Photos Rest of India

Solo Across UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka

Click on the below photograph to watch all the pictures of the trip.

Rest of India

Photos Himachal Pradesh

Solo Ride

Kalka - Chail - Kufri - Narkanda - Jalori Pass - Shoja -Shimla -Mandi - Kullu - Manali


Click on the below photograph to watch all the pictures of the trip.

Himachal Pradesh

Photos Ladakh Leh K-Top

Solo ride

Photos of Ladakh District, Leh, Khardungla - The world's highest motorable Road, Thikse

Click on the below photograph to watch all the pictures of the trip.

Leh and K-Top

Manali - Rohtang Pass - Tandi - Keylong - Jispa - Baralacha La - Sarchu - Nakeela - Lachulung La - Pang - Morey Plains - Tanglang La (The world's second highest motorable road) - Upshi - Leh

Manali - Leh Highway

Photos Tamil Nadu

To Ooty and Conoor with my friends from Office.

Photos Pondicherry

Me alone to Pondicherry

Photos Kerala

Trip to talassery with my Friend Rahul.




Kerala Trip with my cousin bro Nidin.

Photos Karnataka

1. The unfulfilled trip to HD Kote with my friends from school.

School Pals@HD Kote

2. To Himavad Gopalswamy Hills, again with my friends from school.

School Pals@Gopalswamy Hills

3. To Madikeri, with my friends from school.

School Pals@Madikeri

4. With Babu at Somanathpura.

Babu,me@somanathapura

5. To Yana, with my friends from college.

Itbatch05@Yana

6. To Chikmagalur, with Babu.

Chikamagalur

7. Chikmagalur with friends from College.

chikmagalur

8. To Gopalswamy Hills Alone on my BULL.

Gopalswamy@Enfield

9. To Chikmagalur with Rahul, Roshan, Niranjan, Sagar and Arun

Chikmagalur with Rahul, Roshan, Niranjan

Mysore - Agumbe - Chramadi - Mysore

Mysore - KR Nagar - Hassan - Belur - Aldur - BaleHonnur - Sringeri - Agumbe - Manipal - Vandse - Kunadpur - Udupi - karkala - Charmadi - Mudigere - Gonebidu - Belur - Mysore



Started of from Mysore at around 10:30 - 11 am. Reached Hassan by Noon, had our lunch and set off again to Agumbe.

We reached a place somewhere near Aldur and there was a junction. There were no sign boards indicating the route to Balehonnur. And there were 3 villagers standing there.

So we asked them, All 3 of them showed us 3 different directions!!!All perpendicular to each other. As soon as they realised that all of them were showing different directions, they finally concluded on one direction.
My Bro and me and a good hearty laugh.

Petrol from here to Aldur = 500 Rs.
Lunch in Hassan = 200 Rs.

The look on the face of the villagers, PRICELESS!!!

We reached Agumbe, about half an hour or so before sunset.
Lovely sunset. You can see green lands for miles together.

All set for the sunset, and there are a bunch of people with SLR's.
They are focusing the heck out the sun.

And here I go and pull out my bro's Sony Erickson W550i, 1.3MP camera.

My bro was embarrassed beyond doubt. If he'd been alone, he just might have thrown the phone down the cliff.

After this we set out to Manipal. Met Hemanth and enjoyed the night.

Talked a lot. I should be doing that a lot less.
Just felt that I really talked too much.

Left Manipal at noon, is my guess.

The bike had a problem at a place near Kollur, Our plan was to go to Kodachadri, which unfortunaltely didn't happen.
So somehow got hold of a mechanic, who told us that the gasket needed to be changed.

Since the day being a sunday, and the shops bein closed. Sorry No gasket.

So we left the bike in the garage and settled down in Kundapur.

On MOnday Morning, the mechanic got the bike ready and we left Kundapur at around noon,
reached Mysore at around 11:30 pm.


So much for our 3 days of holidays.


Highlights of the Trip:

The look on the face of the 3 villagers.
The look on the face of my brother in Agumbe in front of all the SLR's.
AGUMBE.
The second time that my Bull gave me trouble.
Charmadi Ghat.

Mysore - Chitradurga - Hampi

The trip to Chitradurga and Hampi was fantastic.

Route From Mysore:
Mysore - Pandavapura - Nagamangala - Turuvekere - Huliyar - Hiriyur. (SH 17) (205 kms)
Hiriyur - Chitradurga (NH 4) (40 kms)
Chitradurga - Kudligi - Hospet (NH 13) (130 kms)
Hampi is about 12 kms from Hospet.

Chitradurga and Hampi with Naga

Mysore-Ooty-Conoor-Mysore

I have been to Ooty countless number of times. But none of them were as interesting as the experience this time around.

The plan was to go and meet Mr. Mansoor, who happened to have a farm which was involved in Organic farming and cheesemaking.

His farm Acres Wild Farm is a 22 acre farm and they are planning to make it a 100% no chemical zone. We spent nearly 4-5 hours with Mr. Mansoor and learnt a lot about home made cheese and organic farming.

Please go and visit his farm and check his website. There is a lot to learn out there.

Mysore -Ooty is about 130 kms if you take the kalhatty ghat route.
Mysore - Ooty is about 160 kms if you take the Gudalur route.

Coonoor is about 20 kms from Ooty.



Love,
Matter.

District and places to visit in Kerala.

1. Wayanad District.

a. Chembra Peak
b. Neelimala View Point
c. Meenmutty Falls
d. Chethalayam Falls
e. Pakshipathalam
f. Banasura Sagar Dam
g. Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary
i. Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary
j. Sultan Bathery Jain Temple
k. Edakkal caves
l. Wayanad Heritage Museum
m. Muniyara
n. Chain Tree
o. Pookot Lake
p. Soochipara Rock Falls
q. Kanthanpara Falls
r. Phantom Rock
s. Kuruva Island

Please check out http://www.wayanad.org/ for detailed information on these places.

Wayanad, Wayanad District, Kerala.

Wayanad.

A beautiful Place .

Check out details about Wayanad here.

For details on Outdoor Trails. Click here.
For details on Wildlife Trails. Click here.
For details on Heritage Trails. Click here.
For details on Leisure Trails. Click here.

I can't give details any better than those mentioned in the links given above.

Mysore - Chikmagalur - Mysore

Mysore - Nagamangala - Bindingnavile - Chennarayapatna - Hassan - Chikmangalur - Hassan - K R Nagar - Mysore. (500 kms)

I got my bullet on friday evening.

Saturday Morning I wanted to take the bike out for the "run-in".

We started from mysore at around 7 in the morning. Reached BIndingnavile(This place has a temple which is about a 1000 years old) at around 11 a.m.

The distance from Mysore to Bindingnavile is around 80 kms.

Babu and Myself, were waiting to meet Dwarka's Brother. Somehow he managed not to turn up till 1.pm. We had enough of Bindingnavile, and made a plan to go to Shiradi ghat and stay in Hassan for the night.

We went to Chennarayapatna, and searched for a hotel to have out lunch.
Babu ordered South Indian Meals and I ordered Vegetarion Palao. The waiter got me Fried Rice instead. And the fried rice was plain bad(I can't find any other words to descibe the extent of its badness). I somehow ate it because I was damn hungry. Then we moved on to Hassan.

Plan change we are not going to Shiradi Ghat. We are going to Chikmagalur.

On the way we saw Yagachi Dam(First time I heard about it). Beautiful Dam and got some good pics. Will upload them as soon as possible.

Reached Chimagalur at around 7.30 p.m. All this while we were driving at 40kms/hr. Since it was a new bike.

Got into a shabby hotel with a double bedroom costing us Rs.150.

Had our dinner, and went to bed at around 11.p.m.

Our room in the hotel was on the ground floor and the BULL was parked right in front of the room. Every time I heard someone moving outside, it left me wondering if somebody was stealing my bike. This kept me awake for some time and the first thing I did in the morning when I woke was to see if my BULL was still outside.

Then in the morning we went to Sitalayangiri and Mulayangiri(Excuse me if the spelling is wrong). I had been to Sitalayangiri before but not to Mulayangiri. It's a steep climb to Mulayangiri. Halfway through we had no choice but to continue, unless we wanted to roll over the hills. The BULL roared her way through the steep hills.

You have to climb a steps (not few, quite many) to reach to the top of Mulayangiri.
There s a cave trail on top of the hill. Take a torch if you are planning to go. Lot's of bats and the cave kinda gave me the creeps. Climbing back down, the helmet slipped out of Babu's hand and that was the last time we saw it.
In super slow motion, it went hurling down the hills and all that we could do was stand and stare.

Minus the helmet we reached Chikmagalur. Had some great biryani in Moghul Darbar(Try this place). They make Great Biryani. If you are in Chikmagalur, don't miss to eat their biryani.

Heading back towards mysore, at 40 km/hr, the Bull started to choke just near K R Nagar.
Need to talk to my mechanic and find out. Our interpretation was the engine might have heated up and we let it rest for quite some time.

After giving the bike a rest we tried starting it but in vain.

I am not sure as to why??!!!!

Finally we got hold of a bullet mechanic. The guy comes, gives the bike one kick and behold it starts.


And I have sun burns to add to my misery. My skin is still burning.

We spent the night in my cousin bro's place in K R nagar. My bhabhi made some lovely akki roti's for us.

And we settled down for the night. And so did the Bull.

Finally we left K R Nagar today morning and reached Mysore at around 8.a.m.

This is the story of my BULL's first 500 kms.

So the BULL is ready for the first service of 500kms.

A list of Guest Houses and Lodges in Chikmagalur can be found here.

The Royal Enfield 350

I got my Royal Enfield Bullet 350 today.

The first ride on my bullet gave me a whole new experience.

I was totally lost in emotion when I got the keys in my hand.

It's a wonderful experience which I am pretty bad at explaining.

YOu need to Own a Bullet to know the feeling.

Happy Riding everybody.

I hope to see all the places that I wanted to.

Love,
Matter.

Places to visit in Mandya District, Karnataka

I am going to make a list of all the places that can be seen in Mandya.
I'll try to give the routes and the places not be missed when you visit Mandya.

I'll start with a few places. Will keep on adding as I continue my research on Mandya.

Happy touring.

1. Mahadevpura

The river Cauvery (Kaveri) flows through a thick forest surrounding the place.
Brief Route From Mandya: Mandya – Kothathi – Kodiyala – Arakere - Mahadevapura.

a. Mandya - Kothathi (This place is around 7kms from Mandya. Take a deviation to the left towards Kothathi ) - Kodiyala (this place is 6kms from Kothathi) - Arakere and Mandya Koppalu circle - Take a right turn and head towards Mahadevapura.

b. From Mandya: Mandya - Baburayana Koppalu - Take left turn to reach Mahadevapura (13kms from Baburayana Koppalu)

Suggest you take route b.

2. Melukote

a. Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple
b. Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple

Route From Mysore: Mysore – Srirangapatna – Pandavapura – Melukote.
Distance around 60 kms.

From Bangalore: Bangalore – Mandya. After Mandya take a deviation to the right. From Mandya, Melkote should be around 35 kms.

3. Srirangapatna

a. SrirangapatnaFort: Within the Fort is a Mosque and the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.
b. Daria Daulat Bagh: This is a Summer Palace . Also houses the museum.
c. Gumbaz : The mortal remains of Hyder ali, Tippu Sultan are placed here.
d. Ranganthithu Bird Sanctuary: Cross Srirangapatna, after 1-2 kms you will get a circle. Take a deviation to the right. Ranganthithu is around 5 - 6 kms from there.
e. Ghosai Ghat: Gosai Ghat, on the banks of the Cauvery, in Srirangapatna is located upstream of Sangama in Srirangapatna, where the two tributaries of the Cauvery meet

4. Shivanasamudra

Cauvery at Shivanasamudra falls has twin jumps, Gaganachukki and Bharachukki, one km away from each other. Shivasanamudram falls is the second biggest waterfall in India.

Route from Mysore :
Mysore -Bannur -Malavalli - Shivansamudra. (Around 70 kms)

Route from Bangalore :
There are two routes
Route 1 : Bangalore - Kanakpura - Malavalli - Shivansamudra. (Around 118 kms).
Route 2 : Bangalore - Maddur - Malavalli - Shivansamudra. (Around 125 kms)

WATER

Make it a point when you are on journeys to drink loads of water.
The advantages and disadvantages of drinking water are mentioned below.
Keep this in mind and ensure a smooth travel for your body.

Disadvantages of not drinking water.

1. Lack of water in the body tends to give rise to dehydration, thereby posing hurdles for the blood to circulate.
2. Lack of water causes the brain to become less active and your body feels tired and fatigued.

Advantages of drinking water.

1. Water acts as a body purifier, by removing toxins and waste from your body.
2. Water keeps the digestive system in order and flushes out the waste products from your body.
3. Warm lemon water keeps your heart healthy.
4. Warm lemon water is a perfect morning drink.
5. Increases Your Mental and Physical performance.
6. Keep Skin Healthy and Glowing.
7. Help You Lose Weight
8. Allows for proper Digestion. This is very important factor while travelling. If your digestive system works fine, then your day travelling would be better.

This is a concise list of the merits of drinking water obtained from various sources. Don't blame me for any unforseen losses due to drinking water.

Districts and Places to visit in Karnataka

List of places to visit in Karnataka.

1. Bagalakot

a. Aihole

b. Badami

c. Pattadakallu

d. Kudalsangam

e. Mahakuteshwar temple in Mahakuta

f. Shivayogmandir

g. Banashankari temple in Badami.

2. Bellary

a. Hampi

i) Virupaksha temple

ii) The Stone Chariot

iii) Elephant Stables

iv) Lotus Mahal

v) King's Balance

b. Bellary Fort

c. Ambali

d. Mallara

e. Ramanadurga or Ramgad

f. Tungabhadra Dam

3. Bidar

a. The Fort

b. Tombs of the Bahmani Rulers

c. Guru Nanak Jhira

4. Bijapur

a. Gol Gumbaz

b. Afzal Khan's Cenotaph

c. The Ibrahim Rauza

Best Time to visit: September to February.

5. Chamarajanagar

a. MM hills

b. BR hills

6. Chikballapur

a. Nandi Hills

b. Ranganatha Swamy temple

c. Pancha Giris (literally five hills)

i) Nandi Giri

ii) Chandra Giri

iii) Indra Giri

iv) Brahma Giri

v) Hema Giri

vi) Kalavaara Hill or Skanda Giri.

vii) Pandava Hill

viii) Kaurava Hill

7. Chikamangalur

a. Kemmannugundi

b. Baba-Budan Range

c. Sringeri

d. Hebbe Falls

e. Kalhatti Falls

f. Amrithapura

g. Kudremukh

h. Sitalayangiri

i. Mulayangiri

j. Yagachi Dam

8. Chitradurga

a. Chitradurga Kote

b. Ashoka Siddapura

c. Brahmagiri

d. Chandravalli

e. Jogimatti Hill Station

f. Molakalmuru fortified town of the Kadambas

g. Neerthadi is famous for its Ranganathaswamy temple built in Vijayanagar style.

h. Vani Vilas Sagar

i. Doddahottrangappa Hill

j. 'Halu' Rameshwara.

9. Coorg

a. Madikeri Fort

b. Raja's Seat

c. Nagarahole National Park

d. Talakaveri / Talacauvery

e. Iruppu Falls

f. Abbey Falls

g. Dubare

h. Valanoor

i. Nisargadhama

j. Bhagamandala

k. Harangi Dam

For details on Coorg accomodation and Routes check my earlier post on Coorg.

10. Davanagere

a. Siruvani Waterfalls and Dam

b. Uchangidurga fort

c. Pushkarni

Best time to visit: October and March.

11. Gulbarga

a. Malakheda fort – near Gulbarga

b. Sharana Basaveshwara temple - Gulbarga

12. Hassan

a. Belur

b. Halebid

c. Koramangala

d. Mosale

e. Gorur

f. Manzarabad

g. Bisle Ghat

13. Mandya

a. Mahadevpura

b. Melukote

c. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

d. Srirangapattana

e. Basaral

f. Shivanasamudra

g. Kokkrebellur

h. Ganjam

i. Daria Daulat Bagh

j. Sriranganatha Temple

k. Brindavan Gardens

l. Ghosai Ghat

m. Sagarkatte

n. Tonnur Kere

o. Kunti Betta

For details on Mandya Check out this post.

14. Mangalore (Dakshina Kannada)

a. Charmadi (A brilliant site http://kaalaharana.blogspot.com/ gives complete details on places near Charmadi)

b. Someshwar Beach

c. Panambur Beach

d. Ullal Beach

e. Suratkal Beach

f. Kaup Beach

g. Malpe Beach

h. Maravante Beach

i. Murudeshwar Beach

j. Moodbidri

15. Shimoga

a. Jog water falls

b. agumbe

c. Sigandur chaudamma temple

d. Vanake-Abbey Falls

e. Achakanya Falls

f. Hidlamane Falls

g. Tunga Anecut

h. B.R.P Dam

i. Linganmakki Dam

16. Tumkur

a. Pavagada Fort

b. Devarayana Durga

c. Sinhadham

d. Mekedatu (Bangalore Rural)

17. Uttara Kannada

a. Attiveri bird sanctuary

b. Yana

c. Karwar

d. Apsara Konda Falls (Honnavar)

e. Magod Falls

f. Lalguli Falls

g. Sathodi Falls

h. Unchalli Falls

i. Lushington Falls

j. Shivganga Falls

I haven’t been to more than 75% of the places mentioned here.

However, the list is quite huge, and surely I will try my best to visit these places and give information on accommodation, routes in posts that follow.

Mysore - Pondicherry

Mysore - Pondicherry.

I went in a Honda Activa, ALONE. A little apprehensive I was.
However, the Honda Activa didn't dissapoint me, rather exceeded my expectations from her.
Approximately 1000 kms from Mysore to Pondicherry and back.

Route from Mysore - Pondicherry.

Mysore - Mandya - Bidadi - Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Singarapettai - Tiruvannamalai - - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondicherry.

Dont miss to check out the Fort at Gingee.
The beach in Pondicherry.
Auroville.


If you are travelling from Mysore, then After you cross Bidadi and just before Kengeri, You will get the NICE Road. Take a deviation to the right and you will be connected to Electronics City.
I don't advice you to take the road if you're travelling at night.

Also you will find plenty of places to stay in Pondicherry.
Sorry, I couldn't get you the phone numbers.

One more thing I realised during the outing was that I need to buy a good CAMERA pretty soon.


Love,
Matter.