Bums on Bike to land of Sun and Sand along the Coast!!

From Bangalore third time to Goa… first time it was direct train… second time it was train till Londa and bus from there..

this time. As usual.. its gotto be different.. YES!!!!... Get the bums on bikes baaaabay!!!

Well… do I have a bike?? Naaaaah….courtesy : Shri Shri Shri His holiness The “Thief” :P

It all started off with 11 of us in the list to hit the road.... holly !! wat a number…. Dates were fixed before a month…the first eMail starts … subject “Baaike trip to Gooooaaaa”..

Well.. as always.. there are these beautiful managers who also want to be a part of our trip.. how?? Just by not approving vacation: P… as a result our dudes start dropping off one by one…L

Some felt its was really a long drive for their backs to handle.. hence few more drop outs.. L

Okay.. now how many left?.. Damn.. lets count?? … ..

I sooo badly wanted to do a bike trip ..the last I did was in 2010 to Pondicherry.. so as the case with Rayudu ..…. This fela got intensely inspired from our Pondy trip and bought a new bike so that he can be on bike trips more often.. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for his bike he never had a long trip  J ..yes… shit happens… J

what about Ravindra (Chimps) ??? Waiting for his confirmation… waiting waiting.. like loading loading .. :P ….finally yes,… 2 days before the trip.. we get a scream “YES!!!”….

cool… now..whats the headcount.. un…. dos …tres… tats it?? Craaap… daamn…  never mind..

One bike is ready… we need another.. who has? No one.. L ..

When the planning time was going on.. one of our common dost.. Mr..Raj (ford.bel@figo.raj J) offered to give his bike.. what an offer.. I like it.. I like it,.!!!.. 2 days before the trip..I take his bike… 2^nd bike : present  sir.. J

we park these 2 bikes at service station and get ready for The Kickass trip…

March 8, 2013

Whats planned? –just 2 things… when do we leave and where do we stay....more than enough…

Leave: applied but not approved :P..….Bike: Serviced……  Petrol: full tank..….Wallet: half empty :P…..route map: kind off …. what else : waiting to leave office :P

Finish off office work araamse…. Leave office  by 8…. Buy biscuits and chocolates… reach home…. Pack bags….

9:30PM, Yelahanka: 2 bikes and 2 idiots..assembly in front of Shivanna.. (Shiva temple)…yeah need his best wishes and from our nervous parents!! ..we take few pics… upload on fb.. and thus… Ignitionn ON!!!…vroom vroom (sumne scope J)!!!!

9:50PM, Gangamma Circle: First break.. alredy?? How.. yeah… there is a famous Bengali sweets shop… Kuch meetha ho jaaaye? Yes please.. Badam milk.. gotak… J

10:30PM, Nelamangala:  btw..what happened to Chimps.??? Where is he??..dont worry.. his stop is here.. waiting for him on main road.. Meanwhile.. first signs of junction pops up.. rayudu gets headache and bites in a tablet with a cup of chaaya (Tea)… damn.. normally its me, who gets headache on Day 1 of any trip… J … tables turned for this trip I guess..

The Chimpi the arrives.. his bro drops him till there… we pick him up and start again…

Confusion estarts… J .. Chimpi was not aware of the route we planned..thats why at Kunigal cross, he goes straight instead of left.. J.. well wait…did I tell you about the route where are we taking.. hahahahha.. here it is.. Bangalore à Mangalore àKarwar à Panjim. Yeah guys carry on with you laugh… 9 days off..what do we do.. spend as much time as possible on road..thats why this route.. “we are not going to Goa for Chandrayan 2 project J… so no rush…maintain 60 speed.. enough”  This was the rule we set ourselves up.!!

Back on right route… towards Kunigal…

11PM, Kunigal toll: mini bomb… yeah.. we stop at the toll to take some snaps.. unfortunately Chimpi’s helmet falls down and there is a crack on his wiser L… he says.. its fine.. not a big deal…

Btw.. Did we have dinner?? Shucks… we forgot to have..excitement!! … we start search for a place to eat on highway…

11:45PM Kunigal, we find a place Sri Venkateshwara Bhavana… park the bikes and take 3 plates of Idly… it would have been good, if it was hot, or at least if sambar would have been hot.. J

9 March 2013,

1:45AM, CR Patna: Journey continues… we take a small water brk in CR patna.. crack some jokes about that place..  J… winterfresh chewing gum comes out!!

3AM, Hassan bypass: Road was too good till we reached this bypass.. fog is out there a bit… and a bit more cold now. Bypass road is horrific… single lane.. under total repair.. hard work to drive on bike.. we stop for a tea break at a hotel. Tea here is very cheap.. 15rs/cup.. hahahhha… J “2/3 tea kodi saaku.. naavu jaasti kudiyalla” (give us 2 cups..tats enough for 3 of us).

2 yrs back when I was on Shiradi ghat road.. it was a total scratched up road.. Hence, when we stopped at Hassan, we were thinking about resting in saklespur for 2 hrs, until the Sun comes out, so that we can drive the ghat section during day time.

4:15AM, Sakleshpur : We park our bikes in front of KSRTC bus stand have chaaya and attend the all-important natures calls J. We see a batch of youngsters talking in English. We take out our giant Karnataka map and start looking through the routes .. (show off in front of them :P).

We see a taxi driver outside the bus stand and ask him about the road condition of Shiradi ghat section. He says.. compared to 2 yrs back.. the road is now much better.. and traffic will also be less now. Listening to that, our plan to take rest here is dropped J.. 5AM: we start onward journey from here.

Shiradi ghat.. one of the tougher ghats to drive.. its pitch dark out there…no median lines on the road.. fog is getting denser and visibility is reducing by the meter we move ahead..traffic picking up.... conditions getting tougher.. but incredibly thrilling.. high beam low beam.. none of them helping much in improving our visibility.. one heck of a section to drive… I was driving first with Chimps sitting behind me.. and Rayudu blindly following the path I take J…

5:45AM: still pitch dark… we take a break on the side of these intense ghats..just wanted to give the bikes a small break..almost half an hr of brest for bikes and bums :P… we take out biscuits.. melted dairy milk chocolate.. water.. sluuurpp…

6:30AM: the lazy sun just about to wake up J … we stop at a place for some clicks… within minutes we see 2 tipper lorrys coming towards us and asking us to clear off the bikes parked.. what happened? Previous day evening one bus fell off the road into the valley… no major causalities confirmed the tipper lorry driver..we could see the fallen bus in the valley… we soon clear of that place.. go ahead for another 10 mins and continue the clicks there.. J

All the way from Sakleshpur, we see people walking on the roads towards mangalore.. we had no idea from where they were coming and where to…  at one place we asked a person who was walking… he mentioned that he was walking to Dharmasthala and was coming from CR Patna…how many days would they have taken?? 

7:15AM: stop for breakfast…we find this Malnad Dosa Hut on our way… the place looked very good.. there was no one out ther… was wondering if they are open or not… fortunately they are ready to serve J… throw the bags, helmets, jackets aside…mobile to charging (iphone’s battery rocks L)…face wash… all done…  “en beeku sir” .. 2 onion dosa and 1 neer dosa..

8:00AM: enough of eating.. get back to road… J … after seeing so many people walking to Dharmasthala.. rayudu also wants to go there.. ok.. take the upcoming deviation… this route is a bit narrow and more ups and downs… but has a newly laid tar.. so was not so tough to drive..  the moment we are on the route to Dharmasthala the number of people walking on the roads increase… there are special vans on the route who serve food for those who are walking..

8:45AM Dharmasthala, Belthangady : Om Namah Shivaaya…the crowd picking up .. courtesy weekend  + next day was Shivaratri … we take some pics outside the temple… pray from outside itself.. one more kaapi (coffee) brk  in Belthangady… and chalo Mangalore via Bantwal..

11:00AM, Mangalore outskirts…the weather is completely different now.. from super sun to super cloudy…Mangalooruu you beauty!!... .lets stop for lunch in Mangalore… couple of months back when I had been to Mangalore to meet my sis (Banda J), she took me to a very good 3 star restaurant Ocean Peal and to the famous Pabbas ice cream store... lets go there guys…

11:45AM, Mangalore: reach Ocean pearl.. 3 meals..moto was to take as much rest as possible in that restaurant …eat slowly ..relax relax J.. ofcourse hunger wins the race…J

1PM: we go to Pabbas for ice cream… damn u go to mangalore and u cant miss going to this place..3 big ones ordered.. sluuuuuuurpp …

Meanwhile I call up my fried Mohit who is from Katapady.. US fela has come for vacation…he tells me the route.. and we start… too hot.. too humid and a bit sleepy… J ..We pass through NITK Suratkal.. Padubidri and Kaapu..

3:15PM: just before we reach Katapady, Mohit is standing on the highway waiting for us.. he takes us to his home… I’ll use his style of words now.. J .” I appreciate him and his family for taking care of us so well.. snacks.. chaaya… “… we bid send off to him as he was leaving to amrika that evening..

3:45PM: back on road.. where to? What next ..? “Lets go to Kundapur and decide J “

5:00PM, Kundapur:  what next?/ we ask a person there .. how far is Maravante? .. 10kms he says.. “ ok lets go to maravante and decide”

5:30PM, Maravante: what a place … backwaters on right side.. and Arabian sea on ur left… spectacular sight… and we were there at the right time… nice cool breeze.. click click J… “Lets go to Bhatkal and decide J”..well this is what happens when there is no planning.. J and I love it!! All on the fly decisions J

7PM, Bhatkal:  ok lets stay at a place take rest for that night and march on next day.. since next day was shivaratri I thought the rooms in murudeshwara would not be available.. and hence decided that we’l stay in bhatkal... we enquire couple of places.. ok ok rooms for high class rates…… I was surprised to see the rooms available in Bhtakal…. Disappointed with the rooms.. yet again… “lets go to Murudeshwara and decide J”…

8:30PM, Murudeshwara: we find this RNS highway hotel… enter into a nice dormitory… take it take it!!!.. checked in,… take bath… come out for dinner..  we go near Murudeshwara beach… eat chapatti and curd rice at Naveen beach restaurant on the beach!! ..

10PM, Murudeshwara: back to room …odometer reading is 570kms..   ok boys.. lets get up at 4Am tomorrow and continue our jouney.. 250 kms to go till Anjuna,Goa…we take out the magic stick – Volini spray (pain relief)…matter of seconds.. damaaaar… zzzzzzz…zzzzzz… End of 24hrs of Drive!!!

Day 2: 10 March 2013,

7.00AM: Finally wake up.. after so many unsuccessful alarms from 4AM  J.. finish all international calls.. get ready…. Check out the room and go to temple again..  yes.. for his best wishes J

8:00AM, Murudehswara: Day 2 drive begins.. again totally unplanned…lets have breakfast in Honnavara… where..lets see.. honnavara is about to come… it came.. it went…J  where is the breakfast?? 

9:15AM, No mans land J: we reach a junction on highway, here we find a big board proudly showing the direction towards Sirsi !!. .very very important junction… Remember the fela who gave me his bike? Yeah that fela and his friend Rama (my classmate in college) both are from Siri.. so we took few pics at this junction only for them…J..

Just after we cross this junction, we see a “tourist hotel”… no matter what.. lets go in… this one is a typical highway hotel for all truck chauffeurs J…neat, spacious, and bright hahahahhaa J…..3 dose’s gotak!! J.. Outside this hotel, there was one cow which was behind us where ever we go,… Holly cow!! J.. Time now.. 10:00AM.

10:30AM, Gokarna:  we decided to go to Gokarna town only after seeing the direction board J (Only on the fly)..was tough to find a parking place for bikes.. as it was a Shivanna’s Fest (Jaatre) going on there.. Parked the bikes in Bus Stand (yes shit happens J)… Walked towards the temple.. soo many people.. as it was ShivaDay  and that day night was ShivaRatri J…Saluted Mr. Bond (God) from outside.. had a cool drink … much needed to handle the extreme heat.. Get the bikes back towards karwar..@11.20AM

1:00PM, Karwar: welcome to the coastal town Karwar..we passed through some beautiful ghat roads…stop at a super place on higway from where you can see the karwar beach.. Here rayudu tells that he wants to go to Tilmatti beach. Wokay.. lets ask people where is this beach… He asks few of them and they say its just around the corner..ok..lets have lunch and then go to beach ..relax and then head on to Goa..we are just 130kms away..

Almost drove for 30 minutes..passed through Karwar marine museum .... dude where do we eat?? We crossed the town of Karwar.. not so attractive restaurants on the highway… hunger running on us… we decide to go to some awesome hotel J… Lunch done with Coccum rasam J

2:15PM, Border: a gate welcomes us… Melcowww (Welcome) to Goaaaa….. I was worried about police catching us and asking questions… yeah you guessed it right,… documents praaablem J... my bike did not have road tax for this year.. and rayudu did not have emission certificate. J “Tim lak lak te….tim lak lak … J”.

Btw where is Thilmatti beach?? Did we miss it?/.. we stop at a place just after the border and ask few there.. they tell that the beach is back in Karnataka J..damn!!!.. here we meet an interesting fela..talking in north Karnataka accent,… I ask him how is the route to Ramnagar from there… he starts talking Simple and Sweeet words about the roads and the MLA’s J hahahahha … shucks.. I should have recorded it!!

Back riding.. passing through fabulous ghat roads…cool weather.. aaaaaah… everyone loved it!! Impressive impressive Goan roads..

4:30PM, Madgoan, break for a Goa’n style chaaya …  relax for some more time near a bridge.. … shucks just  50kms to go L and J.. all the way Chimpi was carrying a huuuuuge luggage… it was time we bid a salute to it!! .. His super light jacket!! Lol…  we keep all out bags and his jacket next to each other and click it!! J .. ok boys.. no more stopages till Anjuna said Rayudu.. hahahahha..is it possible?? Lol…. And his bike comes to reserve….

5:30PM, Panjim: On our way almost near Panjim, we see hundreds of them watching a football match.. and ofcourse we added to those hundreds who were watching J … My bike falls to reserve….

6:30PM, Mapusa:  fill up 200rs petrol for both bikes each… 58rs/litre .. 19rs less than Bangalore.. holly awesome!! J…

7:15PM, Anjuna: Touchdown Anjuna centre!!! And that’s it ..the land of Sun and Sand!! Welcome home!! J.. 850Kms in 46hrs …#wad a drive!!

After 4 fantastic days in and around nature GOA!!! keep guessing as to what happened in Goa!! :)

Return Journey!!

March 14, 2013

10:15AM, Anjuna:  Start our journey… Route chosen? Yes… Panjim à Ponda à HubliàBangalore. Well we stayed in Goa for 4 days… did we buy anything?/ naaaah… ok.. a small request from my mom to get Cashews.. wokay…. I ask Audrey’s mom  (the owner of the place where we stayed) where do we get good cashews… buy it in Maaaaapssa she says...  (ist not Maapusa…. Goan accent its Maaaaapssa ).. 

10:45AM, Maaaaapssa: ok.. where in Maaapsa?? Start searching... searching… as usual my eyes does a good job of not finding a store J.. we ask a local person.. and he asks us to go to main center.. we go.. we see it ..we go it.. we select it.. we buy it…. Matter over!! J.. Luggage ++ L

11:30AM, Ponda: Time to fill up our bikes… Fulll taaaank!!! J… yes.. get an advantage of 19 bucks/L. All our brains opened up calculators.. how much did we save how much??? Lol…  Must appreciate this..Goan roads are simply terrific.. they might not be wider… but super smooth!!

11:45AM, Outskirts Ponda:  Well I know everyone of you will be surprised to see that our bikes performed awesomely with no issues… isn’t it!! Even we felt that… but now .. hold on!! .. here comes a issue.. so called ‘Samasye!!’ J.. rayudu’s bike kind of underperforming.. (N rating hahaha J).. rayudu and chimps doubting that it could be carburetor issue.. what is carburetor was my question J…  we decide to consult a Doctor (bike mechanic J)… reach Ponda.. and hit a Clinic… before we could explain the doctor about the issue.. he told its spark plug problem.. directly removes the plug and shows us the dust collected there.. he replaces it.. chimpi test drives it.. all iz well…12:30PM J

1:15PM, Anmod Ghats: this Ghat section is even more classic than the Karwar ghat,..snake like roads super… scenery classy.. drive thumping, feeling majestic.. !!  Clicks and rest at few places… where ever we stopped.. only one thought… we gotto come back to this roads during rainy season!! Yeah… we will for sure!!...

2:00PM, Border: “Thanks Visit Again”… J …STD to local J… do you remember how the roads where in Goa? For the next 3-4 kms just keep that aside J .. bum bump bumpeee J .. this is all forest zone… so it was cool even though sun was striking..

3:00PM, Ramnagar: Lunch time..bajji paav, bindu soda J.. just few kms from this place towards Belgaum is Londa railway station.... well why now Londa.? Which is not on our route?.... last time when we came to Goa.. there was a big junction formed at Londa hahahhaha J.. so just had been there to revisit those memories!! J..4:00PM now… Lets hit hubli by 6PM.. I wasn’t aware of the route b/w Ramnagar till Hubli..this stretch was horrific last time when I came..now  lets take chance..(donno how J)

To our surprise.. this road turned out to be fantastic… newly laid roads…hint: election time J… so damn lucky we are… smooth drive… just few bad patches where they are planning to construct over bridge the railway tracks…once section of the road where railway track just kisses the main road… loved this section…

5:30PM, outskirts Hubli: dehydrated to some extent….we stop at a dhaba for a water break…somehitng different here..  this dhaba had 4 cctv cameras .. why? Doonoo J… here we meet a fela working here… he starts talking about himself.. his achievements.. about places..etc etc… interesting !!....we ask the route to bypass.. bypass is just few minutes from that dhaba he says...

6:00PM, on Hubli Bypass: ohhooo.. awesome de road!!!... just drive it!!...nothing to look around…

6:40PM: hit Bangalore Poona Highway..ultra awesome 6 lane.. Dedicated highway…kickasss!! The lazy sun already has ended his days play… gone down!! J.. ok now what do we do? “Lets go Haveri and decide J”..

8:30PM, Haveri: Downtown Haveri… ok now dinner? Where? Lets call up Santhu, my colleague .. “dude tell me a good place to eat”… he says something… i miss it.. J… so .. Destination: road side idly vade sambaar!! J

9:15PM: Back on highway… from here on its just drive drive and drive… we almost took some 7-8 breaks… almost once for every 40kms,.. tiered bikes J .. stop at every toll booth.. learn some German from rayudu.. J ..

15 Mar, 2013

3:00AM, Hebbal Toll gate: Rayudu who was feeling sleepy from past half hr.. takes a power nap J on a small becnh near a Tea stall .. chimpi and for me.. no sleep getting.. L..

04:00AM, outskirts Hiryur: as usual taking rest on the highway.. poor bums J… its pitch dark and trafiic is picking up.. 5mins later Police sees us stading on the highway and comes near us. Starts asking us what are you doing.. where are you going .. why are you driving at this time.. etc etc.. no issues here… J easily handled..

6:00AM, Sira: Sleep da starts… almost fell asleep while driving.. holly.. pulled the bike aside.. took rest.. nothing works… Tea.. no use…. “Suri.. are u ok?” asks Rayudu.. I say Yes… even then break again,.. :P lol this happened twice .. J.. at one place near Tumkur.. we have kaapi… things look better.. sun beating down.. tiered bums and bodies.. march on…!!!

8:45AM, Nelamanagla: drop off chimpi on highway… tata bye bye… yo yo yo…30 kms more to reach home…  stop at that Bengali sweet shop in gangama circle for the signature badam milk…

10:00AM, Yelahanka: Ground zero!!!.. 1720kms!!! Yes yes yes!! We did it!! Take few pics of the odometer.. thusssssss we end the eventful, funfilled ride along the coast tille Goa!!…. #wad da drive!! J…

We thank you Volini (pain relief spray), Photoban (sun cream), Shell and HP (Petrol), Kishore kumar, Sonu Nigam and many more  for being a part of our trip!! J hahahaha.. J….

Link to pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/109110559369526235759/albums/5855827656880967025?banner=pwa