[pramod]

This thread isnt a Smartcat thread. I guess it requires a LOT of patience and time to put forth the narration and photos for all your trips and keep people hooked to it with a lot of humour and content. Hats off to people who are able to do that.

I always had a nice collection of snaps uploaded on my Orkut profile from my travels and treks in the last 4-5 years, after my Graduation. I was very eager to share that collection with you guys here, on this forum.
Hence this thread.

After my Graduation, i bought my first "Used car" . A maruti 800 in 2005. It was a white deluxe version. A 1998 model.
One fine day, i set out at 6 AM in the morning to drive on bangalore-Mysore road. May be drive till Maddur, have breakfast and drive back.
This was my very first drive in my very first car, mind u .

I reached Maddur. Had Breakfast, as planned. I see my watch. 8 AM. What the heck. Let me drive till Mysore and then return back. I reached Mysore at 9.15 or so. Then, called up a few of my cousins to ponder on what i can do to spend the next 6 hours. They suggested me to drive to Himavad Gopalaswamy betta. I did it.

Thats how my car drives started. I drove, many many more places in Karnataka. Sold it at 85,000 Kms in 2007. Thats when i changed my first job hop ,after a 2 year fresher stinct at Moto. Now i was in a Startup firm. I am the 5th guy in the office. I had a bit more change to spare. I bought a Ford Fiesta Zxi.

If u guys would have followed a few of the travelogues of mine, i did a few long trips from bangalore to Kanyakumari, mudurai. I did Bangalore-Munnar-Kumarakom. And many more to follow. And many more waiting to happen in the future.

I did travel to USA thrice in the last 3 years and was fortunate to stay a few months in the brilliantly beautiful Seattle area.

And now, i am in Hanoi, Vietnam. For another month or so.

Snaps to follow. Let me know, ur precious comments
========================================
Had been to DevBagh beach resort, Karwar in 2006. Snaps from the Devbagh island. The water sports - Kayaking. Was fun.

I find my glasses, my shorts, my hair style, VERY VERY funny, now, after 4 years.

















This was my first car, that i spoke about. There is always an eternal attachments towards it. Even after it is sold.



Lots more to follow in the next post.

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by pramod

This was my first car, that i spoke about. There is always an eternal attachments towards it. Even after it is sold.

Very true. All firsts have very special attachment. More so for the wheels.

This is a very nice start. Can you keep telling us about the places (name, location etc) too in short?

[pramod]

This was in Gudavi bird sanctuary. Gudavi is around an hour's drive from Sagara. Sagara is 330 Kms from bangalore.




Kutta - South Coorg. This is on the way from Kutta to Theruvelli temple, which is on the kerala side of the border




Iruppu falls, Coorg


Someshwara. After climbing down the Agumbe ghats which can be seen in the back ground. Wettest place, in South India.


Agumbe


Gopalaswamy temple in Sunshine, which is rather elusive at this place


Riding a rented Eliminator in Goa


Doddabetta peak - Ooty


Conoor station - After a ride from Ooty to Conoor in First class




Charmadi Ghats in Monsoons


Kuppalli - Kuvempu's home town. He is a renowned Kannada poet


malpe beach - Udupi


maravanthe


Maravanthe


malpe again, in Monsoons


Charmadi ghats - My ride


Mutthodi forest area. Isolated drive from Mutthodi to Kemmannugundi. Has any one driven this route ??


More to follow...

[pramod]

1. The place where the Maruti 800 is shot in the 1st post is somewhere on the Chikmagaloor - Bababudangiri Ghat area.

2. Kuppalli, the hometown of the renowned poet, Kuvempu, is in the Theerthahalli taluk of Karnataka. The picture shows u the Homestead where the poet spent his childhood in. It is a very beautiful piece of Malnad, off the NH13, after Theerthahalli town.

3. Mutthodi forest area is 35 Kms from Chikmagalooru. And Another 2 hours of lonely drive from Mutthodi to Kemmannugundi, which is a Hillstation.

Will give a short note for the other snaps to follow.

[pramod]

These are some of the snaps from Munnar and Kumarakom - 2008.
Siena village in Munnar, Kumarakom Lake resort in Kumarakom, were the prefered destinations. Both the places are Absolutely stunning.
Vembanad lake in Kumarakom.
















A Falls on the Highway from Munnar to Kochi


Chinnakanal to Munnar


Chinnakanal to Munnar


KL resort cottages


Siena Village Resort - Chinnakanal (18 kms from Munnar)

[ampere]

Great reminiscences! Was there at the exact two places Munnar (Sienna) and Kumarakom (Taj) last december and it was beautiful!

I reached Munnar pretty late, almost by 6:15! And suddenly it was all fog and dark on the NH49.
By the time I reached Chinnakanal, it was pretty scary with 1.5 year old kid!
But I must it was un-adulterated fun to the core!

As I said in some other post earlier, thanks to you I found Sienna!

[pramod]

Originally Posted by ampere

I reached Munnar pretty late, almost by 6:15! And suddenly it was all fog and dark on the NH49.
By the time I reached Chinnakanal, it was pretty scary with 1.5 year old kid!

Yes, Munnar to Chinnakanal drive on NH49 is fun. It gets very foggy. But the good thing is that, it has traffic most of the time. Thanks to more resorts, more tourists.

[pramod]

I have trekked some of the popular trekking routes in karnataka.
KumaraParvatha, Tadiyandamol, Green Route from Gundia to Yedakumeri, Kodachadri (twice).
The feeling of preparing maggi on a camp fire and eating it piping hot, is something, that one needs to experience atleast once in his/her lifetime.
Looking at the sun go down with the clouds settling down , for the evening, is always breathtaking.

Kumaraparvatha.. mantap


From the Mantap


Tadiyandamol


Tadiyandamol


Sringeri (2006) - On a rainy morning


Symmetry - Sringeri


The famous Agumbe sunset


Tadiyandamol peak -- This trek starts from a place called Nalknad (Kakkabe , 40 Kms from Virajpet)


My first trek to Railway track trekking in 2002 during my college days

KP - Halfway


Nethravathi river bridge on the Gundia to Kukke road. The Road from Gundia (NH48) to Kukke Subramanya is always a lot of fun, as it is a very thickly forested region of the western ghats and smooth tarmac.



This was when i had driven solo from bangalore to Shiradi ghats to check out the Ghat roads in horrible state, in the peak monsoon. But believe me, the drive on those horrible roads in a 800, was worth all the effort, just for scenes like this.


Tree lining on the Hassan--> Sakleshpur stretch of NH48, in 2006.


More to follow.

[aargee]

Nice pics, I loved the monsoon pics very much & the gree.jpg is really awesome. Do you mind sharing a high resolution one for me for wallpaper pls?

[pramod]

Originally Posted by aargee

Do you mind sharing a high resolution one for me for wallpaper pls?

aargee, All the high Resolution snaps are in my personal computer back home. I should be able to send them to you in a month's time, when i am back in Bangalore.

[pramod]

Guys -- Need a few comments

The following snaps are from Kudremukh and Hirekolale Lake.

Kudremukh : We had driven in 3 cars from Bangalore to Kudremukh for a 2 day stay at Bhagavathi Nature camp, inside the Bhagavathi reserve forest, Kudremukh range. This camp has atleast 8 tented accom along with 1 dormitory. With 12 ppl travelling in our group, we opted for the dormitory. A night's stay here and a early morning drive around, sure to land up with Bison sightings.













The following snaps are from Hirekolale Lake. One needs to drive Chikmagaloor. Then take the Mutthodi road for 4 Kms. Then take a right deviation and drive for another 6-8 Kms on this isolated single road. On the left side, you would sight this beautiful tranquil locale.

You would see the hills of the Bhadra forest range with this lake in the middle.















More to follow...

[MX6]

Kum1 and camp2 are terrific photos pramod. Simply out of the world.
Amazing composition in Kum1 and everything is perfect in Camp2.

[ampere]

Pramod the lake is awesome! I will be going CKM very soon once again!
Will try to get to this lake.

[aargee]

Thanks Pramod; camp2, camp3, kudremukh-1, hire1, hire7 are mind blowing pics. At this rate, I think, I need to keep bugging you more pics for wallpaper. Simply superb.

[pramod]

Thanks ampere, MX6, aargee!
aargee, i will humbly send u the full set