indication that I desperately needed one. Plans, sure I can make 100s of them, but the million dollar question is who is going to accompany me ? Well, hmm, Everybody has their own critical rocket launching programs, believe me one friend of mine just said he wanted to wash his clothes, wonderful reason, I quite agree with him 100%, but I presented him the solution for his problem, wash your clothes not in your home, in a waterfall located somewhere after 400Kms .. he just said "Madness". Anyway this is not the first time I got an appreciation like this. Frankly they are not unexpected ones too.
So again (again & again multiplied by 100 times) me and my girl only. Planned
for 4 days trip, it just covers the areas in Karnataka, Kerala & Tamilnadu. This time I made some interesting purchases after going through BCMT forums, tons of information is posted over there. Already rains have started, packaging should be done careful enough, don't want to stop in any place just because it is raining there. Biggest hurdle is how to carry my DSLR camera, always I felt that it is a liability in my trips. But the tarpaulin sheet I bought had come handy in saving all my things. I just followed the below route, Sulthan Bathery and Salem are not intended, its just the issue with map drawing in google maps.View Larger Map
Thursday evening I came late from office, rain was just pouring in. It was 11.30 when I completed the packaging work. Alarm woke me up by 2.30AM, 3.30
AM I started my way to a trip to nowhere. This time the usual departing ceremony is not proper, no dogs in the street. Two policemen stopped me near Banashankari junction, and asked where am I going, it was really a difficult question for me to answer. I stuck a few seconds and just said I am going to Munnar. They were really surprised and said "Are you going by this cycle?", I said, ya well yes!. They did not do any other usual checks, like license, insurance etc ... he wished me for good luck. After 30Kms my speedometer and odometer both have stopped, I was too unhappy about that. Around 9AM, reached Gundlupet and checked my Odo, a wire connected to the wheel had cut down. Replaced it with a new one, it seems fine afterward. 12Kms riding on a worst road from Gundlupet will take you to Bandipur reserve forest. Pugmark is a nice hotel with clean restrooms. I 
was riding inside the forests with the speed of just 30Kms/Hr. I could see all the car guys too enjoying the ride inside the forests by maintaining below 30Kms/Hr, except few tourist vehicles. Gudalur is the next town on the way, here I took a route towards Calicut. After 12Kms from Gudalur, there is a place we need to take a diversion to reach Nilambur, which is called Naadukani. I missed this one and went too far almost 20Kms in Calicut route. Had no other way then tracking back until Naadukani. Roads inside these stretch toll your backbones, really they are not evenly laid out.
There was a constant signal from my stomach remained me of lunch. Found a small hotel on the way, food was really nice, Kerala traditional meals with fish curry. The complete stretch from Bandipur to Nilambur is covered with dense forests. Density of the population increases from Nilambur, the rode I was driving is a highway, but every 100 meters there is a house. I am not able open my zip anywhere in this stretch. Need to end the day soon, my backbone was crying for rest. Finally settled in a lodge at Thrissur by 7PM, was really a long day. Had parotas and beef fry. Saturday morning by 6.30 started moving towards Angamaly, enroute you will never miss a turn towards Athirappilly water falls, almost 35 Kms you need to drive sideways from the NH. This time I am more interested in SH17, so better I will visit this by next time. From Angamaly the roads are excellent for another 60 Kms, full curvy roads. Needs a little more careful driving then usual. I was fortunate enough to avoid a major crash here, oncoming bike drivers negligence might had cost me heavy toll on my health and wealth. I just kept quiet, don't want to ruin my enthu by quarreling in an unknown place.
Reached Munnar for lunch, it is almost 150Kms from Thrissur, and 110 from Angamaly. There is a hotel called "Annapurana" which sounds like a south Indian restaurant, but actually ran by a North Indian group. I really don't like to experiment the south Indian food in a North Indian hotel. Asked for a decent hotel with native food and found one, take a route to Colony(a place), 500 meters sideways from the main road, ask for Guru hotel, here you will find typical Kerala food, and it is a non vegetarian too. After lunch started towards Eravikulam National park road, which is also called Northern outlet road, or Kerala state highway17 or Munnar-Udumalaippettai road. This is one of the best route in south India, I got the information from wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Highway_17_(Tamil_Nadu_-_Kerala,_India)
Around 1.15PM I started my ride in this route, plans were to spend atleast 5 hours in this road by maintaining 20Kms/Hr, the complete stretch is 85Kms. Slowly you will find the MSL towards positive, fog appears to get dense on the top. At one point I had no escape out then using my headlights. Suddenly it started drizzling, I asked a local guy about whether this is a rain or just the fog, he said it is just the fog. But within 20 mins I realized that it was a rain other side of the hill. All of a sudden the intensity of the rain increased I pulled my coat out and kept my bag inside it. I had my DSLR baby inside!!
Rains were so heavy, all over the rocks I was able to see new waterfalls crawling out. Flow of water just cuts the road down, a poor Innova guy stuck in a landslide. He is crying out for help, but without the help of any JCB kind of machines it is really an impossible task to save him. Nearby there is one more Ambassador-wala trying to adjust a 13'' bolt using bare hands, he desperately needed a 13'' spanner. I had it in my toolkit, and spared that to him. At last he was able to mount the engine in a proper position and started it successfully, I got a big Thankyou from that guy. Just think of getting trapped in these kind of areas where small help turns out to be a life saver at times. I had not taken any photos afterward until I reached the semi plains near Manupatti. I have not seen a bit of rains in plain. There is a forest checkpost in Chinnar, where they ask for the details of your visit, I had a hard time again saying where I am going :-)
After a while the rains seems completely stopped, and I was able to take some photos of a big monolithic structure (mountain!). From there a road which is of almost 3 Kms straight one, I could make top speeds in that. Because the visibility is 100% and no obstacles on the way. But if you go there please don't rush like me, that is the place where you can spot wildlife if you move slow. Near Chinnar checkpost there is a watch tower, you will get a guide as well. Take the chance and wait there for some time to spot some animals. Next village is Manupatti which is completely located in plain lands. Roads toward Udumalaippettai to Dharapuram is an excellent put up. Where you can reach 120Kms/Hr with out running into any accidents, though they accommodate double side traffic with out dividers. Just 5Kms before Dharapuram I got into a heavy rain, non-stop one for almost 2 Hours. Stayed in three bus shelters, and got great stories on the way by the localites who also pulled themselves over inside for shelter. One of the story is about Siruvani river water, "You just keep siruvani water and other water sideby in two containers, the one with siruvani water attract ants", is that really sweet ? There are some people, I could see their heads wagging for yes, and mouth murmuring "oh oh". They believe it very strong, I don't want to change their beliefs anyway, that is the foundation for all Dravidian parties here.
Took a lodge in Dharapuram, stayed overnight. Switched on the fan in top speed to dry up my jacket and tarpaulin sheet. Well, in the morning all are good, except
my mobile phone, it got socked in water by yesterday rains and the battery seems to be bulged out. Thereon its a simple ride towards hell, not much fun except the food I had in AAB. I had to change my sitting position every 3 mins, I realized that my Splendor+ seat is very narrow, and it just burnt out my butt. Bullets are having a nice seat. I was maintaining constant 60/70Kms/Hr, (just a wild guess, my speedo was not working!). Reached Bangalore by 4PM. Knees, ankles, butt, back and wrist .... pain pain pain ...... they were crying for rest. Had a warm bath, uploaded the photos to orkut and slept for almost 12 Hours !!Overall I found the road to Munnar from Angamaly and Munnar to Manupatti to be excellent for a natural lovers and bikers. I missed covering Valparai, most probably next time ... hoping with friends and beers ....
