[Jaggu]

Oh, if its only a re-coat then it will take max 10-12 k with woriginaaaaal paint and that too good quality stuff from Dupont or 2K. Most probably you might not even require to do that, some touch up and clear coating and you should have her shining like new

[SmartCat]

Thanks Jaggu.

Concluding the TN Kerala Trip -

Pic 1, 2 & 3: With two of us out of commission, the third one took photos of our unusual resort.







Pic 4: We drive down along the kerala coast heading towards Calicut. On the highway, you will notice atleast 1 clinic/hospital for every kilometer you travel. The pain in my ankle get unbearable, and get into a hospital near Kochi. I get myself a crepe bandage and painkillers. Sadly, it means no more driving for me.



Pic 5: Freezer Box Ambulance. My best guess is that this is an Ambulance Van cum Hearse Van.



Vid 1: We beat up Jagga when he tries to sing along. Kannada knowledge preferable but not absolutely necessary to view the video.

YouTube - Beating up Jagga for Singing

Pic 6: From Calicult, we drove down to Ooty, and then proceeded to Bangalore the next day.



------------------------------------------------------------------



Coming up next is our Bangalore - Hampi - Om Beach (Gokarna) - Mangalore - Bangalore Trip. But before that, I would like to introduce a new character - Karthic. He accompanied us for trips mostly between 2004 & 2007.

As you can see from the picture below, he is quite an interesting character. We call him 'The Walrus' sometimes - because of the way he wades in the sea water.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Thanks Jaggu.

Concluding the TN Kerala Trip -

Pic 1, 2 & 3: With two of us out of commission, the third one took photos of our unusual resort.

Which place is this ? Looks different.

[SmartCat]

Don't remember the name of the resort. But it cost us around Rs.1200/day with one extra bed.

[SmartCat]

Hampi - Om Beach Trip Pics:

Karthic, Jagga & myself decided to visit Hampi, Badami etc and come back to Bangalore after driving through North Karnataka. But once we reached Hampi, the heat got to us - and suddenly we decided to head towards the Karnataka coast. We drove to the famous Om Beach (Karnataka's only "bikini beach") near Gokarna (75 km south of Goa border).

Pic 1: Our route map - Bangalore to Chitradurga on NH4, Chitradurga to Hospet (Hampi) on NH13. From Hospet, we drove to Karwar via Hubli (NH63). We then went south to visit Om Beach. There are shorter and quicker ways to reach Bangalore from Gokarna, but us being us, we drove down along coastal Karnataka to Mangalore on NH17, and from there, came back to Bangalore.



Pic 2: Our favorite pastime is to checkout the literature at the back of the trucks. This one is the classic "Buri Nazar Waley Tera Moo Kaala". But on one of our highway jaunts, we found an unique one - "Buri Nazar Waley Tera Bhi Ho Bala" !



Pic 3: We drive with extreme caution on our highways and never indulge in tailgating.



Pic 4: Chitradurga - Hampi NH is Safari territory. You need big wheels with excellent suspension to drive fast on this road. Worse, drunk men (10 or 15 people) would waylay cars with wooden poles (used in house construction) and demand money for "Ganesha Festival". We found that yelling at them and getting them to remove the poles takes lot of time - so we just drove over those wooden poles 3 or 4 times, with them screaming obscenities at us.



Pic 5: Getting into Hospet is again an adventure. Mining trucks have made Maruti 800 sized potholes (unfortunately, don't have photographic evidence - but the potholes were truly 4 to 5 feet deep). We manage to get to Hospet without scraping the underbody, from then on to the fantastic road to Hampi. A guide offers to show us around Hampi. It doesn't make sense to go to Hampi without a guide - the place is massive.



Pic 6: Any self-respecting Banglorean would look at this picture and make a mental note to buy a 60 x 40 site at any location "close to the airport" for a huge amount.



Pic 7 & 8: Ugra Narasimha and a massive monolithic Shiv Linga





Pic 9 & 10: Hampi is a ruined city - and many temples had been destroyed by the invading army. Hence no puja is done here. And being a World Heritage Site, Hampi is well maintained with greenery all around.

[MX6]

Hampi is an amazing place man. Did you climb the matanga parvata? Did you see the scientific exhibits of the virupaksha temple?
There's a sanctum sanctorum in the virupaksha temple which has no diety. You go in and close the doors, you find the shadow of the main gopura falling on the wall inverted. Perfect exposition of the pin-hole camera.
The crazy stones of the vijayanagara ruins are very artistic. And the Kamalapuram tank is beautiful.
There's a nice song picturised in Hampi, starring Arvind Swamy and Isha khoppikar.
It's called Theendai, Mei theendai.
Hampi has a very inspiring history to it. The great story of hakka - bukka and their tutelage under rajaguru vidyaranya!
Hampi is one of a kind of a civilisation that grew and flourished in a rocky terrain with little or no arable land! That's the greatness of Tungabhadra.

[ampere]

Hampi was something which me and my friend decided at 8PM in the night on a Friday to start (we were still in office). In 5 minutes we reached home (yes we lived very close), packed and were at Majestic for the 11PM bus to Hospet. Reached there on Sat morning at 5:30AM, took the first bus to Hampi and rented a room for 150/.

It was then cycling for 2 days. Yes cycles could be taken for rent (this was 7 years back. Not sure how is it now). I did not have a camera then and hence it was only our eyes that snapped.

On the way back, Sunday evening, we set ourselves to checkout the train. We walked to the station and asked at the counter, if we could get a ticket. The man at the counter said why don't we ask the TT in the train itself. The train had already arrived and was standing at the platform. We ran to the AC compartment and asked the TT. He said he had a couple of seats, but they were for MP quota and had been booked by someone at Bellary. Although they had missed the train, but the TT was willing to risk his job by giving away that seat. He asked to go back to our second class seats. We then told him, that we have no tickets YET, and if he promised an AC, we will buy. He fell at our feet and said he had never seen folks like us !

We walked back to the bus station and were walk in town monday morning 5AM much earlier than the train.

But all in all, it was an impulsive trip, which I would remember for long times to come. Your snaps just reminded me of that trip once again.

[SmartCat]

Hmm. Looks like we didn't pay the guide enough. I don't recall seeing all that. Is this the Virupaksha Temple? We didn't go inside this one.



Upload some of your Virupaksha Temple photos here with descriptions. We saw the Kamalapuram Tank though.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

Hampi is an amazing place man. Did you climb the matanga parvata? Did you see the scientific exhibits of the virupaksha temple?
There's a sanctum sanctorum in the virupaksha temple which has no diety. You go in and close the doors, you find the shadow of the main gopura falling on the wall inverted. Perfect exposition of the pin-hole camera.
The crazy stones of the vijayanagara ruins are very artistic. And the Kamalapuram tank is beautiful.
There's a nice song picturised in Hampi, starring Arvind Swamy and Isha khoppikar.
It's called Theendai, Mei theendai.
Hampi has a very inspiring history to it. The great story of hakka - bukka and their tutelage under rajaguru vidyaranya!
Hampi is one of a kind of a civilisation that grew and flourished in a rocky terrain with little or no arable land! That's the greatness of Tungabhadra.

You bet! Its one amazing treasure trove of history. Virupaksha temple is amazing one hell of a place to visit. View from the top of the hill with the river in the background makes it very scenic. Sadly when we went there was hardly any water.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Hmm. Looks like we didn't pay the guide enough. I don't recall seeing all that. Is this the Virupaksha Temple? We didn't go inside this one.

Attachment 303813

Upload some of your Virupaksha Temple photos here with descriptions. We saw the Kamalapuram Tank though.

Attachment 303814

I'd been to hampi in 1996. All those prints (no digi cams then) are lying at my father's place. I need to go to Udupi to get those and scan them. So it's going to take some time.
Rather I'd suggest we make a trip. I can be the guide this time!

You missed out on virupaksha temple dude. you should have gone in. Most of the scientific details of vijayanagara kingdom is lost. When I went in to the sanctum and closed the doors and saw the demo of pin hole camera, villagers around me in the room started clapping their hands on their cheeks and chanted om namah shivaya. Science was a manifestation of god for them. so your guide wouldn't know these things!
The big pillared structure you see near the temple is shoole bazaar. Those days, everything was free in vijayanagara. There was no buying or selling. People used to bring all their produce and leave it there in the market. Anyone in need of anything can pick up things freely. Very interesting anecdotes go with it.
The shoole bazaar were used as stables for Elephants.
Did you walk over the tungabhadra dam?
I stayed in Hosapete for 3 months. A time I always cherish. Also I shunted a diesel engine there once under the guidance and supervision of the loco drivers who were telling me what to do. Pretty friendly people.

And that song I mentioned. ARR is at his belt. I sink in to pure bliss listening to the song. Crank up the vol in my home theater or car stereo and slip in. One can vividly imagine the scenes.

[SmartCat]

Pic 1: We get to the most interesting part - the Zenena Enclosure - home of the royal harem. There are a couple of watchtowers like this one to keep an eye on the harem (and to keep roving eyes off the harem).



Pic 2: Lotus Mahal is the most beautiful structure inside the Zenena Enclosure - this palace was a 'hangout' place for the womenfolk apparently.



Pic 3: The Queen's Palace has a water tank at the centre - a swimming pool for the pretty ladies. According to our guide, this is actually a 3 storied structure - but time has destroyed the top floors.



Pic 4: The swimming pool gets its water from outside via aquaducts!



Pic 5 & 6: For some, this might not seem very interesting. But you have to use your imagination. This is pretty much how it was in the Queen's Palace of Hampi in 1500 AD -





Pic 7: Near the Zenena Enclosure, there is a large elephant stable. This photo would have been perfect if that guy in the picture was not there. We waited for a few mins for him to move, but he wouldn't budge.



Pic 8: My best guess is that - this is a South Indian Thaali plate for the elephant. Any idea what this is is?



Pic 9 & 10: Next, we went to the Vittala Temple complex, that houses the famous musical stone pillars.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

Also I shunted a diesel engine there once under the guidance and supervision of the loco drivers who were telling me what to do. Pretty friendly people.

You lucky guy! This is one thing which I am wanting to do for ages. Now my kid wants to do the same! Most of the time when I go to my dad's place the 3G (three generations) viz. Grand Father, Father and Daughter end up at the nearby "chota" railway station waiting for WDM4 locos to blaze past.

I did not know there is a line from Hospet to Hampi. The standard one is the Hubli Guntakal line.

[SmartCat]

Have you two been to Badami, Pattadakal & Aihole? These are Karnataka's version of Ajanta Ellora, and all the three places are quite close to Hampi

[ampere]

Not yet. That is next on my list. Waiting for winter to set in !

[MX6]

Originally Posted by ampere

I did not know there is a line from Hospet to Hampi. The standard one is the Hubli Guntakal line.

Nope. It's not between hospet and hampi. It's from hospet to guntakal through bellary.

And Pattadakkal, I've heard is a paradise. Will do during monsoons.