is west coast. We can't really see sunrise until it is really high. I do have an earlier run-in trip (what else?) for GV during dry season.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ip-agumbe.html

[stopOKgo]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I have really given up identifying the gender of peafowl these days. I see them every so often, but they all look like this, no brownish stuff, all blue/green with a crown. Most of them are without long tail, so I use the tail feathers to differentiate them, I could be wrong though.

Well, that's the perk for living away from big city. BTW, there was a sequel to this. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-part-ii.html

Thanks, but this is west coast. We can't really see sunrise until it is really high. I do have an earlier run-in trip (what else?) for GV during dry season.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ip-agumbe.html

Hi Samurai,

Fabulous pics & nifty trip report. I would love to drive down to such a place.

I feel ashamed to admit that even 8 months into my new car, I still havent taken it out of Bangalore