Didn't sleep well, was up by 6 am. Stepped down for tea with Vj. The weather was perfect. It was pleasant and the air was fresh due to the rains last night.
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| Sunrise from Hotel Sai International |
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| Sunrise from Hotel Sai International |
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| Sunrise from Hotel Sai International |
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| Splendid view from Hotel Sai International |
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| Splendid view from Hotel Sai International |
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| Splendid view from Hotel Sai International |
The tea was better than the weather.
After quick bath, we were ready to have breakfast and start our journey for the day. It was going to be a long one. We had to cover 650 kms to reach Bekal by night. Breakfast was great. Butts and Vivek had misal pav, I had idli and toast butter and Vj had his protein bar. Finally we left at 8:30 am with Butts at the wheel.
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| Breakfast at Sai Fast food court |
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| Breakfast at Sai Fast food court |
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| Route for the day |
The roads were really good and we made excellent progress and reached the Karnataka border faster than expected. The roads got better in Karnataka and we experienced dag---dag---dag---dag--dag--dag--dag--dag-dag-dag-dag-dagdagdag :). The discussions were mostly about what music to play and everyone had comments on every song played. At one point Vj said "if we were all eggs in a basket we would probably be from different birds". Made perfect sense.
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| Butts at the wheel |
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| Dude poses while I write |
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| At the Maharashtra-Karnataka Border |
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| At the Maharashtra-Karnataka Border |
Around 2.5 hours from Kolhapur, we took a right from NH4 to join SH1 at Dharwad. SH1 was going to take us to NH17 near Ankola. SH1 took us uphill. The roads started winding too often and so did our moods. I guess it was hunger. I asked them to stop at a small shop to taste the local chikki and chakli. Had 2 chikkis for 2 rupees, skipped the chalki as it looked dangerous and had a banana instead. The chikki was awesome. I had trouble deciphering the language and accent of the shopkeeper, which made me realize that I was far from home. Few kilometers ahead, Butts suddenly braked hard and I noticed that it was a cop who had stopped us. He looked more scared than us as he felt that butts was going to ram into him. He indicated something and asked us to park at the side of the road. On further questioning we came to know that there were 2 huge trailers coming from the opposite side with windmill blades and we would have blocked them on the hairpin bends that lay ahead of us. It was good to see them doing their jobs well. Jai Ho!
Most of the journey on SH1 was through small villages nestled within a forest. After watching a small shrine in the middle of nowhere butts commented that he was amazed how religion had penetrated so deeply in our country. Religion isn't about places, it is about people. There were debates on when and where to break for lunch when a Kamat Hotel-7kms away signboard popped up. I was hungry and was making a fuss about it and sadly we didn't have any snickers. We decided to check it out and stop if it looked ok. SH1 ended finally and we took a left on NH17. Another km down the road lay Kamat. The place looked good and so did the menu. The worst dish on the table was surprisingly the South Indian thali. :)) The winner was North Indian thali and mixed raita. Also let me tell you they don't serve by two. We had another 350 kms to go and a lot would depend upon the traffic and road conditions if we had to make it to Bekal on time.
Though the quality of road on NH17 was not great, we hit upon some beautiful scenery along the highway. There were rivers, beaches, backwaters adjoining the highway. We also took a slight detour to stop by at Murudeshwar Shiva Temple.
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| Lunch at Kamat, Ankola |
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| Lunch at Kamat, Ankola |
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| Lunch at Kamat, Ankola |
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| Lunch at Kamat, Ankola |
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| River on NH17 |
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| River on NH17 |
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| Bridge on NH17 |
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| Beach adjoining NH17 |
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| Temple across the beach |
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| Beach adjoining NH17 |
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| Backwaters adjoining NH17 |
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| Beach adjoining NH17 |
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| Beach adjoining NH17 |
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| Beach adjoining NH17 |
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| Murudeshwar Shiva Temple |
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| Murudeshwar Shiva Temple |
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| Beach next to the temple |
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| Murudeshwar Shiva Temple |
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| Murudeshwar Shiva Temple |
It all started going downhill after that. NH17 was not as good as NH4. There was lot of construction work going on in patches and our progress was slow. It only got worse as the traffic started getting heavy as well. By evening we had covered lesser miles than expected and our real personalities started becoming more pronounced. It is said that true test of character is only when things aren't going your way. It was evident that if we wanted to reach Bekal, it wouldn't be before 9:30-10 pm. Slowly everyone started having an opinion about where we should halt for the night. We never realized that we had stopped enjoying the journey and all we were doing was worry about the destination. Vj actually started looking for flights back home. :(( After Kundapura, the roads got better and progress was faster, but it was already dark and driving was difficult. We passed by Udipi, but I have seen more of Udipi in Mumbai than in Udipi. There was not a single coffee shop on the highway and the coffee lovers in the car were thoroughly disappointed. We passed by Mangalore but it was too dark to notice anything. We finally entered Kerala around 8:30 pm.
The first thing that hit us in kerala was the overpowering presence of Muslims. Every shop or restaurant was either an Arabian Night or Al Khalifa. Finally after multiple rounds of discussion and evaluating many options we decided to stay back in Kasargod for the night. Vj made a good suggestion to worry about dinner first and lodging second. As per him we were running out of options every passing hour and our chance to get decent veg food would disappear completely after 10 pm as everything would shut down in Kasargod. On his recommendation we decided to try out Indian Coffee House as everything else was a Shalimar or a Noor Jahan. I have been a huge fan of mughalai food and have visited all the good mughalai restaurants in mumbai and pune, however I was in for a shock. As soon as we entered the place, an overpowering smell of meat hit us. The waiter said that they had only paneer and green peas masala available in veg. We were fcukin hungry and decided to order whatever was available. The service was good and the food arrived early. However let me tell you, I am never going to Indian Coffee house ever again. :) I have a sensitive palate and the taste and smell of the food in ICH scarred it. I am going to take that smell and taste to my grave! Everyone else managed to gobble down some parotas, but I had a tough time. The food wasn't bad, but it was different.
We hurriedly paid the bill and started hunting for Hotel Highway Castle. Luckily it was close by and the restaurant was open when we reached. I ordered dal roti and Butts ordered fruit salad with ice-cream. The food was much better, but I had already lost my appetite and didn't enjoy it. Vj got us a good discount at the hotel and he also managed to find beers for us, but unfortunately they turned out to be KF premiere instead of KF premium. They tasted like piss and my day ended at a real low. Dude also taught us how to remove glycerol from beer, but that it a story in itself. It may change my life. While all this happened, we had discussions about skipping going to Munnar as it was a good 11 hours away and we would have to spend most of the day on the road as well. We decided to pick destinations which were 5-6 hours away so that we could take time off the road and do some sightseeing. Tentative destinations that were discussed were Wayanad, Coorg and Ooty.
Is tomorrow going to be a better day?
Quotes of the day:
1. Butts, this is the end of civilization in Kasargod. Beyond this point you wont get any vegetarian food here.
2. "If we were all eggs in a basket we would probably be from different birds
2 comments:
Awesome day 2 :d
Nice blog
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