[unoczar]

Last week of OCTOBER 2009. Hyderabad-Bengaluru-Mysore-Ooty.

Members: Me and Begum.

Day1

Hyd-kurnool-anantapur-Bengaluru


Hey BHPians! Last time I posted a travelogue(goa trip), I messed up with my pics posting and stuff. Let me try again with a trip I did earlier.

This trip was done in last week of October (24th- 31st).
Just the two of us on a delayed honeymoon, one could say. Left a little off schedule at about 1330 on 24th after I had to do some last minute things to my red swift. Took the NH7 thru shamshabad-shadnagar towards kurnool, we could see the devastation left in the fields by the recent floods. As soon as we left Hyderabad, we were greeted by crystal clear NH7 and the jedcherla expressways developed by GMR. One can easily doze off at wheel without worrying too much – the roads are so good till kurnool. We passed the Krishna river just before kurnool and my wife clicked a few pics with our small but effiecient Canon ixus 7MP. Just after kurnool we stopped at shareef dhaba for zabardast daal fry and egg bhurji with chapattis. YUM!

It took me about eleven hours to reach bengaluru. The roads from kurnool onwards are not bad, but you have to take several diversions because of the repair work being carried out. Ate too much on the way and actually for about 10 secs. at the wheel just before hebbal in bengaluru, stopped on the flyover and washed my face and continued to my friend’s place which would be our halt for the night. He lives on bannerghatta road and it was tough to find in the night, took me an hour just to find his house and went to bed around 2am, a little tired but excited!

More to follow… i hope pics are attached right this time.

and guys.... what do u think is the last image about?

[unoczar]

[IMG]file:///E:/canon%20personal/ooty%20trip/Picture%20110.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///E:/canon%20personal/ooty%20trip/Picture%20110.jpg[/IMG]We got up late the next day, had a late breakfast and left for mysore at about 3-4pm. Took the right turn to mysore highway from bannerghatta (if i'm right) and was happy to drive on a well laid NH. Stopped on the way at McD's and had the softy cone. A couple of more halts later we were near srirangapatna (Tipu Sultan's city) and suddenly i see this fellow on a bike following us and waving us to stop. I started to speed up to lose him, but he started waving frantically and finally i slowed enough and rolled my window down just enough to talk. To my sheer astonishment, this fellow followed us for 2-3 KMs just to ask if we needed a guide!! I asked him directions toward mysore city and declined his favors!

Soon we entered Mysore city and looked for a place to stay as it was dark already. Found a good lodge near the big cathedral there. We then had dinner which we had got packed at subway's in bengaluru itself ;-). Next morning we started early to go to the zoo, wife wanted to do some shopping so went to the emporium(nice stuff but expensive) first and then visited the palace instead. The palace was very well maintained and huge! It was really very beautiful! Went into the palace as well and imagined how it would be like back then in royal times. From inside the palace was even more beautiful, but unfortunately they dont allow cameras there.

Went to the zoo then and it was nice to see so many rare and unique creatures. Especially birds, i have never seen so many types! Could not complete the whole zoo as we were already tired and strolled through the "thandi sadak" there and came out to have tasty meals in a hotel opposite to the zoo exit.

Just as we were about to get in to our car, a sardar comes up to me showing me a kirpan (knife), i was surprised and then he asks me "chahiye kya?" i asked him "kya zarurat hai?" he said that many people keep it while travelling. I said NO and quickly got into the car. PHEW!

Then headed back to the hotel as we had to leave for ooty now!!!

[unoczar]

some more pics from mysore!

[Fordmanchau]

Hi Unoczar,

Nice trip you had there. We also did Hyd-blr-mys in April 2009 and went to Mysore palace and chamundi hills. Have some beautiful night photographs of the Mysore palace when it was lit with lights on a sunday evening.
Please continue and dump all the photographs that you have with you. Hope you a had good honeymoon.
Congratulations to the couple!!

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Hi Unoczar,

Nice trip you had there. We also did Hyd-blr-mys in April 2009 and went to Mysore palace and chamundi hills. Have some beautiful night photographs of the Mysore palace when it was lit with lights on a sunday evening.
Please continue and dump all the photographs that you have with you. Hope you a had good honeymoon.
Congratulations to the couple!!

hey thanks ford.
we actually missed the palace in the night as we couldnt fit it in our schedule coz we had ooty too on the cards.. but not fully disappointed by that.. got a nice pic for just Rs.10/- hehe! but i must agree nothing beats the real thing.

[mobike008]

Thats a nice travelogue that you got here. Congrats on your marriage and post some more pictures if you have.

Btw, last picture in your first post is the Suzuki Logo on the grill? Nice !

[kannan666]

Nice travelogue and pics, waiting for the Ooty bit now !

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thats a nice travelogue that you got here. Congrats on your marriage and post some more pictures if you have.

Btw, last picture in your first post is the Suzuki Logo on the grill? Nice !

thanks mobike008,

yes, i have more pics from ooty and also the return trip, a little lazy in posting those.. will do that ASAP! (with the story too! hehe ;-)

and about that last pic first post...

I have to give it to you for your imagination!!! i am not such a die hard auto fan. Its just that my wife's hand was shaking just as she took this picture of the moon!!!

anyways, thanks for thinking about that.. not many have. Will post the rest of the travelogue soon.

[nandans2005]

Nice writing man !

i suggest you roll down the window glass while shooting from the car. This avoids the reflection in the snaps.

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by nandans2005

Nice writing man !

i suggest you roll down the window glass while shooting from the car. This avoids the reflection in the snaps.

point noted sir! will do

thank you for the comment!

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by nandans2005

Nice writing man !

i suggest you roll down the window glass while shooting from the car. This avoids the reflection in the snaps.

LOL!

my wife just nudged me to write this.. i always insist on windows rolled up and AC ON while driving!! hehe... i'll allow her to roll them down while shooting from now on! thanks to u.

[unoczar]

Check out time was 6pm from our lodge, but we left early afternoon. I try to avoid night driving all the time but always end up driving at night more than daytime!!! I just never get from start to finish before sunset.
So, we decide to leave the rest of mysore and srirangapatna for the return trip and head to udhagamandalam! A bit of traffic jam just outside Mysore at the check post and it was already evening! The forest area would be closed at 9pm and no vehicle would be allowed from 9pm-6am.

Then not so bad roads took us past the villages to follow – Nanjangadh if I’m not wrong (its been more than 2 months already! hehe..) and gundlupet! Then came the bad stretch of about 8-10 KMs which was not a problem for us but it was a bit frustrating to see the SUV’s cruise by us! Uggggh!! I swear to catch up to those Innova’s and Safari’s who made us look like bullock cart! After all, I was in a SWIFT!

Alright then, we moved on, stopping by just once or twice until we came to the forest area. Cautiously we cruised through the forest region and came to Bandipur sanctuary. Enquired about the jungle safari there (6.30-9.30am and 4-6pm) and decided to take the morning one on the way back since it was almost dusk then. Moved on through the forest a bit nervous as it was my first real road trip and we were alone almost all through the jungle, except for a couple of jeeps coming from the opposite direction.

Suddenly we saw a couple of elephants just a few feet from the road!! I was not prepared to stop and take photos so just sped by. A few minutes later the road got narrower(just enough for a SUV) and I got more nervous!! [FONT=Wingdings]L[/FONT] All of a sudden I see a jeep standing on the road blocking it facing me!! Full high beam and we cant see anything, my wife screamed… “ELEPHANT” and there was one on our left. The jeep fellows were trying to take pictures of the beast!! I breathed a sigh of relief and moved on…

Soon we almost finished the jungle and came to the Y junction (don’t remember the name), the left turn takes you through a steel/iron bridge through to the mountains and up the infamous 36 hair pins.. and the right one takes you around the longer route. My wife was shouting at me not to take on the hairpins in a small car that too at night! But, I hope you guys can guess which route I took! It were these 36 bends that made me come here.. c’mon!

… and so we started the climb, initially I was confused, I saw “36/36 HAIR PIN BEND” and after a few turns “30/36” I said to myself .. over so early? Then figured that it’s a countdown! GREAT!

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, my swift took it with ease and some of the bends I did in 2nd gear too! The vehicles coming down from ooty did help us out by waiting for me to climb a bend whenever we coincidentally met at a hair pin. Nice!

After a hour or so of hard driving we were in OOTY! YAY! Relieved, tired and that feeling of numbness in the ears while climbing was heavenly! I needed some food and a bed and a couple of blankets URGENTLY!


Its midnight of the 1st day of the year 2010.. let me complete my travelogue tomorrow!! Thanks.


pics shall be posted tomorrow, (lots of them!) thanks for patience!

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by unoczar

hey thanks ford.
we actually missed the palace in the night as we couldnt fit it in our schedule coz we had ooty too on the cards.. but not fully disappointed by that.. got a nice pic for just Rs.10/- hehe! but i must agree nothing beats the real thing.

No worries, would share some photos of the palace and of Chamundeshwari temple on this thread if you like.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thats a nice travelogue that you got here. Congrats on your marriage and post some more pictures if you have.
Btw, last picture in your first post is the Suzuki Logo on the grill? Nice !

That's a nice observation Pandeyji. Imagination!!!

Originally Posted by unoczar

and about that last pic first post...
I have to give it to you for your imagination!!! i am not such a die hard auto fan. Its just that my wife's hand was shaking just as she took this picture of the moon!!!

The shaking hand did wonders!! hehe..

Originally Posted by unoczar

LOL!
my wife just nudged me to write this.. i always insist on windows rolled up and AC ON while driving!! hehe... i'll allow her to roll them down while shooting from now on! thanks to u.

It's the opposite with me, my wife always want the windows up and a/c on while travelling.

.. And wish you and your family a very happy new year 2010.

[unoczar]

sure ford, if u would.. please share the night view of the mysore palace.

thanks.

[unoczar]

Ooty To Follow After This!