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Old 11th November 2008, 00:19   #1
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Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip

Bangalore - Tirupathi (8th and 9th Nov 2008)
===================================

On Oct 25th 2008,decided that me and my wife will visit Tirupathi on 8th & 9th Nov.

On the same day I went to TTD counter @ Vyalikaval Bangalore and booked my Darshanam tickets.

I wasn't lucky enough to get a room @ Tirumala through TTD so decided to take a chance and find a room @ Tirupathi instead.

I started collecting information about B'lore- Tirupathi road trips, what better site than our T-BHP itself.

After searching T-BHP for valuable information on Accomodations, routes, guides etc, I was confident that nothing could go wrong on this trip.

I booked my accomodation @ Fortune Kences, a very BIG thanks to AKROY and others on the forum. It was a very good Hotel.

We started preparation for the trip on 7th November 2008.

I went to Mysore road Shell Petro Pump and got my red Santro XL filled up, checked Air pressure and got an extra can of fuel as I don't use any other brands other than Shell

My plan for the next day was to leave B'lore @ 5AM so that we could reach T'pathy by 11:30-12:00PM. My ETA was delayed by an hour.

We left B'lore @ 6:00AM instead of the planned 05:00AM. Since fuel and air was already taken care off previous day, i straight away proceeded towards Old madras road.

It wasn't too crowdy in the morning and quickly I gained speed. It was my first real long drive after shifting to Tubeless + Alloys. I quickly reached speeds of 80-90 and hung in there.

At times I even pushed to 120 just to see if my car could do such speeds and if so how was the handling, however I was happy to be within 80-100 Km/H range.

At about 07:45-08:00AM we stopped @ Woodys for Breakfast. Idli and Coffee was on the MENU today.

I started from Woody's at about 08:20-08:30 and from there non stop till Thirupathi. I reached Thirupathi by 11:45AM and checked into Fortune Kences.

The route followed was B'lore-Old madras road- Hoskote-Kolar-Mulbagal-Chittor (Bypass)-Palmaneru-Tirupathi.

By 12:30pm finished lunch and proceeded towards Sri Kala Hasti. Since it was a Saturday and lot of worshippers of Shaneshwara I expected lot of rush @ Sri Kala Hasti.

However it was not over crowded and we quickly finished darshan @ Sri Kalahasti and also finished an archana.

As per my plan i was to go to Alipiri and visit Sri Varaha Swamy temple before the darshana of Lord Venkateshwara next day.

So i proceeded towards Alipiri (Tirumala), it was close to dusk when I reached the footsteps of the Hill Climb. It was the fist time I was to drive in the Ghat section and I have to admit that I was a little scared.

The security clearance was a little delayed due to the presence of a Petrol Can in my car. My request to next Tirupati Visitors (Please don't carry any excess Petrol or flammable materials).

I had to drain the extra petrol somewhere before my car could be cleared for the climb. Luckily since I had used about 10 litres of petrol on the way from B'lore to TPT, i used the fuel in the CAN to fill my car Tank Fully.

Now with an empty petrol can, i got the go ahead to climb the Hill.
It was dark now and i had to climb the Hill. Now i was really scared .

However I did manage to gather all my courage and followed an APSRTC bus.

At one point the bus driver suddenly pulled to right. I too followed him and did the same and was wondering why he did that.

To my astonishment i saw that there was a big snake crawling right in the middle of the road and felt lucky that I didn't run over it. I happily followed the APSRTC bus till I reached the Top of the Hill.

I parked my car and went to Sri Varaha Swamy temple, finished darshan, had a light snack @ India Coffee house. I was damn hungry, had a plate of plain dosa+ IDLI and off course Coffee.

By the time i reached Tirupathi it was 10:00Pm and time to say Good night.

Next day (9th Nov 2008)

Got up early @ 06:30 and had complentary b'fast @ Fotune Kences. Left for Tirumala by 08:30 and 09:30 I was at the top of the hill.

I joined the Queue @ 09:45 AM and by 14:00 hrs finished darshana and left for Tirupathi. We came back to the Hotel, had lunch and left for Alamelu Mangapura now called Tiruchunoor ( or something like that).

We finished darshana @ Padmavathi Devasthanam and left for Bangalore by05:30PM. I don't prefer night driving however couldn't avoid it.

We were stranded for about 45 mins due to a traffic jam just before Chittoor bypass. I believe this is due to a narrow bridge.
We reached bangalore back by 11:30PM.

I am thankful to all those who posted their prior experiences, it has really helped. In particular, AKROY, Sathya_Nars etc..

Thanks everybody.

Cheers!
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Old 11th November 2008, 01:37   #2
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Good travelogue!
Can we have some photos please?

Quote:
I happily followed the APSRTC bus till I reached the Top of the Hill.
One piece of advice, following anyone, be it a bus or a car can be dangerous. Always use your own judgement.
Following a car or a bus is only OK if you are crawling through dense fog or heavy rains. It should be avoided as far as possible.
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Old 11th November 2008, 02:09   #3
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Here are the photographs

Woodys:
Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-woodys.jpg

Coffee @ Woodys:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-coffeewoodys.jpg

my Santro:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-car1.jpg

My santro again:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-car2.jpg

Me @ the wheels:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-methewheel.jpg

road marked for 100Km/H:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-100kmhroad.jpg

Ghat @ the night:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-ghatnight1.jpg

Ghat @ night:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-ghatnight2.jpg

Sri Kalahasti:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-kalahasti1.jpg

Sunset:

Bangalore to Tirupathi - 2 day weekend trip-sunset2.jpg

Cheers!
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Old 11th November 2008, 08:45   #4
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Good one mate!

So how many liters did you lose by that draining of the can? And what mileage were you able to achieve?

And what lights are you running on?
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Old 11th November 2008, 10:26   #5
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Hello Rajiv,

That was a nice write-up. Please give us the details of the trip expense. I'm also planning a similar trip from Pune. With your inputs I can plan accordingly.
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Old 11th November 2008, 10:46   #6
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Nice update Rajiv

Quote:
Originally Posted by rajiv.kulkarni View Post
I booked my accomodation @ Fortune Kences, a very BIG thanks to AKROY and others on the forum. It was a very good Hotel.

I am thankful to all those who posted their prior experiences, it has really helped. In particular, AKROY, Sathya_Nars etc..

My pleasure Rajiv !! Enjoy your drives

Quote:
Originally Posted by rajiv.kulkarni View Post
The security clearance was a little delayed due to the presence of a Petrol Can in my car. My request to next Tirupati Visitors (Please don't carry any excess Petrol or flammable materials).
See you ran into trouble beacuse of your own stupidity. Dont do this ever in future. Forget about security concern, Carrying inflammable items is dangerous for the car and the passengers. People carry fuel only when there is no pump enroute (like some parts after Leh etc).
If you are so obscessed with Shell stay near the viscinity and dont do long drives.

I am also (many others as well) very obscessed with Shell. I filled Shell till the price reached Rs 58 (Read my FE chart in my LTO). Always on my long drives it was Reliance / Shell. Now both are gone. Can I stop my drives? I have to rely on other bunks on highways.

Abhi

Last edited by akroy : 11th November 2008 at 10:50.
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Old 11th November 2008, 11:22   #7
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Nice travelogue.
it seems that you had not visited akashganga, patalganga at Tirumala.
You can visit these scenic places/temples by driving 10 km extra after central reception office at Tirumala.
There is one garden at tirumala on chandangiri route. Hotel woodland is located there. It is scenic relaxing place.
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Old 14th November 2008, 19:55   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akroy View Post
Nice update Rajiv

See you ran into trouble beacuse of your own stupidity. Dont do this ever in future. Forget about security concern, Carrying inflammable items is dangerous for the car and the passengers. People carry fuel only when there is no pump enroute (like some parts after Leh etc).
Thanks for the advice Abhi, I will NEVER do this again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyWheels View Post
Good one mate!

So how many liters did you lose by that draining of the can? And what mileage were you able to achieve?

And what lights are you running on?
I did not drain any petrol, I meant that I used up the 10 litres in my can (which was brought as spare) to fill up my car fully since I had utlized about 10 litres on the way from B'lore to Tirupathi.

The mileage was about 19-20 / litre.

I do not have fog lights, running on standard OEM Hyundai Santro Headlamps.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swifty2008 View Post
Hello Rajiv,

That was a nice write-up. Please give us the details of the trip expense. I'm also planning a similar trip from Pune. With your inputs I can plan accordingly.
Expense report:

Fuel: about 45 litres, even though 35 was sufficient : 59 * 35= 2,065

Hotel Accomodation: 2,500

Food and Misc : 1,000

Total: 5,565 (+ or - 500)


Cheers!
Rajiv
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Old 15th November 2008, 18:30   #9
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Ravi.Kulakarni ,
That was nice trip, nice write up. You would have covered Kanipakam Vinayaka Temple on the way to Bagalore.
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Old 15th November 2008, 21:46   #10
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I dont think so that carrying a can of petrol is good Idea. Many places you may face of parking restriction of your car at parking lot.
Carrying inflammable is also not a advisable too.

I had done this trip. But slightly different way. While coming back instead of coming to Bangalore we went to Vellore and saw the Srirampuram Golden Temple. Real nice temple. Came back using GQ. Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.
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