[BomBatt]

Day 4 - September 30, Tuesday

Plan for the day was to go directly to Manipal, finish my wife's official assignment at Manipal, come back to Udupi, check into a Hotel, and visit Udupi Shri Krishna Temple.

But one of my wife's colleague suggested that instead of going to Udupi on NH17, which is in terrible condition, we go through Bajpe, Kateel, Kinigole, to Udupi. I get very excited to hear about Kateel.

We settle the Hotel bills which come upto Rs. 756 per day x 2 = 1512 which was settled in cash (they don't accept credit card) and we check out from the hotel. Again, we go to Hotel Ayodya for breakfast, and this time, we order for thuppa dosa and buns.

During our earlier Panambur beach trip, I had seen this BPCL "pure for sure" petrol pump at Lady Hill which was very impressive. Now that my Sparky is almost dry, we drive straight to this pump called "Sowkar M Baba Pai & Co" and fill full tank of Normal petrol. Sparky takes 33.133 Lts and ODO calculation showed that we have traveled exactly 497 kms from my last fill up at BPCL Cuvery pump at Bangalore. That gave an FE of 15.00 kmpl. At the same time, Tyre pressures also checked.

Having filled ourselves and our Sparky, we start driving towards Bajpe airport and after traveling 22 km from "Sowkar" petrol pump, we cross Bajpe and another 9 kms, we were at Kateel.

Shri Kshetra Kateelu - Durgaparameshwari devasthana
Attachment 56140

Attachment 56141

We quickly finish darshan and pooja and start towards Udupi. Very quickly we cross Kinigole and in no time we were on NH 17 at Mulki. Driving this entire stretch from Mangalore all the way up to Mulki was a pleasure. Excellent road full of twists and turns. Even from Mulki to Udupi roads are quite Okay, and finally we reach Manipal.

I drop my wife at Manipal University and search for a place to park my Sparky. One security guard directs me to a place called Food Court, where I find a shade of tree to park and wait for my wifes call.

Sitting inside the car under the tree, thought comes to my mind that if we had planned to come to Manipal, we could have met our distinguished BHPian, Samurai san. But now I don't have any contact. Moreover he may be very busy at this time... Then when I look around I could see lot of beautiful lady students walking casually up and down with their friends and boyfriends. A lot of them are from North East. Very cute and beautiful. Then again, I see 3 - 4 Sparks, cute and beautiful, too many for a small town like Manipal...

Suddenly I hear my mobile ringing impatiently. I realize that I have been sleeping. My wife on the other side yells at me. "This is third time I am calling you, why are you not picking the phone, where are you?"

It was exactly 2:30 pm, both of us were not too hungry, and we decide that we go straight to Udupi Shri Krishna temple have darshan and only then think about lunch.

Shri Kshethra Udupi - Shri Krishna Temple




Here we take darshan at Ananteshwara temple and Shri Krishna Temple. Also we see famous "Kanakana Kindi"

It was 4:30 or so when we come out of the temple. Upon enquiry, someone suggests one Hotel Woodlands to us. We order for some Masala Dosa and tea.

At this time, I ask my wifey, now that we have done with Shri Krishna Temple, what else is there in Udupi? Why don't we go to Kollur itself for night halt? But the problem was what about accommodation at Kollur? We enquire with some local people, and they say that there are lot of lodges at Kollur. So, instead of a planned halt at Udupi, we drive towards Kundapura.

Again, NH-17 from Udupi to Kundapura is in horrible shape. Somehow we cross Kundapura and now it was slowly getting dark. Soon, we were driving along a beautiful beach called Maravanthe. After driving another 45 minutes or so, we reach near Baindur cross road which goes to Kollur.

As we drive on this road, it goes deep inside into the forest and it was pitch dark outside. Eventhough road was extreamely good, the environment outside was very scary. We are driving lonely and there was absolutely no sign of any human being. It was like those horror serials on TV. I wanted to stop somewhere for a photo click, but my wife refused. It was a great experience of driving inside such a deep forest.

As we enter Kollur, two guys bump across our car and enquire if we want accommodation. I look at the Hotel. From outside it looked okay with ample parking space. At the reception, I was surprised when they say that all the A/c rooms are occupied, and we can only get non-A/c room for Rs. 300. We agree and check into the Hotel. Inside, the room was so so, but okay. The toilet was neat and clean. Hotel name is Mayura.

We freshen up and take a 15-minute rest and decide to walk around temple complex.

Shri Kshethra Kollur - Mookambika temple




As we walk around, we hear some classical music, and there was some cultural function going on. As we come near the stage, we had the pleasure of witnessing most beautiful Bhartha Natya dance program being performed by a team from Kerala. Our Mallu friends at Team-Bhp can see the pics and throw some light on which is this dance team and from where they have come...










Very very beautiful Bharthanatya dance. Even the classical singer who looked and sounded like Shri Jesudas.

One more thing puzzling me about Kollur - there were lot of pilgrims from Kerala. Is this place something special for Keralites?

After all this, we have some dosa for dinner at a hotel and return to our room to end day 4.
As it turned out, most of the A/c rooms were occupied by the Bharathanatya dace team.

Continued...

[Wind]

Originally Posted by BomBatt

Day 4 - September 30, Tuesday


Our Mallu friends at Team-Bhp can see the pics and throw some light on which is this dance team and from where they have come...

It is the Nritanjali School of Classical Dance, Perumbavoor, Kerala

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by BomBatt

Sitting inside the car under the tree, thought comes to my mind that if we had planned to come to Manipal, we could have met our distinguished BHPian, Samurai san. But now I don't have any contact. Moreover he may be very busy at this time...

Arrey, I was never bestowed with the honour of that title. BTW, I am never busy for a Team-BHPian who comes from far...

Originally Posted by BomBatt

Then when I look around I could see lot of beautiful lady students walking casually up and down with their friends and boyfriends. A lot of them are from North East. Very cute and beautiful. Then again, I see 3 - 4 Sparks, cute and beautiful, too many for a small town like Manipal...

Suddenly I hear my mobile ringing impatiently. I realize that I have been sleeping. My wife on the other side yells at me. "This is third time I am calling you, why are you not picking the phone, where are you?"

But I am glad you had more agreeable sight to see, enough to ignore wife's calls on the mobile.

[BomBatt]

Day 5 - October 1, Wednesday

This was to be most exciting leg of our journey. Enough of temple and pilgrimage. Now it will be pleasure driving through
Kodachadri, Kudremukha, and all the way to Bangalore. That was the Plan. But Gods had some other idea for us.

Whole night, I was unable to sleep as there was lot of disturbance from outside. For some strange reason, the Bharathanatya
dance team did not want to sleep and they were having gala time. Some of them were laughing and talking loudly. Also,
throughout the night, vehicles were coming in and going out of the Hotel. And just when I had some sleep, someone was
yelling loudly Tea coffee... tea coffee. It was 4:30 am in the morning ! As the Kollur temple opens at 5:30, day starts very early here.

By 5:45 am, me and my wife are ready and we both walk towards temple for darshan. We spend lot of time inside the temple.

At around 7:15 we come out of the temple, have dosa breakfast at a hotel and check out of our hotel room.

Upon enquiring about route to Kodachadri, person at reception tells that only Jeeps can go to Kodachadri as the roads are not motorable on cars. So, Kodachadri plan was canceled, and we quickly plan for Agumbe - Sringeri.

We start from Hotel Mayur at 8:15 am and drive towards Agumbe. Roads here are nice and very scenic.




Soon by 10:30 we were at Someshwara, at the foothills of Agumbe. We take a break here for tasty neerdose and tea and again start our journey.

Though Agumbe ghat road isn't all that good, we quickly climb up and stop at the sunset point.


One of the Hairpin bend


Again, road from Agumbe to sringeri is narrow with some potholes, but very scenic. We reach Sringeri at 12:15 pm.

Shri Kshethra Sringeri - Shri Sharada Peetha




I am being blessed...


Feeding Mandakki to fishes










Having come thus far, why should we miss Horanadu? So we drive towards Horanadu. As it turned out, it was the most beautiful and scenic route of the journey. Roads are narrow with lot of potholes, but beauty of the nature made us to forget about the roads.







As we passed through this heaven, we did not know when we reached Horanadu. It was 4 pm and we had totally forgotten about
lunch.

Shri Kshethra Horanadu - Annapoorneshwari Temple


As we finish darshan and having been blessed by Annapoorneshwari Devi, my wifey tells me that one of her uncle is in Kalasa, and having come thus far, we should visit them. Also there is a temple in Kalasa.

We have some dosa at a hotel and move towards Kalasa.

Dakshinakashi Shri Kshethra Kalasa - Shri Kalaseshwaraswamy Temple


At this time, my wife calls her uncle on phone and gives him a pleasant surprise. Before she could end her call and disconnect the mobile, he was there at the foothill of the temple, on his bike !!!

He takes us to his home and we discuss about our adventure with uncle and aunty. We had some snacks and tea. I discuss with him my next plan about going back to Bangalore via Kudremuka - Aldur - Mudigere - Sakleshpura - Hassan. He suggests us against this route as it was already 5:30 pm and that Mudigere sakleshpura road is very bad. Instead, he suggests we stay at his place for the night and Next morning we can go to Kudremukha, come back to Kalasa, and from here best route would be Balehonnur - Chikmagalur - Belur - Hassan - Bangalore.

Our 4-day plan has already become 5 day, so we decide against staying back and instead skip Kudremukha and plan for Balehonnur route.

We leave Kalasa at 6 pm, cross Balehonnur, towards Chikmagalur. It was pitch dark and roads were just okay. We reach Hassan at 9:45 and park at some Hotel (I forgot the name) We quickly finish our dinner with roti - veg curry - veg biryani. As we walk towards our Sparky, I felt some uneasiness. But we carry on and start towards Bangalore. Also, I filled 10.6 Lt of petrole for Rs. 600 at some IOC pump in Hassan.

As we were driving, after about 1/2 hour or so, my uneasiness started growing, and started having tremendous urge to attend nature call #2 .

But somehow I push for another 15 - 20 minutes. At this time, my wifey became aware of my uneasiness. Once in a while she would hold her nose and yell at me to pull down the widow. All those dosas that we had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 days taking their toll on my body.

For miles on, there is no sign of any hotel or dhabha. Situation started getting so much out of control that I was unable to concentrate on the road and instead looking for some suitable bush at the side of the road so that I can park my Sparky and relieve of my pain. Every once in a while, my wifey telling me, hey look, this place seems okay... we have enough water inside the car... hey how about this place, you can go behind that truck and sit, nobody is around ! But I was not sure. Then we come across one small dabha with 1 car parked infront. My wife asks me to try this dabha. But I am reluctant. How can I go there just for the sake of using toilet? What if there is no loo inside? before I can decide what to do, we pass this dabha long back. I pray to God to somehow rescue me from this situation and push on for another 10 minutes or so.

Suddenly, my wife yells excitedly. "Deepu look at there ! seems like Cafe Coffee Day !!! Yes ! Cafe Coffee Day !!! they must surely have toilet. If you don't stop here, I am going to open the door and jump !

I immediately put my right turn indicator ON and turn right into CCD. I see some people holding large cups and sipping something hot. We have never been to CCD before. As soon as I stop, a security guard comes running towards us. First thing I ask him - I am almost shouting at him -

Me: IS THERE A TOILET INSIDE ?
Sg: Yes Sir
Sg: Sir can I wipe your windshield clean?
Me: DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

I am almost running inside the washroom. There were 3-4 loos. I push the door of first loo, It doesn't open. Push the door of 2nd loo, doesn't open. When I go near the 3rd, I hear water flushing sound. HELL. I approach the last one (help me, oh my GOD) turn the knob, and the door opens into a clean, neat, bright white English-type commode ! I had a huge blast inside the loo. Within seconds, I feel totally relieved. But still I sit there for another 5-10 minutes. I wanted to get rid of any residues if at all left. Only when I am convinced 100% that I am done with, I come out of the Loo. Such was the pain and anxiety I went through for the last 1 hour.

Having relieved of my pain and misery, I go to the counter and order for one Masala Garam Tea. My wife asks how much for the Tea. I say 52 bucks. My wife: Very costly. Me: It is worth more than 520 rupees !

At this time, I ask for permission to smoke one cigarette with Tea. Surprisingly, my wife readily agrees. It was indeed a heavenly feeling.

After finishing Tea and cigarette, I look at my sparky. The windshield and front bumper looked clean, and I generously tip Rs. 20 to the security guard. He gives me a big Thank You. We might have spent more than a hour at this place.

From here it was pedal to the metal all the way, dimming and dipping the headlights whenever I see any vehicle, and enjoying fully my night driving.

Within no time, we conquer one place after another on the way and reach home comfortably. When I drive my Sparky inside the gate and look at the clock, Guys bellieve it or not, it was 4:01 am ! That was the exact time we left from home 5 days back !

At the end of it all, we had travelled around 1200 kms in 5 days, enjoyed the journey very much, and more importently our Sparky seemed to equally enjoy this journey, and when I look at her, she winks at me happily ready to go for one more long drive .

[Samurai]

Wow, that's one hell of a travelogue with all the details. Thanks for sharing.

[pramod]

"""But somehow I push for another 15 - 20 minutes. At this time, my wifey became aware of my uneasiness. Once in a while she would hold her nose and yell at me to pull down the widow. All those dosas that we had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 days taking their toll on my body.
""""

Best part of the log!!!
Great narration.. nice pics!! happy travelling

[akroy]

Nice pics again BomBatt and must say an excellent narration too.

Originally Posted by BomBatt

As we walk towards our Sparky, I felt some uneasiness. But we carry on and start towards Bangalore. Also, I filled 10.6 Lt of petrole for Rs. 600 at some IOC pump in Hassan.

As we were driving, after about 1/2 hour or so, my uneasiness started growing, and started having tremendous urge to attend nature call #2 .

But somehow I push for another 15 - 20 minutes. At this time, my wifey became aware of my uneasiness. Once in a while she would hold her nose and yell at me to pull down the widow. All those dosas that we had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 days taking their toll on my body.

For miles on, there is no sign of any hotel or dhabha. Situation started getting so much out of control that I was unable to concentrate on the road and instead looking for some suitable bush at the side of the road so that I can park my Sparky and relieve of my pain. Every once in a while, my wifey telling me, hey look, this place seems okay... we have enough water inside the car... hey how about this place, you can go behind that truck and sit, nobody is around ! But I was not sure. Then we come across one small dabha with 1 car parked infront. My wife asks me to try this dabha. But I am reluctant. How can I go there just for the sake of using toilet? What if there is no loo inside? before I can decide what to do, we pass this dabha long back. I pray to God to somehow rescue me from this situation and push on for another 10 minutes or so.

Suddenly, my wife yells excitedly. "Deepu look at there ! seems like Cafe Coffee Day !!! Yes ! Cafe Coffee Day !!! they must surely have toilet. If you don't stop here, I am going to open the door and jump !

I immediately put my right turn indicator ON and turn right into CCD. I see some people holding large cups and sipping something hot. We have never been to CCD before. As soon as I stop, a security guard comes running towards us. First thing I ask him - I am almost shouting at him -

Me: IS THERE A TOILET INSIDE ?
Sg: Yes Sir
Sg: Sir can I wipe your windshield clean?
Me: DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

I am almost running inside the washroom. There were 3-4 loos. I push the door of first loo, It doesn't open. Push the door of 2nd loo, doesn't open. When I go near the 3rd, I hear water flushing sound. HELL. I approach the last one (help me, oh my GOD) turn the knob, and the door opens into a clean, neat, bright white English-type commode ! I had a huge blast inside the loo. Within seconds, I feel totally relieved. But still I sit there for another 5-10 minutes. I wanted to get rid of any residues if at all left. Only when I am convinced 100% that I am done with, I come out of the Loo. Such was the pain and anxiety I went through for the last 1 hour.

Having relieved of my pain and misery, I go to the counter and order for one Masala Garam Tea. My wife asks how much for the Tea. I say 52 bucks. My wife: Very costly. Me: It is worth more than 520 rupees !

At this time, I ask for permission to smoke one cigarette with Tea. Surprisingly, my wife readily agrees. It was indeed a heavenly feeling.

Excellent description for your uneasiness !! Initially I was relating that uneasiness with some engine problem as you fill some 600 petrol from IOC then slowly I realized the real issue.

Abhi

[speedzak]

Ho ho ho!
BomBatt! That's one hell of a travelogue you've compiled here. One of the best I've read in Team-bhp. Almost travelled with you in those last parts.
Man! You were so silent when we met at Monsoon DRIVE. I couldn't believe it was your travelogue I was reading.
Good job, man! Good job!

Nice to see that you got a splendid birthday gift. This gift is something so special that you're not going to forget for the rest of your life. And guess what? Neither will many of us here. So, a special thank you from my side to your wife for this great thought!

[hrag]

Originally Posted by BomBatt

I had a huge blast inside the loo.

That has to be a TBHP first

Superb writing, very detailed.

[spadival]

ROFL... A very different and funny travelogue. Also, it seems you have visited ALL the temples in our part of the world. I am sure you have been blessed for the rest of your life!!

[Lukeskywalker]

LOL, great narrative, edge of the seat thriller !!
Was wondering that that was one too many dosa meals and then you let loose.
I'm sure it was a memorable trip, also CCd's have become a mandatory loo stop for me on my drives.
Good one.
Regards,
Hari.

[snaronikar]

That's a funny travelogue I have ever read in tbhp. It has all the masala into it (filmy type). Nice detailed writing. If there is any uneasiness (of your type), I usually make sure that I have a "blast" before starting the journey.

[rjstyles69]

LOL buddy that was one heck of a travelogue with your urge to attend nature's call. I have been laughing all this while .

[anup7649]

Reading all through this travelogue I have been laughing in the office now. Ah man how can I tell my neighbors here that I am reading of all ****ting

Oh boy, you had a real nice drive in your sparky I believe. You can atleast a pic of your sparky now in the travelogue itself. It's nice to see a cute sparky all around the western karnataka.

Anup

[mjothi]

Nice one bombatt. Btw, seems like the "loo" part of the travelogue is hijacking this thread to different direction
On a lighter note, I thank you for not following the usual style - "The pictures speaks a lot" LoL.