[Fordmanchau]

After many plans of going to Srisailam did not materialize. To be precise, 2 such plans completely bombed, I left it to Shivji to call me for his darshan and blessings.I was happily sitting in office shifting thorugh all the new posts on TBHP on Friday evening at around 4:30 on 7th August 09, when suddenly my phone rings.It was my wife:
Me : Ha bolo
She: Is sunday Srisailam chale kya?
Me: Kyu, achanak se kya hua?
She: Kuch Nahi, bus laga ki jaakar aana chahiye!!
Me: hmmm...thik hai chalo, mai to keh hi rahatha chalne ke liye( finally, I won)
She: thik hai ,ok
Me: thik hai, chalo fir

Guess, Shivji instead of calling me, called her(I had been there once, so probably he gave me a miss) and anyways he must have thought,"beta, when your wife will be coming, then how can you be away".
I thought to myself, I am more than happy being a driver.
Friday night after office, we discussed if to leave on saturday, stay overnight and come back on sunday. Decided not to spend extra money for nothing.
Saturday afternoon again the same discussion, she was like it would be too hectic for you to drive back the sam day. Again had to convince her that I can manage it, and it will not be so hectic after all and more than that, we probably won't get a room reservation at the last moment.

[Fordmanchau]

Saturday evening got the tank filled, checked the aire, shopped for some cold drinks and biscuits.Early dinner, set the alarm at 3:30 a.m and off to bed.
3:30 in the morning: Alarm went off, I picked up the phone, dismissed the alarm and pushed her, utho!!(Twice), she did not move(I thought, if she won't get up, i'll too continue with my sleep).
But then, Shivji, wouldn't have liked it, she got up, I was like :( okay!!!.
Plan was to start off by 4 a.m but till 4:30 was still at home, started off from home, picked up a friend who was to accompnay us from Anand Nagar, it was already 5 o'clock by then.
Took the Shamshabad route to Srisailam Highway, crossed the airport at 5:30 and took right to the Srisailam highway, it was still pitch dark. The road was not so good, construction work going on,plus many humps on road. Before Kadthal, roads were narrow at stretched that two vehicles crossing at a time was a pain, and whenever you build up speed, there was a speed breaker to slow you down. Progress was slow.

[Fordmanchau]

Directions and distances are clearly marked on the road, so once we took a right turn from shamshabad to kadthal main road, there was no looking back to the print out from google maps that i took with me.
It was early morning with lots of dark cloud cover, seemed like it would rain, but no luck.
Special mention of the roads in and out of Dindi(around 5-7kms)as it was in terrible condition. Thank goodness that it didn't rain .
IMO the roads to Nagarjuna Sagar are much better than the Srisailam Highway. I did not at anytime crossed the 100kmph mark here, did consistent 70-90kmph . During the Nagarjuna Sagar drive, I did cross 120kmph.

NOTE: There are many humps on route that will slow you down, this might get frustratingbut don't you lose your patience.

Finally reached the Mannanur check post(Nallamallai forst range) at around 7:30 a.m. A short tea-break of 15 minutes and after completing the formality, set off again with another 80 kms to go.
Drive in the forest was good. Being early morning, monkeys were loitering around in plenty on the road. had to slow down and zig-zag a few times to avoid them. And that was all the wild life we could see there.

[MileCruncher]

Hey Ford Manchau ( was tempted to write Manchow, but controlled myself),

I'm contemplating going to Srisailam on the Independence day weekend more for the drive. Hence request you to provide details of the route and road conditions. If you have pictures of the road even better.

Cheers

[Fordmanchau]

Continued non-stop till we reached the parking lot near the temple after paying 30 bucks for the entry.
Saw many MH registered vehicles, was wondering if it's so close from Maharashtra!!.
At sharp 9 a.m we parked the car and went directly to get the tickets for Darshanam. Bought Rs. 100/- tickets and was quickly guided towards the respective queue. Quickly got inside the temple ans was out of the temple by 9:35 a.m after the short darshan(seemed like the lady luck was smiling, after all I was accompanying my wife, and she being a special invitee).
With lots of time on our side, we decided to have breakfast, after 3 masala dosas and a plate of idli among 3 of us,I ordered for tea, it tasted very sweet and very different, did not like the taste of it(wondered if it was made of the synthetic milk). I then retuned to the car, took the camera and then went click, click, click, click and click.

[hillram]

Nice travalogue and pics..There are some more spots like Pala Dhara-Panchadhara..a view point..etc.Didnt you go there?

[Fordmanchau]

Started from the parking lot came out, stopped and again click, click and click.
Started off again. Sun was bright and it was getting hot. We decided against sight seeing and planned to stop only at thse spots which are on the way back.
We also took the car down on the river bed with all stones. I was amazed to see how the Innova driver was very slowly driving down on the broken pathway. Either he was very inexperienced or he was just being very very careful. My ikon took that path easily.After spending sometime there we finally decided that this is enough and from thereon it will be a non-stop drive back home.
After exiting the forest area, aquick tea and cig stop for me, and was ome by 5:30 p.m. Drove very sedately, didn't allow the speed breakers to get better of me this time.

BE CAREFUL : For all those who plan to visit Srisailam around Ganesh Chaturthi, Kids of that area are blocking the road and demanding alms. I was lucky to get out of it free. There was 1 blockade on way to Srisailam, while encountered 4 of them while returning.

Apologies : The journey in itself was so short; I took a little liberty and stretched it here in words

Credits : This is my first travelogue on TBHP, so thanks to all those lovely travel experiences narrated by all the fellow BHPians for the inspiration.
Also special thanks to our very own pandeyji, for answering my route queries and not bothering me at all by asking about the trip

Now some snaps .

[Fordmanchau]

Some statistics:
Total distance covered : 465 kms
Onward journey time: 4 hrs (with 15 minutes break)
Return journey time : 3 hrs 45 minutes(with 10 minutes break)
Approximate mileage: 13.2 km per litre

some final set of pictures now :

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Hey Ford Manchau ( was tempted to write Manchow, but controlled myself),

I'm contemplating going to Srisailam on the Independence day weekend more for the drive. Hence request you to provide details of the route and road conditions. If you have pictures of the road even better.

Cheers

Hi Anirudh, I don't have much pictures of the road, they can be termed as just Okay roads, not too good. But with your bolero it wouldn't be a problem at all.
I took the Shamshabad airport route, after crossing the Novotel, shamshabad, just take a right at the T-point. From there on it is a straight road and turnings are marked clearly with signboards . So you wouldn't have much problems reaching there.
just watch out for the newly made humps on road, that's it.

Originally Posted by hillram

Nice travalogue and pics..There are some more spots like Pala Dhara-Panchadhara..a view point..etc.Didnt you go there?

Hi hillram, we went to some places, a view point for sure, but did not do pala-dhara or panchdhara. It was getting hot on sunday afternoon, so skipped the sight seeing part, and I was the only one driving, so focus was on darshan and returning back to hyd in time

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 20 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

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[HappyWheels]

FordManchau,

Nice and crisp report.

Loved the photos.

In post #5, second photo - what are those white "pots"? Any idea what they are used for?

[fazalaliadil]

FordManchau,

Nice report of Srisailam and pics too. Enjoyed seeing pics of a place very close to my heart.

Regards,

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

FordManchau,

Nice and crisp report.

Loved the photos.

In post #5, second photo - what are those white "pots"? Any idea what they are used for?

Hi happywheels, those are not pots, those are called "khariyas" and are used for doing tika on the forehead. These are used specifically for Lord Shiva's puja.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

FordManchau,

Nice report of Srisailam and pics too. Enjoyed seeing pics of a place very close to my heart.

Regards,

Thank you fazal sir, have read your travelogues and photologues.I am humbled by your appreciation, but it is nothing in comparison to the photographs that you have posted on this forum. I will try and do my best to keep up the quality.

[mohandas]

Great report. I really enjoyed your writing.

[Ardy]

@Fordmanchau: Nice and Crisp travelogue.

I had been there a few years back just a day before the ganesh immersion and have to plan another visit soon with my folks. When I had visited, I stayed overnight at the cottages within the temple complex and it was really a nice experience especially the early morning walk around the temple complex.

Apart from the visit to the temple, sightseeing spots or view points, I think its worthwhile checking out the new turbines provided you have contacts in AP Genco

[Ravveendrra]

Nice report and the pics were spot on. This travelogue has whetted my wish to re-vist Srisailam.

Cheers,